Life on twitter can seem like life on another planet sometimes and today we just took one more step for twitterkind, a small one but an important one all the same with the introduction of twitter twubs.

If you’ve used Squidoo before you’ll find twubs have a familiar look and feel to the squid lenses and if they are half as popular we’re in for a functional, twitter addition. Twubs are well layed out, functional and warm and friendly.

Why do we use hashtags? Simply to step outside of the noise and into a quiet area. To move from the mainstream mashup into a niche where we can connect, converse and communicate in less than 140 characters.

So, to make life even easier Twubs have arrived and they are a great addition to the twitter platform with a live twitter stream, associated twubs and a members area where you can join and see other tweeters in your niche. Good for marketing? I believe so and heres why.

You can brand the Twub with your website details if you get there first. You can add a live RSS feed into the Twub itself. You can add links to websites and blogs to create powerful backlinks. You can follow the conversation in a warm and friendly twitter space with your friends and followers.

Twubs will take twitter users out of the noise and into a warm, welcoming place to share ideas and network. That’s what it’s about after all so get started by joining a twub in your niche and take your business onto a new level.

For those of you out there wondering what the hell the # symbol is all about and how you can benefit from using the symbol in your tweets life has just got a little easier with the introduction of twitter twubs.

Twubs are something like squidoo lense in look although functionally a little different. As twitter becomes more and more mainstream they will certainly gain popularity so pay attention.

Hashtags allow you to step outside of the main twittersphere into a quiet zone and this is where business will be done after all. Get used to hashtags and your twitter life will be a lot easier.

What will twubs do for you? Well, pay attention because believe twubs will be a major marketing platform within twitter and this is exactly why. Miss this one and you might just miss the boat.

You can brand the Twub with your website details if you get there first. You can add a live RSS feed into the Twub itself. You can add links to websites and blogs to create powerful backlinks. You can follow the conversation in a warm and friendly twitter space with your friends and followers.

Twitter is growing fast and the noise out there can put a lot of people off and send them packing fairly fast. Do yourself a favour and find out how to use hashtags, join the party and find a suitable Twub to talk about your niche.

Many Westerners consider the way of live of Chinese business people to be difficult to understand. The key to the understanding is based in the Chinese culture.

While China is a diverse country, it also has a large degree of unity. While there are 200 dialects, there is a common written language. 90% of the population belongs to a single ethnic group called the Han. Perhaps the most important source of unity is Confucianism, which has endured for more than 2500 years. Confucianism governs every relationship, including business ones.

This did not change when the Chinese emigrate from China Mainland and become citizens of other countries in different places in the world, most still consider themselves to be Chinese, even after several generations. Many families and individuals of those who left China before the 1949 revolution consider themselves as traditional Chinese compared to those in China today because the emigrants did not experience the communist influence on their traditional values.

Westerners consider Chinese culture and organizations vastly different to their own standards, while Western culture seems extremely different to the Chinese people. We need to comprehend these differences, so we better can develop a wider global understanding.

One must know that according to a well-known proverb, when a Chinese individual is honored, his whole family is honored. When he is damned, his whole family is damned. In a matter-of-fact the family had a strong meaning in China’s agrarian society, but Confucius added a moral aspect and broadened it to mutually dependent societal relationships. Every person has an important role as a link in the network of society.

In Chinese organizations the family is the foundation, including business ones. In the West, one often refers to “family businesses”. For the Chinese, the term “business families” may be more getting to the point since the family comes first and the business comes second. Rather than creating wealth, the Chinese tend to see their business responsibilities more as duties to the family and ancestors.

The family-based business model is strong, especially for Chinese living outside the Mainland. More recently, the increase in the number of non-state businesses, many of which are family-run, has helped the family model of business to reappear.

We will continue this topic. Please look for keyword ChinaGateConsult

Remark: Westerners who first begin to do business with the Chinese often are intrigued but puzzled. Inside Chinese Business makes sense of many pragmatic practices and illuminates a light bulb of perception about many situations. Keep in mind that this is only a basic prologue. For those which are looking for a more advanced study of Chinese business culture, or prepare a career or an investment in China, they should seek professional help by a consulting company like ChinaGateConsult with its multicultural background and about 35 years of business experience.

For future management consultants, the following list of periodicals, magazines, and books is a must!

It is extremely important that you be well-read when you apply for a job as a consultant. Here’s why:

1. During the recruiting process, your business literacy will be tested both overtly and covertly.

2. Exposure to the situations, solutions, problems and so forth that exist in business will be an indicator to you of how serious you are about pursuing this career. If you don’t enjoy reading about business problems and their solutions, you are unlikely to enjoy consulting about them.

3. If you already know the ropes, you will be able to hit the ground running when you are hired.

Click here for the management consulting books and magazines.

Here is a list of some of the best books and magazines:

The Best In Books:

The McKinsey Way and The McKinsey Mind, by Ethan Rasiel. Rasiel is a former consultant for McKinsey. These books will give you a lot of in-depth information on firm practices and culture. The things you will learn include hypothesis driven problem solving, 80/20 thinking, and more. These are things that I will be covering in posts here, but you can get a jump on that with existing information.

Author Jim Collins has written several very good books, and I recommend them all. My favorites are Built to Last and Good to Great. They give a real sense of the essence of business thinking today. Many consulting team members read and discuss Jim Collins’ ideas. These books have been influential on the way in which consultants relate to and understand their clients and corporations conduct self-analysis.

The Best in Magazines and Periodicals:

Every copy of the Harvard Business Review is worth looking at. I have never read one front-to-back, but there is always something among their timely topics that is of interest. For example, articles about encouraging bottoms-up innovation or properly establishing organizational systems to keep talented employees, are filled with information we need right now.

You will probably enjoy The Economist. I have been surprised, due to my experience with McKinsey, to find out how many people are avid readers of this magazine. I am surely a subscriber. The Economist is very helpful in understanding vital issues in regards to the global economy. You are sure to find interesting information in the finance, economics and business sections.

See Fortune Magazine for reliably high-quality, in-depth articles about leading thinkers in business and cutting-edge companies. Fortune is a very interesting read.

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