These days, viral is in. It seems as if anyone can create a video, slap it on YouTube and have it be an overnight sensation. And lately, businesses that are smart are starting to take notice of just how crucial of a role viral media can play in the promotion of their brand on the World Wide Web. The following are some key pointers to help you make a great video that is Internet worthy.

Steps to making a great video

1. Invest in a tripod. How many times have you watched a video on the Internet in which you start to feel motion sickness from all of the shaking going on? Creating a professional video for your business means having some stability.
2. Invest in a microphone. One of the best purchases you can make when trying to create a professional video is buying a microphone, specifically a lavaliere microphone. This is a kind of microphone that attaches to your clothing and can be plugged into the camcorder. Best of all, because these types of microphones are tiny, you can easily hide them so that they are not the main focus of the shot.
3. Find the right lighting- Ideally, you should try to shoot your videos towards the end of the afternoon when the quality of the natural lighting outside is the best. Play around with the lighting a little to find out what works best for you, but keep in mind that using natural lighting will mean the difference between having to invest thousands of dollars in schlepping around expensive lighting equipment (which you’ll first have to learn how to use). If you’re videotaping an interview, make sure that you are aiming the camera away from the light source so that the focus of your video isn’t washed out.
4. Learn a thing or two about the zoom. One of the most common mistakes when trying to make a great video is moving the camera around too much. Knowing how and when to pan out or zoom in can make or break a video.
5. Have a point. Especially if you are putting your video on sites such as YouTube, it only takes a matter of seconds for someone to be interested in what your video is about. This is where the title comes into play. Come up with a catchy, yet relevant title for your video, and make sure that your video isn’t too long. Typically, most videos that you see are only between one to five minutes in length.

We’re always looking for ways to get more out of what we have, right? Well, what if you could get more out of your current cell phone? The following are five things that you perhaps never knew you could do with your cell phone:

1. Text Google- Send Google a short message service (SMS) text message by punching in GOOGL (46645) to look up what you need. For instance, if you wanted to look up a specific chain of restaurants to see if there are any in the area, simply type in the name of the restaurant and the zip code and hit ‘send’. In return, Google will send you a couple of local listings. [source]
2. Emergencies- In case of an emergency, the number to call isn’t always 9-1-1. In fact, the emergency number worldwide for a cell phone is 1-1-2. So, if you find yourself in an unfamiliar area, dial 1-1-2. This supposedly works even if your keypad is locked; but only try it out when there is an actual emergency. [source]
3. Locked Out of Your Car? Aside from this really sucking- you no longer have to wait to call the police to slim jim your car door open. Instead, if you have your cell phone handy and have the number of someone who can get to your spare set of keys (everyone should have a spare set), instruct the person on the other end of the line to hold your keys to the cell phone and hit the ‘unlock’ button. In the meantime, take your cell phone and hold it approximately 1 foot from your car door. Your car WILL unlock!! Obviously, you have to have keys that are compatible for remote lock/unlocking mechanisms. [source]
4. Low Battery Life- If you are on a long trip or are somewhere where you wish that you had charged your cell phone because now it’s dying, no worries. Simply punch in: *3370# on your cell phone. Shortly afterwards, your cell phone will restart, and you will notice a 50 percent increase in the battery life from before. This should be more than enough juice to tide you over until you are able to find your charger and plug it in. [source]
5. The 4-1-1- Every time you dial 4-1-1- on your phone, you are charged a fee on your phone bill. Yep, it’s true. However, you can avoid this extra cost by dialing 1.800.GOOG.411. This clip will show you how easy it is. [source]

About a month ago, I had to contact Time Warner Cable to discuss a problem that I was having with my Internet connection not working. Since I work from home, it was kind of a big deal, so I was hoping to speak to someone right away to help resolve the issue. However, like most other companies nowadays, when I dialed the customer service number, I didn’t get a human voice. Instead, I got one of those automated prompts. Several prompts later, I finally spoke to a human being who only wound up setting me up for the obstacle course of being transferred to approximately seven different humans before I finally landed on one who was able to resolve my Internet connectivity problem (around 2.5 hours later)

If You’d Like to Make a Call, Please Hang Up & Try Again…

I knew that the issue I was having with my Internet was not one that would be able to be handled by an automated response. I needed to speak to a human…a living human; and my frustration over this fairly new wave of automated response systems is not felt by me alone. In fact, there are many people who, while sitting through various automated response systems, actually become increasingly frustrated and upset. Now, whenever I need to contact the customer service department of any company, I simply keep hitting ’0′ as soon as I hear the first automated prompt come up. Sure, I may still get transferred a dozen times before I speak to someone who can help me, but is there really any other alternative?

GetHuman.com

The geniuses behind gethuman.com have come up with a fairly extensive list of popular companies as well as their customer service phone numbers and how you can reach a human being in that particular business without having to sit through the myriad of automated prompts. The site offers contact information for each of the companies (i.e. customer service phone numbers to dial) as well as the average wait time that you can be expected to experience. In most cases, the site also offers links to that particular company’s Twitter page or support page as well as recent user reviews. To see the complete list, visit their site. In the meantime, the following is one example from their site:

• DirecTV- Say “Technical Support” or “CRG” if you want to cancel services. If you want to make programming changes, say, “ACE”. The robot woman will then say, “One moment while I transfer you” instead of asking you a billion questions.