New York SBDC Research Network

Whuffie Math April 16, 2009 – 4:22 am Tara Hunt writes a blog and now a book on marketing using social media. In this blog, she appreciates how social relationships work, using the promotion of her book as an example. The key is getting your product into the right hands so they will blow your horn for you. For those hold-outs resistant to this new climate of information sharing, Tara Hunt illustrates clearly and colorfully what effective marketing looks like. Check out the articles on TheWhuffieFactor.com

As you may know, 2000 is scheduled to be the last decennial Census that will gather "long-form" data. The information gathered from the long form of the census covered income/poverty, language, ancestry, education, homeowner/renter status and expenditures for same, plus much more. Data users were frustrated about having nine-year-old figures in 2009. Thus was born the American Community Survey , which will eventually provide numbers every year starting in 2010. Because there are different size requirements for geographies, this creates what might be confusion for the user. 2006: 2005 ACS - statistics for entities of 65,000 2007: 2006 ACS - statistics for entities of 65,000 2008: 2007 ACS - statistics for entities of 65,000 PLUS 2005-2007 statistics for entities of 20,000 2009: 2008 ACS - statistics for entities of 65,000 PLUS 2006-2008 statistics for entities of 20,000 2010: 2009 ACS - statistics for entities of 65,000 PLUS 2007-2009 statistics for entities of 20,000 2005-2

Good Ways to Deliver Bad News By: Curtis Sittenfeld Wed Dec 19, 2007 During the course of Staff Training, I heard a few people mention the counselor's role as the voice of reason. Jim mentioned that advisors must be there to tell the truth because most likely most others will find it difficult to do so. The fact it is, it is difficult to deliver news that is painful to hear. Dr. Robert Buckman, a cancer specialist having been through delivering the worst kind of news, developed a protocol. The protocol that Buckman developed has caught on. He teaches it to doctors, to medical students -- and to businesspeople, including executives at IBM, Andersen Consulting, and Upjohn. "Begin a difficult conversation by listening," he says. "And end it by summarizing: Review the ground you've covered, identify a plan, agree on a 'contract' for the next contact." You can read about how to apply the protocol in this article. Maybe we can take something from this to h

Here are a few sources of data about the non-profit: One primary source is the Economic Census. For 2002, it can be accessed either through a series of PDFs or via American FactFinder . The EC identifies establishments that are "not subject to federal income tax" in several of the service sectors, specifically 54-Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services; 61-Educational Services; 62-Health Care and Social Assistance; 71-Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation; and 81-Other Services (except Public Administration). These reports show the receipts for these establishments at the state, MSA and county level. There is even some place data, but the smaller the geography, the more likely it will be suppressed in order not to reveal confidential information. Also, public schools, colleges and universities, governments, and churches are excluded from the Economic Census. The 2007 data won't be out until late in 2010 and will be available only via American FactFinder. The NYC N

Most of the news that I read in the Business Review and other business-oriented periodicals and websites detail the extreme losses that many major companies have experienced in their first quarter for 2009. Luckily, the more time that I spend reading up on the Stimulus Act, the economy, and even the recession, the more hope I have that things will turn around, possible even soon. 2009 Industry Outlook - Challenging Times, Emerging Opportunities (Deloitte) Report: National recession to end by Sept. (Albany Business Review) The 2009 Economic Landscape - How the Recession Is Unfolding across Four U.S. Regions (FDIC)

The latest Trendwatchers mentions an innovative use of Twitter for small business: keeping them posted for time-sensitive updates like when the next loaves come out of the oven at the bakery or when the ice cream truck is coming round. Of course they also cover a lot of other interesting ideas for business. Check it out.

Flu information from the US Centers for Disease Control and the NY State Dept of Health The Web 2.0 Guide to Swine Flu from Salon Should You Fear Swine Flu? from About.com."No, but a healthy respect is called for." Apparently, pork producers were peeved that the original appellation was problematic in promoting their product , partially causing the name change. Others were bothered as well. How to Wash Your Hands From the techies at UAlbany: As the Swine Flu story unfolds, we anticipate that scammers and cyber thieves will try to take advantage of the interest in this topic by sending out phishing messages and malicious attachments that purport to contain information and updates about the illness. The US-Computer Emergency Response Team has already issued the first alerts about such messages being circulated. In this case, the message contained a malicious .pdf file called "swine influenza frequently asked questions.pdf."