• New improved protocols engine with full Unicode support
• New high quality icon theme
• Windows 7 taskbar icon support
• Added full Unicode file transfers
• Added ability to transfer files longer than 4 GB
• Added the first official 64-bit core version
• And many improvements to protocol support

You can see the full list of updates here. Miranda IM is available for Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, 2003, XP, Vista and 7. You can download the latest stable version (0.9.1 as of this writing) for free here.

As a side note, I find it strange that Miranda IM is only up to version 0.9, as it’s been around for years; when will it make it to 1.0?

Which Windows IM client do you use?

(Via Download Squad)

Related GigaOM Pro content (sub. req.): Are You Empowering Your Mobile Workforce?

Of course, FAQ pages aren’t just handy in a social sense. Web workers can also gain time and reduce frustration by creating FAQ pages for their colleagues, team members or clients.

For those of us who work remotely, suffer connection outages or are offline periodically (perhaps you’re in a part-time role) or communicate with those in different timezones, publishing a work-related FAQ page on the company wiki or your own web site is worth considering.

I’ve found work-related FAQ pages really helpful. Not only can they reduce the time you spend explaining a process, responsibility or task over and over to team members, they may also help someone who’s filling your shoes (if you’re sick, or on vacation) to complete aspects of your job as simply and quickly as possible.

Who Needs an FAQ Page?

A work-related FAQ page could prove handy for a web worker who:

• finds themselves answering the same questions repeatedly
• works in a different timezone to others who need to know how their work is progressing
• manages an otherwise undocumented process or product independently
• works part-time, job-shares, or is offline or out of reach for given periods of time

Whether you work on- or off-site, for one employer or many clients, you can probably think of a least a few questions you could include on an FAQ page.

What’s an FAQ Page For?

First of all, don’t go thinking that an FAQ page is a means by which you can fob off your colleagues or reduce tedious interactions with clients.

A good FAQ page helps the people you work with as much as it helps you: it’ll provide them with the details they need, whether you’re around or not. It also allows them to digest potentially complex information at their own pace. Finally, it can enable colleagues to ask the right questions of you, reducing the time they need to spend solving a problem or obtaining information.

Though it may sound counter-intuitive, your FAQ page needn’t be restricted to Frequently Asked Questions. The whole point of FAQs is that they allow the questioner to obtain information without your having to be present: they ask the question, you send the link to the FAQ, and they get the answers.

So your FAQ page may also:

• anticipate questions from colleagues
• explain important information that people need to know about how you do your job (including essential process documentation, the details of external contacts you may deal with, and other information as appropriate)
• provide status updates for projects you’re working on
• identify the deadlines you’re working to
• pre-empt your absences from work (including vacations, conferences, etc.)

Obviously, in preparing an FAQ page, you’ll need to consider the audiences who’ll use it, and shape the content accordingly. You don’t want external parties to be able to access information about your processes, or to allow clients to see the details of your work schedules on other projects. So be careful about choosing the information you’ll include, and tailor it to specific groups.

The FAQ page I developed for one of my roles was internally directed at on- and off-site colleagues employed by the company I worked for, which made it fairly easy to work out what content I could and should include. Once you define your FAQ page audience, you should be able to identify which  content is appropriate for the page.

How Do You Use It?

Depending on your role, your colleagues (are they internal or external, or clients?), your company culture, and what you’ve included in your FAQ page itself, your FAQ may be useful in a range of situations.

• If it’s a purely role-related FAQ page, you might send the link to people who ask you a question that it answers.
• If the page contains information about your work processes and external contacts, you might send it to relevant colleagues before you go on leave.
• If it’s a detailed account of your working processes, status, FAQs and more, you might include it alongside your listing in your company’s internal staff directory.
• If your page relates to your work as an independent contractor, you might include it in your email signature, your web site’s navigation, or within a restricted client area on your web site.

An FAQ page can help you reduce the frequency with which you provide the same information to different people. It can also help you to remain productive and focused on tasks that actually require your expertise.

Have you ever used a professional FAQ page at work?

Image by stock.xchng user EdwinP.

Twitter is still a scary, untamed frontier for many businesses. They know that they should be engaging with the Twitter community, but aren’t sure how to do it.

I’ve collected up some of the most common questions asked by Twitter-for-business newbies and answered them below.

Is it bad to have a lopsided following/followers ratio?

Balance is better. Following 150 people with only 75 following is OK. If you have more lopsided figures of, say, 300 following to 75 followers, that might give tweeters pause before they consider following you. Focus on quality over quantity.

How do I stop people from following me?

Block them. Go to the person’s Twitter page and click “Block” in the sidebar under “Actions.” Once you block someone, they won’t show up in your followers list.

I’m concerned that a follower of my company is a porn site. What if my clients see such a follower prior to my blocking them?

First off, most folks don’t have time to analyze your list of followers. Secondly, most people know that spammers go after everyone and we don’t always catch them all. So it’s not a concern, unless you have lots of them.

If you block someone, is there a way to see those you blocked, in case you want to reverse your decision?

You can reverse your decision by going to the person’s Twitter page and clicking “Unblock” under “Actions.” You can view a list of people you’ve blocked, but it’s an XML file and not very readable: http://twitter.com/blocks/blocking.xml.

Should I protect my Twitter page, so I can avoid spammers and such?

This is a bad idea, particularly if you’re using Twitter for business. Some Twitter users don’t follow people who protect their updates.

I’m trying to implement Twitter at my company, but can’t get executive buy-in. What can I do?

Many businesses are using Twitter to connect and exchange ideas with customers. It might help to do a search to find case studies and examples of businesses using Twitter and show how they’ve benefited.

Do you recommend having separate Twitter accounts for business personal use?

That depends. Many people have a single account that they use for all because it adds personality. But if you like to share strong opinions and talk about sensitive topics like religion or politics, then a separate personal account would be wise. It also depends on what you represent. Are you working for a large company and tweeting in its name or are you a one-person business?

What are the liabilities associated with a business using Twitter?

It’s up to the business. The company might want to consider drafting a policy on the company’s rules for how employees use Twitter and other social networking sites. Suggestions for things to address include usage, company disclosure and consequences for violating policy.

Who should manage a company’s Twitter account? Marketing? Product Management? Sales?

It’s important to note that Twitter users easily detect fakery. Who does the tweeting depends on the purpose of the Twitter account(s). Be honest about who is doing the tweeting. Avoid having personnel far removed from the executives to do the CEO’s tweeting, for example.

What are those words starting with # like “#b2b”?

They’re hashtags. They make it easier to tag references to a topic, event or other common factor. For example, if someone tweets about a job opportunity, he could tag it with “#jobs” so those looking for jobs can easily find it.

Should you use a account name that is recognized to be associated with your company, or not?

For business-related Twitter accounts, you should either use your real name or your company’s name. If you use the company’s name, you should put your real name in your profile. If multiple people tweet from the same company account, then say so in the profile. List their names, if you can.

If the people you are following are listed on your Twitter page, how do you prevent people from clicking on your competition? Can you follow someone without it being listed?

It’s better to not hide the people you follow, even your competition. Having open dialogue with your industry — including your competitors — will help you earn trust and credibility. If you really want to follow someone without them knowing, then subscribe to their Twitter RSS feed.

How often should a business tweet?

Avoid posting many tweets in a short space of time and overwhelming followers’ streams. Think quality over quantity. A good rule of thumb is to post few tweets spread out over the course of the day.

How do you respond to people who say something good or bad about your business?

Being able to rapidly respond to any news about your business is valuable. If it’s good, either tweet the person directly or in a direct message (DM). You don’t want to bug people with a short “Thank you for that.” If it’s something bad, try to solve the problem or ask questions to find out the problem. If you find out the problem and you’re researching the answer, don’t wait until you find the answer to respond. You can respond quickly with a “We’re researching this and will get back to you.”

Should I block followers who have nothing to do with my business?

No — unless they’re spammers or have inappropriate content.

How can we quickly build up our list of people to follow?

Use search.twitter.com or an application like twellow.com, which can search profiles for keywords. However, don’t be in a hurry to build a big list. Remember lopsided followers/following is not good.

Is there a way to integrate CRM with Twitter?

Some CRM applications include Twitter and other social media sites as part of the app. Some have add-ons. If yours doesn’t, create a custom field.

How do I get leads on Twitter?

Focus on providing value with your tweets. Spread out links to your own content, because doing it too often turns off many users. Help others, ask questions and share thoughts about your industry or business in general. These are just a few of many ways you can build relationships on Twitter.

What ways have you found Twitter useful in your business?

Image created at twitlogo

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
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• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• A 2011 Connected Consumer Forecast
• A 2011 NewNet Forecast