eliza1wright

I agree that bookmarks are a relic. Workona (http://workona.com/) might be of interest to you. It combines tab groups with resources (our term for bookmarks). But unlike regular bookmarks, resources can be grouped, ordered, or reorganized easily. They display important info at a glance (favicon, page name, type of object like GDoc). They won't open a duplicate tab if one is already open, and you can even replace your open tabs with a different set of resources (you choose which ones). Oh, and you can share them. So, bookmarks but redesigned for modern work. Would love to hear what you think if you decide to try them.

I've been lucky enough to be a beta tester for Workona and once I decided to go all in with its usage, it was a game changer. If you do work on the internet, or are guilty of having a million tabs open at once, I'd highly recommend trying it.

I like the author's use of the word "modesty", but maybe "humility" is really what we're looking for. Modesty means balanced and moderate, but sometimes leaders need to take feedback without trying to balance it (i.e. defend themselves). Take their lickings, so to speak. Those are the times that true growth happens.

MARKETING SPECIALIST (entry-level position) - We’re looking for a driven individual to create content—primarily written, with some visual components—for our popular software suite. Your responsibilities would include creating compelling and search-optimized content, along with analyzing results of marketing campaigns to develop actionable recommendations.

Requirements: - Strong writing skills - Attention to aesthetics and detail - Willingness to take initiative and quickly learn new skills

Recommended experience: - Copywriting & editing - HTML - Basic web design - Bachelor's degree

As with other positions, please email resumes to jobs@lucidchart.com

An interesting anecdote...when I was in middle school, an account exec for McDonald's came to speak to our class. He told us that in our local market, McDonald's Corp wasn't convinced that the TV and radio ads were having a significant effect on buying behavior. So for one day, they pulled the ads in that market. They found that sales absolutely plummeted in that day, so they scrambled to reinstate their regular ads and all was well. Of course this is anecdotal evidence, but it made a big impact on my middle-school mind :) Everyone thinks they're not affected by advertising.

Just to touch on one of your points, we've actually found that most people who talk about us on social media are those using or looking for free accounts. There are certainly exceptions to the rule, but the overwhelming majority are people who don't want to pay a cent for the product. We still love those people, but they don't pay the bills. And like I mentioned in the blog post, a pretty significant sample of users confirmed that most who discover us through social media are on free accounts.

Like I wrote, we won't be abandoning our social media efforts anytime soon. But we are taking another look at how much time & effort we invest in those channels.

That's a great point. But Facebook is starting to stonewall business owners with promoted posts, and the value of the channel seems to be dipping lower and lower. So business owners work to build up these audiences, and then they're charged a premium to get any eyeballs. At this point, a simple website and a good SEO expert might be a better long-term investment.

I'm sure there are some small, local companies who can't afford to/don't have the expertise to manage a website, that can leverage social media for promotions, sales, and general brand awareness. But those are also the people who tend not to measure ROI, so who knows? This was a really interesting article on the subject, if a bit biased: http://www.fastcompany.com/1760849/does-social-media-have-re...

It seems to be a self-perpetuating cycle from social media "gurus". Audi's manager of social media says "Today the equation to measure that doesn't exist" when asked about measurable results. So he (and much of the industry) claim that they just don't know, but it's probably doing something, and it can't hurt, right? So their clients/supervisors are scared of missing out and they continue to approve these gimmicks that, in my opinion, aren't very effective.

The article quotes Frampton as saying, "I have been accused of having a huge ego." Asking for proof would be admitting to himself (and her) that he can't realistically bag a swimsuit model.

Good point. Craigslist is a hotbed of spammers and phishers, especially in the housing section. They employ some pretty transparent tactics: amenities that are too good to be true at the given price point, pictures that you can easily reverse search, etc. They're looking for people who won't ask too many questions.

I like the idea of skipping the "next step" button and (gently) forcing your users to explore the interface.

Source: http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/curiosity/topics/10-ways-m...

The author cites several studies to back up those assertions. Agreed on the positive stereotype bit, though--I think people rely far too much on anecdotal evidence simply because the way that people talk is difficult to distill and quantify.

Women can bring different skills to the table; for example, they tend to possess more developed language skills and to be far more engaged in social media. Women are also more likely than men to talk through problems. Those seem like valuable skills, especially in a money-strapped startup environment where everyone wears several hats.

I was also expecting something different, but I like the overall tone of "Women are welcome here, and they're welcome to speak." I think a lot of tech companies get the first one right, but they don't know how to communicate the second point. With study after study showing that women speak less when surrounded by men, promoting the event woman-to-woman sends a powerful message.

A couple good tips that have helped me:

1) Your public speaking will be more polished and compelling if you think of your speech as a story.

2) If you have some vital points to make, draw a picture on a notecard that will remind you of what you need to communicate. It doesn't matter if your picture is simple or complex, it just needs to get the message across to you. Then if you freeze up, you can look down and relax--no awkward pauses as you squint at several lines of notes.

Wow. I don't know if I should be impressed or pity the guy. Mike says, "Everyone who wants to work in a startup should do this," which I don't agree with. But I think every job-seeker should read this piece and pay attention to 2 key points:

1. Amar leveraged his own internet real estate by publishing blog posts about Vidyard's marketing and then tweeting at the founders to let them know about his work. He essentially provided some flattering, well-written, and useful consulting work to Vidyard.

2. He was honest about his desires, expectations, and willingness to work. When his initial email was written off as just another form letter, he went above and beyond to ensure his real feelings were heard.

These tactics are within the reach of every reasonably intelligent person. Good read.

This. TechCrunch can be useful but it's almost Twitter-like in its update speed, so even a positive write-up gets drowned out by the next hundred blurbs.

Yep. They're getting left behind when they should be on the cutting edge. It's sad, really.

I think part of the problem is that IE is the browser of choice for the Dept. of Defense. If you've ever worked for the DoD, you know that updates, etc. take forever because of security concerns. I wonder if that relationship informs IE's decision to hold back on their browser capabilities.

I dunno, I think businesses realize that reach comes at a cost. In FB's case, however, they interpreted the cost as the time, effort, and resources that it takes to build a fanbase and pump out relevant, interesting content. Now they have to pay more to reach people who've voluntarily said, in essence, "I want to read/see your stuff." It feels a bit like a bait-and-switch.

Agreed. It sounds whiny coming from Cuban, but imagine you're a small business owner who relies on your Facebook page to communicate with your fans. You put a lot of time and money into gaining those fans organically, and now Facebook is essentially holding them hostage. What was that little blurb that Facebook used to have on their sign-on page? "It's free and it always will be." Hmmm. Don't promise a free service and then reneg. Perhaps businesses wouldn't have been so eager to get on Facebook if they knew that access to their fans would come at a steep price.

Yup. In my experience, designers don't want to explore proportions beyond that of the standard fit model. So if you don't have a "normal" (not necessarily average) body as determined by the designer, you're outta luck. And if you're plus size, you have to be the right kind of plus size.

Yes, but quality is going down everywhere. Walk into any clothing store in any mall and take a look at the seams. Brands that used to be known for standard, quality pieces are jumping on the fast fashion train, but their prices aren't coming down.

I think the more interesting part of this article was this statement by Prof. Fraiman, "And what is the problem in America? They don’t fit in the clothes. So why do it? Having to make larger sizes makes production so much more complex.”

I've heard that SO many times from high end designers, but which fast fashion brand is making money hand over fist? Forever 21. And they're also the ones offering lots of options for plus-size women. Bigger women are begging for cute, trendy clothes and whoever delivers it will hit pay dirt.

> Facebook may have opened the door to something like sarcastic Amazon reviews.

Remember the Chik-Fil-A debacle? Their FB page became ground zero for Chik-Fil-A's opponents, and that was without promoting any posts--they were trying to downplay Dan Cathy's gay marriage comments by stealthily releasing a statement via Facebook, to the exclusion of all other channels.

But I don't know if there's a solution. FB is getting so bloated and unwieldy for advertisers AND end users (I'm both).

True, like Charmaine Yoest:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/04/magazine/charmaine-yoests-...;

And when the interviewer pointed out there was a 60-80% drop in the abortion rate (compared to the nat'l average) among women in St. Louis who received free contraception for three years, Yoest refused to discuss it, calling it a "red herring."

These activists can say "life begins at conception" til they're blue in the face, but every major medical organization defines pregnancy as the implantation of the fertilized egg in the uterus. Why do we need more unwanted children in this country when it's so preventable?

"That may well be the case at a subconscious level. But that doesn't go away because any or all of the people involved are in relationships."

Agreed. I'm lucky to work with men who don't seem to be looking for any extramarital dalliances, and our interactions reflect that. Being friendly and warm--what many would consider flirting--isn't required to affect the social status of those I interact with, but it can certainly help. And I think that's something that many people in a monogamous relationship learn to suppress, for various reasons.

I apologize because I can't find the exact quote, but I believe Miss Manners said something to the effect of "Flirting, when done properly, means that both parties can claim they meant nothing by it." That's the flirting I speak of, the same sort of flirting/friendliness that was originally mentioned. It's foolish to assert that female approval matters, but darn it, no one knows why! It's just the way it is! In my experience, female approval matters because of the perception of sexual and romantic prowess that it grants to the receiver, especially in the eyes of other men. It's the idea of "Hey, she might sleep with that guy, under the right circumstances..." And that little sexual undercurrent is a huge part of your life when you're single.

I think your theory hinges on the idea that most, if not all, of the players in this scenario are single. I work in a start-up environment with a bunch of men, but most of them are married or in a committed relationship. For what it's worth, I'm engaged. The whole "mysterious feminine influence" thing that you're talking about tends to disappear when people don't see you as a potential romantic/flirting partner. I think I'm seen as off-limits, especially because I try not to flirt with the guys in the office. At that point, it doesn't matter how attractive or competent I am. I'm seen as just another member of the team, and probably subconsciously devalued because of my gender.