Its official. Google Drive is now open to the public.
Most users can get started at http://drive.google.com/start

Google Drive is everywhere you are—on the web, in your home, at the office and on the go. So wherever you are, your stuff is just…there. Ready to go, ready to share. Get started with 5 GB free.

Google Drive is currently available for PC, Mac and Android devices. Support for iPhone and iPad is listed at “coming soon.” You can upgrade from the free 5GB account to 25 GB for $2.49 a month and 100 GB for $4.99 a month. Each paid account will have the added bonus of increasing your Gmail account storage to 25GB. Storage options even go as high as 16TB at $799 a month if you seriously need a ton of space in the cloud.

I’m disappointed that iOS devices are not supported at launch, but this seems like a nice idea for a lot of people. I’ll give it a shot as soon as the iOS app is released.

Additional reading:
Google Drive – It’s Live and No Dropbox Killer by The Next Web

Image courtesy of Facebook. 

It looks like Facebook is going back to its roots in a way. Today the company announced its “Groups for Schools” offering. Its much like the current Facebook Groups, but just like in the old days you’ll have to have an active school email address to join one. The feature is just starting its roll-out now, so if your school doesn’t already have it in place… you can expect to see it at your institution of higher education soon.

Read the full announcement:
http://newsroom.fb.com/Announcements/Introducing-Groups-for-Schools-144.aspx

1.) What the heck is this video advertising…?
It was answered at the end.

2.) Would I have hit the button? And if  so, I probably wouldn’t have just stood there watching!

What do you think? Genius or a waste of time?

To launch the high quality TV channel TNT in Belgium we placed a big red push button on an average Flemish square of an average Flemish town. A sign with the text “Push to add drama” invited people to use the button. And then we waited… Discover here what happened or visit http://www.tnt-tv.be for more info.

TNT. We know drama.

A few weeks ago I stumbled across Heather Mansfield’s blog, Non-Profit Tech 2.0. After reading a few posts I wanted to find out more about the author. Heather’s been working with non-profits for a long time, just like myself. She’s recently published a book entitled Social Media for Social Good: A How-To Guide for Nonprofits. I’ve been reading it the last few days and would gladly recommend that you read it if you have any connections with non-profits.

Heather does a great job explaining some of the history behind social media and non-profits. She also paints an accurate picture of the present and a hopeful view of the future. The book covers the differences in Web 1.0 (static), Web 2.0 (interactive) & Web 3.0 (mobile) in an engaging way.  There is interesting material in it for both the web newcomer and a seasoned internet veteran like myself.

Let’s face it, non-profits and the web have come a long way in the last 15 years. I remember working with non-profits online before the birth of social media. Back in 1997 we had static fundraising webpages that asked for donation checks to be mailed in. Today you can make donations via text messaging and Star Trek: The Next Generation like tablet computers. Its truly amazing when you think about it.

The book is complete with step-by-step recommendations on increasing content quality and interactivity. Its has best practices for Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and more. Do yourself a favor and get a copy for your organization. If you are interested you should also attend one of her free upcoming webinars based off of the book.

Disclaimer: I wrote this review without any sort of compensation from the book’s author, promoter or publisher. I only reviewed the book because I found it very useful and hope others will find it useful too. 

As our lives become increasingly digital, many of us share more and more on social media site. 

Consequently, employers and colleges have started to request access to our personal profiles as a way to learn more about us. 

Should the same standards of privacy we’ve come to expect offline apply online, too? Take a look.

- Online Background Check Resource

What do you think? Should social media users have a bill of rights? Why or Why not? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below the infographic.