Can a marketing tool that depends on the participation of a large number of people be effective in a small city? That's a question many local business owners had when the popular deal-of-the-day website Groupon launched its service here in Eugene, Oregon. Sure, Groupon, which started out in Chicago three years ago, has been successful in big cities like Seattle and Portland. Although coupons have traditionally been the domain of housewives and retirees, the social-networking element of Groupon and its many copycats has attracted a younger crowd of professionals hoping to catch a good deal...

It's the latest meld between social media and online advertising: ads that appear in Twitter feeds, along with updates from real users. It's called in-stream advertising, and it makes the line between social networking and social advertising even tougher to distinguish. In-stream ads are only available to advertisers with "promoted accounts", who pay for visually highlighted ads that show up with traditional Tweets from individual or business users...

When it comes to the economy, everyone knows that small, locally owned businesses are a good thing. Outsourcing, on the other hand, hurts the economy - or does it? Since the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the emergence of the Asian market, the global economy has opened up to limitless avenues for exchange. Globalization continues to change the way businesses operate, both on an international and local level....

Cloud computing is the new buzzword on the web, promising to revolutionize the way people access data through their personal computers, smartphones, tablets and other devices. The "cloud" refers to remote servers where data - music, documents, photos, emails, etc - can be stored. Freed from individual hard drives, this data can be accessed from anywhere. It's the same idea...

In the last post we talked about online privacy and ways to prevent having your information stolen when doing business online. One of the most important strategies mentioned was the use of PayPal or another service that protects your credit card and bank account information. If you've never used PayPal before, it works like this: You open up an account and provide your credit card or bank account information...

Five easy steps to ensure Internet Security Back in the early days of the Internet, when only a small fraction of the population shared information online, security wasn't much of an issue. People chose short, easy passwords and never changed them, and nobody said much about the risk. Now, although security and encryption technology has...

If you have a Facebook or a MySpace page, chances are you've spent hours scouring your friends' posted photos, videos, and music. There's also the chance that you've copied your favorite work onto your own page. But what if Facebook or MySpace also copied your featured artwork? Each company has its own Intellectual Property Rights...

If you have a Facebook or a MySpace page, chances are you've spent hours scouring your friends' posted photos, videos, and music. There's also the chance that you've copied your favorite work onto your own page. But what if Facebook or MySpace also copied your featured artwork? Each company has its own Intellectual Property Rights...

Think about it. A boomer woman doesn't just represent one person. She makes many of the buying decisions for the boomer man in her life, and their parents in the 70+ age group. She also represents a substantial group of 18-35 year olds - her children, godchildren, nieces and nephews and their friends and family. She isn't just thinking about her own health, household and investments when she hears advertising messages, but about the needs of all the others in her sphere as well...

A student's study abroad experience - it can be described as "an enriching and eye-opening adventure, where learning extends to the world beyond the classroom walls," according to StudyAbroad.com. Many schools and universities, like the University of Oregon, offer course credit and financial aid for students looking to study abroad, making it simpler and easier for them to make the trip....