SMO "Social media optimization"

Twitter:

http://twitter.com/

This is a “Presence App” which allows members to leave short messages (similar to Facebook feeds) under 140 characters. It does not allow you to make a link in post, but it does link to your profile which could include business information. Purpose is to tell people what you are doing now.

flickr

http://www.flickr.com/

Allows users to store and share photos. Owned by Yahoo. Removes links on submission. Potential to market through profile and commercial images. Hosted images tend to get shared on sites such as MySpace and Facebook. Advertising is available through Yahoo.

FaceBook

http://www.facebook.com

Allows you to reach users through news feeds and applications, as well as walls (guest-books) and direct user to user messaging. Does allow posting HOWEVER it uses a redirect from a Facebook page, so it is not beneficial to SEO. It has its own applications development framework which can access news feeds and other data. To attract interested people towards a page or cause, groups can be created. Allows the creation of business pages. Possible to advertise by age, gender and other user characteristics through an internal advertising program. You can also collect user statistics by subscribing to its business services. Facebook has recently overtaken Bebo in terms of visits.

MySpace

http://www.myspace.com

An older profile pages system like FaceBook. One of the main differences is that MySpace allows users to customize page layouts. It has its own internal advertising program, and allows for the creation of business pages and groups. It also allows linking without nofollow. Oldest and most vulnerable to spam. Allows users to publish images, videos and music. Should be part of the OpenSocial applications development platform from Google. Still maintains a majority market share in the Asia Pacific region.

Bebo

http://www.bebo.com/

Similar to MySpace. Has an open applications framework like Facebook, and allows users to customize pages. Also allows for video hosting and music channels similar to MySpace. Allows advertising using Yahoo. Was recently overtaken by Facebook in terms of traffic

Digg

http://www.digg.com/

Allows users to submit and vote for articles submitted by other uses. Users can also bury articles. Having a high ranking article means a link without nofollow on the front page of a PR8 site plus thousands of visitors. Diggs are tracked by user account. Frequently digg posts are Flickr, Youtube and other social media objects. Allows advertising through Microsoft. Users tend to bury bad posts.

YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/

Allows users to contribute and host videos. Specific interface designed for distributing videos on other sites. Allows posting of links with nofollow. Viral video marketing potential as users can search by views. Owned by Google. Allows for AdSense advertising through Google.

del.icio.us

http://del.icio.us

Social bookmarking site owned by Yahoo. Allows users to store bookmarks and provide them with descriptions and tags. Non-internal links are no-follow, but site contains a hotlist of popular items which appear on the front page. Recently there are reports that Yahoo is taking action to stop bots from other search engines including Google from indexing its content, although I can still find del.icio.us results in Google (punch site:http://del.ico.us into Google search field).

technorati

http://www.technorati.com/

Allows users to post articles into different categories. Users can then comment on articles and add or remove “authority” by voting for them. Allows links without nofollow. Posts with “Authority” appear higher up. Has its own internal advertising system.

orkut

http://www.orkut.com/

This is Google’s social media network. It allows for the creation of groups and should incorporate Open Social. It doesn’t have an advertising program yet.

Govt mulls Income Tax surcharge to help oil companies

The government is considering levying a surcharge on Income Tax and Corporate Tax to bail out oil firms that are reeling under high international oil prices. This was one of the proposals discussed when Petroleum Minister Murli Deora met Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday morning. Moreover, the ministry is also looking at other options like issuance of oil bonds, duty cut combined with a partial price hike.

Source : www.zeenews.com

World's wonders at different statges

Complete Listing of World Wonders

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

The Great Pyramid of Giza
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
The Statue of Zeus at Olympia
The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
The Colossus of Rhodes
The Pharos of Alexandria

The Seven Wonders of the Medieval Mind

Stonehenge
The Colosseum
The Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa
The Great Wall of China
The Porcelain Tower of Nanjing
The Hagia Sophia
The Leaning Tower of Pisa

The Seven Natural Wonders of the World

Mount Everest
The Great Barrier Reef
The Grand Canyon
Victoria Falls
The Harbor of Rio de Janeiro
Paricutin Volcano
The Northern Lights

The Seven Underwater Wonders of the World

Palau
The Belize Barrier Reef
The Galapagos Islands
The Northern Red Sea
Lake Baikal
The Great Barrier Reef
The Deep Sea Vents

The Seven Wonders of the Modern World

The Empire State Building
The Itaipú Dam
The CN Tower
The Panama Canal
The Channel Tunnel
The North Sea Protection Works
The Golden Gate Bridge

The Seven Forgotten Natural Wonders of the World

Angel Falls
The Bay of Fundy
Iguaçú Falls
Krakatoa Island
Mount Fuji
Mount Kilimanjaro
Niagara Falls

The Seven Forgotten Modern Wonders of the World

The Clock Tower (Big Ben)
Eiffel Tower
The Gateway Arch
The Aswan High Dam
Hoover Dam
Mount Rushmore National Memorial
The Petronas Towers

The Seven Forgotten Wonders of the Medeival Mind

Abu Simbel Temple
Angkor Wat
Taj Mahal
Mont Saint-Michel
The Moai Statues
The Parthenon
The Shwedagon Pagoda

The Forgotten Wonders

The Aztec Temple
The Banaue Rice Terraces
The Borobudur Temple
The Inca City
The Statue of Liberty
The Mayan Temples

Sonal Chauhan's birthday gift from Bhatts!!

Though her first film JANNAT is yet to hit the theatres Sonal Chauhan has already made her presence felt among the circuits.

She's beautiful! But what is making filmmakers notice is the oodles of talent she possesses.The Bhatt's who launched her were so impressed by her acting talent and professionalism that they made a three-film contract with her. Bhatts launched the career of many newcomer actresses but Sonal Chauhan has had Mahesh and Mukesh Bhatt puffed with pride for launching her.What makes JANNAT special for the pretty lass is that the film release date coincides with Sonal's birthday 16th May. It has doubled her happiness and according to her," I am very happy that my first film is releasing on my birthday. It is a very big thing for me and I am just waiting for the day to come."

Sourse : http://in.movies.yahoo.com/

Bush: Jenna's wedding

CRAWFORD, Texas (CNN) -- Against the backdrop of a stunning Texas sunset, near a lake on the Bush family's 1,600-acre ranch, President Bush walked his daughter, Jenna, down the aisle to her groom, the White House said.

Jenna, 26, married Henry Hager, the son of a well-connected Virginia Republican."The wedding was spectacular. It was all we could have hoped for," the president said Sunday before boarding Air Force One."We're mighty blessed."

Source : http://www.cnn.com/

IIM-K hikes fee to Rs 3 lakh for PG programmes

Kozhikode, Mar 31 (PTI) The IIM-Kozhikode has decided to revise the annual fee structure for its two-year post-graduate programmes by over a lakh rupees from next academic year following hike in fee structure announced by IIMs in Ahmedabad and Bangalore. "In principle, it has been decided to hike the fee to Rs three lakh for both first and second year for the batch joining in June 2008," IIM-K Director, Prof Krishna Kumar told PTI.

While the institute, was at present charging Rs 1.90 lakh and Rs 1.

95 lakh for the first and second year respectively, fee structure would now be uniform for both, he said. "The Board of Directors have taken a decision to hike the fee to be in line with the other IIMs in the country," he said.

Asked about the over 100 per cent hike effected by leading business school IIM-Ahmedabad, with different fee for first and second year, he said IIMs had arrived at a decision after reviewing their cost structure. IIM-A has hiked its fee from Rs 2.

5 lakh for both the years to Rs 5.5 lakh for the first year and to Rs 6 lakh to the second year from the coming academic year. For More Info

Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink…

Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink…,” said Coleridge in his poem ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’. Though the lines were not written in the context of lack of drinking water in general, but the sense conveyed would become a reality if the depletion of fresh water supplies continues at the current pace.

Today, over 1.1 billion of the world’s total population use potentially harmful sources of water every year to meet some of their very basic needs, including quenching thirst. In clearer statistical terms, almost two in every 10 persons on this earth have no source of safe drinking water. This indirectly leads to a humanitarian crisis which causes death of nearly 3,900 children everyday across the world, according to the United Nations. In 2000, over 2.2 million human lives were lost due to waterborne diseases (related to the consumption of contaminated water) or drought.

These are just some of the startling figures which highlight the existing ‘water crisis’. However, this is the crisis which ‘exists’, in the present. What’s going to come in the future is much more scary and grave.