Social media and social networking have absolutely taken the world by storm. It really has opened up the communication channels for individuals and businesses alike, but are you getting maximum value out of it?

Absolutely, a big part of getting the most out of Twitter is to get active engagement with your customers and fans. However, even if you’re not as active on Twitter as some other companies, that doesn’t mean that you can’t get some value from it. In fact, just make sure your customers know that you are on Twitter and that they know your Twitter username.

This is critical, because it means that when they mention your brand, they are more likely to use your username (@company) rather than just your company name (company name). This lends itself to having their followers click through on the username and learn more about you. It’s much less likely that someone would copy and paste the company name into a search engine to learn more.

This is why, above all else, your Twitter bio, background image, and profile URL be kept up to date. They need to be informative, directing interested parties to your website to get more information about what you have to offer. Get on Twitter, get the mentions, and build your brand presence online.

Many people are making sizable incomes through their blogs. For some, it’s a part-time endeavor with part-time money. For others, it’s a full-time job. Whatever the case, selling advertising on a blog need not be too difficult.

In place of or in addition to the various advertising networks, you may also be interested in selling private advertising. If so, you’ll want to have some good ad management software. The A.M.Y. Lite WordPress Plugin is one option that you might want to consider.

This ad management extension is a more basic version of its paid equivalent, but it still gives you the functionality that you need to run private advertising. It automatically tracks expiration dates, so you don’t need to pull expired ads on your own. The plugin allows for ad rotation too.

Go to CalendarScripts.info for screenshots and more information about the A.M.Y. Lite plugin. That is also where you can access the free download link.

Depending on the size of the business and the number of employees, I can understand why a number of companies use automated menus for their telephone lines. A customer phones in looking for certain kinds of information and they have to navigate a “for X press 1″ kind of menu. That’s understandable, but it needs to be user friendly.

A couple of weeks ago, I called a store looking to get their business hours. I was already on the road and wanted to make sure that they would still be open by the time I got there. You would think that the automated menu would be designed to provide this kind of information, as well as the physical address, as quickly as possible. It should be one of the first options.

It wasn’t. In fact, I ended up having to go through four levels of menus before I was able to get the business hours. I had to first choose “business info”, then “more options”, then “store information”, and finally “business hours.” It shouldn’t take four levels of the menu hierarchy to get to something as basic as opening hours.

If you must use an automated phone menu, make sure that the most commonly asked questions are addressed as quickly as possible. Also try to minimize the number of total options and total layers. It also helps if “0″ is always to speak to an operator and this should be accessible at any point in the menu.

The Apple iPad has certainly taken the world by storm, but you aren’t getting the maximum value out of the popular iOS tablet if you are using it on its lonesome. That’s why there are so many different accessories available for the iPad and while some are more fashion than function, there are some really useful ones too.

One such example is the recently announced iMM514 ArtStation Pro from the fine folks at iLuv. In effect, it works as a powerful docking station for the Apple iPad. The concept is largely geared toward enjoying multimedia content, as there is an articulated and swiveling arm that attaches to the iPad itself. This lets you change the viewing angle to suit your particular preferences and situation.

The base itself houses a large speaker, pumping up the sound output that you would normally get out of the portable tablet. This could be useful for business presentations too, as your hands can stay free while going through your PowerPoint slides (complete with sound). Better still, the wireless remote attaches magnetically to the back of the docking station so you’re less likely to lose it.

We’re hearing that iLuv will start shipping the iMM514 ArtStation Pro later this month with the MSRP set at $169.99. Find it at various retailers and e-tailers that already carry other iLuv iAccessories for iDevices.

Do you need that special eye to capture that special moment in just the right way? Renwick Photography could be a fantastic choice for that special day, whether it be a wedding, a family gathering, or just some great portraits of loved ones.

The person behind Renwick Photography is Melanie and she started the business six years ago after moving back to Brantford with her husband. Today, she works out of her Brantford studio but serves clients all around Ontario, including Cambridge, Kitchener, Intersoll, London, Hamilton, Dundas, and Guelph.

To get a sense of her personal style, be sure to check out the extensive galleries on the site, including both family pictures and wedding photos. Check out the specials page to see what deals are currently being offered too.

Do you use BlueFur to host your websites? Let us know and we can feature you in a future blog post. Send an email message to blogfeature@bluefur.com with your name, website URL, and a brief description of what you’d like to see highlighted.

Would you like a WordPress theme that screams out with a little more personality without being too in your face? The Icy Night theme could prove to be a great fit.

The idea behind this theme is to offer “vibrant, loud, bright colors” that are cohesive and smooth. The net result is a largely black and blue darkened background for the white text and core content. The use of transparencies works quite well too.

Icy Night is available in both two column and three column configurations. In both instances, the sidebars are placed toward the right side of the theme, while the main content column is aligned to the left side. There is also a series of navigation links toward the top, just underneath the header text.

Go to EmptyNestThemes.com to find screenshots of both the 2-column and the 3-column variants of Icy Night. This WordPress theme is a free download, so feel free to use it with any number of your WordPress sites and blogs.