Mark Bean, the managing director of C7, and Josh Hilliker, the director of social media at Intel-GE Care Innovations, sat on a panel moderated by 3Fold’s Gordon Fowler to discuss whether or not social media’s return on investment (ROI) is measurable. Turns out, it is. As was revealed over the course of their discussion, there’s a plethora of tools out there for everyone to track just how effective their social media presence is. There are a lot of dated measurements (i.e. number of clicks or time on site), but they don’t quite carry over into social networking very well. Some of the newer tools include Hootsuite and Tweetdeck for the smaller businesses, or Radian 6 and Crimson Hexagon for

Gina Knepp has worked in high-stress city government jobs for more than two decades. But even though she spent nearly 20 years at the city’s 911 call center and now heads the 311 call center, her sense of humor remains intact. Knepp, 48, is the division manager of 311. She reflects her humor in certain activities – designating a day to wear tin foil hats – and in her office décor, which includes a sign that reads: “Dumb should hurt.” The 311 center, which handles a wide variety of queries about city services, has lost about 65 percent of its budget to cuts in the last couple years, she said. Though her division is understaffed and 311’s budget is tight, Knepp conveyed great enthusiasm a

 *   You have likely heard the old joke that lab rats are being replaced by lawyers because the lab workers do not get emotionally attached to lawyers.  Or the one about a thousand lawyers being chained together at the bottom of the ocean being a “good start”.  As these jokes (and the hundreds of others) show, lawyers have a bad reputation.  Personally, I have never had the need for one and only know a few, and I have worked pretty hard at maintaining the status quo on both of those points.  It seemed to me that lawyers are for people who live near secret toxic waste dumpsites.  Recently, my work helping small businesses with marketing led me to a local Law Firm and Real Estate company

 While going through the drive-through at a fast food place yesterday I was surprised to be greeted by a very friendly, professional voice on the other end of the intercom. He was well-spoken, VERY polite, and was gracious when I changed my order (twice). My husband also noticed, and said, "Man, we should get his name and call the location - tell them he's doing a great job". At this point, I became a bit indignant. Sure, he was polite and professional, but at what point was that not to be expected? What does that say about our culture that you can be blown away by someone taking pride in their job? I understand that there's a difference in professional drive when you're talking about wor