We all get those obnoxious e-mails and click that link that turns out to be, at best, a dead end. Enter Blekko, a private beta search engine where one can use slashtags to specify what they are looking for. The slashtags are a feature original to Blekko, and one that should drastically improve search results. For example, when searching for “Ping” on the Apple website, simple search “Apple /Ping” to better focus your results. The goal is to create a more specific search without it being in the main bar. You can also note the most popular slashtags being used in other searches, and create your own public(or private) slashtags.

How does this reduce spam? With a more specific search, you are more likely to find that one link you are looking for. There is also a spam button below each link. Similar to the one used in your email. You can mark any link you don’t like as spam, and it will never show up for you again. This opportunity not only provides sanity for frustrated searchers who always seem to click the same link, but also encourages searchers to come back. It is personal enough that people will think of it as their own search. Programmers have also promised that should enough people mark a website as spam, the site will be investigated, and if necessary, removed.

While the launch date is TBA, users can be assured that this will be the search engine of the future. Developers have been working on it for almost three years and raised over 24 million to help fund their work in progress. Mashable was allowed a debut of the site, and was thoroughly impressed, and TechCrunch believes it to be more user friendly than Google’s specific searches. Who knows, could this be the search engine that finally give Google a run for its money?

Will you use Blekko when it launches? Do you think it could finally give Google the competition it needs?

With the go-green phase upon us, everyone is looking to do their part. These 5 little changes will give your business an eco-friendly outlook and help decrease your carbon footprint.  While most small companies are environmentally aware, the following tips will surprise even the biggest of tree-huggers!

1. Nitro PDF: An alternative to Adobe PDF, Nitro PDF is about one-third of the cost. This program can easily create and send individual PDF files for clients, limiting the amount of paper used for traditional reports.

2. PDF995 Printer Driver: While the name might sound a little scary, the software is surprisingly simple. The PDF Printer Driver is an excellent way to digitally render invoices, graphic mock-ups, and long text documents, without touching a piece of paper or a scanner.

3. Fax to E-mail Services: While fax machines are becoming a thing of the past, this is a way you can jump ahead. Join a service such as “eFax“, “UnityFax“, or “jConnect” which allows you to set your incoming phone number to an e-mail address, so new faxes will go straight to your inbox.

4. EchoSign Online Contracts: The idea behind EchoSign is to elimminate the amount of paper used for contracts signed with clients, businesses, employees, etc. EchoSign has the same binding powers as a conventional contract while maintaining an ecological position. As with most internet-based programs, EchoSign speeds up the execution process up; an added perk for being nice and saving all those trees!

5. Online Backup and Record Keeping: Archiving your records and files can be a total pain in the bum, and even e-mail can get a little confusing at times. Online record keeping can be an extremely helpful option for businesses looking to save time and money. Here are a few services we recommend: Box.net, DropBox, Mozy, and Backblaze.

What else can you do to decrease your company’s carbon footprint? Have you made any successful ecological changes in your business?

See how one small business implemented some great workplace policies that are all about being green!

Yelp, as many of you know, is a user-generated website that allows people to write both negative or positive reviews for local restaurants, hotels, stores, nightlife scenes, and more. Users rate and leave comments about establishments for other consumers to review.

However, recent websites, like Yelp-Sucks and IHateYelp, have popped up in response to Yelp policies and reviews. These sites are used by angry business owners who have received negative feedback and complaints on Yelp, which has resulted in a loss of business. Many business owners have turned to Yelp for competitive reasons and are now frustrated with the site’s lax comment policies.

One major complaint is over the issue of negative reviews and how businesses can’t get rid of them. Another is that good reviews are often deleted from business pages by Yelp due to infrequent logging in by the owner. The site also allows users to review a business, even if they never used the service. Many business owners feel that they are not getting what they paid for, and that the site ultimately hurts their business.

Boris Levitt, owner of Renaissance Furniture Restoration, has actually sued Yelp for its “unfair and unethical conduct in promoting, marketing and advertising its website as maintaining unbiased reviews.” Levitt argues that the site is unlawful, and believes that Yelp has hurt his business. Yelp has had previous claims for similar issues in the past.

Do you think Yelp maintains its mission to promote companies in an unbiased fashion? How could Yelp change its policies to best serve business owners while providing consumers with truthful and relevant information?

Rumor has it that Apple has hired an expert to develop credit card payment technology as an app for the iPhone. This app would use near-field comms (NFC) implementations, like used in subway/bus ticket systems to process data transmitted from transportation cards. The simple technology recognizes the amount you’ve paid according to each journey you’ve taken, but the process for a  smartphone is far more complicated and has endless possibilities! This technology could add a whole new dimension to online shopping. All you have to do is set your iPhone onto a small pad and it will process your request the same way a machine in a grocery store works- simply confirm your PIN number or provide a signature.

Some might be skeptical of the new application, wondering if it’s necessary when one could simply shop online the old fashioned way, but the new iPhone app would allow users to input information faster, give access to stores where one can shop and receive free apps, discounts, loyalty card points, or games. For event planning, this is great news because you could buy all of your supplies quickly and easily from home, or on the go.

Do you think more people will prefer this method to regular in-store shopping? How do you think it will change the shopping experience in general?

We all know social media is fun and great for, well, socializing! But as an increasing number of event professionals are adapting marketing strategies to include social media, it is important to acknowledge why this is good for event planners.

There are a few concepts you need to know to understand the benefit of social media. The first describes social media success as measurable through determining what is working and what is not. Many social media sites create a forum for clients to offer feedback and provide helpful insights about the outcome of an event in order to choose future action. Client feedback, if positive, can also be used for promotion to demonstrate client satisfaction.

Additionally, many social media sites, such as WordPress blogs, offer services that measure overall page effectiveness. Effectiveness can be determined by successful search engine optimization (SEO) which refers to the process of improving the quality and increasing the traffic of a website or page. Quality sites feature content and design to attract and retain viewers through original, creative and engaging subject matter. SEO also refers to how many search engines link to your website. Incorporating social media into company policy is an excellent tool to enhance event management and marketing strategies. Determining the outcome of an event influences the strategies used for future events and the ultimate success of event planners.

As a relatively new blogger, I’m still learning about what it takes to make a great blog and what will keep readers engaged and interactive. As part of my summer reading list, I picked up The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging. “Great bloggers all share one virtue in common: They infuse their writing with a triple shot of personality. Let your personality flow into your blogging and your readers will find you.” Why Blog? Here’s a better question: Why not blog?

• Rule #1: Blog Often- If you want an audience, you need to reward visitors to your site with new content, pretty much every time they visit. When you don’t have a reputation or a big following, you want people to judge you on the work you have produced. You need a lot of work sitting on your site by the time you start gaining a readership. Plus, blogging is like anything else: you get better the more you do it.
• Rule #2: Perfect Is the Enemy of Done- Because blogging is immediate, it’s also informal and that’s a good thing! It’s fine to write a bunch of OK posts. In fact, an OK post is probably better than a perfect post that took too long to compose. Whenever you have a thought, you can share it with your readers and get immediate feedback.
• Rule #3:  Write Like You Speak- Many of us have had the life beaten out of our prose through years of academic training and corporate Powerpoint presentations. Since the blogosphere thrives on authenticity, your blog shouldn’t sound like that either.
• Rule #4: Focus on Specific Details- Your best bet for building buzz is to go into the specific, gory details and keep returning there. You don’t have to explain the complete context of an issue in every post.
• Rule #5: Own Your Own Topic-  The more you know about your topic area, the better informed your opinions will be. A good blog errs on the side of being strong. Owning your topic area increases the chance that your ideas will be insightful and right.
• Rule #6: Know Your Audience- It goes without saying that you should try to write more of the kinds of posts that get your readers excited and fewer posts that don’t.
• Rule #7: Write Short- A lot of us have ADD, or at least can’t really focus for long periods of time unless we’re super interested in something. Unless the reader can see your post eight hundred words in, a good portion of them will stop reading. We could go on about this, but you get the point. Readers will too if you keep it short.
• Rule #8: Become Part of the Conversation with Like Minded Blogs- Spend some time reading and commenting on other blogs. If you ask for comments and criticism, you should also be willing to offer feedback when asked.

If you own a business, a blog can be a great tool to show that you are an expert in what you do and get involved with your community. As an event planner, it’s been a great way for me to share my events as well as tips and advice on being an entrepreneur.  Do you blog, and if so…are you following Arianna’s insightful rules?

“A day to celebrate the revolution of media becoming social. Celebrate Social Media Day with Mashable by attending or organizing a meetup near you June 30th. Connect with your social media community!”

Mashable is hosting the first worldwide celebration for Social Media Day today, June 30th. As of now, Mashable has over 350+ social media day meetups planned around the world! Who doesn’t use social media these days??

Here are some social media facts that I discovered on Socialnomics:

1. 1 out of 8 couples married in the U.S. last year met via social media
2. Years to Reach 50 millions Users:  Radio (38 Years), TV (13 Years), Internet (4 Years), iPod (3 Years)…Facebook added 100 million users in less than 9 months…iPhone applications hit 1 billion in 9 months.
3. If Facebook were a country it would be the world’s 4th largest between the United States and Indonesia (note that Facebook is now creeping up – recently announced 300 million users)
4. comScore indicates that Russia has the most engage social media audience with visitors spending 6.6 hours and viewing 1,307 pages per visitor per month – Vkontakte.ru is the #1 social network
5. 2009 US Department of Education study revealed that on average, online students out performed those receiving face-to-face instruction
6. 1 in 6 higher education students are enrolled in online curriculum
7. % of companies using LinkedIn as a primary tool to find employees….80%
8. The fastest growing segment on Facebook is 55-65 year-old females
9. Ashton Kutcher and Ellen Degeneres (combined) have more Twitter followers than the  population of Ireland, Norway, or Panama.  Note I have adjusted the language here after someone pointed out the way it is phrased in the video was difficult to determine if it was combined.
10. What happens in Vegas stays on YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, Facebook…
11. The #2 largest search engine in the world is YouTube
12. Wikipedia has over 13 million articles…some studies show it’s more accurate than Encyclopedia Britannica…78% of these articles are non-English
13. There are over 200,000,000 Blogs
14. If you were paid a $1 for every time an article was posted on Wikipedia you would earn $156.23 per hour
15. Facebook USERS translated the site from English to Spanish via a Wiki in less than 4 weeks and cost Facebook $0
16. 34% of bloggers post opinions about products & brands
17. 78% of consumers trust peer recommendations
18. Only 14% trust advertisements
19. Hulu has grown from 63 million total streams in April 2008 to 373 million in April 2009
20. 25% of Americans in the past month said they watched a short video…on their phone

Clearly social media is becoming a huge part of all of our lives! I use Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, our blog and many other websites to help gain online visibility for my event planning company. Social media has become the best way to non-invasively spread the word about what you’re doing, so I will very happily celebrate this day. Afterall, It has saved me from dreadful sales calls.

Jed Singer, the coordinator of the Social Media Day celebration in Philadelphia said, “I just love how social media tethers everyone together, and brings people closer in the real world. It’s amazing how far we’ve come from forums and message boards, to blogging, uploading video, microblogging, geolocating,” he said. “The fact that anyone can instantly publish anything to the web has really changed the world.”

Want to participate??

• Meetup Everywhere Mashable: Sign up to attend or organize your own event on the Meetup Everywhere Mashable.
• RSVP to the Facebook Event: RSVP and upload photos from your meetup to Mashable’s Facebook event page.
• Upload to Flickr: Upload photos to Flickr and tag them with #smday.
• Follow @mashSMday: Follow @mashSMday on Twitter for updates and developments on the celebration.
• Tweet: Use the #smday hashtag on Twitter. With so many participating, it will be a trending topic on Twitter on June 30.

There will be prizes for those that tweet or post the event on FB! How has social media helped you??

Overview of Hulu TV: Hulu is a great website that allows networks such as NBC, FOX, ABC & others to broadcast movies and television shows after they have been broadcasted live. As of now, Hulu is only offered to users in the United States and they make sure that international users outside the US do not have access to the videos. Hulu blocks many anonymous proxies and virtual private networks. In addition to NBC, ABC and FOX programs and movies, Hulu carries shows from other networks such as  Current TV, PBS, USA Network, Bravo, FX, NFL Network, Sundance, E!, A&E, and Oxygen. Each supplier receives up to 50-70 percent of advertising revenue resulting from its content.

Now you can easily watch TV on the internet! You don’t have to download from iTunes or create a Netflix account because Hulu TV shows and movies are free and easy to watch.

• What Can I Watch on Hulu TV?: Hulu TV offers full-length movies and tv shows, sports events and short video clips.  You are able to watch current programs, like the latest episode of True Blood, or go back and find old classics.
• How Much Does Hulu Cost?: Hulu TV is free! Most programs begin with “limited commercial interruptions” meaing that every 10 minutes you’ll have to watch a 30 second commercial clip.

Do you watch TV shows or Movies on Hulu.com? If so, do you enjoy this website and find it to be better than NetFlix or iTunes? If you’ve never tried Hulu.com before, you’ll be pleasantly surprised on how many shows you’ll find!

Did you know that you can save money with calls to landlines and mobiles? By using the Skype application on your iPhone you are able to reach your contacts anywhere in the world at great rates when using Skype. You are able to text with “pay as you go credit” or with a subscription and receive unlimited calls to landlines and to even some mobiles in specific countries. Skype’s screens are able to sort contacts alphabetically and enables you to chat online with contacts as well. Skype-to-Skype calling on 3G is free until the end of 2010, after that there’ll be a small monthly free.

As an event planner, Skype can be especially useful for long distance meetings and interviews. It makes it much easier to keep in contact with event partners and those involved with the production of the event. Using video conferencing for meetings can not only be more cost effective than face to face meetings, but can make the brainstorming process move much quicker. This is much better than regular telephone conferencing where you can’t even see a person’s facial expressions. Video chatting makes the process much more personal.

Call and be called on Skype- wherever you go!

How amazing is it that you can make free Skype-to-Skype calls to phones abroad on Wifi or 3G? Skype for Iphone truly delivers Skype experience and now you can video chat from your phone from anywhere in the world which, makes conference calls easier too!

Top 4 Reasons to Love Skype for Iphone:

• Near CD-quality sound for Skype-to-Skype calls using wideband audio on iPhone 3GS or 2nd generation iPod touch and onwards.

• Enhanced call quality indicator, which will help customers choose the best moment to call.

• Improved start-up time

• Rapid access to the dial pad from the home screen

Have you ever used Skype for meetings? The bigger question on our minds, however, is just how big a blow FaceTime on the brand new Iphone 4G will deliver to Skype and other competing VoIP services.