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Why I will never use Boingo Wireless again!

July 30, 2009 By 8 Comments

I while back I was in New York at the Newark airport, I was having some trouble with my bankcard so I needed to log in to internet and check what may be the problem. Since I carried around my laptop I decided to use their paid WiFi-service and installed Boingo Wireless on my computer to access it. The problems was sorted and I continued with the travelling not thinking about it again.

In Brussels, Belgium where I live now I have a coffee shop close to my house that offers a free Wi-Fi connection that I use from time to time as I like to study there. One day the sign for Boingo Wireless came up and it said that I could connect to the free.wifihotspot using Boingo Wireless. Sure I thought, why not?

I think I did so another day as well, but some other times the service did not show so I used the normal way to connect which takes a little bit longer.

Today I checked my bank statement and saw that I had been charged from Boingo, I though it must be a mistake and logged on to check it out. It turns out that they charge 19.95 USD per connection. Even though when you connect it says connect to FREE Wifi-connection.

And this is the reason to why I will never trust them again, and I hope that they won’t trick you with the same scam!


Update:

Do you want to know what happened? Read more here. Also read the comment on this post from one of the Boingo Employees.

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: , ,

To write or not to write?

July 23, 2009 By 6 Comments

As most of us do, I have a few favorite blogs, some I visit everyday because they are kind of telling a story, which you are exited to know the next chapter of. Most other just have really good content and I make sure not to miss any posts, even though I might not read every word of them.

When the blogs I love don’t publish anything I either stop visiting them or I get very annoyed. But when it comes to my own blog I have been careful to only post when I have something really interesting to say or a point to make. But how do my readers feel about that?

I’m certain that I have a thought or an idea everyday worth sharing, most likely it is the same for you? So what is stopping you from sharing it? I talked about where your blog is on your priority list before so perhaps you really cannot blog everyday. But when you have the time you should share your ideas. Because if you do, your readers might not get annoyed with you

and they will keep returning.

This might mean that they do not read every word of every post that you write, but it will mean that you make them keep coming back, whilst you keep improving your blogging skills.

So I say… Always write!

What do you think?

Filed Under: Annelie's Musings, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , ,

How To: Stay in while your out!

July 11, 2009 By 2 Comments

In May this year I left my job, which I first started as an intern, to go back to school and finish up my degree. During my last few months at my job as a marketing specialist I really put a focus on social media and started this blog, got into the twittering and multiple other social media sites. After I left it feels like the whole social media world has speeded up and I am not following the developments as fast as I used to.

Because of this I know that I need a plan to be able to stay in contact with what I want to do while I’m not doing it. I wanted to share some of the things I do to make sure to stay current.

  1. Make sure to stay update with the developments. I use google reader and follow a few dozen blog writing about marketing, social media and Internet etc. Many of these might publish the same stories, but that hopefully mean that they will cover what I cannot miss.
    Google reader: http://www.google.com/reader/
  2. Set up an activity plan for yourself. It is so easy to postpone things when you are doing it for yourself and not for someone else, which is why it can be good to have a plan to keep track of your progress. Make sure to put a note of what days you might have to skip some activities to make sure it doesn’t become a habit.
    This list from Chris Brogan is a good example: http://www.chrisbrogan.com/19-presence-management-chores-you-could-do-every-day/

  3. Publish your own view on what is going on. Everyone does not need to have a blog but when I will go to my next job interview after I’m finished with school it will be a lot easier to say that I know social media if I can actually prove it. But especially when you are not currently in the field it can be difficult to find things to write about. Therefore try to read what’s going on and give the news your own angle, if you have trouble finding one, talk to your friends about the news and discuss it, I’m sure multiple angles will turn up.

I hope that this give you an idea to what you can do. I see this working in a lot of other fields that what I do, and especially in this economic downturn it is important to not fall behind when you get laid off.

Filed Under: Career development, How To Tagged With:

Market your European Social Media Event for Free

July 10, 2009 By Leave a Comment

I have seen many lists marketing the latest events in Social Media, Web 2.0, Cloud Computing etc, in America. But I have not seen such a list for European events exclusively. This is partly because there are not as many event in Europe yet, never the less I think it about time to get a list together. So please fill in the form below and I will be sure to write about your event.

Event name (required)

Date (required)

Event description

Website

Contact Email (required)

Contact Phone Number

Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: , , ,

Emax Nordic 2009

July 9, 2009 By 2 Comments

YOUNG DRIVEN ENTREPRENEUR TO EMAX NORDIC – A UNIQUE EVENT FOR UNIQUE PARTICIPANTS

I have trough an individual interview been chosen to participate with 200 other young entrepreneurs at Emax Nordic 9th to 13th of August 2009. I see my future as an entrepreneur or business leader and to take part of Emax is a unique opportunity for me to meet peers and exchange experiences and knowledge.
It would be an honor if you would like to follow me and my participation at the intensive event that Emax Nordic is and letting others take part of my experience and adventure. I will be bloging and tweeting from the event. Make sure to stay updated.

http://www.emaxnordic.com

Filed Under: Annelie's Musings Tagged With: , , ,

Emax Nordic 2009

July 9, 2009 By 2 Comments

YOUNG DRIVEN ENTREPRENEUR TO EMAX NORDIC – A UNIQUE EVENT FOR UNIQUE PARTICIPANTS

I have trough an individual interview been chosen to participate with 200 other young entrepreneurs at Emax Nordic 9th to 13th of August 2009. I see my future as an entrepreneur or business leader and to take part of Emax is a unique opportunity for me to meet peers and exchange experiences and knowledge.
It would be an honor if you would like to follow me and my participation at the intensive event that Emax Nordic is and letting others take part of my experience and adventure. I will be bloging and tweeting from the event. Make sure to stay updated.

http://www.emaxnordic.com

Filed Under: Annelie's Musings Tagged With: , , ,

What do you do when you read a RT Tweet?

July 8, 2009 By Leave a Comment

From a marketing perspective you can see a RT on Twitter as spreading the word mouth to mouth. So if many people does it, I becomes a bit of a viral campaign that is growing by other peoples work.

What I’m wondering is if the text in the Tweet is that get the attention, what is it spreading, or if the person actually tweeting get’s in on the marketing campaign too. (If I may call it that)

Let’s say that you see a Tweet marked RT.

• Do you pay any attention to the Twitterer who sent if originally and consider following this person?

• Or do you only think that this have to be a good tweet and if there is a link is probably worth following?

Please share your thought about this, I’m curious, am I missing something?

Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: , , , , ,