Effective immediately, as of Friday 6/12/09 at 9:01pm Pacific Time–Facebook.com is allowing its members to create a more “personalized” link structure to refer your family and friends to.  Up until now on Facebook when you signed up you would end up with a user link like:  facebook.com/people/user/zyadsf133

SO….

…the way I figure it is that the want to be like Twitter and MySpace and have gone 2.0.

So what does this mean? It means NOW you can find me on Facebook at: http://www.Facebook.com/jeroldjohnson

BUT…

…the catch is that registering a good username is based on a “first come, first served” basis.

So if there is another Jerold Johnson out there on Facebook with my spelling, he may have to now try to get /jerold.johnson or maybe /jeroldjohnson1, etc.

The OTHER catch is that if you created a new Facebook account AFTER 12noon Pacific time today you will NOT be allowed to pick a username for your account as they want to prevent people from becoming cyber-squaters, etc. At some point in the near future newer accounts should be allowed to play in the reindeer games too!

For more Facebook.com details about this check out their blog:

http://blog.Facebook.com/

Hey, just read this is an email so wanted to post a warning here as well…
__________________

Please pass this on to everyone in your email address book. It is spreading fast so be prepared should you get this call. Most of us take those summonses for jury duty seriously, but enough people skip out on their civic duty, that a new and ominous kind of fraud has surfaced.

The caller claims to be a jury coordinator. If you protest that you never received a summons for jury duty, the scammer asks you for your Social Security number and date of birth so he or she can verify the information and cancel the arrest warrant. Give out any of this information and bingo; your identity was just stolen.

The fraud has been reported so far in 11 states, including Oklahoma , Illinois , and Colorado This (swindle) is particularly insidious because they use intimidation over the phone to try to bully people into giving information by pretending they are with the court system.

The FBI and the federal court system have issued nationwide alerts on their web sites, warning consumers about the fraud. Check it out here:

http://www.fbi.gov/page2/june06/jury_scams060206.htm

And here:

http://www.snopes.com/crime/fraud/juryduty.asp

What does the term “Web 2.0″ mean exactly?

Well for different people, the term can mean different things but the way I look at Web 2.0 is the marked change in sites online that moved from the standard “static” HTML pages that provided a basic text content environment to a more evolved “interactive” Web that not only allows, but really DEPENDS on the input and growth of content in the form of thoughts, audios and videos from the masses.  Meaning to say that Web 2.0 is really an interactive ”social” web now that calls for the feedback, comments and contributions to the growth of a website by its users. 

Sure its easy to throw out the big names like MySpace.com, Facebook.com, and of course the hottest bandwagon now is Twitter.com… these truly are “Social” community based sites that allow for the two-way interaction between people OR between groups of people OR even between the user and the site content itself. This is easily seen in the interaction available to manipulate and modify data like on the Wikipedia.com site.  But Web 2.0 is MORE than just casual social interactions on these types of  ”Social” sites…

…look at what Amazon has accomplished by taking its purchasing data from customers and introducing a new  way to create a “tailor made” shopping cart experience for the customer that provides a win-win-win all around.  And on top of the user shopping experience, Amazon was a true forerunner in the way they allowed the customers themselves to rate and comment on their experience of having purchased an item.

This is a great method of interaction that can and should be implemented to be of benefit to the small business or restaurant owner with their own sites–its NOT just for the “big boys” Online that can enjoy building customer loyality and feedback AND even maybe MOST important is the “social proof” of the value and wonderful experience your business has given a customer that can then be shared with other visitors to your site!

So is Web 2.0 the end-all be-all of what the Internet has to offer?  No, and in fact, a quote from entrepreneur and author Andrew Keen blasts the Web 2.0 movement.

“As an ideology, it is based upon a series of ethical assumptions about media, culture and technology. It worships the creative amateur: the self-taught filmmaker, the dorm-room musician, the unpublished writer. It suggests that everyone — even the most poorly educated and inarticulate amongst us — can and should use digital media to express and realize themselves. Web 2.0 ‘empowers’ our creativity, it ‘democratizes’ media, it ‘levels the playing field’ between experts and amateurs. The enemy of Web 2.0 is ‘elitist’ traditional media.”

A harsh summary?  Perhaps.  Just take a random stroll through the back alleyways of YouTube.com and you will be sure to find some of the most off-the-wall, amuzing, disgusting, and down right idiotic levels of behavior to be seen. 

But in the end I think you will agree that an “interactive” Web where connections with others can not only be made, but encouraged, can only help INCREASE your ability to build relationships and trust amongst your peers, customers and clients.

The question for you now is what are YOU going to do today to take YOUR business to the next level of Web 2.0?

PS – Take a quick sec to watch this Web 2.0 Video right now! This awesome video was made by a Professor in Kansas. I found it wonderful and profound…

I want to share with you a powerful marketing tool that my friend Nikola has made.

He has decided to share this for limited time and its FREE.

(So there isn’t any hidden cost to worry about!)

What is Twitter Blaster?

Well Twitter Blaster is a PHP script that will bring viral traffic to your site using the Twitter network. You can build a list very quickly using this technique
and increase your profits. Basically its a script that you can add to one of your websites where you may normally sell a report or ebook and INSTEAD of having to purchase your product, you can add an option below that where you “reward” them for Retweeting the info about your report and give it to them as a download instead.

Another marketer used this method/system but instead of giving the report for free instead of paying $37 for the ebook, you were taken to a special offer page to buy it for only $18 after you had entered your Twitter info on the main page and “retweeted” first.

I like the concept of the system and you can add a couple of steps into the process as well.

Be sure to check out the image that lays out the whole “Twitter Blaster” flow chart in an easy to comprehend graphic summary picture.

Okay, enough talk… get here and check it out now by clicking the link below:

Twitter Blaster

Twitter Blaster - Free Software!

Hey if you’ve got your business online or your an Internet Marketer then you will want to check this package out!

I just bought this myself and these graphics are amazing, plus there is such a variety of types of video squeeze optin forms that you should have no problem setting up your website(s) with the perfect Optin template to display a sales video of some sort along with the signup box OR just a “regular” text optin to capture your visitors contact details for that ALL important follow-up!

The money is in the LIST, so follow-up, follow-up, follow-up!

These cool Video graphic optin templates are just the way to do it AND in case you’re wondering, you DON’T need to know Photoshop software to make text changes to the graphics with these templates either…

Check it out now while its still cheap:

Hot Video Squeeze Templates