Tag: Social Media

Posted on

News You Can Use: 11/29/2017

  • Google Is Filtering News for the Wrong Reason

    Google decided to downgrade links to RT and Sputnik just as members of Congress investigate whether U.S. technology platforms helped facilitate a Russian disinformation campaign during the presidential election. Until the possibility of regulation arose, the company was fine with those links, even though RT’s and Sputnik’s content was always as pungent as it is today.

    The bottom line is that Google will downgrade any kind of content that can cause a backlash against it. That’s important to understand even if you don’t want to see alt-right, alt-left, pro-Russian, pro-Iran or any other biased “news stories.” What you do want can end up being censored, too, if Google’s finely tuned corporate nose smells complications.

    https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-11-22/google-is-filtering-news-for-the-wrong-reason

  • Uber is now facing multiple lawsuits over its huge data breach

    After it was revealed that the ride-hailing giant paid hackers $100,000 to stay silent about the data breach of 57 million account holders, regulators around the world–including the U.K., Australia, and the Philippines–announced that they were investigating the company. Yesterday, the Federal Trade Commission joined that list, saying it was “closely evaluating the serious issues raised.”

    Today, Uber can add three potential class-action lawsuits to the difficult issues it has to deal with, reports the Washington Post. In addition, the attorneys general of New York, Missouri, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Connecticut are also launching an investigation.

    https://www.fastcompany.com/40500244/uber-is-now-facing-multiple-lawsuits-over-its-huge-data-breach

  • Your Life in 2027: A Look at the Future (Vivek Wadhwa)
  • Tai Lopez Reveals the Secrets He Used to Make Millions From Social Media

    To make money, Lopez estimates you need at least 5,000 to 10,000 followers on Instagram; 1,000 on YouTube; 5,000 to 10,000 on Snapchat; 10,000 on Facebook; and 2,000 to 5,000 on Twitter. For a podcast and email, the magic number is 5,000 subscribers respectively. But the followers, he cautions, must be “highly targeted.” In other words, true fans.

    “It doesn’t matter if you have a million followers if they’re all ghost followers,” Lopez says, citing the importance of audience quality, not quantity.

    Expand your reach:

    Lopez recommends “shoutout for shoutout” exchanges as the least expensive way to grow a decent Instagram following of 10,000 to 100,000. How it works: repost another user’s post and say “Repost” or “Follow my friend.”

    “Start with acquaintances who have a couple thousand Instagram followers. Just say, ‘I love your post. I’m going to repost it on my Instagram and tag you.’ Don’t ask for anything in return. Many people are happy if you get them only 100 followers. Then you can come back a week later and say, ‘I have this post, would you mind posting it for me?’”

    https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/304903

  • The Out-Of-Office Template You Should Use This Holiday Season

    Hi there,

    Thanks so much for your email. I’ve decided to take advantage of the holiday weekend and truly take [Monday/Friday] off. In an effort to come back fully recharged, I won’t be checking my email. Don’t worry though, if it’s urgent, you can reach out to [name] at [email address].

    I’ll be sure to get back to you as soon as possible when I’m back in the office.

    [Your Name]

    The article contains another example as well.
    https://www.fastcompany.com/40499110/the-out-of-office-template-you-should-use-this-holiday-season

Photo: Roman Kraft

Posted on

News You Can Use: 5/31/2017

  • Twitter’s VP of Europe: The glorious open-plan office dream is dead

    One 2014 study found we’re 15% less productive in open-plan workspaces, we have more trouble concentrating and we’re twice as likely to get sick with no walls to stop the spread of coughs and illness.

    “We perceived offices as having hierarchy, the boss had a better office, but in fact the truth is that offices, cubicles and little spaces were far better for our productivity and for getting your job done,” Twitter’s vice president of Europe, Bruce Daisley, told The Memo.

    Open Offices exist due to cost:

    “There are two reasons why offices are open plan, one is that we ripped down the walls of hierarchy, but two is because it’s a lot cheaper. We can fit lots more people in open plan,” says Daisley.

    And, sadly, that’s the reason why open-plan is here to stay.

    https://www.thememo.com/2017/03/15/twitter-vp-of-europe-bruce-daisley-the-glorious-open-plan-office-dream-is-dead/

  • Comcast tries to shut down pro-net neutrality site

    Internet advocacy group, Fight for the Future, says Comcast sent it a cease-and-desist order demanding the group take down Comcastroturf.com on the grounds that it violates the company’s “valuable intellectual property.” The site appeals for help identifying what it claims are fraudulent comments posted on the FCC’s own site, supporting FCC chairman Ajit Pai’s plans to rollback net neutrality rules. Many comments have already been flagged as spam, or posted under people’s names without their permission. (It’s not the first time something like this has happened.)

    https://www.engadget.com/2017/05/24/comcast-tries-to-shut-down-pro-net-neutrality-site/

  • Why Controlling the Masses Through Media No Longer Works
  • IBM’s Remote Work Reversal Is A Losing Battle Against The New Normal

    In a study published in Harvard Business Review in 2014, remote workers proved both more productive and more loyal than their peers onsite. In fact, IBM’s recent policy switch goes against its own research. In both a 2014 white paper by IBM’s Smarter Workplace Institute and in a conference panel the company hosted just weeks ago, its own experts suggested that remote workers tend to be happier, less stressed, more productive, more engaged with their jobs and teams, and believe that their companies are more innovative as a result of flexible work arrangements.

    At a time when smaller cities and rural areas are struggling, it’s backward-looking for a major corporation–especially one with such deep experience in remote work–to implement a policy that could take jobs away from regions that need them most. By demanding its employees flock to IBM’s urban headquarters, the company isn’t just sapping everyplace else of highly skilled talent, it’s also contributing to depopulating the communities where those remote workers live, and depressing local economies as a result.

    https://www.fastcompany.com/40423083/ibms-remote-work-reversal-is-a-losing-battle-against-the-new-normal

  • Hedge funds vs. Silicon Valley

    “At tech companies, the permeating value is that they’re about trying to make the world a better place, whereas at hedge funds it’s about making more money,” Mr. Epstein said.

    Nina Kuklisova, a quantitative associate at a large financial-services firm in New York, said she gets between three and five inquiries a week from recruiters about job opportunities at other finance firms and technology companies. The 27-year-old, while not actively looking for a job, said she is open to switching to the tech sector. However, negative feedback from friends employed in tech gives her pause.

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/battle-royale-hedge-funds-vs-silicon-valley-1495637466

Photo: Khachik Simonian

Posted on

News You Can Use: 12/7/2016

sn_money_vitaly-taranov

  • Management Thought is Bankrupt

    We are seeing the dominance of measurement.  KPIs abound. Big Data everywhere. Your personality is tested and measured. As is your engagement. On an ongoing basis. Every project has thousands of targets, deadlines and measurable processes. Data, data, data. Numbers, numbers, numbers. Measure, measure, measure.

    Taylorism for the hi-tech generation. A model we know does not work and does not motivate, but one we’ve re-embraced anyway. And we wonder why there is no meaning or engagement at work.

    https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/management-thought-bankrupt-dr-richard-claydon

  • Why Avoiding Office Politics Isn’t Always the Best for Your Career

    When it comes to office politics, Simosko warns, “There is no way around it. Once you start working with a team you are going to experience it. I am not a fan of politics, but I have learned that ignoring them can have negative consequences.” She insists that learning to deal with office politics is vital for leaders at any stage of their career. “It can determine whether you are successful in your career or not,” she said.

    http://lifehacker.com/why-avoiding-office-politics-isnt-always-the-best-for-y-1788946874

  • What everyone ought to know about Social Media (thanks JD!)

    How technology hijacks people’s minds

    http://www.timewellspent.io/
  • The tech that will feed the world

    Now computing capacity is cheap, and it’s possible to model all possible choices and their potential outcomes. A smartphone with Google Maps, for example, can evaluate every path from point A to point B to decide, based on the current traffic conditions, which will likely be the shortest or fastest route.

    Simulation and modeling also help from getting lost when it comes to growing crops. At the most basic level, plants need sunlight, water and nutrients at levels that vary during various stages of growth. It sounds simple, but at scale, optimizing each factor has a huge payoff.

    https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/19/the-tech-that-will-feed-the-world/?ncid=rss

  • Microsoft executive bonuses could soon be tied to diversity goals

    According to Gwen Houston, Microsoft’s General Manager for Global Diversity and Inclusion, Nadella is working on a plan that will make meeting diversity goals a major factor in deciding if executives receive their full bonus each year. “Diversity and inclusion is something you’ve got to ingrain,” Houston said. “That’s what Satya has been doing.” Still, Houston says the company has more to do. Layoffs from sale of Nokia assets severely hurt the company’s percentage of women and minority workers, and new hires haven’t made up the difference yet.

    https://www.engadget.com/2016/11/18/microsoft-executive-bonuses-could-soon-be-tied-to-diversity-goal/

Photo: Vitaly Taranov

Posted on

News You Can Use: 1/20/2016

sn_beachdawn_Gerrit Vermeulen

  • Why the customer is not always right

    There are two fatal flaws in this model, both having to do with managing expectations.  First, clients need to understand that they are unlikely to get every deliverable without some compromise – particularly in custom software, where nobody knows exactly what’s involved until the project is more than half done.  Second, the project lead on the consultant side must actively manage expectations during every client meeting.  If the project lead on the client side is weak – technically or politically – s/he will not successfully propagate the realities of prioritization and negotiation to executives in the client organization.  This means the project is in trouble before it starts … and, worse, the trouble can be totally invisible to the client until it’s way too late.

    http://www.cio.com/article/3020698/it-industry/why-customer-is-not-always-right.html#tk.rss_all

  • Can blockchains drive supply chain transparency in 2016?
    Background:

    In short, a blockchain provides a shared database that is both transparent and tamper-proof. Specifically, it is a public ledger of all Bitcoin transactions that have ever been executed and has complete information about addresses and balances right from the genesis block to the most recently completed block.

    How it relates to Supply Chain:

    Baker said: “We have three levels that we are thinking about. The first is the business level: so who is this company? What do they do? Do they pay tax? Then the product level, which is around supply chain mapping. The blockchain component is more item level tracking, so is this particular item what it says it is? Is it really organic? Has it really been made by this company, in this place? So it’s a bit of a hybrid.”

    http://www.supplychaindigital.com/procurement/4205/Can-blockchains-drive-supply-chain-transparency-in-2016

  • Despite Social Media’s Popularity, Most Americans Don’t Want to Give Up Private Data

    Of the six outlined scenarios, respondents were uncomfortable with the privacy tradeoffs required to access free social media. In that scenario, Pew outlined a social-media site — a clear Facebook stand in — which gives users free access in exchange for the ability to sell them ads using their personal data. Only a third of respondents thought this tradeoff was “acceptable,” 15 percent said it depended on the situation, and 51 percent found the tradeoff “unacceptable.”

    http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/269581

  • 5 Healthcare Supply Chain Trends to Watch in 2016

    1. Operational Experimentation: Now that most hospitals have identified the supply chain as an area not only for cost savings, but also as a resource for significantly improving patient outcomes, 2016 will mark the start of major operational experimentation. Backed by sophisticated, enabling supply chain technology, hospitals will embrace process and product flexibility to find the right formula for both patient- and business-focused success.

    http://hitconsultant.net/2016/01/14/healthcare-supply-chain-trends-to-watch-in-2016/

  • You Might Be Getting the Basics Right, but That’s Not Enough

    Similarly, it’s not enough to do a proper, verbal, invitation over the phone, give the supplier a chance to include references, case studies, and suggest alternative proposals, if you know that one of the critical requirements of the bid or organizational preference (or prejudice) would preclude the supplier from getting the award. It’s not professional to invite the supplier unless you believe the supplier has an honest chance.

    http://sourcinginnovation.com/wordpress/2016/01/14/you-might-be-getting-the-basics-right-but-thats-not-enough/

  • Shakeup at Citrix continues: CloudStack products sold off

    When Citrix announced in November that it would spin off its popular GoToMeeting and affiliated products into an independent publicly traded company, some questioned if other parts of the company may be destined for change as well.

    Today, Citrix announced it has sold its two cloud infrastructure management products: CloudPlatform and CloudPortal Business Manager, both of which are based on open source CloudStack.

    Citrix is selling the cloud products to Accelerite, which is owned by Persistent Systems. Accelerite focuses on cloud backup and recovery as a service. Persistent has a broader portfolio of cloud and other IT consulting products and services.

    http://www.cio.com/article/3020666/cloud-computing/shakeup-at-citrix-continues-cloudstack-products-sold-off.html#tk.rss_all

  • 3 open source tools for supply chain management

    The last tool in our supply chain management roundup is Odoo, which you might recognize from our previous top ERP projects article. In fact, a full ERP may be good fit for you, depending on your needs. Odoo’s supply chain management tools mostly revolve around inventory and purchase management, and connectivity with e-commerce and point of sale, but it can also connect to other tools like frePPLe for open source production planning.

    Odoo is available both as a software as a service solution, as well as an open source community edition. The open source edition is released under an LGPL version 3, and the source is available on GitHub. Odoo is primarily written in Python.

    https://opensource.com/business/16/1/open-source-tools-supply-chain-management

  • “Never Touch Things Twice”
    This is lovely in thought, impossible in the real world.  Additionally as someone who writes, you have to walk away and come back to things.

    Never touch things twice. That’s it. Never put anything in a holding pattern, because touching things twice is a huge time-waster. Don’t save an email or a phone call to deal with later. As soon as something gets your attention you should act on it, delegate it, or delete it.

    http://lifehacker.com/never-touch-things-twice-1752117533

 

Photo: Gerrit Vermeulen