Corporate news

[Stanislav Bernuhov]

More small businesses use Twitter, Facebook to promote

A surge in social-media use by small businesses reflects a shift in how they operate and their comfort with increasingly easy-to-use technology.
In growing numbers, small-business owners are adopting social-networking services, location-based services, Twitter and online video to promote products and services, according to a new study by MerchantCircle, a social network for small businesses. It polled a fraction of its more than 1.3 million members.

The survey results are the strongest evidence yet that small businesses — which account for more than 90% of all U.S. companies and fuel the economy — are accelerating their use of social media at the expense of traditional media such as newspapers, the Yellow Pages and radio. Even e-mail messages have taken a beating.

Businesses with fewer than five employees "see Facebook and others as a way to reach targeted consumers" while saving marketing expenditures during a rough economy, says Darren Waddell, vice president of marketing at MerchantCircle.

For the first time, social media has become the most visible way for small businesses to promote their products and services. More than half of nearly 10,000 respondents nationwide say they plan to create or maintain a social-networking presence in the next three months, compared with 41% in the first three months of this year.

That is the highest figure since the survey started a year ago.

At the same time, adoption of location-based services has grown rapidly — 32% of merchants familiar with Foursquare use it, compared with 25% in March. Twitter is gaining favor, too: 8% more merchants intend to use it now than in the first three months of the year. The University of Maryland's Smith School of Business says social technology adoption rates in the U.S. doubled in the past year, to 24% from 12%.

Still, business' embrace of social media does not necessarily translate into profits, says HipChat, a group chat and messaging service for companies. More than 90% of the 2,000 small businesses it works with use social media, but few have seen a business benefit. A Compete Online Shopper Intelligence study suggests some consumers are slow to accept social media as a shopping resource.

Yet tens of thousands of small businesses advertise on Facebook, up three times from a year ago. More than 1 million small businesses have Facebook profiles reaching hundreds of millions of customers. Many small-business owners used Facebook for personal use before they started their companies, according to Facebook.

"People are familiar and comfortable with Facebook," says Tim Kendall, director of monetization at Facebook. "Regardless of your business, many of your customers probably are already on Facebook."

"We're seeing a (recent surge) in the use of Facebook by local businesses," Kendall says.

Social media's allure

Small-business owners are gravitating to social networks in large part because technology has evolved to the point where anyone — no matter what age or tech background — can turn their personal passion into a thriving online business.

Alice and Donald Murray acquired Over the Moon Ribbons, a maker of discount ribbons, in 2004 after Alice retired. The tech newbies, who have been married for 49 years, initially sold ribbons at flea markets before their daughter Sharyn persuaded them to sell online.

They began using Facebook, Twitter and software from e-commerce company BigCommerce this year. In six months, they've grown the business to more than $1,000 a month. The software they use makes it easy to design and run an e-commerce site, with built-in search engine optimization and marketing functionality. The program will soon let small merchants integrate Facebook "Like" buttons and other functions. "The online stuff has a far reach without losing the personal touch," Alice Murray says. "We do a lot of communication, still, on regular e-mail."

Online sales at Southern Jewlz have doubled in six months since recent college grad Randa Yezak, 23, started using Twitter and e-commerce software. Her 2-year-old business also has 8,000 fans on Facebook.

"The value of Facebook is that it gives you efficient ways to retain current customers and reach out to and find new customers," Kendall says. "It is happening on a scalable, digital way among you and your friends."

by usatoday.com

[Stanislav Bernuhov]

Google needs China, as China needs Google

At the end of the day, the practicality of doing business with one-fifth of humanity prompted Google Inc. to back down on a months-long threat to pull out of China over Internet censorship.

The Internet search engine operator said July 9 that China had renewed its operating license. Google made a big deal out of its threat to withdraw from the vast Chinese market because Beijing censored sites it regards as politically sensitive.

China's decision to allow Google to continue its operations represents a compromise on both sides. With a population of 1.3 billion, and an economy that will soon become the world's second-biggest after the United States, China is a market that Google can ill afford to ignore.

China, for its part, realizes that it must somehow cope with the Internet age. Implicit in that notion is granting more freedoms.

Google's row with Chinese authorities flared at the start of the year. But users are still restricted on the information they can access, just as before.

Since late June, users in mainland China have been redirected to Google's Hong Kong site for access to the company's search engine.

This allows users to type in politically sensitive words--for example, Tiananmen or Tibet. While the search results come up, users cannot click through to the pages listed.

Sites on the 1989 crackdown against pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square and other contentious issues were shown for only a brief period after Google announced in January that it was considering pulling out of China.

In recent days, the Internet has been flooded with postings expressing sarcasm and disappointment over Google's decision to continue doing business in China, which has many more Internet users than the United States.

"Google was very critical of China. What a shameless company it is!" reads one posting.

Another says, "No company can counter the (Chinese) government. It had better make money by behaving as a good child."

Yet another says, "If you do business in China, you do not need morals or a conscience."

The content of these postings is in marked contrast to those sent immediately after Google expressed its intention to consider pulling out of China.

In those days, numerous postings lamented what appeared to be Google's imminent withdrawal.

So why did Google go to the brink and back in its conflict with Beijing? The answer is simply that it is impossible to ignore China's potential from a business perspective.

According to U.S. media, Google's share in China fell from 36 percent in the October-December period of last year to 31 percent in the January-March period of this year, partly because of competition from Baidu Inc., the operator of China's most popular online search engine.

After years of chalking up spectacular growth, Google is slowing down. Its share price on the New York Stock Exchange has fallen by about 25 percent since its dispute with China flared.

Though sales from businesses in China account for only a fraction of Google's entire sales, the company doesn't want to lose its grip on what may well become the world's largest market in the future.

Google also fears that further conflict with the Chinese government could affect its other business activities in China, such as Internet shopping.

Besides, Google's chief executive officer, Eric Schmidt, has close ties with the Obama administration, having served as an economic adviser to the transition team after Barack Obama won the U.S. presidential election.

In the United States, Google is regarded as having resolved its differences with China so as not to harm relations between the two countries.

In a July 15 news conference to announce Google's financial results for the second quarter, Chief Financial Officer Patrick Pichette called the renewal of the company's operating license good news.

However, he refused to discuss the issue further, saying it was a sensitive topic.

As for China, the government was apparently concerned about reaction in the international community to its dispute with Google. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in Beijing announced the decision to allow Google to continue doing business without fanfare. It simply mentioned Google in a list of companies whose licenses had been renewed.

Referring to the end of the standoff, ministry spokesman Zhu Hongren said in a news conference Tuesday: "Google has agreed to abide by Chinese laws. That means Google will take measures so that the information it offers will not contain content that will damage social stability or the interests of the country."

As of the end of June, China had 420 million Internet users.

The Chinese government advocates two contradictory policies in relation to the Internet. On the one hand, it says it wants to develop the technology in a "positive" manner, while on the other it says it intends to "strengthen" its control of it.

China is clearly aware that access to information is indispensable for its economic development. Yet, it is clearly anxious about tolerating too much freedom for fear that social instability could erupt.

The conflict with Google served to highlight those doubts. What China may not have realized was that the entire world was privy to its dilemma--courtesy of the Internet, of course.

As far as China is concerned, its decision to allow Google to continue doing business shows that the "Chinese market is open to foreign companies," according to a government official.

Had Beijing refused to renew Google's operating license and ordered the company to pull out of China altogether, it would have run the risk of becoming embroiled in a major diplomatic rift with the United States.

by asahi.com

[Stanislav Bernuhov]

In Pepsi Refresh Project, the popular often overshadows the commendable

Trenton Baier has entered what amounts to an Internet popularity contest for the challenge of his life.

Hope you like his idea: a $240,000 piece of equipment to help quadriplegics such as Baier and others with spinal cord injuries regain the cadence of walking.

So far, a business school for hip-hop artists, plans for a stray cat refuge and a horror film festival are among the proposals nationwide to beat in the online voting.

And that’s what it gets down to — relearning to walk versus funding a horror film “Screamfest.” Not to mention the more than a thousand other projects also vying for the Pepsi funding.

Suffice it to say that philanthropic dollars are tight. Grants are difficult to obtain. And problems abound with insurance covering long-term intensive therapies for spinal cord injuries when significant improvement is difficult to show.

So Baier and Quest to Walk, the Overland Park recovery center he attends, cast their efforts online.

The Pepsi Refresh Project gives away $1.3 million each month. People simply get their project accepted and then get the word out for the daily voting.

From a publicity standpoint, it’s brilliant.

For Pepsi. Each time people log on to vote, they receive the company’s slogans and messaging.

But for the 1,086 ideas seeking the July funds, it’s a questionable way to determine the winner’s worthiness. Pepsi has made several changes to enhance fairness and continues to seek input. Quest to Walk has at least one other local competitor in the $250,000 category, a VFW program to pay veterans’ bills.

Competition for smaller grants from the Pepsi Refresh Project includes a Lone Jack effort to fund a garden, a Kansas City proposal to give massages to veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and a spay/neuter clinic, which all want $5,000.

Baier and Quest to Walk believe the Swiss-made machine they want is not available at any other local rehabilitation center.

Baier’s paralyzing accident was five years ago. He was celebrating his 24th birthday, barely a month after graduating from Northwest Missouri State University. There was a party and too much drinking.

“I celebrated a little too hard and dove into a pool and felt my neck snap,” Baier said.

He awaits a breakthrough in stem cell research. Until then, he works intensely to be ready physically when science catches up to his undaunted spirit.

Each month, a new contest is launched. Not discouraged by its current 50th ranking among projects in its category, Quest to Walk is gearing up to reapply for the next go-around.

Slots fill up quickly, like sold-out concert tickets. At midnight Aug. 1, when the competition reopens, Baier and his friends will slam out their entry online.

by kansascity.com