Doug Smith (dasmith090104): Verizon Community Blog Posts

Verizon Community Blog Posts

http://forums.verizon.com/t5/Community-Beat/bg-p/Community_Beat

Finding a Job Online

It's Labor Day Weekend, which marks a time of new beginnings for many as schools start back up around the country. Speaking of new beginnings, we thought it would be a good time to share some helpful tips on looking for a job online.

Gone are the days of getting the morning paper, scouring through and circling ads, making phone calls and mailing resumes. These are the days of online portfolios, professional profiles, emailing resumes, automated job searches and online networking.

What Memorial Day Means To Me

Memorial day for a lot of people is the start of summer, a day of barbeques, and mattress sales. Traditionally, Memorial Day is a day we take the time to pay tribute to the men and women of the armed forces that have died in our nation’s service.

Here’s what I think about on Memorial Day.

It's Earth Day! What Are You Doing to Be Environmentally-Friendly?

Each year, April 22nd, or "Earth Day" marks what many consider the birth of the modern environmental movement, on this day in 1970. The nation was coming out of the turbulent 60s, and as a whole starting to become more and more aware of our impact on the environment, and how to be "green," or more environmentally conscious.

ComBlu Ranks Verizon's Community No. 1 in the Industry

We wanted to let you know that ComBlu, A leading social engagement firm, has named Verizon's website the top community website among telecommunications companies, and 6th overall among all companies. The rankings are contained in ComBlu's second annual "State of Online Brand Communities" report.

Facebook, we’re listening to your Ideas!

We recently posted a link to our Idea Exchange on Facebook. We loved the response and feedback, and wanted to let you know what we’re doing about it.

We’ve gone through the comments, and identified some running themes. A lot of suggestions are along the lines of what we’ve been seeing on the Idea Exchange. Some ideas like, “make FiOS available in my area” and various set top box improvements are similar to ideas that have already been suggested in our community.

There are certainly a number of good ideas from Facebook we want to consider. We’re posting new ideas from Facebook onto the Idea Exchange, with the first names of posters, and “from Facebook.” So be sure to take a look, discuss, and vote on these new ideas from Facebook.

Connectivity at the Swipe of An Icon, Episode I

I am working towards a new focus for 2011, trying to use the technology on-hand to be more efficient and stay more connected. I was struck by social media guru Chris Brogan's recent blog Make Kitchen Table Companies with Cloud Plus Mobile followed soon after by a Brad McCarty blog on how smartphones have become "notification devices."

I had a PDA for while, but I kept letting the batteries run out and I'd lose all my data.

My first cell phone was a hand me down from my Mom, in the $5 a minute cell phone days, and looked like the phone you'd see John Wayne using as he was calling in an air strike in some World War II movie.

I had a Captain Kirk Flip Phone for too many missions; I got a Razr long after Razrs had stopped being cutting edge. After I got my Blitz I found out it was marketed specifically for teenage girls to text their girlfriends with.

Connectivity at the Swipe of An Icon, Episode II: Attack of the Apps

Once I got my Droid, one of the first things I did was to add my two Yahoo accounts. With the Yahoo Mail app, I could check both with the touch of an icon, and get a notification when I get new mail on either account. I definitely had to cut down on a lot of the email newsletters I get, as I follow a lot of social media, writing, and entertainment news.

I diverted some of these newsletters to my Gmail so I would still get them, and disabled the notifications to Gmail so my phone wasn't beeping all the time. I also found a fantastic app called Pulse, which allows you to add numerous news feeds under one interface. Now, with the touch of an icon, I get all my news in one place, but still get the email newsletters over in Gmail.

The Droid integrates well with Google and Gmail, so I began to better utilize my Gmail calendar and tasks with my personal and business calendars and to dos. I still wanted a better way to track to dos, and use an app called Astrid. Astrid synchs with Gmail tasks, so you can add tasks in Gmail or in Astrid. They can be organized into lists, assigned dates, prioritized, have notes added, and even tags.

Thanks to Our Community!

Thank you for our community, and thank you TO our community members.

Our forums have so many of you helping each other on a daily basis. Our blogs bring you up to date news on Verizon happenings, and include you in the dialog. In our community you can suggest new things to Verizon, learn a little bit, talk, and even vent.

Thanksgiving is of course a time for giving thanks for what we have, but I think it’s also a time of traditions, and of coming together in family and friendship.

Idea Exchange Update

It’s been 4 months since the launch of Verizon Idea Exchange in the Community Forums, and we thought it would be a great time for an update!

Verizon Idea Exchange is the place where you can share ideas and suggestions with other customers as well as with Verizon. It has been very well received by our customer community with 467 total Ideas posted and 783 total comments to date. You have also been actively voting and have cast 1831 total votes across a variety of ideas.

Room To Learn – Digital Lifestyle Learning

We’re excited to announce the launch of an awesome new part of the Verizon Community, Room to Learn!

Room to Learn is where you can pull up a chair, sit back and take advantage of workshops and tutorials related to those home networking and home entertainment topics that touch us in our every day life. You can also hop over to some special new boards like Home Networking and Home Entertainment dedicated to discussions about the courses you’re taking or related topics.

Need Help? Let the Verizon Troubleshooter Handle It!

Customers now have a new tool called the “Verizon Troubleshooter” where they can diagnose, fix, and report issues with Verizon Phone, FiOS TV, or Internet service. With a few clicks of the mouse customers can solve most problems quickly and easily. All without picking up a phone.

Community Update

We’re always working to enhance the Community, and at the same time take your suggestions. We appreciate your feedback and suggestions on new features and future enhancements.

Let’s take a look at some important new Community features!

Community Spotlight: Lasagna

Recently, on National Lasagna Day , my wife, who is a fabulous cook, tried a new recipe. A lasagna with mushrooms and spicy Italian sausage that was delish. This all of course reminded me of one of our most active and helpful community members, Lasagna. I'm not sure Lasagna is a lasagna fan. Lasagna is not even Italian, but used to be a big Garfield fan, probably back when Garfield was still funny. Garfield is a lasagna fan, and thus...Lasagna, one of our Top Kudoed Authors. We can tell the community likes Lasagna too.

Share Your Ideas With Verizon

Great ideas can come from anywhere. It’s happened to all of us: you could be driving to work, out with your friends, or even sitting at home watching TV, when all of a sudden the light bulb in your head pops on and a new idea is just waiting to get out and be shared. That’s especially true of the members here on the Verizon Community- anyone who’s spent time reading the forums knows how many ideas about our products and services pop out of discussions about problems, solutions or just friendly chatter.

What Does the 4th of July Mean to You?

For me, the greatest July 4th was in 1976, the U.S. Bicentennial. I was 6 years old, living in a hot New York summer. Everything and everyone seemed patriotic in honor of our country’s independence. I remember the whole family getting together at a big lake and watching what seemed at the time to be the greatest firework display of all time. I still think of that night every 4th of July, and every time I see fireworks. It was one of the last times we all got together, everyone moved on soon after that.

Doug Smith (dasmith090104)

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Thursday, October 20, 2011