Social media resources are not groundbreaking news for small business owners. However, some companies are reluctant to take the plunge, according to the website Financial Planning.

The media outlet reports that a recent survey conducted by Legler Marketing on behalf of BMO Financial Group found that while 55 percent of Canadian small businesses view participation in social media and networking to be important, only 52 percent of respondents admitted to actually utilizing the resources.

“We recognize that small business owners can benefit from the interactive opportunities presented by social and new media,” Cathy Pin, vice president of commercial banking at BMO Bank of Montreal, told the news source. 

However, apprehension over privacy issues and costs associated with hiring an employee to serve as a social media coordinator remain the two predominate barriers for social media integration.

According to NetworkSolutions, companies that are not embracing these opportunities are missing out on a variety of benefits.

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Forex, as we currently understand it, has a relatively short history. It came into being after the “Nixon shock”, in 1971, when the US President announced that America was no longer prepared to redeem Dollars for gold. The value of gold that underpinned the Gold Standard (which was used as the backbone of international trade) had fallen below the London spot gold price meaning that speculators could swap Dollars for gold and then make a profit by selling it on the metals market. By 1976, countries were obliged to float their own currencies and forex trading was born.

The advantage of gold was that it was a commodity valued in all countries and so readily traded. Gol

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I have written quite a bit on Hub Pages. I enjoyed writing there and actually, for the time I invested, I made some pretty good money.

I chose that strategy because I’d noticed that in small, specific keyword niches, hub page results did quite well without having their own “domain name”.

As you know, the recent Google Algorithm change hurt many folks whose work Google categorized as “substandard”. Hub Pages

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Looking for events to grow your business?  You’ve come to the right place.  The following  Guide to Small Business Events lists over 50 conferences, seminars and webinars:

Small Business High Speed Growth May 9, 2011

Are you ready to position your business for rapid growth? Join

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According to preliminary figures released by the UK’s Office for National Statistics, the UK economy grew by 0.5% in the first quarter of 2011. This result reverses a 0.5% contraction which was seen in the final quarter of 2010. A technical recession is defined as two consecutive quarters where the economy contracts, so the UK has avoided the dreaded “double dip recession” that some analysts were predicting as leading economies returned to growth after the global financial crisis.

The manufacturing sector has shown good growth during the quarter, but construction has lagged well behind. Manufacturing output was up by 1.1% in Q1, matching the sector’s performance in Q4. Natural

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Lifehacker has an amazing article that everyone with a password should read…Why Multi-word Phrases Make for More Secure Passwords Than Incomprehensible Gibberish

Security expert Thomas Baekdal argues that these incomprehensible passwords—while secure—are not as secure as a more memorable and simple phrase. In other words, this is fun is a more secure password than s$yK0d*p!r3l09ls

It’s certainly worth reading!