As a PR professional, you have many Smartphone applications available on both the iTunes App Store and the Google Play store to make your job much easier. Since most of these apps are free or very affordable, you should definitely take advantage of this new technology. Here are some of the top Smartphone apps for PR professionals.
Business Calendar Free (for Android)
Since it's cumbersome to carry a physical calendar or agenda with you wherever you go, you should get a calendar application that will allow you to check what needs to be done and what events need to be attended, whilst also allowing you to add tasks and events to your calendar on the go. Best of all, this simple app connects to your Google Calendar.
Clear
If you want a Smartphone app that simply functions as a to-do list, you should stick with Clear. This apps has a beautiful and very colourful design, and you won't have any trouble using it.
This app works mainly through gestures. For example, you swipe an item on your list to mark it as complete and you pull down on a list in order to add an item. The lists you create on clear are stored on iCloud.
DropBox
DropBox is a free app that is perfect for storage uses. They give you an initial 2GB of space for free, which is plenty for many PR Professionals. Also, by completing a few specified tasks, they will give you an additional 500 MB. Should you need any more space than that then you will have to pay, but this is a great on-the-go storage application which reduces the need for a USB hardrive.
Skype
As a PR professional, you probably attend plenty of meetings and have to answer and make plenty of calls. Fortunately, you can do this anywhere you wish with Skype – which allows you to make free calls over the internet. If you're using Skype, you should have access to a strong WiFi connection or 3G/4G, and your phone should have a good front-facing camera if you wish to use the video chat features.
Documents to Go
Although it's expensive compared to most apps at about $15, the price is well worthwhile to any PR professional who constantly needs to access documents on the go. Like dropbox, this app allows you to download, view, and edit documents. However, if you use the free version of Documents to Go, you will only be able to view Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files.
PR professionals spend a lot of time away from the office trying to sell their client's service or product. Although they often can't take their computer with them, they can easily take their Smartphone. Fortunately, as you can see, there are plenty of Smartphone apps available that will meet your needs for communication and organization on the go as a PR professional.
These top PR apps were reviewed by Jonny Grant on behalf of PR Agency One, a Manchester based digital PR firm who specialise in B2B PR.
Facebook has spent eight years nudging its users to share everything they like and everything they do. Now, the company is betting it has enough data so that people can find whatever they want on Facebook. Facebook’s “graph search” tool, rolled out on Tuesday, lets its more than 1 billion users trawl their network of friends to find everything from restaurants to movie recommendations and is the company’s biggest foray into online search. The tool, which the company calls graph search, is Facebook's most ambitious stab at overturning the Web search business ruled by its chief rival, Google. It is also an effort to elbow aside other web services designed to unearth specific kinds of information, like LinkedIn for jobs, Match for dates and Yelp for restaurants.
Zuckerberg explained the difference between web search and Graph Search. “Web search is designed to take any open-ended query and give you links that might have answers.” Linking things together based on things that you’re interested in is a “very hard technical problem,” according to Zuckerberg.Graph Search is designed to take a precise query and give you an answer, rather than links that might provide the answer.” For example, you could ask Graph Search “Who are my friends that live in San Francisco?” Zuckerberg joked that a difference is “filters,” which grabbed a few chuckles. It's currently available to only a small number of Facebook users. It lets them search their friend lists for people who, for instance, live in a particular city or like a particular movie.There are no ads right now with the service, but Facebook may soon begin placing them there, analysts believe, since the searches provide an opportunity to catch users when they're looking for somewhere to spend money. Today, Facebook uses mostly "display" ads, keyed to the viewer's interests but not their searches."We believe this could be Facebook's next billion dollar opportunity, greatly expanding the company's addressable market," said Youssef Squali at Cantor Fitzgerald. "This service will leverage the incredible amount of unstructured social data the company has to extract answers to questions about people, photos, places, and interests." Check out Facebook Graph Search Here
The economy is tough, and every trend line that an economists graph seems to point towards it getting tougher. Jobs overall will be harder to come by, not to mention career-oriented employment. However, the Internet provides many resources for young graduates that were not available in previous generations. It is time to monetize that penchant for self-promotion into a pay check. Below are a few ways that you can stand out from the crowd in order to get the job that you want.
Make sure you have a LinkedIn account
If you have any experience with a Facebook account (who doesn't), then you know just how convenient it can be for your personal life. LinkedIn gives you the same kind of convenience for your business life.
Although there are paid programs on LinkedIn to participate in, even a basic profile on the site will help you to stand out from the crowd. You will be able to upload a cover letter, list your work experience and update your resume in a format that is easily recognizable to employers. Imagine never having to worry about whether to put your education or your experience first!
Most importantly, you will be able to easily connect with mentors and employers who could ease your path to employment. You will be able to communicate with these decision-makers via interests and be able to easily search for jobs and people that can facilitate your entry into your preferred career. The search engine on LinkedIn is incredibly precise; make sure that you take advantage of it at every opportunity. Perform a little search engine optimization for yourself
If a potential employer is truly interested in your resume, the first thing that he or she will do is type your name into Google. If the first thing that appears is your Facebook or Instagram profile full of compromising pictures, odds are that you will probably not get that job.
In order to ensure that the first impression employers receive of you is positive, you can start a personal blog for free on WordPress ,Blogspot and Tumblr.By creating websites for yourself, you control the information that people see. By tweaking each of these websites you could showcase yourself to the employer of your choice.
Use these resources to flaunt your creativity in a professional manner
One legendary story of creative ways to attract employers involved a highly qualified candidate who was somehow not getting the attention he deserved. This candidate created a Facebook page listing his accomplishments and experiences; however, the hook was the hunger strike that he promised to uphold until he got a job. Needless to say, his chutzpah attracted many employers.
Although, you do not have to take your search for employment that far, you should create an online persona for yourself using the same kind of creativity. What exactly makes you different from the thousands of other graduates across the world? Remember that you are competing in a global economy. Make sure that employers know exactly what makes you different and showcase it proudly (but professionally).
Speculation began to mount that the software giant was getting ready to launch its own social-networking effort after it accidentally published Web site called Socl.com earlier this year. The site, which was found to be a Microsoft project, was described as a "social search" service that would allow users to "find what you need and share what you know." The service offered Facebook and Twitter sign-in buttons, but little else was known about Socl.com. Microsoft soon took the site down, saying it was "an internal design project from one of Microsoft's research teams which was mistakenly published to the Web." Now, we have a clearer picture of Socl thanks to The Verve, which recently got an exclusive look at the service. The site, which is still in private beta testing and may never be released publicly, "mixes search, discovery, and, go figure, a social network," the blog reported. Socl offers a basic three-column layout that is reminiscent of Facebook's design, with navigation tools to the left, a social feed in the center, and invites and other options to the right. Central to the experience is a pseudo status box at the top of the page that asks users "What are you searching for?" Search functionality would presumably be provided by Bing, Microsoft's search engine. The site relies heavily on tagging, allowing users to identify topics they are interested in and receive social updates on those interests. However, The Verve contends that Socl's approach isn't much of an improvement over Google's saved searches function. Socl also touts a video party feature that allows users to chat and view YouTube videos with their friends. While the site is intended to get people interacting more with each other based on their search queries, there is not much in the way of private interaction with other users, such as messaging or @replies. It's unknown when or if Socl will be rolled out publicly. Microsoft already relies heavily on its partnership with social network giant, Facebook. In May, Microsoft unveiled a new feature to its Bing search engine, baking in recommendations from a Web surfer's Facebook friends in order to make the results more relevant.
India is home to the second largest group of Google+ visitors of any country, accounting for 2.8 million, or 27 percent, of the world's 20 million Google+ visitors. With 5.3 million cumulative unique visitors to Google+, the US has the highest number of Google+ users, market researcher comScore shows.
In the US, 63 percent of Google+ visitors are male and more than half are between the ages of 18 and 34. The US may be home to the majority of early Google+ adopters, but what is interesting about the social network's exponential growth "is its proliferation on a global basis," commented comScore's Andrew Lipsman in a July 22 post on the company's blog. According to comScore's statistics, 867,000 people in the UK visited Google+ during the first 21 days of public existence, putting the country in third place behind the US and India. Canada (859,000 visitors), Germany (706,000 visitors), Brazil (622,000), Taiwan (515,000 visitors), France (498,000 visitors), Turkey (373,000 visitors) and Spain (365,000 visitors) made up the remaining top ten countries. ComScore speculated about whether or not the social network was the fastest growing site in history, writing that, "It would be difficult to think of many sites that reached such a large number in such a short period of time. That said, Google does have a built-in visitor base of more than 1 billion to work with, so there is clearly potential to convert a high number of users to its new social tool -- even if it is still invite-only."
Lipsman noted that "these data are based on unique visitors (which is different than 'users' in that people who never sign up may visit Google+ pages) from home and work computers (which excludes usage via mobile devices)." While Google+ has grown from strength to strength over the last couple of weeks, 750-million strong Facebook has been plagued by a never-ending onslaught of video scams and privacy misdemeanors. Google+ is not without its own faults, however, and has recently come under fire for suspending the Google accounts of people who don't use their real names within the social network.
Among the most basic of human needs is the need to connect with others. With a smile, a laugh, a whisper or a cheer, we connect with others every single day.
Today, the connections between people increasingly happen online. Yet the subtlety and substance of real-world interactions are lost in the rigidness of our online tools.
Well Google finally announced Google+, its next effort in social.
Basically, Google+ is an amalgamation of several services we already use. The idea, according to Google, is to do them better.
We'll have a full review and impressions soon. In the meantime, check out our breakdown of what Google+ can do below.
Circles: share what matters, with the people who matter most
Google Circles are groups of friends you organize by topic: Friends, Family, College Buddies, Roommates, etc.From your Circles page you drag and drop your contacts into each of these groups, which makes it easier to share what you want with them.
Sparks: strike up a conversation, about pretty much anything
Sparks is like Google Reader, except it brings content to you automatically based on your interests. Each topic (tech, kitties, whatever) will get its own "Spark" page and provide links to related articles, videos, photos, etc.
Hangouts: stop by and say hello, face-to-face-to-face
Hangouts are virtual rooms where you can video chat with people in your circles. For example, if you're not busy, you can start a talk with your pals.So, basically, it's just video chat.
Mobile: share what’s around, right now, without any hassle
These days a phone is the perfect sharing accessory: it's always with you, it's always online, and it's how we stay close with our closest friends. We didn’t want “just” a mobile experience, however, so with Google+ we focused on things (like GPS, cameras, and messaging) to make your pocket computer even more personal.
+Location, location, location In life, the places we visit shape conversations in lots of meaningful ways. If we call John from the airport, he’ll likely ask about our trip. Or if Jane texts from a nearby restaurant, we might join her for dessert. With Google+ you can add your location to every post. (Or not. It’s always up to you.)
+Instant Upload Getting photos off your phone is a huge pain, so most of us don't even bother. Of course pictures are meant to be shared, not stranded, so we created Instant Upload to help you never leave a photo behind. While you're snapping pictures, and with your permission, Google+ adds your photos to a private album in the cloud. This way they're always available across your devices—ready to share as you see fit.
Huddle Coordinating with friends and family in real-time is really hard in real life. After all, everyone's on different schedules, in different places, and plans can change at any moment. Phone calls and text messages can work in a pinch, but they're not quite right for getting the gang together. So Google+ includes Huddle, a group messaging experience that lets everyone inside the circle know what's going on, right this second.
How To Send Google+ Invites To Your Friends
We've been seeing a lot of clever tricks for joining Google+ without an official invite from Google.It's really easy. If you have Google+ and want to share with your pals, here's what to do:
Make sure the person you want to invite is already in your Google contacts. If not, you can add in Gmail.
From your Circles page, drag that contact into a new circle. (You have to check where it says you want to share with the person over e-mail.)
Now share something with the circle you just dragged the contact to. He or she will receive an e-mail that asks if they want to learn more about Google+
When they click the link in their e-mail, they'll be prompted to join.
Google plus Vs. Facebook
Google launches Plus to take on Facebook. The battle for the eyeballs of social media network users is intensifying, with Google launching a demo version of 'Google+' (called Google Plus), the search engine giant's renewed attempt to take on Facebook in the social networking arena. “This is just the beginning...We're just getting warmed up...launching what we call a field trial period, an invitation-only approach to help smooth out the rough edges,” said an official Google post on the demo site.
While designing the new service, Google has kept in mind social circles, called plus circles, and a Twitter-inspired feature that resembles real-life social interactions. It allows users to selectively share information with specific groups within defined circles, rather than sharing it with all their social connections at once. One can create as many circles as one wishes to, for whatever categories one wants, adding friends and contacts simply by clicking and dragging names onto various circles.
Google is also featuring a web conferencing option, in which up to 10 people can join in simultaneously. A feature called Sparks would provide users with web content on various topics like sports or fashion, allowing the user to subscribe to categories of interest, create custom categories, and share content with friends. Google would also release Google Plus mobile apps for Android smartphones and iPhones. This would include special features like cloud-based photo storage and group messaging. With its instant upload feature, one's photos and videos automatically upload themselves to a private album on Google+. Its 'Huddle' feature turns different conversations into a group chat.
Google, however, has its work cut out. Facebook leads the global social media networking pack, with nearly 750 million users (including 500 million active users), followed by LinkedIn (around 100 million), Twitter (around 75 million), the 100-odd million Orkut (Brazil and India accounting for most users) and MySpace, with 30 million-odd users.
Google's earlier attempts saw feeble success in the social networking space. It could not create a 'Wave', generate a 'Buzz' or make 'Orkut' grab eyeballs in markets outside Brazil and India. Even in India, Orkut has been steadily losing marketshare to Facebook. Compared with against Facebook's 31 million users, Orkut has around 18 million. Various Google social products —Orkut, Lively, Google Friend Connect, Wave and Buzz—just haven't caught on, say social media experts.
Last February, Gmail users impulsively clicked on Google Buzz. Where else could one get such a massive installed base with a single click? By building Buzz directly into Gmail, the service had an instant audience of nearly 180 million users.
Similar to Google+, Buzz was said to be a stream of status updates, pictures, links and videos from friends. One could 'like' these and comment on them. If one used Flickr, Picasa, Google Reader or Twitter, you could automatically import these into one's stream. Buzz also recommended items one might like, based on the activities of one's friends. However, Google was reprimanded for abusing the privacy of individuals by pushing-in Buzz to all its users, after which it had to backtrack. Today, there's hardly any buzz about the product.
Mark Zuckerberg has had quite the week. First, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss along with former Harvard classmate Divya Narendra confirmed that they would not be appealing the Supreme Court ruling that upheld their $65 million settlement with Facebook and its co-founder. They did, however, decide to move forward with a suit alleging that Facebook suppressed evidence during the 2008 settlement negotiations. All of which might be a little worrisome for Zuckerberg if he weren’t so busy celebrating the just-passed company milestone of more than 750 million monthly active Facebook users. 750 million, on a planet of roughly seven billion people. That’s more than 10 percent of the world’s population, folks. The number hasn’t been publicly confirmed, coming instead from “a source close to the company” speaking with TechCrunch. An official numbers update from the company hasn’t been released since last summer, when the 500 million user milestone was reached. The insider source is probably the hardest confirmation we’re going to get to, since popular opinion pins expectations for Facebook’s next user count update at the one billion user milestone.
