bogdanpopa.ro/LIFESTREAM

For quite a while now, different public personalities(or at least their PR people) have been using LinkedIn’s Questions & Answer’s feature as a  communication tool to reach the business world-wide professionals community. The recipe is simple and very effective: post a question on the Q&A section featured under the profile of public person and you’ll surely get ‘000s reactions, and along with them, exposure to the information posted under your profile.

The goals behind such a choice of communication are probably quite diverse as well. While for Barack Obama its clearly a matter of campaigning, when it comes to the question  (you must be logged in) featured under Bill Gates’ profile, my best guess would go towards CSR moves or such. In any case, this communication method is becoming more and more popular and it’s easy to see why: easy (as in very fast/cheap etc) tapping into the views and opinions of millions of highly educated people is a great resource for whatever your information needs would be.

Here’s Bill Gates’ headline – he only has 3 connections so far, so I guess his very selective with his invite requests

Yup..finally, it’s on.  Surpriza placuta, Google a adaugat feature de tasks la calendarul online. Basically, sunt tratate default ca "All day events" si pot fi arondate calendarelor deja existente.

Here’s a short note about some interesting new iPODs (as in interesting podcasts :p ) I recently subscribed to and which you also might find useful. Leading the list by far, are the well-known TED talks – some of ideas and breakthrough presented there are truly mind-blowing. Can see them all here. Manager Tools is another very good cast with practical management tips & tricks for "daily use" : get it here. Lucy Kellaway’s FT’s column can be found podcast ready here. She’s one of FT’s management columnist with a fresh and "hip" style. Of course, Business Week’s The Welch Way by, who else, Jack Welch is a good choice. I liked it, but found it a bit, well, too "commercial" like. Get it here. Hope you’ll like them. Also, other suggestions highly welcomed .

Facebook is creeping more and more in whatever discussion or..statement people make about the "social networking" hype. You have to have an account on Facebook: if you don’t, than just run to the next PC booth and make one as soon as possible. Otherwise, you don’t matter: can’t share picture, can’t use "the wall", can’t be updated with the "events".

Well, I don’t (matter that is) and that’s ok. I do have an account on facebook, but I was "forced" to do it in order to be able to access some pictures. Since than, I tried and tried to see facebook’s utility and what exactly is its "added value". The homepage(after login) its overwhelming..posts, walls, new friends!? added me(to what), notes, events etc. Plus, of course, "share pictures " functions which turns it into a beefed-up HI5.

Now, I might be (very possible) not seeing the advantages of facebook. I’ve been using LinkedIn for a while now and that’s ok, quite straightforward. What’s the deal with Facebook?  How can you use it ..efficiently (or at least usefully in any manner)?

Not, it’s not a web-2-sms ad. It’s a “nifity” catch of Google’s Calendar I recently discovered: you can set it up to announce you by SMS of the next appointments set in your calendar. It’s free and it works like a charm. Now you’ll never miss your classes, business meetings or favourite soccer game as long as you put them in the G. Calendar. (It sounded like a commercial :] ….but it’s not :] To learn how to set it, just type sms in Calendar’s help.