How did facebook reach 500,000,000 users!

May 15th, 2011 by Ali Parandeh

Unlike iPod where one has to actually make an investment and pay for the product, Facebook is a free service where you can use it whenever you like.  There are a number elements to consider in here.  For a website to grow organically it will take a lot longer than it has taken Facebook to reach its current users.  So other methods have to be adopted.

Facebook’s first and foremost way of getting more users to its website is through scanning your address books.  As you sign up to Facebook for the firts time you are asked if you would and allow Facebook to scan your address book and find friends that might already be on Facebook.  That’s fine, because you always would want to link to your existing friends and if they are on the same network that you have already joined then even better.

 The second part of their methodology is that all these email addresses that have been scanned from your address book, which you had already given permission for, are kept in Facebook’s database and as soon as someone signs up to Facebook next, if their email address matches one in your address book, they are automatically sent an email via Facebook, stating that “John Smith would like to friends with you on Facebook”.  Now that’s not necessariy true.  First of all you have hundreds if not thousands of email addresses in your address book and not all of them may necessarily be friends and even if they were at the time you signed up to Facebook, they may not necessarily remain your friend for ever.   If  a certain person in your address book happens to sign up to facebook later than you and at the time they sign up to Facebook, let’s say you and this person have had an arguement and are no longer friends, then this presents a problem.  The issue is that at the time you signed up to Facebook you consented to Facebook scanning your address book and inviting all your friends on your address book, however the message that is sent at that later date, directly via Facebook, is not necessariy approved by you at the time that it is sent.  This may create an unwanted situation.  Why should you invite someone you are no longer friends with to be your friend on Facebook and see and share your private life.

 Let’s look at an example and something even funnier.  I signed up to Facebook some years ago, but given all the privacy issues and the fact that I did not want to receive hundreds of message on a daily basis at work, I created and used a new email address for my Facebook account.  I then logged into Facebook and did not allow it to scan my address book.  So far so good. I connected to a few people that I wanted and only emails from those people who would search to find me by name.

 More recently, I updated my profile and the Facebook profile application suggested that I should provide a secondary email, just in case I should forget my password and if the primary email account fails to work then it would be difficult to recover the password.  Good suggestion, so I updated my profile and added my work email address.

 In less than a few hours and all in one go, I received over 10 emails from people I know stating that “They would like to be friends with me on Facebook”.  Now several questions ran through my mind at that point! 

1. Do people have really nothing better to do than spend their whole time on Facebook looking for new and old friends?

 2. Even if the above was true, were all of these people searching for me and wanting me to be their friends at the same time? 

 3. Finally many of these people are my clients! Do they really want to be my friends?

The answer to all of them is NO.

 As sad as it may sound; No one was searching for me and none of them had specifically asked to become my friend on Facebook.  It was merely that when they signed up to Facebook, they allowed the website to search and keep all the email addresses in their address book and then link them to anyone new who signs up or updates a profile.

 While it does not take a PhD to work the above methodology out, what confirms Facebooks methodology is the fact that I received the same invitation in the list of 10 emails I received from a client who had died about a year earlier.

 So Facebook’s strategy to find your friends for you is an interesting way and it has allowed the website to become the biggest social networking site that it is today.  However this method poses some issues and as I mentioned earlier on Facebook’s notifications for adding more people to your friend list and their network is sent at later dates without your knowledge and consent at that particular time, leaving you vulnerable to issues and encounters that you may not have otherwise expected.

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Movistar (Telefonica), still no service and no hope! Did you get a 902 number?

May 12th, 2011 by Ali Parandeh

 Movistar this morning has anounced that they cannot specify how long it will be before they can restore all the disconnected landlines. 

While Movistar blames the matter on a storm, many people suggest that it was a disaster waiting to happen.  The poor quality of work of Movistar on the street is probably a good indication of why landlines fail so much and also how Telefonica views its work quality. 

During the time that my IT company had a service contract with Telefonica, we tried very hard to get the message across to their managers, but their only interest was resolving an issue as cheap as possible and if it was too difficult or expensive; ignoring it until the client / end user would just give up. 

It is not surprising to hear that after nearly 5 days they just simply turn their back on their customers and tell them we cannot tell you when it will be fixed.  Already many customers have switched to wireless providers such as Y-Internet .    A while back we had suggested to our customers that they should all think of virtual numbers like 902 XXX XXX.  Although they cost more, in emergencies like this, they prove to be the most useful investment as they can just be switched to another landline or mobile in any phyiscal location you like.

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Telefonica blues. over 90,000 without telephones and Internet.

May 10th, 2011 by Ali Parandeh

Last Friday on 6 May 2011 just before mid-night one of Telefonica’s main switchboard caught fire. The initial estimate was that 50,000 people have been left witout phones in mostly the area of Malaga, however more recent reports suggest 90,000 and the reality could be even much higher as Telefonica will not admit.  The incident has affected the phone lines provided to emergency services including that of the national police 091 and health services 061.  Marbella, Fuengirola, Mijas, Ojén y Benahavís, have all been affected, including towns as far as Antequera & Villanueva del Trabuco.

Telefonica’s initial report was that they will have 50% of lines operational before the start of the week day, however 2 days into the week and the number of people affected by the incident is rising.  The problem is so huge that the national police has temporarily suspended the issuing of eletronic ID cards and passports.  While Telefonica claims that the fire is due to a setorm, the reality is that their central switchboard room was badly equipped without the required preventative measures and fire extinguishing facilities.

This is a good example of how big companies will never take responsibility for their errors and this is not a unique case in Spain. Telefonica has already declared that they will only refund the proportional part of the fee for the days that anyone person or business has been without a phone which will be equivalent to a few cents per line, while the losses are expected to be several millions for those affected.

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Team Building

May 1st, 2011 by Ali Parandeh

The Gregorian calendar marks the year as 2011 even though the birth of the universe was 13.7 billion years ago. At the beginning of this year, I sent an email welcoming all our staff back to work and emphasising the importance of the work place in our life as we spend practically 50% of our time at the office (8 hours out of 16 hours, assuming we sleep the other 8 and not taking it into consideration).

Five months later we have had our first team building session between the three companies.  A real challenge in organization, but what turned out to be a success.  While we have an extremely active team who work really well together, I believe team building is an essential part for even the best of teams.  We can never be perfect, but we can always learn, become better and achieve more.

 Oddmund Berger, author of the best seller “Your Life’s Echo“ and a colleague of Bob Proctor, the co-author of the famous book “The Secret” along with Isabel Chacon an expert in Vision coaching provided three companies Electronbox & PC Doctor SL, Urbytus and Business Development a most fantastic program, bringing the team of three companies together allowing them to work more effectively and understanding intercompany relationship and long term management plans.

Electronbox has long been working with Centell a leading provider of team building and personal development toolkits such as the BetterLifeToolkit. 

 There is no doubt that no matter how good your team is you can always improve.  It has taken us years to become who we are and it is only throw personal development that we can correct old habits and improve or work / life experience.  Remember we spend almost 50% of our life at work (if not more) :-)

Any winning team must keep on learing and changing through personal development programs and Business Developement has helped many companies like Taurus Administration through this process.

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Capture the lead!

April 17th, 2011 by

With more and more emphasis being placed on SEO and on-line marketing every day, many companies complain that, having spent large amounts of money trying to take advantage of these new on-line promotional methods, they are seeing disappointing results in terms of new business that is produced from their website. So, let’s look at a few fundamentals about your on-line presence and associated marketing techniques.

Ultimately, there is only one reason your company has a website and that is to generate more business (and hence more revenue). Whether the site only contains static information or is indeed a fully fledged on-line shop, it is ultimately nothing more than a sales tool and is solely there to promote and/or provide your company’s products and services to potential customers who form part of an on-line audience. With this in mind, driving traffic to your website is all very well, however, you should ensure that efforts are being made to try and capture information about the people who are visiting your site. After all, you can not start or manage a relationship with a potential customer if you have no quantifiable way of reaching him or her.

So, how do you go about the seemingly challenging endeavour of capturing the lead? In an ideal world, you would ask people to register on your site and hand over their valuable contact details so that members of your sales team can start contacting them straight away. However, the majority of people will be very reluctant to provide you with even the most basic of details — e.g. name and telephone number. There is one piece of information that most users WILL be prepared to provide… their e-mail address. This is the only contact item that you need to kick-start the customer relationship into gear and hopefully turn an inquisitive user into a loyal customer. Once you have the user’s e-mail address, the door is open and a number of methods are subsequently available to nurture the relationship. Encouraging the user to hand over their e-mail address is probably easier than you think. People like getting things for free, so an offer of a discount code, informative document or gift are good examples of methods to try to achieve this objective.

Do bear in mind that, depending on the type of industry your company operates within as well as its geographical location, there will be compliance regulations in place that you must adhere to. In Spain, for example, all companies (yes, ALL companies, including self-employed people) must register with the Spanish Data Protection Agency and comply with the rules and regulations which this government agency oversees. The days of being able to send out unsolicited e-mails to everybody in your address book are unfortunately long gone and your company could face substantial fines (up to €600,000 for serious offences) if somebody complains to the agency about your methods of promotion and/or you do not have the necessary legal paperwork in place.

Business Development can help you with any and all of the topics mentioned in this post, so do get in touch with and we will be happy to arrange a meeting to discuss your specific requirements.

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What is a good CMS

April 5th, 2011 by Ali Parandeh

A few weeks ago I wrote about a why a CMS program is so important.  Since then I have been asked to specify what constitutes a good CMS.

It all depends on what your requirements are.  A good CMS (Client Management System) is an elaborated address book.  For example in Microsoft Outlook you can search for a contact typing any part of a Name, Company, or address, but what you can’t do in a simple search is look for a number.

In my view the most important thing is to be able to identify the client as the phone rings and the call comes in.  Call ID has been available for many years and there are many packages that allow you to connect your database to the telephone system.  You can buy an integrated software/hardware system, or you can simply create a database application that holds the fields separately.  It takes less than 5 seconds to type in the number that you can see on your telephone screen and answer the phone with “Good morning Mr Smith”, even if it is Mrs Smith, they will appreciate and feel important.  At the same time if your database is linked in to your work database you can probably even inform them about their call before they even ask.

A good CMS, should also allow you to keep a track of all your communication verbal or by email in a structured manned linked to the client and also separated by Job with notes and sub links to any third person involved in the job.

In fact a good record of any job will provide a really good way of justifying any invoice sent to the client and the full value of the job, no matter how big or small.

If your database can link invoices and purchases to clients and suppliers then you are onto a winner.  Most companies have very separate systems for accounting, client communication, products and ordering and so on.  There are lots of more integrated solutions and you can always get one built to request, you will be amazed how much this part of the investment can help your company in the future as you grow.  Companies like Electrobox can always provide you with a tailor made program at a very affordable price.

The above information is based on our market experience and surverys over the past 10 years in southern Spain, where the clients are mainly foreign residents.

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BankInter? What I call a good example of bad customer service.

March 29th, 2011 by Ali Parandeh

A couple of months ago, after speaking to, Annette Kurzynski, one of the managers  from BankInter she sent me an email explaining the wonderful services her bank and branch offered and all free of comissions for the personal account with interest paid.  In short a service similar to what you would get in most other countries and what was missing in Spain.  Most banks have started realising that people are not stupid anymore and that they cannot charge commissions for every little thing but nevertheless Spanish banks have not lost this practice and as times are getting harder they are increasing their comissions and service charges.

After studying her offer, no less than a few days after opening the account, we sent our first few transfers and cheques.  While most banks charge a moderate fee, BankInter charged us nearly 5 times more per transaction than most other banks.  Surprised to even see the commission charges, I called the bank manager who promptly informed me that she needs to make a living.  Of course I understand that she needs to also make money, but in her offer it is clearly written that I will not be charged any commissions.

Unfortunately it seems that either certain Banks or some managers have lost total respect for what is a written offer.  It has been two months since we have been trying to get our comissions refunded, needless to say nor the Bank neither the Manager has the slightest intention of correcting their error and returning all the comission.  The issue is not the few euros but the principal and the fact that when you are offerred something that comes written from your bank manager you think you can trust it.

 It seems that banks and the likes of Ms Kurzynski think the only way to make money is by lying to people and charging them unagreed comissions and keeping people’s money for as long as they can and gaining all the possible interest. 

 It is unfortunate to see that Bank’s have come to this and that they allow such managers to run their branches in their name.

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Why is a good CMS so important in a company of any size?

March 3rd, 2011 by Ali Parandeh

For 10 years at Electronbox we have had a dedicated CMS system serving over 15,000 clients better than some of the bigger companies, the likes of Telefonica, Tiscali. I have always wondered, if we can do it why can’t they do it. Providing a personal service to the client is probably the most important thing on their list. In fact it is being recognized and attended to, no matter how good your answering service is, if you cannot provide your client with a personal service you are bound to be disliked as a company.

Legalitas is probably one the few Spanish companies that has started tapping into this knowledge.   Call them and they will provide you with a personal lawyer who knows you and can always act as your account manager.

A good CMS program should allow any small to mid size company provide the same solution and as you grow your client’s history and knowledge base becomes available to your employees who will then be able to your client in the same as you.

There are lots of CMS programs, ready built, offline, online and made to order.  As a small company you don’t need to spend a large sum, just make sure that you define your needs, target and with the right advice you are bound to find a CMS that suits your needs and budget.

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Welcome back to work

January 10th, 2011 by Ali Parandeh

Dear All,

Welcome back and I hope that you have all had the time to get some rest, spend time with family and friends and enjoy life in this paradise.   The Gregorian calendar marks the year as 2011 even though the birth of the universe was 13.7 billion years ago. Well, it is a New Year and as with everything new there are also some changes, hopefully for the better. Some of you may have noticed that your rooms look different and there are already new faces that have joined us and there will be more who will join us throughout the year. Change should always be for the best and in times of recession our company has grown 25%. So well done to you all and let’s aim for a 50% increase this year.

So how? Where do we stand at our company now? What are our objectives and what can we achieve and where do we want to go? Is it really the beginning and is it safe to ignore the Solar, Chinese or the lunar calendar? Do we need to take them into consideration and maybe reset our counters?

Before I answer the few initial questions, I would like you to consider the following. The last time you looked up at the sky looking at the stars which are far greater than the size of earth and yet look smaller than a tiny spot, did you ever wonder where you stand in all this? Of all the atoms that make up yours or my body and its relevance in size to us and the universe? Does it really matter what one single atom does in our body or if we suddenly decide to scratch ourselves and as a consequence destroy a few hundred thousand cells and displace several million atoms! Will the universe suffer if a few hundred or even thousands of us disappear from one second to the next? Or will it have any effect in the lifetime of universe? In this perspective our lives, aims and targets will look meaningless and maybe even not worth the slightest consideration. So if we take this into consideration are our company’s targets, vision, mission and status of any relevance in this new perspective?

However, if every atom in our body were to think in the same way, even if just a few thousand atoms were to defy their given tasks, soon this body that carries not just physical matter but also intellectual or even spiritual mass would stop functioning. Therefore, as insignificant as we may seem in this universe, it is by working together that we have come this far and by continuing to work as a team that we will be able to achieve anything.

While we will set company targets and review our status, mission and vision, all I hope is that we can use this millisecond of lifetime on earth to enjoy working in harmony, knowing that this is neither the beginning nor the end.

Welcome back to work and paradise. It is all yours and remember that we spend a greater part of our life at work and I know that we all enjoy doing what we do. It is all that we need to make it and I want is everyone’s effort in order to maintain the paradise we live in.  Welcome back and a big thank you to all those whose effort and work during the holidays allowed me to spend a few more hours with my family.

Thank you

Ali/

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What is it “to have time” and “can you create time”?

August 25th, 2010 by Ali Parandeh

One of my most favourite songs is “Time” by Pink Floyd, it says it all “Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time, Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines…”.   I listen to this song, probably 10 times a month if not more.  How many plans have I had and how many have I acheived?  Am I making the best of my time?  Why am I here and where am I going?  Work, work, work is what bugs us down and as many people as you ask, majority will tell you that they simply don’t have the time.

So can you acheive those dreams?  Can we really create time?  How can we do more than we are already doing? 

Maybe the answer is not creating time or doing more or less but rather acheiving that balance.  Is it acheivable?  With all the work and responsibilities we have?   The mortgage, the house, kids, office and even parents or other dependants!  Yes, I agree it is as equal as it is to love and we can’t buy time and to acheive a balance is certainly not as easy task.

I have always enjoyed my work and as such always been classed as a workoholic.  I admit, I have at many times worked weekends and put work before family and pleasure; and I admit at that times some of them were wrong.  I always gave the future too much importance and worried too much about the future.  However as I remember a quote from a friend of mine “Don’t worry about the future, as the future does not worry about you” and a colleague of mine who always said, never use the length of time rather the width is what you should use!  So does this mean multi tasking?

Well Microsoft windows afterall these years is not exactly brilliant at multi tasking, however I find women great at multi tasking and I have found that if I want to do something, I should just do it.  Reading books, learning to play the drums, roller blading and more running, all this have not really reduced my time but rather provided me with more energy and sanity and thus given me a healthier time to acheive more.

I have acheived more time by simply doing all those plans that were about to become naught or just scribbled lines.  So I am following the path and growing our company Electronbox, Business Development and Urbytus.   Recession or boom, we should carry on and have faith, plan it and action it and don’t forget to read that favourite book of yours or book that much need holiday.  It will only be to your benefit and how your business will benefit from a new you.

Posted in Business Development, Living on Costa del Sol, Spain | 1 Comment »

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