Enamored With Social Media Marketing? Don't Forget Search and ...

Social media marketing is top of mind with everyone today and for good reason. It?s new(ish) and it?s exciting. It?s also the hip and ?in thing? to be associated with if you are a marketer.

The question to ask yourself though is this, ?Is my concentration on social media marketing taking my efforts away from places that, while much less sexy, have the majority of Internet users using them??

Sadly, if many marketers are being honest, the answer would be yes. Money is being redistributed within online budgets to pay for social media ads because the big players like Facebook and Twitter are pushing it hard. Why? They need revenue and lots of it. At what price? Just look at the impact changes at Facebook regarding advertising have had on engagement for one New York Times writer.

So what might marketers be overlooking in this rush to be all things social? Good old search and email marketing. These numbers from eMarketer around the adoption rate of both are hard to ignore.

FOR EMAIL

FOR SEARCH

Granted, if you look at the fine print for these results the parameters for these numbers are pretty loose in that all that is required to be counted is that a person look at email or use search at least once a month. How many people use these things that infrequently though? Not many.

The takeaway here is that marketers must make sure that while they need to be at the leading edge of what is considered the ?future of marketing? it should never be at the expense of what might work best in the present. Balance between the ?tried and true? and the ?new and exciting? should be struck to ensure that marketers are not leaving money on either table.

How do you feel about the old standards of search and email marketing? Are they something that will start to fade in favor of social or is social simply another way to reach a market and should be treated accordingly?

Source: http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2013/03/enamored-with-social-media-marketing-dont-forget-search-and-email.html

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Currency vs. Rates Yo! | Wall Street Oasis

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Recovery effort ends for Florida man presumed dead in sinkhole

SEFFNER, Florida (Reuters) - Florida rescue workers have ended their efforts to recover the body of a man who disappeared into a sinkhole that swallowed his bedroom while he slept in a suburban Tampa home, and the house will be demolished, a public safety official said on Saturday.

Jeff Bush, 36, who is presumed dead, was asleep when the other five members of the household who were getting ready for bed on Thursday night heard a loud crash and Jeff screaming.

"Our data has come back, and there is absolutely no way we can do any kind of recovery without endangering lives of workers," said Hillsborough County Fire Rescue spokeswoman Jessica Damico.

She said demolition of the home would begin early on Sunday.

Authorities had not detected any signs of life using listening devices and cameras at the scene.

"There's nothing compatible with life in this situation," Damico said. "There's no way of possible survival."

Jeff Bush's brother, 35-year-old Jeremy Bush, had feared his brother was lost after jumping into the hole and furiously digging in an effort to find him.

"I thank the Lord for not taking my daughter and the rest of my family," Jeremy said on Saturday.

Jeremy himself had to be rescued from the sinkhole by the first responder to the emergency call, Douglas Duvall of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. When Duvall entered Jeff Bush's bedroom, all he saw was a widening chasm but no sign of Jeff.

"The hole took the entire bedroom," said Duvall. "You could see the bedframe, the dresser, everything was sinking," he said.

Norman Wicker, 48, the father of Jeremy's fianc?e who also lived in the house, ran to get a flashlight and shovel.

"It sounded like a car ran into the back of the house," Wicker said.

(Additional reporting by Brendan O'Brien and Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Todd Eastham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/florida-man-feared-dead-sinkhole-swallows-him-015434162.html

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Satellite detects third radiation belt around Earth

NASA's twin Van Allen Probes caught the temporary formation of an third ring of high-energy particles in the Van Allen radiation belts.

By Nancy Atkinson,?Universe Today / March 1, 2013

Two giant swaths of radiation, known as the Van Allen Belts, surrounding Earth were discovered in 1958. In 2012, observations from the Van Allen Probes showed that a third belt can sometimes appear. The radiation is shown here in yellow, with green representing the spaces between the belts.

NASA/Van Allen Probes/Goddard Space Flight Center

Enlarge

In September of 2012, scientists with the newly launched Van Allen Probes got permission to turn on one of their instruments after only three days in space instead of waiting for weeks, as planned. They wanted to turn on the Relativistic Electron Proton Telescope (REPT) so that its observations would overlap with another mission called SAMPEX (Solar, Anomalous, and Magnetospheric Particle Explorer), that was soon going to de-orbit and re-enter Earth?s atmosphere.

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Now, they are very glad they did, as something happened that no one had ever seen before. A previously unknown third radiation belt formed in the Van Allen Radiation Belts that encircle Earth. The scientist watched ? in disbelief ? while their data showed the extra belt forming, then suddenly disappear, like it had been cut away with a knife. They have not yet seen a recurrence of a third belt.
?

?First we thought our instruments weren?t working correctly,? said Dan Baker, a member of the Van Allen Probes team from the University of Colorado at Boulder, ?but we quickly realized we were seeing a real phenomenon.?

What happened is that shortly before REPT was turned on, solar activity on the Sun had sent energy toward Earth that caused the radiation belts to swell. The energetic particles then settled into a new configuration, showing an extra, third belt extending out into space.

?By the fifth day REPT was on, we could plot out our observations and watch the formation of a third radiation belt,? says Shri Kanekal, the deputy mission scientist for the mission. ?The third belt persisted beautifully, day after day, week after week, for four weeks.?

Since their discovery in 1958, we?ve known that the Van Allen radiation belt is composed of two donut-shaped layers of energetic charged particles around the planet Earth, held in place by its magnetic field.

The scientists are now incorporating what they saw into new models of the radiation belts ? a region that can sometimes swell dramatically in response to incoming energy from the Sun, impacting satellites and spacecraft or pose potential threats to human space flight.

The belts are normally between 200 to 60,000 kilometers above Earth; the new ring was much further out.

Launched on August 30, 2012 as the Radiation Belt Storm Probes mission, the twin probes were renamed in honor of the belts? discoverer, astrophysicist James Van Allen. Observations of the belts have shown they are dynamic and mysterious. However, this type of dynamic three-belt structure was never seen, or even considered, theoretically.

The Energetic Particle, Composition, and Thermal Plasma (ECT) suite of instruments on board the probes were designed to help understand how populations of electrons moving at nearly the speed of light and penetrating ions in space form or change in response to variable inputs of energy from the Sun.

Already, what the team has learned is re-writing the textbooks of what is known about the Van Allen belts.

?These events we?ve recorded are extraordinary and are already allowing us to refine and confirm our theories of belt dynamics in a way that will lead to predictability of their behavior,? said astrophysicst Harlan Spence, principal investigator for the ECT, ?which is important for understanding space weather and ultimately for the safety of astronauts and spacecraft that operate within such a hazardous region of geospace.?

At a press briefing today, the team was asked why this third ring had never been observed before.

?We?ve never had the capability before to see something like this, said Nicky Fox, Van Allen Probes deputy project scientist. ?The fact that we had such an amazing discovery within days of turning them on shows we still have mysteries to discover and explain. What the Van Allen Probes have shown is that the advances in technology and detection made by NASA have already had an almost immediate impact on basic science.?

Baker added, ?As the philosopher Yogi Bera once said, you can observe a lot just by looking. This shows that when you open new eyes on the Universe you can invariably find new things.?

The team will be seeking to understand what the third ring mean for astronauts and satellites, even though the new ring is farther out, the regions in Earth orbit are magnetically connected to the new region that formed.

?Knowing more about this and understanding more about the belt is important for having better models and being able to predict the lifetimes of spacecraft,? said Fox.

?The rings, satellites, the space station are all affected by space weather,? said Mona Kessel, Van Allen Probes program scientist. ?We don?t completely understand what we?ve seen, but we are modeling it and trying to piece this all together, so stay tuned.?

The team has published a paper in the journal Science.

Nancy Atkinson is Universe Today's Senior Editor. She also is the host of the?NASA Lunar Science Institute podcast?and works with the?Astronomy Cast?and?365 Days of Astronomy?podcasts. Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador.

Connect with Nancy on?Facebook?|?Twitter?|?Google +?|?Website

Want to stay on top of all the space news? Follow?@universetoday?on Twitter

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/tjwgOrdgbuw/Satellite-detects-third-radiation-belt-around-Earth

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Fiscal emergency declared in Detroit by Michigan governor

Gov. Rick Snyder has a candidate in mind to take over the struggling city's finances, though he did not identify that person when he made his declaration Friday.

By Steve Neavling,?Reuters / March 1, 2013

Gov. Rick Snyder of Michigan declared a financial emergency in Detroit on Friday, pushing the city closer to having a state-appointed emergency manager control its finances.

Paul Sancya/AP

Enlarge

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder on Friday formally declared Detroit in a fiscal emergency and said he had identified a top candidate to take over financial management of the destitute city.

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The declaration virtually assures that the state of Michigan will assume control of Detroit's books, though Snyder was careful to say there is still a window of 10 days for city leaders to convince him otherwise.

"I believe it's appropriate to declare the city of Detroit in financial emergency," Snyder told a forum of community leaders at a Detroit public television station.

Detroit has faced the steepest population decline of any major American city in recent decades. Once the fifth largest US city, which shone as the birthplace of the US automotive industry and Motown music, it now ranks 18th in size with about 700,000 people - after suffering a 25 percent decline in population between 2000 and 2010.

Snyder would not identify the top candidate to run Detroit or say whether the person was from Michigan or outside the state. Some residents have said he should name an African-American to manage a city that is 83 percent black.

Referring to the candidate, the Republican governor said, "They have vast experience working on relationships, they have strong financial knowledge, strong legal knowledge and that ability to say how do we build teams and work together," the Republican governor said of the candidate.

The emergency manager will eventually have vast powers to develop a financial plan, revise or reject budgets, consolidate departments, reduce or eliminate the salaries of elected officials, sell eligible city assets, lay off workers and renegotiate labor contracts.

With the exodus of residents and jobs as the auto industry contracted, the city has suffered from declining tax revenue and rising crime while saddled with the infrastructure and labor costs of a bygone era.

"We went from the top to the bottom over the last 50 or 60 years," Snyder said of the city.

The immediate reaction of Detroit officials and residents was skepticism about the move, which would strip the elected leadership of the city of much of their power.

City Council President Pro Tem Gary Brown said he was opposed to the move because it, "eliminates the democratically elected leadership in our city."

Detroit officials now have 10 days to request a hearing with the governor about his decision. Snyder said the hearing would be held on March 12. The nine-member city council has been preparing to argue that Detroit should not have an emergency manager and could also appeal the decision in state court.

After the hearing, Snyder will either confirm or revoke the declaration of emergency. If he confirms the emergency, as expected, management of Detroit's fiscal affairs would revert to a board composed of three state officials who will be Snyder appointees. The board would formally appoint an emergency manager, although in practice Snyder will make the final decision.

A court appeal of Snyder's decision would not delay the appointment of a manager, who could ultimately recommend Detroit file for bankruptcy in the largest such municipal filing in US history.

Snyder based his emergency declaration on a report of experts that described a city sinking under more than $14 billion of debt and on track to end its current fiscal year $100 million in the red. Snyder said that Detroit's creditors should be brought to the table to renegotiate debt terms by possibly delaying or relieving payments.

"This should be part of the strategy that needs to take place," he said.

A Michigan law that takes effect March 28 will allow existing emergency financial managers to remain in place and give them additional powers, including the ability to revise or terminate collective bargaining agreements.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/4qyJdiWfFjM/Fiscal-emergency-declared-in-Detroit-by-Michigan-governor

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SpaceX rocket develops problem mid-flight

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) ? The SpaceX Dragon capsule has developed a problem on its way to the International Space Station.

The trouble cropped up nine minutes after Friday's launch from Cape Canaveral.

SpaceX's billionaire founder Elon Musk is reporting via Twitter that there's a problem with the thrusters on the spacecraft. He says flight controllers are trying to override the system and fix the problem.

Musk is monitoring the flight from SpaceX Mission Control in California.

More than 1 ton of space station supplies is aboard the Dragon. It's supposed to arrive at the space station Saturday morning.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/spacex-rocket-launched-problem-thrusters-155943133.html

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Beppe Grillo's protest group wins Italian hearts

ROME (AP) ? It says a lot about the political mood in Italy that when an unidentified package arrived at comic-turned-political leader Beppe Grillo's house, the bomb squad was called.

The package, delivered Thursday, actually contained bottles of Sardinian liquor ? a congratulations gift for his group's meteoric rise in Italy's latest election. The vote did not deliver a clear winner but showed Grillo's anti-establishment 5 Star Movement to be the top vote-getter among political parties.

One thing is clear: Three-party gridlock creating the first hung parliament in modern Italian history has raised political tensions even as Italy's economic situation continues to deteriorate. New figures released Friday show the recession-mired Italian economy contracted 2.4 percent last year, while Italian unemployment rose to a record 11.7 percent in January and 39 percent for youths.

No party won a clear majority in both houses, but if there was a moral winner it was Grillo and his grassroots movement.

"If there was a winner in this election, it was surely Beppe Grillo. Grillo did well from Piedmont to Sicily. He did well in all regions of Italy, with few exceptions he surpassed 20 percent of the vote and in some places 30 percent. It is a national party, it did well everywhere," said Edoardo Bressanelli, a political science professor at Rome's LUISS University.

Grillo himself appeared surprised by the breadth of his success -- along with it possibility for his movement to play a role in forming a new government.

"He expected to be important, but he thought he would be a hard opposition. He didn't expect to be a big player," Bressanelli said.

A total of 163 "Grillini" have won seats: 109 of 630 seats in Italy's lower house and 54 of 315 seats in its upper house. They rode a wave of popular anger at austerity measures, an overprivileged political class, a series of corporate scandals and an underlying absence of public morality. They are not numerous enough to form a government ? Pier Luigi Bersani's center-left coalition won control of the lower house and is expected to get the first shot ? but those loyal to Grillo certainly will have a key say in how Italy's new government is formed. Grillo won't hold office himself due to a manslaughter conviction for a 1981 traffic accident that left three dead.

Despite market unease over Italy's political gridlock, it will be weeks until President Giorgio Napolitano begins convening the parliamentary groups to form a government, after the newly elected parliament convenes on March 15 and elects its leaders.

In the jockeying ahead of the new legislature, the 64-year-old Grillo hasn't given up his edgy, biting tones or his uncompromising positions. So far he has been unwilling to become an ally of either of Italy's traditional parties ? the center-left led by Bersani or the conservatives led by former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi ? that he has harangued from his comic's stage for years.

"Bersani is a dead man talking," Grillo wrote on a blog post after the Democratic Party leader made overtures toward him. Grillo went on to call Bersani "a political stalker" for making "indecent proposals instead of stepping down, as anyone in his place would do. He managed to lose while winning."

Grillo instead says his movement should for a government. He says his forces will not vote to support any new government but would back legislation by conscience, one piece at a time. The withholding of a confidence vote limits the possibilities of forming a solid majority in the Senate, where the votes are split.

Bressanalli said one possible outcome is that Grillo could form a limited alliance with the center-left to achieve very specific agenda items before going into a new election soon.

Grillo has been clear about his goals. He wants to cut the number of parliamentarians in half, reduce their salaries, pay unemployed Italians a "citizen's stipend" of ?1,000 ($1,300) a month, pass an anti-corruption law and create incentives to help the small businesses that power Italy's economy.

He also has called for a referendum on the euro currency shared by Italy and 16 other European nations.

The Grillo lawmakers indicate they will shun the traditional perks of office, in which lawmakers spend lavishly on hotels and expensive dishes like caviar pasta while in Rome. Instead they will share accommodations and seek out vegetarian fare.

But all lack experience, and that makes them an unknown quantity.

"We know nothing, absolutely nothing" about these new lawmakers, noted political commentator Sergio Romano said.

For all the revolution his forces promise to bring, the former comic also is showing new signs of reasonableness.

After criticizing Italy's president, Giorgio Napolitano, for years, he praised him Thursday for defending Italy amid cutting remarks from a German politician who said Italy had elected "two clowns " ? a reference to Grillo and to Berlusconi. Napolitano, in Germany on a state visit, canceled a dinner with the politician after the comment.

"In these years he has been criticized for many, in my opinion, mistaken choices," Grillo wrote on his blog. "But in Germany I saw my president of the Republic. An Italian who stood up straight. Hats off!"

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/beppe-grillos-protest-group-wins-italian-hearts-162528463.html

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