akhil’s blog

Daily social networking platforms, iPhone/Droid apps are coming up in the market. The battle for identity on web goes on and every morning a new/existing business comes up with a new innovative idea. Daily trending news like Facebook messaging system, More than 250 million users on Facebook, iPhone with Verizon, Twitter trends and Foursquare with new badges makes you think “What Next?” 

Here is the next story which interested me the most this week i.e. Google Voice available on iPhone. As everyone know Google Voice gives you one number for all your phones, voicemail as easy as email, free US long distance, low rates on international calls. Google Voice really impressed me in many ways like you get a number which you can direct to your cell phone and receive the Google voice call on your cell phone. You can also make free long distance calls within the US. Also Voicemail transcription is an existing feature through which you can get your voicemail as an email. Other features includes: Free text messaging to U.S. numbers, cheap rates for international calls. 

Few months back in August 2010 Google introduced Call from Gmail, free calls to US and Canada. Now gmail has phone calls option using VoIP technology from the Gizmo5 acquisition. If you have a Google Voice phone number, Incoming calls pop up as a chat window in Gmail and you press a "Call phone" button that appears near the top of the Chat window to send an outbound call. 

And now in November 2010 Google comes up with “Google Voice app” for iPhone. After been rejected from the App Store finally a free version of Google Voice web app is available. Google has put the power of HTML5 includes a few extra bonuses like a sleek design for your Google Voice inbox, with the option to create home screen icons for individual pages and the ability to display your Google Voice number as the outbound caller ID so you can easily receive return calls. You can also send and receive text messages for free. So if you are using an iPhone do check out Google Voice app. 

The rivalry still continues and everyday existing businesses come up with new thought and startups comes with new idea with the common statement “that’s just going to be another social network platform” and an end user with the common question “What Next?”

These points are collected from different articles posted on Mashable, TechCrunch, etc. and after reading different articles I am coming up with one common repository. 

Entrepreneurs planning to start and work on new ideas shall focus on few key points described below: 

Tips for Startups:
1) As an Entrepreneur you should not think my friends is starting a company shall I also start my company? I don’t have any work other work to do shall I start my company? What should I start so that I become billionaire in few months? Things just don’t happen in few days. You can’t become a billionaire in a minute. If you think you will have profits then you have to consider the loss factor also. Think about something that fascinates you. Come you with the idea, Plan and the vision. 

2) Focus on the idea: Come one with the idea and focus on the idea. The idea should give you the answer for “Why will the people use this product?” If you are coming up with the common idea than ask yourself “Why will the people use your products if N number of products are in the market?” Google, Facebook, Twitter didn’t exactly started with a food of plate ready. 

3) Discuss the idea, issues, and scope: Discuss the idea with the entrepreneurs with whom you are working with. Form the team that will support the product until success. Discuss the scope of the idea. Try to come up with the solution approach for it. Ask the team that why the customer will be interested in our product. How will it benefit to the customer purchasing the product. How can we give customer support after launching the products? Don’t neglect the service that will be given to customer after the product is live. 

4) Meetings: Try to organize meeting with the team everyday. Team should be open to discuss all the key points. Try to follow SCRUM methodology. Discuss the issue which can come in future and come up with the approach everyday. Divide the project into sprints and come up with the progress of the project and future plans.

Top 7 Social Media Services for Small Business 

Social Media Services recommended for small businesses: 

1. Communications Service: Twitter 
The micro-blogging service enables businesses to quickly and effectively enhance customer service, business development, public relations and even lead generation. 

2. Video-Sharing Service: YouTube 
From speeches and tours to tutorials and documentaries, small businesses are using web video in a lot of creative ways — even CEOs are getting involved. Businesses are using a number of services, but our top pick for small businesses is still the video king, YouTube. 

3. Twitter Photo-Sharing Service: Twitpic 
Photo-sharing on Twitter can be a great way to showcase products and give a behind-the-scenes look at your business. Really, you can’t go wrong with most of the Twitter photo-sharing services out there. The majority are easy to use, only require users to sign in via Twitter oAuth, and showcase photos in a timeline. TwitPic adds the extra value of being recognizable within your Twitter stream. 

4. Location-Based Service: Foursquare
Social media adoption rates among small businesses have grown dramatically this year, and location-based services are high on the list of emerging platforms of interest. While there are a handful of quality location-based services out there, including the recently launched Facebook Places, we believe that Foursquare still offers the best small business experience. 

5. Blogging Platform: Tumblr 
Tumblr makes blogging almost as easy as tweeting, and puts a heavier focus on the social aspects of blogging than most platforms. The interface is easy to use, there are a ton of great themes, and the re-blogging feature makes it easy for users to share content. 

6. Social Media Dashboard: TweetDeck 
Dealing with multiple social media accounts across various platforms is a total downer, but luckily there are lots of social media management tools to help, and TweetDeck seems to be a top pick among small business owners that we’ve spoken to. 

7. Funding Platform: Kickstarter 
For startups and small businesses looking for funding, we recommend Kickstarter, a service for crowd sourcing funds for “creative ideas and ambitious endeavors.” Kickstarter operates on an all-or-nothing model. Project owners choose a goal and a deadline, and if the project isn’t fully funded when time expires, then no money changes hands.

Here are the websites that can help Entrepreneurs to track down the appropriate entrepreneurs: 

1) OnStartups: An online community and blog for startup entrepreneurs
This site is a perfect place to crowdsource all of your small business questions. After you post a question, anyone can post an answer. You and other users can vote the different responses up or down so that the best answer floats to the top — at which point, if you decide to, you can mark one response as the “accepted answer.” 

2) Focus: Business Expertise for Everyone 
Focus differs from other Q&A sites by maintaining a core group of experts who answer many of the questions on the site in exchange for the opportunity to promote themselves. This feature makes it more likely that you’ll receive prompt and useful responses. 

3) MicroMentor:
MicroMentor is a free online service that connects small business owners with business mentors. MicroMentor offers business professionals meaningful volunteer opportunities and offers entrepreneurs one-on-one advice and business mentoring to help their business succeed. Be a mentor, find a mentor, and build a business. 

4) Entrepreneur Connect: 
Entrepreneur Connect is the social network where small-business owners can create a profile, explore the community, share ideas and make connections. 

5) PartnerUp: 
Find business partners, opportunities to get involved in businesses, commercial real estate and resources to make your company or idea a success. 

6) EFactor: 
The authors of business networking book The N Factor venture up the alphabet a little bit to bring you the EFactor. This social network for entrepreneurs can help you answer your questions in a handful of different ways. 

7) MeetTheBoss TV: 
This site gives you the opportunity for personal access to the world’s most innovative and influential business leaders. Although the rest of us probably won’t be able to get our questions for business leaders answered directly, there’s likely a video on MeetTheBoss TV that is relevant to your issue. 

8 ) SCORE.org: 
A resource partner with the U.S. Small Business Administration, SCORE gives free advice to entrepreneurs. 

9) LinkedIn Answers: 
What sets LinkedIn Answers apart from the others on this list is that people have a couple of strong motives to help you. First, people are always looking for ways to stay in touch with members of their professional networks. Answering your question is a perfect opportunity to refresh a connection. Second, people who give the best answers to questions are featured as “experts” on the Answers homepage and in each category of questions.