This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.
It's now conventional wisdom that if you have a small business, you should be regularly earmarking time to cultivate your fan base on Facebook and Twitter. Perhaps you should post news that's relevant to your product or service. Funny pictures are also good for increasing those "Likes" and circulating your business's name to new, potential customers.
Less than one-third of companies have employees dedicated solely to social-media tasks, according to a recent survey.
Conducted by Ragan Communications and NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions, it found that "organizations are cautious about dedicating resources to social media, and adding social media to the list of tasks traditionally assigned to communicators," a release said
The survey, which polled more than 2,700 social-media professionals, revealed that 27% of companies have someone focusing exclusively on social. On the other hand, 65% of companies add social media on top of other duties
Kickstarter is virtually synonymous with crowdfunding, and it's not hard to see why.
Since the platform launched in 2009, Kickstarter has raised $368 million for projects that met or passed their goals and has helped launch nearly 80,000 projects in total. In fact, one month after launching in the U.K., Kickstarter had already generated more than $3 million worth of pledges from 45,000.
Just as importantly, there have been several blockbuster success stories ranging from Double Fine's adventure game, which raised more than $3 million in a month to the Pebble watch, which raised more than $10 million by the end of its Kickstarter campaign.
The Recording Academy, whose members help decide which people in the music industry earn Grammy awards, have nominated Canadian pop star Carly Rae Jepsen's viral hit "Call Me Maybe" for Song of the Year
She will compete against Fun's "We Are Young," Ed Sheeran's "The A Team," Kelly Clarkson's "Stronger" and Miguel's "Adorn." Winners of the 55th Annual Grammy Awardswill be announced during the Feb. 10 televised broadcast. Jepsen also earned a nod for Best Pop Solo Performance
Jepsen responded to Wednesday night's nominations on Twitter:
The 2012 presidential election is just over a month behind us, so we've had time to celebrate, mourn or just be thankful it's all over
Throughout the election, many voters participated in a cultural phenomenon made possible by social media. Any piece of content created by anyone had the potential to go viral on the web — particularly, memes, funny images and captions that commented on the day's events.
In a way, political memes represent the democratization of political cartoons. Just as a blogger no longer requires space in a newspaper to share his viewpoint with millions, a meme-maker can communicate a political point with simple visuals and caustic humor.
The world of YouTube ads had a little bit of everything, from eye-popping extreme sports ads by Red Bull and DC Shoes to touching Christmas ads as well as three -- no kidding, three -- videos featuring Justin Bieber.
The most shared, though, was the imaginative infomercial created by Melbourne's public transportation authority to warn commuters of the dangers of crossing the rails or standing too close to the platform edge. Titled "Dumb Ways to Die," the ad features colorful fruit cartoons dying in the most unimaginable ways. The dark humor and funny delivery turns out to be a very effective way of saying "Just be careful."
New York's Mayor Michael Bloomberg, along with his tech and digital teams, have challenged innovators to come up with a use for the city's 11,000 pay phones
The Reinvent Payphones Design Challenge targets urban planners, technologists and policy experts. It aims to find data and design-inspired ideas to modernize the city's infrastructure, before the pay phones' contracts expire in 2014.
"From Wi-Fi in public spaces to the High Line, our Administration has continuously reinvented City infrastructure by matching innovative concepts with extraordinary designs," Bloomberg said at the New York Tech Meetup Tuesday evening
What if we told you that you could spend $81 on an edible iPhone 5 case?
The Survival Senbai Rice Cracker iPhone 5 Case is exactly that. The phone cover is made from brown rice and salt -- think of it as a rice cake designed to fit snugly around your phone
If you're wondering who would dish out four Andrew Jacksons for an iPhone case that won't last until the next major Apple product launch, get a load of this: The case, made by Mariko and sold in the Japan Trend Shop, has already sold out
Murder suspect and tech entrepreneur John McAfee was arrested by Guatemalan police on Wednesday, according to Mauricio Lopez Bonilla, the country's interior minister.
McAfee was arrested for illegally entering Guatemala, after he entered the country to escape Belizean authorities, Reuters reports. Now a fugitive, McAfee is the prime suspect in the murder of Gregory Faull, an American expat who was shot in San Pedro Town, Belize last month
Andrew Wiggins is thought of by many as the best high school basketball prospect since LeBron James. He's currently in the process of deciding where to play his college ball for, in all likelihood, one year before taking his talents to the NBA
While on a recruiting visit to Florida State University on Wednesday afternoon, the following photo of Wiggins enjoying some quality time with female students hit the web via @KySportsRadio. It sparked a round of minor hysteria among college basketball recruitniks, fans and media members -- along with a host of He Got Game references -- on Twitter
The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) has teamed up with Mini Cooper in New Zealand to teach three dogs how to drive
The Auckland SPCA hopes to dispel idea that abandoned pets are second-rate with the social campaign.
"Obviously, we think dogs are pretty smart and amazing. And we reckon, if more people thought the same, more of our dogs would find happy homes," the official Facebook page states. The interactive marketing campaign lives on the Driving Dogs Facebook page where visitors can learn about adopting a smart dog and about the Mini Cooper
The selections are in, and college football bowl season is officially here. The action kicks off on Dec. 15 with the New Mexico and Famous Idaho Potato bowls, then more than 30 more matchups will take place before the BCS Championship game on Jan. 7
For college football players, bowl games are a tremendous opportunity -- an extended season, one more game with trusted teammates and a final chance to impress NFL scouts before the offseason
They also get awesome schwag bags full of free stuff. The folks at Sports Business Daily did some serious legwork recently, calling up the commissioners of every bowl game to get the rundown on what participating players get to hold on to, and sports startup Chat Sports pointed out to us that plenty of tech goodies are among the haul
Renting a villa for a vacation sounds extravagant -- and it often can be. But whether you're treating yourself to the trip of a lifetime or sharing a villa with friends (which can be affordable) there are a number of websites where you can find just the right vacation home rental
A villa can refer to everything from lavish compounds on their own private islands, to beachfront homes, castles, ski-in/ski-out properties, country estates and more
Airbnb is a well-known site for either crashing with someone at their home or renting homes and villas all to yourself. With Airbnb, you can search to rent an entire home in a certain price range. You'll usually have to pay a deposit and the page about each particular property will say how many people it comfortably sleeps
Getting anywhere in the world within four hours seems impossible, but a UK company, Reaction Engines Ltd., successfully completed testing of a new propulsion system that could one day make that possible.
The idea behind the REL system is similar to what we now see with current jetliners, but would function as a rocket
Called SABRE, it burns hydrogen and oxygen but gets the oxygen from the atmosphere, much like a jet engine breathes fuel. The system would be affixed to a 275-foot Skylon spaceplane. Taking off and landing like a regular airbus, the vehicle would then burn its onboard fuel supply once it reaches speeds of about Mach 5.
No one is ever going to say it -- sometimes Christmas isn't all it's cracked up to be. Some years it's too cold, the cookies burn, the tree falls over, the lights get tangled and there's no one to kiss under the mistletoe
And the Other Guys know just what we're talking about
They won't be rockin' around the Christmas tree anytime soon but they have crafted what may be the most eloquent, harmonious, angel-like list of Epic Fails: the Christmas version
On Election Day, Bridget Mary McCormack won a seat on the Michigan Supreme Court. Why should you care? Because she may very well owe her victory in part to Facebook, where more than half of her late-game advertising budget was spent
A week before the election, victory was far from assured. McCormack was running on the "non-partisan" section of the ballot, often overlooked by voters. She was in striking distance of victory, but not on top of the polls. An outside group made a large television ad buy against her, framing her as a friend of terrorists for having represented terrorism suspects in court
Like a small safe in your pocket or purse, Zippo's wallet encased in stainless steel prevents RFID-using criminals from swiping your credit card information
The new Zippo wallet's stainless steel outer shell not only gives the wallet a sleek look but also blocks radio frequency identification with its RF shield. RFID technology uses radio-frequency electromagnetic fields to take data from a tag on an object or card. Thieves can use this from yards away without even touching you.
Concerns over the potential threats of RFID have grown as awareness about how many products contains RFID tags has increased. RFID tags can be found in medications, clothing, and other goods to track them throughout the manufacturing process
President Obama held a Twitter Town Hall Monday afternoon to address the fiscal cliff in segments of 140 characters. He answered questions on the social media site with the hashtag #My2k and drew Internet buzz like only the President can
Watch here as the POTUS click clacks away on his computer, complete with the Presidential seal, and decides which questions to tackle. The behind the scenes look proves that your questions were coming straight from the Roosevelt Room via the President himself, and not some press agent
The 2012 official White House Christmas card features First Dog Bo in a painting by Iowa artist Larassa Kabel.
Printed on luxuriously thick card stock, inside is the inscription, "This season, may your home be filled with family, friends, and the joy of the holidays." Added at the bottom are the printed signatures of Barack and Michelle Obama, along with their two daughters Malia and Sasha. Somehow, they got the star of the Christmas card, FDOTUS (First Dog of the United States) Bo to sign the card as well.
Well, a year is a long time to go without changing any feature at the rapidly iterating social network -- which announced Wednesday that it would be changing the name of your subscribers. At some point in the next few days, and henceforth, they will be known as followers
Astute readers will notice that's exactly the word Twitter uses to describe folks who, er, follow you on that service. Conspiracy-minded readers might surmise that Facebook always intended to take the Twitter nomenclature outright, and simply waited a year to get everyone used to the feature before changing the name. Indeed, it's hard not to read something into the fact that this is rolling out on the same day that Instagram removed its support for pictures within tweets
Some might make you think twice about an overlooked topic; others might make you cry (or, in the event your coworkers are watching, contract a "sudden allergy" in both eyes.) A few may even make you want to get off the couch, chase after your dreams and tell everyone who's ever supported you how much you love them.
In any case, they've all got one warm and tingly thing in common
Looking for a unique gift for the casual gamer in your life? The award-winning Sifteo Cubes might be the answer you're searching for this holiday season
Fresh on the market (so you'll look like a hip kid), the Cubes are part of a new interactive gaming system that combines real world objects with high-tech digital games
The starter pack, suitable for ages seven and up, consists of the necessary base with a built-in speaker for game audio, three Cubes, and four pre-installed games -- Chroma Splash, Cube Buddies, Code Cracker and Word Caravan
Earth is a big place. Even with our billion-dollar satellites and high-tech monitoring equipment, we are still discovering new species on land and at sea
On average, scientists identify 36 new mammals every year. And the ocean is an even more mysterious place. Two-thirds of marine species remain unknown — a huge number, considering between 700,000 and one million species live in oceans.
In 2012, we met some new species currently sharing the Earth with us — a gorgeous blue tarantula and a sneezing monkey, to name a couple. And we discovered some of our new friends in innovative ways, through Flickr photos, for example (we're looking at you, Semachrysa jade)
With more and more of us using the camera on our ever-present smartphone to document our lives, we sometimes settle for pictures or videos that don't quite do the moment justice. That might be OK if you're taking a quick shot to share via Twitter or Instagram, but what if you're skiing down the Matterhorn in Zermatt? That's an action shot or video you want to make sure you can capture and share -- without ruining your phone, of course.
Mophie, known mainly for those Juice Pack extended battery cases for iPhone, is out with an add-on case that turns your iPhone into a rugged waterproof video camera
The company's stock plunged by more than 6% on Wednesday, declining by $37 a share and closing below $540 for the first time in more than two weeks. All in all, Apple's market cap declined by just under $35 billion today -- or nearly twice the market cap of Dell.
The stock's decline had analysts somewhat puzzled as there was no major piece of news preceding it.
Some pinned the decline on one of two reports that came out today. The first came from DigiTimes -- a publication with a mixed track record for accuracy -- which said there may be a 20% quarter-over-quarter decline in Apple's demand for parts for the iPhone 5, which some investors might have taken to mean a decline in demand for the phone itself. The second report came from IDC, a research firm, which predicted that Apple would lose some of its share of the tablet market to Android
The New York Post’s decision to publish an image of a man on the New York City subway tracks moments before the impact that led to his death has become a lightning rod for controversy. Why did the Post run the photo? Why didn't freelance photographer R. Umar Abbasi, the man who took the photo, save Ki-Suck Han? I want to know these things, too, but I have a very different question. What would you do?
Abbasi’s predicament may seem a world away from you, but it’s not. You, you smartphone-toting citizen journalist, stand just as much a chance of being a witness to history and horror as today’s garden-variety journalist.
A room without light is just dull, pitch-black darkness. An Earth in the darkness of night, though, is something else entirely. For proof, NASA released some of the most spectacular nighttime views of the Earth ever seen from space.
Dubbed the "Black Marble," the images of the globe in darkness are composites of satellite data that was acquired in April and October 2012
According to NASA spokesperson Rebecca Roth, Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (the satellite that took these images) is so sensitive that it can detect light from just a single ship at sea. "So you can imagine how clearly it can see cities," she says.
Twenty-five years ago, Heidi Russo gave her first-born son up for adoption. Two weeks ago, he became an NFL star
As Colin Kaepernick emerges as one of the league's hottest young quarterbacks for the San Francisco 49ers, Russo watches from a distance and wonders what might have been. In interviews with national and Bay Area news outlets, she sounds secure in her decision, but burdened by a painful understanding of his tepid responses to her efforts at reconnecting
When Russo gave Kaepernick up for adoption back in the late 1980s she was, as Bay Area News Group columnist Monte Poole writes, "a pregnant 18-year-old in Wisconsin carrying a biracial child fathered by a man to whom she was not married." Kapernick's rise to stardom since he put on a dazzling show in his first NFL start on Monday Night Football on Nov. 19 has thrust Russo's story and heartache into the national spotlight. But Russo, who is now a registered nurse and lives in Colorado, also tried to make contact before his newfound fame
The list of Internet luminaries warning about a United Nations conference about the Internet and telecommunications is growing by the day: Google and Mozilla have spoken out against the conference. Vint Cerf, Google VP and "father of the Internet" wrote against it two days ago. World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee did the same on Tuesday.
The conference in question is the International Telecommunication Union's WCIT, or the World Conference on International Telecommunications. WCIT's purpose is to update a decades-old international treaty that sets standards for cross-border communications, among other purposes. As the treaty hasn't been updated since 1988, high on the list of priorities is determining whether the treaty should be updated to include language about the Internet, and if so, to determine what that language should be.
Choosing the right Christmas tree for your household can be a daunting task. Even after you find the perfect fir, you're stuck with transporting, setting up and taking it down -- all for just for a few days of the year
But what if you could conveniently slide that tree under your bed in just seconds? Treeasy is an aluminum cut-out that is compact, portable and takes the place of messy live trees.
Treeasy's designer José Manuel Rebert Alarcon, created the aluminum tree with laser-cut grooves. It transforms from a flat piece of aluminum into a tree, and the design even includes a spot for a screw-in star on the top.
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