Swiss Chalet is a casual/family restaurant chain that has been serving Canadians for more than 50 years. Their first eatery opened in 1954 in downtown Toronto, and since then they have gone on to become one of the most recognizable names in Canada when it comes to fast food ideals with restaurant services. They specialize in rotisserie chicken dishes, although they do offer other options as well. While I’m not a fan of the food personally (I find it pretty…

Today is Valentine’s Day. Sometimes, as we build our communities and friends online, we forget the intimate one-person community that is our rock and makes us who we are. So today, take the time out and be with the person that is your own personal community. The rest of us online will still be there when you get back. For all the times I’ve forgotten my rock, I’m sorry. Today is for you. If you enjoyed this post, please consider…

I don’t often lose my temper but D.E. Alexander and his 24/7 News Net site brings new meaning to the word scum and lowlife. D.E. Alexander is allegedly an author and investigative journalist and 24/7 News Net is his alternative news site. Today, thanks to my close friend Gina, I learned that D.E. Alexander and his 24/7 News Net site is obviously happy to join the lines of human and media scum. He has issued a press release of incredible…

Image by dogsy via Flickr Think of these names – Abraham Lincoln, Jesse Owens, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., Muhammed Ali, Arthur Ashe and Barack Obama. What do they mean to you? Great sports people, politicians and public speakers/activists? Or people who, with others, fought to offer black people better opportunities and rights and encourage integration and equality? So why are the messages still not getting through? According to a survey by Lattimer Communications, as many as 86% African-American…

Image by moirabot via Flickr Suite 101 is a reasonably well-known consumer website that uses multi-national freelance writers to provide its content. The writers only get paid from revenue generated by ads and page views, so it’s generally up-and-coming writers that tend to provide the content. Recently, an email was sent out to all the site’s writers about a competition that’s being run. Up for grabs are three prizes of $101 for three different writers. All the site’s writers have…

Image via Wikipedia In Toronto, the main public transport system is the TTC, or Toronto Transit Commission. They handle buses, streetcars and subway trains for the Greater Toronto Area, which is a pretty wide circle of commuters. They had a pretty stormy 2007 and early 2008, with disputes between employees and management and fairly poor service for its 2.5 million daily users. Yet in the last six months the TTC has been visibly trying to repair damaged bridges. They’re decommissioning…

As you may or may not know, I started a charity project this year called the 12for12k Challenge. At its simplest, it’s 12 charities throughout the 12 months of 2009, with the aim of raising $12,000 per charity. It’s a tall order, but one that can be achieved. Yesterday, the 12for12k promo video was released. This is the result of a lot of hard work behind the scenes by Susan Murphy, Cheryl Gain and Kathryn Jennex of the 12for12k creative…

Image by luc legay via Flickr If you’re a business owner, do you have a social media presence yet? Set up your Twitter account, added a shiny new company blog and joined Facebook? How about a Squidoo page or a Ning community? Networking on LinkedIn? Got them all on your checklist? No? GOOD. Despite what you might hear, you don’t need a presence on every single social media network or community. Contrary to popular belief, social media is not the…

Apart from using the term “sheep”, which seems a little off (sheep follow blindly – people make their own choices), TwitterSheep is a pretty cool Twitter application that offers a visual cloud of someone’s followers. Simply type in a username and you’ll see a word cloud that’s generated by each follower’s profile. There are obvious instant benefits to this – for example, what a new follower may talk about the most as well as what your own outreach is like….

So there’s been a recent spate of Social Media Certification courses spring up lately. Who knows, maybe they’re great? However, I feel that it’d be remiss of me not to jump on the bandwagon offer my expertise course if you’re interested. Please leave your name in the comments field and why you need this training and agreeing that my results may vary but you’ll still pay me the course fee money. Official Social Media Person-Type Leader/Follower/Coach/Tutor/Guru/Expert Guy/Girl Certificate of Certification…