• lower earnings because few people are online today
• since almost nobody is online, any hours worked today are me getting ahead of the market ;)

Working hard & working long hours can almost be a disease...the web makes it easy to be addicted.

But for every person who is putting in hard work trying to help people there is another person selling image.

The big issue with the image game is the risks. As the lies pile up they corner people into a bad situation, to where they can (and do) lose everything.

If I had to take a single point of reference to help a stranger judge the difference between a hack and someone who wants to honestly help people, I would say it is this: do they encourage you to take on debt.

• If they do then there is a good chance they are the type of person who will go out of their way to screw you.
• If they do not then they are likely not a maximizer type (because if they were then they would be encouraging you to go into debt to sell you more stuff).

It is not that all debt is evil (when I got started online I was naive enough to start on a credit card), but life and markets are unpredictable. If I wasn't smart enough to get a job to cover my 6 or so months of education before going full time online who knows where I would now be. What seems like a short term gain can lead to longterm failure. We are human, and so we are flawed. Wen you have debt/leverage you have no spare parts. So if something goes wrong you are done. Nassim Taleb spoke about the importance of savings and diversity of revenues as keys to survival, while noting that the very structure of our public markets encourages risk + leverage (options encourage short term performance & volatility rather than sustained growth, and you hope the guy on the next watch is stuck holding the Madoff ponzi bag).

The falls of past empires have typically been preceded by rapid inflation in food costs. Our food supply, like most other aspects of modern day life, has been so extended as to be poisonous. Fishes soaked in chemicals literally change sex back and forth, and shrimp in the ocean (with traces of Prozac) swim toward the light - where they get ate.

Its not about fixing the conversation. Its about filling in the blanks. If people are prone to click on something that is exactly what they will get, even if it is not something they want.

We misinform kids about sex in a way that can screw up the rest of their lives. Against the will of people data is collected so that they may be stalked and harassed. If you once thought you were fat in the past, long after becoming anorexic there will still be ads reminding you how fat you are, following you around the web.

When bits of culture die the life lessons wrapped in it fade as well. Sure there may be HTML codes for emotions, but (beyond ad targeting) it is hard to reduce people to number.

Is the push toward homoginization to increase yield and chasing the lowest common denominator making people happier or more miserable?

I realize that reading the above can quickly make me sound like some ultra left-winged hippie, but the point of this post is not a political one ... rather one on the basic rule of law.

We justify (or downplay) harming ourselves, our environments, and the environments of other animals so we can have more and better. But to do this we often take on debt and leverage and put ourselves in precarious situations. Worse yet, we often have *others* decide to take on leverage for us, without our desire or permission.

Why is it that the government is ">giving Google tax credits to build more low income housing while the Federal Reserve is sitting on over $1 trillion in bad mortgage paper? How can the government want to make housing cheaper / more affordable while simultaneously propping up (and thus ensuring overvaluation of) virtually the whole of the market? How can the government taking both sides of the same bet lead to anything but waste, fraud & abuse?

If you believe in efficient market theory then banking should represent a small portion of the profit pool (since banks are all dealing in the same commodity of cash). And yet the banking class keeps representing a growing portion of the profits, while the bad sides of their trades (the losses) are passed on to tax payers.

I don't mind someone else levering up with risk so long as they have to pay the consequences of their failures. But capitalism without failure is like religion without sin.

These banks threatened tanks in the street if they didn't get their bailouts.

They went so far as to say even auditing the Federal Reserve would threaten the financial system. Sorry, um, but that is exactly what the banking class did. If they are not punished for committing crimes then the lawlessness will only grow more extreme, as it has.

When the bubble popped some of these scammers, charlatans, shysters, swindlers, and tricksters claimed that "nobody saw it coming," but in fact as things started to go wrong these folks leaned into it and made it worse.

Rather than having CDOs go unsold they engaged in self-dealing & kept mixing the bad chunks in, sorta like making new sausage out of old sausage. They knew what they were doing. They intended to commit fraud:

"On paper, the risky stuff was gone, held by new independent CDOs. In reality, however, the banks were buying their own otherwise unsellable assets."
...
"One rival investment banker says Merrill treated CDO managers the way Henry Ford treated his Model T customers: You can have any color you want, as long as it's black."

Its labor day. The criminal bankers who ripped you off in the past, who are currently ripping you off with more crimes, and who will rip your children off are stealing your labor. And since neither political party cares to stop it its up to you how much you want to give...there is no end to how much they would love to take. Time for me to take a break. ;)

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• Twitter is preparing to launch official tweet buttons later this week. These buttons will make it easy to tweet articles and count shares across the web.
• Amazon's hardware plans may extend beyond the Kindle, if recent rumors are to be believed. The company is actively looking to expand its hardware division and sources have commented to The New York Times that other potential offerings could include a music or general media player.
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• The U.S. Department of Defense has publicly demanded that WikiLeaks return all of the secret documents it leaked about the war in Afghanistan.
• The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is not happy about Google and Verizon's rumored attempt to upend net neutrality. On Thursday, it ended closed-door talks with several companies and has lashed out against the practice of paying for faster transmission of data over the Internet.
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• HOW TO: Use Annotations to Promote Your Brand on YouTube With a little creative planning, annotations can add a dimension of interactivity and entertainment to your YouTube videos that audiences will appreciate.
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Over the next few weeks, LinkedInLinkedIn will be rolling out a complete overhaul to its Groups feature to make creating and following conversations easier and more engaging.

When you visit a revamped LinkedIn Group (check out Fans of Mashable), you will immediately notice that strong emphasis has been placed on starting conversations. In the past, you’d have to click either “Start a Discussion” or “Submit News” to add a conversation to a group. Now both of those functions have been combined via a publisher box that is prominently displayed at the top of the page.

LinkedIn’s follow system has also been expanded. You may not know this, but the business social network actually gives you the option to “follow” individuals if you want to see what they’re saying in different groups, but aren’t his or her connection. That feature is now prominent, not only for people but for conversations as well. If you stumble across a great debate in a group and want to keep tabs on it, all you have to do is click “follow discussion” and it’ll appear in your news feed and in your inbox.

There is also a new focus on surfacing quality conversations from influencers. A new feature allows you to scan different conversations and “Like,” “Pass” or “Comment” on a discussion within a group. This information then brings the best conversations to the top of the group. There is also now a “Top Influencers” feature, which highlights quality contributors based on how well they stimulate conversations from other members.

LinkedIn told me that they are trying to make the conversations you have on LinkedIn “a bit closer to the face-to-face interaction” you find at conferences or in-person meetings. To do that, they’ve focused their energy on not only increasing engagement (which should keep people coming back to LinkedIn), but on increasing quality engagement.

While groups have long been part of LinkedIn’s core structure, we’re willing to bet most users almost never post news or conversations in them — they’d rather place their thoughts on FacebookFacebook or TwitterTwitter, where they will get more engagement. We’re looking forward to seeing if this redesign changes things. Check out the video below that explains the new features, and let us know what you think of Groups 2.0 in the comments.

Video

The days of door-to-door salespeople might be drawing to a close, but that doesn’t mean that people have stopped selling things. The Internet is a great resource to get your goods into the right hands, but it can also be a confusing mess of options. How do you find the right people online? How can you get your products to them?

We’ve found a collection of small companies and websites that can help you get the most out of your social media network. Whether you’re a tiny Italian ice shop, a regular seller, or a seasoned vet – these resources can help you get real results.

Online Vendors

One of social media’s greatest benefits is how easy it is to get brand exposure. Your products aren’t limited by having to set up a physical shop or take out ads in the local newspaper. However, with so many online vendor websites (such as eBayeBay or even CraigslistCraigslist) available, it can be difficult to find your customers through all the noise.

Craigslist and eBay are expansive platforms that reach a huge swathe of customers. While this is great for reaching a large market, it can be difficult for individual salespeople to get their products featured, or noticed. Instead, look to niche online markets that suit the kind of products you’re selling.

Imagine you’re a local farmer selling honey. Selling a jar on eBay might be tricky, however, sites like Foodzie or Foodoro that focus on selling goods from small food producers is a more focused way to get exposure and sell your product. A quick search can turn up other niche online vendor hubs.

Creating Updates

Once you’ve found a place to sell your goods, you need to let people know about it. FacebookFacebook fan pages and TwitterTwitter accounts are two great ways to let existing or potential customers know about your product. Food carts across the country have already jumped on the wagon in order to let their customers know where they’ll be parked. For example, New York’s Rickshaw Dumpling Truck regularly tweets its location for the day with light-hearted updates and customer service.

But what if you don’t have a food cart? Twitter updates are still a good way to build buzz and excitement and create a community of customers.

Group Buying

Group buying (or mob buying) is becoming increasingly popular as a win-win for businesses and customers alike. Sites like Groupon, Deals for Deeds, Buy with Me, and Social Buy provide its users with large discounts on businesses. While there is an expected discount in the transaction, group buying sites allow salespeople to reach new customers and draw in large chunks of profit. Most group buying sites (including the three listed) have a section where buyers can sign up to be a featured vendor. Some sites, like Deals for Deeds (based in Washington D.C.), include an option for buyers to donate their savings to charity.

Sellers beware: Because of the nature of group buying, most sites are regionally based so make sure you find a site or group that is around your area or willing to sell your products online.

Foursquare Specials

FoursquareFoursquare is more than just an invasive new technology for young folk; it’s a powerful tool for salespeople to share their products through social media. Sellers now have access to a small business dashboard that allows them to offer rewards and special deals to their most loyal customers. One such example is Rita’s Ice in Bellmore, NY. The Italian ice shop was able to attract customers over its competitors because of its specials and offers – some of which were only accessible via Foursquare.

Foursquare is a good way to both find new customers and reward long-time patrons for their loyalty.

The Dangers

Yup, even the Girl Scouts – long-known for their door-to-door cookie drives — have turned to social media in order to sell their strangely addictive cookies. The Girl Scouts previously shunned the online world for safety reasons but are just now experimenting with a new, safe online outreach to allow customers to buy their favorites. You can find corporate accounts for Girls Scouts on Twitter, Facebook, FlickrFlickr and YouTubeYouTube. But more importantly, you’ll find Girl Scouts everywhere sending Facebook messages to their friends and family members, inquiring on cookie orders.

While they are reaching a much larger audience, the Girl Scouts illustrates the danger of tarnishing a traditional brand image through selling via social media. They are so associated with door-to-door sales, that some see the turn online as a step backwards for the Girl Scouts’ image.

Branding is just as important for any other business or salesperson. Define your brand and decide how you can market it online without compromising your authenticity. With a little bit of forethought and tenacity, you can use social media to sell your goods with real results.

Are you seeing real results from your social media sales initiatives? Let us know in the comments below.

Gist helps you build stronger professional relationships by bringing together information from across the web for all your contacts and their companies giving you the right information at the right moment to get a first meeting, deliver an amazing pitch, or just find a better way to make a connection. Gist does all the work for you, assembling a dynamic collection of all your contacts and their companies from your email inbox, your social networks, or even your CRM system automatically building and updating their profiles as new content is published – by them or about them.

Image courtesy of iStockphotoiStockphoto, jgroup

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More business resources from Mashable:

- 6 Ways to Recruit Talent for Startups
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