3 Million LinkedIn Company Pages and Counting – Fun Facts About LinkedIn

Did you know that there are over 3 million company pages on LinkedIn?  As a social network, LinkedIn continues to grow (with more than 225 million users from over 200 countries/territories as of June 2013) and is recognized as one of the most popular social platforms for marketers.  A LinkedIn Company Page is a great way for companies of all sizes and from any industry to connect with LinkedIn users from around the world.   Once a LinkedIn user ‘follows’ your LinkedIn Company Page, any updates that you post on your company page (i.e. announcements, blog posts, videos etc.) will appear on the user’s homepage and helps them to stay up to date on your products/services and engage in a conversation with you.

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How To Create a Google+ Page For Your Business

Launched in June 2011,  Google+ (also known as Google Plus) has become the second largest social networking site in the world.  A Google+ business page gives businesses a way to connect with customers on Google+ as Google+ users can add a company’s Google+ page to their circles and receive updates on their homepage.  If your company doesn’t have a Google+ business page, it’s not too late.  Here are 5 steps to follow when creating a Google+ page for your business:

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Chromebook Series – Part 2: Overview of Chromebook Apps

In Part 1 of this blog series, I took a look at Chromebooks from a macro level and highlighted eight key features that businesses should take note of.   In Part 2 of this blog series, it’s time to switch gears and look at the meat and potatoes – the Chromebook apps. Chrome OS  is essentially a glorified web browser (albeit a nice one) and requires you to run cloud-based apps.  Given the growth in Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), there are apps for most typical business requirements but are they good enough to replace their traditional desktop competition?  Let’s take a closer look at the apps that are available for Chromebook users:

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Chromebook Series – Part 1: Should Your Business Use Chromebooks?

Google is a cloud pioneer and their technology is built with the cloud in mind.  To Google,  it makes sense that all roads should lead to the cloud when it comes to a desktop OS as well.  One of Google’s latest product offerings is the Google Chromebook and Chrome OS.   A Chromebook is essentially an internet dependent,  lightweight laptop that runs Chrome OS (i.e. Google’s answer to Windows or Mac OS X on the desktop).  Chrome OS  represents a dramatic shift in thinking when it comes to desktop operating systems.   Chrome OS is basically the same browser that you would use on a PC or Mac but with a few additions that make it a functional OS.  Since Chromebooks have just recently been made available to Canadians, I think it’s worth taking a closer look at what they have to offer for small and medium sized businesses.  Chromebooks are being adopted by schools across the country but do they make sense for your business?  In Part 1 of this series on Chromebooks, I’ll look at Chromebooks from a macro level and in Part 2 we’ll take a closer look at the apps available for them.

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Cloud Security and Privacy – Should Canadian Businesses Be Concerned?

Is cloud security and privacy a concern for your business?  With recent developments in the news about US government agencies using secret court orders to collect data on specific users from American-based large internet companies (like Google, Apple and Facebook), should Canadians be concerned  about the privacy and security of our data that resides in US data centers?  Google CEO Larry Page responded quickly to the allegations with a clear and concise blog post.  So did Facebook.  Now, these internet giants are all requesting a more transparent process so that they are allowed to detail the number of requests made by government agencies. We often get asked by Canadian businesses about cloud security as they are concerned about US government overreach in the name of security and terrorism.  In attempt to be as objective as possible on the issue, I wanted to share a few resources that I have come across that address this concern.

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