I’m not sure if it’s the medium, the frequency of usage, my own growing experiences or simply the result of the quality of people who tend to hang around these networks.

I do know that an entire level of new opportunities would have been missed had I not participated in these spaces…

What’s your experience been?

Bing is developing a system to provide access to real-time Foursqaure check-ins and to-do lists within their maps feature. Now people will be able to see what others are saying about different places on the map. Bing is positioning this as: “An interactive day planner, designed to help find the best things to do in that area.”

Very interesting note: They’re also developing a way to rank tips based on the user’s reputation. Foursquare users unlocking more achievement badges and checking in more frequently will be able to boost their own authority.

Appears a deal like this will create more ways to connect with your network, better ways to find current user opinions & reviews and even more ways for businesses to leverage social media optimization strategies.

Does your business have a venue page? How are you using it?

Have you noticed the new changes to Google’s home page?

No more underlined links, lighter blue font, larger buttons, no drop shadow in the logo and search settings have moved to the top. Note: It looks like this is being rolled out in different areas and/or at different times of the day.

Google make changes like these based on a ton of research and testing.

• New Google Home Page (now)
• Old Google Home Page (last year)
• Very Old Google Home page (1998)
• New Search Results Pages

Have you seen it yet? What do you think? Does it make a difference?

Does your company have a Social Media Policy? If not, here’s a simple social media policy generator that will save you a ton of time. You’ll be done in less than five minutes.

PolicyTool is a policy generator that simplifies the process of creating guidelines that respect the rights of your employees while protecting your brand online.

It’s easy. The streamlined process simply requires you to answer a brief questionnaire and provides you with a complete Social Media Policy customized to your company.

PolicyTool has been developed by rtraction in collaboration with Harrison Pensa lawyer David R. Canton, one of Canada’s leading authorities in internet and technology related legal issues.

Do you follow your company’s social media policy?

Trackle is offering a FREE 60 Day Premium Trial for their Social Media monitoring service. Regardless of your business, you need to efficiently monitor and listen to what’s being said about you, your company and your competition.

Let’s say you don’t have the need to monitor your business. Plenty of other things to track online. Track news about sex offenders or crime in your neighborhood, track the names of specific people in your community or track the latest news & events on your favorite sports teams. Any topic, person or event can be tracked online – customized per your needs.

Besides sharing a great new service, I’m fortunate to be 1 of 36 finalists in Trackle’s iPad giveaway Contest. (All I had to do was answer a trivia question on twitter.)

The winner is the person who refers the most FREE Trial sign-ups by next Friday. So – check out this new monitoring program & help me get a shot at winning an iPad!

When signing up for the FREE Trial, please be sure to use promo code: ERIC_IPAD

Thanks for helping. And, if you’re not interested, no big deal…

Sign Up Here: Promo Code: ERIC_IPAD

Full Disclosure: I have no other affiliation with Trackle other than wanting to win an iPad. Really bad.

1. Within your admin panel, search the plugin library for Google Buzz Button
   
2. Click install
3. Under settings, click Google Buzz to adjust the properties (only four edits allowed for now)

One option missing that may appear in future updates: The ability to choose left/right & float positioning. For now, you’re stuck with top or bottom, on the left. (Unless you choose the manual insertion method & want to edit the code yourself.)

Its still early and the jury is still out on buzz. However, its Google and they did a good job of responding to the privacy and bug issues. Its another place to distribute content. So why not leverage it and create some buzz?

Which WordPress social/sharing plugin do you prefer?

Image via Wikipedia

Lego released the official Lego iPhone app. which lets you instantly create a Lego image mosaic from a new picture or an existing image on your phone.

Interface is extremely easy – only three buttons; once your image is loaded, simply touch the screen to change colors. Neat idea for image customization, not too much excitement beyond that. Still holding my breath for an actual Lego brick builder app.

Here’s a couple of app screenshots, my son & a personal favorite – me & Joe Jackson.

How can anyone take them, or their message, seriously when they request 1200 limousines for the event? Skip to 4:25 in Jon Stewart’s segment from The Daily Show to see the full story. Better yet, watch the whole clip.

What really killed Darth Vader

Posted via web from Eric’s Ramblings

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Santiago Siri created a unique social site called Popego.com back on ’07; while neat in function and in appearance it hasn’t really reached mainstream appeal. I guess you can say its still kind of cool with its psuedo undiscovered status.

Select the type of content you enjoy: Videos, Blogs posts and Website links. Create your Popego profile and push your personal pipeline to your own page – Personal Poop.

Add the usual suspects: twitter, digg, stubleupon, etc; Connect with Facebook, search your existing contacts and make your own widgets. Small touches, like the unique comments made after your choices have been, made add to the experience. Social Media Marketing and Entrepreneurship garnered me a couple “That Rocks” while Automotive yielded a “WTF?”

Locate the contacts within your network to add another level to your online relationships. Follow Popego on twitter for additional tips and updates. Their own mantra sums up their ironic simplicity: “The web is made of people, not computers.” Popego’s utility lies within its ability to let you visualize the content your contacts are most interested in…

Learn from your contacts while learning about your contacts.