Quora is the new internet celebrity that people are all set to follow. It is the latest knowledge indexing platform for anyone who has a question to ask. With an impressive launch, Quora is all set to compete against other Q&A sites currently operating on the web. The idea of such a social networking site is not new, however the hint of innovation, the idea of using collaborative public effort as a knowledge tool and the initial popularity it has gained so far suggests Quora has the potential to set its mark.

Quora was built by two former Facebook employees and was publically launched in June 2010. The idea that led to the development of this latest social buzz was to create a platform where questions can be asked, answered, edited and organized by its very members i.e. you. Quora is aimed at becoming an online database where anything anyone wants to know can be found, although the credibility of such information, which is open to absolutely anyone, is debatable. Information on such a site can be rendered “negotiable” if it comes from a common user and “knowledgeable” if expressed by an expert on the matter. But nevertheless, Quora does promote the collaborative aspect of knowledge-sharing, where people come together to solve queries and learn more about stuff which otherwise cannot be found on the internet. Information shared on Quora is also rated by its users, indicating its usefulness, which eventually bring useful posts to the top of the page which helps in improving the quality of the information shared. Also at Quora, connecting with other people is just as easy as on any other social website.

Examples of How Individuals and Companies are Using QUORA

Quora can be quite useful for companies and individuals who wish to reach out to people, share their opinion or help create awareness. For example, someone posted the question:

Are QR codes here to stay or just an unsuccessful gimmick?

As a QR Code enthusiast (!) I posted my response about using Dynamic QR Codes to engage people in your message/product/service and so on. Social networking sites like Quora where people from all backgrounds have a say, can prove its productivity in the most unique ways. Whether it is individuals raising their voice for a cause or sharing their expert advice on matters regarding their professional fields; it bores out results.

A recent article in Federal Computer Week explained how Eric Cantor, a staff member for GOP House Majority Leader, made use of Quora to get public feedback on the idea of using social platforms for legislation. It is one smart way to see how general public thinks. Similarly companies such as O2 can also make use of such social websites to achieve their marketing objectives and publicity goals. Online presence is essential for a company to reach out to target audience. Customers on the other hand also have many queries regarding products. Social platforms like Quora can help such companies give positive response to questions posed about their products and help promote their products or services in a better ways; SimpleBank for example is using Quora to find out what people have to say about the current banking system in US and how it can be made better; or discover more about a particular technology, for example Dynamic QR Codes, before investing.

Measure of Impact

Quora has captured an audience and it has made a nice start. People are likely to interact on such platform because this way they get to express their opinion. And for the time being companies and individuals who wish to make it big on the internet will find Quora very charming for the purpose. However it is too early to say anything about Quora, time will tell if this latest social website will make it big itself or not. At this moment Quora is expanding rapidly and is one of the most talked about social platforms. Some hail the idea on which Quora works where as others have raised concerns and argued about the authenticity of information being shared on it. More and more users on the website mean more information sharing, while at the same time relying on users to provide all the answers can be a recipe for disaster. Quora has the potential to impact government market place, online businesses and individuals, but the magnitude of this impact is yet to be determined. So stay tuned!

QR Codes are all the rage now particularly as more than 50% of UK adults own a smart phone and 65% of people have seen QR Codes . There is a crucial difference in the types of Codes that are available and those being used by the private as well as the public sector. The vast majority of both mentioned sectors currently use static QR Codes, these are those you can create by yourself using freely available QR Code generators. These static Codes will only display one website or one message on the users’ mobile phone. By contrast, Dynamic QR Codes give the business or professional the possibility of controlling the information broadcasted via the Code by updating it using an online service. This means that the consumer, reader, student or whoever scans the image can receive new content such as video clips, MP3 files, text messages and links to specific websites each time they scan the SAME QR Code. Dynamic QR Codes are therefore much more versatile and powerful for business and public sector than the static equivalent. Using this innovative technology will really give the public sector the possibility of sharing digital information via the traditional printed media. This post will showcase one service that provides the possibility of controlling QR Codes, namely SQUARE:CODE.

How does SQUARE:CODE Work?

Schedule, Control and Monitor Your Dynamic QR Codes

SQUARE:CODE offers an online service that enhances the Customer’s experience of products and printed literature with targeted, up-to-date, dynamic and engaging content. The Business broadcasts information such as web links and messages to the Customer via SQUARE:CODES which they scan with their mobile phones. The Business controls exactly what readers see and when they see it via their online dashboard, The SQUARE:CODE Exchange.

Features include:

• quickly compare return on investment for different products/campaigns with advanced analytics e.g. chart showing scans for all ¼ page ads, colour, daily newspapers.
• schedule updates in advance, so your customers get the right information at the right time. New information each time the consumer scans the SQUARE:CODE.
• sophisticated tagging system to organise SQUARE:CODEs with products and services.
• ability to adapt campaigns/articles after they have been has been distributed and published.
• respond interactively to customers’ interests as campaigns or products develop, by monitoring how many people have scanned each code.

SQUARE:CODE’s Facebook page is currently offering promotional discounts and trial accounts to their Dynamic QR Code service. Truly an exciting service, well I should say that as I helped create SQUARE:CODE : ) . It’s not often I post blatant plugs but I did today… Please forgive me….

Has your inbox got you locked up?

With the onslaught of new and emerging social networking tools such as Google+, we now we have bigger social circles and more friends, connections, followers and so on. This means we are communicating with newer tools other than email. Our  frustration with email has therefore increased significantly. When was the last time you checked your inbox, 1 minute ago? Luckily there are tools available that may help to ease the time you spend on your messages, or at least alert people about your current message “load”. Cue: Courteous.ly.

What is COURTEOUS.LY?

Courteous.ly is a new idea in the pipeline to help users share information about their email load. It is an academic research project conducted at the University of Georgia. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of sharing information regarding email load and to see how users respond under such circumstances. The hypothesis is that people once exposed to your message (over)load will better understand and therefore delay either sending their message or expect a delayed response from you.

How Does it Work?

Courteous.ly provides you with a personal link which you can add to your email signature. Once clicked it informs contacts about your current message load by grading it as either “Light”, “Normal” or “High”, so they can better understand the delay in your response. You can sign up at Courteous.ly using your Gmail account and as soon as you get your link, you’re good to go. You can also show contacts how they can reach you faster by adding a personalised message in your settings. Also, by using simple tags for example [whenever] in the subject line of their email will ensure that the message only reaches you when your email load has dropped back to normal. Courteous.ly currently only works with your Google account, including Google Apps. Although it is a research project your personal information is kept private.

Benefits to Working Professionals and Business

Being a working professional, one has to deal with loads of e-mails on daily basis. Whether it be important business appointments, meeting schedules, client feedbacks, information sharing; today all happens electronically. E-mail is your personal postman and it is all up to your email account to keep you posted. It has provided us with a simpler and more effective ways of contacting people, however sometimes a mesage stampede may work counter clockwise. Every morning there will be junk mails, regular mails and important mails in your account and you have to deal with all of them in some fashion. People do not know what is keeping you from replying but Courteous.ly does exactly that for you. Letting people know about your email loads can help reduce your frustration as well as theirs.

When was the last time you stayed on top of your inbox? Did you go offline, or perhaps you have decided not to check your emails first thing in the morning and instead focus on becoming more productive in the way you use email? Whatever system or techniques you make use of, Courteous.ly could become one of them.

With Google+ out soon, all I am left to say is “is this the Facebook Killer“? It was just a few years ago that Facebook made its début and took over the social communities around the world with a storm. It became a social phenomenon and the competition among the social networks got fierce. Although Facebook has been at the top its game for quite some time now, the prophecies have been whispering about the next big thing. Have they come true lately with Google+ and is it “hulk” enough to fight the battle with the current social networking Gods like Facebook or Twitter? Time will tell. However, there is something about this new social networking tool, especially the features and the creativity it has brought to table that tells us it has the potential to sweep some of its major contenders clean.

Google+ Easier than Facebook?

Google+ is your new friend. It is the latest social networking site for users around the world to get connected. The idea behind the website is to improve sharing and the features it is offering are pretty tidy compared to what Facebook has to offer at the moment. Sharing does look easy: features like Circles, Hangouts and Sparks are some of the major attractions for users right now.

Circles

Allows you to share stuff on the web with appropriate audiences. Now you can choose which content you wish to share with which contacts. Very clever. You add friends to your circles and start sharing.

Hangouts

This is the video chatting feature of the tool and you can easily see who is online so you can drop-in for a quick video-chat.

Sparks

If you wish to be fed the stuff you are into and things that excite you, then Sparks does one hell of a job. It actually saved information such as articles, videos and so on that it thinks you would appreciate to use later on.

There are other features like 1+ button which is similar to that of a “like” on Facebook. With a Google+ account users also tend to enjoy unlimited photo storage on Picasa. “About” section is much more colourful and rich compared to what other social platforms offer. You can experience many other features which are new to social networking sites once you join Google+. It is worth an experience.

Google+, the Next Big Thing?

Now the question which probably seems to be rising in almost everyone`s mind is whether this social networking tool is the next big thing or not? Anyone ever used Wave or Buzz? Is Google+ just another temporary flick that will sink to the bottom, sooner or later? Or does it have what it takes to make the mark and take over the web like Facebook and Twitter did? Consider the power of Facebook and Twitter for promoting products and event? The major competition that Google+ has at the moment is these two very big social networking websites. Some social networking analysts suggest it could muscle out both, while others think it will not.

Google has some major advantages over its competitors though features like Circles, although some of these are not essentially new. But, the company has smartly put these features upfront, that is all. Facebook has the same feature (“friend lists”) but it has been in the dark for so long that people don’t even realize it even exists anymore. Similarly the chat feature, Hangout,  is clearly more interesting on Google+ where you get to have a video chat with friends and then there is your Gtalk which exists in Gmail and shows up the same in Google+. Facebook’s chat option and Twitter`s Direct messages (DMs) and @mentions now feels a little too basic compared to what Google+ offers. There also issues like privacy concerns and mobile apps where Google is likely to get more votes from as well. So will Google muscle out Facebook and Twitter? We think it is a little too early to say that. Facebook and Twitter are way too big for that at the moment and millions of users are signed up on these websites and use them daily, particularly as there are means to automate parts of these social media tools. So until most of our contacts move to Google+, Facebook and Twitter are here to stay. It is possible that Google will prove to be an addition to the number of social platforms we have at the moment, because it is definitely going to be interesting to Hangout on Google+!

Google+ is armed with the latest features and is here to stay. It has creativity, innovation and offers easy-to-use features, which is a perfect recipe to win users. Sharing has become much easier as well and the rest of the features are just icing on the cake. Whether or not it will be successful enough to overcome its competitors is impossible to say right now, but what we do know for sure is that it is going to be a nice addition to the existing social networking sites. People are likely to get attracted to its rich and cool social interaction tools. Experience Google+ yourself and decide.

As a graduate you will be in competition with many others. This means that you need to think carefully about how you can stand out above the rest of your fellow students, for example how could you use Twitter to increase the “You Brand”?. Dress code and behaving in a certain manner are significant things to consider but prospective employers need to be able to contact you and have a reason to do so. Cue: networking business cards for students.

Networking business cards for students are similar to standard business cards in their purpose, namely to promote you as a potential connection or employee to those you meet. The major difference is that a networking business card also promote your “target career interest”. This is why you will stand out from the crowd using your own mini-resume.

Size Matters

A standard business card format is 3.5 x 2 inches (though this varies from country to country) and the same goes for basic networking business cards for students. As you want to stand out from other prospects, try choosing a card that looks different but still fits in the wallet or holder. There are companies that provides sleek looking cards that can be personalized to a greater extent than many other card manufacturers.

Your Content Must Rock

Add you details to the card in the following way:

• Your Name
• Explanation of “Your Target Career Interest” and snapshot of your experience
• Home Street Address (this could be your permanent or school address)
• City, state, Post code
• Phone
• Email
• Blog (if you have one that includes posts about your target career interest)

The power in your card is ‘You Target Career Interest‘. Make sure you include a tag line that represents what you are looking for: ‘Seeking Relationship Marketing Position – [Your Name] has developed Social Media campaigns for [club, fraternity, local business]‘.

If you decide to add a link to your Twitter or Facebook Page (not profile…) ensure these are suitable for prospective employers, that is, post content on these social media websites which reflects you as a brand, like excerpts from essays and examples of your target interest. If you are focusing on local businesses then it’s a good idea to find out as much as you can about them , social media tools can help you find out about their customers’ profiles as many companies use Twitter and Facebook to attract customers to their local businesses.

The Tools to create a Student Networking Business Card

Most word processors have templates for standard business cards and there are several on-line companies that provide these when you buy using their system e.g. Vista Print, Moo.com. Moo.com is particularly innovative as it gives you the possibility of producing cards which are individually unique, that is, each of your 100 cards have a different image or quote attached which means you can give specific cards to specific people. Again making sure you have greater presence than your fellow students.

Dynamic QR Code Business Card

There will be a lot of people with Networking Business Cards so ensure that yours stand out above all else. For example, try adding a QR-Code to the card. This way you can add a direct link to your on-line profile where prospective employers can find out more about you. Use a QR-Code Generator to create your first QR-Code. By adding a QR-Code to your student Networking Business Card you will not only showcase that you are using cutting-edge technology but it will also help making you more memorable and if you use dynamic QR Codes then you can even update the content on the fly.