Image: sxc.hu

For those of you who don’t know, May Day is May 1st and actually is the host to many international celebrations. One of which is the International Workers’ Day which pertains to the the establishment of the 8 hour work day. Although many may not know but this holiday got it’s start in the Americas.

To help under more about how it all came about, I wanted to share an excerpt from an article on the Workers’ of the World website,

In the late nineteenth century, the working class was in constant struggle to gain the 8-hour work day. Working conditions were severe and it was quite common to work 10 to 16 hour days in unsafe conditions. Death and injury were commonplace at many work places and inspired such books as Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle and Jack London’s The Iron Heel. As early as the 1860’s, working people agitated to shorten the workday without a cut in pay, but it wasn’t until the late 1880’s that organized labor was able to garner enough strength to declare the 8-hour workday. This proclamation was without consent of employers, yet demanded by many of the working class. [Read more]

With all of this in mind and in celebration of International Workers’ Day of May Day, I thought it would be helpful to provide business tools that can help you reach your pay day as an entreprenuer. Tools that could help you shorten your work day but at the same time give your the same amount of creativity and pay day.

Today’s Business Tools Picks:

• Social media management:
  • Flock: browser that integrates social media + email management + internet browsing + RSS feeds all in one
  • FreeTwitterDesigner: allows you to personalize your Twitter background
  • SocialMention: a social media search engine that searches user-generated content such as blogs, comments, bookmarks, events, news, videos, and microblogging services
• Financial management:
  • Mint: to help you analyze your personal and business finances, you should check Mint out because it allows you to compile financial data from different sources into one location so that you can monitor your finances.
• Collaboration management: includes tools that can help you map out your business, manage your teams or manage your processes.
  • MindMeister: is a collaborative online mind mapping tool – you can capture your thoughts and share them instantly with friends and colleagues.
  • PBWiki now PBWorks: Online Collaboration and Project Management that is perfect for small businesses and small teams/groups in larger companies looking for an easy, secure way to collaborate at work.

Post from: EveryJoe

May Day, Pay Day: Business Tools That Work

Examples of companies who have started incorporating social media into their business environment are:

• Zappos: who have incorporated Twitter training within their new hire orientation have actually setup a page that you can visit to see what their employees are talking about (Twitter.Zappos.com)
• Ford Motor Company: has included various social media tools in their plan such as the Ford Motor Company Facebook Page.
• Obama: another classic example is the endorsement page for Obama on Facebook. As to do, it still has over 85,000 people you are following it.
• Sprint: has a Twitter account that share Sprint News about what’s going on with Sprint.
• Southwest Airlines: to keep in touch with customers, SouthwestAir Twitter account was created. They also monitor Twitter for any feedback or comments regarding their airline.

As you can see, many top organizations have started incorporating social media into their business plans. What are the social media website that you can use for to help grow your business? Check the list below by clicking on an image and it will open up in a new window. Not all of the websites below will fit into your business plan, check each one out and see how you could incorporate social media into your business plan.

Image: Newscom.com	Image: MySpace.com
Image: Blellow.com	Image: FriendFeed.com
Image: Facebook.com	Image: LinkedIn.com
Image: Digg.com	Image: Twitter.com

Post from: EveryJoe

Is Social Media a Viable Business Tool?