Which social networking tool is more useful to me?

Today, I learned that I miss blogging. It's been awhile since I've blogged for 2 main reasons: Facebook has stolen my attention and work has been tremendously busy. In the last two years, I've been tasked by a few clients to study the world of online social networking. Who's the best? What are they useful for? Is it all worth it?

I'm not much for posting my personal information online, because I know that whatever goes online stays online. If you don't believe me, visit http://www.archive.org. And in today's online world of RSS feeds and "scraper tools," expect what you post online to be copied to other websites you may not even be aware of. Yes, in the web, deleting doesn't really mean it's really deleted. It's definitely not as forgiving as humans.

But to be good at my job, I must embrace and experience whatever novelty is out there so I can advise my clients more intelligently and innovate more appropriately. In fact, it's why this blog was born. I couldn't just be a blog reader (or a blog lurker), but I had to be a blogger to truly understand why people blog and its pros/cons. For the same reason, despite resistance, I signed up for an account on MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Digg, StumpleUpon, ThisNext, Wordpress, to name a few. I created so many accounts and tried to actively use them like their avid users would. It was like contributing to the smog on the web. Really, who cared about what I shared?! Readers take what they can get from the info you serve, then their off to the next. Take. Take. Take. Gimme. Gimme. Gimme!

In case you're curious, here are some of the results from my study:

1. Blogging is great for individuals who want to share information to the world that will be accessible by search engines. Companies can utilize blogging for PR and SEO (search engine optimization). It's out there for the world to bump into. If you don't have a website, then blog. If you do have a website, then blog about your website and post hyperlinks to your websites. In other words, if you don't care who will see it, then blog. Blog about your review on your favorite topic or perhaps a complaint you have that others out there may be able to relate to. Blogging is like being an anonymous newspaper writer. (Well, you can make it as anonymous as possible.)

2. Facebook is great for connecting with people you know (or knew from way back when). It's a one-stop shop to share photos and information about yourself to only the people you know. On the flip side, you may find yourself stuck on the site looking at photos of your network and people you knew from the past. When posting, you need to use discretion on who gets to see what. It sometimes blurs the line between personal VS business networks. (I mean, really, if a client or business colleague requests to befriend you, should you really ignore them? Maybe not, but you can set your privacy level so they don't have to see photos from this weekend's party or know you're sleeping in the middle of the day.) Sometimes, when I'm on Facebook, it almost feels like everyone I know online is looking over my shoulders when I'm going through my Outlook. You know what I mean? Now, if you're trying to move forward and avoid people from your past, Facebook may not be for you.

3. LinkedIn is purely for your business life. Never mix personal and business on this site. If you're looking for a gig, your time is better spent updating your LinkedIn than your Word/PDF doc, because the chances that your hiring manager will look you up on LinkedIn is pretty high. The same applies when you're looking to network or seek for investment.

4. Twitter is for blasting a sentence to your followers. Most don't discriminate who their followers are, so it's like a blog where people you may not know personally can read about what you post. It's like a text messaging broadcast. I see it more of a mix between a blog and Facebook. You can be an anonymous Twitter poster pushing information into people's cell phones on a timely manner. I see the benefit from the poster's point of view, but I find it crazy to manage from a follower's point of view. I followed multiple Twitters and after receiving 5 blasts at practically the same time from different Twitters, I'm lost and I stop caring. Funny enough, I found myself following Twitter from J** and I felt like I knew his every move b/c my cell phone kept beeping every time he updated his Twitter. It took me almost half a year to figure out how to stop it.

On that note, it's 1am and I must continue next time. Or else, this blog will be saved to my DRAFTS like the rest and never get published.

2009 Business Logos

Today, I learned something funny being circulated in the Forwarded Email world that takes up my mail server. My uncle sent me this.

2009 Business Logos

Live video webcast from my cell phone

Today, I learned how to use my Sprint Mogul HTC as a live video camera webcasting tool. It's not new technology, but the most amazing piece for me is how simple and easy it is. As much as I "love, love, love" my Sprint Mogul HTC, I'm a bit disappointed at how difficult it is for me to share on the web the photos and videos I take on the device. I'd say my Sprint Mogul HTC is the closest to a James Bond / McGyver gadget that can save you in tough situations.

I'm not a typical cell phone owner, because I currently own at least 5 phones from different phone providers. (I'll explain later as to why in the world I have so many phone plans, but the simplest explanation is it's all for business and R&D use.) I'm an early adapter who's not afraid to be the beta user and push the technology for what and how consumers can use these gadgets. (My first pager was in 1994 -- the watch pager which I used to receive text messages even though it wasn't meant to be used for that.)

Okay, back to my fun discovery. The site and application can be found on http://qik.com. It allows you to broadcast the video you capture on your cell phone, LIVE, to a webpage. It's so simple and lives up to its plug-and-play goals. In other words, it's something my parents can do without receiving a phone call from them on how to do it.

Why am I so excited about this? Hm. Imagine:

• If there was some catastrophy I find myself in, I can simply film it and you can watch it -- LIVE! -- with my audio commentary.
• As a Southern California driver, I can show you how the freeway looks like by pointing my cell phone to the road.
  
• Men can go shopping at the grocery store, and broadcast what they're looking at for their wives to tell them to look left-right-up-down, go to the next isle.
  
• A person can go shopping and ask their website viewers which shoe to select, which dress to buy -- talk turning that BFF shopping buddy into an wide online audience! Right on the spot, people can tell you thums up or down. (Well, of course, this is for those people who can't make a decision.)
• I mentioned traffic report... how about live weather report? "See how much snow we're getting in SoCal!"
  
• Here's a silly one, but my brother and I would totally use this -- live mass!
  
• Speaking of James Bond, how about live video espionage? :)

I can keep listing all sorts of ways, but I must get back to work and calm down from all these excitement.

Cheers!

Contagious for being happy

Today, I learned that happiness is contagious. Last month, I read an article on the benefits of laughter and happiness. Does this mean I'm going to live longer eating all these happy food? ;)

I don't know about wanting to live longer than the people in my life.

KCAL9 TV News Coverage of eDivvy.com

November 26, 2008 --- KCAL9 News, Los Angeles:

PAT HARVEY (ANCHOR):
If you're already stressing about Holiday shopping and gift giving solutions, one of the easiest solutions is to get a group of people to share the cost. Tonight, KCAL news reporter Suzie Suh shows us how a new website takes the hassle out of collecting and giving.

SUZIE SUH (REPORTER):
A white Christmas can be parting with green. Something simple like a gourmet wine basket for your boss can leave you with the red. But divide up the generosity and get... "spending less and giving more." That's the idea behind eDivvy.com.

EDEN JARRIN (eDivvy.com):
Get together with 10 or 15 of your friends and family... all chip in $10 to $20... and you can still stay within your budget, which is great... but give them a great gift!

SUZIE SUH (REPORTER):
Okay so you've got that perfect gift picked out. You know who's gonna be pitching in. But then comes that awkward moment of collecting the money. Not to worry! With eDivvy, they'll take care of all those responsibilities for you.

EDEN JARRIN (eDivvy.com):
What we found in the offline world is it's really challenging... 'cuz not only do you have to sit there and call everyone and see if they want to participate in sharing in the cost of that gift... but then you have to try to collect the money from people. You'll either get a check or cash. Say it's your brother who never pays, and you have to keep calling him and bugging him to pay."

SUZIE SUH (REPORTER):
eDivvy sends out emails, and participants decide whether they want in or not. Once the gift if funded, the gift is automatically on its way.

PAT HARVEY (ANCHOR):
As the organizer, you decide whether the gift goes straight to the recipient or to you. And we should note there's a fee for the service. Everyone who participates is charged $0.49, but in these tough times, that's a small price to pay for not dealing with the headache.

RICK CHAMBER (ANCHOR):
Good point!

eDivvy.com allows you to group gift all items from Amazon.com

Today, I learned that I can group gift all the products available on Amazon.com by using eDivvy.com. That means, I can create a gift basket with products from Amazon.com and other big brand merchants that don't exist on Amazon, and have these gifts sent to the recipient! How cool is that?! From now on, I'm going straight to eDivvy.com to find out what products are available out there. Why? Because they have a feature called "eDivvy By Number" which automatically calculates the cost of each participant if the purchase is equally divided. It'll save me some brain cells and time. I'm so excited I better cut this blog short and start shopping for Christmas gifts. This year, I'm getting together with my siblings to split the cost of toys we're getting the kids in the family. Whoo hoo!

TLG&GREATFN Scam

Today, I learned that one of my account that I use for purchasing online transactions has 4 transactions from a company called TLG&GREATFN. There are 4 transactiosn for 11.99. Hmm...

I ran a search online on what in the world this company is. I can't find any info on who this company is, but a ton of posted comments from consumers all over the country saying it's some 3rd-party add-on scam.

Looks like I'm speding tomorrow calling my bank and tracking this company. Do I smell class-action lawsuit here or what?!