Saturday, December 15, 2007

7 Free And Boss-Pleasing Things You Can Do With Facebook.

Bosses hate Facebook as they consider it a robber of productivity and worker hours. A recent study of 3,500 companies by UK employment law firm Peninsula found that an estimated 233 million hours were lost every month as a result of employees "wasting time" on networking sites such as Facebook. Many companies and even governments have already banned the site, for example the Ontario government in Canada.

However, with the right applications and used correctly, Facebook can actually help improve productivity at work. Here are seven free and boss-pleasing things you can do with Facebook :

1. Sell Your Company's Goods Online
Great for small companies who want to move their products online, the Marketplace section is where all Facebook users post items they want to buy or sell. Unlike eBay, listings are free but the listing will be available only to others in the same network in Facebook as you. But by paying US$1, you can publicise your listing to other Facebook users, in the form of online advertisements on their Facebook pages. (marketplace.jpg)

2. Raise Capital For Business
If you are residing in the United States, raise capital by joining the Lending Club, a community where you can borrow and lend money to fellow Facebook members. Members lend and borrow money directly to and from each other online, bypassing the banks and enjoying better rates. All members' identities and bank accounts are verified and borrowers credit-checked by the Lending Club. Lenders are also provided with a borrower's credit history and only borrowers with credit scores of above 640 are accepted. To-date, the Club has already passed US$3.7 million in loans to Facebook users. Great alternative fund raising avenue for companies intending to set up office in the US. (lendingclub.jpg)

3. Track The Stock Market
If your job or company dabble in stocks and shares, get real and updated stock quotes with the Simple Stock Quotes application which is updated every 15 minutes. (stock.jpg)

4. Read the Latest News
Get the latest news relevant to your business with the Simply feed application which allows you to read the latest happenings in your industry on Facebook. You can also share your feeds and shared items in Google Reader with friends. (rss.jpg)

5. Store And Share Office Documents
If you use the online office suite Zoho to create and edit office documents and spreadsheets, you can upload and share them with colleagues on Facebook using Zoho Facebook. (zoho.jpg)

6. Send And Get e-mail
Facebook's e-mail application lets you send and receive e-mail within the networking site. Choose your own e-mail address, and if the recipient replies through the web-form provided in the link in the e-mail, his reply will be displayed as a thread. (e-mail.jpg)

7. Make a Statement
With the Groups function, rally the troops to stand behind your boss vision and business direction or make a statement to meet your company's key targets for the year.

*Related post : WatZatSong And Other Free Online Quirky Tools

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the coverage. BTW - Our current statistics show that we are closer to $3.7 million in loans. Please see our stats: http://www.lendingclub.com/info/statistics.action

Rex Dixon
Director of Social Media Content
Lending Club

My Den said...

Hi Rex,
You are most welcome and thanks for the update.