Social Networking Articles

I found the following article on social networking this morning:

Kids On Facebook - Where does Facebook’s Business Model Fit into Protecting our Kids?

More Social Networking

In reviewing more social networking sites this past week I stumbled across an article from Network World that included 10 sites for 2009. Some of the ones from that list that are worth taking a look at are:

• Qik: video version of Twitter that lets you quickly most video captured on a mobile phone
• Boxee: a dashboard tool that gathers video from all the major video places on the web
• Loopt: made popular on the iPhone but not available on some other smartphones allow you to find your friends assuming they have a phone with GPS.
• Blip.fm: a music version of Twitter that allows friends to share music lists
• Power.com: a dashboard that interfaces with MySpace, Facebook, Hi5 and displays on a single screen.
• Hi5: the most popular social network tool outside the US. Similar to Facebook.
  

Social Networks

As part of checking out all the social networks I came across a great utility "ping.fm". This handy service allows you to update all your social networks from one interface. In addition, to providing this service, ping.fm provides an extensive list of all the social networks available on the web. Over the next few weeks I will be testing more of the social networks that are available. So far I am trialing:

Linkedin: great for keeping in touch with business colleagues
MySpace: an ok service but with way too man advertisements
Facebook: a very intuitive service with a friendly user interface
Blogger: the best blog solution available
Twitter: a neat concept that combines instant messaging, sms texting, and micro-blogging into 1 interface but has had stability issues of late.

Testing Out Websites IT Pros Should Know

NetworkWorld posted the following websites that IT pros should know for 2009 so I thought I would give them a try and then give my 2 cents.

NetworkWorld.com says that savvy IT executives need to connect to the latest innovations on the Internet if they want to keep up with their 20-something employees and improve business performance. They suggest:

1. Linked In, the de rigueur Web 2.0 site for IT professionals that has 30 million members and a host of new features that make it the most productive networking site on the web. JDW Comment: A must have service for any business professional wanting to keep in touch with colleagues and business contacts.
   
2. Google Apps for Business, a software-as-a-service or cloud computing option that's the future of enterprise IT departments. JDW Comment: A very nice solution for small business that want to minimize costs to their startup and on-going IT costs.
3. VMware Communities - Chances are you’ve already embarked on a server virtualization project, and continued consolidation of your servers is a key money-saving goal for 2009.
4. Secunia.com, a site that aggregates security vulnerability information from leading vendors, providing you with one-stop shopping for the latest news about security bugs and the software patches available to fix them.
5. Green Grid, a website that offer advice to make sure your data center is energy efficient and saves money.
6. Twitter, a real-time messaging service that provides an easy way to keep your staff and co-workers informed about where you are and what you're doing. You can also sign up for the latest technology headlines from Wired, Slashdot and others. JDW Comment: Still trying to figure out the attraction to this service but I am willing to give it a try.
7. Yammer - If Twitter seems too frivolous to you, try Yammer. It’s essentially Twitter for the office. The benefit of Yammer is that it’s a private communications channel for coworkers to share quick messages about what they’re working on, get questions answered or blast out news.
8. Ruby on Rails - Ruby on Rails is one of the best open source tools to appear in recent years. This Web development framework lets you create working applications in a matter of hours.
9. Enterprise Mobility Matters - Like it or not, the latest smartphones – the BlackBerry Storms and Apple 3G iPhones (Slideshow: Smartphone showdown: iPhone vs. BlackBerry Storm) – are headed toward your corporate network.

   
   

Seeking Information

As part of an organizational development this week, I participated in a discussion on how to improve communications within our department. One of the feeback pieces from staff was that general organizational information is not readily shared with front line managers and staff. It was determined that the organizations managers don't regularly attend company organized meetings where such information is shared.


This discussion spurred the following thought:


How do you encourage people to seek out the information they desire?


In doing some quick research on the subject, I was able to determine that: 1. Some people are inately driven to seek information and 2. Some people have to be led by example.


So the question becomes, how can leaders of organizations lead by example to encourage their staff and peers to seek knowledge?


That is all for this week. There will be more on this subject next week.


Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

New Direction

It a been awhile since I have posted anything to my blog so I thought
it was about time. I have decided to take a different direction with
the blog. Instead of being focused in a resume format, I will provide
updates/comments on my current areas of work.

With that being said. Currently, I am working IS leadership in the
areas of process improvement with a specific focus on Baldrige and
ITIL best practices. Additionally, I am working with Clinical IS and
clinicians to identify the correct/best bedside technology solutions
to assist clinical workflow. Finally, I continue to do research
oriented projects with the current one being Mac Enterprise
Integration.

That's all until next week. Have a good week

--
Jeremy Windmiller
jwindmiller@gmail.com
Blog: http://jeremywindmiller.blogspot.com
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremywindmiller