That’s the question Steve Cunningham hears often, as the head of a digital marketing agency. His reply? The true power of social media is in doing things that are worth talking about. He mentions two companies known for creating buzz in social-media circles: Zappos and Apple.
Don Knuth, known as the Father of Computer Science, just completed the fourth volume of his definitive work, The Art of Computer Programming, which includes “The Chemical Caper,” a short story in which every word is a chemical formula. Knuth stopped using e-mail more than 20 years ago. He says it’s partly why he’s had time to write 30 books.
Even when gainfully employed, leaders keep trolling top job-related web sites in the event of an executive-level layoff. Here are five sites plucked out of about 50,000 U.S. career portals and databases.
When making a presentation, ward off audience boredom by making it interactive. Here are four ways to deliver, according to “5 Tips for Making Your Presentations More Social”:
Goldman Sachs now prohibits employees from swearing in e-mails, and uses screening software to spot and remove profanity. The impetus for change was the company’s embarrassment over profanity-littered e-mails that were repeatedly trotted out during congressional hearings. But is there ever a good cause for profanity in the workplace?
Computer encryption guru Bruce Schneier uses a catchy slogan: “When people talk about IT security, they talk to Bruce Schneier.” Very often, however—both in the world of computer security and elsewhere—leaders don’t talk to anyone before making decisions, even when they have specialists right at their fingertips.
Facebook and Twitter may be getting all the attention, but you still need to pay attention to LinkedIn. LinkedIn is important precisely because it is so stodgy and predictable as a business tool. Here’s how to work it:
ExecTweets, twitter feed of top business executives and IT pros, offers 20 ways businesses are using Twitter. The list, compiled by BusinessWeek, highlights big and small firms. United Linen, for example, used Twitter during a blizzard to let customers know when their fresh linens would arrive.