Twitter Power

Twitter is growing to be a very powerful business tool. It helps business share, connect and research information on their customers and the current trend. So are you a tweeter yet?

A tweetname or a tweeter user name is preceded by the symbol @, and my my tweeter name is @reviewsguru.

Leveraging Twitter as a Business Tool
Like the past when presence on the web is important, the presence on Twitter and other Social Networking platforms is very essential. Your presence on Twitter is also part of your brand and choosing the right name for your twitter account now becomes essential as it is your "face" on social networking.

Using Twitter as part of your marketing strategy.
How do you translate your time spent on PR and marketing on Twitter for Market Returns?
--Understanding Twitter.
As far as I can understand, there are a few kinds of followers on Twitter, one which will follow you when you follow them, they are all about the numbers game. And the other kind of follower, one that is really interested in what you have to say.

If you are looking to build broad reach as part of your thought leadership/influencing strategy, then I’m perfectly agreeable to obsessing about the number of followers I have, however if you want have a group of followers who would read your tweets and propagate them, you will need to spend time and know about your followers.

Your activity on twitter is building your brand, (140 words limit) a tweet at a time.
Remember, you are limited by the number of characters, so tweet carefully. It takes a lot of planning to get a successful tweet campaign going. Your activity, tweeting and re-tweeting is literally building your brand. Read and view the links before you re-tweet as it takes more time to troubleshoot a bad tweet.

For the 140 characters limit, fortunately there are url shorteners such as tinyurl and bit.ly to make the long extensions, manageable.

Tweet frequency is hard to manage. If you tweet to frequently, or have too many "ad-like" tweets, some of your followers may not like it and will unfollow. If you tweet too little, you may not be optimizing the opportunity to reach out to potential followers.

It is recommended by Gurus that you tweet at least once a day, retweeting interesting or inspiring stories and share useful information.

Focus on connecting with your followers as this new media is based on networks and it should be used less like a "broadcasting" channel. Follow your genuine followers, connect with them and learn their needs and the trends.

Soon, you will be tweeting to the sweet sound of success.

--Review Guru

Twitter Nation

As more and more people get on Twitter and start using it to post links and information, twitter starts to get more information built up. Eventually, twitter search may be a better way to search the internet.

Twitter, a social media tool did not catch my eye earlier as micro blogging seemed like a fad, however, it ceases to amaze me the creative ways people use twitter.

Twitter becomes more powerful when

1) You add a like to your tweet, and information on the link.
-- This makes it searchable, and people can find out about your link and it acts like a search engine for your link.

2) If 140 characters is not enough, blog and add the link. Give a good description on your tweet, and you can get your message through.

3) tinyurl. This REALLY helps as some links are very long, and shortening it HELPS!

4) Use it as a news Channel. Its another example of mass customization. Choose who you want to listen to, pick some "channels" and they will give you the latest information you want to know.

5) Live chat, status updates. Follow your friends, know what they are doing and use twitter as a chat.

Its easy to use, but to get people following you, it takes a lot of hard work...

--ReviewGuru

Twitter

I just started a twitter account.

Its microblogging and I can find friends and track what they are doing and also ready what other interesting people are saying.

Quite interesting for now.

-- Review Guru

http://twitter.com/reviewsguru

The Number 23

The Number 23 is a mystery / thriller starring Jim Carrey, Rhona Mitra, Virginia Madsen.

A man (Carrey) becomes obsessed with a book that appears to be based on his life but ends with a murder that has yet to happen in real life.

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The suspense in the story is pretty well done. The process which Jim Carrey's character slowly becomes crazy is well drawn out.

The plot slowly reveals and itself and it pretty much keeps the suspense well.

The acting by Jim Carrey is overall pretty convincing and pretty good. Story and plot pretty well done, keeping it interesting and suspenseful till the end.

I like the movie and I would probably give it a 3.8/5 rating.

Since this movie is not out in the theaters yet, I'll not reveal anything, and you should catch it in the theaters.

The T-mobile dash is a pretty cool phone.

It arrived 2 days ago, and I've added some cool free programs since.

Its great to reply emails, get onto instant messages, but in terms of surfing, it still has ways to go.

It is WiFi enabled, so surfing should not be that hard, however, due to its relatively slow processor and small screen 320x240, surfing can be annoying at times.

I've use some Symbian phones and other Windows based phone, and I must say that the symbian phone seem to be slightly less clunky.

Windows phone ... well crashes more often, and the phone sometimes run out of memory.

I was trying to get to some sites which uses flash, and the phone just fails to load those sites. For youtube, the phone wants to download flash player 7, but it fails to install. Furthermore, youtube requires flash player 8.0 to run!!

So if you are into websurfing, DO NOT GET THIS PHONE.

Otherwise, for viewing movies, mp3, etc. This phone is fine as it is slim, and it has a great screen!

Pretty much value for money!!

New Beauty Products that Halts Aging

I did a research on beauty products recently and found that americans spend a lot of money on beauty products.

The market for anti-aging facial products specifically grew by 33 percent, to total $664 million since 2001. This means that one out of every three dollars spent in the prestige skincare market (excluding sets) was spent on an anti-aging facial product. One of the products leading this growth are Asian facial masks, popular in the Far East and now moving on to shelves in the US.

I've not used a facial mask before and I was curious on how they work. This is what I have found:

Traditional spa facial treatments are oily and require time and effort to prepare and clean up, a obstacle to everyday home use use which has kept them in high priced, specialist salons and spas. In Japan this lead to the development of sachet-packed, facial masks. Clean and disposable, their low cost has lead many in Asia to adopt them for daily use.

Soft cotton facial masks are precut and moistened in a solution usually of all-natural, anti-ageing nutrients. To apply a mask, users simply remove one from its airtight packaging, unfold it and gently put it on the skin. Ten to fifteen minutes later, the mask is removed and disposed. A spa-level treatment, in fifteen minutes..

Photo from Moist+ (Greenyarn)

The most popular brand for Japanese facial masks is SK II. With its patented Pitera, SK II facial masks are widley considered the most effective on the market.

They are pretty expensive, and there are many immitations found on ebay. (Don't get them from ebay!)

Shiseido makes a sheet eye mask that intensively treats signs of aging such as dark circles, dullness and fine lines. It targets te area under the eyes and effectively reduces appearance of dark circles and dullness.

They also have moisturizing masks that are pretty effective in removing wrinkles. They feel good and the moistuzing effects last a long time.

In 2006, Greenyarn, a Boston based company introduces "Moist+," an all-natural facial mask, on par with the leading brands but for as low as a third the price. Moist+ contains a anti-ageing nutrient mix of rose hip; marine collagen; hyaluronic acid; mulberry bark and matricaria extracts; to moisturize skin and make it more radiant.

There are many facial masks on the market and prices range from as low as $1 to $21 per mask. Choosing a mask is not easy, and you usually get what you pay for.

There are some Korean brand facial masks that feel pretty good and they are relatively cheap too, but I do not like the smell of them.

Lu-Miel Collagen Facial Mask are pretty good, but I have not been able to find a good source outside asia.

Many online stores that have them are also out of stock.

Facial masks can be used year round. In hot weather, a good mask will remove excess oils, preventing acnes and pimples. In cold, dry weather, they moisturize the skin keeping it tight against wrinkles and fine lines.

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Reasons to use Facial Mask:

1) Very very convenient! - Wash your face and just put them on your face while you are relaxing or reading a book. Take it off in 10 to 15 minutes and your skin feel tight and refreshed.

2) Way cheaper than facials. - Going to a spa may be a nice thing to do with friends, but you can have a few friends over and just relax to some music and put on facial masks. Results for good masks are as good as treatment from the spa.

3) Slow down aging. - Regular use of Moisturizing collagen facial masks repair damage done by free radicals, and make skin tighter, reducing wrinkles significantly. Even if you are 25, the effects of better and healthier skin is obvious.

4) Boost radiance. - Regular use of Facial Masks will bring out the radiance of your skin. The skin will look brighter and heathlier. Sunspots and freckles, and other skin dysfunctions may also be reduced, leaving healthy natural beautiful skin.

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How to choose a good facial mask.

1) Do not go for cheap facial mask. If it looks too cheap to be true, don't get it. Do not get your facial masks from Ebay. Immitation products may be bad for your skin.

2) Before you commit to a facial mask that suit your needs, try a single pack. There are several good facial masks out there so you do not have to worry that you cannot find one that suit you. If you like the mask, try it for a week or 2 to see if you can feel the difference. A good mask will make your skin feel great after 1 use, and will improve the texture and condition of your skin with prolonged use (2 weeks - 1 mask every 3 days)

3) Depending on your needs, get different facial masks. There are some masks specifically target eyebags, some whitens, some moisturizing and anti-aging. Get one that suit our needs.

4) Expensive is not good. Though some facial mask may work great on your friend, if you don't like it, move on, try a different one. The most expensive one may not be best for you.

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I have a few recommendation:

SK-II facial masks are overall the best I've used. They work great and my face feel good after use. They are a bit expensive though, even when bought in bulk, they can cost $15 each.

I read an article online on Greenyarn, a Boston based company making Moist+.
http://www.clickpress.com/releases/Detailed/9300005cp.shtml

It is very informative and I decided to try them out. They smell good and work suprising well for a $5 mask. I got them from www.greenyarnstore.com and they came really fast.

I have tried many $5 mask in asia and none of them come even close. The masks are a little different as they are "greyish" in color due to the bamboo charcoal, and I love them.

Try using facial masks, and you can have great skin too!