Social Media Networks.

Social Media Networks such as FaceBook and Twitter are being hyped as the next big marketing thing. But are they?

In the short-term, the answer is no. But we are not in business for the short term, are we? So how can you benefit from Social Media in the long term?

Remember a few years back, you printed out a newsletter, once a month and distributed it to your customers. Then, came along e-mail, and you stared to email the newsletter, saving on printing costs.

But your customer base is constantly changing and people are becoming more computer and Internet savvy. Broadband is wildly available and the cost is set to come down. Enter Facebook.

At once stage FaceBook was the territory of the young, but remember the young grow up. They marry and move away, they have children. So now, Grandparents use FaceBook to keep up to date with their grandchildren. So what was once the almost exclusive territory of the young, is more wildly accepted by your potential customers.

But it does not stop there. All of a sudden, you are being told that Twitter is the next best thing.

Remember, the email newsletter, that was quite a step forward for the many non-tech savvy mangers and business owners out there. Guys who tend to be resistant to change (yes, they still exist.)

That email is still the core of your online marketing. It allows you get information out quickly. But your clients are getting more and more emails daily and may not get a chance to read your newsletter. So you need to compliment it.

You post the information on your blog (on line journal) You start a FaceBook Group and post the information there. But where does Twitter come in?

Twitter is a the best way of distributing information immediately. Because of the amount of information being distributed through Twitter, most subscribers will keep twitter open to monitor the Tweets. There are many differant clients available which you can keep open without opening your browser. Use the Seesmic Desktop which you can use to follow both FaceBook and Twitter.

Whilst using FaceBook and Twitter will not produce the millions of clients that the so-called gurus are predicting, they will play an important part of your online marketing strategy and help to get your message across.

David vs Goliath

Linux is a threat to Microsoft because it is Open Source. Remember that open source does not mean free, it means that the source code is there for you to take free and do with it what you what you want. So there are many different versions of Linux out there, most of them are available free to download and use.

Is it really such a good thing to have so many differant operating systems out there? Actually it is not a problem. Many versions of Linux are written for a specific market or to perform a specific task. The majority of Linux users will use one of the better know distributions such as Debian or Ubuntu.

But Linux currently only has 1 percent of the desktop market, so why is it such a threat to Microsoft. Because of the freedom that Linux gives you. You never have to buy another operating system ever! You can download the source code, design your own operating system, which you can distribute free and keep it updated yourself.

Will it make you rich? No, but it will prevent you from spending money that you can use elsewhere.

Will Microsoft come tumbling down, like Goliath, not really. But they will continue to get annoyed by something they have no control over - free enterprise!.

I love Ubuntu and hate Windows.

My Windows XP crashed again and pissed me off again. (sounds like Forest Gump going to see the President again!) I have been using Linux more and more and Windows less and less. So this time I made a decision that I would no longer use Microsoft products at home or in my business.

For the last week I have done just that, used only Linux. And guess what, the world did not come to an end!

no Windows, no Mac, only Ubuntu, Suse, Fedora, Mandriva and any other flavour of Linux that you care to name

Sorry Bill but your products suck!