What is the value of a friend on Facebook? Did you know there are some companies that will provide you with fake virtual online friends for price? I'm not sure what they are charging these days, maybe it's 10 for $10, and you get the 11th one free? That seems pretty silly doesn't it? Okay so let's talk about all these topics for second shall we?

Not long ago, someone mentioned to me after reading an article I'd written on this topic that he'd noticed an interesting trend in our society with regards to online "friends" on social networks. He stated; "The more acquaintances you can amass, the greater the chance you will have someone to turn to in need."

Now then, I understand the concept of amassing "friends" online to network and improve the chances of getting help in time of need. Maybe that's why so many people wish to be my friend? I hate to think that everyone contacting me "wants something" but alas that is the mentality of so many folks - they want a stimulus, food stamps, a new job, or some gift from the gods, such as the old fat mean-spirited lady who reads romance novels where an ultra-rich, good looking, muscular hunk rescues them from mundaneness. I just see this sort of nonsense as counter-productive and much akin to playing the lottery, after all if one amasses enough lottery tickets they are bound to eventually win? I see it all as petty, and quite telling of society's mentality.

Okay so, you might indeed see it differently, in fact, you might be all in when it comes to getting friends on Facebook or your other social networking websites. If that's your goal to amass the highest number of friends to surpass your other friends (real or imaginary), and therefore find self-validation, then go for it. Who am I to tell you what your life's goals should be? To each his own I say. Nevertheless, one could ask the question; is this even healthy for human societies, not just here the United States, but everywhere else in the world as well.

There are over 1 billion people on Facebook alone, and even if 10% of those people are make believe and bogus profiles that still leaves 900 million people and that is a large percentage of the Earth's population. Not only that, but Facebook is hardly the only social networking website online. Why not do a self-study, why not ask all your friends on your social networking site to help you with some important project that you have or to send you money. How many of those friends that you have would be so inclined to help you?

You probably haven't asked anyone for help so far on your social networking site, so this would be a new thing. Indeed, many individuals believe that amassing friends is a smart way to go in case these individual users are ever in need. Of course, accumulating friends in advance to ask them for something is not a very friendly thing to do, is it? What happened to self-reliance? I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.

Lance Winslow has launched a new provocative series of eBooks on Internet Social Networking. Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank; http://www.worldthinktank.net/

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Social media privacy is very important. If a person has anything it is their identity. Ideally, this identity would be different than everyone else's so that people knew who they were talking to at all times. Therefore, it would make common sense that a person would want to protect their identity and their interests and likes from people who they do not know and have no business speaking to at that moment. However, this is not how the social networks function. Most of the major social networks believe that all information about a person should be shared with anyone who cares to look. This is a massive problem for every user who uses a social networking platform. Just because a social network thinks it's true does not make it true at all. This is because revealing all the information about a person is a dangerous proposition that every user of the social network systems should avoid.

Obviously, the number one goal of a person on the social networking platform is to keep up with their friends but also to keep their profile is private as possible. The truth about the social networks is that they set their default settings to allow everyone including strangers to see everything about a person, even if they have no connection at all. This should be a red flag for most people when they sign up to use a social networking system. A person does not leave your front door open for any person who wanders by to come in and look around. Not only would this allow people into the house. Who would want to steal things but it is also very creepy for a person to do that. However, this is how most social networks actually function. They basically let any stranger walk in the front door. Have a look around and take anything they want.

This type of security is not useful for keeping banking and financial information private. This any of this information can be used to help a person access someone else's financial information. What is even worse is that a person may have built their password for the bank account off a derivative of something in the profile. Therefore, they are that much closer to getting access to the money of the user. The fact of the matter is that a hacker only really needs to know a birthday, a address, and a name of the high school. In some cases to get access to banking information over the phone or on the Internet. It really depends on how the user set up their security questions. Nevertheless, no matter how they set up security questions any person who can grab someone's birthday is one step closer to accessing all the information about their banking information.

Finally a social network uses this information to deliver highly targeted offers to a user. This means that the user will find whatever is advertise to them very enticing. This can be a massive problem because this is impulse spending. Impulse spending is spending money on things that were not previously budgeted. This is very dangerous for person because impulse buying is the fastest way to an overdraft fee. Therefore, the more privacy that a user can get more likely that they will not buy anything or have there are financial information taken away from them.

Therefore, a person who is concerned with or social media privacy is a very smart person. Protecting the identity of a user should be the number one concern of the social networking platform. However, most of social networking platforms have to use the information to make money because there is no other way for them to monetize their products and services. This means that the onus of privacy is put onto the user themselves. A smart user logs into all the fine print that a social networking platform provides a makes an informed decision on whether or not to use that platform in the future.

Scott Buendia consults for Bizbuilt.com. All the views and tactics in this article are tactics and ideas of the author; they do not necessarily represent the ideals, beliefs, or trademarks of Bizbuilt.com. Visit his card on Bizbuilt here, https://www.bizbuilt.com/socialmediaprivacy.

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Now as the holidays draw to a close and the day job begins to beckon again, I realise how much I've been missing some things in my life that I don't get to experience here at my home office.

The daily traffic - leaving my house at 7.30 a.m. for an eighty mile round trip every day and all during rush - hour? Filling my car with expensive fuel every week?

Well, maybe not - but I sure would miss the fun and chat (and moaning) that I can share with my car pool buddies on a daily basis.

Getting dressed and looking good every morning to face the world - having my working clothes always looking smart.

Well, maybe not - but then lounging around in my pyjamas wouldn't exactly be very impressive either

The BOSS - certainly not.

But now and again, it would be good to have SOMEONE on my case to keep me focused and productive.

Water cooler chats and sharing with colleagues? Absolutely - it makes the day worthwhile and the sharing of ideas is always a positive. We have a bit of a laugh too.

So maybe a long daily commute to a cranky boss and a noisy and draughty workplace really is not so bad - after all, it is SOCIAL and working from home is certainly NOT social.

However, I have social online as well - I can meet my car pool buddies, my colleagues and water cooler gossips in chat rooms now. My God - even the BOSS can check up on me now and then - from a distance!

So did I become a Facebook junkie, a Tweetering twit - revealing my weekend revelling and my family antics to the world wide web. Is my business now out there for all to share and comment on?

Well, I have finally found what I was looking for - social interaction, sharing of news and information, motivation and the odd prodding to get a move on and of course a big helping hand. And I can still sit at home in my warm, quiet home office and get any help and motivation I need - HOW and WHERE is this wonder to be found, you may well ask.

I have the caring and sharing of a safe work environment at my fingertips, a warm quiet home office I can visit as I need to AND I still have my water cooler chats, support from my car pool buddies on the same journey as myself and of course, the BOSS drops in now and then with guidance and encouragement.

Click HERE!

Visit my website and discover how I have secured a consistent retirement income with MRS (multiple revenue streams) in spite of the pension funds collapse. You will find plenty of information on how to remain healthy in retirement and how to plan a wealthy retirement.

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Building online presence is a combination of putting together a social network.

This is such a simple but very powerful platform that will allow you to market any product or service imaginable. When it comes right down to it, there is only one you and branding yourself is nothing more than leaving your footprint on this thing called the World Wide Web. The great thing about building online presence is that it can be done free or at a very low price.

From my own personal experience I really struggled online for well over a year. Let's be honest, I failed miserably plain and simple! My focus was on mastering every marketing strategy know to man and I got stuck in learning mode. There is nothing wrong with being in learning mode but you may find yourself spinning your wheels without gaining much traction.

Laying down a solid foundation when building online presence is pretty simple. Building your presence online is like creating a new neighborhood. You establish your residence and even get to pick your neighbors. This is not rocket science, in fact it's amazingly simple to do. You can build your residence as fast as you wish or do this over the course of weeks and months.

When building online presence your mapping out your virtual real estate. In the eyes of Google everything that has your name on it is all interconnected. There are 3 things from my school of hard knocks that any online marketer must have in place, in order to build from. A simple word press blog is a key component. This is your house so to speak in this new neighborhood. Be sure to invite over guest to visit and ask them to return as often as they wish. Another aspect just as important to branding is social media sites. These social media sites allow you to build relationships and find high quality targeted friends that you can network with. It would be to your advantage to sign up to as many social media sites as possible. The third basic element is a You Tube channel. Video is incredibly powerful and if it has relevance it ranks very high in the search engines. Also Google owns You Tube so it is well liked for good reason.

All social media sites help building online presence:

My Space
Google+
Pinterest
Twitter
Linked in
You Tube

One important factor when building online presence is to take your time setting up your profiles. I'm going to suggest that you use the same picture at each site so that people will recognize you from place to place. Also be sure to fully fill in all information and write a great but brief biography. Your blog url should be in your profile and most sites have a place for you to put in your website. This connection with all your social media pointing to your blog adds to the territory of your brand and interconnects the sites within Google.

Now that you have your frame work of social sites built you slowly add friends and pick them from groups of ladies and gentlemen that you would like to know or work with. This can be extremely powerful as your network builds. Having a solid base of entrepreneurs and business minded contacts will eventually result in a steady flow of leads. People will seek you out and want to be a part of what ever your involved in. Remember people join people and not the offer. Building your online presence first before you become an expert marketer will help speed up the brand that is, you.

Hope you enjoy this article. Be sure to visit my blog for other great articles. Also come and see how I'm making my full time living from the internet. Life is short so finish strong my friend. http://www.frankcalabro.com/

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One of the biggest deterrents to entering the social networking platforms is existence of hecklers inside of these systems. They are called, "trolls" by the community and only exist to aggravate other users for their own delights. Their hope is that any person they target will take anything that they say personally. These people can have a negative effect on a business and their ability to successfully do business with other people or entities. What is necessary is to stem the problem before it arises or to take very specific steps to minimize the damage.

Online reputation management is becoming one of the most essential parts of an internet marketing campaign. Online reputation management refers to the ability of a company to control their image and branding through social media networks and the search engines. This is a difficult job at times because of people who want nothing more than to annoy and distract a business owner from making money. There is a variety of reasons why a person would do this; however, what is important is that the situations that these people are dealt with quickly.

The first place that must be managed is the social networking platform themselves. It is very easy for a person to attack a business on these networks. The sheer number of people on these networks make it very important for a person to deal with these platforms first. This is can be a full time job; however, the ability to deal with the complaints on these systems is essential. No customer service issue should be left alone for very long. Failure to deal with situations from the moment they are created could create a situation that is far harder to control. It is best to monitor the systems and deal with problems as soon as they arise.

Another place where attacks on a business are very effective is on the search engines themselves. There are a multitude of assets that a heckler or troll can deploy that can be ranked for the brand name of a company. The ability of the business to find these problems and deploy search engine assets that can knock off these attacks is imperative. In most cases, a business only needs to knock them off the first page. The sooner a business can do this the better it is for that business. This is because the longer an asset exists (on either side of the equation) the more likely it will rank highly for the targeted keyword (including the business name of the company).

Dealing with problems on the social networks is the first problem that a company should deal with. They should then deal with the search engine problems if the heckler or troll has deployed an asset that ranks on the first page of a keyword. Online reputation management is only going to become more useful over time and will become a bigger issue for every business. It is intelligent to hire an online reputation manager as soon as possible.

Scott Buendia consults for Bizbuilt.com. All the views and tactics in this article are tactics and ideas of the author; they do not necessarily represent the ideals, beliefs, or trademarks of Bizbuilt.com. Visit his card on Bizbuilt here, https://www.bizbuilt.com/socialmediaprivacy.

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One of the most important things to do online is to protect your digital identity. This one activity has become more important on the Internet because there are a variety of people trying to take your identity away from you. There is much they can do with your identity once they've captured enough information to have a decent shot at using your identity to get what they want. That is what they are really doing when they take your identity. Using your resources to get what they want because they do not want to take the time to do the work to get the results they could get by using your resources first.

The advent of social media has made it much easier for people to steal your identity online. This is because people share too much information on social media networks without really thinking about it. Most people share their birth date, their address, and sometimes even their cell phone number. In some cases this is enough to access the password by calling into a specific company and giving them this information which supposedly only the owner knows. However, these things are usually readily available on social media systems that exist. Therefore, this is all a big problem for most people as they do not pay attention to what they share on the social media systems.

There are also is another problem that some people have which is that once one password is hacked or decoded that password happens to be the password for many other items which may include bank accounts or social media profiles. Basically, a person may lose their identity through this security hole and they will not get it back until all the damage is done.

Therefore, most of protecting a digital identity is being very careful about what is shared on social media systems or at least being aware of what is being posted on the social media systems. There is a lot of information that can be gleaned from the social media profiles therefore a person must be very careful about what they say on the social media systems. That is the only way to make sure that a person has the privacy they want and need in all situations. This also protects them against digital theft of their identity.

In the old days, it used to be that a person would have to steal a wallet to get a hold of a person's identity and then develop a fake ID be able to steal a person's identity. However this is not true on the Internet today therefore, it is smart to take all of the ideas in this article in use them to protect oneself against digital identity theft online. It really doesn't have to take much more than being mindful about everything that a person puts on the social media systems. Even privacy settings on some of the major systems cannot be trusted as there are loopholes in their search functions that allow private posts to be seen especially on one of the major networks that exist at this moment. Therefore, the best defense against digital theft online is to be careful how a person uses their information when on social systems.

Scott Buendia consults for Bizbuilt.com. All the views and tactics in this article are tactics and ideas of the author; they do not necessarily represent the ideals, beliefs, or trademarks of Bizbuilt.com. Visit his card on Bizbuilt here, https://www.bizbuilt.com/socialmediaprivacy.

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Social networking online has revealed itself to be a very effective strategy for quickly communicating messages of all sorts! Celebrities, political figures and even people developing a business are now using this internet 'platform' as a way to advance their own cause! In particular our focus here is on how internet marketers can make the best use of this platform to achieve their goals and objectives!

Here are 3 quick tips anybody can use for developing a business using these internet platforms originally intended solely for socializing!

What's Your Game Plan

Internet marketers are in the vast majority of cases, a very busy breed therefore it's essential that they plan their work in advance! When using socializing sites for developing a business the need for planning is very important simply because what 'occurs' on these sites is typically spontaneous in nature! Marketers must establish their objectives BEFORE engaging others in these communities primarily because their success is reliant upon your building relationships and this takes time! With a plan in hand you have a much better idea of how to invest your efforts so you don't waste all day and accomplish nothing!

Release The 'Social' You

As mentioned above, building relationships is the key to your success when marketing anything within online social communities! In fact you need to be social first or else your time will be wasted! Your 'game' face needs to be more that of a 'social butterfly' and not that of a money hungry marketer! It is the way you present yourself to others within these communities that makes it such an effective strategy for developing a business! Always remember to be social first and introduce your business when the time is right!

Bob and Weave

As previously mentioned don't make your business 'obvious' but rather look for the opportunity to work it into your conversation! Approach these sites much like you would any social gathering where you're not too familiar with those in attendance! Be nice and always at least appear interested in what others have to say and when an 'opening' occurs present what you do but do NOT make it the focal point of your conversation! Following this approach will help to make this a much more fruitful and effective strategy for marketing on the internet so be patient!

Social networking online has proven to be not just for socializing anymore as many have turned to this platform for the sake of developing a business! Many internet marketers now use these networks routinely but it is in HOW they use them that makes it such an effective strategy for them! The 3 quick tips offered above aim to help sales professionals make the best use of their time when working on social network sites! All that is required is a plan and a willingness to focus on developing relationships to make this an effective strategy for marketing online!

TJ Philpott is an author and Internet entrepreneur based out of North Carolina. For more tips about social networking online and to also receive a free instructional manual that teaches valuable niche research techniques for your online marketing needs simply visit: http://affiliatequickstart.com/

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Many have turned to using online social networks as a part of their business development strategy and for good reason! Marketers have come to recognize that social networking online is a very effective strategy in terms of growing a solid foundation for their businesses!

Here are 3 important components every internet business development strategy needs that can be supplied when using these sites!

Link Building

One of the things social sites can do for any internet business is to build links with other individuals and organizations! Having incoming links from an assortment of origins on the internet helps boost the search engine rankings of your own site! This typically translates into more free traffic which is highly targeted and of course the best type you can get! Plain and simple, having move inbound links thereby places more attention on your site and is another reason social networking online is an effective strategy for marketers!

Branding

Establishing an online brand is something that helps you become more competitive since it makes you 'stand out' from other marketers! The need to be easily recognizable is a must in the very competitive internet environment! Building yourself a brand will help you do just that and this is typically done by 'reinforcing' the identity you've chosen as often as you can! When any marketer engages in social networking online, this simply creates another 'venue' in which they can build and establish a brand! Remember, these communities can be very viral in nature which is why they are so effective for brand development!

Traffic Generating

We spoke above about how link building helps increase the search engine traffic you receive! Another source of traffic you can expect would be not only members of the sites you are working but also people who have been referred by these members! The viral potential offered when promoting on these sites is significant if you consider that site members likely 'belong' to other sites as well! Much like an onion that has many layers, there is no telling where on the internet your links may end up! Harnessing the incredible powers of viral marketing should always be an objective of every internet business development strategy!

Online social networks are being more commonly used as part of many marketers business development strategy and with great results! Although social networking online does require an emphasis being placed on relationship building it has proven to be a very effective strategy! The 3 components every internet business needs are reviewed above and can be acquired when social networking online! This helps to explain the popularity of this very effective strategy and why you should consider included this approach in your own marketing mix as well!

TJ Philpott is an author and Internet entrepreneur based out of North Carolina.

For more tips about promoting your business at online social networks and to also receive a free instructional manual that teaches valuable niche research techniques for your online marketing needs simply visit: http://affiliatequickstart.com/

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Wherever you look online these days you cannot move for smiling people. There they are in social media profiles, in headshots on websites and in images shared on the likes of Pinterest or Flickr. All around you people are smiling. But is that a good thing? Should you smile online as much as you do? Could a smile cause a problem for your website?

When people smile they increase their positive brain hormones, the endorphins. And when we see someone smile, we find it hard to avoid smiling ourselves. Smiling is infectious. So if you smile on your website, the chances are the visitors to your site will also smile. You could then trigger their mirror neurons to come into action and feel as happy as you are. All positive stuff; why wouldn't you want to smile on your website?

Well, according to new research, you might not want to smile if you need people to think you are older than you are. Psychologists from Germany have discovered that we underestimate the age of people who are smiling. When we look at a picture of someone smiling we tend to say they are younger than turns out to be the case. Overall, it seems we are pretty poor at estimating the age of people, unless their facial expression is neutral - when we tend to get it right.

So, why might you want people to estimate your age from your profile picture? Imagine you are a young software developer - smile and in the instant people land on your website they could think you are too young to have done the things you claim. Or what about the older person who is using LinkedIn to try and get a new job? Have a neutral picture and people could say "oh, she's too old for us". But smile, and they' will underestimate your age, making the chances of the job a little bit higher.

It therefore means that one picture for your all your social media profiles and your web pages is simply not enough. You need to think about the impact you are trying to create and whether or not you want people to get your age right, or think you are younger.

Once more, this research shows that we really need to focus on the fine detail of what we present on our websites if we are to have the desired impact.

Graham Jones is a psychologist who investigates the way people use the Internet and how people shop online. His research can help you make the most of the Internet, particularly if you are hoping to make money online.

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Door to door sales sucks. It sucks so bad, the people wont take that job even thought they have never done it before. The only people who manage to make that work are people who can be denied a million times then rebound off one sale. The majority of us already know that the million times we get a door slammed in our face, or a dog chase us, or a physical threat is enough for us to try another approach.

Hello, my name is Conner, and I have found out first hand that dogs can run fast, door slams do hurt my feelings, and physical threats make me want to stop. I don't know about you, but I am a fan of doing things the easy way.

Lets figure out why everyone should take their marketing skills to the amazing Internet! The first thing you learn while trying to bring people into your business, is that over 99% of people don't want to know about anything you have to say. The learning process is a slow, and long one. You attempt to make a simple sale, with your only teacher is the sting of failure. If you get lucky then you will have a mentor helping you fail, until you eventually get one. Or you burn through your contacts list and get stuck. Once again long and slow.

If you did learn how to master your sales skills, you have to spent time talking to people individually. Even a master at sales will still get rejected almost every time. To master this skill you have to repeat the process many times. This is a very time-consuming process.

This skill is a very important one to learn. But you don't want to waste it on out dated tactics. You will want to experience the power first hand! You will want to make a video online, and have a million leads piling up begging for your offer. You will want to master one sales skill and talk to 100,000 people a day. But you want to do this all, on auto pilot and sleeping while this happen. That is right, you won't have to talk to them individually.

That is the power my friend. Master your sales skills, combine it with the internet and share it with the masses.

Facebook hit over seven million people a while ago. Just with one website you can target a large part of those people. Imagine hand picking your customers. Hand picking the people who are interested in your offer. Having the power to succeed faster in your business than anyone else before you. This is why you want to market online.

The bottom line, money. Lots and lots of it.

Interested in marketing your business online?

http://connerhogan.blogspot.com/

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Many people have included online social networking in their business development strategy however this approach does have flaws! This is not to say you can't grow your business by using this strategy but these social communities do present certain challenges such as the 3 discussed below!

Too Much Activity

One thing you're bound to notice at any of the many social communities found on the internet is the level of activity is fast and furious! There is typically so many different conversations being held simultaneously' which makes these sites great for people looking to socialize! All anybody needs to do is simply take note of what others are talking about and find a conversation that is of interest! For marketers, this level of activity however can create a challenge since there are so many 'distractions' to compete with in order to get a persons attention!

Time Consuming

As just mentioned above there are many distractions to contend with at most of the social communities! The most prudent and advisable approach for anyone in a situation like this is to subtly 'ease' your way into one of the discussions! The key to doing this is to 'blend' in with others and contribute, in a constructive manner, to any conversation you're trying to become a part of in order to be heard! This approach takes time and patience however which is something you may not have when trying to grow your business! The fact is this, building relationships is about the only effective strategy you can implement when using sites like these as part of your business development strategy! There's no way around the fact that trying to promote anything in online social communities does take time which can be a problem for many marketers!

Unfocused Traffic

These communities attract a cross section of people with varying interests which is great for socializing but horrible for marketing effectiveness! Trying to generate traffic at these sites does take patience and even when people do link to your site, many have little interest in what you offer! In many cases the folks who do land on your site are doing so simply because they are curious but not necessarily interested!

Online social networking can help you grow your business but typically NOT in proportion to the time you must spend working in these social communities! Our discussion of certain challenges this particular business development strategy presents above points out 3 obvious inefficiencies! The message here is that although social communities do hold potential for increasing sales, the time it takes to do so could be better spent elsewhere!

TJ Philpott is an author and Internet entrepreneur based out of North Carolina. For more tips about online social networking and to also receive a free instructional manual that teaches valuable niche research techniques for your online marketing needs simply visit: http://affiliatequickstart.com/

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