If you’re an avid Internet user, you owe Finland a great deal of gratitude. They’re the first nation in the world to make broadband service a basic right to its citizens. Without this big step from them, there’s no telling how long it would’ve taken for another country to finally pull the trigger. That’s right: while America tries to figure out how to get broadband into rural areas, Finland is moving forward with a much bolder plan that involves giving broadband access to every single person in its country.
Why is this such an important move? Internet has been the most used tool in the last few years, that is free and provides valuable information for anyone using it properly. Bringing high speed access to all would improve the quality of life in some of the country’s most sparsely-populated regions, as well as boosting business and encouraging online business. Making internet a basic right for all citizens, is a step forward in providing each person with the latest news, education, technology and everything else available at your finger tips.
Starting this month, any Internet provider that operates in Finland will be obligated to provide a 1Mbps connection to all Finnish households, regardless of location. That’s certainly a huge thing to ask of ISPs, but there are limitations in place to prevent outrageous extra fees from cropping up. This is s BIG move and it will hopefully spark a lot of copycat movements from other governments around the world. No one wants to lag behind in the race to become the most connected nation in the world, and while Finland is certainly small, it’s far from being “tiny.”
Every 4 years the world comes together for a very much anticipated event called “World Cup”. What makes this year very different from all other World Cups throughout history, is the access the world now has to social media and how it brings fans from all over the world closer than ever. Soccer fans have never been shy about expressing their opinions, but this year’s World Cup in South Africa, which will be the first of the “social media age” according to many, may see record levels of global interactivity compared to any past event. “Soccer (or Football known around the world) is the world’s biggest sport, so the world will practically stop for the month of the World Cup (June 11- July 11).
Social media now connects millions around the world, 50 million tweets are sent daily while Facebook boasts more than 400 million active users, a development that will allow fans separated by distance to celebrate goals or critique referee decisions together online. Sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube were in their infancy in 2006, when the last World Cup took place in Germany, but have since exploded in popularity and continue to further grow. There will be more media consumed, used and published in 2010 than in 2006. Social media brings fans closer together and give them the opportunity to communicate with each other. FIFA has its own social-networking service on FIFA.com — called “The Club” — which has 1.6 million members, but the organization is about to make a bigger push into social media. Facebook will be launching “Facebook Connect”, which allows Web sites to be shared on Facebook, which will be incorporated into FIFA.com and FIFA plans to launch official Twitter accounts for the World Cup too.
During the last few days of the tournament, World Cup discussion is more than likely going to take over Twitter. So far, many fans have been using the Twitter tag#WC2010 when they tweet about the World Cup. Although Twitter is based in the U.S., where soccer is not as popular as other parts of the world, the service is seeing its fastest growth outside of America as noticed by analyst. Twitter service is now available in six languages, there are plans to add more, and a recent report found that only half of all tweets are in English. Twitter is also striking deals with mobile providers in other countries so that it is free for subscribers to send and receive tweets on their phones. Within minutes of the World Cup starting, thousands and thousands of uploads are expected about the World Cup. In 2006, after French player Zinedine Zidane head-butted Marco Materazzi of Italy, hundreds of videos parodying the play were posted on YouTube. Some videos placed Zidane in a video game while others showed him in well-known movie scenes. YouTube’s popularity has surged since 2006 thanks in part to the advent of inexpensive video cameras and cell phones that can record and instantly upload video to the Web. Many more mashups and parodies during this 2010 World Cup are expected to go up. There will be no limit to the uses and creativity that emerge around this upcoming World Cup and the way it brings the world together for an entire month.
It is easy to downplay the power and benefits of blogging. For us, blogging has been a great tool for sharing and it has also become our door to many opportunities. It allows us to express our opinions, meet people from around the world and to hopefully create new business leads out of it!
Here are 3 easy tips on how blogging can help your business.
1. A Strong Way To Show Off Your Capabilities
How will the world know what you’re capable of, if you don’t share it? Blogging is a great way to get your skills and knowledge across endless boundaries. Whether you have excellent photoshopping abilities or are a skilled photographer, you can display your work on a blog along with valuable photography tips. This goes for any skill, talent or knowledge. If your passion is finance, you can teach your readers how to buy, sell and trade stocks. A blog is like your resume, only non-static. It is dynamic and much more convincing than a piece of paper.
2. Daily Learning
Frequent bloggers understand the importance of catching up with advances, news and updates. Share what you’ve recently learned with the world and voice your take on it. The purpose is to gain knowledge and inspiration, help prepare for your next post and start up interesting conversations with others. The feedback/ comments you receive is a major part of your blogging. It generates more interest when other’s get involved and opens up new windows about your topic. It may generate ideas and give a glance into something that you may not thought of before. You never stop learning, so sharing what you know and receiving comments from the world is all part of it.
3. Business Opportunities
A blog places your ideas on the web and is open for anyone to visit. If you have great content on your blog, you have a high chance of attracting the right people to either advertise or collaborate with you. Like I mentioned in the “Daily Learning” section; the interaction set in place is great towards the growth of your skills and business alike. Take advantage of sharing this with others, so you learn and benefit from what the world offers as well.
Start Blogging!!
Whether you’re into marketing, dogs, cooking, engineering, SEO, design, music, writing, etc… a blog could be your perfect starting point to display your abilities. If you haven’t started already or have hesitated because you were never sure how to or what to say, simply go for it!. You never know what opportunities lie ahead until you take the first step. Just go for it and enjoy!
