Wallstrip on Twitter

Interesting idea making millions proves not to overlook simplicity.

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Observation on Latino Cultura

OBSERVATION
Literary cultura in California's desert


WHAT'S HAPPENING

A Latino book store in Palm Springs, CA, is targeting Latinos with items that its mainstream competitors don’t carry.

Latino Books y Más offers a Latino ambience and carries items that Latinos can’t find at stores like Borders, Barnes & Noble and Wal-Mart. There are books by Latin American poets, popular children’s books (like Harry Potter and Dr. Seuss titles) in English and Spanish, and books on Mexican and Aztec history.

Other items include pottery, artwork, religious statues and folk art. Owners Luciano Ramirez and his wife Tonia Bustamante-Ramirez plan to open additional bookstores in the growing Coachella Valley (MyDesert.com 8.11.08).

WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS

There is a niche for retailers that specialize in products that appeal to the language and culture of Latinos.
Stores like Latino Books y Más are local centers of Latino culture that help keep Latinos connected to their roots. (Iconoculture 08.26.08)

Keeping Small Business Up During Downturns

For small-business owners, everything is amplified. For instance, the landing of a large new account is not only a professional coup, it's a personal success that can mean long-term financial security for your family. At the same time, every setback, small or large, hits even harder. When times are tough for the overall economy, they are exceptionally tough for small-business owners.

Last month, Discover Small Business Watch found that economic confidence among small-business owners dropped to a record low. Nearly 80 percent of small-business owners thought the U.S. economy was getting worse. With the prices of most goods rising, especially gas and food, nearly every participant in the American economy is feeling the pinch. It's unavoidably trickled down - your customers are probably looking to change behaviors and cut back. The result for you and your small business: reduced opportunities, stagnant cash flow and slimmer profit margins.

Therefore, in times like these, it's important that a small business do all it can to survive. A little bit of innovative thinking and belt-tightening can go a long way - and for entrepreneurs, this should come naturally. Here are some tips that can have a big impact on your bottom line:

Show me the money - An important element of getting paid on time is clearly articulating expectations with your customers. Boldly but respectfully emphasize what work was done, how much should be paid and when the money is due. Consider offering a pre-payment discount or incentive.

Tech-savvy - Use technology efficiently. Technology and frugality can go hand in hand. Consider Web-based accounting software and video conferencing. Embracing the Web can save money while simultaneously providing education on important tech advances in the business world. Similarly, use multi-tasking tech products like the DYMO LabelWriter Twin Turbo, a printer that prints both labels and online U.S. Postal Service-approved postage.

Boost sales (while maintaining costs) - Charge for products or services currently given away for free or consider raising prices. At the same time, focus on selling more to existing customers instead of prospecting for new ones.

Market smart - Save on time, phone bills and aggravation. Try using targeted e-mail sales pitches. Additionally, spruce up the company Web site. The virtual address of a business has become more important than the physical address.

Stay visible and helpful - Keep in touch with your customers. Ask how their business is going. Confirm that you have been a helpful partner for them and ask for referrals. Contact dormant customers and inquire about current business needs.

Inventory in motion - Is inventory generating sales or just taking up space? Have a sale to move slow or obsolete inventory. Examine customer purchase patterns to determine if it is possible to shorten the overall holding cycle.

Keep workers working - Cut down on unnecessary employee trips outside of the office. Purchase a coffeemaker or buy soda for employees; it saves them $4 at Starbucks and the business 20 minutes of lost productivity time. Also consider streamlining common business errands: order office supplies online and take advantage of online shipping solutions, where the postal worker can pick up packages from your business instead of your workers having to take them to the post office. Additionally, there are now discounts available on USPS shipping costs for using online services like Endicia Internet Postage.

Don't cut perks - Tempting though it may be, cutting little employee perks (free coffee and bagels, holiday parties, etc.) can make people feel undervalued and potentially lead to employees leaving. The small extras tend to be taken personally. Keeping perks maintains employee confidence in your business's strength and can inspire them to go the extra mile.

In the end, it's up to each small-business owner to decide what his or her priorities are when it comes to braving tough economic times. These ideas are just a few of the many available. Thinking outside the box is part of the entrepreneurial lifestyle, when first starting a business and furthermore when guiding its growth. Adapting and overcoming the challenges of today will make your business even stronger in the years to come.

TREND: GEN XERS

OBSERVATION
Callers avoid callees with direct-to-voicemail service (iconoculture 08.19.08)

WHAT'S HAPPENING

Need to call in “sick” but don't want to risk talking to the boss? SlyDial lets you have your call and skip it, too. The sneaky service connects directly to a person's voicemail, no conversation required.

Dial 267-SLYDIAL, then enter any mobile number or a pre-saved contact. The service is free if you listen to 30-second ads before connecting; premium subscribers go directly to voicemail.

SlyDial brazenly touts itself as an avoidance tactic, but callees reap benefits, too. They aren't interrupted by a ringing phone and can listen to messages at their leisure.

WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS

Admit it: There are times you're secretly glad to get voicemail. Thanks to SlyDial, you'll never be disconcerted by having the person you're calling pick up. For the always connected, a service that provides a respite from communication overload could be a number worth keeping.

BOOMERS/MATURES TREND: 20 Something's Cozy Up To Grandparents online and off

OBSERVATION
20somethings cozy up to grandparents online and off (iconoculture 08.19.08)

WHAT'S HAPPENING

Amping the similarities that exist between Matures and New Propriety Millennials, grandparents and their 20something grandkids are pairing up in ways that benefit old and young alike.

Facing a dire job market and escalating debt, some Millennials are opting to room with a grandparent before launching on their own, learning values from the greatest generation while also keeping tabs as they age in place (CNN.com 4.11.08). Blogs between grandchild and grandparent, like Feed Me Bubbe, are forums that tighten family bonds and transcend tradition.
A recent study from U of Oxford revealed that involved grandparents during the teen years can enhance a child's wellbeing (ScienceDaily.com 6.7.08).


WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS

20somethings are making the most of their grandparents living longer. Building on the close relationships that Millennials have with their Boomer parents, they're equally comfortable sharing experiences and learning from their parents' parents.
Today's Active Matures are enthusiastic about surrounding themselves with multiple generations. Similarly, as Boomers enter the Third Age, they'll demand even more options for surrounding themselves with aspects of youth as they age.

TREND: MARKETING TO LATINOS

OBSERVATION
Homegrown Latino market chains take on Texas

WHAT'S HAPPENING

Houston’s neighborhood Latino markets grow into chains, both big and small, that compete with mainstream supermarkets by catering to the tastes of local Latinos.

Supermercados Teloloapan has nine outlets. Matamoros Meat Market runs 11 sites. La Michoacana Meat Market owns more than 100 stores throughout Texas.

The chains sometimes charge a little more but offer wider varieties of Latino foods in a traditional Latino setting conveniently located in Latino communities. At Supermercados Teloloapan, the deli serves stuffed chiles and pupusas. The bakery offers fresh tortillas and bolillos (sandwich bread). The butcher’s department showcases cow tongue and tripe.

WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS

Latino consumers may be willing to pay a little more for variety, convenience and, most of all, authenticity. If the market they frequent doesn't stock the items they're looking for, they'll move on to another.
One day, there could be a publicly traded Latino-owned supermarket chain that started as a community grocery. It’s the all-American story.

Coming Soon: A Post-American World

Millions of us have been swept up in the color and drama of the Olympic Games. But the Beijing Stadium isn't the only arena for global competition. Now, after decades of dominance, will the U.S. soon be "passing the torch"? With the rise of China and other economies, The "golden age" of American influence may be coming to an end

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TREND: MARKETING TO MILLENNIALS

OBSERVATION
PIN required: New dating tool helps singles (gasp!) talk to each other

WHAT'S HAPPENING

Singles on the dating scene have all sorts of tools at their disposal — speed dating, websites, blind dates. But what about just walking up and talking to someone? That’s the idea behind the Talk To Me Pin.
It’s simple, really: Buy the pin, wear the pin, notice other people wearing the pin and talk to them.
According to the product’s website, “It has the intellectual snobbery of a secret society but with quick acceptance and a universal appeal.” It also claims the pin will render Internet dating obsolete, but we’ll believe that when we see it.

WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS

In an always-on world that can sometimes render personal contact obsolete, consumers may think it's refreshing to see a product that puts a premium on face-to-face contact.
Single consumers might not relish the idea of wearing their solitary status on their sleeve (or lapel). Marketers need to beware of how they target this group. Some singles are comfortable wearing their status as a badge, while others would prefer to keep it private.

What do you think of this observation?

Ten Reasons Why Your Company Needs to 'Tweet'

This is great information finally given credit to Twitters in the whole world. Thank you Affect Strategies. Read press release below.
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New York (PRWEB) August 12, 2008 -- Affect Strategies, a strategic marketing and public relations agency specializing in technology, has compiled a list of top tips on how the social networking tool Twitter can be effectively leveraged for business. As Twitter becomes a more powerful business tool, organizations need to understand how to use it professionally in order to maximize the benefit. Businesses can now use Twitter for marketing, market research and analysis and communications with customers and business partners.

Twitter is a micro-blogging service that allows its users to send updates or "tweets" to their followers while following other individuals as well. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length (about two sentences long). Updates on Twitter are displayed on the user's profile page and delivered to followers who have signed up to receive them. Users can receive and send tweets on Twitter itself, a cell phone or PDA, and a host of other websites.

"Twitter has become an essential tool for PR, and has relevance for almost every type of business," said Sandra Fathi, president of Affect Strategies and chair of the New Media and Technology Committee of PRSA New York. "More and more companies are using it to communicate and create closer relationships with reporters, customers and prospective clients. Companies that aren't at least monitoring Twitter, if not actively participating, could be missing critical opportunities."

Affect Strategies shares 10 ways that companies can use Twitter for business purposes:

1. Generate Awareness - Many companies, employees and consumers use Twitter to spread awareness. Whether a tweet connects followers to the company blog, or a CEO discusses industry trends, tweets generate awareness through an online dialogue that reaches a large and active audience that is seeking information about you or your company.

2. Seek & Create Media Opportunities - Many reporters are now using Twitter to find sources. Reporters will tweet about their upcoming projects in order to help find spokespeople. By monitoring reporters' interests and news stories, PR practitioners can strategically position their clients or organization to become a part of the conversation. Twitter is also a great way to generate news about a new product or service.

3. Foster Customer Loyalty - Companies can search tweets from their customers to see what questions and critiques they may have. After compiling that data, companies can decipher what are the most frequently asked questions and concerns and address them by tweeting back or providing individual answers and superior customer services. In this way, customers can use Twitter to get instant resolutions to their questions and strengthen their relationship with the company.

4. Launch Viral Marketing Campaigns - Twitter is a useful tool for launching and maintaining viral campaigns due to its near-instantaneous updating capabilities. Brands can encourage users to follow them on Twitter in order to receive exclusive updates and news directly through device notifications (e.g. instant messages).

5. Manage Reputations - Organizations that routinely update their Twitter account are actively sending messages out to the public. Companies that respond to individual customers that are tweeting about them will have an impact on their public perception. Corporate Twitter accounts can also address widespread customer service issues faster and easier through Twitter to help build and maintain a strong public reputation.

6. Promote Products and Services - Twitter is an easy and free tool to share an idea or gather opinions from a large audience. Companies can promote products and services to their audience by simply writing a few sentences on Twitter without investing a great deal of time or money.

7. Network with Customers - Companies that tweet on a consistent basis tend to generate a larger audience on Twitter. These businesses are able to insert themselves into conversations about their industry that are already taking place, in order to promote themselves and their company's brand.

8. Enhance Your Company's Impact at Events - Companies can offer exclusive content and insights via tweets from the conference floor of an industry trade show or event. Instead of waiting until after the event concludes, conference attendees can engage in conversation with other attendees and presenters through group tweets.

9. Hear About Trends, Breaking News & Monitor Your Industry - Twitter is already known for breaking news stories such as wildfires and earthquakes in California. But, Twitter is breaking news stories every day for vertical markets and industries. It's a great place to listen to chatter in the market and follow key influencers to learn what they are discovering on a daily basis.

10. Recruit New Employees - Whether your company is recruiting prospective employees or clients, Twitter can be used to get the word out on all upcoming opportunities. Companies can tweet about job openings in order to attract potential new hires.

Although Twitter is the most widely used micro-blogging site, there are several other options for businesses that are interested in micro-blogging. Other sites that are similar to Twitter include Pownce, Jaiku and Plurk.

"As with any social media campaign, it is important to understand the medium, the culture and the unwritten 'rules' of the network," added Fathi. "All you need to do is sign up, start following friends, colleagues and other businesses. Within a few days, you'll start to understand the landscape and uncover immediate uses for it for your own business or personal use."

Education, a commodity for global business

This fall, hundreds of Middle Eastern, South Asian and East Asian students will begin work on graduate degrees from Carnegie Mellon, Cornell Medical School, Georgetown, Northwestern, Texas A&M and Virginia Commonwealth University. Yet none will travel to the U.S. Instead, these eager young people will head for Qatar, to a brand-new complex called Education City.



Qatar is not the only Persian Gulf kingdom developing state-of-the-art campuses. In Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, a similar effort is under way. Shimmering in the desert heat, these new facilities hark back to the golden age of Islamic civilization, when the scholars of Damascus, Baghdad, Alexandria, Cairo and Cordoba translated ancient Greek and Persian texts while also blazing new paths in mathematics and science. Yet they also offer the gold standard of modernity: American higher education.

Funded entirely by their billionaire royal sponsors, these branch campuses promise the same quality of faculty and curricula as their universities do at home. Admirers claim that they will also become oases of free inquiry in a region still lacking some basic liberties. Skeptics wonder whether this can really happen, and some deride the new ventures as a mirage conjured by petrodollars and rhetorical hot air.

Wherever living standards are rising, higher education is seen as the key to middle-class status. So ever since 1995, when the GATS rules of the World Trade Organization defined "educational goods and services" as a commodity, business has boomed in places like Dubai's Knowledge Village, a tax-free zone where more than 450 Australian, Belgian, Canadian, Indian, Iranian, Irish, Pakistani, Russian and British institutions, ranging from reputable universities to fly-by-night diploma mills, peddle their wares.

Knowledge Village boasts many brands, including the International Institute of Coffee and Barista Training (IICBT). But not many are American, doubtless because, unlike Hollywood moguls, who are content to see their products defined as commodities, American educators are divided on the issue. According to Philip Altbach, director of the Center for the Study of International Education at Boston College, for-profit entities (textbook publishers, testing services, distance learning companies) favor the GATS approach; but the educational establishment (accrediting organizations, unions, the majority of universities and colleges) reject the idea that education is a product and fear a loss of autonomy.

These fears are well understood by the emir of Dubai, Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Rather than ask Michigan State and the Rochester Institute of Technology to hang a shingle next to the IICBT, he's building a whole new complex for these and other respected institutions, called International Academic City. The reluctance of American universities to "sell their name" is reflected in another Dubai undertaking: a Harvard-assisted medical training program in nearby Healthcare City. Significantly, this program will not be run by Harvard Medical School, but rather by Partners Harvard Medical International, a for-profit company that owns several Boston hospitals. And the word "Harvard" will be dropped from that company's name in 2012.

By contrast, New York University is boldly launching a full-scale liberal-arts college on Saadiyat Island near Abu Dhabi. In return for a $50 million gift from Abu Dhabi's crown prince, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, NYU will soon join the Sorbonne, the Guggenheim, the Louvre and several other distinguished institutions on Saadiyat Island, a $28 billion complex still under construction near Doha.

Will other universities follow NYU's example? Probably not. One reason may be the memory of a rush to establish branch campuses in Japan back in the 1980s, when the Japanese economy was soaring. Recalls Peggy Blumenthal, executive vice president of the Institute of International Education (IIE): "The Japanese government sank a huge amount of money into a hundred or so campuses. But due to unrealistic expectations on both sides, only a couple were left standing a decade later."

One unrealistic expectation was that all courses would be taught by Americans. "The demand is great," says IIE's president, Allen Goodman, "and so is the need for faculty to know more about the rest of the world. But it is stunning how few are willing to go overseas, even for their own university." Despite high salaries and perks, many faculty see overseas teaching as a risky step off the career ladder. Hence Mr. Goodman's admiration for Carnegie-Mellon and Texas A&M, which he says "incentivize" it, and for NYU's Dr. Sexton, who "is talking about sending every professor and student to Doha."

The question no one seems to be asking is what will happen if these incentives work, and American professors and students flock to these Gulf kingdoms. Will their presence enhance or diminish the luster of American higher education (and of America) in the region?

The first thing to note is the potential cultural clash. "Emiratis are not fundamentalist," says Abdulakhaleq Abdullah, a professor at Emirates University. "But they are very guarded about their language, customs and families." This guardedness, which is shared by the South and East Asian populations, enhances the appeal of branch campuses. If the permissiveness found at many colleges in the U.S. shocks American parents, how much more shocking must it be to Arabs and Asians? That's why many who can afford to send their children to study in America now prefer that they get the same education closer to home. Along with such oft-cited reasons as difficulty obtaining visas and fears of harassment, parents also cite the desirability of a campus where the sexes do not live together and there is zero tolerance for binge drinking and "hooking up."

The challenge for overseas branch campuses, then, is to distinguish between two kinds of freedom: the libertinism of American undergraduate life, in which too many students major in "partying"; and the liberty of thought, inquiry and expression that makes American universities the envy of the world.

Despite political correctness and other restraints, it is still true (quoting John Waterbury, president of the American University of Beirut) that "the word 'American' is to education what 'Swiss' is to watches." Openness and critical thinking are deeply ingrained in U.S. higher education and contrast dramatically with foreign systems that still adhere to the medieval model of knowledge being poured from one vessel into another. Equally ingrained, and popular, is the American style of wielding authority: casual, approachable, eliciting questions and opinions rather than suppressing them.

Yet if the glittering new campuses of the Gulf are to become true centers of learning, we Americans must relearn, and try to teach, the difference between license and liberty. Otherwise our efforts and those of the branches' royal sponsors will founder in the sands of mutual misunderstanding.

How to make your story stick with your audience?

In business as in life, we prefer to buy from people we know and trust. So let your potential customers know something about by including parts of your story in the article.

Make sure that your story is short, and relevant to your buzz story and expertise. If you can link your personal story to your business you have found quick way into the hearts and minds of both editors and the reader, or potential customer.

Editors (and readers) take as much interest in the person at the sharp end of the business as in any of their products or
services. This is especially true in newspapers both local and national - and I have worked in both. While the chance of getting your business story published in national newspapers is remote, it is much easier in your local press or radio.

Your story and your expertise are part of your personal brand.

People are interested in people

Ask yourself what interests you most when you read a business profile in a magazine? Aren’t the characteristics, skill sets and backgrounds of the subjects more engaging than the products and services of their businesses?

For me the value of their story lies in how they meet challenges in business, how they have overcome problems in getting to the top (often lack of academic qualifications at school), and how they use hobbies and pastimes to promote their own brand.

The more I know about business leaders and where they have come from, the more likely I am to buy them and their products or services.

Why do you think Sir Richard Branson spends so much time engaging in headline-grabbing non-business activities such as air ballooning? It is because these fancy sideshows grab the headlines and reinforce his image – the Branson personal brand. People are attracted to his story as much to his business acumen.

Become a guru in your field

If your personal story paints you as an expert in your field, so much the better. Your expertise will reflect kindly on your business, and newspapers, journals and magazines in your sector will increasingly turn to you as an expert witness for a quote or, even better, for more articles.

Editorial articles are a great means of soft-selling your products and services. Prepare a newsworthly article and pitch it to several editors. Start in your local community and expand nationally. People enjoy hearing about what's going on in simple and fun story. Article that are interesting and easy to read, that have an enjoyable topic, is very appealing to several businesses which then will be prompted to approach you to apply your expertise in the corporate world.

These are just some of the reasons why you need to personalize a story, when you send an article to your local or trade paper,

Instant-Messagers Really Are About Six Degrees

Turns out, it is a small world.

The "small world theory," embodied in the old saw that there are just "six degrees of separation" between any two strangers on Earth, has been largely corroborated by a massive study of electronic communication.

With records of 30 billion electronic conversations among 180 million people from around the world, researchers have concluded that any two people on average are distanced by just 6.6 degrees of separation, meaning that they could be linked by a string of seven or fewer acquaintances.

The database covered all of the Microsoft Messenger instant-messaging network in June 2006, or roughly half the world's instant-messaging traffic at that time, researchers said.

"To me, it was pretty shocking. What we're seeing suggests there may be a social connectivity constant for humanity," said Eric Horvitz, a Microsoft researcher who conducted the study with colleague Jure Leskovec. "People have had this suspicion that we are really close. But we are showing on a very large scale that this idea goes beyond folklore."

In recent years, the massive databases yielded by cell phone records have been exploited by researchers to better understand human movements and social networks. Stripped of text messages and personally identifiable information, the records indicate users' location and patterns of contact.

The Microsoft research focused on the popular concept that has inspired games such as Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon and a well-known play by John Guare. A "degree of separation" is a measure of social distance between people. You are one degree away from everyone you know, two degrees away from everyone they know, and so on.

But proof of the theory has been thin.

Its origins lie in the work done in the '60s by Stanley Milgram and Jeffrey Travers. In an oft-cited 1969 work, they put the figure at 6.2, though they never referred to it as "degrees of separation."

Their finding was based on asking 296 people in Nebraska and Boston to send a letter through acquaintances to a Boston stockbroker.

The subjects were told to send the letter to an acquaintance who could best advance the letter to the target, but most failed: Only 64 of the original 296 letters reached the stockbroker. Of those letter chains that were complete, the average number of degrees of separation was 6.2. The high failure rate, and the possibility that the incomplete chains reflected much more distant relationships, led some to question the results. Also, all of the subjects were in the United States. What would happen if the test was expanded to the planet?

The idea was taken up again, this time on a global scale, by Columbia University researchers in a 2003 report of an e-mail experiment. More than 24,163 volunteers agreed to try to send an e-mail through acquaintances to one of 18 target persons in 13 countries. Only 384 of those 24,163 letter chains were completed. Of those completed chains, the average number of steps was 4, and using statistical techniques, the researchers estimated that the average length in all of the chains was between five and seven steps. Still, it was an estimate.

The Microsoft Messenger project, which was presented at a technical conference in Beijing in April, went further.

"To our knowledge, this is the first time a planetary-scale social network has been available to validate the well-known '6 degrees of separation' finding by Travers and Milgram," the researchers said.

For the purposes of their experiment, two people were considered to be acquaintances if they had sent one another a text message. The researchers looked at the minimum chain lengths it would take to connect 180 billion different pairs of users in the database. They found that the average length was 6.6 steps and that 78 percent of the pairs could be connected in seven hops or less.

Some pairs, however, were separated by as many as 29 hops.

"Via the lens provided on the world by Messenger, we find that there are about '7 degrees of separation' among people,'' they wrote.

Microsoft Messenger use is most intense in North America, Europe and Japan, and in the coastal regions of the rest of the world. While the study sample is huge, there is little way of knowing whether Microsoft Messenger users are as socially connected as the rest of humanity.

Why does it matter that people from around the world are closely tied together? Researchers said that the knowledge might have applications for political organizations, charity efforts, natural disaster relief and missing-person searches.

"They could create large meshes of people who could be mobilized with the touch of a return key," Horvitz said.

It also means that, strictly speaking, six degrees of separation might be just a bit off. It's closer to seven, at least in their study.

"For a piece of folklore, it wasn't bad," said Duncan J. Watts, one of the Columbia researchers, now at Yahoo Research. "It was off only in its detail."

Courtesy of:
Instant-Messagers Really Are About Six Degrees from Kevin Bacon
Big Microsoft Study Supports Small World Theory
By Peter Whoriskey
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, August 2, 2008