In case you haven't already noticed (where have you been?), Facebook has been rolling out major changes to its design. And if you're wondering why… Facebook is celebrating its sixth birthday with a dramatic redesign of their homepage that millions of people see when they log on each day.
The focus of these changes are to emphasize search, applications and games.
Key changes to the design include:
- The top menu.
- The search box (powered by Microsoft) is more prominent.
- Notifications, including friend requests and comment notifications are more prominent.
- The navigation of the left side of the page has been enhanced to promote content; including the News Feed, Events, Photos and which friends are online.
- Manage privacy settings and log out using the Account menu in the upper right-hand corner of the screen.
- And of course… a whole lot more.
These are well-planned changes designed to improve navigation and the use of the commonly-used features.
You can learn more about these design changes at Facebook's blog:
Let us know what you think of these Facebook changes with your comments below.
And last, but not least, are we connected on Facebook yet? You can…
- Friend us at=> http://Facebook.com/PatAndLorna
- Fan us at=> http://Facebook.com/CoolTips
About the Authors
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Like everyone else, there seems to be no end to the amount of information and knowledge you’ve acquired through interesting articles or blog posts you’ve read, courses or e-courses you’ve taken, and all the other types of information research you’ve done.
You’re absolutely sure you've stored all of this somewhere… but where? Can you easily find it when you need it? And… you may be wondering why it really matters if you can find this or not.
Well… just in case you are wondering, here are the top 5 reasons why you really DO need to organize all your information and knowledge:
5) How Do I…?
You’re stuck… and you know you have the answer somewhere in the information you’ve gathered… but where? Make your organizational system searchable so you can find the exact info you need, when you need it.
4) Content Creation
You’ve got blog posts and articles to write. What about that e-course you planned on releasing? Researching all the information you have is a great source for content. It’s right under your nose. Again, organize it and make it searchable.
More on Top 5 Reasons to Organize All Your Information and Knowledge
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You, like most everyone else, have a ton of contacts you’ve met through Twitter, Facebook, your blog, and numerous other Social Media networking sites. And that’s where any information you have regarding those relationships stays… on Twitter, Facebook, etc.
You need to organize and manage those relationships… for your benefit and theirs. So now you're wondering… how beneficial can that really be?
Well here it is (drum roll, please)… the Top 5 Reasons why you need to organize and manage your Social Media relationships:
5) Facebook, Twitter, etc…
With all the contacts you have today, some seriously potential relationships can slip away without you even being aware of it. You need to keep track of your major relationships… at least have the names of your contacts, their Twitter page, Facebook page, and website or blog.
4) Joint Ventures
You have a great idea for an amazing online or offline business venture. What you need is someone else with specific skills to make the idea work and rocket to success. If you’ve organized your Social Media relationships, and have basic information on those contacts, your joint venture partner may be as close as your keyboard.
More on Top 5 Reasons to Organize Your Social Media Relationships
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Our friend and mentor Alex Mandossian has put a post on his blog with a list of his 33 slow-read books for 2010.
So what is a slow-read book? It is those books you find yourself reviewing and re-reading again and again and again and again … for new insights, discoveries, and lessons.
We found the post and the list of books to be quite interesting, but found that there was some information on the books and the authors he didn't cover that could be quite useful to us and to others.
So… we created a Dynamic Information Map of Alex's list in which we included the titles and sub-titles of the books, the authors, any Wikipedia information we could find on the books or authors, as well as links to the books in Amazon to make purchasing the book a very simple exercise.
Have a look at the map, peruse around it and perhaps you may be drawn to purchasing a book or two that may be one of your slow-reads for 2010.
You can find the Dynamic Information Map of Alex's slow-read book list for 2010 ==> Here!
To good reading and a prosperous 2010!
About the Authors
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(Click on above Image for larger size)
At the start of each new year we sit down to write our yearly goals.
There are many, many ways to write goals… and many opinions on what works best. We have found one way to write goals that in our opinion makes a whole lot of good sense. We write our goals as SMART goals.
What are SMART Goals? As outlined in the mindmap above and in the descriptions below, SMART Goals are…
| S | = | Specific |
| M |
= | Measurable |
| A |
= | Attainable |
| R |
= | Realistic |
| T |
= | Tangible |
Specific: There is a greater chance of achieving a specific goal than a general goal. For a goal to be specific, answer the six "W" questions:
- Who: Who is involved?
- What: What do I want to accomplish?
- Where: Identify a location.
- When: Establish a time frame.
- Why: Specific reasons or benefits of accomplishing the goal.
Measurable: Determine a concrete way to measure your progress towards the attainment of each goal. To determine if your goal is measurable, ask questions such as: How much? How many? How will I know if I achieve this goal?
Attainable: If the goals you set are important to you, you will start to figure out ways to make them come true. You will develop the attitude, abilities, skills and financial capacity to reach them.
Any goal is achievable if you plan your steps wisely and establish a time frame that allows you the space to carry out those steps. Goals that seemed out of reach become attainable because you grow to match them.
Realistic: For a goal to be realistic it has to represent something that you are both willing and able to work towards. A goal can be high and realistic… it all depends on you. Make sure that each goal leads to substantial progress. If a goal is set too low, there may be little motivation to reach it. A goal is realistic if you truly believe it can be achieved.
Tangible: A goal is tangible if you can experience it with one of the senses… taste, touch, smell, sight or hearing. If a goal is tangible it is easier to make it specific, measurable and attainable.
To make it easier for you to reference SMART goals and the criteria behind them, we have provided the following for your convenience:
SMART Goals as an Interactive Flash File
ENJOY!
About the Authors
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