There’s no way to calculate how much (if any?) money Facebook helped make Fine Line this past week – but I can tell you that it certainly saved us at least $300 and a major headache. And all I did was ask a simple question.

Yep, everyone take a step back from your “Social Media Business Plan” and breathe a little bit. Sometimes, we’ve just got to remember what things like Facebook and Twitter were originally built for… simple social networking, not public relations plans or mock-advertising divisions. That stuff came later.

But I’m getting ahead of myself – let me explain. Two weeks ago one of Fine Line’s members (we won’t say who, because he’s kind of embarrassed) lost his iPhone. Lots of searching and a few dozen phone calls to AT&T later we confirmed what we’d figured from the start – we weren’t getting the original phone back. So, we had to start working on getting a replacement model (we didn’t have any iPhones laying around that we could tie the number to).

We checked with AT&T, who told us that a replacement iPhone would cost us more than $400 (plus activation fees) because we weren’t eligible for an update yet. Our sales rep put in a diligent effort and Tom scoured the Internet for solutions, but ultimate the story was the same. If we were going to replace the missing phone with a new iPhone, it’d cost over $400.

Not something we were looking forward to doing, to say the least. So, a day or two away from being forced to drop a bunch of money on a phone (and then wait a week+ to get it from the distributor, effectively handcuffing the phone-less member of the team) I decided it was Hail Mary time. I fired up my Facebook and threw up the plea “Does anyone have a spare iPhone they’d be willing to sell?”

The response nearly immediate and exactly what I was looking for. A friend of mine had an old iPhone with a damaged (but functioning) screen that she was willing to offer us at a much more affordable rate than $400.

We went over, checked it out, and left with a phone. AT&T was happy to change the SIM card and activate the phone less than an hour later, and our team member had a phone again. We replaced the touch screen earlier this week. Our phones are back at full strength, and we saved better than $300 and another week’s worth of frustration in doing so.

Who do we have to thank for it? Well, my friend, obviously. But also the simple benefits of Facebook and its ability to reach a mass audience quickly, easily and without cost. It would have taken me hours upon of calling around to find this phone (and that’s even assuming I thought to reach out to this person). Instead, all I had to do was throw up one post, go about my business and wait for someone to find me.

Score one for social networking.

“Hey, what are you up to,” is something that we commonly hear or say over the phone when answered. People are becoming more and more interested in what other people are doing. That one sentence has the potential for many great things.

Once replied to, you may find something out about that person that you may have never known. Relationships are created or strengthened in this scenario.

This is no different than the online social communities of Facebook or most especially Twitter, the fastest growing social community online.

For example, if a real estate agent was at a party or social gathering and overheard someone talking about purchasing a condo, would they not try to make the connection? Guess what? You can do the same thing with Twitter.

If you go to Twitter, you will see where CleoSunshine was obsessing about buying a Condo but doesn’t think that it is going to happen until 2011.

Just today, I searched for “Building a Joomla site” and found rufuscoolkitty on Twitter indicating that he is building an E-Commerce site with Joomla and wanted some advice. With experience in such things, I replied telling him that we have used Virtualmart.

We never know what might become of that reply. In my experience it has always benefited our business to be there to provide answers to the questions that people wanted to know more about.

In doing just this, we have built great relationships with all of our clients.

Just recently, I sat with someone that asked the question “Why do I need a website?”

After pausing a second, I simply said “If it was a couple of years ago, I would probably say that you didn’t need one.” But it’s not a couple of years ago, so that’s not the case – now it is becoming more and more important to have a website that’ll extend your services to people outside of your normal day to day activities.

Everyone is busy today, and time is valuable. Technology’s designed to help with that particular issue, and people often rush off to the web simply to gather the information or news they need at a much faster rate – so if your company doesn’t have a website it’ll get shuffled out of the deck in the early stages of the process. Here’s a prime example:

Last year I was faced with the prospect of sending my young son to daycare. There are dozens upon dozens of daycare options available in Sussex County alone – and I had nowhere near the time to visit each and every one of them personally.

So, I took to the Internet. Using a few search engines and a little know how, I tracked down the handful of daycares that were getting the best reviews. I set up appointments with each of them to get a feel for things myself, and eventually settled on one that I’m still happy with today.

For all I know, there’s a world-class level daycare somewhere out there that I missed entirely… but it didn’t have a website, so it never had a chance. And I’m still happy with the treatment my son’s getting, so it’s the other company’s loss, not mine.

The way most people will look at it, the companies with websites spent the time and money to extend their mission online. That’ll give them bonus points when I’m deciding who to speak with personally.

We have to recognize that times are changing – what worked twenty years ago might not work now. Networking in person can still be done – but it’s slower, less effective and less common than networking on the web in the modern era.

A presence online is becoming a near-industry standard. You certainly don’t NEED a website – in the end, no one does. But with the value it brings, most companies should WANT one. They play to the new generation’s networking habits and provide a professional, established presence on the single most trafficked media source in the world.

The times are changing, and we’ll have to move as fast as ever to keep up.

During my career in corporate America, I learned one hard truth – become indispensable. By doing so, I overcame several re-organizations and at least one merger that would have provided me a pink slip to the unemployment line.

My success was contributed to one singular philosophy that is the foundation of Fine Line. "Focus on business, why I focus on everything else." The great thing was that it was not a shared philosophy in the IT world. So when a printer went down, I was there dealing with the help desk as opposed to the manager that was responsible in achieving a financial goal that well surpassed my salary in a year's term.

Too many times, I saw someone crawling under a desk to verify that the printer was plugged into the network. I was more than willing to roll up my sleeves and check that for them or at least run a test page on the printer to know it was communicating to the DHCP server. In a world of certain outsourcing, I survived on the shear knowledge knowing that IT was more than just knowing something about computers or technology or it was something that I was ready to get my hands dirty doing.

Too many times people were concerned with specializing in this and that, as opposed to me wanting to specialize in what made the difference. If it helps your business grow, it isn't beneath our capability.

I was once asked if we could create a PLC device to open and close a valve on the contending championship women's class Punkin Chunker. I asked why. It was simply replied to me that it would be impressive. After following up with the process, I indicated that the only thing I could do was send a 1 or a 0 to the device to indicate either open or close. This is not different than having everything hooked up to a switch.

Up = 1

Down = 0

That is all you need. Why complicate the most trivial pursuit? KISS is a philosophy that I have followed all my life. If I can Keep It Simple and Stupid, why do I need to impress anyone to achieve the goal. I don't. My reply was to simply "Impress me with the control panel". Lesson is that too often in life, people want to make it complicated. Instead, rely on the simple things in life to get the job done. Fine Line is out to do just that.

Once you have had to experience the most extreme technical situations, you have achieved a level of what I refer to as "technical arrogance."

The problem is that most technicians think that they are better because of it. My philosophy is that you have only begun these types of experiences in your career. Once you feel, that you are on top of your game, it is always someone with the drive to become king to de-thrown your attempt.

If history has shown us anything, time wasted on jousting has proven nothing other than time wasted on entertained, as others, like Fine Line, are trying to accomplish the next level for you and your business. So, when asked, "What do you think about X company?", we will honestly answer, "Not sure! We have been focused on you too much to know what to think of a potential competitor."

Google is going to take over the world, or at least that is what I have heard. The search engine, the company, the verb is going to Washington D.C. to dethrone the king of desktop applications, Microsoft. As it should be, it is a great step forward for Microsoft Office alternatives.

Google does it all. For a mere $50/user per year, you get an extensive set of applications for your business.

For starters, you get GMAIL. Google’s email suite of tools surpasses anything I have dealt with in the past. With 25 GB of online storage space, you have enough room to save and store your emails. The online calendar gives you everything you have ever used and features that you need. With security and archiving powered by Postini, you have the protection your company needs when it comes to email.

Google docs allows you to store 10 GB of data online so that you can collaborate with others or simply to have a centralized repository of all your documents. No need for Microsoft Office applications with Google. They have everything you need to write and edit documents, excel files, presentations and more. Google now offers a offline synchronization capability so you can work on your documents while not connected to the internet and then to be able to update you online docs at a later date.

Google video is similar to YouTube, but as part of Google apps, you have the capability for private, secure video sharing within your company.

Let’s put it in terms of cost. Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint would cost you $130 on Ebay. You will need to purchase a server from Dell for about $999 to share files with others in the company. Pay someone to setup your Active Directory protect your data. You can sign up for a hosting Exchange service for about $12/month or get a POP account for less without knowing if it is backed up or not. So for about 4 users in a company you are looking at about $2000.00 for what you can get for $200.00 from Google. Like I said, “Come to the dark side, we have apps.”

The power of mobility is now in the cell phone. With the processing power of a cell phone almost comparable to the weakest of laptops and definitely surpassing a majority of the computing power of the 80’s, we can’t think to small in terms of advantages in the workplace.

Take my Blackberry, for instance. My blackberry has several applications that are common on any workstation or laptop and some applications that aren’t so common.

For starters, everything nowadays is built around a browser. Well, my cell phone has a browser that I can surf the internet on. My screen isn’t as big as my 15” screen on my laptop but definitely more convenient on the go.

In the fast paced world, we all need a calendar that is up to date with all your current appointments. Google apps offers a free synchronization service that allows my phone’s calendar to synchronize with my Google calendar over the air. There is no need for wires or hard to understand COM ports. So as I am on the go, my calendar is up to date wherever I schedule an appointment.

Email is essential, with Google’s free app, my emails get delivered to my phone in a nice effective manner without the need to setup IMAP or POP settings. No matter where I check my mail, delete emails, reply, or send messages, any and all changes are reflected everywhere.

Synchronizing contacts was a little more difficult but none the less achievable thanks to a program called Conjola sync. Thanks to this little application, my Gmail contacts automatically synchronize with my cell phone contacts over the air. Again, I have no need for wires. So, if I am out and about and I update my cell phone with a new contact, my phone syncs with Gmail and vice versa. Take it a step further, everyone with a company cell phone gets a complete contact list updated automatically.

Word documents, Excel documents, PDF documents and more are easily accessible with my phone and can be accessed in a pinch through Google docs. I don’t have to wait until I return to the office to read an attachment. After I save it to the phone, I can open it up and use the phone’s zoom feature to read it.

When is the last time you tried to take a picture with your laptop or computer? My phone comes equipped with a nice 2 megapixel camera. Taking a picture is as easy as pointing and hitting a button. No need to make sure that lighting is right, the phone automatically detects low light and activates the built in flash. Truly an edge when you are in a situation that only a picture can express. Delivering the photo is as easy as transferring it to my laptop via Bluetooth or simply emailing it to whomever.

Google Maps installed on the phone allows me to quickly find my destination. Even though the GPS capability of the phone puts me within 4000 meters, it is close enough and with satellite view, you can easily tell where you at.

This is just a few of the extensive apps that can be easily installed on my Blackberry that is helping us grow our business as well as helping others. As demonstrated by Steve Jobs with the iPhone and with Google’s new Android enabled phones, the future in mobility is definitely in the cell phone. Taking advantage of your phone’s capability will give you an advantage in the workplace.

What is a website? A website is comprised of a collection of web pages, images, videos, information and various other digital assets. Publicly accessible websites are viewed on the World Wide Web via a URL. One such successful website that is publicly accessible is http://www.finelineit.com.

How did www.finelineit.com get on the web? For starters, we needed a domain name. In order to obtain finelineit.com, we had to find a registrar (www.godaddy.com) in order to purchase a domain. “Purchase” is commonly used when getting a domain name. However, it is more like renting a domain name because you always have to renew the domain when it is due to expire. As long as you maintain the fees to keep the domain, you will always own it. This is very similar to the license plate on your vehicle. We are always faced with a couple of decisions when choosing a domain name. For example you need to decide which extension fits your website best. Fine Line IT went for .com because we are commercial and it is the easiest to remember because it is so commonly used.

.com : Commercial
.net : Networks
.org : Organizations
.edu : Educational
.gov : US Government
.int : International Organizations
.mil : US Dept of Defense
.pro : Professionals
.biz : Businesses
.info : Informational

Next we had to build a website. We have seen a lot in the method in which to build one. As we referred to the “Old School” way, we commonly referred to it as HTML. Here is a link that existed then and still exists today: http://www.webmonkey.com/tutorial/tag/web_basics.

Over time, building websites evolved into WYSIWYG types of applications. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WYSIWYG What You See is What You Get was what it lived up to be for a while until the notorious browser wars. Great at first because the majority of the population was forced to use Internet Explorer and/or a few other stragglers, the WYSIWYG applications were able to keep up. As things spiraled out of control, we had to adapt to a mixture of WYSIWYG and “Old School” programming in order to make sure that websites viewed in say Internet Explorer looked as similar to Firefox (Mozilla at the time). This is still a concern for us even today.

What we have today is a merge of “old school” with WYSIWYG and new technology referred to as a “Content Management System” to make everyone’s life easier. This simply means that we have the ability to establish an online system to allow us to update the site via a “backend” which will automatically update the “front end” which is publicly viewable by everyone online. Fine Line IT supports open source technology initiatives that are widely being used and supported by many on the Internet. Two such open source initiatives are Joomla www.joomla.org and Drupal www.drupal.org . Even though we have worked on many different types of content management systems, Joomla and Drupal are currently pulling ahead of the others. There is always more than what meets the eye. We use our expertise and experience to use a “content management system” to develop an ascetically pleasing site with all the bells and whistles required to be able to convey various messages online through the use of images, videos, content and the combination of these. Joomla makes life so much easier in the right hands. For example, the process of updating a website from a client’s perspective entailed the following:

• You decided that you needed an update on your site.

• You called the web developer to update a section of the site with a news article.

• You send the web developer a copy of the news article not necessarily compatible as a web copy.

• Instead of going back and forth on the copy, the web developer, not being qualified as the client is, puts the information online.

• You don’t like exactly what you see and ask that it be updated.

• You go back and forth until it is finally corrected as the bill keeps growing.

Here is the advantage of a “Content Management System”. From anywhere with an internet connection you, the client, have the ability to change anything on the website. The site is setup in a fashion to allow you to change any of the following:

• Main Navigation

• Sub Navigation

• Banner

• Content

• Images

• Footer Links/Information

• Call Outs anywhere and everywhere.

Next, the site that we have built needs to be viewable by everyone in the world. In order to do this you need to acquire hosting through a qualified company. Over the years, the things that we take into consideration when deciding on a hosting company is price, service level agreement, technology and support hours. Here are some hosting companies that we have had experience with:

www.hostgator.com

www.inmotionhosting.com

If you want to try out the free approach, try Google Sites at www.google.com/sites . Sign up and give it a try. If you already have a GMAIL account, click on the more link when you are signed in and then click on sites.

Here you'll find Fine Line’s Top 10 List of things that makes Google Calendar the king of scheduling:

10. You have the power to display what you want to see. This allows you the ability to view the day, week, month, the next four days or the power to choose by highlighting the days on the calendar.

9. We have always lived by the saying “There is more than one way to skin a cat”. Don’t worry, we have never attempted it but fully understand the meaning behind it. With Google calendar, you decide on how to enter an event or appointment on the calendar. Click “Create an Event” seems easy enough. Click the date and time on the calendar and enter the event seems easy enough. Click quick add and fill out the minimum amount of information to create an event seems just as easy.

8. Google has intelligence built in. Fine Line IT strives to convince people that we are in control of technology instead of it being in control of us. Well there are certain things I am willing to give up. When entering appointments or events, I don’t want to be concerned with what Saturday’s date is. If I am interacting with people, as I do on occasion, I convey that I am doing something on Saturday as opposed to “On April 11th I am going to meet with Steve”. That would just be weird. Google Calendar has the intelligence to know when you add a quick event that Saturday is April 11th, or that event tomorrow is April 7rd. I best hurry and finish this newsletter before I have to change these dates.

7. Be compatible with the competition in order to beat the competition. Confidence gets the best of us. Fine Line figures that Google knows that their calendar is better so why not make it easier for everyone to migrate over to the dark side. I use the term “dark side” loosely. There is nothing dark about anyone offering a quality product like Google Calendar for the FREE. However it will be a dark day if I have to start paying for the service knowing that there is nothing out there comparable to what Google Calendar will eventually become when the BETA text no longer decorates the logo.

6. Everything I needed to know about life, I learned in kindergarten. The earliest lesson I remembered was, “Frankie!, You know we discussed how important it is to share with others”. I guess the minds behind Google Calendar had the same or similar teacher. As you create events you have the ability to share with others or with the world. If you are an organization that wants to share your events with the world, then you can do so. If you are an individual entity wanting to only share with certain individuals, you can do that as well by inputting only the addresses of those individuals that you want to share your calendar with. Review the following URL of all the different ways in which you can share your calendar.

5. We can’t get enough of social networking. Why shouldn’t we be able to comment on events? Everyone is concerned with what everyone thinks, why not on events. When you share and/or publish an event, people have the option of commenting on the event. Such as “Can’t wait to Steve and Frank in action again the Wiki seminar, Not sure what a Wiki is but I bet Frank and Steve are going to enlighten me”. Special thanks to “anonymous” for the comment.

4. Don’t worry, we’ll be there. Google Calendar has multiple ways in which to remind us that we have to do something. To some extent, it is quite annoying but we have the control of when the reminders occur. A pop up appears on the screen indicating it is time to do something. As with many pop ups, it may get dismissed as an annoyance. However as Chrys, the Lewes Library Director indicated, she has staff members looking after her best interest to remind her as those pop ups are displayed on multiple computers throughout the building. Furthermore, I wouldn’t know what my mornings would be like if Steve didn’t setup Google Calendar to email me an Agenda view of my daily activities. Coffee has never been the same.

3. When is one ever enough? Create multiple calendars to help organize your life and quench the thirst of MORE! Google Calendar gives you what you want. By creating more than one calendar, you have the ability to better organize your life. Especially, if you are in a situation that it isn’t all about you, where you have to take in account others. For example, I am happily married with an 8 month year old son. Their calendars dictate my activities. Trying to separate home life with work was a losing battle until Google Calendar. Now I have multiple calendars shared strategically to make sure that I can meet that balance of work and home. To my wife it appears that I don’t have anything to do at Fine Line IT because I only shared my “Honey To Do list” calendar with her. She doesn’t realize that Google offers this feature. As she plans out my next two weeks, I have the ability to plan out my upcoming week around her schedule.

2. When words aren’t enough, thank God for highlighters. Creating multiple calendars has its advantages. Color coding calendars has even more advantages. Being able to distinguish by color allows you to be able to plan accordingly. For instance, Green may signify the “Tech Nights Calendar” at the Lewes Library, whereas, red may signify my “Honey Do List Calendar”. Being able to visualize things in a central location allows me to be able make the decisive decisions required to make my life easier. When being faced with a green vs. red scenario, it is apparent green wins over having to take out the trash although Laura might not agree.

1. Drum Roll Please!!!! Being versatile allows you to adapt to many different situations. Google Calendar is without bounds. Need Google on your PDA, Blackberry, iPhone or any generic phone supporting SMS? Don’t worry, Google has you covered. With Google’s Sync software, sync the Google Calendar to your handheld or workstation or vice versa.