10 Stupid Things People do on Social Media

Social media is named aptly so because it's a tool to be social. Unfortunately, there are many amongst us who do the most inane things on Facebook and Twitter that makes you roll your eyes, drop your jaw and sometimes is downright pathetic.

1.People who think their every movement should be announced.
We know you're bored whilst sitting on the toilet. But maybe, instead of tweeting about your bowel movements today, as you always do, maybe you should read about what's happening in the world on Yahoo! News for a change. Likewise, we don't need to know how much milk your "hardworking breasts" lactated for your newborn. True story!

2. People who change their relationship statuses every other week.
Make up your mind - are you single? Are you in a relationship? Is it complicated? It's not too hard

3. People who are in a relationship with their BFF
You might think its so kawaii to be in a relationship with your girlfriend, because you are best friend forever- its NOT! Grow up.

4. Setup Facebook accounts for your 2-year-old kid, or worse, your dog!
We'd like to see the day your dog gets trained to log on to his own Facebook account.

5. Woe is me statuses.
You know those people - ‘my life sucks because my daddy doesn't want to get me a yacht for my birthday' or ‘this is the worse day of my life because my husband cancelled on dinner because he had to work to support my extravagant lifestyle.' Suck it up and stop.

6. Adding People You Don't Know
We're not sure what it is - to up your ‘friends' numbers or to seem like you're friends with the cool kids. When you add somebody, a pop up screen comes on telling you that you should "only send this request if you know him or her personally." How do people miss this disclaimer?

7. Write on a Facebook Wall instead of communicating privately
The driving force behind the success of Facebook is...vanity. People love the idea that others are watching what they're doing. But seriously! We don't need to know what names you call your boyfriend and what you're planning to do to him tonight.

8. Tagging drunken pictures of your friends
Yes, it's funny. But chances are, his boss and his mother are also on Facebook. You don't want to go out for a big one on a weeknight, have to call in sick for work the day after only to have your boss tell you that he's already seen photos of you sh*tfaced crawling in the gutter on Facebook. If you don't want that to happen to you, don't do it to your friends.

9. Children on Facebook
Facebook bans 20,000 kids from their site everyday, and we're glad this is done. Parents need to be more diligent with policing their children on social media, and they should be educated on social media etiquette in school. Sexual predators are nothing to joke about.

10. Animal Farms and Fish Tanks
I have a job, I don't want to feed virtual sheeps. You need to get off your computer and get a life.

Source: www.sg.promotion.yahoo.com/ 

By Fazilah Abdul Gaffa for Yahoo! Singapore

Xend Express Courier - Review

I have a MyXend account with Xend Business Solutions Inc. since 2009 but it was my first time last Wednesday that I created an online WAYBILL and scheduled a pickup. I used to ship thru LBC but has now preferred Xend. MyXend site is very user/seller friendly and can allow my customers to track packages instantly. Xend also has an app for sellers that we can add to our websites so customesr can track their package directly from your E-stores.

I also like their Xend Badge that is HTML based and can be posted to E-shop website which serves as a bragging badge that shows how many successful deliveries were already processed. For customers this can be a way to check if an online shop is legit.

I had to run an errand that day and left my item with someone along with the waybill and payment for shipping charge. The rider picked up within the day though, notified me and was polite to apologize for the delay.

Was I happy with my first shipping experience with MyXend? Let's say I waited for some hours but since MyXend site did not guarantee on time pick for the timeframe I indicated in the site, I did not expect much.

When I came back the item was picked-up, I have a copy of 1 of 4 of the waybills, an official receipt of how much the SF was and a supply of pouches for my next shipping. Yes, I am contented with the service....

and nope.... this review is not sponsored by Xend. I just wanted to write and share again something awesome. ^_^   Till our next transaction Xend and God bless!

Things to Remember when Setting Up an Online Business

More and more businesses are going online especially buy and sell transactions. Internet is an avenue wherein you can earn money from scratch. So why not take advantage of the global opportunity for you to introduce your products to the rest of the world at the comfort of your home?

Online business and marketing is the trend these days. Get yourself involved in the fast paced buying and selling business online. Anyone can set up their enterprise virtually without additional expense. However, do not rush your business venture. These are some tips to help you getting into setting up the business of your choice:

All an entrepreneur needs are fast and reliable Internet connection, a free personal web site with the help of multiply.com or any other blog sites, a digital camera for capturing your items to be sold, and some time to update your web site often and to answer the queries of the potential buyers.

Links are very important. It generates more traffic to web sites than the traditional search engine. Online business is like networking. Spread the word through your friends so they will check your site. Add them if you can so they will be updated with your new products and services.

Have a unique domain name yet connected with the kind of business you are into so people could remember your site easily. In effect, they would likely visit it.

Online business is just like blogging.You inform everyone that you have a range of products to offer to prospective clients, how much is it, what sizes are available if it is a shoe or apparel business, and how can they place their order or reach you.

Know your clients - their wants and lifestyle. Sometimes, the reason why a business venture fails is because the products offered are irrelevant to the customer's lifestyle. From there, you can gain an insight on what kind of product to sell. Do they love athletic shoes? Are my clients into clothes and accessories? What kind of clothes do they want? Why not have an online poll so you would know their preferences.  

29 Ways to Keep Readers Coming Back to Your Blog

1. Teach them how to do something.
2. Entertain them.
3. Stimulate them to think.
4. Tell them a story.
5. Present them with some interesting research results.
6. Make them laugh.
7. Review a product or service to help them make a decision.
8. Tell them why and how something applies to their life.
9. Show them a case study of something you’ve (or someone else has) done.
10. Make them feel like they're not the only one who….

Blogger Stats

Months ago, I used to monitor my blog statistics by posting attaching widgets such as webseomasters, and Feedjit and track referrals and keywords through my Nuffnang account. It was only recently that I discovered that there is a new update on the Blogger Dashboard titled "Stats". It monitors and analyses my blog visitor traffic in near real time. It shows the most popular posts, the number of page views for each post, the total number of page views, a list of traffic sources and search keywords, a breakdown of pageviews by country, browser and operating system. Cool eh!? If blogger continues to get this better, I would eventually remove the third party tracking widgets on my site which will eventually make loading my pages faster. Great!

Click on the image for larger view of my stats.

Why Is Everyone Putting Up Cartoon Profile Photos On FACEBOOK?

This campaign is to support the awareness on violence against children. The typical posts from the campaign reads:
"Change your facebook profile picture to a cartoon character from your childhood and invite your friends to do the same. Until Monday, Dec 6, there should be no human faces on facebook, but an invasion of memories!
I have been having a great time recalling the cartoons and anime tv shows I grew up with. My profile pic is Rogue of Xmen series. I keep seeing alot of Naruto and other anime.

UPDATE: Another viral rumored started circulating the Facebook world that this stunt was started by a group of Pedophiles to lure children to accept their friend invites when they see cartoon pictures. Which is apparently NOT TRUE!!!.  Click here.

What is a blog and why do I blog?

I recently felt concerned at a comment a friend made on her blog.

"With reyna's blog kasi parang DAPAT I-FOLLOW kasi sya palang kilala kong blogger. honestly, if she isn’t my friend, i wouldn’t link her here."

Jeeesh! I never even asked her to link me up so why the comment like that? You have your free will naman to link kung sino gusto mo i link or not. She can remove me from her list and that will be fine with me. Di nya kelangan pilitin sarili nya just because she knows me.

I had to re read her blog post thrice to understand her opinions. Yeah, I get it. She was tired of seeing commercialized and monetized blogs. But I somehow felt it was a direct hit for me.

She wrote:

So I had to post a comment and react. I didn't think it would take this long.  

I used to write just to rant. It was during the time when I was the only one reading my blog. I wrote useless pathetic diary like rants of how happy I was for a sweet corn, how tired I was of my call center job, how angry I was at my brother or how I hated my friend's boyfriend. Reading back, I'd think these anecdotes are funny. 

Even if we say that people shouldn't judge other people, we can't change the fact that what we wrote today about some gross story about something we did before....... may somehow one day be used against us specially if one will think career wise. The internet is a powerful tool. To each our own kung anu anong info ang pwede naten i share sa world of blogging. But you also need to remember that Blogs are public space. It's like writing your story sa bulletin board where everyone can hear or read you. Nasa sa iyo ang decision if what you wrote is how you want to be portrayed to the world and if sa tingin mo your reader's can learn or benefit from everything you said.

Why do I blog? After I bought my own domain and paid for space to be heard (or listened or read)...... I came to the decision to post only topics and infos that can de-clutter my head from work, bring smile to my readers and share infos of what I learned. Meeting a few blogging friends and getting invites and freebies from events are also a few of the added perks of blogging.

Chatting is different from blogging. Writing from the heart is also different from writing with content. If you are the only one reading your blog, keep a diary. If you need an update central for your friends, chatmates, and relatives keep a social networking site and post alot of pics. But if you would like to share and write infos worth of your reader's stay in your web space and keep them coming back because they like what you wrote and they learned something, maintain a blog with useful content.

If you wanna know more about me, in a very personal level, you should meet me in person. Coffee tayo and let's share stories. ^_^

Some strong words you might say. Maybe I had to be mentioned in her blog and in her words "publicly criticized" to come out where I was hiding and blurt my brains out. Reading her post somehow gave me a challenge. I have been away from blogging for a month. Simply because I refuse to write while I was sad and emotionally stricken. I am still not ok. I am still lovesick.... but I will try to post more these coming days.

So going back to my title.... what is a blog?
Blogs are websites that are organized by blog posts. Anyone with an idea can start a new blog with the click of a button and share individual news stories. Blogs should reflect your unique perspective. Blogs give people like us the power of the media.

So with that said, maybe we can reflect on what are the topics we could write about. Some blogs just contain emotional rumblings... some readers can relate to that... but have we learned anything? I can say that you write well and compose great paragraphs and coherent thoughts yeah. But after reading, did it help me in some ways?

After diving into the blogging fad, I guess we should also know how to make the most of our blog. For me, I always try to put myself in my reader's shoes as someone looking for information. My blog right now maybe a smorgasboard of information since I am fascinated about alot of things. But there are a few niches enumerated by Calvin at Most Lucrative Niches for Casual Blog that you will find helpful in your blog.

Here is a very informative video for those who have no idea what a blog is and how to start one.


Have a good day! ^_^

The Poshiest Blogger Contest of the Year!!

Last night I twitted, "Lord, please gimme something to look forward to tomorrow...... and I am not talking about the laundry..... "

And then voila!... before I logged out my computer.... I visited one of my favorite bloggers and I saw that she is doing an Ultimate Blogging Contest titled 8,888,888.  The rules are pretty simple.... you just have to visit her site and look at the STATS to turn 8,888,888 then screen capture it and send to her email. Now, I salivated so much when I saw what she is giving for the fastest 3 lucky winners! Yes, you read it right... only 3!... but you have got to be really really lucky to see the meters show 8888888!!!.... This is how I am spending my Saturday right now..... glued to her site! I really really wish I can be one of those 3 very lucky winners. Right now there are 450-500 people logged to her site. Waiting for the stats to show those lucky numbers.

These are the prices at stake.... Luggage Bags full of mini notebook, printer, Ipods, fahsion finds, Bench, Promod, SM 10,000 gift certs, Giordano, Olay, Boss and much much more other product sponsors!...

Head on over to Chuvaness.Com  to join the frenzy!

What Cool Things can you do with MS Office 2010?

Being a heavy email user at work, I personally love the new 2010 Outlook. It has a conversation viewer that expands emails by conversation even if it was saved in different folders or pst. This trims out unneccessary saving of the exchange of emails. Meeting calendars are also stremalined. It shows a preview of your calendar before accepting a meeting invite.


http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/products/redir/va101842280.aspx

How to Convert and Upload Videos for Ipod

I bought my Ipod Touch last month and yet it was only now that I was able to figure out how to add videos to it.
According to iPod's page, these are the technical specifications for a video to play in Ipod:

    Video Format: MP4, MOV, M4V
    Video Size: up to 640x480
    Video Framerate: up to 30fps
    Video Bitrate: up to 1.5Mbps for H.264, or 2.5Mbps for MPEG-4
    Audio: AAC up to 160Kbps, 48kHz

Ipod accepts MPeg4 video formats and the videos and movies I download from the net are usually in AVI format. So to be able to watch videos on Ipod we need to convert them first.

Here is what you need:

1. Copy of the video/movie to be added to Ipod.
2. You need iTunes to sync the videos from your pc/laptop to your Ipod Touch.
3. A software converter to convert the video.
Converting a movie usually takes an hour or more depending on how big the file is.
I tried Videora converter but it seems that their user interface is very complicated and I can't find the convert button. I found Next Video Converter on the net and installed it. Next Video Converter is very user friendly. I mean, you dont need any technical know how to be able to operate this converter however, it really does take me a long time to convert a movie. So I search the net again for another converter and I found Any Video Converter. This one is very good because aside from being idiot- friendly, after only 5 mins the conversion status is already 60%. Today is only the first time I was able to convert a video using Any Video Converter. I will have to check later the quality of its output and blog about it. Meanwhile you can download it here.

After converting the video....
You need to open iTunes and add the converted file.
Then click SYNC to sync the media files.

May 31, 2010 is Quit Facebook Day

Would you Believe there is a Group called Quit Facebook with a site reminding you to quit facebook on May 31, 2010... that is Today!...

Yeah, I have been contemplating of quitting facebook too.... it is quite addicting and I am sick and tired of checking my friend's facebook status updates!...That is called facebook stalking!...

Pero like a drug addict on withdrawal symptoms.... I still keep coming back and logging in!.. I really should join this group and quit facebook.....

Wait check ko muna facebook ko.... ^_^

My Newly Formatted Food Blog

I have recently bought another domain for the permanent residence of my Food Blog. It is now a collaborative work between me and my bestfriend-sis Mae since both of us are foodies. Please visit www.FoodieThought.com for your daily fix of food cravings.

The web blog used to look like this under ReyaneFoodHaven. But I like the new lay-out more. It's simple and more eye candy don't you think?

Together with the new lay-out for my food blog, I also uploaded a new template for this blog. I got tired of the dark template with the sunset banner and am now into this cutesy kikay theme. Let me know if you like it or not by answering the poll on the right. Thanks!

Virtual Hair Make Over

Since I was very fond of the link that Ms. Kim shared...... eh... I'd like to spread the happiness with you... ^__^  This really made my day.... I was able to fulfill my dream of getting a drastic hair color change and getting curls on the same day. Head on to In-Style - MakeOver to try it for yourself and have a happy day!

Shakira Hair

 

Taylor Swift Hair

Sandra Bullock Hair

Christina Hendricks Hair

Kyra Sedgwick Hair

Jennifer Garner Hair

Miley Cyrus Hair

 Hahahaha.... These are one of my pathetic moments... 

How to Know if Someone is Invisible in Yahoo Messenger

Dyou wanna know if your chatmate is online or just doesn't want to talk to you? It's easy and no need to install a software. Just go to   http://www.invisible.ir/   type your friend's Yahoo ID and voila, you can now see if they are in stealth (invisible) mode. This site also allows you to download the avatar they used.

iBlog's 6th Philippine Blogging Summit

I stumbled upon a blogging event scheduled April 16 & 17, 2010. This is a yearly blogging event hosted by The University of the Philippines College of Law Internet and Society Program (UP Law - ISP) at Malcolm Theater, UP College of Law, UP Diliman. The event is FREE.

The first day is targeted for business and enterpreneurs so that they can be equipped with information on tapping the power of blogs as a medium of promoting their products. The second day is meant for everyone who interested about blogging. Spread the word and see you there!

For a complete program of the 2 day blogging event and key speakers. Click here.

For the list of bloggers who signed up for the event. Click here.

WHAT: iBlog:The 6th Philippine Blogging Summit
WHERE: Malcolm Theater, Malcolm Hall, UP College of Law, UP Diliman, Quezon City
WHEN: April 16-17, 2010 REGISTER NOW

Hang Ups...

OMG! Muntikan ko ng baklasin at pakelaman ang 2 year old Sansa MP3 ko.... waaaah!. Nag hang kasi! Buti na lang naalala ko si Mareng Google at tinulungan nya ko hanapin ang solusyon. Abah! Akalain mo, simpleng re start lang pala... and how dyou restart it kung nag hang nga? Simple. Just press the On/Off button for about 15 seconds. And ayun, nag re start na siya. And yep, hindi naman nabura lahat ng music, recordings, photo and videos na nasa device. Salamat Google!....

But you know, what I am really saving up is this...
A Limited Edition Red Ipod Nano 5th generation with special engraving. waaaah.... I really really want this na... But I really have to be a cheapskate for now and stay on my Sansa till I finish saving for this one. And of course.... yung 16GB ang gusto ng echoserang to. T_T

A new Domain.... But I lost all my linkages!

I was too excited to get a Domain of my own that I forgot to back up my friends list, bookmarks and linkages! Please leave me a message and let me know your sites so I can put it up again. Thanks!
A new year.... new home! (cyber home). Yep! For now I will be keeping this domain. Please update your links.
www.EchoserangQueen.com

How to Convert Office 2007 files to a 2003 Readable Format

More and more companies are adapting to Microsoft Office 2007. Today at work, I've received reports that were saved as .xlsx using Excel 2007. This is quite annoying especially that my Office Excel version is still 2003 and I can't easily upgrade to 2007. You see, I have a few Macros programmed in 2003 that will not run if the Office installed in my work lappy is upgraded. (And I am so lazy to re program it using FSO! :P). So what I did is searched online and found an answer to my dilemma.

The Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats makes it possible for users of Office 2003 applications to open and edit Office 2007 documents. The latest version of the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats can be downloaded for free from Microsoft. However, it took me 20 minutes to download and install the file format converter from Microsoft. Also, users of the Microsoft Office XP and 2003 programs Word, Excel, or PowerPoint—please install all High-Priority updates from Microsoft Update before downloading the Compatibility Pack.

Another way is also to use other File Converter. I found an MS Excel Conversion and Sheet Manipulation Utility from Softinterface,Inc. It was a cool converter which lets you convert Excel files to and from XLS/XLSX/Text/CSV/HTML/XML without requiring MS Excel to be installed. If you do have MS Excel, 'Convert XLS' will support all file types in addition to TXT, XML, CSV etc. You can download and try their software for FREE HERE!

Spot a Real Leaf: Win a Nano

I was excited when I read the post of one of my favorite blogger Yugatech about this contest. Readers has a chance to win a Nano, a 1 year supply of Ice Tea and 10,000 pesos!!! And like most of his readers, I clicked and shoot away then re reading the instructions. It turns out kelangan may people/person pala na dapat kasama sa pic! :P Oh well, I'll try again tomorrow. Deadline of submission of entries is till January 30, 2010 pa naman. Meanwhile, I would just consider these "pratice shots".

Hahaha! That's funny, I have my ZanDisk on the pic pala! :)) This is sooo not my entry! ..... Just posting the pics for the kicks on my amateur photography skills.

Polyvore: A tool for Kikays and Fashionista

I've been watching America's Top Model and Philippine Fashion TV since before. I am also a fan of the show "How Do I look?" and it always fascinates me how fashionistas are able to conceptualize the looks of these models. I even wished once to be included in their make-over. ^_^

Anyways, have you ever felt that you're stylista ideas are bursting and you would like to draw them on paper? I do. Sometimes I feel like creating a whole ensemble of clothes and dresses. As I child I used to play Paper Dolls where I also draw their dresses and styled them.

Now I found the perfect website for this. Polyvore.com is a free, easy-to-use web-based application for mixing and matching images from anywhere on the web. It is also a vibrant community of creative and stylish people.

Polyvore lets you create sets composed of individual images using an easy to use, drag and drop editor. After you have created a set, you can publish and share it with your friends and the Polyvore community.

It is often described as "highly addictive" by those who fall in love with its collaging functionality and spend hours creating sets to share with others.

Polyvore offers an unprecedented level of direct engagement with real products and brands, while its social features make it a powerful platform for the creation and distribution of user-generated advertising.


What dyou think of the first inspiration board I designed using POLYVORE.COM?


I also plan to use this website to design the inspiration boards for the products at my shoppe. So please visit my ONLINE SHOPPE for more exciting things to come.