New Blog Post: Phone solicitations, which we affectionately call “cold calls.” http://bit.ly/dSTPNR http://amplify.com/u/anv4c

How To Use Skype To Gather & Record Video & Audio Assets

Better at talking than writing? Want to record testimonials, share a roundtable or offer a rich media experience to your readers soon to be listeners? Another benefit for having your voice and/or likeness integrated into your media is it helps your followers, likers, and listeners get to know you a little better - build affinity. It is also a great learning tool to help you explain concepts & information that may take pages of content vs. a 10 min audio share all above the fold..

Amplify’d from www.ducttapemarketing.com

For many Skype users the tool is simply a phone replacement or a way to make international calls without a charge. While the direct communication uses are obvious, there are so many other ways to use this tool as well. In fact, I believe that one of the hottest trends of the back half of 2011 will be the ubiquitous use of video communication on the mobile device and this type of behavior change is going to make some of Skype’s features even more useful for business. As smart phone users begin to ramp up their use of video conversations, (iPhone Facetime proves this huge) video recording (smart phone cameras make this an everyday use) and video sharing, (what don’t we share) business communication, content creation and collaboration in this vein will become commonplace. Here’s how to turn Skype into a content creation machine. Recording Skype calls and video chat is a tremendous way to create podcast episodes and video content to run on your site. The fact that the recording is captured directly into your computer eliminates several of the steps in the content creation process. By supplementing your Skype account with a 3rd party recording application such as Call Recorder (Mac) or Pamela (PC) you can get built in recording of audio or video from within Skype. These programs record your voice and that of your guest in separate tracks, making it much easier to edit. Get a low cost transcription by uploading the video or audio file to Casting Words and you’ve got sight, sound and text content creation. So, get on Skype and get video testimonials from clients, interview clients and capture their video success stories, or set a time to interview an industry leader on a hot trend and capture the phone conversation for your next blog post. (Get a SkypeIn phone number and your guest won’t even need a Skype account to call you.) Invite featured guest experts to present at your next lunch and learn via Skype Video and Skype enabled HDTV. A few tool suggestions: Get a nice USB mic (Blue Snowball) and USB headset. (Sennheiser) so that the sound on your end is good. I use the headset for audio only and the mic with earpiece for video so I don’t look like a pilot on the video. You’ll need a camera for your computer is you’re going to do video. Most laptops come with build in cameras these days, but you should probably own a good HD camera anyway. I like the Canon HF20 because it has an external mic jack and flash memory card. Here’s how to use Skype for collaboration Sure, chatting on the phone is a collaboration activity, but you can a lot more with Skype. Some of the features I use to enhance collaboration. You can add multiple contacts and turn Skype into a conference call tool. (last I read it allows up to 24 – group video chat comes with an additional fee.) You can create groups of contacts and use the IM feature to create a group chat function You can share your screen with people on a call and do a quick demo – way faster than WebEx type of share You can transfer files while on a call so the person has a document in question open I think Skype is on the move to a become a big time player in the video and mobile space. The recently acquired Qik, an established player in the mobile video recording and sharing space and a sure sigh that Skype sees the shift to video communication. You can add the Skype app to your mobile and start using it on the go as well. Any drawbacks? Sometimes the call quality is shaky. I don’t have many issues, but low bandwidth can cause problems. To get the full ride your guests and collaborators need Skype and a video camera, but Skype is free and this seems like it’s becoming less of an issue these days. Read more at www.ducttapemarketing.com

 

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Remember No is a good thing in #sales. If you are not OK with a NO, excuses become ramped. Be proud to get a NO. #business #salestip. http://amplify.com/u/anj2x

An easy way to remind yourself to appreciate More @HappyRambles Aims to make you happier. #gratitude #happy

URL:  http://thenextweb.com/ca/2011/01/21/happyrambles-a-feel...

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"A Leader is one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way".- John Maxwell #quote #business #success #leadership http://amplify.com/u/bn802

Guide to B2B social media for Business and Marketing...

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

The definitive guide to B2B social media

View more presentations from Ricardo Pravia.

Don't dwell

Don't let yesterday take up too much of today. -Will Rogers #quote for #success in 2011 #b2bsales #business http://amplify.com/u/bkv4u

Branding and Marketing - One at a Time

"Branding is creating one "telling point" and communicating it many different ways."
Greta Schulz

5 predictions for start ups via @Mashable.

Amplify’d from mashable.com

5 Predictions for Startups in 2011  280Share Share 280 email share email share Do you like this story? How we engage with the people, places and things around us is ever-changing thanks to rapid improvements in mobile and web technologies. The speed at which this evolution takes place will only continue to accelerate in 2011 with the help of fledgling startups who will push the boundaries around geolocation, mobile photos, entertainment services, community and physical-to-digital connections. What follows is an exploration of five significant startup markets that will grow in significance in 2011. Some of these specialized categories are ripe for disruption and innovation, while others have already produced early leaders that will be difficult to best. Regardless, the startups iterating in these newly invented product categories will capture our imagination in the year ahead and transform the way we use technology in our daily lives. Read on for five major trends that will hit startups in 2011, and let us know your own predictions in the comments below. 1. The Rise of Object Tagging As constant web and mobile users, we’ve all grown accustomed to tagging people and places in photos and status updates. In the year ahead, new services will help us tag real world objects in much the same fashion. QR code and barcode scanning mobile applications are growing in popularity and purpose, and we’re quickly moving towards a scanning and tagging world where we use apps like Barcode Hero or Stickybits to add our own content to the physical objects we encounter in the real world. The physical-to-digital connection is what will drive this trend in the new year. Startups such as thingd and Moodstocks have a more grandiose vision around creating digital databases of things, but they’re also creating products that are people-friendly and practical. We’ve yet to see any one object tagging application or service become a breakout hit, but this will change in 2011 as more consumers warm up to the mobile and social discovery of “things.” 2. Entertainment Checkin Services Will Continue to Innovate 2010 was the year of the checkin. What started as a simple, albeit explicit, way to publicly say “I’m here” mutated into a way for startups to create entertainment checkin services and for companies to build tools to help publishers keep visitors on site. The entertainment-oriented services are an especially interesting group of services. GetGlue, Miso, Philo, Tunerfish, TV.com Relay and a handful of others have all cropped up with their own variations of the “check in to content, get rewards” concept. Most are successfully inking deals with studios and networks around their entertainment properties, and just recently, GetGlue grabbed $6 million in a Series C round led by Time Warner Investments. Within this fast-maturing niche is still room for innovation. The opportunities are in motivating user behavior around entertainment content and surfacing fail-proof recommendations. Somewhere sandwiched amongst Clicker (), Rotten Tomatoes (), GetGlue, Boxee () and Netflix is something that can actually figure out what we really want to watch right now and help us watch it in a fashion that supports the interests of studios and networks. It might be a combination of semantic intelligence, social media and game mechanics, or it could be something entirely new. There’s certainly money to be had here. Investors are financing these ideas, networks are looking for strategic partnerships and cable companies have money to spend. 3. Website Communities Will Dominate the Digital Experience The rise of the social web has led to brands and businesses emphasizing Facebook (), Twitter (), Foursquare (), YouTube () and their social presence over their own website. Social will remain a top priority in 2011, but there will be a website renaissance that focuses on bringing the community back to the site. 2010 has laid the foundation for this movement with the emergence of publisher tools that drive website visitor engagement. Badgeville, OneTrueFan, Marginize, Meebo and Envovle, for instance, are all working on their solutions for the website-as-community concept. Badgeville lets publishers install a plug-and-play product that adds social rewards and gaming elements to their websites — think rewarding user activity with badges and achievements, à la Foursquare. OneTrueFan also applies game mechanics to website content and Meebo will release its own solution for web checkins in 2011. Marginize’s browser extension pulls social conversations into a site’s margin but its publisher tool eliminates the need for the extension and lets visitors check in, earn badges and rewards, and participate in onsite comment threads that can be pushed out to social networks. Envolve, however, takes a Facebook-chat style approach to website engagement. There will continue to be rapid innovation around publisher community tools in the new year. I’m not yet convinced that 2011 will be the year web users completely embrace this idea, but this trend will certainly be pushed forward by publishers who use these tools to engineer a more compelling reason for the visitor to stay and engage. Should they do so successfully, the fruits of their labor will be users that remain on site, share their activity with social networks and influence upticks in traffic, and possibly even sales. 4. Private Location Services Become More Popular In 2011, the location-sharing counter culture will emerge as mobile users demand less social, more practical tools for sharing their whereabouts with smaller circles of friends and family members. There’s clearly an audience that appreciates the visibility and rewards that come with checkins, and that is not likely to change. But, a growing number of mobile users will want to apply geolocation technology to their personal lives — think keeping track of the kids, knowing that a significant other made it home safely, or sending and receiving timely notifications based on geographic location. Consumer-friendly Neer is a prime example of how always-on location technology can be highly personalized and yet not overly intrusive. Geoloqi’s geonotes further personalize the experience by allowing you to leave notes for you or your friends at various locations. In 2011, we’ll see more applications and services emerge with similar purpose due to advancements in geofencing, proximity awareness and mobile device technologies. Perhaps the only barrier to mainstream adoption is the strain that these services place on mobile phone batteries. 5. Mobile Photo Sharing Takes Off We’re in the midst of a mobile photo sharing boom that has yet to reach its climax. Due to rapid improvements in handset technology, it’s now possible to take a stunning photo and upload it to the web in seconds. Applications that build expressly around this purpose have cropped up in recent months and prove the viability of this emerging market. Instagram (), for instance, has surpassed 1 million registered users in just 10 weeks’ time. With this type of momentum, the startup looks to be an unstoppable force. But greatness will not be achieved in replicating the features or filters of Instagram, at least in an iPhone app. Android () may still be up for grabs, though not if Picplz has a say in the matter. Purpose will matter just as much as a platform. Foodspotting, DailyBooth () and Path () all have put their own unique spin on mobile photos. Still, the underlying mobile photo sharing trend can be applied in a number of yet-to-be fully explored fashions. Because smartphone adoption is nowhere close to capacity, and growth is anticipated in the new year, there’s still time for a few more big ideas around mobile photo sharing to emerge in 2011. Read more at mashable.com

 

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8 IT Security Threats for 2011.

URL:  http://www.govinfosecurity.com/podcasts.php?podcastID=908

Definitely social media and mobile security threats will increase in 2011. What do you think will be the biggest security threats?

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