Are You Ready For Google+?
July 24, 2011 by admin
Filed under Lingerie Events
What’s Google Plus, you ask? Only Google’s foray into social networking and an attempt to take down Facebook once and for all. That’s right, Google has been looking to corner more of the Internet’s market for quite some time, with Google Buzz and Google Wave, failed attempts at high-demand software which would change the way we work and network. That having been said, a full-scale social networking tool had to come down the pipe some time, and it looks as if the time is now.
As Google’s fledgling answer to Facebook, the start-up site actually has some features that should give the social networking giant a run for its money (granted they can woo enough people over to it and away from Mark Zuckerberg‘s runaway hit of a website).
What features can it possibly have that really rival Facebook? For one, better privacy.
Facebook has come under heavy scrutiny for its liberalism with people’s private and personal information. Google+ is looking to exploit this as an opportunity to woo identity theft-leery users. One of the ways they approach the issue is to provide literal circles of friends on the site. You group all of your friends into different circles or categories, and then you choose which photos, documents, videos, etc. to share with each circle. If you don’t share these things with a certain circle of friends, they don’t get to see it.
Probably the major feature that will make Google+ a formidable rival to Facebook is a little something they like to call Hangout. Basically, it’s a video chat feature that allows up to 10 people to participate in a video conference call take that, Skype.
Speaking from personal experience, this feature works really well. However, people might be less excited about it now that Facebook announced video calling (for the record, this was announced following the buzz that initial previews of Google+ garnered).
Now that most smartphones function as digital cameras for their owners, you will automatically be able to upload photos taken on your mobile device to your own personal folder. You decide who to share them with whenever you want although I’m not sure how that fits in with the better privacy initiative. Other features include a suggestion tool, which shows you pictures, videos, and pages based on interests you type into a search engine, and a mass message feature that allows you to group chat or text with several users at once (for instance, to decide which movie to see and what restaurant to hit afterwards). The smartphone app for Google+ has already hit the Android and the iPhone, by the way.
Of course, the standard features like status updating and such will be there as well, along with the option to ‘follow’ other users, a la Twitter.
On the downside, the chat feature is pretty awkward, requiring you to type in e-mail addresses to chat with friends. Furthermore, there is nothing to show you who’s online at any given time, meaning that chats need to be more scheduled (when Google is supposed to make communicating less complicated). The ability to write on “walls” doesn’t exist yet, either. Best you can do is tag someone in a status by using the @ or + keys. It’s still in the limited trial edition, however, and those guys are certainly smart enough to figure out something better.
As you can see, I’m already there. We’re willing to send invites to as many people as we can as long as you post a comment (just make sure you include your e-mail address)! If not, it’s set for an official launch July 31.
To find out more about Google+, click here.
Source: Yahoo
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Doctors cautiously wade into social media
July 24, 2011 by admin
Filed under Choosing Lingerie
Doctors cautiously wade into social media
| Saturday, Jul 23 2011 07:21 PM
Last Updated Saturday, Jul 23 2011 10:16 PM
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Dr. Milan Shah uses social media to communicate with his patients and potential patients.
Dr. Milan Shah, who specializes in aesthetic and laser medicine, was curious about how Bakersfield residents viewed their tattoos.
He posted a poll on his office’s Facebook page, and found many people wanted to remove their ink inscriptions, but were worried about the cost and the pain.
“In this poll, we found there was a lot of misinformation out there, and we knew we needed to educate people on that,” he said. “I really think Facebook and Twitter have opened up the possibilities for so much in the field of medicine.”
Shah and other health care workers are increasingly promoting their offerings, educating consumers and forming online communities through social media. That’s especially important as one in five Americans is using social media sites such as Facebook as a source of health care information, according to a 2011 National Research Corp. Ticker survey.
But as they follow their patients’ online migration, medical professionals have to tread especially carefully when it comes to privacy and legal concerns.
Health care providers “all see the potential and promise, but they’re still trying to find their footing,” said Bob Brown, a partner of BryantBROWN Healthcare, a L.A.-based marketing firm. “They think they can and should play a role in social media, but there’s a lot of confusion over using it.”
Health care’s challenges
The goal for health care workers is to ensure their online presence matches their offline attention to federal privacy laws, such as not mentioning or photographing patients without their consent, experts say. It’s also important for practitioners not to give specific medical advice online.
The pharmaceutical industry faces additional regulations that govern fairness and balance, Brown said. If they tout the benefits of a drug on their Facebook page, they need to give equal space to its risk — even if they’re not the ones posting the comment. The industry is looking to the FDA to publish more definite guidelines, Brown added.
“It’s uncharted territory and there’s a bunch of questions swirling,” he said.
Despite the extra caution, social media is terrain worth exploring for health care workers, said Mark Brooks, a New York-based consultant who specializes in social media. He advises doctors and hospitals to launch Twitter, blogs and Linkedin, a professional networking site.
“Doctors and hospitals have a real opportunity to distinguish themselves as skilled and caring and value-oriented providers,” Brooks said.
Doctors using Facebook
Among doctors, the specialties most likely to embrace social media are elective or aesthetic practices, such as plastic surgery, said Keith Humes, the CEO of Rosemont Media, a San Diego-based ad agency that specializes in elective health care. That’s because those patients may be paying out of pocket, and interested in doing more research before signing on with a particular doctor.
The pages can help add validity to a doctor’s practice and connect patients, he said. Sometimes, the Facebook sites even turn into impromptu support groups, with new patients expressing their apprehension, and more seasoned ones responding.
Dr. Edmund Fisher, a Bakersfield facial plastic surgeon, uses Facebook to showcase before and after photographs of patients’ face lifts or chin implants. He said he is always careful to get signed permission.
For Shah, the Bakersfield doctor specializing in aesthetic medicine, Facebook is especially useful because of its targeted approach to spreading information. For a long time, clients had asked about non-surgical options for skin tightening. When his group bought a new laser that could accomplish that, they communicated the news via their Facebook site, which has more than 1,200 “likes.”
They also use the site to communicate special deals or conduct polls, such as “What is your biggest fear about having a tummy tuck?” But Shah said he and his colleagues are careful to “keep it light,” and refrain from discussing any particular patient’s experience that might violate privacy laws.
“There are tons of new laws and regulations and it’s on the top of our minds constantly,” he said.
That’s why Dr. Jan Trobisch, a Bakersfield internal medicine doctor who specializes in addiction and weight loss, said he frequently combs guidelines on how to behave online. He’s careful even if a patient sends a private message on Facebook since it comes through a third-party site. If a patient instant messages him, he never gives advice. And, he’d never suggest that his “fans” use a particular drug.
When he’s creating posts, Trobisch often considers: When does a doctor/patient relationship start?
“If I say drink plenty of water a day, and someone goes crazy and drinks three gallons, they could say it was medical advice,” he said. “As a doctor, it’s not as easy to use social media as a tanning salon.”
Still, Trobisch plans to expand the use of his Facebook account, and offer frequent health tips for his weight-loss practice.
Hospitals ahead
Hospitals are ahead of the curve when it comes to using social media in the health care sector, said Brown, the health care marketing expert. Since it’s important to frequently update one’s presence — or disappointed users won’t come back — some hospitals have created a full-time position for those tasks.
Locally, San Joaquin Community Hospital created an electronic media coordinator role last month.
“We felt it was time to get serious about social media and the changing landscape,” saidJarrod McNaughton, a hospital vice president.
For Jimmy Phillips, the new role means sending out Twitter feeds, updating Facebook and posting videos on the hospital’s YouTube channel. People get bored with strictly business postings, so Phillips tries to bring a human angle to the hospital’s Facebook page. He recently videotaped the employee of the month presentation, a post that received 11 “likes” including one from the hospital’s CEO.
He’ll also use the site to post questions such as: What builds loyalty, or post fun, medical-related news stories such as that of a Texas baby born at 16 pounds.
“My job is to interact with the people in Bakersfield,” he said. “If we’re perceived as being ‘with it’ with social media, we’re also perceived as being ‘with it’ clinically.”
Like the physicians, he looks at each post through the lens of privacy. When he took a picture of firefighters hanging out with burn survivors, he purposely avoided the patients’ faces.
Bakersfield Memorial Hospital also is hoping to one day create a full-time social media position, according to spokeswoman Michelle Willow. And Mercy Hospitals of Bakersfield, which is on Facebook and Twitter, has plans to enhance its Facebook page, said spokeswoman Sandy Doucette.