Info Media Blogs

Carriers Eye Pay-As-You-Go Internet

2009-10-25T18:20:00.001-07:00

OCTOBER 21, 2009

( See Correction & Amplification below. )

In the early years of the Internet, the more time people spent online, the more they paid a provider like AOL for their connection. But as customers have shifted to always-on broadband services, many Web surfers have enjoyed all-you-can-eat Internet for a flat rate.

Some cable and telecommunications providers are trying to turn back the clock and return to usage-based pricing for Internet connections. Carriers including AT&T Inc. and Time Warner Cable Inc. say they may have to switch amid a surge in Internet traffic as more people go online to watch videos and download movies.

Recent efforts to introduce usage-based, or metered, broadband services have met stiff resistance from consumers. But a new push by the federal government to adopt rules that would force Internet providers to treat all Web traffic equally, no matter how much bandwidth they take up, could give ammunition to the broadband providers that want to change how they charge for Web access, Internet experts and consumer advocates say.

"This could come down to carriers saying, 'If you don't allow us to manage our networks the way we see fit, then we will just have to cap everything,' " says Phillip Dampier, a consumer advocate focusing on technology issues in Rochester, N.Y. "They'll make it an either/or thing: give them more control over their network or expect metered broadband."

Mr. Dampier was among those who forced>>>

Bloomberg to Buy BusinessWeek After McGraw-Hill Tires of Losses

2009-10-16T02:25:00.000-07:00

OCTOBER 13, 2009

By SHIRA OVIDE And RUSSELL ADAMS

McGraw-Hill Cos. agreed to sell BusinessWeek to Bloomberg L.P., marking the growing media ambitions of its new owner and a retreat for McGraw-Hill after 80 years of owning of the business magazine.

The purchase price wasn't disclosed, but people familiar with the matter say Bloomberg agreed to pay nearly $5 million and take responsibility for more than $10 million in liabilities, including severance for BusinessWeek staffers who might lose their jobs.

View Full Image

Bloomberg News

Copies of BusinessWeek magazine sit on display at a news stand in New York on Monday.

Bloomberg executives said the firm hasn't made any decision about job cuts or staffing at the magazine. The top editor at BusinessWeek is Stephen Adler, and the highest-ranking business executive is President Keith Fox. The company will invest in BusinessWeek and its Web site, the Bloomberg executives said.

"We didn't buy this to gut it," Daniel Doctoroff, president of Bloomberg L.P., said in an interview. "We bought it to build it."

Mr. Doctoroff said it's likely the magazine will be renamed "Bloomberg BusinessWeek."

The ownership change comes amid a major advertising>>>

Why Email No Longer Rules… …And what that means for the way we communicate

2009-10-15T17:29:00.001-07:00

OCTOBER 12, 2009

By JESSICA E. VASCELLARO

Email has had a good run as king of communications. But its reign is over.

In its place, a new generation of services is starting to take hold—services like Twitter and Facebook and countless others vying for a piece of the new world. And just as email did more than a decade ago, this shift promises to profoundly rewrite the way we communicate—in ways we can only begin to imagine.

We all still use email, of course. But email was better suited to the way we used to use the Internet—logging off and on, checking our messages in bursts. Now, we are always connected, whether we are sitting at a desk or on a mobile phone. The always-on connection, in turn, has created a host of new ways to communicate that are much faster than email, and more fun.

Why wait for a response to an email when you get a quicker answer over instant messaging? Thanks to Facebook, some questions can be answered without asking them. You don't need to ask a friend whether she has left work, if she has updated her public "status" on the site telling the world so. Email, stuck in the era of attachments, seems boring compared to services like Google Wave, currently in test phase, which allows users to share photos by dragging and dropping them from a desktop into a Wave, and to enter comments in near real time.

Little wonder that while email continues to grow, other types of communication services are growing far faster. In August 2009, 276.9 million people used email across the U.S., several European countries, Australia and Brazil, according to Nielsen Co., up 21% from 229.2 million in August 2008. But the number of users on social-networking and other community sites jumped 31% to 301.5 million people.

"The whole idea of this email service isn't really quite as significant anymore when you can have many, many different types of messages and files and when you have this all on the same type of networks," says Alex Bochannek, curator at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif.

So, how will these new tools change the way we communicate? Let's start with the most obvious: They make our interactions that much faster.

Into the River>>>

A Windows To Help You Forget

2009-10-10T19:01:00.000-07:00

October 7, 2009
by Walter S. Mossberg

A Windows to Help You Forget

October 7, 2009
by Walter S. Mossberg

Print Share

In just two weeks, on Oct. 22, Microsoft’s long operating-system nightmare will be over. The company will release Windows 7, a faster and much better operating system than the little-loved Windows Vista, which did a lot to harm both the company’s reputation, and the productivity and blood pressure of its users. PC makers will rush to flood physical and online stores with new computers pre-loaded with Windows 7, and to offer the software to Vista owners who wish to upgrade.

With Windows 7, PC users will at last have a strong, modern successor to the sturdy and familiar, but aged, Windows XP, which is still the most popular version of Windows, despite having come out in 2001. In the high-tech world, an eight-year-old operating system is the equivalent of a 20-year-old car. While XP works well for many people, it is relatively weak in areas such as security, networking and other features more important today than when XP was designed around 1999.

After using pre-release versions of Windows 7 for nine months, and intensively testing the final version for the past month on many different machines, I believe it is the best version of Windows Microsoft (MSFT) has produced. It’s a boost to productivity and a pleasure to use. Despite a few drawbacks, I can heartily recommend Windows 7 to mainstream consumers.

Like the new Snow Leopard operating system released in August by Microsoft’s archrival, Apple (AAPL), Windows 7 is much more of an evolutionary than a revolutionary product. Its main goal was to fix the flaws in Vista and to finally give Microsoft customers a reason to move up from XP. But Windows 7 is packed with features and tweaks that make using your computer an easier and more satisfying experience.

The new taskbar shows small previews of many windows and allows for larger previews.

Windows 7 introduces real advances in>>>

An Hour In The Life Of Google — Via Twitter

2009-10-03T02:18:00.001-07:00

By TONY KONTZER, FOR INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILYPosted 09/08/2009 06:32 PM ET

Before you dismiss Twitter as a message board for narcissistic blathering, know this: In a very short time, you can accumulate a wide range of knowledge about companies you might want to invest in.

Take Google (GOOG).

We decided to monitor all tweets (Twitter posts — maximum 140 characters — for the uninitiated) related to Google for a random hour. We chose Google because it's actively traded and, well, interesting.

Mind you, there are plenty of Twitter filters out there that will accumulate all Google posts in one site and let you browse at your leisure. But Twitter's real-time nature is one of its attractions.

So, on Wednesday, Aug. 19, I watched nearly 3,000 Google-related tweets roll in across my screen.

Some highlights:

11:30-11:35 a.m.: The first tweet was a crackup: "I wish Google Maps had an 'avoid ghetto' routing option." A practical concern, for sure, but we're looking to get real information, so the next post about AT&T (T) allegedly killing Google Voice is of much more interest. (AT&T denied this was so.) The embedded link takes us to a Wall Street Journal column suggesting Apple's (AAPL) recent decision to reject a proposed Google Voice iPhone application was an indication that AT&T, the exclusive iPhone carrier in the U.S., is having troubles. That might get an investor's attention, no?

Seconds later, we're alerted that it's the five-year>>>

A Brief History of Blogs

2009-09-27T11:02:00.000-07:00

July 16, 2009, 12:00AM EST

How a form of grassroots communication led to the likes of YouTube and Facebook, and transformed the media landscape

By Stephen Baker

The Good: Gracefully written and well researched, Say Everything captures the drama of blogging's rapid-fire rise.

The Bad: It may be too heavy on technology and history for the casual reader.

The Bottom Line: Rosenberg tells an important story, one that leads to both Facebook and Twitter, emphasizing the pioneers and the power of the medium

and much more here>>>

The Web Knows What You Want

2009-09-27T09:13:00.000-07:00

July 16, 2009, 5:00PM EST

By dissecting behavioral data, e-marketers are creating sites armed with predictive technology

By Stephen Baker

Every once in a while in most Web surfers' lives, a suggestion pops up on the screen that leads them to wonder: How did they know that about me? The moment can seem magical, and a bit creepy.

Consider this one. A shopper at the retail site FigLeaves.com takes a close look at a silky pair of women's slippers. Next a recommendation appears for a man's bathrobe. This could seem terribly wrong—unless, of course, it turns out to be precisely what she wanted. This type of surprising connection will happen more often as e-marketers adopt a new generation of predictive technology. It's fueled by growing rivers of behavioral data, from mouse clicks to search queries—all crunched by ever more powerful computers.

Why the bathrobe? ATG (ARTG), a Cambridge (Mass.) e-commerce software company that crunches data for FigLeaves, has found that certain types of female shoppers at certain times of the week are likely to be shopping for men. Like all Web recommendations, this one will be wrong a good portion of the time. But as marketers scrutinize shoppers in greater detail, they're edging closer to their ultimate goal: teaching computers to blend data smarts with something close to the savvy of a flesh-and-blood>>>

2009-09-25T01:43:00.000-07:00

Thursday, September 24, 2009
By Andrea Thompson

Since man first touched the moon and brought pieces of it back to Earth, scientists have thought that the lunar surface was bone dry. But new observations from three different spacecraft have put this notion to rest with what has been called "unambiguous evidence" of water across the surface of the moon.

The new findings, detailed in the Sept. 25 issue of the journal Science, come in the wake of further evidence of lunar polar water ice by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and just weeks before the planned lunar impact of NASA's LCROSS satellite, which will hit one of the permanently shadowed craters at the moon's south pole in hope of churning up evidence of water ice deposits in the debris field.

The moon remains drier than any desert on Earth, but the water is said to exist on the moon in very small quantities. Finding water on the moon would be a boon to possible future lunar bases, acting as a potential source of drinking water and fuel.

Apollo turns up dry

When Apollo astronauts returned from the moon 40 years ago, they brought back several samples of lunar rocks.

and much more here>>>

Could The Feds Seize The Internet?

2009-09-02T18:01:00.000-07:00

By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Wednesday, September 02, 2009 4:20 PM PT

Security: A Senate bill lets the president "declare a cybersecurity emergency" relating to "nongovernmental" computer networks and do what's needed to respond to the threat. Didn't they just collect our e-mail addresses?

Internet Addicts Get First U.S. Treatment Clinic

2009-08-28T03:42:00.001-07:00

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Hardcore Internet junkies now have their very own version of the Betty Ford clinic.

The Heavensfield Retreat Center, located in Fall City, Wash., claims to be the first U.S in-patient center to treat Internet, video game and texting addictions. Enrollment in the clinic’s 45-day Internet addiction recovery program, called reStart, costs roughly $14,500.

The program is designed to wean patients off the Internet by combining traditional talk therapy with social skills training, such as lessons in conversation techniques and dating. Patients also feed goats, raise chickens and do home-maintenance work as a way of getting reoriented with the offline world.

The clinic's first patient is a 19-year-old>>>

The Space Station

2009-08-18T18:38:00.000-07:00

Click here: USATODAY.com feature

"The Space Station"

The most complicated construction project of all time! This is so cool!!! I've wondered for a long time what it looked like today, now I can see it very clearly! This shows the development in stages. Very educational.

Let Your Blog Make Money Online - How it Works

2009-08-15T03:19:00.000-07:00

By Tim Yu

If you are one of those many people who are already bored with your office routine everyday, you might want to try something else, especially if you have a blog site that you maintain for social networking purposes. You need to let your blog make money online and not waste the opportunity or potential for earning. Time is short and there are practically hundreds of thousands, and even millions, of potential customers out there.

You need to understand how you can let your blog make money online. You have several choices and all you need to do is to select a few or even select all. The first option you can have is to do affiliate marketing through your blog site. How this works is pretty simple. All you need to do is to subscribe to affiliate marketing programs. They will give you a personal link that will lead to their website if clicked, and you will be paid if the customers or visitors who went there through your website made a purchase.

The other way to let your blog make money online is through pay per click marketing. What needs to be done here is that you also place a company's link to your website but you will only get paid if these links are clicked. You also have to be informed that these clicks will only be paid for unique users. This means that the same person cannot go on clicking the link. It will only get paid once.

Tim Yu is a Internet Marketer who owns http://www.InternetBloggingProfits.com - He has helped hundreds of people on Starting Up an Internet Business.

He has recently developed a Free 7-Days Profitable e-course showing you a step by step process for starting your Internet Business . To learn how to start Making Money Fast without wasting your time and losing more money, visit http://www.InternetBloggingProfits.com/BlogSecrets

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tim_Yu

How to Make Money Blogging in Your Spare Time

2009-08-15T03:08:00.000-07:00

By Suzanne Bucciarelli

Okay, you have a website that is up and ready for action, but what comes next? That's easy, you need to start getting your online site to generate money and you can do this by blogging. There are a number of ways to turn blogging into dollars and you can soon discover how to make money blogging from your home computer. Check out the programs offered by Clickbank, Amazon, Ebay and AdSense and you will see how easy it is to bang out bucks by blogging online.

If you want to maximize your income and minimize your effort then you need to connect multiple sites among a number of different niche markets. These sites can pay off some great dividends for you in just a short amount of time. For example if you have 30 sites and each of these manages to pull in $2 a day then you have a nice little income of $1800 a month. Even if your sites only grab you a single $1 a day, that is still $900 a month for doing what? Blogging, that's what.

50 sites earning $2 each per day will generate $3000 per month in income and this is nothing to be sneezed at. This total does not even count any of the income that is being earned through the affiliate links that you are connected with. Sites that are promoting other affiliate links through Adsense or Clickbank are likely earning even more income than the $1-2 per day that we are using in these examples. If you can get 30 sites to generate just $5 each per day that means you have $150 coming into your bank account on a daily basis which equals $1050 a week or more than $52K per year. Is blogging beginning to look better by the moment? You better believe it. Think of what you could do with this kind of additional pocket change.

Ok, sure it looks good, but maybe you are still concerned about trying to get 30-50 sites up and running. Not only that, you have to maintain them, so just how much work is that? I hear what you are saying, but you can get some software programs now that let you build your sites in a few easy steps and the rest is just automatic so all you have to do is "set and forget". Besides, once these sites start depositing big bucks into your checking account you can pay someone to do the grunt work for you.

Suzanne Bucciarelli is the owner of Niche Blogging Treasure, featuring very high quality, pre-made niche blogs. To see the gallery of niche blogs, and niche blogging articles, please visit: Niche Blogging Treasure

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Suzanne_Bucciarelli

How to Make Money Blogging

2009-08-15T03:06:00.000-07:00

By Joe Daley

Technology has spread far and wide. So is the number of people using it. The number of blogs that are being registered each day shows a huge increase on a day-to-day basis. There are different reasons as to why each person maintains a blog. For some it is a method of letting others know of their suggestions and opinions on various aspects. For some others, it is an avenue to show off their literary talents. But, there are several business-minded people who think of ways to earn money from their blogs. There are innumerable ideas available online to begin earning from your blogs, but here, we will discuss four main strategies that you can make use of, to start earning from your blog.

You can sell some space in your blog for advertisements on your own. This is the most common method of earning through a blog. However, this strategy may show results only if your blog is popular and has a high traffic to it. But, if your blog is not that popular, you can make use of Google AdSense programs to place ads. Here, you get paid, based on the number of visitors who click the ad placed within your blog. Out of organizations offering such services, Google AdSense is free, but Blog Ads levies some commission from the blogger.

The second strategy is to use your blog to sell products from others, who might be interested in selling their products online. You can also include tags and links within your blog, which takes readers to the particular website. In this case, for every unique visitor who clicks the link or tag, you are rewarded. For example, within a blog post, you can mention of the particular product that is available online, and get your readers to go there. If a sale happens, you will be rewarded.

If you are good at a particular service, and you feel that you can sell your services, your blog can form an avenue for that. For example, architects and interior designers can put up their portfolios within the blog, and that can attract business. There are several astrologers who use their blogs to sell their services. You can also express your abilities in a particular skill. That will let your readers know your level of knowledge in that topic, and that will turn in more business for you.

You need to treat your existing clients very well. Your blog can be used to deepen the relations you hold with them. When you regularly communicate with your existing customers about your business, new readers will also be intrigued to know what you do. This in turn helps to increase the traffic to your blog. They might recommend you to other people they know.

Though many of us use our blogs as a private space to yell out all that we feel and like, if used wisely, they can prove the best gateways to obtain easy money.

Joe Daley
Logo Design Ideas at Logomyway.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joe_Daley

Study Finds Earliest Black Holes Born Starving

2009-08-15T02:46:00.000-07:00

Friday, August 14, 2009
By Clara Moskowitz

The first black holes in the universe were born starving.

A new study found that the earliest black holes lacked nearby matter to gobble up, and so lay relatively stagnant in pockets of emptiness.

The finding, based on the most detailed computer simulations to date, counters earlier ideas that these first black holes accumulated mass quickly and ballooned into the supermassive black holes that lurk at the centers of many galaxies today.

"It has been speculated that these first black holes were seeds and accreted huge amounts of matter," said the study's leader Marcelo Alvarez, an astrophysicist at the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology in California. "We're just finding out that it could be much more complex than that."

Alvarez and colleagues constructed a computer simulation of the early universe based on measurements of the cosmic background radiation left over from the Big Bang, which scientists think started the universe 13.7 billion years ago. The model used these starting conditions, and the laws of physics, to watch how the universe may have evolved.

I Make Money by Blogging Using Only Affiliate Marketing - Discover My Success Secrets

2009-07-29T02:14:00.000-07:00

By Ay Samuel

Just as it has been said in the title, I make money by blogging. And I do so using what is called affiliate marketing. What this means is that I use blogs to promote products and services that I do not own or render. I use blogs to promote these products and services and make a darn good income from my activities. Here's how I do it.

I Develop A Large List Of Prospects
Sending all the visitors you generate to the affiliate program site you represent is huge mistake. It is a huge mistake because you are throwing away your chances of earning a huge income from sites you represent into the dustbin (that is exactly what it is when you don't build a list).

Develop a list of prospects that come to your blog looking for information. At first the list won't be large but over time there will be an exponential growth. Do not say because you do not have a large enough list, you won't contact those who have already joined your prospect list. Contact them regularly and lead them back to your blog to present them more offers in a subtle way. That is really how I make money by blogging.

I Always Presell Whatever It Is I Promote
Be it a product or service, there is one thing you should always do. Always make sure you do a good job of preselling the product or service you represent. Write each blog post on your blog with the mind of preselling. Presell your visitors and you will be able to get into their head space, which will naturally help persuade them to take action on whatever it is you want them to do.

Preselling to your visitor is very simple. One way to do it is to produce interesting and informative articles that teach prospects how to do certain things the right way. Once you produce these sorts of articles and post them on your blog, every other thing will follow as regards pulling in profits from your blog.

The way I make money by blogging is very simple - isn't it?

Ay Samuel is a writer/blogging expert. Get the solution to all your make money blogging worries at his amazing make money by blogging site.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ay_Samuel

Blogging 101: How do I start writing a blog?

2009-07-26T01:44:00.000-07:00

July 21, 10:13 PM

A few years ago, blogging was in its infancy. Blogs were viewed as something similar to scrapbooking or collecting stamps: a hobby. Time passed and people learned that they could typically get real information or just simple amusement by reading blogs. Before long, everyone from stay at home mothers to sports fans became bloggers.

Although new trends such as microblogging (Twitter) have come along, blogging is still an extremely popular way to share your thoughts or expertise on the Internet.

Reading blogs is the first step in starting your own.Gain insight on blog design, writing styles, and what makes some blogs more interesting to read than others. Do not aim to make money with your blog as you will surely fail. Yes, you can make money blogging but it is more than likely not going to pay your mortgage. Focus on making your blog something you enjoy instead of a potential money making machine. Whether you are someone who knows a lot about one subject or you just want to share tidbits of your life with others, your blog will be of interest because you are passionate about it.

Blogging is a fantastic tool for self-expression. It is an easy way to spread the word about something you think is important or just to do a little therapeutic journaling. You do not need to be a writing expert to gain entry into the world of blogging. Anyone can start a blog. There are sites on-line that will walk you through setting up your first blog in less than fifteen minutes. Blogging platforms such as Blogger.com or Wordpress.com offer free hosting and simple instructions on how to set up your first blog.

Once you have decided that blogging is something you would love to do, don't stress over what to write. A personal blog is supposed to be about your thoughts. If you have a small business, perhaps you could write about the difficulties and successes of starting your own business. If gardening is your passion. Maybe your life is full of drama or full of fun and you don't have time to write it all in a novel. Blogging is a good way to just let the bits and pieces out. Writing shorter posts is preferable because most people who read blogs don't have time to read an epic novel. Keep them engaged and you'll bring them back for your next post.

It is very important to write regularly>>>

Make Money Blogging: Top Bloggers And How Much They Earn

2009-07-26T01:34:00.000-07:00

by Silicon Valley Blogger on August 12, 2008

Can you make money blogging? Apparently so, as these top bloggers can attest!

These days, when I bump into other mothers on play dates, or when I see people I haven’t seen for sometime, I get asked how and what I’ve been doing lately. I pause, then tell them that I “blog”. That of course, inspires a lengthy discussion about the subject of “blogging”; I tell them why I do it and why I’ve traded my almost 20 year old career in technology and software development for this new-fangled activity.

Blogging is one of those “cheap hobbies” that turned me into an accidental entrepreneur. It’s work that I find enjoyable, that is sufficiently challenging, that allows me to keep learning and expanding my knowledge in so many ways (and not just in the area of finance). It’s something that I can actually earn money from while affording me the ability to set my own hours and work on my own terms. What more can you ask for in a “job”?

Then again, it may not be for everyone: it can make you fat (I believe) and for some people, it’s even a health hazard! But if you’re interested in giving it a go, here are the basic steps to get started:

How To Start Blogging

1. Learn the basics using a free blogging platform such as Wordpress.com or Blogger.com. Now there may be limitations with how you can monetize a site if you use these platforms. More serious bloggers actually decide to get their own domains and self-host their blogs to have full control of their web properties.

2. Register your own domain and sign up with a hosting plan. As I mentioned, serious bloggers who want to monetize their sites fully will benefit from hooking up with a solid and cheap hosting provider. I initially used Dreamhost, but then they gave me too much downtime, so I’ve since switched to Hostmonster, which has been awesome! Some other great and cheap choices are: Bluehost, Lunarpages, Webhostingpad and FatCow (with $10 off). As for domain registration, I’ve been using GoDaddy.

3. Download and set up the Wordpress application in your hosted environment. Your web host provider may be able to assist you with this.

4. Be patient as you learn the ropes. There’s a lot to learn, but the best way to get inspired is to see how others have done it!

Here are a few enthralling details about successful bloggers that I sourced from BusinessWeek. These profiles can inspire you to pursue your online aspirations:

Top Bloggers and The Money They Earn>>>

How to Make Money Online

2009-07-26T01:32:00.000-07:00

What Determines a Blog's Success?

2009-07-26T01:29:00.000-07:00

How to Blog

2009-07-26T01:27:00.000-07:00

Blogs in Plain English

2009-07-26T01:25:00.000-07:00

Hubble Images Show Debris From Jupiter Collision

2009-07-26T01:24:00.000-07:00

Saturday, July 25, 2009

NASA

The Hubble Space Telescope shows the sharpest visible-light light picture taken of the impact feature (dark spot) and "backsplash" of material.

BALTIMORE — NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is offering a glimpse of atmospheric debris from an object that plunged into Jupiter in a rare collision with the planet.

Scientists used the telescope Thursday to capture what they call the "sharpest visible-light picture" so far of the expanding gash. An amateur stargazer in Australia spotted the impression last Sunday.

Remember This Number

2009-07-23T20:14:00.001-07:00

Here's a number worth putting in your cell phone or your home phone speed dial: 1-800-goog411 or 1-800-466-4411. This is an awesome service from Google, and it's free -- great when you are on the road. Don't waste your money on information calls and don't waste your time manually dialing the number. I am driving along in my car and I need to call the golf course and I don't know the number. I hit the speed dial for information that I have programmed (1-800-goog411). The voice at the other end says, "Say the name of the business and the City & State." You say, "Parker Plastic Sand Springs, OK." He says, 'Connecting' and Parker Plastic answers the phone. How great is that? This is nationwide and it is absolutely free! Works on cell and landline phones.

Click on the link below and watch the short clip for a quick demonstration.

http://www.google.com/goog411/

Tools for Tweets

2009-07-21T18:10:00.000-07:00

JULY 13, 2009

By RAYMUND FLANDEZ

Twitter is changing the way small businesses market themselves. Now a host of software companies are trying to change the way small businesses use Twitter.

These companies are flooding the Web with thousands of tools—many of them free of charge—that simplify a number of common tasks on the microblogging service. Some software, for instance, lets you automatically search for Twitter posts, known as tweets, that mention your company. Other programs let you easily organize the tweets that you follow, or manage how multiple employees use a single Twitter account.

What’s more, Twitter says that by year’s end, it will launch several new features of its own for commercial use, such as a directory of business users.

Of course, companies of any size can use these services. But they can be particularly important for small businesses, which can ill afford to spend lots of time and resources figuring out how to make the most of Twitter. Tools for improved filtering and automation of Twitter tasks are “a particular boon,” says Laura Fitton, co-author of “Twitter for Dummies.”

Before you start leaning too heavily on any Twitter tools, though, “it does make sense to stick with the better-known applications, or to check them out online to see what other people’s experiences are,” says Jeffrey Mann, vice president of research on social software and collaboration for Gartner Inc., a technology research and advisory firm. “You need to take the same care you would with any application you download to your desktop or phone: Check it out first.”

Still, Mr. Mann says, the consequences of using a buggy program aren’t severe. “The worst thing that can happen is that you miss some tweets or have to remove it from your system and try a different one,” he says.

With all that in mind, here’s a look at some of the most intriguing third-party products out there and what you can get out of them.