Need to Know - Small Business Technology: December 30, 2011

5 Totally SWAG Social Media Predictions for 2012 - I think the first 4 of these predictions are spot on. We'll have to see if the demise of Klout occurs. We are also one of the early adopters that have disconnected our profile from Klout.

12 Sites for Ebook Publishing - This a short, but good review of places you can publish your PDFs and eBooks. While we knew of the top four, we had missed some other key distribution channels. Take a moment and see how many of the 12 you are familiar with yourself.

How to Use Content to Increase Your Sales - A seven-minute video condensing a successful content strategy used by Marcus Sheridan of The Sales Lion.  The best takeway is likely to "blog about the problems customers have with what you sell."

GutCheckit Levels Market Research Playing Field for Small Businesses - New cloud service offers small businesses ability to interview potential product buyers and services users for $40 per interview. The first clone to offer a similar service for $10 per interview will win this niche.

This Is Why Your Website Is Slow - Ghostery released its annual list of things that are currently bringing websites to a crawl. Likely nothing on this list is on your site unless you host at GoDaddy.com. In which case you might consider changing your analytics to Google Analytics.

How to interview a designer with the perfect design exercise - This is likely of more interest to me than you, but its always good to learn about solutions used by others.

In retail stores, research tool uses Kinect to track shoppers’ behavior - Very short 1:14 minute video showing a novel use for the Microsoft Kinect situational controller for xBox game sets. Spooky to imagine these systems everywhere one shops. Best demo music we've ever heard. The music also pauses when the customers pause. Did we mention is just a little over a minute?

How the Service Industry Can Use the Web For Leads and Sales - Much needed information on an often neglected web segment. Includes an embedded slide show at the bottom.

10 careers that will be hot in 2012 - No real surprises here, except discount stores will have an increasing need for managers. Who knew?