Sometimes, finding the right person on Linkedin is not enough. The reason is that only paying users with premium account can send messages to people outside their network (That is, if you are not already connected to someone, you can’t message him).

Now, if it happens to you often, probably the best solution is to pay to upgrade your account. But if you don’t think it will pay off, here is a little built-in hack that can help you overcome this limitation.

The solution

In short – to send almost anyone on linkedin a message, simply join a group he or she is a member of.

Explanation

When you join a group on Linkedin, by default the members of the group can send you messages. Although you can turn this option off (see image below) people usually don’t tend to change default settings. Therefore, usually you will be able to send message to all the other members of the group.

Continue reading “How to Send (Almost) Anyone on Linkedin a Message” »

Microsoft Excel has a really cool feature that allows you to import data directly from a website. That feature is called “web query” and you can use it to integrate live information into your spreadsheets or just look at data and analyze it in a different way than it was originally presented on the website.

In this post we’ll learn how to built an excel query in a couple of clicks. As an example, I’ve created a single spreadsheet with the top 1,000 twitters (based on data from Twitterholic), which you can download.

Create an excel web query

1. Open a new Excel workbook.
2. Open a website and Select with your mouse the data to import. Copy it, and paste into the workbook.
3. At the lower right end of the pasted area you will see the “Paste Options” button, which looks like that . Click it and choose “Create Refreshable Web Query”.
4. A new window will open, called “New Web Query” (see image below) . Once it is done loading, little yellow boxes with an arrow inside them will show up. Click the arrow next to the data you which to import.


New Web Query window

Continue reading “Another Thing You Didn’t Know About Excel: Integrate Online data Into Your Spreadsheets” »

When people are searching for you on Facebook, the first thing they do is run a search on your name. But what if they only know you by your maiden name or your name is just hard to spell? And what about the nickname you use on Skype, Google talk and AIM, Are they associated with your account?

Facebook has a solution for these situations. In this post, we’ll learn how to add an alternate name and IM screen names to your Facebook account, thus making you easier to find.

Alternate name on Facebook

As Facebook explain, the alternate name in your account “is only used to help people find you in search and will not show up in your profile“. Use it “for a former name or a name in another language.”

Here is how to add an alternate name to your Facebook account:

1. When logged in, choose “Account Settings” under “Settings” (you’ll see it in the top right corner of the screen).
2. Next to “Name,” click “change.“
3. Enter a full name in the “Full Alternate Name” filed, and click the “Change Former Name” button below.

Continue reading “Make Yourself Easier To Find On Facebook by Adding an Alternate Name And IM Nicknames ‎” »