racoma.com.phJ. Angelo Racoma on technology, economics, writing, problogging, and getting things done

Sources say Facebook is planning to do an IPO of its shares by early 2012. Valued at $100 billion, the social network will be among the top-valued tech firms, like Google, Microsoft and Apple.

12.5-inch screens seem to be popular in the business-oriented notebook market. Lenovo and LG first came out with their 12.5-inch noteboks. Now, Samsung joins the fray with the Series 2, 4 and 6.

Twitter is all but necessary now to promote your site. Tweeting helps connect your product with current readers, and is greatly influential in reaching new ones. It is an amazing, public way to gauge what people are saying about you, your competition, and trends in your industry, and to respond and adjust your methods accordingly.

At the same time, it’s easy to misuse. Too many tweeters lose followers and tarnish their site’s brand by making common, easy mistakes. Follow these Twitter dos and don’ts to learn tweetiquette and promote your site effectively, gaining new followers and furthering your product.

If you’ve just asked your tween daughter to help you set up your own Facebook profile, you might want to think twice about spearheading your company’s own social media blitzkrieg. You could end up like Courtney Love, accidentally tweeting compromising photos of yourself to the company’s Twitter feed. With the lightning fast virality of the net, your bumbles could turn your company into the butt of an Internet meme (although, who knows, it could help your sales).

On the other hand, hiring a social media consultant can also take a chunk out of your bottom line, or at the least create another employee to oversee. How do you decide whether to embrace the DIY ethic of social media yourself or to find talent elsewhere?

The University of the Philippines (UP) Board of Regents has recently elected a new president, Alfredo E. Pascual. The incoming president is a retired executive from the Asian Development Bank, and is, at present, the univeristy’s Alumni regent. Coming from a finance and development, rather than an academic, background, the incoming UP president might be able to implement bold measures that can help overhaul the current UP administrative and financial setup, which would help lead it toward a of future self-reliance.

Recall that the UP community (of which my wife and I are alumni) is often critical of any change that might hint at “commercialism.” I would agree that UP has used its budget allocation as a crutch, and that the system might not exactly be administratively streamlined at this point. In a Philippine Star column, Boo Chanco describes the current ails of the state university, mostly due to ages-old charter–policies and regulations that limit it from being more forward-looking in terms of finances and efficiency.