VisionMonday's CLICK for July 25, 2012

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AN E-NEWS BRIEFING ABOUT WEB TECHNOLOGY & INTERNET TRENDS

July 25, 2012

Made possible by an unrestricted grant from The HOYA Free-Form Company

Mixing Business With Pleasure: The Evolution of the ‘Meetup’ in Eyecare

By Nathan Bonilla-Warford, OD, FAAO

TAMPA, Fla.—There is no question that the Internet has improved our ability to communicate quickly with people wherever they are. We can now develop close working and friendly relationships with individuals we have never met in person. As our online business relationships have grown, it has become even more important to make contact with these people in real life, too. Fortunately, there is a way to do just this: the social media "meetup," an in-person gathering of people who frequently connect online to discuss a shared interest.

Meetups are not rare or exotic. They happen in every city, every day. In fact, the Dictonary.com definition of meetup includes the typical example of "a meetup for new moms in the neighborhood."

Identifying Customer Opinion Leaders and Getting Them to Spread the Word

By Alan Glazier, OD, FAAO

ROCKVILLE, Md.—What type of advertising is better than word-of-mouth advertising? Enthusiastic word-of-mouth advertising. What's better than enthusiastic word-of-mouth advertising? FREE enthusiastic word-of-mouth advertising. This is why it is so important to have a system in place to identify and track those customers who potentially could be a megaphone for your practice — those customers who are likely to sing your praises to others, between friends, among family, on social media and the internet in general. We call these customers "Customer Opinion Leaders", or "COLs". Do you know who your "COLs" are?

Calm.com

OK, it’s summer, it’s supposed to be time to relax. Can’t take a vacay? Or just back from one and finding it hard to get back in the swing? Then, check out this site, which provides a simple, but effective, respite from the day’s stresses. Choose a backdrop, choose music or no music, choose words of guidance or silence.

Exp.Lore.com

A brief history of Rock ‘n Roll, 100 Riffs in a Single Take. That’s the 12-minute video that’s played by Alex from the Chicago Music Exchange. The video is one of several interesting pieces on this unique site which describes itself as “A discovery engine for meaningful knowledge, fueled by cross-disciplinary curiosity.” The site is affiliated with Lore.com a resource for educators, students, and the culturally curious.

AOAExcel

The American Optometric Association (AOA) has launched AOAExcel, a wholly owned subsidiary dedicated to supporting the business and career needs of AOA members. The new for profit national venture was introduced at last month’s Optometry’s Meeting by former AOA president Joseph Ellis, OD. AOAExcel will deliver both new offerings as well as current AOA benefits through a new website at ExcelOD.com, where members can customize practice advancement resources specific to their own business objectives and career goals.

OptometryStudents.com

The completely redesigned OptometryStudents.com website allows for more interaction among the optometry students who visit the site. Created in 2009 by SUNY optometry student, Matthew Geller, OptometryStudents.com has been relaunched to enable any student to log on, create a profile and immediately start posting content for the entire optometry community to hear. The new OptometryStudents.com website is a user-centric system with everything focused on the individual student.

A Closer Look at Gadget Ownership

NEW YORK—As of early 2012, 88 percent of American adults have a cell phone, 58 percent have a desktop computer, 61 percent have a laptop, 18 percent own an e-book reader, and 18 percent have a tablet computer, according to Pew Internet & American Life’s latest research. Gadget ownership is generally correlated with age, education, and household income, although some devices—notably e-book readers and tablets—are as popular or even more popular with adults in their thirties and forties than young adults ages 18-29.

When the Pew Internet Project first began writing about the role of the internet in American life in 2000, there were stark differences between those who were using the internet and those who were not. Today, differences in internet access still exist among different demographic groups, especially when it comes to access to high-speed broadband at home.

When is the last time you significantly upgraded your practice's website?

More than two years ago

One to two years ago

Within the past year

We're in the process of doing it NOW

I don't have a practice website

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