future

This neat Infographic by Muhammed Saleem of Car Insurance Guide shows how some of the major automotive brands are employing social media to reach out to the public. You can view the full graphic by clicking the image below:

About this talk: “In a world of too many options and too little time, our obvious choice is to just ignore the ordinary stuff. Marketing guru Seth Godin spells out why, when it comes to getting our attention, bad or bizarre ideas are more successful than boring ones.”

JWT is one of the largest ad agencies in the U.S. and the fourth-biggest in the world. JWTIntelligence, the firms marketing communications network, is a well-known center for provocative thinking. It focuses on identifying changes in the global zeitgeist and revealing cultural shifts: “We make sense of the chaos in a world of hyper-abundant information and constant innovation – finding quality amid the quantity”.

100 Things to Watch in 2011 is a wide-ranging compilation that partly reflects broader shifts the firm has been tracking over the past few years. The list presents interesting trends, from the evolution of the mobile phone into an “everything hub” to the development of counter-trends, for example to balance out the growing immersion in the digital world, people will increasingly embrace face-to-face gatherings and digital downtime.

enjoy…

Human resources usually describes the individuals who comprise the workforce of an organization; often its most valuable asset. Therefore, the strategies and policies relating to the management of individuals are very important factors for most businesses.

Apparently, human resource professionals are still hesitant and critical when it comes to anything technology related, including applicant recruitment and employee selection through social media. However, social medias’ popularity and possibilities have forced H&R professionals to give the medium a second thought.

This post on mashable discusses the issue and looks at how social media is affecting the human resources field.

What are your experiences?

TED (technology, entertainment, design) is a non-profit foundation that is best known for its annual conferences, in which lectures or ted-talks are devoted to one mission: “spreading ideas”. founded as a one-off event in 1984, ted-talks have grown in popularity and now cover a wide range of topics (science and culture). Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Bill Gates or Richard Dawkins are just some of the prominent figures who have given ted-talks.

curious: when “ted-talking”, the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers are challenged to limit their speeches to 18 minutes. the best talks and performances from TED and partners are available on ted.com official website or the ted youtube channel.

click the link for upcoming and ongoing tedx events.

a recent survey, conducted by elon university, found that cloud-computing will increasingly gain importance in the future. the majority of social analysts, internet and tech experts questioned in the survey, predict this form of internet-based computing, whereby shared resources, software and information, are provided to computers and other devices on-demand, to prevail. mashable offers a great summary of this study.

image by mashable

Today, the Volkswagen group announced their ambition to manufacture and sell annually over two million cars until 2012. This would imply a severe rise of the market share which currently is at around 17 percent of the most populous country in the world.

With four new factories the company will try to achieve their primal target already six years earlier than originally planned. The main reason for this optimistic forecast are numbers of sales of this year’s first four months which brought a sales rise of over 53 percent compared to 2009.

The 1.4 million cars sold last year could easily be exceeded with an average growth of over 20 percent supported by an investment of over six billion Euros.

Source: hindustantimes.com

project-related work requires very different talents and capabilities. the lack of such capacity creates inefficiencies. by utilizing a community of people with similar issues and needs, these inefficiencies can be minimized through collaboration. co-working spaces enable efficient teamwork by bringing people together in a shared working environment. this interesting post on mashable gives a great overview of why co-working makes so much sense for businesses…

image by mashable

why co-working makes sense for small businesses

as the nytimes reports, the workforce is becoming increasingly comfortable with the changing nature of work as it is…”becoming more temporary and project-based, with workers increasingly functioning as free agents and no longer being governed by traditional long-term employer-employee relationships…”. it’s a development that first began in the 90′s but recently gained some momentum.

wsj: with the increase of victims of the economic collapse, freelancing and consulting has taken on an entrepreneurial air. nearly 25 percent of US workers are either part time or full time freelancers, consultants, free agents or contractors.

to be successful in this self starting and competitive career there are rules that help create a successful freelancing occupation:

• freelancers can no longer think short term. to be prosperous, they have to be aggressive about staying up to date in their field.

• joining networks can also be an advantage in acquiring referrals and creating more opportunities.

• an air of professionalism is required to be accomplished in the freelancing world. one way of doing this is by having a private space (home office).

• freelancing can no longer be seen as a job but as a business. the mind-set of an entrepreneur is neccessary.

anybody can become a consultant or freelancer. but not everybody does it well. here’s what you need to know to thrive:

read full post on wsj: How to Succeed in the Age of Going Solo