In Business

NWITweetup organizer Nat Finn checks his phone at the group's January meeting at Northwoods Restaurant in St John. (Photograph by Tim Hunt/The Times.)

Bringing the region’s online community together offline while helping local businesses learn how to use social media as an effective marketing tool is the goal behind monthly “tweetups” happening in Northwest Indiana.

The gatherings provide a stimulating meeting place for local marketers and designers, said NWITweetup organizers Kathy Sipple, and Dave Woodson and Nat Finn.

“Tweeting and social media in the region will grow with people’s understanding of it,” Finn said.
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A Ford F-150 is displayed Wednesday during the 2011 Chicago Auto Show media preview at McCormick Place in Chicago. Ford Motor Co. announced Wednesday it will focus on social media and other new advertising strategies for 2011 vehicles.
(Photograph by Thomas Quinn/The Times.)

Ford Motor Co. announced Wednesday it will focus on social media and other new advertising strategies for 2011 vehicles.

Jim Farley, marketing chief for Ford, told the crowd at the Chicago Auto Show media preview that the only media that grew in 2009 and 2010 was online and mobile, and that information is changing Ford’s marketing campaigns.

“With 500 million people on Facebook, we can reach more potential customers in a more personal way,” Farley said.
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Tim Miles delivers the keynote address at the 2010 Regional Governor.
(Photograph by Tim Hunt/The Times.)

Not-for-profit organizations must seize the day on social media and other emerging technologies to remain relevant and attract the best volunteers.

That was a theme of the keynote address at Thursday’s regional Governor’s Conference on Service and Volunteerism at Ivy Tech Community College.

Leverage new technologies, respect volunteers and don’t waste their time with disorganization, speaker Tim Miles told the 80 attendees from social, service and civic agencies.
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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg talks about the new email service at an announcement in San Francisco, Monday, November 15, 2010. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

Facebook is betting that one day soon, we’ll all be acting like high school students—more texting and instant-messaging, at the expense of e-mail. Facebook unveiled a new messaging system Monday, and while CEO Mark Zuckerberg didn’t go as far as declaring e-mail dead, he clearly sees the four-decade-old technology being eclipsed by more real-time ways of communicating.

“We don’t think a modern messaging system is going to be e-mail,” Zuckerberg said.

Right now, Facebook’s Messages section is a lot like an e-mail inbox. The overhauled version, which will be rolled out to users by invitation in coming months, brings in cell phone texts, IM chats and e-mails from non-Facebook accounts.
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U.S. Web surfers are spending more time socializing on Facebook than searching with Google, according to new data from researchers at comScore Inc.

In August, people spent a total of 41.1 million minutes on Facebook, comScore said Thursday, about 9.9 percent of their Web-surfing minutes for the month. That just barely surpassed the 39.8 million minutes, or 9.6 percent, people spent on all of Google Inc.’s sites combined, including YouTube, the free Gmail e-mail program, Google news and other content sites.

U.S. Web users spent 37.7 million minutes on Yahoo Inc. sites, or 9.1 percent of their time, putting Yahoo third in terms of time spent browsing. In July, Facebook crept past Yahoo for the first time, according to comScore.
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Phillip Weis, owner of Highland Pack & Parcel, works with customer Rich Dull, of Munster. The business is an independent shipping, packing and office supply store.
(Photograph by The Times.)

After 12 years in management and operational roles in retail, it was time for Phillip Weis to start his own business.

In 2008 Weis opened Highland Pack & Parcel on Kennedy Avenue. The business offers professional packing and shipping options, mailbox rental, copying, printing, faxing, laminating, banners, posters and more.

Weis originally opened the business as a pack and parcel, but it quickly morphed into a full business center.

“I wanted to get out of the corporate atmosphere,” Weis said. “I’ve always enjoyed being artistic, and I have a background in graphic design. I’ve created this concept and have enjoyed it ever since.”
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