Gigaom » Style and Etiquette

About.me and Flavors.me: Online Calling Cards

pamelapoole — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 20:00:49 +0000

Flavors.me and About.me are both platforms for creating "personal splash pages." I decided to compare the two services, in order to see how splash pages can be used as online business cards, and whether they might be useful for web workers.

Can Open Converged Infrastructure Compete?

Derrick Harris — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 16:00:22 +0000

Conventional wisdom suggests buying into the convenience and performance of converged infrastructure means buying into the dreaded vendor lock-in problem. As it turns out, however, that doesn’t have to be the case — Dell and Egenera are two players leading the charge for open converged infrastructure.

If Emily Post Used Twitter

Dave Clarke — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 19:00:25 +0000

My insight into Twitter etiquette isn’t anything earth-shattering, but as the 140-character microblogging platform has become a daily tool for just about all of us, we’ve developed a loose set of norms when it comes to how we conduct ourselves on the service.

The Email Signature: From Efficient to Overkill

Dave Clarke — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 16:00:23 +0000

That's my email signature. Name, title, company/slogan, mobile. I'd like to think that it's pretty basic. It's not overloaded with content, but it's sufficient in communicating who I am, what I do, where I do it and how you can hear my voice if you desire.

Sincerely, Me: What Our Email Sign-offs Say About Us

Dave Clarke — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 16:00:17 +0000

For us web workers, where our communication is digital more often than not, the way we sign our emails may (or may not) reveal certain clues about what we're trying to accomplish. Let's poke around at a few of the most common sign-offs/closings.

Mind Your Manners Online With Real Simple's Tech Etiquette Manual

Simon Mackie — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 16:00:36 +0000

Sometimes it's difficult to know whether your actions will be perceived as being impolite online. Real Simple's Tech Etiquette Manual is a useful collection of expert advice on common tech etiquette conundrums, like how speedily you should reply to emails, and whether using BCC is sneaky.

7 Tips and Best Practices for International Phone Meetings

Dawn Foster — Fri, 21 May 2010 18:00:41 +0000

Having meetings over the phone is something that remote workers do all of the time. However, despite the frequency of these meetings, I see a lot of people who don't follow basic phone meeting etiquette. Here are a few tips:

How Social Media is Affecting the Way We Speak and Write

Aliza Sherman — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 14:00:58 +0000

Do you speak "social?" There is a lot of writing out there about the effects of social media on business, marketing, branding and customer services. But what about how social media communications is impacting our written communications, or even our oral communications?

Grammar Reform School: Help Improve the Writing of People Whose Work You Edit

Darrell Etherington — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 17:00:11 +0000

I've found that some people can very easily get their back up when attempts are made to point out their grammar weaknesses. Maybe it feels like being reprimanded in school. A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, and the same sentiment applies with grammar, too.

Do What Works for You

Dawn Foster — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:00:41 +0000

Lately, I've been hearing too many people talk about what people must do. If you start a blog, you must post three or four times every week. Your company must engage in conversations on . Everyone must have a newsletter.

The Fine Art of Persuasion via Email

Georgina Laidlaw — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 17:00:12 +0000

This week, I've faced a few work challenges that I've had to resolve remotely as, I'm sure, have you. But as the situations in question escalated, and I found myself getting a little hot under the collar, I had to put my complaint-email writing skills to the test.

Private or Personal in Social Media?

Dawn Foster — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 15:00:52 +0000

I’ve been spending a lot of time lately thinking about the personal, professional and private information we share online, especially in light of all of the recent discussions about the changes to Facebook’s privacy policy. I actually believe that online privacy is more of an illusion than […]

Can Social Media Give You an Overinflated Ego?

Dawn Foster — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:00:53 +0000

Lately, I have been spending some time thinking about how people react to social media fame. What happens when you reach 1,000 Twitter followers? 5,000? 20,000? 100,000? How do you react when your blog is suddenly getting significant traffic and people are hanging on your every […]

5 Tips For Making a Good First Impression

Dawn Foster — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:00:13 +0000

Freelancers often don’t have much time to make a good first impression on potential clients, so you need to make sure that everything you do leaves your prospect seeing you as a professional who can be trusted with their business. Here are a few simple tips. […]

The Web Worker’s Client Site Survival Guide

Will Kelly — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 21:00:11 +0000

While many of us love working in our home office or other alternative venue of choice there will often be times when your projects take you to a client site for an extended period of time. I’ve spent time on and off client sites for a […]

Taking Content Strategy Personally

Pamela Poole — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:00:00 +0000

If you don’t have a professional blog or web site, you may think that you don’t need to worry about content strategy. Think again. Celine gave some great advice in her article “How to Develop a Content Strategy for Your Professional Blog,” but these days our […]

Is Twitter Replacing the RSS Reader?

Dawn Foster — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:00:55 +0000

Last Friday, I was attending Portland’s weekly Beer and Blog event, and I stumbled across what later turned out to be an interesting trend. I had two separate, unrelated conversations about an hour apart with people working in the technology industry who once used RSS readers […]

Don't Overestimate the Tech Savvy of Your Clients

Pamela Poole — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 18:00:42 +0000

Most of us don’t just work on the web, we kind of live on it too. And our virtual neighbors are people who speak our language. But you must not forget that people like us are still the minority, even in places that have universal Internet […]

UK Survey Indicates Palm Pre More Anticipated Than the iPhone

Liam Cassidy — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 20:01:16 +0000

Market Research group TNS has published the results of a survey that finds the Palm Pre, due to be launched in the UK later this month, is more positively anticipated by consumers than the iPhone was in 2007. Reported today on Electronista, the survey from TNS […]

Online Writing Tips: Interviewing for the Web 101

Darrell Etherington — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:00:37 +0000

Writing content for the web can take many forms, but a good number of those forms will probably involve an interview at some point or another. As a general rule, good interviews have three characteristics: One, they make you forget that someone other than the reader […]

Unrealistic Expectations on Twitter Can Lead to Problems

Aliza Sherman — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 18:00:23 +0000

I’ve been a little caught off-guard lately with some of the presumptions people seem to be making now on Twitter. Where did all these expectations, such as an expectation for a response to a retweet or a “follow back,” come from? Why are people coming to […]

Support Your Community and Increase Your Whuffie

Dawn Foster — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 20:00:40 +0000

Community has been a big focus for me for a long time. I’ve helped companies build and manage online communities, and I even co-founded a non-profit in Portland that organizes free events for the technology community here. I also try to help people with their businesses […]

Draw the Line: When and How to Stop Giving Away Professional Advice

Darrell Etherington — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:00:05 +0000

If there's one thing doctors and lawyers hate, it's being repeatedly asked for their professional opinion about something outside of the office by friends and acquaintances. Web workers, too, have to deal with these kinds of requests, but I personally find that people are even less abashed about asking for advice and help related to blogs, social media, networking and other web work because they don't regard it as a specialized service the way they do with medical and legal expertise.

Tales From a Tweetup Novice: What I Did and Didn't Get From the Experience

Darrell Etherington — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:00:53 +0000

I like Twitter, and I embrace it for both personal and private use. Until recently, though, I’ve been hesitant to take the next logical step and attend a tweetup, despite their popularity here in Toronto. (A tweetup is a gathering of Twitter users, and is something […]

Twitter for Business FAQ

Meryl K Evans — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 13:00:22 +0000

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 […]

8 Ways to Avoid Overwhelming Your Followers' Twitter Stream

Meryl K Evans — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 13:00:41 +0000

Yikes! I participated in two Twitter chats last night and lost a follower as a result of overwhelming his stream with my tweets. Here are eight simple ways to avoid driving your followers crazy by dominating their streams, and perhaps losing them in the process.

Phone and Computer Etiquette

Dawn Foster — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 18:00:11 +0000

For those of us who earn our living working online, the always-connected lifestyle can have its benefits and its drawbacks. I spend most of my day at my computer, whether I am in my office or working from other locations. When I step away from the […]

Network Like a Man

Imran Ali — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 23:00:56 +0000

One of my favorite blogs recently has been The Art of Manliness. It’s not a boneheaded celebration of dumb machismo, rather a thoughtful exploration of what being a man can and should mean in a post-feminist world. With values anchored in equality, the writers explore everything […]

Crisis Communications for the Social Media Age

Aliza Sherman — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 16:00:45 +0000

We have all learned that good news travels fast online, but bad news travels faster. Now, with social networks, blogs and microblogs, the speed with which bad news can travel online is staggering, as everyone can get in on the conversation almost instantly. What can any of us -- individual, organization, company -- do to handle a social media communications crisis?

How Important Is a Good Name?

Dawn Foster — Thu, 28 May 2009 18:00:55 +0000

I spend a significant amount of time, more than I probably realize, naming things both online and offline. We have usernames, Twitter handles, blogs, training classes, books, events, and so much more. Each one needs to have a name, and many of us probably don’t spend […]

The Remote Wine and Dine: Keep Your Clients Happy With Extras

Darrell Etherington — Fri, 22 May 2009 23:00:30 +0000

Working on the web is great, but you miss out on some great business-building opportunities if you're far removed from the majority of your clients. Business lunches and dinners are a fantastic tool for greasing the wheels of profitable partnerships, but if you're in Taipei and your client is in Reno, it can be a little hard to coordinate. What web workers should not do, and what we too often do, is just shrug our shoulders and leave it at that. Even across great distances, we can still schmooze and butter-up with the best of 'em. Here are some examples of how you might go about bridging that geographic gap to form a solid client-contractor bond.

Losing Gracefully: What to Do When You Can't Deliver

Darrell Etherington — Fri, 15 May 2009 16:00:28 +0000

Much as we wish it wasn't true, on occasion we take on a contract that gets us in over our heads. Especially when just starting out, and/or we're unfamiliar with the field or industry we're working in. Obviously, realizing that you can't deliver what the client is expecting, and what you originally agreed to produce, can be a very stressful experience. It may even seem like it's the end of your professional life. It mostly likely isn't, so don't panic. There are steps you can take to mitigate the damage and come out as clean as possible on the other side.

5 Warning Signs of a Project In Danger

Georgina Laidlaw — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:00:38 +0000

Recently, I was subcontracting for an ad agency when things went unexpectedly wrong. There had been points in the process when I felt things weren't quite right, but I couldn't put my finger on why. In retrospect, I can see that those moments were actually blatant warning signs that the project was going awry. Now I keep these warning signs in mind. They're indicators that I need to take immediate action to keep my project on track. If you're working remotely, that can be much harder to do than if you have daily face-to-face contact with your colleagues, but hopefully these tips will help you avoid the trap I fell into.

App Roundup: 10 iPhone Weather Apps

Adam Jackson — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:00:12 +0000

In my line of work, I do quite a bit both indoors and outdoors. As such, it is crucial for me to know the weather forecast at the drop of a hat. The weather app built into the iPhone is a simple, no fluff, no garbage, […]

How to Plan Virtual Meetings With a Global Teleworking Team

Celine Roque — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 14:00:35 +0000

As organizations and businesses loosen their geographic borders, their teams will be composed of members from all over the globe. From a small web design group to an entire staff of offshore workers, we’ll soon find ourselves working with people from different time zones. But working […]

Making Lemonade: What to Do When a Contract Ends

Darrell Etherington — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 13:00:51 +0000

Web workers are often hired on on a contract basis. The benefit, and the failing, of contract work is that it is not permanent, and almost always ends. Sometimes you may have ample warning of a contract's end date if you've established a set term beforehand, but sometimes the end comes unexpectedly, and you should always be prepared for that unfortunate possibility. Here's a guide to the steps you should take when a contract closes.

A Freelancer's Dilemma: Ethically Dubious Projects

Celine Roque — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 20:00:11 +0000

Some years ago a web designer asked me if I thought it was right for him to design a site for a religious group whose values he completely disagreed with. "The site is actively promoting their beliefs," he said, "and I'm not sure I want to be a part of that." I was reminded of his dilemma last week, when a potential client contacted me to ask if I could write sales copy for his multilevel marketing scheme -- at twice my usual fee. After doing a bit of research on the company, however, it became apparent that this person was running a scam. As freelancers, we sometimes get requests that we find shady. These can range from the above examples to creating promotional materials for companies whose ethics we don't completely agree with. How do we deal with these requests?

Gear bag fetish? Don’t worry, be.ez

James Kendrick — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 22:06:21 +0000

Gear addicts usually end up with just as big a fetish for gear bags as for the gadgets themselves. The search for the perfect gear bag is eternal, and finding a new source for them makes for a banner day that we just have to share. […]

Case Studies: A Must for Freelance Consultants

Darrell Etherington — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 16:38:17 +0000

It’s not always practical to copy the big fish when it comes to consulting. You’re one person, and they’re a massive organization, with backshop support, after all. Still, just because you’re not Ernst & Young or KPMG, doesn’t mean you can’t employ some of their tactics […]

Apple Pushing Green Notebooks in Ad Campaign

David Appleyard — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 20:00:57 +0000

With their latest lineup of products, Apple is pushing the new environmental features in an aggressive way. Rightly so, they are proud of their achievement — going from a heavily criticized Mac and iPod lineup a few years ago, to a set of very environmentally friendly […]

What To Do When Your Work is Stolen Online

Celine Roque — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:00:53 +0000

Stealing on the internet is easy. It takes very little effort for someone to copy your work and slap their name on it. Almost every month I hear of a photographer, blogger, or designer I know whose work gets used without their permission. With all this copyright infringement going around, I'd be surprised if a majority of WWD readers claim that this has never happened to them.

Yahoo’s Primetime in No Time Hits 100M Views

Liz Gannes — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 09:00:29 +0000

Primetime in No Time, Yahoo's original TV recap show, has hit 100 million total views, just eight months after its launch, Yahoo told NewTeeVee.

Parallels Desktop 4.0 released- 50% faster

James Kendrick — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 17:40:34 +0000

One of the two software solutions for running Windows or Linux on an Intel Mac (and that’s just about all of them now) has just received a major upgrade. Parallels Desktop for the Mac has just been upgraded to version 4.0 and there are a long […]

Weekend Vid Picks: Just One Last Post About Election Comedy, We Promise

Liz Shannon Miller — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 18:00:12 +0000

So, um, I guess some people were saying that that election-themed videos would, starting Wednesday, literally be yesterday’s news. Man, how stupid were those people? Right? Right? But to my credit, the tone of discourse has changed with the conclusion of the campaign. College Humor released […]

HP’s Mobile Internet Experience sure to please netbook crowd

Kevin C. Tofel — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 16:49:13 +0000

James provided his hands-on impressions of the Mobile Internet Experience, or MIE, version of HP’s Mini 1000 and I see that Notebooks.com has a video of the shell. After watching this video and thinking back to other customized Linux faces I’ve used on netbooks, I walked […]

Why netbooks are catching on

James Kendrick — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 02:26:24 +0000

A constant source of speculation is trying to figure out why netbooks are catching on so fast. Sure the price is a big factor and is what catches the attention first but as we’ve stated here on jkOnTheRun many times that alone is not enough. If […]

Rackspace Buys Two Startups to Beat Amazon's Cloud

Stacey Higginbotham — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 18:36:33 +0000

Hosting company, turned cloud computing operator Rackspace Hosting said today it will buy startups Slicehost and Jungle Disk to boost its Mosso cloud offerings, and step up its competition with Amazon's Web Services.

T-Mobile sells over 1.5 million G1 Android phones

James Kendrick — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 20:14:49 +0000

We have seen the big buzz over the first Android phone, the T-Mobile G1. We heard the stories about the difficulty getting a pre-shipment order in to T-Mobile. The only thing we could assume was that Google, HTC and T-Mobile were making as many G1s as […]

MSI Wind blowing into Best Buy

James Kendrick — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 21:51:39 +0000

We told you earlier that MSI was going to announce the appearance of the Wind U100 in a "major retailer" and today they did so. We got the PR from MSI that announces the Wind will be appearing shortly in Best Buy stores throughout the US […]

Understanding Online Photo Rights

Aliza Sherman — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 17:00:59 +0000

To find out more about photo rights on the Web, I turned to a lawyer, Deena B. Burgess, Esq., Managing Partner with the Law Offices of Deena Burgess, and gave her a few scenarios to comment on. Here is what she had to say.