As many of my friends and colleagues know, I really love Gmail. I use my Gmail address most of the time for lot of reasons:
1. very little spam
2. easy to find old emails
3. simple, user friendly design
4. it’s fast
And, as many of my friends and colleagues also know, I have a terrible habit of sending emails that are supposed to contain attachments….without the attachments! Now I try remember to attach, write and send, in that order, but I think my brain is just not wired that way.
Gmail to the rescue! Today I had to send an email with an attachment, and again, I forgot the attachment. Guess what? Gmail detected the phrase “attached please see…” and before my email was sent, they gave me a little reminder:
Isn’t that cool? OK, so Google is now reading my emails before I even send them, and to some peple, that’s a little too “Big Brother-ish.” But for me, it works.
No more apologizing for forgotten attachments! Gmail, you rock!
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I spend a lot of time these days talking to local businesses about Social Media and discussing how they can use Blogs, Facebook, Twitter and other channels. And that can be challenging because in many cases people have a hard time seeing the connection between online social activities and their businesses. Sometimes even in spite of the fact that they are familiar with one or more social channels already for their personal use.
I have discovered that telling stories about how other businesses are using Social Media to be the best way to get to that “AHA!” moment where the possiblities are suddenly staring them right in the face.
I came across this article in the New York Times that I think successfully illustrates the opportunities for local business to successfully use Twitter. Take a look and let me know your thoughts!
Click here:
Mom-and-Pop Operators Turn to Social Media, The New York Times
Question: A patient of mine who is pretty web-savvy has been repeatedly telling me I should start a blog. Should I? What would it consist of, given my profession as psychotherapist and marriage and family therapist and trauma specialist? Dr. Barbara Nadel, D.C.S.W., Ph.D. www.drbarbaranadel.com
Your patient may be right. She could be urging you to start a blog because she believes that you have something to say that would be valuable to people. I can imagine that you could help a lot of people by sharing what you learn in your practice.
Your blog can be your place to voice opinions, give advice, answer questions, post videos, and anything else you can think of. But blogging is mostly sharing information.
Don’t know if you have anything to share? Then ask yourself a couple of questions:
1. Who is your audience? Is it your current patients, your colleagues, your friends, all of the above?
2. What are the benefits of having a blog?
There can be a lot of benefits to writing a blog, and many of them are incidental. Here are just a few:
- Credibility: your blog gives you a platform from which to set yourself apart from others in your field.
- Visibility: your blog can help you become more visible when people are looking for you online because search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing) love fresh content and look for websites that are regularly updated.
- Supports Word of Mouth: For me, this is a biggie. Let’s say someone refers you to a new patient. Your blog, more than even your website, allows that prospective new patient to find out who you are before he or she calls.
- Fun: Your blog gives you the opportunity to share your successes and tell stories that are meaningful to you. And, that’s a lot of fun! (see my post about co-writing a blog http://tinyurl.com/mdv7lr)
Once you identify who your audience is and what the purpose of your blog will be, it will be a lot easier to figure out what the content should be. Get your inspiration from reading other blogs (this is a list of blogs about psychology for you to peruse: “40 Superb Psychology Blogs” http://tinyurl.com/kmgp8u)
Plus, I recommend that you write some blog posts even before your blog is setup. Just to get a feel of it and see if blogging is something that you want to do. Then when your blog is ready (or when you are ready to publish) you will already have some content to upload. I recommend this wonderful eBook: 31 Days to a Better Blog to help you find your “blog voice”. http://www.problogger.net/31dbbb-workbook/
In Social Media, a blog is often where everything else revolves: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and many other social network channels can be set-up so that your blog posts are automatically fed into them and that people who are your followers, friends and fans, can see what you are saying.
Want to know more about blogging? Just ask me a Question!
After experiencing some embarrassing moments myself, I have wondered the same thing. This is an issue that so many people are concerned about that Paul Boutin who writes Gadgetwise, a technology blog for The New York Times, recently devoted at least one blog post to this topic.
Bottom line, you can’t stop anyone from posting a picture of you on Facebook. That’s a nightmare for those of us who are not real keen on how we look on film. However, there are a few things you can do to reduce the visibility of those pesky pictures where you are tagged:
If a photo of you has already been posted and tagged on Facebook:
1. Find the photo. Underneath it you will see In this photo
2. Your name will have a link next to it, click remove tag
3. Voila! The tag is gone.
What if you want to keep the whole world from finding pictures of you on other people’s profile pages?
1. Go to Settings on the upper right hand corner of your Profile page, you’ll see a drop-down menu, click on Privacy Settings.
2. Click on Profile
3. In the list, you’ll see Photos Tagged of You, Click on Custom
4. Where you see Who Can See This? Click on Only Me
This will prevent people from searching for you in photos and keep them from seeing other photos where you are tagged.
If this is all too complicated, you could ask your teenaged son or daughter do it for you (although they probably wouldn’t understand why you would want to do it in the first place!)
To read more go to: http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/05/how-to-block-facebook-photos-of-yourself/