Pinterest (Photo credit: stevegarfield)

Everyone should already know just how important social sites are when it comes to finding new ideas for the home. Following people on the two largest sites, Facebook and Twitter can lead to many great ideas and designs that you may never have found through the old methods of searching through catalogs or even looking through your favorite home design websites. Although the top two social networking sites are great for getting new ideas, there’s a new arrival on the scene that is quickly becoming the go-to place for home improvement and all related living topics. I’m talking of course about Pinterest, which while it is only a couple of years old is already the number three ranked social networking site in the world, and it’s not hard to see why.

Symbol for merge reviews. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The first thing you should never do is trust the review or comment by someone listed on the pages of the site that is being reviewed. That would make sense as it is never going to be that the site will allow anyone who has anything negative to say, to be published on their site. So first rule, is look for independent reviews.

net neutrality world logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

No matter how you slice it, net neutrality is on the way. Telecommunication companies will try to resist it, consumers will push hard for it, and eventually, in some form, there will be net neutrality. In order to remain competitive in business, companies must be ahead of the curve. The following 4 steps should be taken immediately to ensure that your company is ready for net neutrality.

Most people want to be successful on their chosen careers. They can do this, by having the proper motivation set for themselves, as well as having the right attitude while working.

If you want to be successful at work, and by extension, in life, you will want to follow these tips:

Pinterest is the latest social media platform to hit the net. Not as big a heavyweight as Facebook giant and Twitter, the site is rapidly gaining traction and attention from marketing experts and businesses alike.

A virtual bulletin board that allows users to create different collages of their interests, individuals are becoming addicted to pinning and re-pinning images, links and objects that have caught their eye. From books to techno gadgets and events, Pinterest is all about getting people to share creative tips and designs with each other within their chosen niches.

For businesses that have drawn up a marketing plan centered on the use of social media tools, there is serious potential for Pinterest to drive sales for company owners. Product and service pins and repins will provide major clout in terms of customer referrals and website traffic.

What’s not to love about crowdsourcing? It’s fast, easy, and cheap. Perfect for a small business, right? Well, when you take a closer look, the pros of crowdsourcing are also the potential cons of it. Fast, easy, and cheap doesn’t always translate into a job well done. While many people tote crowdsourcing as a modern, innovative way to accomplish tasks, others find that it doesn’t always produce the results they were hoping for. Since your small business is your life, it’s important to carefully consider crowdsourcing before you give it a shot. Here are some of the potential disadvantages to it that you should keep in mind.

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This New Year has brought many hopeful and dire business predictions for all industries. One of the businesses that many have given perspectives for is the online retail business. All sorts of folks have weighed in on what they expect for online retailers in 2012. If you listen to the various analysts, economists, business people, journalists and other experts as well as everyday people, you will know that there are many viewpoints on what can be expected for this area of online business this year.

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The success – and subsequent bursting – of the dotcom bubble is well-documented. A business bubble such as that is created when speculative investors believe in an over-hyped product that simply cannot deliver what its proponents say it will. Rather than steady, sustainable commercial growth which supports the long term, it can lead to business failure and bankruptcy. That is then followed by a market shake-down in which only the strongest survive: hence the domination of the big dotcom players post-bubble, such as Google and Amazon.

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Lego's New Social Network

Have you ever resigned yourself to sitting on your own in your bedroom building Lego because your friends didn’t share your passion? Or holding in the urge to post an amazing model on Facebook because you know it will be ignored or your hobby ridiculed?

We've all heard of privacy issues with Facebook - from college admissions boards and potential employers judging our Facebook profiles to our friends accounts getting hacked and/or spammed. But how many of us actively make sure that our data (and our identities) are secure on the web?