So remember, there are plenty of things to laugh about this holiday season. And even if you are having difficulties in your personal economy, laughter is free, and you can enjoy yourself. So gather the family, and enjoy this mostly appropriate for children (there is one small swear and violence involving a cattle prod) version of O Holy Night.

Post from: EveryJoe

Christmas with Cartman: O Holy Night

Anyway, here is a great break from holiday stress. It’s a fun rendition of “Carol of the Bells” from the Muppets:

Hope you are enjoying the holiday season, and finding ways to alleviate some of the financial stress that can come with this time of year. The most important thing to remember is to try to avoid getting further into debt. Instead of focusing on things, think about the great, free things in life: Family, friends and sharing time together.

Post from: EveryJoe

“Carol of the Bells” – Muppet Style

Although not quite as easy to do within the twitter interface, there is a similar tool available from the Who Follows Whom website.

Who Follows Whom allows you to put in multiple twitter usernames, up to 5, and see who are the people that both people are following and who are the people that are following each twitter user.

The Who Follows Whom website is a nice little tool to use to find more people that may share the same interests and expertise as you and your other trusted friends and followers on the micro-blogging site.

The ability to put in multiple names, up to 5, really allows you to fine-tune and search for people that have a potentially very tight relationship and integration with other members of a group.

The next time you’re wondering who to follow or who that person is that may be following you, see how everyone is connected with Who Follows Whom.

Post from: EveryJoe

Who Follows Whom on Twitter

According to Paul Bernard, a veteran executive coach and career management adviser who runs his own firm, many job seekers make the mistake of relying too heavily on online job boards, particularly at the start of their search.

Bernard advises job seekers to begin to network immediately. Not only can networking expand your possibilities but it can also build and demonstrate skills, he said.

“Networking builds confidence and gets you into the hidden job market,” he explained, referring to unadvertised job openings.

You really need to have a network that you can rely on. Let people you know, from professional associates to relatives to high school buddies, understand that you are looking for a job. This way you will come to mind if someone you know hears anything. Additionally, you can attend networking events and get to know new people.

This even works online. You may scoff at social media’s usefulness, but the truth is that some social networking sites are great places to find jobs. LinkedIn is an especially helpful place for professionals to network. Twitter and Facebook can also provide you with job hunt connections.

Post from: EveryJoe

Job Hunt Tips: Don’t Forget to Network

Public lists can be shared with other twitter users and the NHL has taken this functionality and created a very targeted business use for hockey fans. The NHL (@NHL on twitter) has created lists for each of the active NHL teams, as well as some older teams that no longer exist.

When the Twitter Lists functionality first appeared the folks behind @NHL decided to create the lists for each team and ask their followers which list they’d like to be added on as fan. To date they’ve received almost 4000 requests from twitter users. If you’d like to be added to a list, just tweet the NHL account @NHL and include the hashtag #myfavoriteNHLteam and they’ll add you to the list for that team.

The NHL has had to work with twitter to get around some of their limits, which currently allows a single account to only host a max of 20 lists. With the success of this real-world business use of the lists functionality, Twitter has allowed the @NHL account to host more than the 20 lists. The folks @NHL are now working on an option to let them share and interact with all of their lists above the 20 threshold.

Kudos to the NHL for pursuing this social media option for really interacting and building some interest around their teams. I wonder how long it takes for the other professional sports leagues to follow the NHL’s lead.

Follow this link to see the list of @NHL teams you can follow.

Post from: EveryJoe

The NHL Scores on New Twitter Lists

If business need a reason to invest in social networking then look at this fact

“According to Brand Reputation, 84% of the consumers they surveyed are more likely to look for online product reviews than they were just a year ago”

That fact is powerful enough as you realise that Google is your primary advertising tool but then if you add

“And those who have had a negative experience are five times as likely to tell their friends”

I often come across people who believe that investment in social networking and social media is just one big waste of time….I suppose they also believe what people say about their business is not important either?

Post from: EveryJoe

Why Networking is Good for your Business

Image: SXC.hu

To help you think about a few things when using social media, I have created a short list below:

• Respect others and don’t SPAM with links.
• Don’t always push information our to people, connect with others by responding to others.
• If you come across helpful information, be willing to share it.
• Be open to answering questions that you friends may ask.
• Look at ways where you can automate or manage your social media efforts.

As you apply these simple 5 tips to your social media efforts, you may find that you will make great connections. To help you learn more about using social media, watch the video below.

Post from: EveryJoe

5 Tips On How To Use Social Media Wisely

Therefore I was intrigued to see a Europa press release regarding the trading between EU nations.

Just look at this phrase “only 7% of people shop online cross border. Although 50 percent of European retailers are online, only 21% sell in other Member States.”

The online tests showed that “the transaction was blocked 6 times out of 10. In the case of some computer and electronic equipment the failure rate reached 8 times out of 10. Only two countries (Spain and Austria) exhibited success rates slightly above 50%. Romania, Bulgaria, Latvia and Belgium are the countries where attempts at purchasing cross border were most likely to fail.”

These findings were amazing for me as you would surely have expected a much higher degree of consumer engagement across the large trading bloc of the European Union? Maybe it shows that language remains the barrier not necessarily geography?

Post from: EveryJoe

Online Shopping Across Borders

• More than half of office workers use sites like Twitter and Facebook for personal use during the working day, and admit wasting an average of 40 minutes a week each.

• One in three of the 1,460 office workers surveyed also said they had seen sensitive company information posted on social networking sites, leading to fears about how workers use the internet.

• Philip Wicks, consultant at Morse, the IT services and technology company who commissioned the survey, said the true cost to the economy could be substantially higher than the £1.38bn estimate.

What makes me smile about surveys like that, is that they only look at social networking as a time waster not as a value producer. There is an assumption that time spent is time wasted….yet I know for instance that I use Twitter to help answer questions, almost like a free consultant. I also know that I find talent through Twitter. I also know that social networking has a motivational factor which cannot be measured…..

My feeling remains that social networking only moves from value adding to time wasting when people are badly managed and disengaged with their workforce in the first place!

Post from: EveryJoe

Does Twitter Really Cost Business?

Jason Small presents Top Facebook Fan Pages: 25 Most Fanned Pages posted at Social Media and The Big W, saying, “A review of the top 25 Facebook Fan Pages produced by businesses with insight into the best practices used.”

Anna presents Who is at the centre of your world? posted at The Engaging Brand

Rick Sincere presents Exposing the ‘Twitter Gap’ posted at Rick Sincere News and Thoughts.

Madeleine Begun Kane presents The Price Of Facebook Friendship posted at Mad Kane’s Humor Blog.

Neal Schaffer presents 25 LinkedIn Etiquette Tips to Ponder ? Revisiting ?What is Your Favorite LinkedIn Pet Peeve?? posted at Windmill Networking, saying, “Social networking advice for navigating LinkedIn.”

Kaitlyn cole presents 100 Must-Read Blog Posts for Networking in a New Age | Online Colleges posted at Online Colleges.net.

Angela Martin presents 100 Ways You Should Be Using Facebook in Your Classroom posted at Online Colleges.org.

Jason Small presents Build a potentially viral Twitter campaign in less than 5 minutes posted at Social Media and The Big W, saying, “An excellent review of a fantastic resource that can help you develop a viral Twitter campaign.”

Mariano DiFabio presents Find New Prospects with Twitter Search posted at The Web and You, saying, “Twitter search is a very useful tool to connect with people who would otherwise be lost to you. As a prospecting tool, it has a lot of potential for your business. Read about our experience with it in this week’s post.”

Suzanne presents Social Notworking? Not for me. posted at Without Dash.

Andy Hayes presents One Size Fits All posted at Travel Online Partners (TOP), saying, “Are you taking a one-size-fits all approach to social networking? Or are you crafting a strategy that is moulded just for you?”

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of social networking tips and tricks using our
carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our
blog carnival index page.

Post from: EveryJoe

Carnival of Social Media