Personal advice? Are you sick? Have a question regarding medication? Go see a pharmacist. Health question not regarding medication? You’ll probably want to head over to WebMD. Need professional advice? Maybe you need help with marketing, but you only want to read blogs and not pay a 3rd party..well then the flow chart might direct you to Seth Godin or a site like the Socialmediaexaminer.com.

The all-encompassing flow chart takes some extreme care to jump down as many potential rabbit holes as it can foresee. But then again, if you ask the flow chart something that’s too weird to ask your parents, it will prompt you to “Google that shit bro.”

Find yourself:

Infographic from Clarity

The report compares the nature of the company car benefit package for different levels of employees, showing how car allowance amounts and purchase prices of cars differ in the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East and Africa.

For example, it was shown that the average price allotted for a company car is always highest for the head of the organization, ranging from $47,009 in the Americas to $61,938 in Middle Eastern/African companies. Next in line is the executive level with the median purchase price being between $41,297 in the Americas and $46,041 in Europe, followed by management, then professional sales and professional non-sales levels, with similar purchase prices across the examined regions.

Here are the complete findings of Mercer’s 2013 Global Car Policies:

Machine learning is an interesting branch of artificial intelligence that essentially allows for some very granular pattern recognition application in various types of software.

UK-based reputation management and search optimization agency Alchemy Viral just released an in-depth look at MLS and how it factors in to SEO tactics.

For a high-level understanding, a machine learning system compares sets of data, notices a pattern then uses a learning algorithm to make a future prediction or classify gathered data elements into certain categories. For example, an e-mail spam filter uses a similar methodology when attempting to understand which of your e-mail messages are quality, and which are spam. After the system has learned how to organize certain data according to a pattern or algorithm, it can begin presenting the data in a particular fashion — when it’s sifting through e-mail, that means the MLS will know if your mail should go into the spam folder or not.

Along with some of the pros and cons of a machine learning algorithm, Alchemy Viral‘s visual offers up some best practices for applying machine learning to SEO tasks. Here’s a complete look:

Infographic via Alchemy Viral

After a steady increase of 13.9% in 2012, generating  sales of $231 billion for retailers in North America, online retail is expected to increase 12% to $262 billion this year. According to Forrester, despite economic turmoil and major belt-tightening on the part of the average consumer, e-ecommerce will continue to dominate the retail landscape in the next five years, reaching $370 billion by 2017.

Forrester predicts that the double-digit e-commerce growth  will stimulate online employment growth, projecting an additional 161,000 jobs to the existing 409,000, with most positions created in the technology, customer service and fulfillment departments.

The growth is sustained by the proliferation of tablets and smartphones, as well as the increased affordability, richer product information and greater convenience of online retail, which will cause more and more consumers to shift spending from traditional brick-and-mortar stores to e-commerce.

Baynote takes a closer look at these predictions, below:

Fuel prices are continuing to soar. When people are looking for a new car, or to trade in their old one, saving on fuel is becoming a more popular option. We all need more green in our wallets. Going green is also an attractive option for people who enjoy helping the environment. Those who want to save our cities from massive fog clouds, or make sure animals can grow up healthy, and not become polluted by sea and air. Which is what our big, bad gasoline guzzling vehicles try to destroy on a daily basis. Whether you’re looking for a new Fiat, Smart Car, or Volkswagen; this graphic has got the top 10 most economical cars in the UK.

Mini cars are all the rage right now, just ask the Italians with their Fiats, and Americans with their Smart Cars. Hybrid and smaller cars get better gas mileage than their solely fossil fuel wasting counterparts, and city living is where these cars really shine. With their compact size, and ability to park almost anywhere – they can’t be beat.

For starters, these smaller cars are a cheaper price point from the very beginning, making them an even sweeter deal . You just have to make sure you take two cars when you go on a weekend trip, since there isn’t much room for luggage and anything more than 2 passengers in many of them.

Awesome gas mileage isn’t the only thing these cars are good for. These machines are getting fiercer as well, and some models can be turned into the transport dream machine you’ve always wanted. If you want to own a wicked Smart Car, you can transform it with the new BRABUS Sport Package, so you can make a statement and show that your mini vehicle is sportier than the rest.

These following cars are tops in the UK for being the most green and fuel-efficient cars on the road. Read on to learn just how green and fuel-efficient each car is.

via: Confused

Health insurance is something that every employee, young or old, needs. The problem with health insurance is that it’s expensive for both employee and employer, and people needs to figure out a way to find an affordable plan. Public health exchanges will offer individual consumers and small employers in the US a new way to purchase health insurance beginning in 2014. For the vast majority of employers that will continue to offer employer-sponsored coverage, public exchanges are not a viable solution for them.

What public exchanges do offer is a new way to provide employers to offer employees more choice while controlling overall cost.

 What is a Public Health Exchange

A public health exchange is a key part of the US health care reform . It’s a new platform on a state level that will offer health coverage beginning in 2014 to individuals and small groups. Exchanges will:

• manage plan activities
• determine eligibility and enroll individuals
• assist consumers in making decisions
• provide financial management
• ensure plan accountability

How Do Each Benefit?

The need to control benefits programs should be a main priority of individuals and smaller businesses. This will simplify the administrations operations for businesses that participate. This is an attractive option for employers because it takes a bit of the load off their shoulders, while allowing employees to search for a competitive rate.

Benefits for Employers:

• reduced cost
• simplified administration
• empowered employees

Benefits for Employees

• cost-efficient, convenient buying
• comprehensive coverage
• personalized benefits portfolios

via: Mercer

In March, the NBA takes a slight bow out of the spotlight to give college basketball a some time to bask in the sun. 1 in 5 workers (20%) say they have participated in March Madness pools at work. 1 in 10 watches March Madness games at the office, and 17% report spending an average of more than an hour checking scores and highlights while on the clock. People may be spending their free time checking out the latest upsets or easy victories, but does this necessarily impact their work output? Or, is the work they might be missing out on offset by the impact March Madness has on employee morale? Read on to find out if March Madness boosts employee morale and productivity, or hurts it.

Sports are a great way for people to bond in the workplace. Whether you live in a city like Green Bay, where everyone is a Packers fan. LA, where people have multitude of teams to choose from. Or, are a transplant from Boston who will never give up supporting the Red Sox. There’s always some good-natured heckling going on at the water-cooler. With March Madness, there’s no exception.

Whether employees are watching the games, highlights, or participating in the office pool, 20% of office managers feel that the college basketball playoffs have a positive effect on employee morale. 16% of office managers believe the activities associated with March Madness boost employees’ productivity, and the games are seen to have a more positive than negative effect on employees. So if you feel like tuning the TV in the common area onto a basketball game, give it a shot!

Then sit back and watch people make their way over towards the TV, and enjoy a much needed break to their workday. Maybe you’ll learn something about a coworker you didn’t before, and boom! You’ve bonded.

via: TurboTax

Apps are all the rage these days. No matter what your poison is: gaming, social, media & entertainment, or shopping — there’s a slew of apps for you to now spend your time on. From December 2011 – December 2012, most of these categories have grown by over 200%. With shopping apps experiencing the third-biggest jump at 247%, behind only social and media/entertainment. We live in a consumer focused society where we’re constantly barraged with advertisements for products.

Television, radio, newspapers, & magazines have long been the staple of where businesses focused their advertising habits. But, this new mobile revolution, and the rise of the apps, will bring about the next great shift in how consumers are marketed and reached. The benefit of mobile is that people are always connected.

The growth and popularity of the Internet, and now mobile with smartphones, will not only begin to see a shift in how consumers are reached, but how they spend their time online as well. Consumers spent 6 times as much time on retailer apps in 2012 than the previous year. Focusing much of their time on retailers sites, online marketplaces, and price comparison. While daily deals were super popular in 2011, the decline of Groupon and other daily deal “fad” sites saw their numbers drop.

Research suggests that retailers are doing a better job of creating attractive, easy-to-use apps, but a significant portion of consumers still spend plenty of time on third-party apps. One company who is doing it extremely well is Fab.com. If retailers don’t want to be left behind, they’ll take some notes from them, and other entrepreneurial start-ups.

via: Baynote

Customer service is something businesses seem to have a hard time tackling. Before you can provide great service, you need to know what makes great service. Contact centers are where people go to have their problems answered, and there are 6 keys that they need to know in order to provide the level of service that customers not only expect – but leaves them feeling better than before they picked up the phone. There are six keys of great customer service: working together, social media risks and opportunities, remote working, power of voice, voice clarity, and going with wireless voice. Let’s take a look at a few of these, then check out the others on your own to see where you could improve your business.

Working Together

When you answer the phone at the contact center, you’re looking to answer a question. The issue is that there is a huge disconnect between how well companies think they’re doing, and how customers perceive the help they receive. 80% of companies think they provide great service, but only 8% of customers agree with them.

To bridge that gap, employees need to be motivated through trust and empowerment, have an adaptable working environment tailored for the modern worker, and utilize technology that fits how and where employees work.

Social Media Risks and Opportunities

Social media now allows businesses to now connect with an entire audience at once, on a very public platform. Changing the face of customer service from one-on-one, to one-to-many. Some best practices for getting social media right are: learn by listening — use social tools to find out what people are saying about your brand, note where you heard it and let customers communicate with you over their preferred channel, remember that voice becomes the powerful ultimate destination in a multi-channel customer journey, and ditch the script by empowering your agents.

Power of Voice

Voice is a powerful tool that can keep customers engaged. 87% of customers say their sense of importance is communicated by an agent’s tone of voice. To increase to impact of speech, agents should try following one – or all – of these tips:

Power: Vary the volume of voice to add emphasis.

Pace: Speak at a rate that enables optimal comprehension.

Pitch: Add subtle tonal variations.

Pause: Break up the conversation to grab attention and add emphasis.

Read on to learn about the other 3 keys to improving customer service.

via: Plantronics

With the explosion of smartphones and the never-ending connectivity we face in our modern world, few businesses are truly “the only game in town,” these days. There are tons of sites popping up online that offer the same (or more attractive deals) on products we can get locally, and this makes attracting and retaining customers infinitely more challenging – from both a local, and online standpoint – respectively. By understanding that today’s consumers are smarter, more empowered, and better connected than ever before; businesses can understand the importance of attracting and retaining new customers with mobile technology.

Focus on Retention, Not Just Acquisition

One of the hardest things for a business to do is go out and drum up new customers, as compared to retaining the current one’s they already have. According to Flowtown, its 6 times more costly. This is one way to look at loyalty programs differently as a way to boost profits. In 2011, loyalty programs generated $300 million, and they’re projected to generate $1.7 billion in 2015. There’s also a sizable opportunity for business owners who have yet to implement or fully realize their own loyalty programs, as identified by Forbes.

Make it Easy for Customers to Buy

Its almost unfathomable to comprehend that there are still many businesses in 2013 that still don’t accept credit card payments. This non-acceptance of credit cards results in $100 billion in lost revenue annually. Another way businesses can cash in is by accepting NFC payments. 95% of smartphones released in the latter half of 2012 were NFC-enabled. So if your business doesn’t offer NFC coupons, then now is a great time to jump in.

Embrace Mobile Marketing

Just a few years ago, mobile technology was still getting the cobwebs shaken out. But now, mobile has rapidly evolved into the next great marketing channel – as the result of more and more people owning smartphones. Mobile advertising is projected to skyrocket by as much as 400% over the next 4 years, and more than $1 Trillion in purchases from mobile devices are expected to be made by 2017.

In the everlasting battle to find and retain customers, it’s becoming critical to establish a mobile presence and firmly integrate mobile technology into your overall marketing strategy to engage customers on their own terms — threw their smartphones.

via: Merchant Warehouse

Talent is one of the most important aspects a company can cultivate, and the key to staying a step ahead in today’s global economy. Investment in human capital is a popular endeavor that companies across the globe are partaking in, the only problem is that many of them are questioning whether this tactic is paying off or not. Positive and measurable are two key terms that come to mind when thinking about the results companies are getting. According to more than 1,260 global HR executives polled in Mercer’s Talent Barometer Survey, talent investments have increased, but less than a quarter of organizations worldwide say that their workforce plans are very effective in meeting their talent needs. Which leaves us with the question: Are talent investments paying off?

Recognizing the growing importance of talent in driving success, organizations around the world are making greater investments in talent. These companies have a strategic workforce plan in place to forecast these needs, but many of their plans are short-term in nature. They may be able to plan over the course of one year, or two to three, but few have a five year plan in place.

This lack of planning is seeing the effectiveness of instituting a plan like this falter. Without a strong plan in place, acquiring top talent isn’t doing them any good. It would be like stocking up on the best players in any given sport, and then having them ride the bench all year. Which doesn’t do a company a stitch of good, except for cost them a ton of money.

Strategic workforce planning is: a systematic process for forecasting an organization’s future workforce and determining the most effective practices and policies to close gaps to meet future workforce needs. It considers both internal and external labor markets and includes several critical steps.

1. Identify human capital requirements

2. Identify critical jobs

3. Forecast future workforce and labor market outlook

4. Determine current and forecast future workforce gaps

5. Identify internal and external drivers of current workforce composition and engagement

6. Formulate workforce plans

7. Execute and monitor interventions

Healthcare has been a hot topic in the US lately, and for good reason. According to the latest census report, there are an estimated 48 million Americans without health care coverage. That’s a hefty amount of Americans who aren’t able to afford quality health services. If these people get sick – which they will – their visiting the hospital causes stress for not only them, but the system as a whole. People shouldn’t be turned away for care, or go into serious debt to pay off an unexpected medical bill, because they didn’t have affordable health care. The bill was signed into action on March 23, 2010, by President Obama, but people are still confused about when health insurance needs to be purchased and when taxes will be impacted. This graphic from TurboTax helps visualize the affordable care act timeline.

The right to be healthy is something that every American citizen is entitled to. Whether they’re a multi-millionaire, or a single mother struggling to make ends meet. This Affordable Care Act is designed to provide cost-effective health insurance to those who are uninsured or for people with unaffordable insurance. The health care reform also includes a new tax credit for an estimated 20 million low-to middle-income Americans.

The good news – January to April 2013 – is that the requirement to purchase health care insurance does NOT change anything when you file your income tax return this year (tax year 2012). Your 2012 tax return will help determine whether you are eligible for the new tax credit from the government, in an effort to help subsidize your health insurance costs. After October 1, 2013, the health insurance exchanges open for purchase. Meaning they can enroll in a health plan through state and federal health care exchanges.

To learn more about 2014 health-care based tax changes, and what the penalty will be per year if you don’t get coverage, check out the graphic below.

via: TurboTax

Everyone loves drama, and the more convoluted it gets the better. You would think drama would stay within the realm of mean girls. With their pouty lips, bright nail polish, and crappy attitudes. Ready to jump down the throat of anyone who threatens their perch at the top of the social hierarchy group they belong to. But, mean girls can’t have all the fun, and this is where Twitter and Instagram enter the fold. With just as much ferociousness, and petty traffic rerouting.

For those who aren’t aware, Instagram has dropped support for Twitter cards, which is what allows Instagram photos to be viewed within Twitter’s newsfeed. Oh snap! Here’s a quick recap of how things “used” to be:

Twitter users used to see Instagram photos within Twitter’s interface. Now, Twitter users have to click through to Instagram to view Instagram photos. Previously, Instagram was driving traffic to Twitter via photo content. Now Twitter is driving traffic to Instagram, because content is now living in the Instagram environment.

What’s strange is that one would think this significantly altered experience would hurt Instagram substantially, but the only one who seems to be hurting is Twitter. When you look at the breakdown for engagement for the top 100 brands on Instagram, you can see that Instagram partnering with Facebook was actually the smartest way to go, and if your company had to choose between promoting itself on Twitter, or Facebook — the choice would be obvious. Especially when engagement with brands on Instagram grew by 35% over the past 3 months, and follower count grew by 41% in the same time frame.

However, this doesn’t mean that Twitter is completely out of the photo game, and the platform still has plenty of positive attributes. It will take an extra step, but you can upload the photo to Instagram and share to Facebook as usual. Then, you can upload the same photo to Twitter, and use their in-app photo service to share your photos – #doublefilter anyone? Then continue to track all of your efforts as usual.

It was bound to happen, social partnerships running aground and ruining it for the rest of us (and making the user take an extra step in their sharing cycle). Platforms are constantly evolving, and have to focus their product on the best ways to engage their own user base. Twitter may be suffering in terms of Instagram photo engagement, but we’re sure they’re working on a way to solve this. Better filter options, borders, and social sharing functions would be a great place to start. Hipstamatic could be an awesome collaboration if they’re willing – hint, hint.

via: DNA

Big data is something Facebook knows a little bit about. The user base of Facebook has grown to astronomical proportions, with now more than 1 billion users, and 743 million of them are active. Data is bombarding Facebook at a velocity, variety and volume that is so vast, its one of the main reasons for the creation of the Graph Search – and to eventually kill the clout of search behemoth, Google.

The idea behind the Graph Search is simple, it allows you to leverage Facebook’s data on its users to get results that also contain a social layer of information. Essentially, you’re able to search your Facebook profile and discover more intimately what your connections are interested in.

On Facebook’s Graph Search privacy page, it explains that Graph Search helps you find people, places and things – allowing you to explore Facebook in a whole new way. Some examples of searches you might look up are: My Friends who live in San Francisco, My Friends who like surfing, Photos of my friends, and Places my friends like. This allows you to look up anything shared with you on Facebook, and others can find stuff you’ve share with them, including content set to Public. Which means different people see different results.

“In web search, if you do a search for Apple, most people will get the same results. On Facebook, when you do the same searches, you get completely different sets of results because of the depths of personalization Facebook is able to do.”

It even allows you to slightly branch out from your inner circle and discover what friends of friends are into. Making your community a little bit smaller.

Say you want to find out which of your friends likes John Mayer. You input a search query, and then Graph Search cross-references the John Mayer fan page with your existing friends. Once that task is complete, you’re presented with a results page that provides the profile of each friend that has liked the John Mayer fan page. This feature works as a Big Data solution for Facebook by constantly indexing users’ preferences, likes, status updates, photos, places, etc. Which can then be recalled through user’s search queries.

There are business implications for marketer’s as well, and marketers would be smart to start jumping into Graph Search to find out exactly how the feature works.

1. Likes = Visibility: The more likes and check-ins a brand receives, the higher your brand will be displayed on the Graph Search results.

2. Friend Endorsements are Vital: Facebook graph Search is built on the logic of social connections and your friends’ interests. Here is a key statistic. 92% of people trust recommendations from their friends, as compared to less than 50% for other forms of advertising.

3. Build a Local Audience: Locally based results will likely be users’ most common search queries. This means brands have the opportunity to provide value to their local Facebook fans to increase foot traffic into stores.

4. Find Business Connections: Graph Search doesn’t mean just keeping tabs on your friends’ interests. B2B marketers can also use the feature to find connections at other businesses.

Check out the graphic below to get a visual representation of how Graph Search will work.

via: Lattice Engine

A recent announcement – ultimatum – by Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer is clear: Telecommuters must come into the office or leave the company. Then, Best Buy followed suit and decided to end their “result’s-only work environment,” or ROWE, which evaluated workers performance instead of the amount of time spent in the office. These decisions have caused quite a stir recently, and for good reason. There are people who enjoy this flexibility, and feel that working whenever and wherever they want is a perk of balancing life and work.

When was the last time you saw Yahoo! do anything really worth talking about? Or, Best Buy for that matter? You walk into Best Buy and it’s a veritable ghost town. This move makes sense. Its imperative that these companies reign everyone in to work under one roof where: collaboration, innovation and creativity can take place.

I’m all for a telecommuting. But, when your employees are possibly shirking responsibilities and “entire floors of cubicles were nearly empty because some employees were working as little as possible.” You need to seriously take a look at how the business is running. If people are performing their duties wonderfully, then let them stay home and work in their pajamas. If they need to be around to collaborate, and create new awesome products — then bring them back into the office.

This whole ultimatum deal is ridiculous. Having entire floors of people out is no way to run a department. Telecommuting needs to have a good structure in place, where people are accountable for the time they spend at home. Startups are great with this. If you want to work form home they have no problem. Its more of an unspoken rule, but employees understand that working from home doesn’t mean taking it easy, and that they could be left out of crucial conversations that could be taking place.

Who knows how many ideas are sparked from casual conversation, or an impromptu meeting happening around your desk? People are inspired all the time, and being around others to achieve this goal is imperative to the creative process. So is shutting everyone out, and taking some quality time to truly focus on a task at hand. Mulling it over and over in your brain without interruption is vital to creating ideas. But, you have to be able to take it to the group for vetting. An idea that you have bouncing around in your head, and not put into action is just that — an idea bouncing around in your head.

Let’s see if these moves stir some renewed vitality in Yahoo! and Best Buy.

via: Mercer

There are the 1% that could give less about whether they save $100 or not on their taxes – they’re not paying their fare share anyways – and (as overheard in the GSElevator) think that when it doesn’t matter how much the drinks cost, then it’s always happy hour. Then, there’s this whole other group of people. We’ll call them the 99%. Who could always use an extra $100. Now, these savings won’t make you a millionaire, but they can help put a dent in your recurring monthly expenses. See how in this photographic from TurboTax.

If the average cost of your broadband Internet bill is $40, then your savings from filing taxes on your own will pay the bill for 2.5 months. One of your kids could have their school supplies paid for. If you have more than one, then you could stage a royal rumble, invite over the neighbors, and let them battle it out until a winner is crowned. If you have pets, those little babies sent from heaven, could have their expenses paid for a month and a half (you might even want to think about splurging on Fancy Feast if you have a kitty). If you’re on your own cell phone plan, then you could pay the bill for a month – if the cost was $71. The only problem is (anyone with an iPhone can tell you) is that their bill is closer to the $90-$100+ range.

Just by looking around the house, you could find a myriad of other ways to use that $100. So don’t be shy. Cruise through the living room and look for light bulbs that could be replaced. Maybe you need a new rug for the bathroom? Or, you’d just like to treat yourself on a Friday night with a nice bottle of Merlot, and a new vinyl album serenading you from the record player. Just remember that whatever you decide to do with the $100, is more than you could without it.

via: TurboTax

The cloud is all the rage lately. So much so, that 95% of us use it daily, but aren’t aware of it. The problem is that most users frequent sites daily that use the cloud as a primary function in how they operate, and people still don’t understand. This is just stupid. A third of these yahoos actually think it has to do with the weather – sigh. To dispel any confusion right away, the cloud has nothing to do with the weather and everything to do with the Internet.

The cloud refers to an application that is hosted or run on Internet servers. Many are familiar with companies like Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Flickr, and Apple; who all have servers or server farms where they store your media.

The cloud can be a super valuable tool, if people could just be taught exactly what it is, and the myriad of ways one can use it. The most common misconceptions are that people: believe the “workplace of the future” will exist entirely in the cloud, that stormy weather can interfere with cloud computing, and that the cloud has something to do with the weather.

People need to understand that they use it without realizing it. File-sharing programs, storing music or videos in iTunes, storing photos, playing games, and cruising social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter; are activities that involve the cloud.

For many, their main concerns are cost, security and privacy. With any new technology, there will be concerns about criminals bypassing security barriers and gaining access to our sensitive and personal information. And, like with all new technology, its gaining popularity and increased use, will bring about better security safeguards. Which will in turn keep our personal information better protected.

via: ZoneAlarm

The adoption of tablets by small businesses is poised to grow tremendously in 2013, and it’s a match made in heaven. By now, many of you have been to a hip restaurant where the waiters have ditched their note pads, and are now taking orders for their delicious meals with an iPad. Sending the orders straight through to the kitchen before they’ve even left the side of your table. Or, you may have been to a small, high-end clothing boutique. Where the salesperson checks the availability of a particular style – that you absolutely can’t live without – against their inventory, without ever going to the back of the store to check.

Small business and the iPad were made for each other, and this graphic from Intuit has all the stats to show you the growth of tablets over the years to come.

The adoption of tablets in business from 2011-2012 grew 140% for companies with less than 99 employees. This growth isn’t looking to slow down anytime soon, with the projected growth for tablets by size of company from 2011-2016 looking like this:

Enterprise: 1,000+ Employees – 62.7%

Midsize: 100-999 Employees – 50.8%

Small: 10-99 Employees – 78.5%

Micro: <10 Employees – 98%

As the use of tablets becomes more ubiquitous for personal use, their use in a business setting is looking to grow tremendously over the next 5 years. For midsize businesses, their adoption is expected to be a bit slower, as its more costly to empower each employee with an expensive tech gadget – especially when not every employee necessarily needs one. For micro business, the use of a tablet makes perfect sense. A few devices will satisfy the needs of every employee there, and allow them to perform their jobs at a technologically advanced level.

This next bit probably won’t come as a surprise….The iPad is the small business tablet of choice. It’s rather insane to see how much of a market share the iPad has. At 92.6%, the iPad eclipses its nearest competitor. The real race, you might say, is being fought over the scraps between the Blackberry Playbook, Android, and Microsoft Surface.

via: Intuit

Formula 1 racing is one of the biggest sports in the world behind soccer, and it’s also one of the most thrilling. They zoom down straightaways at speeds up to 200 mph (320 km), slow and accelerate out of corners, and tweak their way through impossible hairpin turns. These cliff hanger racing moments are what make the sport so spectacular, and the anticipation of the time trials, pole positions, and insane passes is starting to build and build to a crescendo that will climax on 15 March in Australia. This graphic features the Formula 1 2013 season at a glance.

By the numbers, the field looks to be jam packed with exciting circuit races. There are 11 teams, with 22 drivers total, whose season lasts 59 days, and participate in 20 circuits spanning countries like Australia, Singapore, Brazil, Spain, and the U.S.A – to name a few. The hardest of these circuits – that rattles driver’s nerves the most – is the Monaco Grand Prix. Not only is it the hardest, but its the slowest as well because of its barrier-lined circuit and hairpin turns.

Each team is a force to be reckoned with, but the top three teams of Red Bull Racing, Scuderia Ferrari & McLaren are the ones to watch. The team to beat this year is Red Bull, whose top driver Sebastian Vettel was crowned the 2012 champion with 5 race victories and a total of 281 points. But, with all of the talent out there, anything can happen.

via: Confused

With solid unemployment still happening around the country, its hard to imagine that companies aren’t finding suitable candidates to fill their open positions. The road to talent  should include the use of social media, technology & common courtesy. Finding the perfect candidate can be a daunting task, and many companies have gone to great lengths to ensure their workplace is as attractive as possible by offering: competitive compensation, attractive benefits and a company culture that should tractor beam in prime talent.

So what gives? This can be hard to swallow for some, but taking a serious look at your recruiting practices may be your next logical step.

In HireRight’s 2013 Employment Screening Benchmarking report, 52% of respondents stated that their top business challenge is hiring and retaining talent. There are two ways a business can conduct their hiring practice: the wrong way, and the right way. The wrong way is filled with inefficient roadblocks that don’t make the hiring process any easier, personal or intuitive.

75% of job seekers said the look and feel of a job posting influences their decision to apply, and they typically spend less than 30 seconds reviewing a post. The way you handle blog posts should go the same for a job posting: If people can’t figure out what’s going on in the first few seconds, you’ll end up losing them, and one of those might be your perfect candidate.

When it comes to social media, most realize that LinkedIn and Facebook at the main channels. But, have you thought about expanding your tools to include Twitter, blogs and YouTube? By actively searching across more platforms, you might just nab someone talking about how great your company is on Twitter, which may inspire them to apply.

An online application should take no more than 5 minutes. Not 10 minutes, or a ludicrously long hour. Once you’ve trimmed the fat off the time it takes to apply, figure out a way to contact the potential candidate — even just to let them know you’ve received their information. 77% or job applicants receive absolutely no communication from organizations after submitting their resumes. While 90% of those who were treated with courtesy and a personal touch would encourage others to join the company in the future.

Treat job candidates as you would treat your customers. You’d be surprised how far a little common courtesy will take you and your business.

Nothing could seem more life altering than bringing a new babe home from the hospital for the first time. Gone are your carefree days of laying in the sunshine, having drinks on a patio, and being un-phased when a child cries. Before, you could hand them back to their giver. Now, you’re the receiver. We all do our best to take care of our offspring; but, while you’re busy getting the room ready, there are hidden dangers in your baby’s nursery that you need to be more aware of.

Did you even know that the air in a newly furnished and painted nursery may contain more than 300 toxic chemicals?

Nearly every part of the room has an issue, and it’s up to you to identify the problems that matter most to you. Every child needs a crib, but did you know that formaldehyde, a know carcinogen and asthmagen, is often used in the pressed/composite woods that many cribs are made of? To fix this annoyance, choose solid wood furniture or used furniture, so it has a chance to off-gas. Paint is an essential aspect of any child’s room as well. The problem with conventional paint is that it can off-gas toxic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) for up to 3 years or more.

Now that the off-gas hazards are out of the way, make sure to scroll down and see how you can decrease the dangers in your baby care products, changing station, and baby toys.

via: Healthy Child

New words are made up all the time. Merriam-Webster spends hours trolling for new words people are using, and if the usage is spiking, then its a very good chance it can join our lexicon. Some of them make sense, others are products or phrases that have entered our collective consciousness, and some are just plain stupid. Then you have Twitter slang consisting of buzzwords, speak, and jargon — a vernacular that has entered the speak of social media marketers and managers everywhere. The social marketer’s urban Twictionary will help digital mavens across the board understand what’s going on in the confusing sea of Twitterisms.

It can be safe to imply that an Internet minute is now faster than a New York minute, and that Twitter  lingo ebbs and flows like a living, breathing organism; that could be even faster. Just waiting to leave you hanging at the end of an Internet burn, where hipsters goad each other with the, “That was so two days ago,” response to any link you send them.

Each of these social slang words and acronyms actually means something, and we’ll highlight a few of the illustrations below. Then, explore on your own to become fully versed in the new urban Twictionary.

Bird-of-Mouth Marketing: A loose form of Twitter-Based marketing where you rely heavily on Twitter users to share your content with others.

Detweet: The tweet you composed but then erased, for any reason, before posting.

PTT (Peak Tweet Time): The window of time during any given day when Twitter activity is at its highest and marketers seek ultimate tweet visibility.

Politweet: A politically charged tweet that is likely to offend most, if not all, readers.

Repeatweet: A tweet that is sent more than once because the composer believes the content of the message is especially marketable.

Twantrum: An especially annoying rant or tantrum thrown via Twitter.

Twillionaire: A person who became filthy rich because of his or her personal marketing skills on Twitter.

via: Marketo

Three-quarters — that’s right 75% — of working age Americans say they’re currently looking for or open to a new job. Potential employer’s are bombarded daily by people looking to find their next gig, or possibly land their next dream job. One thing thats absolutely imperative for job seeker’s to understand is that today’s employers have things they’re looking for as well. Read on to find out what the hot skills for job seeker’s to possess in 2013.

You may be able to land the job interview with what you put on your resume, but nailing the interview and landing the job — will require more than just fine-tuning your resume. The most in-demand jobs in today’s job market include software developers, accounting, and market research. All of these jobs require a degree, so if you’re in school or thinking of going back, remember to think about the list of jobs outlined in the graphic.

As with most things in life, preparing yourself for the task at hand will help you gain a leg up on the competition. By understanding these 10 critical skills, and how to voice that you possess them, will aide you in landing the job. Outlined below are a few of the most crucial top skills, then you can read on to learn them all.

Critical Thinking: Identifying the strengths and weaknesses of different solutions, conclusions or approaches by using logic and reasoning.

Complex Problem Solving: Being able to use the information at hand to find solutions to multi-layered problems that may arise in many jobs.

Judgement and Decision Making: The ability to decide what actions need to be taken after considering all costs and benefits.

via: Rasmussen

Paying taxes is no where the top of your fun list, unless you’re an accountant. When it comes to getting your tax return, that’s a whole other story. An estimated $230 billion in federal tax returns will be issued this year to the nation’s taxpayers, which will fuel the economy for a bit, with people running around trying to spend their well deserved payback of loot. Tax refunds are one of the biggest paydays for the average U.S. family, especially those who are living paycheck to paycheck.

Approximately 40% of American consumers live paycheck-to-paycheck, and almost a third of those file on or before February 14th. The average tax refund is around $2,700, and if saved and spent wisely, they could take care of some important expenses and reduce long-term debt.

Filing early does have some great advantages. You would be able to pay a car loan payment of $351 for 7.7 months, pay your monthly grocery bill for a family of 4 for 3.8 months, and pay rent on a two bedroom apartment for 2.9 months. The important part of this, is that you have to be responsible and not blow your return the second you get it on the new Playstation 4 coming out soon — actually, that purchase could be fully validated.

Read on to find out what other people spend their tax returns on, and why you might want to think about just saving it to pay off debt.

via: American Tax & Financial Center

Blueberries pack quite the punch when it comes to taste. Its as if they think they’re the Manny Pacquiao of fruits. Plump, juicy, and sweet, the vibrant colors of this delicious fruit range from deep purple-blue to blue-black, often highlighted by a silvery, shimmering sheen called a bloom. Blueberries are a handful of health. They go perfect in warm oatmeal, sprinkled over granola, or baked in muffins. North American blueberry consumption is on the rise. Not only that, but Americans are finding our just how truly splendid they are for their health as well. This graphic by the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council takes a closer look into the nutrition and consumption of blueberries.

The health benefits, and nutritional value, of blueberries are hard to chastise. They’re full of dietary fiber. Many of us don’t even come close to getting the daily amount of fiber our body needs. Just a handful of these little blue beauties will satisfy our recommended daily fiber intake, which helps keep the body regular, the heart healthy, and cholesterol in check.

They’re also low in calories – only 80 – and ridiculously low in fat (virtually non-existent). This makes them an ideal snack, and is one of the major reasons why blueberry production has increased to match the rising levels of consumption in America. In 2005, Americans consumed 414 million pounds. In 2010, that number rose to 749 million pounds, and in 2011 their consumption escalated to 853 million pounds. Which also makes us wonder why people haven’t started to turn into Smurfs from eating so many blueberries.

Research has suggested that the phytonutrients in blueberries, called polyphenols, may help to lessen the inflammatory process associated with chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, and other age-related diseases. Move over prunes. Blueberries taste better, have less of a negative connotation associated with them, and you look cooler eating them.

via: Blueberry Council