The Radar: Writing Tips from Susan Orlean, Skip the Line at Customs, Spectacular Places of Worship

• Tonight at Nat Geo HQ, Contributing Editor Don George sits down with Greg Mortenson, the best-selling author of Three Cups of Tea, at our sold-out NGLive! event. Don last took to the stage to interview Susan Orlean where she dished these travel-writing tips: find a connection, be in the moment, and value surprise. Read more about Don's interview with Susan here and stay tuned to IT for a re-cap of tonight's chat.

• Global Entry, a two-year pilot program run by the U.S. Customs and Border Control, helps you breeze through arrival security check points, eliminating the dreaded customs line that typically weaves itself around international arrivals terminals. For $100 and after a government background check and round of finger printing, U.S. citizens and permanent residents can skip the line and go through customs at Global Entry kiosks that take an average of 40 seconds to clear. Hoping to make the program a permanent feature by the end of the year, U.S. Customs says Global Entry helps separate out low-risk travelers allowing them to focus more resources on those travelers who might be considered a risk. [WSJ.com]

• Matador has put together a photo essay of "The World's 12 Most Spectacular Houses of Worship," including the Sagrada Família in Barcelona, Mecca in Saudia Arabia, and Il Duomo in Florence. [Matador]

Got Radar? Tag your favorite travel stories from the web #ngtradar and follow us on Twitter @NatGeoTraveler and @IntelligentTrav.

Photo: National Geographic by Mark Thiessen



Post originale: http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/intelligenttravel/2010/11/the-radar-writing-tips-from-su.html

Facebook Users Line Up For Free Jeans At The Gap

Facebook's big "Deals" product launches with Gap stores today, and Facebook users are lined up at Gap stores around the country, hoping to get one of those 10,000 free pairs of jeans. (If you don't get free jeans, you can get 40% off a regular-price item, just by "checking in" to a Gap store on Facebook Places.)

A quick Twitter search suggests there are lines at several stores, though we doubt they're as long as the annual iPhone lines.

Here's one photo that was just posted on TwitPic. Atlanta-based Sarah DeThomasis tweets, "At @Gap with the Vitrue girls getting our free jeans! I love social media!"

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Watch Facebook Explain And Demo How Deals Works
• Facebook Just Fired Another Missile At Foursquare
• Zuckerberg: Facebook Places Is Multiples Bigger Than Any Other Location Service

Post originale: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider/~3/B1-QdT3WJwU/facebook-users-line-up-for-free-jeans-at-the-gap-2010-11

Drawing a Sharp Line between Traditional CRM and Social CRM

I'm taking the lessons of social CRM and applying it to my own world of networking. First the definition:

Social CRM is the business strategy of engaging customers through Social Media with (the) goal of building trust and brand loyalty. Loyalty is defined as attitude towards a brand that inclines a customer to repurchase it and/or recommend it to others. Social CRM and Social Media are more about building trust and managing loyalty with customers than about managing relationships or transactions, which are focus areas of "traditional" CRM.

I attended a six technology conferences this summer, but two stand out most. In July, I attended a vender-specific evening conference on the virtual desktop that had all the makings of a great event. It was like the old days, where they bought us dinner and drinks and then took us bowling afterward. I also attend Anatomy of an Attack by Sophos, where they also fed us. The event went from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and included lunch.


The difference between these two conferences made me clearly understand networking from the person being networked. The bowling conference consisted of five speakers all racing the clock to talk up their products, only one of which was interesting because I hadn't heard about their technology before. With the other four, I could have given the presentation myself, it was such aerial view of their technologies. I was ready to go, but in the end we stuck around for the bowling. Even that was thick with exchanging cards and asking what our three, six and one year vision is for a VDI solution. How do you answer that between throws?

The Sophos event was dense with useful information and virtually absent of sales. I haven't even received a follow up e-mail, save for my request of the PowerPoint presentation. In the old days, no follow-up would have been poor marketing, but this isn't the days of Mad Men. I know the purpose of the presentation. I know they want to sell me Sophos, but we both know it won't necessarily be in three or six or 12months.

The takeaway is clear. Sophos was interested in helping me. I want a relationship with a company that thinks about me over sales. My networking must be of the same method. I must build a trust relationship and think how I can help them, and when the opportunity is right, they'll think of me.

-- Dino Londis 

Post originale: http://career-resources.dice.com:80/articles/content/entry/drawing_a_sharp_line_between