Biznology

Image by camknows via Flickr

by Janine Swenson

I have fallen woefully behind in my communications with extended family, friends and professional colleagues since returning to work in a full-time position. It seems, I don’t have a moment to spare, to reach out to connect with my social network. Whatever the manner to stay in touch, whether face-to-face for coffee or lunch, talking on a land-line or Skype, texting with a cell phone, sending messages with e-mail, Twitter, or Facebook, answering questions through LinkedIn, sharing Google docs, IM’ing on an iPad, or shouting over the backyard fence, yodeling, sending smoke signals or any other methods there may be to communicate, I have not been using them.

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Image by red5standingby via Flickr

by Janine Swenson
The 99th week of my unemployment was also the week of my first day in a new job. I won the remember me game. I think of this as I log onto Biznology’s site to post this blog. Beneath my secure sign-in panel for ID and password, I read the following question. Remember me? It is innocuous. A harmless inquiry with a box that, if checked, will prompt the site to remember my log-in information so I do not have to.

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Image via CrunchBase

by Janine Swenson
I had to chuckle to myself when a young man visiting in my home noticed on the wall a photograph of my college-aged daughter and absent-mindedly said to no one in particular, “Chat me up!” That young man understood the importance of one of the foundations of social media marketing, which is to get others on your behalf to speak of and promote your positive traits. However, he had not convinced me to be his evangelist because I had no history or experience with him, no knowledge of his character. Whether or not I chatted him up depended entirely upon what I knew of him, whether he might be the type of beau my daughter would like, and if her father and I viewed said prospective suitor as, well, suitable. This is not different from a company seeking a prospective employee having a chance meeting between a job seeker and an employee of the organization.

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Image by bettyx1138 via Flickr

by Janine Y. Swenson
Are you a digital information hoarder? If you are anything like me, in your life you have way too much information (WTMI). Information stored everywhere, physically and digitally. Facts, figures, familiar terms of endearment, even photos from family, friends and people you barely know, all tucked away in e-mails, files, *.txts, *.docs, pictures, *.pngs and *.bmps, on your hard-drive, and so on and so on…

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Image by Creative Nickie via Flickr

by Janine Y. Swenson
I searched for semantic Web on Bing, Google and Yahoo!, and if felt to me as if the SERPs dropped me into the Bouvier-Beale’s Grey Gardens library. I’m accustomed to hoards of information as many fringe techies are, but this was ridiculous. I limited each search to English language sites in the United States. The follow-up results weren’t nearly as overwhelming when Google dropped by 16%, Yahoo! by 35% and Bing 22%; of course 48 million, 340 thousand total pages would be much easier to sort through. I’d be through the information hoarder’s junk drawer in no time, discerning what was of value to my article and what could be pitched aside.

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