What a Great Tool

What a Great Tool! Ever want to capture a section of an article or a photo from a web site only to be blocked by the security of the document? I think we’ve all experienced that problem over the years. Whether it’s an Adobe doc or a secure web site, many of the software programs in use today for publishing prevent copying of their information for use on another document. Well Microsoft has changed all that with their little known “Snipping Tool”. Located under “Accessories” in Office 2007, the snipping tool provides an easy method to copy and paste any information from any viewable source to your clipboard for use in another application. It’s really simple to use too. Open the source of information you are looking to copy, then click the “Start” button, then click on “Accessories”, then click on “Snipping Tool”. A new pop-up window will appear in your window of the material. Click on “New” and a cursor arrow will appear. You can move this with your mouse to the furthest upper left point of the information you wish to copy then left click the mouse, drag the cursor to expand the copy box around the entire block of information. Once all the information is contained within the block, release the mouse button and you are now ready to paste the info to the application of your choice. To paste the info, go to the application you are going to use, place the cursor within the page or sheet where you are working and then press “Ctrl “ and “V” simultaneously, and voila! Your information is now pasted for you. I learned this a few months back and have found lots of uses for this tool. I hope you too find this helpful. If any of you have found any other helpful tools, I’d love to hear about them!

ILD Corp.'s New Venture --Social Strategy 1

ILD Corp.'s newest division, Social Strategy 1 continues to receive some great press coverage....Crunchbase, a widely used database of technolgy companies has recently posted a new overview of SS-1. It can be read at http://tinyurl.com/35dyhbz The use of social media is becoming more important each day as the use of the internet for information sharing expands every day. The massive amount of media coverage on the world's events (like the BP oil spill) is mandating both people and corporations engage in the use of social media. As many companies evolve with their social media needs, it is obvious that there is a major shortfall in the experience required to effectively monitor and engage the consumers comments and opinions on a timely basis. Selecting a partner who has the necessary expertise is essential to keep the social wheels turning, and allowing your internal employees focus their attention on growing new revenues. While many people feel they address social media needs by following one of many available tools like Google Alerts, it is the personal interaction provided by the SS-1 analyst which makes the difference between being effective growing your brand and simply getting lots of "hits" and not knowing what to do with them. I'm interested in hearing how others are currently handling their social interaction needs? Is it effective? How do your consumers react to the experience?

How's Your Reputation Doing These Days

Wouldn't want to be BP Oil these days. The giant oil firm is really taking the heat from the ecological damage caused by the oil spill in the Gulf these days. Ongoing efforts to close the leak have proved ineffective and oil continues to flow from the damaged pipe. Just now, with curiosity getting the best of me, I "Googled" "BP Oil Spill" and the search returned over 3,240,000 hits. Wow! This disaster is proof positive for the need of a plan to keep your business' reputation and consumer responses positive and engaging. It will be interesting to follow the social efforts of BP going forward, watching how they "listen" to the consumer and advocacy groups, "learn" from the experience, and ultimately "engage" the public to repair their reputation in the public eye. Exxon-Mobil is still hearing about the Exxon Valdez incident in 1989. But to put the interent growth into perspective for you, I just "Googled" "Exxon Valdez Oil Spill" and it returned over 1,700,000 hits. So the incident in 1989 is receiving slightly more than 50% of the 3,200,000+ google mentions that the current BP Oil incident is receiving. It's for just this reason that Social Strategy 1 has emerged into the social media market. I'd love to hear your thoughts on various methods of social monitoring and engagement. We're moving into unexplored technological times, with the internet growing faster and bigger by the day. We can either "engage" the expansion and grow with it, or we can stand idly by and watch progress pass by us like a ship on the horizon.