Such demands by employers could set a precedent for personal and online privacy, a situation where all the power is in one corner, making it difficult for people to get a job. And on the flip side, such action can open employers to claims of discrimination.

Last week, in an effort to make it illegal for an employer to compel or coerce access to any private information stored anywhere on the Internet, Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.) and Charles E. Schumer (D., N.Y.) filed the Password Protection Act of 2012 in the U.S. Senate (SB 3074). Reps. Martin Heinrich (D., N.M.) and Ed Perlmutter (D., Colo.) introduced an identical bill, HB 5684, in the House of Representatives.

Also on the federal level is House Bill 5050, the Social Networking Online Protection Act, submitted by Rep. Eliot Engel (D., N.Y. 17), intended to prevent people already employed, seeking a job or admittance to schools or universities from being required to divulge their so-called “digital footprint” to potential employers or educational institutions.

Several states have climbed on the bandwagon, including…

Continue reading Think It’s OK to Ask for Employees’ Facebook Logins? Think Again

The report, from 2012 Thumbtack.com Small Business Survey, presented in partnership with the Kauffman Foundation, offers a roadmap — quite literally — of the friendliest places to conduct business in the U.S., on a website that enables visitors to check the business climate “score” of any county in any state.

For instance, Idaho, Texas, Oklahoma and Utah all earned A+ scores in rankings for states most friendly to small businesses. On the bottom end of the report card are California, Hawaii, Vermont and Rhode Island. Each received failing grades.

The survey asked about tax rates, simplified licensing regulations, zoning laws, environmental constraints, and established training and networking programs.

Having recently attended a conference in Greenville, S.C., I was most interested to see how the northern area of the Palmetto State fared. I’d witnessed first-hand how this TechStars/Global Accelerator Network-city caters to start-ups and small businesses.

I wasn’t surprised to see “Upstate” South Carolina receive a…

Continue reading Rating the Best — and Worst — States to Do Business

Take a quick look at Jobs’ keynote address introducing the iPhone during the 2007 Macworld Conference & Expo. Visuals were used to illustrate a point, not to fill space or entertain. And no matter how brief or long the Jobs-led dog-and-pony show, you left the venue with a full understanding of what was presented.

We can all take some communications cues from Steve Jobs. Here are five that I recently came across from Jim Confalone, co-founder and creative director of ProPoint Graphics, a New York-based professional presentation design firm.

1. Know the one critical point in your presentation — then make it clear. Steve Jobs recognized that the human mind couldn’t process a mountain of material in one sitting. Any information or data that isn’t driving a specific message can be a distraction that weakens the impact of your presentation. Use only visuals that support your one point.

2. Acknowledge why people are listening to you. Your audience is in the room for a particular reason. It’s critical to understand why they’re listening to you so you can tune your presentation in a manner that makes them more receptive listeners. The same talk might play out very differently if it’s given to shareholders, engineers…

Continue reading 5 Tips on How to Present Like Steve Jobs

More than half of U.S. consumers (55 percent) polled for the 2012 American Express Global Customer Service Barometer (PDF) say they’ve turned their backs on at least one potential purchase in the past year as a result of what they saw as poor service. And while only 17 percent of those surveyed say they’ve used social media to seek a resolution to their customer service query, this savvy group carries a lot of weight in how companies should respond.

Why? A whopping 83 percent of consumers who use social media to try to resolve a service or support issue have bowed out of a purchase when they have a bad service.

What’s more, social media users say they spend 21 percent more with companies that provide great service. And these particular users say they’re far more likely to tell others about their experience.

For example, consumers who use social media for customer service will tell an average of 42 others about a good experience — and tell an average of 53 people about a…

Continue reading Social Media Users Are Squeakier Wheels When It Comes to Customer Service

Nielson’s latest State of The Media (PDF) report shows that women are 8 percent more likely than men to create or update their own personal blog. They’re also 18 percent more likely to become a fan or follow a brand on a social site such as Facebook or Twitter.

When it comes to who has at least one social networking profile up and running, the women are 6 percent more likely to have accomplished that task. Same holds for users who actively follow a celebrity online. Again, women took the lead, proving to be 15 percent more likely to follow the stars. Women were also more likely to have used the Internet to buy a product they saw on television (12 percent) than men.

So the women are the alpha players on the social media playground. The question for entrepreneurs and small-business owners who depend on social media in their marketing is:…

Continue reading Women Are More Social — When It Comes to Social Media, That Is

Julie Garland McLellan, a leading governance consultant and the author of the new book Dilemmas, Dilemmas II, is happy to show entrepreneurs how to do just that. The boardroom authority has lots of experience, having spent a lifetime resolving conflict in the boardroom and examining different modes of raising capital.

Here are Garland McLellan’s top 10 tips for recruiting and retaining a board:

1. Use a crystal ball: Think long term and recruit directors who can govern the company you aspire to grow into rather than the small business you might be now.

2. Find a go-to guy or gal: Have at least one director who understands boards and governance (preferably one who is trained or chartered by the National Association of Corporate Directors). Don’t rely solely on the lawyers and accountants to have governance skills.

3. Create job descriptions: Establish a clear job definition for directors (executive and non-executive) and define the role the board will play in strategy, risk management, etc.

4. No playing favorites:…

Continue reading 10 Tips for Forming a Board of Directors

But wearables are still far from mainstream, and the next round of product engineering will require exploiting the relative strengths of the “big five platforms” — i.e., Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook.

So says a new report from Forrester Research Inc., adding that without these Blue Chip Companies, wearables — defined as “devices worn on or near the body that sense and relay information” — are just another passing fad.

According to the Forrester report, five platforms are the only game in town — each with its own specialty:

Apple scores big in marketing, channel and brand, and has the best chance to take a product mainstream. Just look at how the iPad overtook a decade’s worth of tablet PCs in less than a year.

Google’s…

Continue reading Building a Profitable Wearable Device May Depend on Who You Partner With

But the world’s most popular social network recently opened the floodgates for businesses by beta testing Facebook Offers, a new ad format tailored for merchants and small enterprises. When it finally comes online, this ad tool will enable your Facebook fans the opportunity to obtain discounts and offers from your business by clicking a “Get Offer” button appearing below special posts you send to their News Feed.

Users can then print and redeem your Offer at point-of-purchase, or show the Offer at your place of business using their mobile phone.

Unlike Facebook Check-In Deals, Facebook Offers doesn’t require users to check-in to a merchant’s physical location in order to take advantage of an offer. That’s likely to make Offers appealing to consumers who are wary of their Facebook Friends knowing where they are and what they’re buying.

Related: How Facebook’s ‘Offers’ and ‘Reach Generator’ Can Deliver More for Less

For now, Facebook is making Offers available to a limited number of…

Continue reading Facebook May Have Finally Nailed Local Offers

STELLAService, a New York City-based firm that rates online retail businesses for their customer service, went undercover and posted service-related questions on 20 retailers’ Facebook walls or in the comments section below the page owner’s own status updates.

Some retailers removed the customer question from their wall without ever commenting, and another five questions remained unanswered for at least two days. Only seven businesses took the time to answer questions posted within 48 hours.

Eliminating or ignoring customers’ service-related questions posted on your Facebook Page is unprofessional at best and significantly damaging to your brand at worst. Such practices ensure only that the issue will remain unresolved and the customer will grow only angry. What brick-and-mortar company would allow an employee to walk away from a customer who has just asked them a question? None that I’m aware of, but that’s exactly what some retailers are doing online.

Businesses and brands that choose to correspond actively with their customers on Facebook will…

Continue reading Businesses Can’t Afford to Neglect Customer Service on Facebook