How to promote a post yourself on Facebook?

 The picture shows the option of "Promote" available on a picture for users to bump up their important status updates high up in the news feeds of their friends

For all those frequenting Facebook, the social networking website can now turn into a forum for promoting themselves as by paying a few bucks, people can now use the media for highlighting something they want to.

If you want more of your friends to see your funny one liner or personal announcement, pony up little cash and you will get more visibility.

Although the price has not yet been fixed but Facebook already soft-launched its latest paid product ‘promoted posts’ yesterday as part of its effort to mop up more revenues.

For a small fee, the new feature lets US users bump up their important status updates high up in the news feeds of their friends.

Facebook says the feature is targeted towards the everyday user, those with fewer than 5,000 followers, rather than big brands, and should be used for things like yard sales, wedding engagements and other personal events.

It is currently available to US users only.

While the feature is garnering mixed reviews, it’s certainly not the first social network to promote status updates to those that are willing to pay a small fee.

Earlier, Twitter began charging fee for promoted posts after being ridiculed for years because the service was not cash positive.

Similarly, New York-based blogging service Tumblr recently unveiled a program that allows users to pin blog posts to the top of their followers’ news feeds for a day.

The feature was reportedly unveiled to New Zealand users in May and has since rolled out to more than 20 countries. 

However, the announcement has been met with mixed reactions, and those who oppose it have keyed in on one of Facebook’s core values of providing services free of cost.

Focusing on telecommunications business

ABIBA Systems, founded in 2006, is a specialist telecommunications business intelligence and analytics software firm, with a product and services portfolio. Headed by Sathya Karthik, it is an organisation which helps telcos across the globe realise business profitability through our solutions and consultant driven approach. The company claims to be differentiating its business intelligence (BI) and analytics offerings through domain centric approach and business user driven solutions, which can also co-exist with existing data and BI solutions. ABIBA has invested its effort and resources into defining the product framework to meet the business requirements, the technology used, the business challenges it addresses and the user interface functionalities supported.

Need for your business

The telecom industry is unique from other industries in many aspects in terms of regulations, functions employed, data environment, technology requirements, subscriber behaviour etc. But operators trying to customise generic business intelligence and analytics solutions to the telecom sector are not able to exploit its full potential. Customisation leads to prolonged deployments and huge costs. Even post customisation, most of the generic solutions fail to address the specific requirements of operators. In today's dynamic and competitive telecom landscape, it is essential for decision makers in telcos to have absolute clarity on their performance across functions to take meaningful decisions. ABIBA helps telcos achieve clarity and insights of their operations, by introducing TeleViewTM, an integrated management performance analysis system for the executive of telecom industry. This business performance analysis tool has been developed by drawing on deep understanding of the data generated in telecom from diverse data sources like MSC, billing, CDRs, prepaid systems, CRM etc. It equips the managers in telecom industry with critical enterprise information which translates into power and speed required to make actionable business intelligence a reality -even in real time. 

Our product TeleView comes integrated with a database, data capture and data processing component. Based on a modular architecture it covers different operational areas like activation, usage and prepaid recharges. TeleView comes with pre built telecom specific processes and users can also define new metrics and charts with the help of the dashboard. It acts as an effective decision support system for the middle and the senior management in a dynamic telecom market. 

Hence our solutions, pre-built for telecom, address all these shortcomings of the generic BI & analytics solutions.

Initial Challenges

For the first couple of years some of the challenges that we faced were changing technologies, acquiring and retaining resource – both technical and at domain levels. We were in pursuit of building solutions rather than products. Hence, our solutions had to showcase how they differentiated from the other solutions in the market. However, for the past 3 years our challenge has been to acquire customers, to generate and grow revenues of the organisation.

How unique is the idea?

We are probably the only telecom BI-analytics solution providers in India with a full suite of offerings from basic BI to advanced analytics. Analytics has increasingly become a major part of business analysis as data management becomes increasingly excess and complex. At ABIBA Systems, we provide analytical solutions for different industry verticals. Using the right combination of technology and domain knowledge, our solutions help business users understand the problem areas, identify additional business opportunities, implement strategies and track the performance of their businesses. 

Further, analytics helps to understand churn by analyzing churn in different customer segments. Some of the analysis includes –

Analysis of Overall churn - This is done using graphs. This can be done over a period of time OR for a specific time period. The patterns and trends in the graphs reveal unsuspected information and hence analysis can be done. 

Analysis of segment level churns - How is churn in different segments like regions, products and customer categories? Is there any pattern in the churn of fresh activations across distributors and retailers for prepaid subscribers? 

Finding out the segments with highest and lowest churn would help focus customer retention efforts. 

Using analytical models, we can predict the likelihood of churn of specific customers OR customer groups. This process is called churn scoring and these predictions are based on previous customer behaviour and statistics. The behaviour of past churn customers is understood by performing several processes on historic data. This is applied to active customer database to predict the future churns. 

We provide solutions for segmentation and profiling of customer information. Segmentation of the customer base using multiple variables – demographic, psychographic and behavioural – is a standard analytical approach used in many industries to identify the customers with similar behaviour.

Finances

We are internally funded now. We are in the growth phase where we are open to external funding to rapidly scale up our business. I am looking for a fit in investor profile in terms of sector-funding size-investment horizon amongst potential investors.

Learnings

Focusing on domain strengths pays off in the longer term. Staying alive to shifts in market paradigms is important for success of the business. Identifying the key customer influencers and aligning our strategy with that eases the customer acquisition challenges. Invest in people – they are the best resources of an organization.

Future Plans

To grow ABIBA into a mid-sized software company by achieving higher revenue growth in the next 3 years. Expand the geographical presence. Build industry leading solutions for emerging business areas – social network analytics, big data, cloud and mobility. Work on our SaaS offering to strengthen the revenue streams.

Cambridge University in a list of QS world university rankings for 2011-2012.

There was little reason for India to smile when the prestigious QS World University Rankings were announced recently. No Indian institute figured in the world’s top 200 universities of the list of 700 that were ranked under the scheme.

For the first time, America's prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology grabbed the top slot from UK's Cambridge University in a list of world university rankings for 2011-2012. However, four of the six top slots in a global university “league table” by QS World University Rankings were occupied by the UK universities.

With MIT leading the list, Cambridge University slipped to the second spot and Harvard still down to the third rank.

University College, London (UCL), Oxford and Imperial took the fourth, fifth and sixth places respectively. The seventh place was awarded to Yale University, followed by University of Chicago, Princeton University and the tenth position to California Institute of Technology. 

The QS World University Rankings is a ranking of the world’s top 700 universities by Quacquarelli Symonds using a method that has published annually since 2004.

The QS rankings were originally published in collaboration with Times Higher Education from 2004 to 2009 as the Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings. In 2010, Times Higher Education and QS ended their collaboration. QS assumed sole publication of the existing methodology, while Times Higher Education created a new ranking methodology with Thomson Reuters, published as Times Higher Education World University Rankings.

The QS rankings rate the world's top 400 universities, evaluating each institution's strengths in research, teaching, the employability of its graduates and international outlook. While India is yet to secure a place in the top 200, other Asian countries such as China, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan sit comfortably among the top 100 of the rankings table, led by University of Hong Kong (22) and University of Tokyo (25).

“If we are serious about staying on top, the government must concentrate investment where it will have the most impact — in our world-class research-intensive universities,” director general of the Russell Group of research-based universities Dr. Wendy Piatt said.

In 2010, the Indian Institute of Delhi was ranked 202 in the list but it has fallen to 218th this time. Similarly, IIT-Bombay (was 187, now 225); IIT-Madras (was 262, now 281); IIT-Kanpur ( 249, 306); 

IIT-Kharagpur (311, 341); IIT-Roorkee (428, 438) and IIT-Guwahati (501, 563). 

The other universities have followed suit – University of Delhi (was 371, now 398); University of Mumbai (493, 578); University of Calcutta (506, 649) and University of Pune (578, 661).

India has scored very badly on quality research and fall in all the universities’ academic reputation. The employer reputation of IIT-Bombay, IIT-Kanpur, IIT-Kharagpur, IIT-Guwahati and universities of Mumbai, Calcutta and Pune has slid backwards too. For the academic and employer ratings, inputs from as many as 33,000 academics and 16,785 employers from more than 130 countries were taken by QS, the largest surveys of their kind ever conducted.

Harbhajan inspire India to a massive win

A combative spinner making his comeback to the blue shade after a year’s hiatus and a young batsman trying to cement his place combined wonderfully well to help India defeat England by 90 runs in an ICC World Twenty20 Group A match at the R. Premadasa Stadium here on Sunday. 

Harbhajan Singh’s four for 12 a provided the perfect platform for India to stun England into submission and top the group. Chasing India’s 170 for four, England collapsed to 80 in 14.4 overs. 

Harbhajan last played for India in the second Test against England at Nottingham in August 2011. Since then, poor form and injury woes had left the off-spinner grappling for a toehold. 

A stint in the English counties and innumerable days later, he winged his way back to the Indian squad and England again played a key role in his cricketing journey as Harbhajan’s spell derailed Stuart Broad’s men on Sunday. 

Irfan Pathan made early inroads, scalping Alex Hales and Luke Wright, and once Harbhajan castled Eoin Morgan — the southpaw tried to cut a delivery that was too close to his body — there was a buzz in the Indian ranks. 

That wicket in his very first over gave a huge fillip to the spinner, and with Piyush Chawla too bringing his leg-breaks into play, England was cornered. 

Chawla cleaned up Jonny Bairstow and also nailed Craig Kieswetter, England’s top-scorer for the day.

Harbhajan bowled unchanged and his line that threatened the stumps completely unsettled the English batsmen. 

They beat a steady retreat much to the delight of the Indians while the comeback hero flung his hands heavenwards in thanks. Earlier, Rohit infused some belated energy to the Indian innings before the finish line. Rohit’s knock — as is always the case when he is on song — had elegance written all over it. 

When he turned the face of the bat a touch late and swatted Jade Dernbach for six over point in the last over, it revealed the gift of timing he innately possesses. 

That strike in the last over, which went for 17 runs, was part of India’s delayed flourish after much of its innings was marked by a steady trot rather than a gallop. 

Ahead of the match, India effected three changes with Harbhajan, Piyush and Ashok Dinda replacing Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan and R. Ashwin. 

And once Stuart Broad opted to field, Gambhir and Irfan strode out as India’s opening pair. 

Unlike his recent diffidence at the crease, Gambhir (45) looked more assured, as was evident in the fours — a pull and a dab — he struck off Dernbach. 

At the other end, Irfan struggled and lost his timber to speedster Steven Finn. 

Gambhir then allied with Virat Kohli (40) and took the innings forward at a steady clip. 

In the midst of a rich vein of form, Kohli’s batting rhythm was top-notch. 

He cover drove Finn for four and played shots that reflected power and grace. 

Meanwhile, despite the odd four, Gambhir inexplicably failed to slot in the higher gear, and the scoring rate dropped once Graeme Swann stepped in and dismissed Kohli. 

It was then left to Rohit to be the pivot around which the Indian innings revolved. 

He did not disappoint on a night that was truly remarkable for him and Harbhajan.

Fifth Avenue Apple store for the release of the iPhone 5

Consumers wait in line outside the Fifth Avenue Apple store for the release of the iPhone 5, in New York on Friday.

It was possible to walk into a store Saturday and buy an iPhone 5, but it took some hunting. 

Some stores reported having Apple’s newest phone available for walk-up customers, though not all versions of it. A random check of about a dozen stores indicated that most were sold out.

A Verizon store in New York City said the 32 and 64 gigabyte models, but not the 16 GB version, were available. A Sprint store in a suburb of St. Paul, Minnesota, said all but the most expensive 64 GB iPhone 5s were sold out. 

“Before we were even scheduled to open, we were pretty much out,” said Eric Rayburn, a worker at a Sprint store in Phoenix. 

The iPhone 5 went on sale Friday, igniting intense interest around the world. Apple’s website said phones bought online would ship in three to four weeks. Verizon’s website said they would ship by October 19. 

It’s hardly uncommon for supply shortages to make it difficult to get new iPhones in the first days after their release. For Apple, the iPhone introduction is the biggest revenue driver of the year. Analysts say the company will likely sell millions of phones in the first few days. 

There were long lines Friday at Apple’s stores in Asia, Europe and North America as customers pursued the new smartphone. Apple and the phone companies haven’t provided sales figures from the first day. Apple is expected to announce early results Monday 

Last year, Apple said on the Monday after the launch of the iPhone 4S that it had sold 4 million in the first three days.

A view of the Apps on the Google Nexus 7 tablet

Google is hoping to bring in a large cross section of developers in India on to the Android ecosystem.

Google Play, the Apps market for Android mobile operating system, has added India as one of the countries from where developers could publish paid Apps. 

Until now, developers in India were permitted to put out only free Applications. This severely affected the business models of developers, as there was no incentive to put out innovative Apps.

With the extension of rights now, Google is hoping to bring in a large cross section of developers in the country on to the Android ecosystem.

``The move was overdue for some time now,’’ said Ashish Sinha, founder of Pluggd.in, one of the prominent websites focused on local start-ups. 

“This will pave the way for creating business models around innovative Apps. Android is big in the Indian smart devices space, and this will help fuel development of the localised Apps, too,” he added. 

Until now, developers were figuring out ways to circumvent the restriction. In some cases, this meant having to travel to the U.S. to create a local bank account there in the name of relatives and friends or even floating a company there for this purpose. 

On its official Google Developer support page — https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer — Google listed India as one of the countries from where developers could register as Google Check-out merchants and sell paid Applications. 

Next Wave Multimedia in Chennai, which has published more than 10 Apps each on both the Apple iTunes and the Android Marketplace over past three years, was one of the early entrants in the mobile Apps space. 

The company’s director P. R. Rajendran said: “We have lived with this condition for some time now where we literally run two companies, and are subject to dual taxation. 

This is a welcome move on the part of Google,” he said. 

N. Madhumathi, who runs e-learning service Empower, said the barrier was one of the reasons why her company could not launch its Android app ‘Videos to Learn’ that had e-learning packages for school and college students. 

“It was not viable for a small company like ours to launch operations in the U.S. just to put the App on Google Play. Besides, our App is India-specific in content. This will only help us now.”

The developer community plays a vital role in the booming smart device ecosystems. Android claims to have over 6.50 lakh Apps in its Google Play directory while Apple claims to have more than seven lakh Apps on iTunes.

eBay unveiled a new logo after 17 yrs

E-commerce giant eBay on Friday unveiled a new logo to reflect the changing nature of online marketplace globally. The online shopping portal has had the same logo since the 1995 when it was first launched.

The new logo was unveiled by the company’s President Devin Wenig. “Our refreshed logo reflects the global online marketplace eBay is today and symbolises a dynamic future,” Wenig said in a statement.

The US-listed company’s original logo was an unevenly-spaced jumble of both lower-case and capped letters, each overlapping one another. The new one, however, features linear and evenly-spaced letters.

It reflects “a global online marketplace that offers a cleaner, more contemporary and consistent experience, with innovation that makes buying and selling easier and more enjoyable,” he said.

eBay has retained some key elements of the previous logo, including the colour palette.

“Our vibrant eBay colours and touching letters represent our connected and diverse eBay community — more than 100 million active users and 25 million sellers globally and growing,” he said.

The new look will begin to appear across eBay sites across the globe from next quarter.

Founded in 1995, eBay is one of the notable success stories of the dot-com boom and is now a multi-billion dollar business with operations localised in multiple countries.

eBay’s logo revamp comes just a few weeks after technology giant Microsoft came out with its new look after 25 years.

In the last one year, the Indian e-commerce space has grown tremendously with the mushrooming of e-retailers like Snapdeal, Fashionandyou and Flipkart, among others.

eBay also said it is bullish on mobile commerce.

“Our mobile apps have been downloaded 100 million times, and this year we expect over $ 10 billion in volume transacted via mobile,” it added.