Hits and misses in Facebook history over the years

Facebook, which reported first-quarter earnings on Wednesday, has more than 1 billion people logging in each month. It's a rapid growth for a service that began in a Harvard dorm room less than nine years ago.

Here are some key developments over the years:

February 2004: Mark Zuckerberg starts Facebook as a sophomore at Harvard University.

March 2004: Facebook begins expansion to other colleges and universities.

June 2004: Facebook moves headquarters to Palo Alto, Calif.

September 2004: Facebook introduces the Wall, which allows people to write personal musings and other tidbits on profile pages. Lawsuit filed against Facebook claiming that Zuckerberg stole the idea for Facebook from a company co-founded by twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss and a third person at Harvard.

September 2005: Facebook expands to include high schools.

May 2006: Facebook introduces work networks, allowing people with a corporate email address to join.

September 2006: Facebook begins letting anyone over 13 join. It also introduces News Feed, which collects friends' Wall posts in one place. Although that led to complaints about privacy, News Feed becomes one of Facebook's most popular features.

May 2007: Facebook launches Platform, a system for letting outside programmers develop tools for sharing photos, taking quizzes and playing games. The system creates a Facebook economy and allows companies such as game maker Zynga Inc. to thrive.

October 2007: Facebook agrees to sell a 1.6 percent stake to Microsoft for $240 million and forges advertising partnership.

November 2007: Facebook unveils its Beacon program, a feature that broadcasts people's activities on dozens of outside sites. Yet another privacy backlash leads Facebook to give people more control over Beacon, before Facebook ultimately scraps it as part of a legal settlement.

March 2008: Facebook hires Sheryl Sandberg as chief operating officer, snatching the savvy, high-profile executive from Google Inc.

April 2008: Facebook Chat introduced.

February 2009: Facebook introduces "Like," allowing people to endorse other people's posts.

June 2009: Facebook surpasses News Corp.'s Myspace as the leading online social network in the U.S.

August 2010: Facebook launches location feature, allowing people to share where they are with their friends and strangers.

October 2010: "The Social Network," a movie about Zuckerberg and the legal battles over Facebook's founding, is released. It gets eight Academy Awards nominations and wins three.

June 2011: Google launches rival social network called Plus. The Winklevoss twins end their legal battle over the idea behind Facebook. They had settled with Facebook for $65 million in 2008, but later sought more money.

September 2011: Facebook introduces Timeline, a new version of the profile page. It shows highlights from a person's entire Facebook life rather than recent posts.

November 2011: Facebook agrees to settle federal charges that it violated users' privacy by getting people to share more information than they agreed to when they signed up to the site. As part of a settlement, Facebook will allow independent auditors to review its privacy practices for two years. It also agrees to get approval from users before changing how the company handles their data.

December 2011: Facebook completes its move to Menlo Park, Calif. Its address is 1 Hacker Way.

January 2012: Facebook begins making Timeline mandatory.

February 2012: Facebook files for an initial public offering of stock. A few weeks later, it unveils new advertising opportunities for brands, allowing messages from them to mix in with Facebook status updates and photos.

April 2012: Facebook announces plans to buy Instagram, a photo-sharing social network, for $1 billion in cash and stock. It also discloses it plans to list its stock on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol "FB."

May 2012: Facebook sets a price range of $28 to $35 for its IPO, then increases it to $34 to $38. On May 17, Facebook prices its IPO at $38 per share, and the stock begins trading the next day. The following week, the stock price starts dropping amid concerns about Facebook's ability to keep growing revenue and sell ads on mobile devices.

That month, Facebook also updates its policy to give users more clarity on how information they share is used by the company. The company also signals that it may start showing people ads on websites other than Facebook. Other companies already do this. How would that work? Users who click on an ad on Facebook.com could see the advertised product pop up in ads on other sites.

August 2012: Facebook updates its app for iPhones and iPads to make it speedier and less clunky. Government clears Facebook's Instagram deal.

September 2012: Facebook closes on Instagram deal, whose value has dropped to about $740 million, with Facebook's falling stock price. Unlike many other acquisitions, Facebook has promised to keep it going, rather than shut it down. Facebook plans to use Instagram's dozen or so employees to help improve Facebook's own mobile applications.

October 2012: Facebook says it has 1 billion active users.

December 2012: Facebook rolls out a messaging app called "Poke" to lukewarm reviews.

January 2013: Facebook unveils a search feature that lets users quickly sift through their social connections for information about people, interests, photos and places.

March 2013: Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg publishes book urging women to take leadership roles.

April 2013: Facebook unveils a new experience for Android phones. The idea behind the new Home service is to bring content right to you, on the phone's home screen, rather than require you to check apps on the device.

What is a Domain Name?

What is a Domain Name?

What is a Domain Name?

A domain name is essentially the address of your website; it helps your visitors remember your site, and find it easily. So, when you select a domain name, try to make it as descriptive as possible - for example: BestDogGrooming.com, QualityPlumbing.biz, or AdamsFamilyBlog.info.
Your domain name also becomes a part of your email address - for example: John@AdamsFamilyBlog.info. Essentially, registering a domain (or adding a domain to your hosting account) is the next step towards building a website.
When you sign up for a hosting account, you're typically given the option to register a new domain name. If you signed up without registering a domain, you can register one later. You may also point any other domain names you already own to your new hosting account. Keep reading to find out how to register, add, consolidate, manage, and renew your domains.

Using DomainCentral

DomainCentral simplifies domain management. First, it's a central location where you can see all of your domains in one table, along with their various registrars, expirations dates, renewal options, and much more.

Second, from DomainCentral, you can configure domain options (for multiple domains at a time), edit domain information, and add services.
The basic process of using DomainCentral consists of these steps:

1. Consolidate your existing domains into DomainCentral
2. Manage all your domains
3. Renew your domains

The following sections walk you through each of these steps.

Consolidate All Domains into DomainCentral

If you registered domain names in different places, they will integrate into your account in different ways. Here are the possible domain types and instructions how to merge them into your hosting account:

·         Existing and New Domains: Domains you registered when you purchased your hosting account or domains that you registered later, through iPage. Any domains you have registered through your iPage account are automatically listed in DomainCentral

Article: Register a new domain name

·         Added Domains: Domains you have registered elsewhere, which you'd like pointed to your iPage account. If you've registered domains elsewhere and want to manage them through DomainCentral, follow the instructions in this article.

Article: Add a domain that you registered elsewhere

·         Transferred Domains: Domains that are registered elsewhere that you'd like to transfer to iPage's registrar. Here are some benefits of switching to iPage's domain registrar:

• Manage your hosting account and domains together, all in one place,
• And take advantage of the Automated Domain Renewal Service (ADRS), and rest easy knowing your domain names won't expire unexpectedly.

Article: Transfer your domain to our registrar (complete process)

Manage All of Your Domains

DomainCentral makes it easy to manage the domains associated with your account. If your domains are registered through iPage, you can:

• Update the admin and contact information for each domain, as well as the registrant contact information (which is displayed in the Whois database),
• Lock and unlock domain names,
• And refresh Whois information for multiple domains at the same time.

Article: Managing Domains

You can also:

·         Secure Your Domain: Lock your domain so that it cannot be transferred to a different registrar unless you (the owner) unlock it first. Prevent name server changes, unwanted renewals and contact from spammers with Name Safe and Domain Privacy.

Article: Domain Security

·         Set a primary domain for your account:

Article: Setting a Primary Domain

·         Stay Updated by Keeping Your Contact Information Current: Your domain contact email will receive any important information relating to your registered domain, so it's important to keep it up to date.

Article: Domain Contact Information

Renew Your Domain

Renewing your domain name is a critical part of maintaining your website. If you've registered your domain with iPage, or transferred your domain registrar to iPage's registrar, you can renew your domain manually in DomainCentral, or enroll in our Automated Domain Renewal Service.

Article: Domain Renewal

Manage Your Mail

Manage Your Mail

MailCentral, located in the "Email" section of your control panel, allows you to create and manage your email mailboxes.
Your first option is to create a new mailbox, or create a mail forward. Both options allow you to create an email address with your domain name -- for example, sales@CakesByMolly.biz.
A mailbox stores your email messages. You access your mailbox using the mailbox name and password, and a client of your choice (we'll discuss clients a bit later). Once logged in, you can read your mail, reply, delete, organize into folders, and basically manage your email any way you like.
A forward does not store messages sent to it, but simply relays them to a specified address, or multiple addresses. An example of a forward is a group list - customers@MyCompanyDomain.com - which would contain a forwarding email address for every customer you wish to include. If you wish to notify your regular customers about a promotion, or a sale, you don't have to send it to individual email addresses of every customer; if you sent it to customers@MyCompanyDomain.com instead, everyone receives a copy of your email.
Here are instructions and video tutorials on how to create a mailbox or a forward.

Article: Email Basics

Access Your Mail

You (or a designated user) can access a specific mailbox by using the mailbox name and password to log in, without having to log into your control panel. It's like giving a key to your P.O. Box to someone you trust.
If you designate an email administrator, they can manage ALL email addresses associated with your hosting account, again, without having to log into your hosting account. An administrator can:

• Create new mailboxes or forwards,
• Change SPAM options,
• Reconfigure existing addresses (for example, add more addresses to a Forward),
• And perform all other tasks available in MailCentral.

To find step by step instructions for all the options described:

Article: Email Administrator/Mailbox Owner access

Use a Mail Client

When you access a specific mailbox, a mail client retrieves your mailbox contents from the server, and displays them via folders, images, etc. A mail client allows you to manage your mail - read messages, reply to messages, delete, organize into folders, etc. - and syncs with the server to make sure that everything is stored and retrieved properly. Examples of mail clients include Microsoft Outlook, MacMail, Gmail, Hotmail, and even your iPhone!

Webmail vs. Email Clients

There are two basic types of mail clients: webmail and email. A webmail client (such as AtMail, Gmail, Yahoo!, etc.) allows you to access your email from any web browser, on any computer. An email client (Microsoft Outlook, iPhone) is stored on the device (for example, only your iPhone connects to your mailbox), allows you to access messages offline, and typically offers a wider range of mail management features.
Which one should you choose? It's completely up to you! You can even have both - an email client for your iPhone, and a webmail client to use when traveling or away from home.

Article: The difference between an email client and webmail client

Configure an Email Client

To access your hosting account mailboxes with an email client like Outlook, iPhone, MacMail, or another client of your choice (either POP or IMAP), you have to configure it. You'll find the required configuration settings and step-by-step instructions here:

Article: Configure an Email Client for your iPage POP/IMAP mailbox

Access Email with a Webmail Client

A webmail client allows you to access your email via the web, from any computer and any browser. This is very useful if different users "own" different email addresses in your hosting account - each user can log in to webmail with just the mailbox address and mailbox password, without logging into your hosting control panel.
A webmail client is also useful for an email administrator, who essentially has access to MailCentral without having to log into your control panel.

Article: Check your email over the web

What You Need

Ready to start selling online? iPage provides all kinds of tools and services to help you get started, but first, there are a few key things you need to know. To sell products on your website, you need:

·         The Ability to Accept Payments: Unless you are planning to give away your products for free, your customers will need a way to pay for the products they wish to purchase. What types of payments will you accept? There are lots of options - PayPal, credit cards, phone orders, checks, gift cards, etc. Whatever method(s) you select, these should integrate seamlessly with your shopping cart. iPage offers a few complete solutions that we will explain in "Accepting Payments". Some solutions work better if you sell just a few products (typically a charge per transaction), and others work better if you have an active store (typically a monthly charge for a large number of transactions). Be sure to compare these solutions to find one that would work best for your business.

·         Shopping Cart Software: Shopping cart software allows users to place the products they choose online into a virtual shopping cart, and then pay for them once they've finished shopping. There are lots of different ways to set up and integrate a shopping cart into your website, which we'll go over in detail later (see "Creating an Online Store").

It may sound complicated, but the good news is all of these tools are available via your hosting account, and we'll show you what they are and how to use them. There are lots of options when it comes to configuring your site to sell products online, and we've designed this guide to explain how to implement the right tools for you.

Accepting Payments

What payment options do you plan to offer your customers? While it may seem out-of-step to consider accepting payments before you've configured your store, different payment options come with different requirements. You may need to set up a PayPal Business Account or another type of merchant account based on the payment method you choose to accept, and you'll need this information when you're ready to create your shopping cart.

Accept Credit Cards

In order to accept credit card payments on your site, you'll need both a merchant account and a payment gateway. A merchant account is a bank account designed to accept electronic payments for your business. When customers purchase a product from your website, the money they pay for that product is deposited into this account. A payment gateway, on the other hand, authorizes your customers' credit cards and actually processes the transactions.

iPage offers AcceptSafe as your one stop solution, which includes a merchant account and a payment gateway.

Article: Online credit card processing

Accept PayPal

PayPal is another great payment option to consider. Most online shoppers are already familiar with PayPal and recognize it as a secure way to make purchases on the web. It's also easy to use and gives you lots of flexibility.

You can fully integrate PayPayl into your website with the "Express Checkout" plan, while the "Standard" and "Pro" plans act as an all-in-one solution. Compare plans to decide which is right for you.

Article: Using PayPal solutions to accept payments

It's important to remember you don't have to choose one or the other. PayPal gives you lots of options, and you are welcome to purchase both payment options to give your customers a variety of ways to pay for your products.

Creating an Online Store

What is a Shopping Cart?

A shopping cart is a type of software that allows customers to purchase multiple products on your site, then pay for them when they've finished shopping. That said, a shopping cart can take many different forms depending on how you plan to implement it. You can use shopping cart software to:

• Add an online store as a new page on your existing site
• Add purchase buttons to products listed on your site
• Create a website with an integrated store

Shopping Cart Options

Here are some of the options available to you via your control panel:

1. Configure the Ecommerce Widget in the Drag and Drop Site Builder

Our Drag and Drop Site Builder has an ecommerce widget that allows you to build a small store. If you are just starting out, or experimenting, this is a great option for you. However, it does not offer the management capabilities and flexibility of a shopping cart.

2. Integrate the Drag and Drop Site Builder with ShopSite

ShopSite allows you to add "Add to Cart" and "Buy Now" buttons to any site, including a site you've created with Adobe Dreamweaver, WordPress, and the Drag and Drop Site Builder. Adding these buttons is as simple or as feature-rich as you wish to make it. You can harness the full power of ShopSite, including all store and order management capabilities, just by configuring these buttons. The added management features included with ShopSite make this option a better fit for those who want to sell more products on their site.

3. Create a Store with ShopSite

ShopSite also allows you to create an online store. You can link to the store from a site you've already created, or you can build your whole website via ShopSite as a stand alone store.

Article: ShopSite Basics

ShopSite offers a wide range of features to help you build and manage your store, including tax, shipment, payment, and order management options. You can also build an email list for email marketing opportunities, send automated thank you notes, and more.

4. Create an Advanced Store with osCommerce

This flexible open source shopping cart offers more customization capabilities, but it's also more difficult to use. If you're not a professional web developer, we suggest one of the options above. However, more advanced users might prefer osCommerce, available for installation via SimpleScripts.

Article: Using osCommerce

Manage Billing Information

If you scroll to the bottom of your control panel, you'll see the "Account Information" section, which includes all kinds of tools you can use to manage your account.

For example, from BillingCentral, you can:

• Change your payment method
• Generate an invoice for your next payment
• Print a receipt
• Extend your payment period, and more.

Article: Billing General

Renew Your Hosting Account

Your account is set to renew automatically, but you can adjust this setting by clicking on the "Account Renewal" icon at the bottom of your control panel.

Change Your Password

To set a new password for your account, click on the "Change Password" icon at the bottom of your control panel.

We recommend that you follow the instructions to create a strong password, to protect your account.

Article: Account password

Update Your Account Information

Your hosting account includes what we call your "account information" and an "account profile," which help us assist you should you call us for customer support. Your account information corresponds to the details you provide when you purchase your account, where as the account profile gives you an opportunity to add other users who may access your account.

Since iPage uses the email addresses you provide as the primary way to contact you about your account, it's important to keep them up-to-date with mailboxes you check regularly.

Article: Account Contact Information

How can I add another domain name to my account?

When users ask if / how they can add another domain name to their web hosting account, we need to clarify quite a bit as this can be a very open-ended question.
The first thing we will cover is what must be in place before your website will work.

1. Your domain name must be registered
2. Your domain name must be pointing to our web servers
3. Your domain name must either be set as your main domain name, or an addon / parked domain.

So, if you ask, "How can I add a domain name", we'll need to touch base on all three topics above (which we will do below).

1. Your domain name must be registered

Before any domain name will work, it must be registered. When you register a domain name, it is registered for one year, and you will need to renew it yearly in order to keep it.
You can check out our article on registering a new domain name for further information on the domain registration process.
You can register a new domain name for your account in your Account Management Panel (or AMP). For help logging into AMP click the link.

Once you have logged into AMP, click on Domains under "Additional Services." A new screen will appear asking you for the following information:

Enter a Domain Name:	Here you will put the domain you want to register. Once you type in a domain, click on Check availability to see if the domain's available. You will need to register a different domain if the one you chose isn't available.
Domain Registration:	Choose the number of years you want to register the domain
Add Domain Privacy:	For each new domain you register you can also purchase Domain Privacy.
Billing Information:	If you want to use your billing information already on file, select it from the drop down. To pay using a different method, select Add New and enter the new billing details.
Payment Method:	Here you can choose to use the credit card already in the system or a new card.
Terms of Service:	You must agree to the Terms of Service to register a new domain. A link is provided with the Terms of Service.

Once you have put in all your information, click the Submit button. You have now registered your new domain!

2. Your domain name must be pointing to our web servers

After your domain name has been registered, it must be pointing to our servers. If you registered your domain name with us, then it is already pointing to us and you do not need to do anything further in this topic.

If your domain name is not pointed to us, the easiest thing to do so is to point your domain's nameservers to ours. The company that you registered your domain name through controls where your nameservers point to, so you will need to contact them if you're not sure exactly how to update your nameservers. If you're coming to us from another host, then you may need to instead contact your previous hosting company as many do register domain names with a domain registrar on their users' behalf.

We have available video tutorials on the following page that will assist you with making nameserver changes at many of the more commonly used registrars:

http://support.inmotionhosting.com/userguides/dns_flash_guide.html

Our nameservers are:

ns.inmotionhosting.com

ns2.inmotionhosting.com

3. Your domain name must either be set as your main domain name, or an addon / parked domain

 If you only have one domain name, then it is your main domain name. When you use multiple domain names on one account, your secondary domain names are configured within your cPanel as either addon or parked domain names. Before you configure an addon or parked domain name, you must be sure that you have the available slots in your cPanel, as each hosting plan offered allows you to add a different number of addon and parked domains. To see how many you can add, simply log into your cPanel and look in the left menu for "Addon Domains" and "Parked Domains".

How to add another domain to your hosting

How to add another domain to your hosting

The great thing about many of the web hosting packages you'll find, is that they allow you to host multiple domains on the one hosting account. This means that you don't need to buy separate hosting for each and every one of your domains, saving yourself between $4 - 20 a month.

Every little bit helps!

But the big question is... how do you add another domain? It's not as obvious as it sounds!

First things first... you need to have purchased the domain. It won't work if you don't own it just yet! So go out and grab that domain from your registrar of choice. We recommend GoDaddy.com or NameCheap.com for purchasing domain names.

I'm going to demonstrate using the cPanel on my HostGator account. Many web hosts provide cPanel on their accounts, because it makes administration tasks more user friendly, so even if you're not using HostGator you can probably follow this method too. You can usually access your cPanel by going:

http://www.EXAMPLE.COM/cpanel/ (Where "example.com" is your own website)

You'll be asked to log in: Use the login name and password that your hosting company gave you when you signed up for their hosting.

The next part is pretty easy. Just scroll down the page until you see something that looks like this:

Click on "Addon Domains"

You'll see a pretty intimidating looking form that you have to fill in. Luckily, most of it gets automatically filled in. All you really have to do is enter the domain name you'd like to add (into the top box, where I've written "example.com") and the next two boxes will be automatically filled for you. Easy peasy!

Now just choose a good password for yourself. (it can be the same as the password for your main account... it's only really needed if you're going to be FTPing directly to this location, and most of the time you can just connect to your main site and navigate your way to the location yourself anyway.)

Click "Add domain"

It might take a little while for the next screen to show up... have patience! You'll soon see a message saying that your domain has been added.

But you're not finished just yet!

The next step is to link your domain with your hosting by setting your nameservers.

That sounds painful, but it basically just means that you're linking your hosting and your domain name together. You might think that you've already done that in the previous step, but there are TWO parties involved in this business: Your domain name, and your hosting. You need to tell both of them that they're going to be shacking up together.

So far we've informed the hosting. Now you need to tell the domain name about it's new partner!

We've actually created a video on this in Affilorama... you can check it out here.  Make sure you perform this step though! It won't work without it!

Once you've performed this little step... you won't be able to go to your domain straight away. It takes a little while for the rest of the internet to learn about this new relationship, (between 4 and 24 hours) and if you try to access it before then you'll just be told that the domain doesn't exist. Have patience! It will be done!

How to upload things to this new domain

You might be wondering how to actually get your content onto this new website. The If you're using an FTP program like FileZilla, the easiest way is to just navigate into the right directory when you connect to your site. Inside your public_html folder you'll see a new folder called "example.com". (Except it'll be the name of your new domain.) This is the content for your website! Just double-click on the folder to open it, and you can upload things into it like normal!

Grammar - How to Improve Grammar

Grammar is the set of rules that govern the usage of English language. A strong grasp of English grammar is therefore of the greatest importance.

Most non-native English speakers make grammatical mistakes while speaking in English. Improving grammar takes time and effort but it is well worth it. Here are some tips which will help you improve English grammar

Understand the building blocks of grammar

As a first step, it is important to know the different building blocks of grammar like nouns, pronouns, articles, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections. The internet is full of resources about these and it is usually a good idea to understand them well.

Pay attention to sentence structures

When you read an article or watch a movie, it is important to pay attention to how sentences are constructed. This practice helps ingrain different sentence structures and will help your spoken and written English.

Practice when you can

This tip can never be overemphasized. As an English learner, it is extremely important for you to talk in English at any given opportunity. If you do not have partners to practise with, then try to speak in front of the mirror.

Grammar exercises will help you

Try doing different grammar exercises and find out your weaknesses. These exercises are freely available on the internet. It is only after you are able to correctly assess your weaknesses that you will be able to rectify them.

Find a mentor

Many learners have improved their grammar working with a mentor. A mentor could even be a friend who has a strong command over English grammar. You must speak only in English with your mentor and ask the mentor to point out your mistakes. This real time feedback is very beneficial in improving grammar.

Join a course

Many students find that an English improvement course is the quickest way to improve English grammar.  If joining a classroom program is difficult, then an online course is a great option.

 

Grammar Lessons

IMPORTANT BUILDING BLOCKS OF GRAMMAR

NOUNS
A noun is a word used as the name of a person, place or thing.
Examples: King, Mohan, Sarita, Mumbai, Table

PRONOUNS
A pronoun is a word used instead of a noun.
Examples: He, She, It, They

ARTICLES
The words ‘a’, ‘an’ and ‘the’ are called articles. They are used before nouns.

VERBS
A verb is a word that describes an action or occurrence or indicates a state of being.
Examples: He talks to Sameer, She sings a song

ADJECTIVES
An adjective is a word used to describe a noun.
Examples : Beautiful house, Tall man

ADVERBS
An adverb is a word which modifies the meaning of a verb, adjective or another adverb.
Examples: He runs fast,They fought bravely.

PREPOSITIONS
A preposition is a word which shows the relation between the noun or pronoun and other words in the sentence.
Examples: The boy is in the room, The book is on the table.


CONJUNCTIONS 
A conjunction is a word which joins to sentences to complete their meaning.
Examples : They reached the station but it was too late.
               He put on his shoes because he was going for a run.

INTERJECTIONS
An interjection is a word which expresses sudden feeling or emotion.
Examples : Hello!, Alas!, Hurray!, Oh!

How to Improve English How to Improve English

The importance of the English language cannot be overemphasized. Comfort with English is almost a prerequisite for success in the world today. Regardless of the industry, proficiency in English is an important factor in both hiring and promotion decisions.

A lot of us have studied English in school and are fairly comfortable with reading and writing. However, we hesitate while speaking because we feel that we lack the fluency and may make grammatical mistakes. We are afraid of speaking English in formal situations and we are quick to switch to our native language once we are in the company of our family and friends.

There is no quick fix when it comes to improving your command over a particular language. It always requires a lot of time and effort.

Here are EnglishLeap’s top ten tips for success in achieving proficiency and fluency in English:

1. Do not hesitate. Talk to whoever you can. Decide among your circle of friends that you will only talk in English with each other. This way you can get rid of hesitation and also have your friends correct you when you are wrong.
    
2. Start a conversation with strangers in English. Since you do not know them personally, you will feel less conscious about what they would feel about you.
    
3. Maintaining a diary to record the events of your day is a great way to practice your writing skills. Take your time to use new words and phrases when you write in your diary.
    
4. Read the newspaper. Read it aloud when you can. Concentrate on each word. Note down the words you don’t understand and learn their meanings. Try to use these words in your own sentences.
    
5. Watch English movies and English shows on television. Initially, you can read the sub-titles to follow the conversation. As you practice more, you will realize that you are able to follow the conversation without needing to read the sub-titles.
    
6. Set aside an hour every day to watch English news channels. This is one of the most effective ways of improving your comprehension.
    
7. Podcasts are available on the internet. These are audio and video files and many of these can be downloaded for free. These are a great way to practice listening skills and develop an understanding of different accents.
    
8. It is usually quite difficult for a beginner to understand the words of an English song as there is background music and the accent of the artist may be unfamiliar to the listener. Read the lyrics while you listen to the song and you will comprehend better. Once you start following the voice of a particular singer, you will find it much easier to understand the singer’s other songs too.
    
9. Another effective way is to record your own voice and listen to it. You will notice hesitations and pauses. You may also notice that you make some grammatical mistakes while speaking that you do not make while writing. You must aim to improve and rectify these mistakes in subsequent recordings.
    
10. Ask people who speak better for advice. There is no shame in seeking help especially if you are trying to improve yourself. Talk to them in English and ask them to correct you whenever you are wrong.

Improve Spoken English-Learn How to improve Spoken English (Learners Experience)

The English language is spoken in many nations including India. Speaking the language fluently allows one to feel confident while communicating or interacting with different people. Not being fluent in English often leads to embarrassing situations for us; we feel unsure of ourselves and that only makes things worse. Here are a few ways that can help overcome the fear, and become confident in speaking English:

1. Ever wondered why you are so fluent with your mother tongue? It is because you speak and hear the language more often. What does this suggest? The first and the most crucial step to improve spoken English is to speak it as often as you can. Speak in English with friends, family, relatives, etc. Do not worry about making mistakes. In fact, encourage people around you to correct you as often as they can. This will help you speak correct English and boost your confidence.
2. Feeling under confident forces us to speak rapidly because we stumble with words or feel unsure about the pronunciation. Do not let this happen, it shows anxiety and the other person will struggle to understand what you are saying. Speak at a comfortable pace and pronounce your words correctly. There’s is no reason to feel shy or intimidated. We all make mistakes and the only way to learn is to practice and have others correct us.
3. Use a dictionary to learn new words or to find out the meaning of a word you may have heard. Make a list and use these words as often as you can.
4. Read books, newspapers and magazines. This will allow you to understand the language better and help you learn new words to widen your vocabulary.
5. Watch English movies, preferably with subtitles. This, too, will aid you in understanding the language better.
6. Read one article out aloud every day, and if possible ask someone to listen and correct you. Focus on speed, clarity and correct pronunciation.
7. Record your own voice and listen to it. This will help you gain confidence and work on your mistakes.
8. Try and find a partner who is also interested in improving his/her spoken English. Practice together, correct each other and learn together.
9. Think in English, instead of translating sentences from other languages that you’re familiar with. Doing this leads to grammatical mistakes and deteriorates the quality of your spoken English. 
10. Join an online English learning course. Such a programme provides you with the right content and opportunities to practice with other users. Besides this, your answers are corrected and proper feedback is provided. 

Also see

How to improve English

Learn English Online

Spoken English Tips

How to learn English quickly

10 tips for speaking English

More English speaking tips

 

12 Techniques to Help You Live a Happy and Fulfilled Life 12 Techniques to Help You Live a Happy and Fulfilled Life

12 Techniques to Help You Live a Happy and Fulfilled Life

It seems that everything comes in a list format nowadays. “Wash, Rinse, and Repeat” or “Open box, Remove Contents, Try and Assemble”. Maybe it is because when we see things in a list format our brain interprets them as a set of instructions - rules that must be followed.

The proliferation of articles about happiness as of late has been astonishing. Everybody is coming up with the magic formula for finding happiness. I don't know about you, but I need to keep things simple and in perspective at all times.

Wouldn’t it be great if there were a simple set of instructions for living a happy and fulfilled life? How about an instruction manual for life? Something along the lines of “Enjoy childhood, Explore young adulthood, Engage in a rewarding career, and Enjoy life.”

Unfortunately, things are not that easy. That doesn’t mean there aren’t techniques and tips you can use in your everyday life that can help you find happiness and fulfillment as you go through the journey of life. Here's how:

1. Keep life simple. 
   Far too many of us are always over analyzing and looking for the most complicated way of doing things in life. Sometimes life was meant to be simple – a walk through the park, a simple yes or no answer, or a quiet evening with the family. Don’t try and clutter your life with unnecessary decisions by making everything complicated and complex. Keep it simple!


2. Practice being satisfied. 
   How many times have you heard someone say, “If only I had a few more dollars I’d…” or “If I just had another day off I could….”? Many people don’t know how to be satisfied with what life gives them. They are so busy wanting more that they squander what life has already given them.


3. Beware of indecision.
   Nobody said life is easy, and sometimes you have to make the tough choices. Never put off a decision that you can make today. You may miss some of the best and most exciting opportunities in the world because you were indecisive. Successful people didn’t get where they were at by prolonging or going back and forth on decisions!


4. Practice cheerfulness.
   You’ve heard it before, and you’ll hear it here again – it only takes a few muscles to smile! You would be surprised at how well being cheerful to others can spread like wildfire. We live in a society where it seems that glumness is the rule of order. A simple smile or kind word can spread through our culture like wildfire – not only will you feel better, but those who interact with you will feel better!


5. Learn to like people. 
   You don’t have to love everyone you encounter, so learn to like people – especially those who are different than yourself. Often you won’t agree with everything they do, or maybe all of their beliefs, but by learning to get along with them you will open your mind up to change – a critical trait that is absolutely necessary in today’s world.


6. Live and let live. 
   Is it really your concern what the guy across the street wants to do with his life or who he wants to share his life with? Learn to live your life to the fullest and let others live their life to the fullest. None of us is above anyone else, and none of us should think we should be allowed to dictate how another person should live their life.


7. Adversity teaches. 
   Adversity can be one of the most powerful teachers we will ever have in our lives. You will learn so much about life by overcoming adversity and learning how to face it head on. Adversity often comes dressed in many different outfits, but you will change your life by learning how to deal with it and prosper from it.


8. Don’t take yourself so seriously.
   Here is a secret: it’s ok to be a little goofy now and then! You only get one shot at this life, so make the most of it. Have some fun and show your children and those around you that you know how to have fun. You aren’t the greatest gift to mankind this world has ever had – so don’t act like it! You may find you add years to your life, not to mention a ton of laughter!


9. Have a sense of humor. 
   Laugh, joke, and now and then pick up a cream pie and throw it! Laughter has been shown to help people live longer, reduce their blood pressure, and help them relate to people from around the world.


10. Practice objectivity.
    Be objective in your decision-making and risk-taking. Know the facts and avoid letting racial, social, or any other type of bias influence your decisions. Great leaders perform their best when they act based on facts, not on emotion or prejudices. Become a great leader in your life.


11. Tolerate your own mistakes.
    You will make mistakes – in fact, you will make so many mistakes you will never be able to list them all. Learn that mistakes happen and the best thing you can do is to learn from them. Don’t spend your entire life dwelling on a mistake you made years ago – learn from it and move on. The world isn’t going to wait while you live in the past.


12. Forgive yourself.
    Stop beating yourself up over things that happened in the past - things you did or didn’t do, and mistakes you may have made with others.
    
    Forgiving yourself is a skill so few of us have the ability to accomplish. It's such a shame that we spent a lifetime living in the past and never make it to our full potential in the future. Forgive yourself – and just as importantly, forgive others.

It may seem like a rather long list, but I encourage you to read it and then refer back to it every now and then. You’ll see each one ties into the others in some fashion and that these simple steps really do help you live a more meaningful, happy and fulfilled life.