Four days ago, a team of Wall Street veterans launched Track.com, a new marketplace for independent research providers.  I met with the management team today.  Ironically, they’re sharing offices with Tracked.com, another NY startup.  John Frankel, the Founder, said that the people at Tracked like the domain name Track so much that they bought Tracked.com.

Track.com offers independent research providers a platform to distribute their intellectual property.  Buyers pay subscriptions for access to the pool of content. Similar to Value Investors Club, the general public can get access to the content at no charge after a delay.

It looks like an institutional version of SeekingAlpha.  It also has components of the market for research that AQ Research tried to launch some time ago.  Eventually, I’m sure Track will build out internal discussion functionality similar to other collaborative investing startups.

I think their greatest obstacle is noise.  There is a deluge of opinions available on the markets in every possible medium, and for every possible view on the market you will find someone passionately defending that view. 

The most clever parts of their model are:

- the appeal to elitism, which has a proven appeal on Wall Street

- the recruiting of Wall Street alumni in transition, who want to keep their brand visible in the market.  Given my background working with executives in transition, I particularly liked this aspect of the model.

- the tiered display of research over time, in order to price discriminate. 

I look forward to following their progress.  FYI, they’re actively hiring developers.

This hits close to home. Odds are good that you personally know at least 10-20 people who are currently unemployed, or as is increasingly common, under-employed, i.e., they have some part-time work, freelance work, or a full-time position at significantly lower pay than they’re accustomed to.

Sue Connelly wants to do something about that. As founder of KIT List, “an email job posting service where employers and recruiters advertise permanent or consulting job opportunities to over 58,000 high-quality professionals,” she knows that the jobs are there – she sees them come across the list every day.

So what’s her big idea? Simple, really – a “pay it forward wave“, this week – a concentrated effort to be proactive about getting our friends back to work. Here are some suggestions she has for simple ways to help:

• Forward a job lead
• Write a LinkedIn recommendation
• Review a friend’s resume and give objective feedback
• Set a time to meet for coffee or a drink (heck, we all need one these days!). In-person meetings are important, it buoys spirits and sparks ideas and energy – plus it’s fun!
• Make some calls on a friend’s behalf
• Pass on a link to a good job site or a great article on job search
• Make an introduction to a friend in a company he/she is interested in
• Reach out to a colleague who has been laid off from your company to see how he/she is doing and offer to make connections for him/her
• Become a “Job Buddy” – commit to meet on a regular basis to set goals and provide gentle accountability (if you are both looking for jobs, there’s a double benefit)
• Offer to do some role playing for a job interview
• Tell (and write down!) four strengths/qualities you see in your friend
• Review or help write a strong cover letter
• Invite a friend to connect to you on LinkedIn with the purpose of giving them access to your network so he/she can see if you have contacts in companies on their wish list
• Help with career ideas, brainstorm on other ways to use their skills, suggest good companies to target, how to transition into a new industry

And, of course, you can share about this on email lists, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc.

If we each just did 1-2 of these things every day, we may not end unemployment completely, but we might at least help the people we know and care about get back to work sooner rather than later.

Image credit: Photomish Dan

I have a B2B client, though, who’s asking me about Digg, and I’m wondering if anyone’s actually using it for B2B. To research this on my end, I just downloaded my 864 LinkedIn contacts to a CSV file and uploaded that to Digg. Out of those 864 business contacts:

1. 83 (less than 10%) are Digg users.
2. Only 12 (1.4%) have been active recently (looks like the past 90 days), according to Digg

Mind you, my network has a disproportionately high percentage of social media professionals, too. Heck, even Pete Cashmore (Mashable) is “Not active recently”:

Maybe he’s outsourcing it. Heck, maybe everybody’s outsourcing it. Does kind of make you wonder, doesn’t it? Who’s actually Digging? And why is it still such a big deal?

More research required, but let me know what you think.

Since many of us (yes, I know you are out there) are still looking for the best book on social media.as well as those last minute gift ideas, I wanted to publish the results of a study that I held via my friends and social media connections on Linkedin and Facebook.  I polled over 5,000 people and simply asked “What’s the best book on social media out there.”

Now here’s what I found both fascinating and, frankly, a bit pride-inducing: every other title on the list came out in 2008-2009. The Virtual Handshake came out in 2005!

When we wrote it, we very deliberately set out to write a book that would be timeless, not something with a 2-year shelf life. Considering how rapidly the social media space is changing, that’s a significant challenge.

Consider this. when we finished the manuscript, the term “social media” didn’t exist. “Web 2.0″ was just barely coming into use at the time the book came out. We called the activity “online networking” and the technology “social software”. Twitter didn’t exist. Facebook had just opened to the general public, much to the chagrin of its college-student membership. LinkedIn had about 3 million members (it now has over 50 million).

And yet, almost five years later, The Virtual Handshake is still considered by some to be one of the best books on social media. While we don’t even mention Twitter and Facebook is only mentioned once, it’s as timely and relevant now as it was in 2005 – perhaps even more so.

Why?

Because we focused on the human element, not the technology. Trends come and go, and technology just keeps coming and coming and coming. But the core elements of human relationships and interpersonal communication remain largely unchanged. The ways in which you build strong relationships online aren’t really much different from how you do so in person. Twitter etiquette in 2010 hasn’t changed significantly from Usenet netiquette in 1990. Ben Franklin’s advice on recommendations is as timely now as it was when he wrote it in 1777.

So if you’re into social media and you haven’t yet read The Virtual Handshake, I invite you to do so.for free. You can read it online or download it for free, and you can even get the paperback for free, thanks to our long-time sponsor, Landslide. And, of course, you can still order it at Amazon and other online bookstores.

And whether you’ve just read it or had it for a while, we’d always love to hear from you about how you’ve applied what you’ve learned from it in your business. The hundreds of such messages we’ve received over the years have perhaps been our greatest satisfaction. We wrote this book to make a difference in people’s lives, and it’s always nice to hear when we’ve succeeded at that. Feel free to leave a comment below or send us an email and tell us your virtual handshake experience.

I enjoyed participating in a panel tonight on "Market Research for Entrepreneurs", as part of the Founder Institute’s first series of New York programming.  The other speakers were Nicholas Butterworth, President & CEO, Diversion Media; and Steven Haines, President, Sequent Learning Networks.  

My slide deck is below; I’d love to get your feedback.

John Jantsch – Making More Money with Your Business Blog

Anita Campbell – Get Business Exposure by Hosting or Speaking on Podcasts & Radio

Chris Brogan – Twitter for Your Business

I just learned that Patrick Questembert has launched Scanbizcards.com, which scans business cards – or any image – and lets you add all the information to your iPhone address book.  I see the value of this app today, but I see it as an interim solution until tools that are purely electronic — e.g., Bump Technologies — become the norm.

http://linkedin.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/linkedin.cfg/php/enduser/ask.php

If you’d like to see how to find it for yourself, read on. Also, if you don’t get any response at the link above, there are some ideas on how to escalate your issue at the end of the post.

I had my attention called to this issue on Twitter today:

It actually took me a couple of minutes to figure out. I won’t bore you with all the dead-ends I tried that didn’t work.let me just show you what did:

1. Scroll down to the bottom of any page on LinkedIn:

2. Click on the Customer Service Link. This takes you to the LinkedIn Customer Service Center, where they invite you to first try to help yourself:

3. At this point, click on any of the FAQ entries – doesn’t matter which one. Once you do, now at the top of the page there will be an Ask Customer Service tab (why it’s not there on the first page is a mystery to me, but it isn’t):

4. That will finally put you on a contact form that will allow you to submit your question to customer service. You can even attach a file if needed, such as a screenshot of the problem:

What happens then? Well, LinkedIn isn’t known for their customer service — nice enough people once you get to someone, but they’re massively understaffed and overloaded. If you don’t get the response you need, here are some additional ways to try to escalate your issue:

1. According to ContactHelp.com, LinkedIn’s phone number is 650-687-3600, then press 5 to reach a live person. Based on the comments, though, good luck actually talking to technical support.

2. Try customerservice@linkedin.com or customer_service@linkedin.com.

3. Try @linkedin or @mariosundar on Twitter. There’s also a list of LinkedIn employees on Twitter.

4. Try community support. If something’s actually broken, that won’t help, but if it’s just a matter of figuring out how to do something, or if it even can be done, other LinkedIn users are pretty helpful. Try GetSatisfaction.com or the Using LinkedIn category on LinkedIn Answers.

Good luck!

When I make a presentation, ideally, I use a graph to represent the data behind a point I’m making. I can’t recommend strongly enough the works of Edward Tufte for advice on how to communicate quantitative data in graphics. However, unfortunately I often don’t have a pertinent dataset. When I don’t have pertinent data to share, I like to use a powerful photograph.

In picking images for a presentation, I find there are two main risks. The first is that I pick an image that is too easy for the audience to understand. An image of people holding hands together to represent teamwork falls into this category; it is trite and almost insulting. The second, and more dangerous, risk is using an image that is too creative and not obviously relevant to the topic. As Strunk & White said in the Elements of Style (paraphrasing), if you’re reading your own work and find a gem of a phrase that sticks out of your text, save it for future future, but delete it from your text as a distraction. My goal in presenting should be to find an image that is clearly relevant, but still clever and not overused.

Another important factor to consider (one that is often neglected) is whether I have the legal right to use the image. Most search engines do not have filters to distinguish between copyrighted and non-copyrighted images. Also, it is often difficult to know whether the image you are using is in its original form, or copied from another site. In addition, the page does not have to list copyright information for a picture to be considered copyrighted.

There are some some safe picture selection options, however. Stock photo services are numerous (e.g., iStockphoto), but they can be costly if you need a lot of images. To find free non-copyrighted images, I recommend search.creativecommons.org and flickr.com/creativecommons , which restrict your search to images that are licensed for use under Creative Commons. Just tick the appropriate boxes based on whether you plan to modify the image, and/or use it for commercial purposes.  Another great resource for free images is Stock.XCHNG, .  

(Thanks to Taimur Hassan for his help in researching this post.  Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ario/363901346/ )

DancetimePublications, the largest dance history DVD website, seeking social media marketing consultant: approximately 60-80 work-hours December-January, flexible commitment—New York, NY

My mom, Carol Teten, is seeking some advice:

Our Firm

Dancetime Publications is a publishing company devoted to the creation and distribution of information products based on our heritage of Western social and theatrical dance. Most of our revenues are via the sale of DVDs on our website, http://www.dancetimepublications.com/, and via paper mailings to our proprietary mailing list. In addition, we just launched a directory of other companies’ dance history products on our website, which we are monetizing via the Amazon affiliate program.

Our work has been praised by such publications as the New York Times, Washington Post, Library Journal, and Dance Magazine. Our CEO, Carol Teten, is one of the world’s leading experts in historical Western social dance.

Among the dances for which we have DVD products:

20th Century: Fox Trot, Tango, Charleston, Lindy, Rumba, Jitterbug, Twist, Disco, Breakdancing, and Hip Hop.

19th Century: Waltz, Polka, Gallop, Mazurka and Quadrille (square dances)

18th Century: Gigue, Allemande and Contradance (country dances)

17th Century: Minuet and Saraband

16th Century: Volta, Saltarello, and Galliard

15th Century: Bassadanze and Balli

We also have DVD products related to Modern Dance pioneers such as Pearl Primus, Charles Weidman, Donald McKayle, and Anna Sokolov; and Jazz Dance legends such as Pepsi Bethel, James Barry, Al Minns, Leon James, and Frankie Manning.

New DVDs are coming out on THE BIG APPLE and on HIP-HOP.

Primary Job Responsibilities

We are looking for a consultant to work in December-January, preferably about 30 hours/week. The exact hours you work are entirely flexible. Your primary responsibilities:

- build out our database of dance history websites

- build databases of online communities of people interested in historical dance and dance history

- outreach directly to these communities via email, IM, etc.

- Solicit online community leaders to link to DancetimePublications.com website, and/or to advertise our videos to their community.

Based on your performance and our needs, your role may continue as a part-time or full-time job after January.

Qualifications and Experience

The ideal candidate will be a highly motivated self-starter with strong writing experience, social media marketing experience, and a track record of continuous self-improvement, high achievement, and aggressiveness. You have strong interpersonal communication skills, a poised, professional demeanor, and basic proficiency in PCs: Microsoft Office suite. You should be a confident and innovative problem solver with the ability to drive projects forward to timely completion.

Although you can complete this consulting project from anywhere in the US, we have a preference for people based in the New York, NY area.

The following will strengthen your candidacy significantly:

- Diverse social media marketing experience: email, online communities, social networks

- Experience as a leader of an online community

- Experience in the dance world, preferably dance history

- Experience marketing Amazon affiliate websites

Compensation

$10-$20/hour, depending on experience.

Next Steps

Please send us the following:

+ Resume, titled “LastName-FirstName-2009”, e.g., “Spitzer-Eliot-2009”

+ Cover letter, indicating the dates and times that you are available

+ Writing sample (e.g., a report or memo from work, or a paper from school)

Please send your resume and cover letter to carol(AT)teten.com with “Social Media Marketing” in the subject line.