Archive for July, 2009


How to view stats of Bit.ly links?

Bit.ly has become the URL shortener of choice for Twitter users. Mostly because, by default, it’s the URL shortnening  service that Twitter uses when it shortens your tweets. Bit.ly is continuing to have a huge surge in traffic, and a recent TechCrunch article estimates it to be worth $8 million after it was able to raise $2 million.

According to this article:

Bit.ly distinguishes itself by tracking all the clicks and streams that come through the service and using the data to provide interesting analytics and insights into who’s looking at what on the Web, in real time. The logic: If you’re impressed with the possibilities of Twitter’s real-time search capabilities (see above), you’ll love bit.ly.

So I wondered, how exactly do you see the stats behind the bit.ly links you share?

The answer is simple….just add a  plus symbol “+” at the end of any existing shortened bit.ly link. For example: http://bit.ly/jvO03+ .

The stats they show currently are pretty interesting. You can see stuff like how many clicks that link has gotten, when that link was first submitted to bit.ly, or where the visitors are clicking from (location). I’m sure the amount of stats they provide will increase in the near future.

Yammer: internal microblogging = virtual water-cooler?

Our company recently started to use Yammer as an internal communications tool.  For those that aren’t familiar with Yammer, it’s sometimes referred to as….. “it’s like twitter but for work”.  It allows employees to send updates knows as “yams” (kinda like tweets) to everyone else in the company.  Since most of our work is done virtually, an application that fosters communication was greatly needed.  We’ve been using it for the past few weeks and I’m already convinced that this tool, if used correctly, can really benefit the company.

It’s not meant to eliminate emails, but it greatly reduces the need for them. For example, is it really necessary to send an email to all the executives when you had a good meeting with a client? For stuff like that, I think it’s better for the employee to send out a Yam.  Most of us are already bombarded with enough emails as it is.

I kind of think of Yammer like a virtual water-cooler  in a typical office scenario. It’s where any can gather around and share any thought they have with whoever wants to listen.  Similar to around a water-cooler, employees wouldn’t want to say anything that they wouldn’t want the whole company to know. (As most of you know, office gossip around the water-cooler or coffee maker spreads very quickly.)

So far, my only gripe with yammer has been that there’s no Windows Mobile app for it yet. There’s some 3rd-party firm with a beta version, but it’s having technical issues and not ready for prime-time yet.  I’m looking forward to Yammer releasing a Win Mobile version. They already released the blackberry and iphone versions, so my HTC Touch Pro is feeling kind of left out.

What is “tin cupping”?

So I learned something  new today…..I was reading some article and they mentioned the term “tin cupping”. I asked myself….

What does tin cupping mean?

Did a quick search and it led me to Urban Dictionary:

To beg/ask for money
Beggars frequently use a tin cup to beg for money, therefore tin cupping

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