Category Archives: Social Networking

Yelp: Customers Rate Local Services

By Marilynne Rudick on June 29, 2012

I was looking for new hair salon. In the past, I’ve relied on recommendations from friends. But this time, I turned to Yelp, a consumer-based website that allows anyone to review a local business or service. Are the recommendations reliable?

Also posted in Research, Saving Money
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Pinterest: Pin the Tail on an Image

By Marilynne Rudick on May 18, 2012

Does it seem as if overnight the Pinterest pushpin logo and “pin it” tag have appeared on every website? So what is Pinterest and why the phenomenal growth? Pinterest lets you tag or pin any image on the web and organize your images in virtual bulletin boards. It works like browser bookmarks, but each link is an image. You organize images in boards instead of folders.

Also posted in Fun!
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Better Bookmarking with Delicious

By Marilynne Rudick on February 22, 2012

Have you ever been on vacation and wanted to access a website you’ve bookmarked on your home computer? Are you working on a project and want to share some useful websites with a colleague? Or have you hunted through your bookmark folders searching for a site? You can solve these problems by using Delicious, a social bookmarking site that lets you access your bookmarks from any computer or mobile device.


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Change.org: Power to the People

By Marilynne Rudick on January 6, 2012

After receiving more than 165,000 emails from disgruntled customers in one day, Verizon rescinded its $2.00 a-month-fee to customers who paid their bills online or by phone. Similarly, Bank of America abandoned its $5 a-month-fee for debit cardholders after being inundated by emails from angry customers.

How did these consumer victories happen? In large part the credit goes to Change.org, a website that makes it easy to mobilize people to fight corporate greed or city hall.

Also posted in E-Mail & Messaging
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Patient Websites Provide Bridge to Family and Friends

By Marilynne Rudick on November 11, 2011

For patients facing long-term or life threatening illnesses, keeping friends and family updated on your condition can be time consuming and emotionally draining. Many people set up patient websites to facilitate communications among patient, caregivers and friends. CaringBridge and CarePages provide templates that make patient websites easy-to-set-up and update. And they are free.

Friends can get updates on the patient’s condition by visiting the webpage or signing up to receive updates via email or text. Guests can also leave messages for the patient or family in an online guestbook.

Also posted in Blogging, Health
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Social Media: It’s Bigger Than Both of Us

By Marilynne Rudick on June 30, 2011

Are you old enough to remember Milton Berle’s TV comedy show in the early 50s? If you’re too young or don’t remember, the show featured a running gag. Max, Berle’s lovestruck secretary, tries to cajole Berle into marrying her. Don’t fight it, she urges him. “It’s bigger than both of us.”

That’s pretty much how I felt when I watched Erik Qualman‘s video featuring some mindboggling statistics on social media. Love or hate social media, there’s no fighting it. It’s bigger than all of us. Qualman, the author of Socialnomics: How social media transforms the way we live and do business, updates his book with periodic videos. The latest update Social Media Revolution 3 features these factoids:

–Social media has overtaken pornography as the #1 activity on the web.

–1 in 5 couples meet online; 1 in 5 divorces are blamed on Facebook.

Also posted in Facebook, Research, Video Add a comment

5 Painless—Even Fun—Ways to Save the Planet

By Marilynne Rudick on April 20, 2011

Despite the urgency of saving the planet, recycling and reusing can feel like flossing, something you know you should do, but it’s not much fun. Take heart. The web offers a treasure trove of resources that make saving the planet more chic than chore. And you can even save money doing it.

Also posted in Fun!, Saving Money, Uncategorized Add a comment

How to Use Twitter to Find a Job

By Marilynne Rudick on April 6, 2011

When I mention Twitter to over 50 friends,I frequently hear “I don’t get it. Why would I care what someone had for lunch?” Now five years old, Twitter has become one of the best tools for finding jobs.

Also posted in Blogging Add a comment

Online Dating: Is It for You?

By Marilynne Rudick on February 28, 2011

Online dating offers time-strapped over50s an efficient and practical way to meet new people. Online dating maximizes chances of finding a relationship in a relatively safe way, while also having fun!

Here’s how to get started.

Also posted in Fun! 2 Comments

What’s the Daily Deal? Groupon and Livingsocial Offer Deep Discounts

By Marilynne Rudick on February 3, 2011

What happens when you marry e-commerce and social networking, then add the age-old advertising tag: limited time only? The result is deal of the day. Here’s how it works. You sign up at the deal website, and everyday you get a special offer via e-mail for a deeply discounted product or service customized for your location. The catch is you can only purchase the deal that day. But typically, you have up to a year to use the deal you purchased.

Also posted in E-Commerce, Fun!, Saving Money, Uncategorized 1 Comment

How Do Boomers and Seniors Use the Internet?

By Marilynne Rudick on January 13, 2011

If you’re like most over50s, you are a heavy user of e-mail, search engines and government websites. You go to the web to get news, health and travel information, and to shop. If you use social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, it’s likely you’ve signed up in the past year, part of the rising tide of networked boomers and seniors. Social networking use among internet users ages 50 and older nearly doubled from 22% in April 2009 to 42% in May 2010. Find out what recent research by Pew Internet and American Life Project and AARP say about how over50s use the Internet.

Also posted in E-Mail & Messaging, Research, Uncategorized 7 Comments

It’s a Wonderful (Digital) Life

By Marilynne Rudick on December 22, 2010

Have your holiday traditions changed? Do you now e-mail your cards or post your holiday message on Facebook or YouTube? No doubt the web and social media have changed the way we celebrate and send our season’s greetings. Here are my favorite four digital ways to celebrate the holidays.

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Fear of Facebook? Use NING to Create Your Own Social Network

By Marilynne Rudick on December 2, 2010

Do privacy concerns keep you from using Facebook? NING is a simple and safe social networking alternative. Using their design templates, you can create your own social network in minutes.

Also posted in Facebook, Safety & Privacy 1 Comment

The Social Network: Why Over50s Should See the Facebook Movie

By Marilynne Rudick on October 28, 2010

The Social Network, the movie that tells the story of the founding of Facebook, won’t change your mind about Facebook. But its compelling characters and universal themes will appeal to Over50s who love great storytelling.

Also posted in Facebook, Fun! Add a comment

Who Is Craig and What’s His List?

By Marilynne Rudick on October 8, 2010

Craigslist is the world’s largest online classified ad service. Use it to find a job or sell an item. It’s appeal–mostly free and ads are posted to a specific geographic area (currently 700 locations and more than 70 countries). Sellers as well as scam artists flock to Craigslist. Learn how to use it, and how to avoid being scammed.

Also posted in E-Commerce, Safety & Privacy, Saving Money Add a comment

Using Facebook Safely: What Advice Should You Give Your Kids?

By Marilynne Rudick on September 4, 2010

Your kids may think there’s nothing wrong with posting pictures of boobs and booze on their Facebook page. But decision-makers—college admissions staff and potential employers—may disagree. Long after the party, inappropriate photos and content could turn up in a Google search. What advice can you give your kids about safe social networking?

Also posted in Facebook, Safety & Privacy
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In Praise of the Lowly “Listserv”

By Marilynne Rudick on August 5, 2010

Despite the growth of newer social media platforms such as Facebook and Linkedin, e-mail discussion groups continue to thrive. That’s because they are simple to set up and join. And they use a tool you know and love–e-mail.

Also posted in E-Mail & Messaging Add a comment

Five Reasons You Can’t Afford to Dismiss Facebook and Other Social Networks

By Marilynne Rudick on June 30, 2010

There are valid reasons for not using social networks. But don’t dismiss them out-of-hand. Here are five reasons you can’t afford to dismiss social networking.

Also posted in Blogging, Facebook
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Should You Join Facebook Now?

By Marilynne Rudick on June 15, 2010

In response to an uproar from Facebook users about the complexity of privacy controls and concerns about how personal information was being used, Facebook revised its privacy controls. But did it solve the problems? The response is mixed. Bottom line: wait and see.

Also posted in Facebook, Safety & Privacy
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Six Tips for Taking the Social Networking Plunge

By Marilynne Rudick on June 13, 2010

Ready to take the social networking plunge? These six tips will help you dive gracefully.

Also posted in Facebook, Fun!, Safety & Privacy
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I Twitter, Therefore I Am

By Marilynne Rudick on June 12, 2010

Twitter posts (called tweets) answer this question: What are you doing? Twitter limits answers to 140 characters. Twitter’s power is that it is instant and mobile. You can send and receive a tweet on just about any device—your computer or cellphone.

Also posted in Blogging, E-Mail & Messaging
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LinkedIn: Strictly Business

By Marilynne Rudick

LinkedIn, the largest business networking site, use the three degrees of separation concept to build business networks to find jobs, build businesses, and start new businesses. The link to trustworthy friends and business contacts assures a degree of credibility.


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Wikipedia is Big, But Is It Accurate?

By Marilynne Rudick on June 7, 2010

Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia to which anyone can contribute. The more popular an article, the more likely it is to be accurate, since the large number of eyeballs policing it ensures that errors are quickly fixed.

Also posted in Research
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Social Networking: The Basics

By Marilynne Rudick

There are thousands of online social networks–from the “big box” Facebook and MySpace–to niche networks for business, travel, love–just about any topic or cause. All social networks are rooted in common tools. Once you’re up to speed, you are ready for wherever cyberspace takes you.

Also posted in Facebook, Fun!, Safety & Privacy
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Great Explanations: Technology in Plain English

By Marilynne Rudick

Writing about web technology in plain English is hard work. But Common Craft manages to do it in three-minute videos that are not only clear, but fun. Topics include blogs, RSS, social networking and cloud computing.

Also posted in Blogging, eLearning, Fun!, Video
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