Most Americans now know the feeling of typing something into a social media input box, thinking again, and deciding against posting whatever it was. But while it certainly seemed like a widespread phenomenon, no one had actually quantified the extent of this “self-censorship.”

But now, new research based on a sample of 3.9 million Facebook users reveals precisely how widespread this activity is. Carnegie Mellon PhD student Sauvik Das and Facebook’s Adam Kramer measured how many people typed more than five characters into Facebook content-input boxes, but then did not post them. They term this “last-minute self-censorship.” The research was posted to Das’ website and will presented at the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence’s conference on Weblogs and Social Media in July.

The numbers are impressively large. Fully one-third of all Facebook posts were self-censored, according to the method Das and Kramer devised, though they warn they probably captured a substantial number of false positives. 71 percent of all the users surveyed engaged in some self-censorship either on new posts or in comments, and the median self-censorer did so multiple times. 

Perhaps the most interesting part of the study was the demographic correlations with self-censorship. Men self-censored more often, particularly if they had large numbers of male friends. Interestingly, people with more diverse friend groups — measured by age, political affiliation, and gender — were less likely to self-censor. 

While the researchers declined to speculate in this study about why people may or may not have self-censored, earlier research with a small group of users found five reasons people chose not share what they’d written: aversion to sparking an argument or other discussion, concern their post would offend or hurt someone, felt their post was boring or repetitive, decided the content undermined their desired self-presentation, or were just unable to post due to a technological or other constraint.

For Facebook users, the main takeaway here is probably: Feel free not to share. Facebook, on the other hand, has to have a more complex relationship to this research. Their interaction and business models depend on sharing, but it’s not hard to imagine some circumstances in which it would be better not to share: racist content, say. So, Das and Kramer say that future research should address when the non-sharing is “adaptive,” (which I think means good, in this context) and when, in the words of Das and Kramer, “users and their audience could fail to achieve potential social value from not sharing certain content, and the [social-network service] loses value from the lack of content generation.”

1. Chris Hardwick

Actor and comedian Chris Hardwick is known for his roles on ’90s MTV game show Singled Out and musical duo Hard ‘n Phirm.Hardwick used social media, blogging and podcast platforms to build what became Nerdist Industries, a multi-platform media company that receives 15 million collective monthly visitors.Nerdist was recently acquired by Legendary Entertainment. Hardwick remains Nerdist founder, as well as co-president of digital content for Legendary.

2. LeVar Burton

Depending on the decade, your memory of LeVar Burton involves either the Starfleet officer’s VISOR or, well, books. By using his personal Twitter account, Burton revived the Reading Rainbow series to snag the @ReadingRainbow account, which had been squatted by an inactive user. Today, the actor is very active on Twitter, and encourages more than 1 million followers to read. The Reading Rainbow brand has been digitized to meet the current needs of kids.

3. Alyssa Milano

Actress Alyssa Milano jumpstarted celeb life as a child, playing Samantha Micelli on Who’s the Boss and Phoebe during her eight-year stint on Charmed.Today, Twitter has turned Milano into a well-known social media mogul.Whether to advocate causes, flirt with the Old Spice guy or take over the NHL’s Twitter account, Milano is highly tapped into social media on several levels.

4. George Takei

After participating in three seasons and six films of Star Trek, George Takei’s identity became synonymous with his character, Hikaru Sulu.Takei created a Facebook page in 2011, which led to his social media stardom.The actor is now on nearly every platform, most recently Google+, where he expertly engages his millions of fans and followers

5. Roger Ebert

Film critic Roger Ebert has been dubbed “the most powerful pundit in America,” which social media helped prove after his battle with thyroid cancer left him voiceless.Despite losing the use of his vocal chords, Ebert turned to writing and social media to maintain his role as film critic.”My blog became my voice, my outlet, my ‘social media’ in a way I couldn’t have dreamed of,” Ebert writes in his memoir, Life Itself.

6. Fran Drescher

The Nanny’s Fran Drescher used to be known for her distinct laugh and Queens accent.Today, the actress uses Facebook and Twitter to advocate for her website Cancer Schmancer, which she launched after overcoming her own battle against uterine cancer.

7. Steve Martin

Standup comedian and actor Steve Martin has been in some of the most iconic comedy films to-date.After a few years off the big screen to focus on his music, Steve Martin eventually joined Twitter, where he was presently welcomed by millions of followers.Martin then turned his tweets into a book about what it means to be a celebrity: The Ten, Make That Nine, Habits of Very Organized People. Make That Ten.: The Tweets of Steve Martin.

8. Conan O’Brien

Social media helped Conan O’Brien make a comeback after falling out with NBC.Fans rallied for O’Brien on Twitter using the hashtag #TeamCoco — one went so far as to register the TeamCoCo.com domain to reserve for the digital team.O’Brien seized the opportunity and the site launched alongside a 30-city tour. The new TBS show was announced via Twitter and YouTube, and Team CoCo remains highly engaged with its loyal fans.

9. Wil Wheaton

Joining the rest of the Star Trek crew is Wil Wheaton, who played the role of Wesley Crusher.Today, Wheaton integrates his geek cred on the web. The actor’s popular blog has led to multiple books. He also has his own Fark topic page.Wheaton still shares plenty of Star Trek content with more than 2 million followers on Twitter.

10. Molly Ringwald

The Brat Pack princess Molly Ringwald was an ’80s icon, known for movies like The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles.Recently, Ringwald went from low profile to social butterfly. She joined Twitter and even participated in a Reddit AMA.

11. Louis C.K.

Louis C.K. may be one of the innovative comedians in the industry, but without social media, his controversial content distribution and ticketing methods would never have succeeded.C.K. jumped on to social media early in 2009, whereupon he used his massive following to turn his standup into a game-changing entrepreneurship.

If 2012 is going to go down the history books as the Facebook year then it would also be remembered as the year of Pinterest. Although Pinterest has been around since 2010, it only came into limelight from last year. One of the few reasons being the launch of its iPhone app, Facebook integrating it into it’s open graph, etc. Today Pinterest is the third most visited website in US but then outside of US, it is yet to achieve the same success.

Pinterest, which has been branded as a network for women, had attracted me initially but with time I have lost interest. Not because it was labeled as a women’s site but because of some of it’s shortcomings in usability. I logged in some days ago just to witness the same problems that existed before. Here’s a list of them:

1. Home page: The biggest problem I have is when I land up on my home page. Yes it is appealing for the first few times but later on, it has appeared as a visual junk yard to me. Not that I follow too many people but since people today share more than they consume so an alternative way to display could be thought of. I think a similar situation persisted in Twitter and that’s the reason why we have lists to control them and be able to consume them. Can Pinterest allow me to have lists in the profile page, which can be tailored to my needs?

2. Search: I spend maximum time on social media and when I join any network I look for the “Search” feature to explore more. Once you have joined all your friends, you would love to find more people or boards to explore more. In the case of Pinterest, the search becomes more important since it is a site about pictures and we love to see more and more of them. Definitely Pinterest has a search but then it can make it better, which would allow pinners to connect to others easily. Certainly, some advanced features are required to the basic search Pinterest is providing as of now.

3. Interest based content: From consuming everything, we are moving onto curated information and I think it can be done in Pinterest. Other than following the same set of friends from Facebook and Twittter, can Pinterest show me content from people that is of my interest. For example, since I love glass painting I would love to follow people who have the same interest and share the same kind of content. Pinterest has categories but they are very broad and again neither can they be sorted nor displayed in a way that I would want.  Along with this, Pinterest can add a feature saying “People To Follow” based on interests like it has “Friends To Follow” which would definitely increase the levels of engagement in the site.

4. Popular: The Popular tab is useful to explore more but lacks features like customizations and showing me what is popular in my network. Can the tab have categories so that it can list all popular pins or boards under one category, wouldn’t that be helpful? Besides this, it would be great if Pinterest can populate a small feed which will show me what is popular in my network too. Popular is a great feature but right now it has not been designed to be used to it’s full extent.

5. Social Sharing: Initially, I had a thought that open graph by Facebook has extensively helped developers. It has, no doubt but at the expense of user experience. Social sharing apps are becoming a spam with every passing day. Pinterest has an option to disable social sharing to your networks but why is it that every time it has to populate all my activities and show people on other networks. Wouldn’t it be great if I have the control on what to show and what not to? Time for Pinterest to think on this direction too.

6. Analytics: Finally we all love numbers don’t we? Can Pinterest have an added feature, which could give some more insights other than the number of likes and comments. We have third-party apps likePinerly who do the job but it would be great to have it from Pinterest rather than logging into another site to get the services.

7. Brand Integration: Recently, Simply Zesty had published some interesting case studies on how brands are using Pinterest. All good but how does one know which are the brands that are using it? For example, the other day I was looking for Indian brands that  are using Pinterest. The only way possible was via search and the results were not helpful. Wonder if Pinterest plans to integrate brands and show them in different categories. So that users can quickly search about them and follow them.

Facebook has proven itself to be a strategic purchaser of companies, having paid $1 billion for Instagram just after its release on Android. After being made available for Google’s open source OS,Instagram installations exploded to total more than 50 million subscribers. Now, with Facebook a public company having to answer to its legion of stockholders, the company is seeking to buy another company where it can use its large number of subscribers to make a ton ofcash. One such company apparently in Facebook’s sight is Oslo, Norway based Opera Software. Opera’s stock soared 26% on Tuesday due to the rumors of a bid for the third party browser firm.

Opera’s browsers allow for a pleasant surfing experience, even on those phones on the low end of the technology spectrum. Opera Mini uses the company’s own servers to load up a web site before compressing it and sending it to a phone, thus potentially saving the user from some data charges. Over 168 million people use Opera Mini. Opera Mobile is a third party replacement for a smartphone’s stock browser and uses the phone’s own technology to render sites.

Investment bankers say that Opera has been up for sale for some time and said that Yahoo and Google would not be interested in the company. Other bankers said that Facebook would be interested in Opera as a way to enter emerging markets. Still, others aren’t clear if a deal would end up in an outright sale of Opera or just close partnerships. One source told Reuters that while there is interest in the company, there is no “For Sale” sign on the software firm.. One thing that Operas might not want to lose is its strategic partnerships with companies like Google which it might have to drop in a Facebook acquisition of the company.

Norway’s top bank, DNB, says that a buyer of Opera would have to pay 68.6 crowns, or double Friday’s close, valuing the company at $1.35 billion. There are other things standing in the way of a Facebook-Opera deal. Opera’s founder and top shareholder, Jon S. Von Tetzchner, wants the company to focus on internal growth and says that Opera should reach 500 million users by next year. He says he is not pushing for a takeover. Still, he said he is unaware of a bid but would have to support one if others are in favor of it. One vote in favor of such a deal might come from Opera CEO Lars Boilesen. The executive last October said he would “love to” work with Facebook. Boilesen said, “We are already Facebook’s platform of distribution in emerging markets like Africa and India. A big part of the Opera Mini traffic is from Facebook. So we are already their channel in these markets.”

Continuing its slump, Facebook dropped nearly 10% on Tuesday to $28.84 a share.

Pinterest. The current social media darling and possibly the most controversial social platform yet?

Pinterest is a site where you can create visual, virtual pinboards to track and plan an event or project. Over 70% of the sites’ users are women and some of the most pinned images are of food. Users say it’s incredibly addictive.

Should your business be on Pinterest? Of course it should. Should you be concerned about copyright? Well that depends.

If your site is filled with commercially sensitive visuals then you will already be taking steps to protect your copyright and your images. If you haven’t already installed the “no-pin” script to prevent pinning, now would be the time to do this.

If you find that images have been pinned from your site without your permission then you can report the copyright violation and Pinterest will act upon your request.
But what if you don’t have commercially sensitive images?

As an online marketer, I can’t see any reason why you would want to prevent your images from beingpinned unless you would like to lose your competitive advantage.

Reading a Pinterest /Copyright post from former direct marketer, Elaine Sturgess, I have to agree with her points –

the idea that there is much of an issue [Copyright] at all rather bemuses me. After all, what Pinterest does is offer a completely free method of providing promotion and exposure; it means people can express their interest in your product, service or art, including wonderful photography – and then share that interest with others – and if it means you can get an idea about which product, services and ideas customers are interested in, where’s the issue?

It’s also a fact that the photos that appear on Pinterest are low resolution and small – in other words, their practical use for any other application other than providing you with that free marketing exposure is extremely limited – you can’t use them for print or any other application requiring a high resolution quality photograph – and if you take the time to watermark them, they can hardly be used for anything else online either.

As Elaine correctly points out, the images and resolution are too small for offline use and when watermarked they are barely useable in the online world. Still protective of your images? Or are you starting to see things in a new light? Well that’s not the only reason you should be on Pinterest, you need to be part of their community too. Although mainstream marketers have only just discovered Pinterest, it’s been established since 2010. You need to comment and interact with people there, just like you would any other community.

But you do have to be careful when it comes to copyright and that’s when it comes to pinning and re-pinning images from Google.

Why you should never Pin directly from Google Images…

Pins from can be embedded in blog posts and when that happens the Pins are attributed correctly from the source site. This can be another problem area for corporate content creators. If a person pins an image from Google, then Google is attributed as the source of that image on Pinterest.

If you are searching for pinnable images to create a vision board or relevant services related board, you should never pin from Google images.

You must go to the original source of the image. If you are using Google Images to find your photos, click to view the original page and click the “X” at the top right corner of the image. That will bring you to the original web page and you can pin from there. This ensures correct attribution for the image.

If you see a pin that you must repin, then track it back to its original source. A few minutes work here will see that you are on the right side of attribution when it comes to copyright. If you click the Pin, it will take you to the page the image was pinned from. If that’s Google then click the X at the top of the image and visit the image in its natural habitat. Scroll down and see if there is a link to the photographer / designer image, if there is then you need to click that link and pin from there as that is the original source of the image.

Seems like a lot of work? Possibly, but it’s the safest way to pin and repin images using Pinterest.

Now you can — up to a point — thanks to a new feature launched this week at a site called Lyst.

Lyst, a London-based startup, is a little like Pinterest. The site invites you to follow designers, stores, bloggers and your friends, from which it creates a feed of clothing and accessories you can add to your own “lyst.”

If an item on your lyst is discounted, you’ll be notified by email.

Now, if you connect your Pinterest account, you’ll receive an email notification when an item you’ve pinned on Pinterest goes on sale, too, so long as that item is also indexed on Lyst.

Lyst’s index is limited largely to fashion brands and retailers — so if you mostly pin books or furniture, this tool isn’t going to be terribly useful to you.

To see which of your pins are recognized by Lyst, check out your “Collections” under “My Lyst.”

A bonus: If an item you’ve pinned from one retailer (say, Neiman Marcus) goes on sale somewhere else (at Nordstrom, or Endless), you’ll still get notified.

Lyst also offers a Runway Tracking tool that lets you know when your favorite runway looks arrive in stores. The tool was launched during New York Fashion Week last September.

The London-based startup is currently exploring additional methods for tracking the fashion goods you may be interested in purchasing.

Pinterest is raising $120 million in a funding round expected to be announced Thursday or Friday morning, according to multiple sources. The investment, Pinterest’s third, places the two-year-old social bookmarking site’s valuation in the range of $1 billion to $1.5 billion.

AllThingsD reports that Japanese commerce giant Raukten is leading the round with a $50 million investment. Ben Silvermann, Pinterest’s CEO and cofounder, is reportedly still deciding what other financing offers to accept.

Partnering with Raukten could open doors for Pinterest in Asia. The startup, which is still in invite-only beta, has enjoyed increasing mainstream recognition in the U.S., but has made little headway abroad. Meanwhile,clones are popping up like weeds.

One sign that Pinterest’s focus is growing increasingly international: a recent post to Pinterest’s corporate blog calling for translators for local-language editions of the site. French, German, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish are the company’s first priorities, it said; Dutch, Greek, Italian, Korean, Malay, Polish, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Swedish and Turkish are next.

Pinterest has left its business model undefined — at least publicly. For a time, the startup was quietly earning money through an affiliate revenue scheme, but quickly shut it down after media caught wind of it. Still, Pinterest seems to have great revenue-earning potential, given that the network is already driving sales for some retailers.

Pinterest has raised $37.5 million in venture capital to date. Current investors include FirstMark Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, Andreessen Horowitz and Ron Conway.

Rumors that Pinterest was raising a round in the range of $1 billion were first reported by The Next WebWednesday.



Against all odds, you likely know someone who still hasn’t succumbed to the lure of Facebook. Maybe you’re a beginner yourself. Or perhaps you just haven’t had the gosh darn time to explore every last corner of the world’s most expansive social network.

Below, we offer a refresher course for those eager to learn more about the basics of Facebook. Let’s take a social stroll through the network’s main features, policies and culture norms.

Even if you’re a pro, it’s fun to look at the platform through a beginner’s eyes. If you were a Facebook virgin, what would you think of the social network?

1. Timeline

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Before you begin searching for friends, it’s important to complete your Timeline (aka your personal profile), which includes everything from uploading a profile picture and cover photo to outlining your employment history to determining your relationship status (OK, that’s optional). It’s called a timeline because you can include information, important milestones and memories spanning your entire life. Timeline is incredibly nuanced, and encourages you to include as much detail as possible, and many, many people do — so, don’t be shy!

2. Friends



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Once you’ve filled out a healthy portion of your Timeline, start searching for and adding “friends.” Trust us, you won’t be at a loss. Chances are, many of your co-workers, family members, classmates and neighbors are already on the network. Search for them in the search box that appears on the top of the site.

As you accumulate friends, Facebook will be able to suggest additional contacts as its algorithm generates connections among your growing network. You’ll see a list of suggested friends on Facebook’s homepage, in the “People You May Know” sidebar.

3. News Feed



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Finding friends on Facebook is incredibly important, not simply to connect for connection’s sake, but to stay up to date on their latest news, thoughts, activities, whereabouts and tastes. And the place to access that information is the News Feed.

Once you’ve logged into Facebook, the first thing you’ll see is the News Feed. There you’ll view friends’ status updates, new photos, links to articles, etc. One of the most recent changes Facebook made to its News Feed is the order in which updates appear. Facebook’s algorithm and your own activity determine what “news” is most important, and thus, whether it makes the top of your News Feed. Think of it like the front page of a newspaper, determined by an algorithm rather than an editor. Therefore, you won’t necessarily see updates in the order they’re posted, but in order of timeliness and “importance.”

If you prefer to see things in chronological order, simply click the “Sort” option at the top of your feed and select “Most Recent.”

4. The Status Update



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A status update is anything important to you at a particular moment in time that you deem shareable with Facebook friends. Through a status update, you can communicate your present activity or whereabouts (via a “check-in”), post a link to an interesting article or site, share photos and videos, and even create a poll.

Create a status update either from the News Feed or from the top of your Timeline.

However, I recommend first taking a look at many of your friends’ status updates before launching into your own. Each person has his or her own style and frequency, but many newbies aren’t aware of typical Facebook “etiquette” when it comes to updates. In general, Facebook users resent “spammy” updates — in other words, sharing every single activity on your schedule and thought in your brain (“I just boarded the 6:05 train”). Boring. These days, Facebook is a space for sharing valuable information and fostering conversation. It’s not a platform for minutiae.

5. Brands



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Although a major part of Facebook, friends are not the only entities with whom you can interact. Most major brands and a growing number of small businesses use Facebook to engage with, share deals and seek feedback from consumers and fans. Companies like Coca-Cola and Disney have tens of millions of fans interested in the latest company news and culture.

Take stock of the brands you’d like to follow, search for their timelines and “like” them on Facebook. You’ll start seeing their updates appear in the News Feed right alongside those of your friends. Feel free to interact with brand updates.

6. The “Like” Button



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One of the most powerful tools on Facebook, the “like” button not only communicates your support of activities, brands, articles and products to fellow users, but also to Facebook and third parties. The “like” button lives on nearly every piece of Facebook content: status updates, photos, comments, brands timelines, apps and even ads.

However, you’ve probably also seen Facebook “like” and share buttons on external sites: shopping, news publications, mobile and social apps, and ads. These sites are utilizing Facebook’s social plugins. When you “like” something outside of Facebook.com, it appears on your timeline, where friends can comment on the activity.

When Facebook expanded this functionality outside of Facebook.com, it opened up a rich social layer that most social networks had never before imagined. On the other hand, keep in mind that Facebook keeps track of your “like” activity and uses it to “improve the quality” of ads on the site. If sharing that kind of data makes you nervous, you’re not alone. Just be mindful that Facebook can share this behavioral data with third parties. For more information, see Facebook’s full data use policy.

7. Tagging



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Facebook tagging means you can mention and directly link to another Facebook user, whether in photos, status updates, check-ins or comments. For instance, when you tag someone in a photo, that user will receive a notification, and the tagged photo will appear on his timeline — that is, unless he has disabled the tagging feature.

The tagging tool fosters conversation and creates additional connections among users. If I want my mother to see an article I posted on Facebook, I’ll tag her in the update by typing her name — Facebook autofills with friend suggestions for easier tagging (see above). “Hey Anne Warber (a.k.a. mom), I thought you’d like this article about pandas!”

Check-in and photo tagging work a little differently. When you check in at a location, you can add Facebook friends who are with you by searching for their names, and thus, tagging them. Tag friends in photos by selecting the “tag photo” option at the bottom of the selected image.

8. Privacy



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Frankly, we could write an entire book on Facebook privacy. But in the interest of time, we’ll mention the major types of privacy you need to be aware of as a Facebook user.

Inter-user privacy:Friends with your bosson Facebook? Consider adding him or her to a “list.” Then you can choose what updates they can view. You may also choose to limit certain lists from viewing posts other people tag you in by visiting the basic privacy settings.Public profile: You can control the information non-friends can see on your public profile. Almost every feature of your profile has an edit option, which allows you to select who can view that information (public, friends only, only you, etc.). Learn morehere.Third-party access:In order to use FacebookOpen Graphapps likeSpotifyandPinterest, those companies need to access certain information on your profile. They’ll ask for permissions before you begin using the app. Be aware that each app hasdifferent privacy risks. If you don’t want that information to be accessible through Facebook’s APIs, learn how toturn off access. Similarly, you can alsoopt out of Facebook social ads— the ads that appear to you based on brands your friends like.

9. Facebook Apps



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Built on the social network’s Open Graph (a collection of your preferences, likes, interests and activity on Facebook and from around the web), Facebook apps allow you to personalize and enhance your participation on the social network. They can add anything from games (FarmVille) to photo albums to quizzes to music (Spotify). Most of Facebook’s apps come from outside developers that use Facebook’s API. Many represent strong partnerships and add additional social layers, like Washington Post Social Reader and Foursquare.

Enabling each Facebook app means granting that app permission to access data on your profile and post on your behalf. This often means sharing on your Timeline how you interact with that app. For example, when you use the Spotify app, the company will share songs you listen to on your Timeline for your friends to see and interact with — unless you choose to hide that activity. (Keep in mind many of these sharing options can be customized.)

A word of caution: Well-made apps can add a fun and engaging layer to y

Tony Morrison is the Vice President of Business Development at Cachinko. Find him on Talent Connection and connect with Cachinko on Facebook or Twitter.

In the recent years, we have heard in the news some pretty creative “Take This Job and Shove It” stories. Joey quit his job with the support of a marching band and posted the event on YouTube. A Jetblue flight attendant quit his job, grabbed a beer and then slid down the emergency chute of the plane he was on. But, in probably the most significant public resignation of 2012 thus far, Greg Smith, a former Goldman Sachs vice president, wrote a personal manifesto of the company’s faults. It landed in the New York Times, garnering national attention and even online parodies.

Smith has been lauded by various groups as a “folk hero” for speaking out against Goldman. For 143 years, Goldman Sachs was a trusted financial institution, but the company has been in the news with more bad press than good for over a decade.
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For many of us, a creative public resignation may sound like fun and you think it will make you feel better by getting in the last word. You may have the best intentions and envision how your words and actions will positively change the organization or maybe the entire industry, and you imagine how others will benefit from your courage.

However, the truth is that the repercussions of your actions are more likely to be career-limiting for you than they are to ever result in change within the organization. Resignation for any reason, general dissatisfaction or genuine cause, is a serious career decision, and a personal one. Publicly bad-mouthing your employer is one of the worst things you can ever do to your career — even if you think it’s justified.
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That being said, instead of debating whether or not Smith’s quitting tactics were a career-ender, let’s go over what Smith said are valid considerations if you ever decide to quit your job.

1. Your Values Do Not Align With The Company’s Values

“…I can no longer in good conscience say that I identify with what it [Goldman Sachs] stands for.”

It is stressful to be in a situation when you are asked to carry out practices that contradict a company’s written policies or stated values, or that conflict with your own personal values. The cognitive dissonance alone can drive an employee up the wall.

You may decide that the reasons for leaving are mainly because your personal values do not fit with an organization’s values (even if at one time they were aligned), or you may decide to leave because an ​​organization does not even live up to its own values and contradicts its own written rules of professional conduct. Figure out what values are most important to you and what brings you job satisfaction.

2. You No Longer Enjoy Your Job

​“I knew it was time to leave when I realized I could no longer look students in the eye and tell them what a great place this was to work.”

If you really have to force yourself to be happy at work, then it is time to move on. Unhappiness at work, or dreading even going to work, is a sign of some underlying problem. The problem doesn’t have to be with the company either. Perhaps you are feeling overwhelmed in your role, or your job is no longer challenging.

If your job is not personally and professionally fulfilling, and there is no way to achieve that satisfaction where you are currently employed, then maybe it’s time to consider a change of employment. You only pass this way in life one time, so choose your path well and do what makes you happy.

3. You’re Surrounded By Irresponsible Behavior

“I attend derivatives sales meetings where not one single minute is spent asking questions about how we can help clients. It’s purely about how we can make the most possible money off of them.”

Leadership, by its very nature, must be able to create vision and influence others to achieve that vision. Smith blamed leadership for many of the negative behaviors that Goldman allegedly practices towards its clients. He believed that Goldman Sachs leadership was not practicing the values of the organization and lacked personal integrity.

No matter if the behavior is unethical or downright senseless for the longevity of the company – it’s logical, and justifiable, to leave a toxic work environment.

If You Want to Quit, Then Quit

Quitting your job in this economy may not be the wisest decision you can make. But, when you have considered all of the alternatives and you know there is only one thing left to do, being able to see the writing on the wall can make it easier to make the right choice for you and your career. As for how to quit — it is always best to keep that just between you and your employer.

Rapper Adam Yauch, a third of the trailblazing hip hop act the Beastie Boys, has died aged 47.

Yauch, who performed as MCA, had been in treatment for cancer since 2009 after discovering a tumor in his parotid gland.

Initially dismissed as a trio of jokers who scored a fluke novelty hit with Fight for Your Right (To Party) on their 1986 debut Licensed to Ill, the Beastie Boys would grow into one of the most ambitious and influential acts of the 1990s.

The densely layered followup to their jokey and spare debut was 1989’s Paul’s Boutique, a postmodern hip hop masterpiece that was largely ignored at its release. Today the Dust Brothers-produced record is considered a seminal album that would hint at the genre-bending direction 1990s pop was heading.

Subsequent records Check Your Head and Ill Communication found an instant foothold in the mainstream, however, propelling the band to stratospheric stardom.

Their lyrics were packed with goofy couplets, in-jokes and pop-culture references. And each of the Beasties cultivated distinct personas and vocal deliveries that meshed well together and could stand alone.

Yauch’s voice was mellow, gravelly and gruff – sandpaper and warm beer – allowing him to play both the shady drifter (Paul Revere) and loveable buddy (“My man MCA’s got a beard like a billy goat”).

The Brooklyn-born Yauch co-founded the Beastie Boys in 1981, originally as a punk rock outfit with Mike “Mike D” Diamond, drummer Kate Schellenbach and guitarist John Berry in 1981. The group got its start playing underground clubs around New York and released an EP later that year.

Schellenbach and Berry would leave the band, though and Adam “Ad-Rock” Horowitz, a third middle-class Jewish kid from New York, came on board.

After eschewing punk for an exaggerated fratty b-boy posture, the trio would go on to become the unlikely first white rap group to achieve massive mainstream success – to the initial chagrin of hip hop purists.

After poorly received tours opening for Madonna and Run DMC, the band released Licensed to Ill in 1986, which struck a surprise chord: the Rick Rubin-produced album was fastest-selling debut in Columbia Records’ history, selling more than 750,000 copies in its first six weeks.

The Beastie Boys were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April, but Yauch was unable to attend due to his health. His cancer treatments also delayed the release of the group’s most recent album, Hot Sauce Committee, Pt. 2.

In addition to his career in music, Yauch was a film-maker and passionate Buddhist and defender of Tibetan rights. Yauch directed many of the band’s music videos under the name Nathanial Hornblower, including “So What’cha Want,” “Intergalactic” and the more recent “Make Some Noise.”

Yauch, who is survived by his wife, Dechen Wengdu, and their daughter, Losel, wrote a letter to his bandmates and fans for last month’s hall of fame induction: “I’d like to dedicate this to my brothers Adam and Mike,” he wrote. “They walked the globe with me. It’s also for anyone who has ever been touched by our band. This induction is as much ours as it is yours.”

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We’ve been hearing the rumors for months, and now Samsung has gotten official with the newest member of its Galaxy line of smartphones, the Galaxy S III.

Samsung announced the most anticipated Android handset of the year Thursday at an event in London. The phone is the third-generation in a line of popular smartphones created by Samsung.

The phone has a 4.8-inch touchscreen, 8-megapixel rear-facing and 1.9-megapixel forward-facing camera, and comes running the latest version of Android — Ice Cream Sandwich. Much like the HTC One X, the camera has zero shutter lag so you can capture photos instantly. The camera is also capable of taking 20 photos at once in burst mode, and a feature called “Best Photo” will pick the best shot out of a group of eight.

The NFC-capable Galaxy S III has a Super AMOLED HD (1280×720) screen, offering more subpixels than other screens, resulting in improved colors as well as better visibility in bright situations.

“With the GALAXY S III, Samsung has maximized the consumer benefits by integrating superior hardware with enhanced smartphone usability,” said JK Shin, President and Head of IT & Mobile Communications Division at Samsung. “Designed to be both effortlessly smart and intuitively simple, the GALAXY S III has been created with our human needs and capabilities in mind. What makes me most proud is that it enables one of the most seamless, natural and human-centric mobile experiences, opening up a new horizon that allows you to live a life extraordinary.”

A new feature called ‘Smart Stay’ on the phone detects your voice and motions, and recognizes how you are using the phone –for instance reading an e-book or browsing the web –and keeps the phone on while you’re using it. So, if you’re reading a book you don’t have to worry about having to constantly wake the screen up.

If you’re texting someone and decide to call them instead, a feature called ‘Direct Call’ will call that person as soon as you lift your phone to your ear.

A new feature called ‘S Voice’ enables the phone to listen an respond to your words, and provides Siri-like search and voice control. You can ask the phone to “snooze” when your alarm goes off in the morning and you need a few more Zs, can be used to play your favorite songs, turn the volume up or down, send text messages and emails, organize your schedules, or automatically launch the camera and capture a photo.

A feature called Buddy Photo Share will recognize your friends faces in a photo, and offer to send them the photo automatically.

With the Galaxy S III Samsung is unveiling a new ‘S Beam’ which expands on Android Beam, allowing you to share a 1GB mobile file with a friend in just 3 minutes, or transfer a 10MB music file in just 2 seconds—without using WiFi or a cellular signal – by tapping your phone together with another Galaxy S III.

A feature called “AllShare Cast” lets you connect your Galaxy S III wirelessly to your television to view content. The service can also be used to share files between your Galaxy S III and your tablet, PC, and televisions regardless of the distance between the devices.

The Galaxy S III will be available in 145 countries, on 296 mobile operators around the world, making it the largest launch in Samsung history. Available in ‘Pebble Blue’ and ‘Marble White,’ the phone will be available from the end of May in Europe before rolling out to other markets globally this summer.

Update: We originally misidentified the spec for the front-facing camera. The correct spec is a 1.9 megapixels. Also, Samsung describes the screen as “HD Super AMOLED,” with no “Plus.”

Junior Seau, regarded as one of the N.F.L.’s best linebackers over a 20-year career with the San Diego Chargers, the Miami Dolphins and the New England Patriots, died of a gunshot wound to the chest Wednesday at his home in Oceanside, Calif. He was 43.

The Oceanside police said Seau’s death was being investigated as a suicide. He was found by his girlfriend in a bedroom of his beachfront house this morning, and a handgun was found near the body, the police said.

A native of Oceanside, Seau starred at the University of Southern California before being drafted fifth over all in the 1990 N.F.L. draft by the Chargers, who played 40 miles south of his hometown. A 12-time Pro Bowler, Seau played 13 seasons with the Chargers and was one of the team’s most popular players. In the 1994 season, he led the team to the Super Bowl, where they lost to the San Francisco 49ers, 49-26. The Pro Football Hall of Fame selected him for the 1990s All-Decade Team.

“Everyone at the Chargers is in complete shock and disbelief right now,” the Chargers said in a statement. “We ask everyone to stop what they’re doing and send their prayers to Junior and his family.”

Seau was traded to the Dolphins in 2003, and after three injury-plagued seasons, he was released. He signed a one-day contract with the Chargers in August 2006 to announce his retirement. But four days later, he signed with the New England Patriots and was a member of the 2007 team that went undefeated in the regular season, losing to the Giants in the Super Bowl. His last season in the N.F.L was 2009.

He is survived by three teenage children: a daughter, Sydney, and sons Jake and Hunter.

Seau is the second retired N.F.L player to commit suicide in the past few weeks. Ray Easterling, a safety for the Atlanta Falcons in the 1970s and a plaintiff in a high-profile lawsuit against the N.F.L. over its handling of concussion-related injuries, died last month of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The circumstances of Seau’s death instantly raised comparisons to the former Chicago Bears star Dave Duerson. In February 2011, Duerson shot himself in the chest, saying in a note that he wanted his brain donated to the study of football head injuries.