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If you’re a BlackBerry user who also happens to like Twitter, chances are you’ve been throwing jealous looks at your friends’ iPhones and their elegant Twitter clients. Yes, things got a lot better once UberTwitter entered the scene, but can there be an even better Twitter client for the BlackBerry? The upcoming official client might fit the bill.
A while ago, we wrote that an official Twitter app for BlackBerry was in the works, and now it’s getting close to a public beta. You can find a very detailed analysis of the client and its features here, and from the looks of it, it’s far more advanced than any other Twitter app for BlackBerry out there.
Some of the features are automatic URL-shortening, easy photo-sharing, push and message list integration (sending you notices of new direct messages as they arrive), as well as search filtered by geolocation.
The public beta should be available “later this year” (We know, it doesn’t sound very comforting considering the year is still young). If you want to be a beta tester for the app, go to www.blackberry.com/twitter and sign up to receive notification when Twitter for BlackBerry becomes available.
Here’s a nice surprise from Google’s Maps team: Just like Gmail, Google Maps now also has the Labs feature (it’s the little green vial in the top right menu), which introduces experimental new features for you to try out.
Right now, you can try out nine new features (all disabled by default):
Drag ‘n’ Zoom – lets you zoom in on a specific part of the map by drawing a box.
Aerial Imagery – gives you rotatable, high-resolution overhead imagery, but it’s only available in certain areas. Google plans to add more over time, though.
Back to Beta – OK, this one is a little weird. It lets you have a beta tag on Maps (just like Gmail). Only for hardcore Google users.
Where in the World Game – test your geography knowledge by guessing the names of countries from satellite imagery. I lost days playing a similar game on Facebook, and I forgot everything I’ve learned. Sigh.
Rotatable Maps – north facing up is just one way to look at a map. Now you can rotate it any way you like.
What’s Around Here? – adds a second search button that searches for “*”, returning the top results in the current view. I’ve actually been waiting for this for a long time; it makes searching for certain POIs within some area a lot easier.
LatLng Tooltip – see the exact latitude and longitude next to your cursor.
LatLng Marker – drop a marker anywhere on the map, showing the latitude and longitude of that location.
Smart Zoom – stops you from zooming into an area if imagery is not available.
So much conversation about social networking revolves around Twitter and Facebook, but in actuality these networks are just the tip of the iceberg. From general networks like Wiser Earth and Care2, to cause specific networks like PickensPlan and the Sierra Club’s Activist Network, there’s a hotbed of social activity occurring in private communities. Non-profit oriented networks use a wide variety of social tools to foster community, including their own white label communities.
Non-profits use white label platforms like Ning to connect with their communities. Ning serves 1.6 million networks (see Mashable’s Six Ways to Use Ning post). “What we’re seeing organizations and non-profits use Ning for is to develop a deeper layer of conversation and engagement with their supporters and advocates,” said Ning’s Morgan Seal. “Their memberships are those that are looking for a more contextual social experience around the things they care about most.”
Here are five tips for non-profits considering their own white label community.
1. The Cause is the Purpose
The cause is the purpose of the network. Don’t build a network for your organization’s website. The mission of the site needs to revolve around the general common bond a non-profit has with its stakeholder community.
“I feel we may be successful because we deeply believe in the importance of community and what it does to people touched by diabetes,” said Manny Hernandez, president of the Diabetes Hands Foundation, which runs the 13,000 person TuDiabetes network. “We have seen so many people come back to us and say: ‘I have had diabetes for X many years. I felt so alone. I never knew there were SO many people who felt exactly like me.’”
2. Listen
Listening to your community remains a core social media principle. When considering building a cause or organization-specific network, listening can be critical in driving community requirements for function and content.
“I think it’s imperative to have a good ‘listening and monitoring’ plan in place to see what their stakeholders are doing online in public spaces — basically to figure out what their audience’s capacity is for collaboration and collective action online in general,” said Maddie Grant, Chief Social Media Strategist for Social Fish. “They should then be able to figure out whether that activity could translate to engagement in their own community site.”
3. Choose a Platform that Serves Your Community’s Needs
Some networks enable privacy; others integration with larger networks. Still others offer great information sharing via wikis. When considering the many white label community options avalaible, try to understand what your community’s needs are before setting up shop.
“Our community had a unique need for a secure and private space where Iraq and Afghanistan veterans could connect with one another, share stories, offer support, and know that the people they’re interacting with share many of the same life experiences,” said Chrissy Stevens, Communications Director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA). “We spent months assessing our options for starting a white-label social network, and Ning was the only platform that offered the right combination of privacy controls, quality user experience, easy administration and customization, and ongoing support.”
4. Offer Great Value to Your Network
The classic community mistake is to use a network to drive information out into the public as opposed to creating a compelling experience for members. Sometimes that means getting out of the way. Providing value includes a dynamic environment where members interact and drive conversation, participate in activity they can’t find on general social networks, and receive acknowledgment.
“A social network needs to deliver value. I don’t think that you should be sending the members links to your research and reports 5 times a day,” said Holly Ross, Executive Director, NTEN: The Nonprofit Technology Network. “A theater company may be able to serve its patrons by providing a social space for the patrons to discuss play writing, set design, and/or the latest shows from the company. A health organization may serve its clients by giving them a space to talk to and support one another privately.”
5. Use the General Networks as Beachheads
It’s smart to include Twitter and Facebook functionality in your general strategy. In many ways, there’s a larger conversation occurring and the general networks can serve as beachheads to bring people back to your network. Conversely, integrating Twitter and Facebook allows for people within your network to talk about your activities in the larger context.
“Even though we run our own niche social network, we are heavily engaged on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn,” said Steve Ressler, founder of GovLoop. “Plus, we speak a lot at in-person events where lots of government folks attend. This draws a lot of our membership and engagement.”
“They are in a way their own communities, but we are OK with the fact that not all conversations that start through our Twitter account or our FaceBook page end up on TuDiabetes or EsTuDiabetes,” said TuDiabetes’ Manny Hernandez. “Put another way, people will have conversations where it’s most convenient to them and groups creating online communities need to be mindful of this.”
Think you’re such a social media expert that you could tweet for a living? Well, President Obama is looking for an official social networks manager, and you might be just the tech whiz for the job.
According to President Obama’s website, The Democratic National Committee and Organizing for America is in the market for a new hire. According to the Wall Street Journal, Mia Cambronero, who currently holds the position, said, “[I] will be stepping down from my infamous role as ‘Barack Obama’s twitterer… We’re looking for someone who is available to start immediately.”
And what exactly are they looking for over at the White House? According to the job posting:
“The Social Networks Manager is responsible for maintaining the Democratic Party and Organizing for America accounts on all social networks (such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace accounts, etc.) The Social Networks Manager works closely with the rest of the New Media department to execute grassroots campaigns to advance the President’s agenda for change.”
Said person must also be willing to work hard — “this isn’t a 9-5 job,” the posting said — and be “passionate about engaging millions of Americans in advancing President Obama’s agenda and changing the country.” Yeah, that’s not daunting at all.
Social media has been integral to President Obama’s career since the beginning. He launched his Twitter account back in 2007 (although he only really tweeted for the first time last month to support Haiti relief efforts after admitting back in November that he was too clumsy to use the microblogging tool), and recently used YouTube to engage with the nation after the State of the Union address.
Although both the Obama and White House Twitter feeds used to read like a stream of press releases, the tweets have become much more lively in the ensuing months. Whoever fills this new position will have to continue to up the ante when it comes to engaging with the American people. Will you apply?
With over 9 million posts and comments in two days, Google Buzz has stormed the web like a swarm of locusts. An array of strong features, integration with Gmail, and lots of press have turned Buzz into an overnight phenomenon.
If you’re like a lot of us, you’ve suddenly found yourself using your Gmail even more than you already were. Spending so much time in Gmail and Buzz though inevitably takes away from your Facebook and Twitter, and who wants to sacrifice their tweeting and facebooking?
Luckily if you’re a Gmail user, you don’t have to sacrifice either, even while you’re browsing your email or your buzz.
Gadget Integration Is Your Friend
Yesterday we caught a Buzz post by Ari Milner where he described how he turned his Gmail into his personal “social command center.” How did he do it? In his words:
“The key was using Gmail Labs feature at the bottom of the list called ‘Add any gadget by URL’. This allowed me to add these 3 features to my Gmail sidebar.”
By utilizing third-party gadgets, he transformed his Gmail into a place where he could access his Twitter, Buzz, and Facebook straight from his Gmail. Here’s how:
Step By Step: Integrating Your Social Media into Buzz
1. Activate “Add any gadget by URL” in Gmail Labs — you’ll find it near the bottom of the list.
2. Now go to Settings –> Gadgets. Here you’ll find a place to add Gadget URLs.
3. Add the TwitterGadget App. Any iGoogle gadget will do actually, but the best one in our opinion is TwitterGadget, a fully-functional Twitter service for iGoogle and Gmail. This lets tweet from the sidebar or open up your Twitter with all of your tabs intact. It even supports multiple accounts.
To add it, copy and paste this URL into Gmail’s Gadget settings: “https://twittergadget.appspot.com/gadget-gmail.xml”
4. Add the Facebook Gadget. In the same way you added TwitterGadget, you can add Facebook to your Gmail. While Google has an official Facebook gadget, it doesn’t play nicely with Gmail, so we suggest using the app Ari Milner users: Facebook Gadget by iBruno. It will expand into the rest of your Gmail for easy Facebook management.
To add it, copy and paste this URL into Gmail’s Gadget settings: “http://hosting.gmodules.com/ig/gadgets/file/104971404861070329537/facebook.xml”
5. That’s it! Google Buzz, Facebook, Twitter, and Gmail are now all wrapped up into one. Pretty nifty, no? Let us know about your experience in the comments.
Google might have a made a major misstep in assuming that the people we communicate with the most in Gmail are the same people we want to automatically share the Google Buzz experience with, but new information confirms that Buzz is not being removed from Gmail.
The blogosphere is abuzz over a Search Engine Land report that Google might unlink the two products. In contacting Google, however, we received the following statement:
“No, we’re not planning to remove Buzz from Gmail. Among some of the features we’re considering is building a standalone Buzz experience in addition to the one in Gmail, but I can’t confirm anything right now.”
Since the launch of Google Buzz there has been a growing backlash against the autofollowing formula of the social networking service and the assumptions it makes about our relationships. As the complaints crescendo, Google has shown that they’re not afraid to take quick action with alterations to the product.
Last night Google made it easier to hide your followers/following list and block users, though Search Engine Land’s report indicated they may go much further:
“Google says it may end the marriage between Buzz and Gmail … [Google executive] Horowitz said Google is considering separating Buzz from Gmail, so that people can participate independently from email. The company might also allow people on Buzz to claim new names and redirect anyone seeking them at their old profiles to the new locations. Horowitz says Google also continues to look at ensuring search is a good way for people to locate the “right” people, as well.”
That information, however, clearly contradicts what Google just told us.
If you’re looking to better understand why there’s so much upheaval about Buzz working inside of Gmail, consider reading Harriet Jacob’s colorfully worded account of her experience with Google Buzz. Here’s a snippet from that post:
“I use my private Gmail account to email my boyfriend and my mother.
There’s a BIG drop-off between them and my other “most frequent” contacts.
You know who my third most frequent contact is?
My abusive ex-husband.
Which is why it’s SO EXCITING, Google, that you AUTOMATICALLY allowed all my most frequent contacts access to my Reader, including all the comments I’ve made on Reader items, usually shared with my boyfriend, who I had NO REASON to hide my current location or workplace from, and never did.
My other most frequent contacts? Other friends of Flint’s.”
Although many businesses are starting to embrace social services and networks to connect with potential customers, such tools are still by and large built for end users, not for businesses. That can make managing multiple social media accounts, moderating comments and scheduling posts difficult.
Syncapse launched its SocialTALK social media workflow tool this week, which is designed to help companies control their presence on different platforms, as well as monitor feedback.
Social management tools are slowly starting to become more relevant. ContexOptional, Vitrue SRM and Salesforce.com are all targeting this space in various ways. SocialTALK’s approach to it is to plug into various platforms that can all be managed from one dashboard.
Check out this video:
Right now SocialTALK supports Twitter, Facebook, WordPress and MoveableType. You can create new posts, moderate comments, schedule when posts go out and push the same content across to multiple networks at once.
The organizational features are great, but the features that have the most potential are the real-time analytics. We’ve discussed measuring social media ROI before and as we said then, finding trends and tracking them back to their point of origin is the key to measuring ROI.
While analytics aren’t going to do that for you, if you can get a real-time measurement of traffic, discussion points and comments as they relate to various social media campaigns — and if you can add in identifiers to track that data to either a transaction or other measurable goal — taking control of social media ROI becomes much less difficult.
How does your business manage its social network presence? Let us know!
Sports fans, rejoice: If you’re on the move, you can still easily find out what’s happening at this year’s Winter Olympics. Yahoo launched a mobile site for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games, with up-to-the-minute live results, upcoming events schedule, medal counts, expert commentary and more.
You can also do an athlete search to see in-depth profiles of athletes competing at the games, and find detailed info about the 15 sports included in the games. The site is available in English for 13 countries, including the U.S., Canada, the Philippines, India, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
To check out the site, point your mobile browsers to m.yahoo.com/olympics Also, check out a preview in the video below.
Candidiasis is an infection caused by the over-growing of the fungus called Candida albicans. These fungus normally grows in the stomach but harmful if found in other parts of the body. This infection is also known as thrush or yeast infection.
Normally it is found in the human stomach as it aids in digestion. If it is found in some parts of the body, it could be a serious sign or symptom of the disease. These are the body parts where Candida albicans could be found:
1. In the male genitals specifically in the prepuce of the uncircumcised man. 2. In the vagina, this is called vaginitis or vaginal irritation. 3. Fold of the skin where diaper is placed, this is called diaper rash. 4. In the oral cavities, this is called oral thrush.
Yeast are normally found in the human body, but it becomes abnormal if it overgrows on a certain parts where it should not even be there. Most women experience yeast infection in their life as Candida albicans can be found on the vagina due to over productionof yeast. In pregnant mothers, the use of antibiotics and diabetes can be a cause of candida infection.
You will know if you have candida infection if you will note the following signs and symptoms. In the vagina, you will notice a whitish gray discharge. That sometimes look like cheese or smells like beer or baking soda.
To determine the presense of candia, you can use potassium hydroxide (KOH). A piece or a skin scrap of the affected area is then placed on the slide to be viewed over the microscope. A small amount of KOH is dropped over the slide, the KOH is dissolved by the skin leaving the microorganisms unharmed. You will be seeing the pores of the Candida albicans over the microscope. If it is present in huge numbers, it will suggest yeast infection.
You may then have to rub your skin with a sterile swab. It must also be rubbed over the cultured medium, which will be incubated in a few days. Colonies of yeast may develop which gives a concrete idea of the presence of the disease in the body of the tested specimen.
Home remedies can treat this infection effectively. You can use the following guidelines to be able to get rid of candida infection:
? The most effective treatment for yeast infection is acidophilus. Acidophilus comes into many forms, such as tablets, caplets, liquid, ointment form and powdered. You can take the treatment orally or topical. Acidophilus ointments are also effective in treating the infection. The duration may take two weeks for your infection to vanish completely.
? You can also use boiled guava leaves as an antiseptic wash for your infected vagina. It has antiseptic properties that effectively removes the bacteria that grow in the skin of your vagina.
? You can also use garlic together with tea tree oil, as it is also a powerful treatment for yeast infection.
This information will be a great help for you to eliminate the infection of yeast in your body. Knowledge about the disease is the most effective tool in treating the infection.
Note: This article may be freely reproduced as long as the AUTHOR'S resource box at the bottom of this article is included and and all links must be Active/Linkable with no syntax changes.
Charlene J. Nuble 2006. For answers to All your frequently asked questions about candida, please go to: <a href="http://www.candidaanswers.com/">http://www.candidaanswers.com/</a>
Yesterday we added Google Buzz buttons to Mashable, letting you share our stories to Google’s new social network as you can on Twitter and Facebook. Today we added share counts to those buttons, letting you hone in on the most popular posts.
If you’re not already up to speed: Google Buzz buttons use Google Reader’s shared items feature to post links to your Buzz feed. If you’re not already on Google Reader, you’ll need to set that up and make sure it’s connected to your Google Buzz account under “connected sites”. If you were on Reader before you joined Buzz, chances are that’s already set up.
NEW: Buttons that Count!
Today we added counters and tracking to our buttons, running the clicks through URL shortener Bit.ly so we can display the share counts. It’s not the perfect solution, but it’s a temporary step until Google decides to support such implementations officially.
We’ll be gathering the stats about how much people share on Google Buzz versus Facebook and Twitter, and we’ll be sure to report back with our findings!
If you’re a BlackBerry user who also happens to like Twitter, chances are you’ve been throwing jealous looks at your friends’ iPhones and their elegant Twitter clients. Yes, things got a lot better once UberTwitter entered the scene, but can there be an even better Twitter client for the BlackBerry? The upcoming official client might fit the bill.
So much conversation about social networking revolves around 
GMAIL USERS: We hope you’ll join the discussion over on 
GMAIL USERS: We hope you’ll join the discussion over on 
Although many businesses are starting to embrace social services and networks to connect with potential customers, such tools are still by and large built for end users, not for businesses. That can make managing multiple social media accounts, moderating comments and scheduling posts difficult.
GMAIL USERS: We hope you’ll join the discussion over on 