Yep, now you can have spam delivered in real time to your search results on Google or Twitter. This is just why we all clapped for joy when Bing and Google hooked up with Twitter for real time results, isn’t it?

Oh, no? Hm. I guess we’re not the only ones. Search Engine Roundtable noted a Webmaster World forum thread complaining about the spam in real time search results. In the SER poll, 78% (as of the time of this screenshot) felt the real time results in Google are either somewhat or very spammy:

However, this may just be their perceptions: it may be less that the results themselves are spam and more than they’re merely unwanted, and therefore we consider them spam (like commercial emails that we really did sign up for but really don’t want to get anymore—except we didn’t get the choice to sign up for this addition to the SERPs).

Twitter, meanwhile, is doing what it can about spam on its site. The “trust and safety” unit at the company now employs 22 people, making it the largest division at the company. But it’s not just the blatant tag spam and mock-celebrity accounts they’re looking at...

I got an e-mail from Apple today in my inbox. The iPad is coming April 3rd. Pre-order now!

Apple has a great track record of making innovative products. I am a huge Apple fan. Thanks to Steve Jobs, Apple and team are brilliant at product development and design. Seriously, could the Iphone be any simpler or more fun to use? And Apple TV is so smart.  As well, the iPod is one of my best friends (it goes everywhere with me). I have five iPods– annually adding  the newest, coolest model to my collection.

Because I am such an Apple fan, I was perplexed about whether to purchase the iPad. Thus, I went to the experts. I asked James Garvey, owner of Work2Home, Inc. and a technical solutions expert for his opinion. James said,  “I am not purchasing the iPad in this initial release. For example, the iPhone didn’t even copy and paste or have multi-tasking in the first version. So are we getting with the iPad? A large iPod Touch? Not really groundbreaking. Not WOW. Yawn.”

Garvey further explained, “Typically, when companies launch a product...

Creating positive personal impact is one of the keys to success that is part of my Career Success GPS system.  I discuss it in detail in several of my books: Straight Talk for Success, Your Success GPS, 42 Rules to Jumpstart Your Professional Success, Star Power, I Want YOU…To Succeed.  As a career success coach I always tell my clients that you need to do three things to create positive personal impact: 1) build and nurture your unique personal brand; 2) be impeccable in your presentation of self – in person and on line; 3) know and follow the basic rules of business etiquette.

In this post, I want to discuss a tool for building your brand and for enhancing your on line presence – Twitter.  Do you tweet?  You should.  Your tweets can help you build your brand, but only if you do them in such a way that presents you as serious and competent.

I’m about to release a new book called Success Tweets: 140 Bits of Common Sense Success Advice in 140 Characters or Less.  It’s a collection of tweets I’ve posted over the past year.  Here are a five of them…

You’re in charge!  Commit to doing whatever it takes to create the successful life and ... read more >>

We often forget, when we are launching a product, that we don’t just want sales. Sure, they are great. But for a launch to be successful, it means not just getting your product or service “out there” – you’ve got to keep it out there. You’ve got to ensure that it has fuel enough to sustain it until it does, in fact, reach a stable orbit.

In a social media world, this means launching a movement, not a product. In this presentation, the folks from We Are Social show how they went about launching Marmite XO. What can you learn from...

Sarah Haskins is part of InfoMania’s line up of commentators that pokes fun at mainstream media. Sarah’s biggest contribution is her recurring segment “Target Women.”

“Target Women” is a video commentary that takes a satirical look at television adverts that target women. As we can see above Sarah doesn’t hold back when discussing the rather broad generalizations that these commercials assume.

Watching a satirical commentary on television adverts exposes one of the major contrasts with broadcast media and the internet. Broadcast media is riddled with assumptions while the internet by its very nature is void of assumptions. Take for example the ads discussed above, they are completely based on the assumptions of the ad executives that created them, and as a result they fall victim to the risk of being irrelevant, ineffective, and annoying. Now, don’t get me wrong, mainstream ad agencies spend millions of dollars on market research...

Yesterday I added my two cents on sensationalism across so many aspects of our lives. 

Today - I want to share my perspectives on the signs of a great leader. Not the sensationalism oriented gurus that seem to be popular today. Those approaches may not be the best to follow. As Dale Carnegie said, "Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain -- and most fools do."

So how do we know when we're following a true leader? Well, that's something we all have to decide for ourselves. But I have some ideas about what it takes to excel- as an expert and a leader. So here's my list.

1. Positive, no Matter What.  Leaders don't jump on the easy bandwagon of negativity. A true leader is determined to find the positive no matter how ugly things appear. They hold fast to their positive vision - tirelessly seeking the best outcome for all. Anyone can throw in the towel and succumb to  negative, woe-is-me, finger-pointing thinking. Leaders rise above the negative path - finding positive aspects in any situation to help their followers find a better way to live and grow.

2. Problem Solving. When there are issues, leaders focus on solving them...

We hear it time and again; the qualities of a successful startup business leader or successful entrepreneur: “risk taker” – “not averse to risk” – “takes chances” – “will take a gamble in hopes of winning” – “not fearful of uncertainty”, etc. – so much so - that it is ingrained into our thinking.  Risk-taking is inherently what it takes to succeed when starting one’s own business.  Or is it?  A new perspective plays out several examples of successful business billionaire-entrepreneurs who simply buck that trend with clear markers to the contrary.

Malcolm Gladwell is nearly always a provocative if not a fascinating read.  After studying a characteristically stimulating recent piece of his in the January 18, 2010 New Yorker titled “The Sure Thing” I learned something new about successful business people, mainly entrepreneurs.

The facts bear out in Gladwell’s research and research cited by other sources whereby countless examples of entrepreneurs are better at calculating the downside and avoiding risk than they are at...