Uncategorized

“This interesting post, published by TechCrunch on February 4^th 2012, does not only remind us of how one of the greatest inventions of our generation has already changed the way we communicate, share information, or shop but also gives us a taste of what is still to come: The Internet is changing the way we work – the web is disrupting labor and transforming the definition of employment as we know it!

The post discusses the rise of the “independent worker”, who is one that operates independently and flexibly in today’s work environment – unattached to any particular company. The author, Nick Cronin, summarizes what he believes are the main factors contributing to this development, how these changes are affecting companies’ hiring processes, and the increasing importance of labor efficiency for maintaining a competitive edge.

“The era of the lean, flexible workforce is here and guess where both companies and independents are increasingly locating each other. Yep: The Internet.”

Read the full post “Labor Efficiency: The next great Internet Disruption” on TechCrunch

In that sense, check out the leading online project marketplace for freelancers and businesses in Germany:

projektwerk

Having a solid search engine optimization strategy is very important because today’s internet search is in a constant state of change. In order to create more transparency about how their search actually works, Google regularly updates its users about algorithm and feature changes on its Inside Search Blog. SEOMoz, a leading provider of SEO software, published a great infographic showing all of the significant algorithm changes that Google has made in the past months, including a version breakdown of the controversial “Panda” update.

Please click to view Infographic | courtesy of SEOMoz

Freelancing is all about making positive connections and building relationships. The more a freelancer is viewed as someone who has comprehensive and authoritative knowledge, the easier it becomes for him or her to connect with potential customers. Question & Answer sites offer just another way to connect online and establish oneself as an expert in a certain field. Depending on the site, freelancers may get the following benefits from participating in a Q&A site:

• Branding – probably one of the biggest benefits that a Q&A site offers is that it gives freelancers the opportunity to brand themselves as experts in a particular field by creating well-written and informative answers.

• SEO – some Q&A sites are indexed by search engines and provide SEO benefits to the users.

• Traffic – well-written and informative answers can attract other users to a freelancer’s profile, which should include a link to their own freelance website.

• Connections – participating in a Q&A site gives freelancers the chance to interact and build connections with others.

Facebook today announced Timeline, a total redesign of the current profile page. Timeline chronicles your Facebook history and enables you to look at everything that has ever happened in your Facebook lifespan. Here’s a Mashable post that offers some great snapshots of Facebook’s new appearance and discusses some of the novelties. What do you think?

Picture courtesy of Mashable

Some of the new features include:

• “Timeline” – a stream of information about you (the photos you’ve posted, all your status updates, the apps you’ve used, even the places you’ve visited) that scrolls all the way back to your birth.
• You don’t have to just like something – “Facebook Gestures” enables users to express various kinds of reactions or emotions.
• Facebook apps will only ask for permission once to post content on your behalf – before apps had to ask each time before sharing information about you.
• Lightweight or trivial information is going to the “Ticker” – only the more relevant things such as status updates, photos from a wedding or a vacation, or changes in relationship status will appear in your news feed.
• And lastly, you can watch TV and movies, listen to music, and read news with your friends — all within Facebook.

Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action | Video on TED.com.

According to Simon Sinek’s “Golden Circle Rule”, people don’t buy what you do, but they buy why you do it. Even if it is no secret that many successful brands gain an irrational edge by appealing to our emotions, in his TED talk, Simek presents a innovative model which explains why some organizations and leaders are able to inspire action while others are not. Some of his examples include Apple Inc., Dr. Martin Luther King, and the Wright brothers. Enjoy.

Google+, Facebook’s newest challenger, has been available for a while now. Some interesting new features include: “Circles” – which enables users to organize contacts into groups for sharing, “Hangouts”  - which are places used to facilitate group video chat, “Sparks” – which enables users to identify topics they might be interested in sharing with others, or ”Huddle” – which is a feature available to Android, iPhone, and SMS devices for communicating through instant messaging within circles. If you have an account and plan to use it professionally, here are some things that might be helpful for you to know.

Not necessarily groundbreaking news and in need of a little update, this engaging video (researched by Karl Fisch, Scott McLeod, and Jeff Bronman) nevertheless shows some incredible and fascinating numbers associated with the speed of technology. Enjoy.