It’s supposed to be more fun than either posting one’s experience on LinkedIn or writing a resume. Geekli.st is a new invitation-only service that lets technology pros announce their achievements in a microblog-like format (one recent example: “I built the first device driver for the Microsoft Mouse.”) Others can “high-five” an achievement they like, and the service can “ping” users with others’ achievements, TheNextWeb reports. READ MORE
If you haven’t yet discovered it, Focus.com is a great (and free) place to find business experts. It’s similar to Q&A sites such as Formspring and Quora, but focuses on providing advice for business professionals from qualified and reviewed industry experts through roundtables and online Q&As. I use it all the time and am consistently impressed with the quality of responses I get when posting a question. This week the site is getting even better by launching its enhanced Live Event Platform. While Focus has already offered 1,000 live events to its 1 million members, in the past you could only dial in and listen to speakers. With the new platform, you can now interact with speakers and experts, give your opinions and ask questions in real-time. You can also rate how interesting or uninteresting a discussion is, and give up-to-the-second comments on how you feel speakers are doing. The social aspect is also different, since all your comments and feedback can be streamlined to your social networks—meaning your contacts from LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter can hear about an event as it’s happening. Learn more at Focus.com or check out its Events Schedule.
If you need help from a professional services provider, ExpertBids can help you find one nearby, and provide you with online quotes regarding how much they’ll charge for your project or need. READ MORE
From Monday to Wednesday in San Francisco, TechCrunch’s latest Disrupt Start-up Battlefield competition is showcasing entrepreneurs from 30 start-ups, all vying for a $50,000 prize by making six-minute-long pitches to a rotating panel of venture capitalists, tech influencers, angel investors and Silicon Valley players. Tuesday featured three more sessions of Start-up Battlefield, titled Customer-Friendly Enterprise, Local Networks and Increasing Understanding; here are the start-ups presented in session five: Local Networks. READ MORE
The No. 1 reason for Americans to go online? Social networking by far. The Nielssn Company, the longtime TV analyzer, released its first report on Internet traffic patterns today, and concluded that social media represents 22.5 percent of the time Americans spend online. They spend 9.8 percent on online gaming, and just 7.6 percent for email. READ MORE
Some scams are designed to bilk money out of the unsuspecting, but others are intended simply to suck in attention or approbation. In that latter category, the “bet with my boss” scam currently circulating in the social media world is exceedingly effective. READ MORE
That’s according to a just-released survey of more than 300 businesses with fewer than 250 employees conducted by Opinium Research and sponsored by Hiscox, a small business insurer. Of those that do use social media, Facebook led with 19 percent, followed by LinkedIn at 14 percent, and Twitter at 4 percent. READ MORE
Millionaires are liking Facebook, but no longer following Twitter, reports Robert Frank for The Wall Street Journal. A new study shows that 46% of online users with investible assets of $1 million or more are members of Facebook, up from 26% a year ago. READ MORE
Empire Avenue, a company that calls its product a “stock market for social influence,” announced that it has raised $1.2 million in series A seed funding to develop its product. The company measures the bears and bulls of online influence using data derived from a user’s online activity. READ MORE
While you were sleeping last night, LinkedIn‘s mobile apps for iPhone and Android received a complete and utter overhaul. The new redesign released to the public today, “LinkedIn 4.0,” now looks much less like Facebook’s mobile app—which is a good thing—and puts a new emphasis on speed, simplicity, and LinkedIn Groups. READ MORE
