http://www.thevirtualhandshake.com/blog Blogs, social network sites, social software---and how to use all of these tools to become dramatically more successful Thu, 28 Aug 2008 08:46:50 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en In case you've been trying to reach me, my phone number is currently being held hostage by one of the big telcos (and I'm not even sure which one). I was trying to switch service providers, but they missed the install appointment and the change order went through anyway. So ... http://www.thevirtualhandshake.com/blog/2008/08/28/my-phone-number-is-being-held-hostage Shocking, but true. Vickie Elmer at WashingtonPost.com reports on a new Stanford University study which indicates that highly connected individuals may be less able to make the right ethical choices in the workplace. Apparently their well-connectedness makes them overconfident that they know what their colleagues' thinking will be ... http://www.thevirtualhandshake.com/blog/2008/08/28/better-networking-worse-judgment Lately, I have been thinking about the unemployed and underemployed as a pool of talent. I'd argue they are one of the most undertapped economic segments.  Of the global working population, 6.3% is unemployed.  In the US, the long-term unemployed are better educated, older, and more likely to be ... http://www.thevirtualhandshake.com/blog/2008/08/13/on-tapping-the-talents-of-the-unemployed-and-in-transition I just spoke today with Andy Lopata, who wrote an interesting piece on CEO networks. http://www.thevirtualhandshake.com/blog/2008/08/01/ceo-networks I recently learned about an entrepreneur with a very clever business model: Thorkil Sonne, founder of Danish software testing company Specialisterne.  The 55-person firm's clients include CSC, Microsoft, and Oracle. Specialisterne claims to be the world's first company focused on leveraging the unique talents of people with autism ... http://www.thevirtualhandshake.com/blog/2008/07/13/building-a-business-by-leveraging-the-talents-of-autistic-people Comment spamming is bad, shilling is worse. Why? Because automated filters detect 99% of comment spam. The spam filter here on The Virtual Handshake Blog has caught over 750,000 spam comments in the past couple of years. But shilling... shilling is hard to detect and often goes unnoticed the ... http://www.thevirtualhandshake.com/blog/2008/06/25/the-fine-art-of-shilling-or-how-not-to-do-social-media-marketing Entrepreneurs -- looking to grow your business? Starting this Thursday, June 5, you can learn some of the most current techniques for growing your business in the Escape 9 to 5 Teleseminar Series. I love what the organizer, Melissa Gerdes, has to say about the series on the registration page: Why are we ... http://www.thevirtualhandshake.com/blog/2008/06/04/escape-9-to-5-free-teleseminar-series-starts-june-5 Remember the good old days? Back when you had to log on to one email system at work and then at night dial up your favorite BBS's one by one, replying to all of your emails while you were logged in? (I'm showing my age - if you don't ... http://www.thevirtualhandshake.com/blog/2008/05/15/social-web-aggregation-the-next-killer-app-part-1 I'll be visiting the San Francisco Bay Area May 5-8, and hope that you can attend some of my investor seminars to the Wharton and Columbia Business School Alumni Clubs: Topic: "Squeezing Blood from a Stone: The Professional Investor's Guide to Eliciting Information" Host: Wharton Club of Northern California Learn how professional investors ... http://www.thevirtualhandshake.com/blog/2008/04/30/visit-to-sf-bay-area-may-5-8-wharton-columbia-business-school-alumni-clubs Authentic social media engagement has the power to transform brands that have a declining reputation for customer service. Microsoft, led by Robert Scoble and the Channel 9 team, reversed their image as a company out of touch with its developers. Dell, spurred on by the public complaints of A-list bloggers ... http://www.thevirtualhandshake.com/blog/2008/04/29/can-comcast-scale-social-media-customer-engagement