Next Generation Messaging - Facebook Email Service

Facebook announced Monday that it is building a full-fledged e-mail system into its 500-million-member social network. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the new e-mail offering will be introduced over the next couple of months to all FB users. 

As of now they began to offer a few thousands of e-mail addresses to U.S. members that consists of their user name followed by @facebook.com. It will take little time to make it available to all 500 million members.

FB founder and CEO Mark introduces a new Facebook E-mail Service.

"This is not an e-mail killer, It is a messaging system that includes e-mail. We don't expect anyone to totally switch from Yahoo or Gmail to Facebook." Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said at a press conference in San Francisco.

Facebook is clearly trying to match all the services Google provides around its core search capability. Beyond its messaging capabilities, you share links, photos, instant chat and videos as well. A partnership with Skype allows you to make voice calls from the platform; Google only recently added this capability to Gmail. E-mail is the piece that has been obviously missing, and now it is here.

According to eMarketer, Facebook would collect $1.3 billion in worldwide ad revenue in this 2010, Which is twice that what FB did in 2009.

Facebook Do's and Don'ts

Tips for Using Facebook

Facebook is a fun and easy way to stay connected to friends and family but it can be a bit confusing at first. Here are some tips to help you make the most of your Facebook experience.

Facebook Dos

Do use your real name. The idea behind these sites is for friends to stay in touch and reconnect. If you use a fake name people you knew in elementary school, from summer vacations, from real-life social groups you have left and friends who moved away, will not be able to find you.

Do use a real picture of you in your profile. For the same reasons you should use your real name, a real picture of you is a must. People can’t tell if you’re you from your name alone. That being said, keep the picture you post modest, provocative pictures send the wrong message.

Do look at the pictures of people who send you friend requests. Even if you don’t recognize them from the photo currently on display you may recognize the person from a different picture.

Do create your photo albums with privacy settings so only your friends can see them. You can change the settings in the future if you want but it is always best to limit who can see the more intimate moments of your life.

Do tag the pictures you post so that friends know when you have put their picture online. It is just common courtesy to let people know when you have put their likeness on the internet.

Do be tolerant when you get friend requests from strangers, especially if your photo is not of you. You may not be the only person on the planet with your name. Just hit reject and don’t worry about it. People are not notified when you reject their friend request.

Do use the Facebook privacy settings to limit who can see your full profile. Set it so that only friends can see things like your pictures, your wall, and your personal and contact information.

Do create a private group for you and your close friends. Make the group administrated and by invite only and only allow friends to join if you know them in real life.

Do limit the type of email notifications that come to you from Facebook. If you don’t you could find your email bombarded by Facebook messages.

Do report any threats of violence or other inappropriate posts or images to Facebook and to the proper real world authorities like school officials, parents and police. 

Facebook Don’ts

Don’t leave the default Facebook privacy settings as set. Go in and customize your privacy. Of particular importance, limit what people can see when you poke or message them before you have added them as a friend. The default setting allows people who are not friends yet and whom you poke or message to see your entire profile.

Don’t be afraid to allow some people to only see a limited version of your profile. Limited profiles show things like your profile picture, your name, and your basic info but do not show things like your wall, your interests, your contact info and any images of you that are not used as in your profile..

Don’t ever announce on your wall, or on any public wall, where you plan to go or who you plan to go with. Cyber stalkers are a real threat and if you have one this tells them where to find you in real life.

Don’t be afraid to join public groups about interests you share. Just be careful what you post on the walls of these groups.

Don’t accept Facebook invites to events. If you plan to attend send your acceptance using a private message or tell the host when you see them in person.

Don’t use Facebook to bully, harass, spread rumors, challenge fights or otherwise incite violence. Facebook is a social utility, not an anti-social utility.

Happy & Enjoy Surfing!!!!

Effective Leadership Skills

Why People Give Their Best Effort?!

Effective leadership skills are so important in an organization. It's not rocket science, but it's the real reason why managers need to make the effort to develop the people skills and personal strengths that will make them better leaders.

Why is it so important for a manager to be have effective leadership skills? To me, the answer is simple.

If all you ever wanted was for people to come to work on time and do what's specified in a job description, you could just manage them the way you do anything else, such as funds, tools, equipment, supplies, etc. You wouldn't need people skills.

But what most managers really want is for team members to do their best work - both individually and as a coordinated effort.

People have talent. They have energy. They have the potential to be creative. They can be bold, patient, persistent, and a lot of other things as they work through tough challenges.

The problem is, even if they're capable of delivering this kind of effort, they don't have to. There's a certain level of performance - and they know what it is - that's specified in their job description. To keep their jobs, that's what they have to do. When the boss tells them to do something, that's what they have to do.

But this level of effort is what managers recognize as "business as usual." It's not the kind of high performance team members are capable of. What managers want most are things that can't be specified or measured: courage, compassion, commitment, composure, optimism, decisiveness, and dozens of other aspects of performance. You can't demand these things and you can't hold people accountable for them.

To get what you really want in the workplace, you have to lead others. You have to grow them into the kind of people who do these things. You have to inspire them to do it. You have to support them and encourage them. You need effective leadership skills. Eventually, when they know the leader, like the leader, respect the leader and trust the leader, then they may choose to give that level of effort. And if they do, day in and day out, work will become very satisfying to them. And of course it will be satisfying to the manager.

Effective Leadership Skills

Four Vital Things Every Leader Must Do

Even though "leadership" is one of the most common words in the English language, people's interpretation of it varies widely. But understanding a few basic concepts about leadership opens the door to leading more effectively.

First, people in charge are typically called "managers," but they're expected to both manage and lead. Managing and leading are two totally different activities. Managing involves the effective use of resources such as funds, supplies, schedules, systems, tools, equipment, and so forth. It takes special abilities to administer these resources, but none of these skills applies to working with people. On the other hand, when managers lead, they influence the performance of team members to perform at their best, both individually and collectively. Simply put, you manage things, and you lead people.

Another basic fact about leadership is that it's not just something executives do. Most books on leadership are about presidents, generals and CEOs and the more strategic things they do. The truth is, foremen, section chiefs and team leaders are leaders, too. Their success depends mostly on how they deal with their direct reports. All managers need to have effective leadership skills: from first-line supervisors to middle managers to executives.

Also, leadership isn't about personal qualities, attributes or traits. It's about what you DO. Yes, having good judgment is important, but in the end, it has to translate into effective action. When you lead, people can see you doing it.

So what actions are we talking about? How do effective leaders get people to perform at their best?

#1 - DEVELOP. To work at their best, people need know-how. As a manager, you optimize their abilities by helping them get stronger on the job. You do this by stating expectations, setting an example, instructing, giving feedback, coaching lessons from experience and supporting learning activities.

#2 - INSPIRE. Team members may know how, but do they want to contribute their best work? You influence their desire to work by tapping into their motivation. Not with rah-rah speeches or monetary incentives, but by setting an example, getting to know their values, needs and interests, expressing the team vision, assigning the right tasks to the right people, and showing appreciation for jobs well done.

#3 - SUPPORT. Think of yourself as a "servant leader," the one who gives team members what they need to succeed, removing barriers and allocating information and resources. These are things they don't have access to except when empowered through the chain of management. This happens during delegation, when responsibility, authority and guidelines are shared along with the assignment. It also happens during execution, when you trust someone with freedom of action.

#4 - ENCOURAGE. Work isn't easy. People nearly always encounter adversity-problems, mistakes, shortfalls, and failures. When it happens, they could lose energy or quit. You need to give timely encouragement so that people work through the adversity and continue striving.

As a manager, you're responsible for all four of these areas of leadership. Doing it all will require effective leadership skills and personal strengths. You aren't born with these behavior patterns. You ingrain them by applying the best practices every day. So a big part of your job will always be to grow stronger as a leader.