The one thing that could hamper major green initiatives

Mining can be of great use in the promotion of green initiatives. Mining is important in finding rare earth metals necessary for refining petroleum, reducing energy use and producing environmentally-friendly vehicles. These metals are widely used in gadgets and consumer goods, specially in a new breed of technology and products branded as clean and green.

For example, the rare earth neodymium is an important element in the electric motor of the Toyota Prius. In addition, each battery required in the Prius uses lanthanum, another type of rare earth. As demand for items and equipment like Prius drastically escalates, a shortage of 40,000-tonne per year of this type of metals is expected by 2015.

There are plans to resume the extraction and refinery of thousands of tons of rare earth in the United States. The open-pit mine in Mountain Pass, CA has been proven to contain the world’s richest reserve of rare earth metals. It is an undertaking intended to replace China, the leading rare earth producer, which is currently reducing its exports of the products due to increasing local demand for it.

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Filed under: Information, Sustainability , China rare earth production, Commodities trade, Green debacle, Green Innovation, Green products, Hybrid car production, Rare earth Metals, US rare earth production

Are we sharing too much information online?

As social media continues to play a bigger role in mainstream culture, we once again assess if we’re actually sharing too much information online. Jennifer Maderazo, in an article she wrote two years ago, Are We Sharing Too Much Information via Social Media?, says “for all of its positive points, social media might also entice users (including me) into lowering our guard and sharing too much of ourselves with an audience of unknown observers”. She explains how the question “What are you doing?“, a statement used on family and friends is nearing its obsolescence in utility because people broadcast, for the whole world to see-what they do, think about or feel online all the time. Even if not everyone in your personal or professional network use social networks, the sheer number of those who do makes you think if social networking is a platform people patronize that exchanges privacy for the sheer pleasure of getting attention.

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Filed under: Networks, Social Media , Big Brother, Internet Privacy, Online Sharing, Public Eyes, social networking, Social Networks

To understand a principle, infer from other disciplines

Herd behavior is a principled used to explain crowd movement. It was first discuss in W.D. Hamilton’s paper, Geometry For the Selfish Herd. The evolutionary biologist explained that an individual reduces danger or risk to his/herself by being as close as possible to the group that’s fleeing a particular event, person or place. Because of this, what seems like a unit acting in unison is actually unorganized behavior of individuals trying to protect themselves. This principle of biology is now commonly used to analyze a market crash by explaining investor sentiment.

Seed magazine has an interesting article that addresses how scientists look outside their science to understand relationships within.

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Filed under: Art, Information, Science , Business and Science, Correlation, Herd Behavior, Interdisciplinary, Theoretical Inferrence, W.D. Hamilton

The new auto industry breakdown

Personal Finance Image from Mint.com

Filed under: Automotive

Building Your Version of Facebook (or LinkedIn, for that matter)

Engaging your customers in a dialogue is what social media is all about. ENGAGEMENTdb ranks the world’s top brands and their measures their ability to leverage social media to interact with customers. As consumers gain more influence through user-generated media and has expanded their own individual reach in their personal networks, the need to connect through this medium effectively will soon be a requirement for effective marketing.

There are two ways to approach social media marketing though. First, is by being a participant. You can leverage the tools offered, or made available by third-party developers, to connect with your consumers. The fan pages of Facebook and the array of tools, from HootSuite to SocialOomph, for Twitter enables you to measure, track and penetrate the current base of the two most famous social networking sites.

The second way, however, is to build your own social network. For example, Ning let’s you create social networks while allowing you to join the many social networks available, while SocialGo does the same while also offering a concierge service where they will design, configure and customized the network for you.

The benefit here is you’re not only able to engage into conversations but actually controls the platform where the conversation happens. By doing so you allow your company to capitalize on the viral spread that can occur in a social networking site and serve as a starting point for dialogue on matters relating to your niche or core competency.

Filed under: Information, Social Media , Brand Engagement, Branding, customer dialogue, customer engagement, Facebook, HootSuite, LinkedIn, Marketing, Ning, Social Media, social media engagement, social network development, social network marketing, SocialGo, SocialOomph, viral marketing

Video: A Valuable Idea On Developing In-House Talent

Human resource costs is one of the big line items in companies’ income statements and it’s no surprise that any company, whether it’s an SME or a Fortune 500 corporation spends hundreds to thousands of dollars in searching for the right employee, for the right position with the right qualifications and attitude.

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Filed under: Information , Human Capital, Human Resource Development, Human Resource Investments, Information

Exhibiting eco design from the world’s rooftops!

One of the primary ways sustainability in business and in culture can be exhibited is through the development of eco-friendly industrial architecture. Last year, New York City welcomed the opening of one of the most environmentally friendly buildings on the  planet, the Bank of America Tower at One Bryant Park. The building uses half the energy that other similar office buildings consumes and can generate its own power on site through a 5.1 megawatt cogeneration systen.

As environmental consciousness grains a stronger foothold in business and corporate policies, the world at large is producing architectural innovations that fuses high-quality aesthetic design with energy efficiency.

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Filed under: Sustainability , Eco design, Energy Conservation, Energy Efficiency, Environmental Sustainability, Sustainable Architecture

Recession, social media adds risk on companies’ data loss issues

Now that there are more ways for employees to casually interact online, companies cites an increasing risk of exposing sensitive data to the general public. A recent study shows a more than 10% increase in the number of companies “impacted by the exposure of sensitive or embarrassing information.”  Although email is still the number one source of data leaks, social networking sites like  Facebook,  YouTube, blogs and Twitter contribute to the risk of company employees divulging proprietary and confidential information  online.  

Aside from the technological aspect, the current economic state brings risks to companies’ data concerns. Data leakage caused by the recession have been attributed to layoffs, budget constraints and resignations. 

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Filed under: Information, Networks , Company Security, Data Leakage, Privacy Issues, Social Media

Baskin-Robbins branding for two markets

Baskin-Robbins is creating two new brands for its eat-in outlets aimed at appealing to the higher strata of consumers and for those seeking some cold delight on a budget.

A high-end concept store featuring a specialty desserts, a coffee bar, pastries and self-serve sundae bar will be launched to reach upscale consumers.  For a more broader, penny conscious market, a kiosk-style soft-serve ice cream bar is in the works. This strategy gives the ice cream brand a chance to experiment on the best way to penetrate either segment of the market.

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Filed under: Customer Service, Marketing , Baskin Robbins, Branding, Upscale Demographic