Social Media Is Making Today?s Girls Actually Say What They Mean

The stereotype is that women generally enjoy talking and communicating more than men. But they haven't always been known to be the most straightforward with the nitty-gritty of what they really think and feel -- females are sometimes wired to be a people-pleasing bunch. But according to a recent article in the UK's Daily Mail, some language experts say that today's girls are becoming more blunt and direct, thanks to the rise of technologies such as texting and social media.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/hkLbf2y5ifQ/

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Terry Branstad, Iowa Governor, Won't Expand Medicaid In Light Of Supreme Court Ruling

WASHINGTON -- Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad told reporters in Iowa on Monday it's "doubtful" that the Hawkeye State will expand Medicaid under President Barack Obama's health care law, now that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled it doesn't have to.

In an interview Friday with The Huffington Post, Branstad was even more forceful.

"We're opposed to it and we're not going to have any part of it," Branstad said. "But we're taking our own approach. We want to put our own effort together to be the healthiest state, and we're willing to help people who are willing to help themselves. But we're certainly not going to buy into this federal effort. We're going to fight it in every way we can."

"We don't believe the federal government when they say they're going to pay the whole cost of this for the next three years," Branstad added, "because the federal government is dead broke."

The Obama administration's plan has been for the federal government to pay for 100 percent of each state?s Medicaid expansion from 2014 to 2017, 95 percent in 2018 and 2019 and 90 percent in 2020 and beyond.

But until the Supreme Court's ruling last week, states faced losing all of their Medicaid funding if they refused to accept the expansion, which broadens eligibility for the program. The nation's highest court, however, ruled that the federal government cannot take away existing Medicaid assistance if states don't accept the expansion.

Branstad's decision not to expand the program puts him at the vanguard of Republican governors who have moved quickly after the ruling to say they would do the same. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Florida Gov. Rick Scott and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker all said last week they would reject the expansion and that they would not set up the health care exchanges required under Obama's health care law.

Branstad, while rejecting the Medicaid expansion, has accepted federal funds "to prepare and plan for an exchange, and taken steps to prepare for the implementation of an exchange," said spokesman Tim Albrecht.

There are plenty of political considerations for these governors.

Branstad, Walker and Scott are in key swing states that will decide the presidential election this fall. Republican governors in other battleground states such as Virginia, Ohio and Nevada are proceeding more cautiously about what they'll decide regarding Medicaid.

But Ohio Gov. John Kasich's spokesman Rob Nichols told The Huffington Post they anticipate that even with the federal government picking up 100 percent of the tab for the first three years, the state would still incur an additional cost of $369 million in 2014, and that by 2018, it would be spending $675 million a year more than it is now on the program.

That's because of what Nichols called a "woodwork effect," where Ohio residents who are currently eligible for Medicaid but are not signed up come forward to receive benefits due to publicity around the expansion, or in 2014, when the government mandate goes into effect. The federal government would not pay for those Medicaid beneficiaries who were already eligible in full, but rather at the traditional average rate of 57 percent.

Nevada Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki told The Huffington Post last week that the Medicaid expansion has been projected to cost his state roughly $580 million over five years, but added that "there needs to be clarification" about the impact of the Supreme Court's ruling.

"We can opt out," Krolicki said, "but this is a question that people who have expertise need to address."

Also on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/02/terry-branstad-iowa-medicaid_n_1643428.html

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Drug violence, poverty top Pena Nieto agenda in Mexico

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pena-nieto-wins-mexico-presidential-vote-exit-polls-020735592.html

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Dear Veepstakes Hunters (TIME)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/236673317?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Video: Health care?s implications for President Obama, Capitol Hill

A Second Take on Meeting the Press: From an up-close look at Rachel Maddow's sneakers to an in-depth look at Jon Krakauer's latest book ? it's all fair game in our "Meet the Press: Take Two" web extra. Log on Sundays to see David Gregory's post-show conversations with leading newsmakers, authors and roundtable guests. Videos are available on-demand by 12 p.m. ET on Sundays.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032608/vp/48032481#48032481

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5 Bad Habits Small Businesses Have With Social Media ...

No matter where we go these days, social media surrounds us. It seems everyone is saying, ?Follow us on Twitter.? ?Like us on Facebook.? ??For More Information Scan Our QR Code.?? Just this week alone I have seen at least a dozen places in my everyday life where social media has come into the real world; At church, On my way home from the airport on the backs of hotel shuttle vans; At my local coffee shop to name a few.? Social media is here to stay and businesses of all sizes know it.? But what many smaller businesses don?t know or care to realize is that there are several bad habits that still need to be broken in order to make the most out of their social media strategies.? Following is a list of these common bad habits and what small business can do to get it break away from these same old mistakes.

Social Media Hard Sales

Social Media isn?t the place for the hard sell.? You may recall in a previous article Top 10 Mistakes Businesses Make with Social Media I listed hard selling as #5 on the list.? But it seems that so many businesses cannot seem to break this very bad habit.? I?m not saying don?t promote your businesses, but people do not want to ?sold? to anymore.? With the Internet and social media making it so easy for consumers to go somewhere else, there are other, far more productive ways to promote your business than the hard sell.

One of the best ways to promote yourself is by sharing information that your audience will find relevant and helpful.? If you give them the information they need and want to read, they will continue to come back to your profile to learn more.? When you share posts on your profiles about topics that you feature additional information on your blog or website, share links to your blog or site.? Give them a reason to want to learn more bout you and what you have to offer.

Social Media is about building and maintaining relationships.? In order for it to be successful, you need to reach to your target audience and engage them in conversation that is welcoming, informative and helpful.? You should make it easy for people to leave comments on your blog and even encourage it within your posts. When people take the time to comment on your blog, you should offer a response in a timely manner.??Share great content from others in the industry within your blog posts and statuses including links that open in a new tab or window. You don?t want people to loose track of where they came from. ?Finally, ask questions, create polls and encourage participation.

Talk Less, Listen More

Obviously one of the goals of social media is to promote your business, products, services and overall company brand. ?But what you should not do is talk about yourself in a self-promoting manner. Minimize your ?Self-Promotion? all together.? There is no need to ?Toot your own horn? so to speak.? Rather, let the information you share, the expertise you demonstrate and the brand personality you portray do the talking for you.? The more helpful you are to others the more likely they will seek you out for additional information, bookmarking your social media profile, blog or website in the process.

As I say so often, people want to work with people they like.? Translation: consumers will give their business to those within the industry they feel are worthy of their loyalty and business.?? To be liked, especially in business, you have to be honest, helpful, compassionate, willing to listen, genuinely interested in others and what their needs are and not dominate the conversation.? It is critical in business to recognize that sometimes it is better to listen more and talk less

Start asking your followers questions such as why they follow you, what they think of your products, services and brand, what is the first thing that comes to mind when they hear your company name, what products do you own that they love or would prefer to do without, what others products and services they would like to see you offer and how your company could improve overall.? Then really listen to what they have to say and address each concern as they come.? This not only gives your customers a voice, but also shows them that you really care about what they think and getting it right.

Quality Verses Quantity

Since the inception of social media, 100?s of platforms have come and gone.? You don?t have to be everywhere.? Do not feel you have to join each new platform as it comes out.? Even trying to maintain profiles on the top few can seem overwhelming.? Instead, choose one or two of the most relevant platforms and effective channels to reach the customers and consumers you want most to reach and focus on.

Again, it is actually better to have no account at all on a platform than to let it get stale and old.? Plain and simple, if you do not have the time and resources to actively manage and participate a profile then you should not have one on that site.? .

Looking Big Does Not Mean You Have to Have a Big Budget

Companies such as Panera, Apple, Coca Cola, Nike Dell and others have very large marketing budgets.? Small businesses often try to compete with the big guys only to fail in generating the buzz they hope to achieve. Although it is a necessary evil to provide incentive for people to come to you, you don?t have to keep up with the Big Brands and do exactly as the Big Brands do in order to give your followers a reason for coming back.

Creating giveaways and contests is one of the most effective ways to generate new likes and improve overall engagement, but rather than investing $500 into a new iPad to give away, why not give away one of your own companies products or services.? It may not be as sexy as an iPad, but it will definitely create more buzz in your what your company does and offers.? It will likely generate interest from consumer who have thought of using your products and services but who have yet to try it.

Social Media Is Not ?Free?

Although it does not cost you much if anything in terms of dollars and cents, social media is not ?Free? when you take into account the time and energy that you must put into it to get something out of it.? Social Media requires commitment and consistency in the things you post and the timing of those posts.? In the beginning, social media takes the most time; setting up profiles, completing profiles, getting the word out, making connections, generating posts consistently, building your brand and so on.? But once you?ve gotten past the start up phase, be sure to keep yourself active in your social media.? Some things you can do to stay active are to keep your content fresh, engage your online community, seek out new connections, request recommendations, offer recommendations, share interesting, informative links, post blogs and send and answer emails.? May sound like a lot, but even 15 minutes everyday can make a huge difference.

No matter what stage you are in your social media strategy, there is always room for improvement.? Following the above steps, (which can bu summarized in the following Do?s and Don?ts) will help you get there much quicker!

Do: ?Be consistent,?Be genuine,?Be helpful,?Be honest,?Be compassionate,?Listen to others

Don?t: ?Be inactive,?Pretend to be someone you are not,?Post solely the works of others,?Toot your own horn,?Think the Internet world revolves solely around your, your company and brand

Please Visit & ?Like? The Social Media Diva??@?http://www.facebook.com/TheSocialMediaDiva

Also Visit & ?Like? IPWatchdog??@?http://www.facebook.com/IPWatchdog

Follow me on Twitter at?http://twitter.com/IPWatchdog_Too
Link to me on LinkedIn at?http://www.linkedin.com/in/reneequinn

?Join my?Social Media Made Easy?LinkedIn Group!

?Learn more about me at?http://www.ipwatchdog.com/about/renee/

Source: http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2012/06/30/5-bad-habits-small-businesses-have-with-social-media/id=26006/

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Battle plan: Apple vs. Microsoft vs. Google

15 hrs.

Devin Coldewey

In the last few weeks,?the tech industry's?biggest players have shown off their newest software and hardware, all aiming to make big moves before the end of the year. Apple has iOS 6 and the new MacBook Pros, Microsoft unveiled the new Surface and is preparing Windows 8 for launch, and Google has shown off the new version of Android and entered the tablet game.

It should be much more exciting than last year. What did 2011 have? A spec bump on the iPhone and iPad, a slow warming to the Windows Phone ecosystem, and the?lackluster launches of a social network and (failed)?desktop platform?by Google. By comparison, 2012 should be a battle royale.

(Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC Universal, but that doesn't grant reporters privileged access to Microsoft products and services, nor does it influence their opinion of them.)

Let's look at what each company has in store:

Apple
Big changes are afoot this year: a truly new iPhone is expected, sure, but June's announcements already telegraphed their intentions: a return to the high end, and freezing out Google.

After aggressively pricing almost all their hardware via partnerships and ruthless negotiation with manufacturers, Apple has managed to push its products down from luxury to the mainstream. The iPhone is now considered a standard device, and the MacBook Air, once incredibly overpriced, is now setting the bar for PC laptops.

This has given Apple the market share to start selling extremely expensive things again, starting with the Retina?MacBook Pro. Soon there will likely be a 13-inch version as well, and they will both sell like hotcakes?? even at around $2,000 per unit. The cheapest new iPhone will probably still cost $200 to consumers, but only because Verizon and AT&T will have no choice but to subsidize it.

iOS 6 is on its way as well, and it's evident that Apple is using its mobile platform as both carrot and stick. Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, and more are getting the red carpet treatment, integrated right into the OS. But Google is getting the cold shoulder as Apple moves to its own maps and tries to get users to ask Siri instead of Google.

What could go wrong? If Google's?Android OS?was more mature and more evenly upgraded (that is, less "fragmented"), it?could pose a threat to Apple's near-monopoly in the hugely profitable paid-apps ecosystem. And Apple is still lagging behind in cloud services, losing out on many fronts ? including?file sharing and storage, streaming media,?email and Web apps ??to Google, Microsoft, and smaller companies. Apple can only keep you attached to their services if those services are competitive, and the competition is moving faster than they are. And be honest: iOS and OS X are both starting to look a bit old.

Microsoft
The year?2012 will be looked on as a watershed moment in the company's history: Windows 8 is the biggest change ever made to the world's most popular OS, and opinions are in no way unanimous on the new look and feel. But Microsoft hopes to build on their success in the living room and make Windows and Xbox an ecosystem families and friends can live in, not just a set of isolated products.

The Surface tablet is Microsoft's way of telling the world that it's ready to move on from the?desktops and laptops that put the company where it is today. And Windows Phone 8 is Microsoft learning from its mobile OS?mistakes and saying "this time for real." The next Xbox isn't ready, but you'd better believe it's being conceived as the third piece in this puzzle.

Connecting the TV, PC and mobile (the so-called "three screens" strategy) has ever been a hope of Microsoft's, but it's not until now that the company's had the presence on the TV, the credibility on mobile, and the audacity to actually change what constitutes a PC. This year and the next will be a crucible for the company as it is forced to abandon traditions and partners, but if it's going to remain a force in consumer tech, these are necessary steps.

Plenty could go awry, though, and if one piece fails, the others are weakened. Windows 8 could fail to gain traction as a replacement for Windows 7, to which many millions of people and companies have only recently switched. Leaving behind 10 or 20 years of applications and hardware isn't something small businesses and casual computer users are likely to do.

Similarly, Windows Phone 8 will have a lot to prove when it debuts, first because the platform may have lost the support of many early adopters by not fully?upgrading devices currently running Windows Phone 7 and 7.5, and second because Microsoft may simply not have the superstar hardware that will be needed to take consumers' eyes off the next iPhone.

Google
The challenge Google will be facing is presenting a single aspect to the consumer. There are 10 different versions of Android out there by 10 different manufacturers, all getting updates at the whim of the carriers.?Meanwhile, the?Chrome browser?is coming out for iPad, and yet Google is making its own laptop OS and its own?Android tablets, and trying to one-up Facebook with a proprietary social network,?too? Every corner of the tech world seems to have a different Google, focused on a different task. Android 4.1 is the company's way of roping everything back together.

With one OS for tablets and phones, a plea to developers and partners to get on board, and a new tablet that sets a high bar for a budget product, Google is trying to unify a core brand after its initial meteoric rise and sprawl.

Another goal seems to be having one big Google that looks more or less the same wherever you go, and from whichever device you use. Chrome syncs tabs between devices, sure, but ultimately what Google wants is for you to think of Google as a place, not a set of services and websites. One place that you can view from multiple windows?? your phone, your TV, your PC and, at some point, your vision overlay device, such as Google Glass.

In order for that to happen, though, Google has to make its world look, act and respond in a similar way no matter where you are. No small task when there are huge differences in interface, connectivity and screen size. Not to mention hardware partners like Samsung and HTC putting custom interfaces all over the place. (Those overlays are probably not going to survive for much longer, by the way.)

Unfortunately for Google, too much of this is out of the company's control. The very nature of open systems like Android prevents Google from yielding to this kind of unifying influence, and companies may (as Amazon did) simply take what they want and tell Google to go fly a kite. So Google needs cooperation from its friends in turning its patchwork systems and platforms into a single powerful, useful and affordable one.

What will happen?
How it will likely play out is this: Google and Microsoft will both take a hit as they regroup and put their weight behind their new unifying efforts. This will be because they have to build up brand and trust over again.

Meanwhile Apple will continue to dominate in hardware, selling iOS and OS X devices by the million, but even its most dedicated customers must acknowledge that both operating systems aren't as fresh as they used to be.

So while it'll be another year of big sales for Apple, you'll see a creeping discontent with its software offerings. A full overhaul will be due ? maybe even overdue ? by June of next year, when Apple again gathers its global cadre of developers. But by that time, who knows? Maybe Google and Microsoft will have gotten their acts together, and the sparks of their own reinventions will be catching fire.

Source: http://www.technolog.msnbc.msn.com/technology/technolog/battle-plan-apple-vs-microsoft-vs-google-854664

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