online business

Customer engagement tactics

Customers have always assumed a pivotal role in the overall scheme of things and the upcoming year is certainly no exception. Given the current state of the global economy, the manner in which we engage our customers positively will determineREAD»

The Virtual Company

Advances in technology and an uncertain economy have helped fuel the rise in virtual companies - small busineses with team members working all over the globe. READ»

10 Web 2.0 Ideas that Failed

With all of the hype surrounding Web 2.0 companies like Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter, it’s easy to forget that lots of Web companies still fail. Here are 10 that failed in the past year – and why.READ»

MySpace: A Place for Friends...To Get More Famous

The mildly controversial Lily Allen revived a sputtering career as a singer/songwriter by posting demos on MySpace in November 2005, and earning legions of fans, media coverage, and ultimately international stardom. To date, nearly ...READ»

What Do You Want, An Olympics Medal?

A Kick in the Career: In this week's column, humorist and career expert Tom Stern writes about business competition, teamwork, and the basic human need for acknowledgment. READ»

• Are Beijing's Olympics Really Green?
• Taking Back the Internet: Creating a Passive-Aggressive Income Stream

Taking Back the Internet: Creating a Passive-Aggressive Income Stream

A Kick in the Career: If you're passing on branded messages to your contacts, don't you think you should be compensated? In this week's installment, humorist and career expert Tom Stern uncovers pre-populated signatures in e-mail and smartphone messages as supplemental income.READ»

• The State of Mobile Advertising
• 18 Must-Have iPhone Apps

Power Play

Activist-turned-entrepreneur Paul Fenn's effort to bring affordable sustainable energy to California could be revolutionary -- and electricity giant PG&E isn't happy about it at all.READ»

How to Make Banking Fun

Can innovative new programs make saving money as fun as spending it? READ»

• Silicon Valley's Angel Investors

The Success of Kayak.com

Steve Hafner has built Kayak into the most popular Web 2.0 travel site. How it flies as the airline industry suffers.READ»

• Slideshow: 10 Hot Travel Websites

The Box Score

Facebook and Myspace, head-to-headREAD»

• Myspace, the Sequel
• These Brands Are Made for Myspace
• A Place for Friends...To Get More Famous

The Web's 10 Most Unusual Social Networks

Odd hobbies? Bizarre preoccupations? You'll fit right in.READ»

• The Web's 10 Weirdest Social Networks
• 9 Social Networks That Aren't for Everyone
• How to Build Your Own Social Network
• Ning's Infinite Ambition

Can Facebook Really Replace Employment Firms?

A Kick In the Career: What happened to face-to-face networking? In this week's column, humorist and career expert Tom Stern wonders whether social networking is really conducive to launching one's career.READ»

• How to Build Your Own Social Network

10 Web 2.0 Failures

Business model: RSSCalendar enabled users to create RSS feeds from Outlook and iCal calendars. Lookout Software, L.L.C. purchased it on eBay in October 2007, carrying it on as a similar service.Why it failed: If people aren't ready ...READ»

The Personality Behind Online Gaming Site Bodog

Mountains of cash, beautiful women, and a nonstop round-the-world party. Life was good for Calvin Ayre, founder of the online gambling powerhouse Bodog. Then he was gone.READ»

• Infographic: Global Online-Gaming Revenue
• 7 Fabulous Things You Probably Shouldn't Buy

Can Time Management Lead To Increased Business Profitability?

Learning to effectively manage one's time during one's hours of business is both a science and an art. But too much precious daily business time may easily be lost through implementing time management systems to be truly productive. ...READ»

Ning's Infinite Ambition

It isn't just a site where users can build their own social networks -- Ning is a model of how to create a perpetual growth machine.READ»

• 9 Social Networks That Aren't for Everyone
• Virtuous Circles

Barneys and Friend

Sheldon Gilbert helps the hip department store decode the desires of its online customers.READ»

• First Class Mail
• The State of Mobile Advertising

I Just IM'd to Say "I Love You"

American Greetings, the 101-year-old cardmaker, uses social-networking widgets and instant messaging to reach the younger audience it desperately needs. READ»

• Google's Surfing Safari
• When The Giving Gets Tough

Journal-ist: Freedom of Choice

From the journals, studies on why we shop online, how clicks-and-mortar stores can build trust, and how negative reviews can be overcome.READ»

• Now: April 2008
• MEET: World Retail Congress
• Numerology: Tax Time

AOL's Greatest Hope

With the online-ad market expected to hit $42 billion by 2011, AOL's headlong rush into advertising makes plenty of sense. Following the 2004 purchase of Advertising.com, the company has gone on an acquisition bender, snapping up specialized ad servers with the intention of building the world's largest third-party network, dubbed Platform A. Here's how it all fits together.READ»

• Dead Man Walking
• AOL’s Year of Pain
• You've Got Problems!
• AOL's Greatest Hits

AOL's Greatest Hits

In spite of its litany of failed innovations and squandered opportunities, AOL still delivers some of the Internet's best entertainment and services. Its instant messenger and finance site both lead their categories. Here are four more winners.READ»

• Dead Man Walking
• AOL’s Year of Pain
• You've Got Problems!
• AOL's Greatest Hope

You've Got Problems!

A brief history of AOL's misfortunes.READ»

• Dead Man Walking
• AOL’s Year of Pain
• AOL's Greatest Hits
• AOL's Greatest Hope

Show Me The Video!

The streaming strategies of the other big leagues.READ»

• Boxscore
• MLB's Digital Dominance
• Take Me Out to the Ballpark
• Red Sox Secret Lineup

MLB's Digital Dominance

As the world scrambles to master online video, crusty old baseball already has it figured out. READ»

• The Red Sox Secret Lineup
• Show Me the Video!
• Take Me Out to the Ballpark
• Boxscore

Dead Man Walking

On the verge of a revival last year, AOL suddenly imploded. The inside story of a journey to nowhere.READ»

• You've Got Problems!
• AOL's Greatest Hope
• AOL's Greatest Hits
• AOL's Year of Pain