The two incidents of note here are the Amazon.com brouhaha, commonly known to Twitter hipsters as “#amazonfail,” and a YouTube video posted by two Domino’s Pizza employees, which led to them both being charged as felons and issued a blow to the Domino’s name.

The Amazon issue, whereby Amazon.com was called out as homophobic for removing sales ranks on gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, and trans-gender books, was detailed in a blog earlier this week by ThinkerNetter Rob Salkowitz. Domino’s digital downfall occurred when employees posted a video on YouTube (since removed) depicting their unsanitary food prep skills. As one employee stuck cheese up his nose and spread it on sandwiches, the other employee narrated, saying “Now that’s how we roll at Domino’s.”

In both cases, the companies were forced to respond to the Webwide backlash and try to preseve their brands’ reputation. But did it work? Once apparent shame or failure is broadcast — and documented — on the Internet, can a brand really recover?

The two companies took different measures in responding to their crises. Amazon waited a full day before issuing a statement via email late Monday, saying that the error had affected 57,310 books in various categories.

The company was criticized for not being hip to the times and responding in real-time on Twitter. Instead, Amazon waited until it could formulate a somewhat valid explanation for the error, and distributed that explanation in a closed setting (email), rather than straight to the public.

A Domino’s exec, on the other hand, created a Twitter account to discuss the issue and posted a statement via YouTube. The New York Times also reports that one of the ex-employees in the video sent Domino’s an email saying, “It was fake and I wish that everyone knew that!!!! [...] I AM SOO SORRY!”

Nevertheless, Domino’s, too, waited to respond to the video, hoping the controversy would quiet.
Perhaps both companies should have responded more quickly. In an age where information is more emotionally charged and traveling ever faster, it doesn’t seem beneficial to sit back and hope it will go away. But it’s unclear whether a quicker response would have had an impact on the fired-up Web users.

With the Internet now integrated into nearly all aspects of everyday business use, many business owners are recognizing the important role that social networking can play in the world of entrepreneurship.

Importance of Social Networking

Social networking can help a business gain contacts, clients, and increased public awareness. Even entrepreneurs who run small businesses from their homes can take advantage of this resource to set up a global presence. To make the most of social networking, it’s important to fully understand the concept of social networking and how it can be applied in ways that will help you grow your business.

How it Works?

Even before the Internet, social networking existed. In a nutshell, social networking is when a person uses already existing contacts to meet new people as potential social or business links. Such links, in turn, will help expand future connections. Small and local businesses can even do this simply by attending community events or participating in trade shows.

Based on the idea that any two people can be connected through a chain of five or less intermediaries, social networking can occur through social network sites and communities that may not have formed before the Internet. Through these sites, people join, and then invite their established contacts to do the same. Those contacts will likewise invite other individuals. Social networking sites are created to assist in online networking. These sites are generally communities created to support a common theme. Since the creation of social networking sites are given opportunities to meet new people and friends in their own community and across the world.

Businesses can follow this trend. Social Networking websites encourages smaller and medium-sized businesses to set up an online storefront as a way to advertise and promote business activities. By doing so, individuals can become “friends” or “fans” of the profile, and will be updated on current events, specials, and other essential information the business would like to share.

Does it Work?

It can work as long as you treat online social networking just as you would if you were doing it in person. Be an active member of a community or site. That being said, it is only as valuable as the amount of effort you want to put into it. Just like meeting face-to-face, a first impression is a lasting one. Remember to create a page that reflects the atmosphere of your business.

The Top 10 Social Networking sites as per some current research

1. Orkut
2. Facebook
3. Myspace
4. linkedin
5. Twitter
6. Xing
7. Ecademy
8. 123People
9. Pipl
10. Plaxo

Almost all the handset manufacturers like Nokia, Blackberry, Apple releasing new handsets and smart phones that are capable of high speed internet access and comfortable screen sizes for internet browsing. The combination of cheap or unlimited internet access tariffs and handsets which make it simple for people to log onto their favorite sites has created a boom in social networking.

A blog is a website in which items are posted on a regular basis and displayed in reverse chronological order. The term blog is a shortened form of weblog or web log. Authoring a blog, maintaining a blog or adding an article to an existing blog is called “blogging”. A person who posts these entries is called a “blogger”. A blog comprises text, hypertext, images, and links (to other web pages and to video, audio and other files). Blogs use a conversational style of documentation.

Blogging really does make sense because it can serve as a platform for so many other tactics including SEO, email (archiving newsletters), blogger relations, PR, viral marketing, a compliment to the corporate site, a touch point for social networking and a place to promote webinars.

If you’re a company doing business and/or marketing online and aren’t using a blog in some way, you’re really at a disadvantage. The longer a company goes without a blog of some sort, the greater an advantage their blogging competition will have.

Danny Boyle’s movie Slumdog Millionaire has been sweeping away a lot of awards this season. And putting India in the spotlight with its heartbreaking yet exhilarating tale of an orphan who rises from rags to riches on the strength of his lively intelligence.

Just like the city Mumbai in which this story is set, the movie brims and overflows at a breathless pace telling the story of Jamal, a poor, bright-eyed, mischievous youth and his even more boisterous older brother, Salim. In a horrifying turn of events, the two youngsters’ lives change in front of their eyes when their mother is killed during a riot. Alone, they turn to the streets, becoming “slumdogs.? A ray of sunshine comes into their lives when they befriend another orphan, the feisty young girl Latika, and soon the three are inseparable. Adventure follows as the trio strives to survive the cutthroat life of contemporary India. But do they last together?

Years later we see Jamal appearing on India’s version of the game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Amazingly, he finds himself winning more and more prize money as he answers the questions tumbling his way. With the whole nation watching, he is just one question away from winning a staggering 20 million rupees, but when the show breaks for the night, police arrest him on suspicion of cheating. How could a street kid know so much? How can a “slumdog? with no formal education know the answers to these questions? As suspicions are raised, Jamal realizes that this game show will be the biggest test of his life.

Desperate to prove his innocence, Jamal tells the story of his life in the slum where he and his brother grew up, of their adventures together on the road, of vicious encounters with local gangs, and of Latika, the girl he loved and lost. Each chapter of Jamal’s increasingly layered story reveals where he learned the answers to the show’s seemingly impossible quizzes. But one question remains a mystery – what is this young man with no apparent desire for riches really doing on the game show?

Slumdog Millionaire comes across as a very special movie for two unique treatments – one its ability to radiate hope even in the bleakest of moment. No matter how wretched Jamal’s situations, hope at all times is just a frame away. It flits into view throughout, buoyantly and luminously, and deftly threads its way though the narrative, never letting the viewer forget that it is still there.

The other brilliant aspect of Boyle’s direction is his ability to portray the two sides of India as it exists today. There is an India of Mother Teresa as the world knows it. People living in the streets. Men relieving themselves by the roadside. Children fighting greedily over leftovers. An India of pollution, poverty, corruption and crime. And on the other hand, is an India with the world’s largest middle class. An India of opulent “Monsoon Weddings?. C-class Mercedes Benz Exploding education. Booming IT segment. And a Bollywood to rival Hollywood. Boyle’s film smoothly bridges these two India’s by cutting between a world of poverty and the Indian version of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire.

The movie combines rich narrative, brilliant cast, excellent cinematography, raw energy and masterfully weaved in multiple storylines to create a cinematic rollercoaster ride that will thrill and blow you away.

No wonder it has created history by getting nominated into the 81st Academy Awards this year in 10 different categories. With virtually no known faces, this movie has brought out some astounding performances and if it does win at the Oscars, it would really be a case of rags to riches story coming true!

Watching out fingers crossed!

Based on a true story and an adaptation of the 2005 book The Yes Man by British humourist Danny Wallace, the film Yes Man is the choice film to lift one’s spirits in the doom and gloom of the credit crunch. A sweet romantic comedy directed by Peyton Reed, ‘YES Man’ brings with it a lot of smiles and a feeling of positivity.

The movie sees ‘Liar Liar’ man Jim Carrey back in form playing Carl Allen, a pessimistic loan officer this time around. Carl Allen can’t connect to anyone. He constantly avoids friends and he lives his life in the shadows accepting his fate. He has gone through the majority of his life since his divorce saying “no” to virtually anything and everything in an effort to maintain solitude and avoid getting hurt again.

But when an old buddy shows up and sways him into attending a “YES” seminar, conducted by Terrence Bundley (Terence Stamp in a scary, wacky self guru caricature), he reluctantly decides to take a chance. Carl decides to say “YES” to everything, no matter what it may be. And suddenly… his life begins to change for the better. Or so it seems.

Carl’s suddenly approving loans, learning Korean, taking up the guitar, learning to fly a plane. And even ends up finding the love of his life in the free spirited Alison (Zooey Deschanel) who, though a peculiar match for someone like Carl, brings out his adventurous side.

Embracing every opportunity that comes along transforms Carl’s life in unexpected and amazing ways, but it also forces him to wonder – Can you have too much of a good thing?

Yes Man tries to tell us something about how we live our lives. This film celebrates the unexpected, and shares the lesson that the moments in life only happen when you truly let yourself go and learn to say yes more. So with all the negative energy in the world, why not just say yes? To everything!

Ask yourself now – what are you the most afraid of doing?  And change it by saying yes to it!

To more know about this movie click here

The Google Zeitgeist 2008 list shows global trends of what the world has its eyes on, and also give fascinating insight into local cultures and national psyches.

Topping the list is Sarah Palin, the Alaska Governor and former Vice Presidential candidate, who has been in the headlines for a lot of political and non political reasons like her hairstyle and constant string of controversies.

Following a close second on Google search list is Beijing 2008 – the Olympics that saw China at its spectacular best and showcased some rare moments of history in the making, with old records being broken and new ones made.

A prolific growth of social networking sites seems to have piqued people’s interest, dominating both the most searched for terms and the fastest rising terms. Facebook is everywhere. Followed by tuneti, naska klasa and wer kennt wen.

Games and iPhone also finds its place amongst most popular keywords.
Evidently the most striking thing from Google Zeitgeist 2008 is how internet user habits have fundamentally changed. The dominance of social media and network search terms offer conclusive proof that the internet really has evolved.
According to Google Zeitgeist, the fastest global rising search keywords are:

1. Sarah Palin

2. Beijing 2008

3. Facebook Login

4. Tuenti

5. Heath Ledger

6. Obama

7. Nasza Klasa

8. Wer Kennt Wen

9. Euro 2008

10. Jonas Brothers

Check out the complete 2008 Year-End Google Zeitgeist list to find out the most popular search queries, keywords and topics of this year, for a region wise classification.

A chair that is engineered to understand your body.

A gorgeously designed handset that lets you carry the world in your pocket.

A gigantic 50 inches of laser powered television that helps you save the world.

Sounds like gadgets straight out of a James Bond movie? Well, we are actually talking about the top 10 gadgets of 2008 that have wooed the world with its style, functionality, design sensibility and performance.

A torrent of gizmos poured through 2008. Phones got faster, notebooks turned into netbooks and pocket cameras went from standard-definition recording to HD. But almost all of these gizmos lacked sustainable technology and failed to provide value for money. Unlike these ten which made it to the top, for not just being good to look at, but for also delivering greener solutions at a far lesser price.

Take a peek at the top 10 gadgets of 2008 – the ones that stood out by breaking the foundation of what seemed impossible, bringing us closer to what the world will look like tomorrow.

Here is the top 10 list:

Internet subscribers in India are 13.5 million and broadband subscribers are 5 million.

It is very essential for your company’s marketing strategy over the web. Search Engine Optimization is the only most beneficial and fruitful way of reaching the high profit margins by marketing on the web. As the survey shows that 85% of Internet users find websites through search engines. To make your business more successful online, you need to start a search engine optimization campaign.

If you aren’t in the top 10 for your market, you are unlikely to get much traffic from any search engine. And Google is the most important search engine in the world today.

Here are some important elements are: 

• Google supplies search results to some of the largest Internet search firms. This means if you have #1 ranking on Google, you most likely will have a #1 ranking on Yahoo, AOL, Netscape, and Earthlink too
• Google is the most popular search engine in the world today. As of December 2002, Google indexes over 3 billion pages, has more than 150 million daily searches, and more than 60 million unique monthly visitors.

Achieving search engine positioning, just does not gives better Page Rank, but it increases web traffic on your site. This traffic may be some times fruitful and may help you in achieving better goals and Increases leads, sales and profits from your website. Search Engine Optimization improves your online presence and the SEO strategies also help in increasing your company’s reputation. And this reputation can also help you achieving customer confidence.