Facebook Twitter And Google User Adoption Rate Compared Guess Which Network Got To 10 Million Registered Users First GRAPH

Google+ was launched nearly a month ago on 29th June. The new social network packs quite a punch, introducing powerful new features like +Circles, +Sparks, +Hangouts (among others) which Goncalo talked about here. The new network is seeing exponential growth at the moment. It reached 10 million users within a mere 16 days after launch.
Leon Haland has expertly visualized +’s growth compared to Facebook’s and Twitter’s in their initial stages.
Facebook and Twitter took around the same time to reach 10 million users: 852 and 780 days respectively whereas Google+ only took 16 days to cover the same ground.
Now this is just outstanding growth. You can see it for yourself in the graph embedded below.

One can attribute a number of reasons why Google+ is seeing such fast growth:

The chief reason really is that the world we live in today – the world in 2011 – is a much more connected one as compared to the world when Facebook and Twitter took birth (2004 and 2006 respectively). Awareness of Facebook/Twitter took more time to spread than it did for Google+ because of the presence of Facebook/Twitter themselves. So people flocked to Google+ as soon as they heard about it on competing social networks.

The second reason is people’s dislike (pun intended) for Facebook as a company. People rightly believe that Facebook Inc. is a data-hungry company which has no regard for their user’s privacy (not that Google as a company is any better at that). Things have improved in recent times, with Facebook allowing users more control over their data. But being a Facebook user since 2007, I’ve seen the blatant disregard Facebook showed for user-privacy in the past.

Google+ was made from the ground up keeping in mind the privacy requirements of the average online social networker today, and it is successful at it: +Circles is a brilliant feature that allows users to put people they know into different social circles – just as they do in real life. Sharing is made easier thanks to this. While Facebook offers a similar Lists feature, it simply isn’t as well-implemented.

Lastly, Google+ has Google behind it and Google’s popular Gmail service means there are millions of users who already have Google accounts. All these users had to do was log in with their accounts to open up their + profile.

Still, this is what they call exponential growth.
If you want to access Google+, ask your friends for an invite! Here’s how they can go about it.
Google+ app for iPhone is available now. It doesn’t officially work on the iPod touch or iPad, but we’ve talked about how you can make it work anyway.
(via TechCrunch)

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personal expense or business expense which can deduct income tax

General Principal says that amount you spend for personal or family reasons are not deductible business expenses. However, if you are doing business from home or have a family business, there are expenses which are both in the nature of personal expenses and also business expenses.

The Indian Income Tax Provision allows deduction of these expenses, primarily in the nature of business, in other words, expenses which enable the business to sustain and grow.

Businesses can leverage by claiming these expenses for business, resulting in legitimate tax planning, however, the distinction may be difficult to make. The best methodology to find out whether a particular expense qualifies as a business expense rather than a personal one, ask yourself whether you would still have to incur the expense, if you don’t run the business?

Now, let’s deliberate on some of these expenses that intersect both personal and business expenses –

Rent, Interest, depreciation, etc. – for Home Business

If you have a small business and use a portion in your home for such business, whether it is a room, a portion of the room, a garage, a storage room, the expenses incurred for such area can be claimed as business expenses. The expenses incurred may include rent, interest, repairs, utilities and depreciation. These expenses can be claimed according to the portion of usage of home for business purpose. Further, if you have a house keeper for cleaning and maintenance of the house (including the area of business at home), the expenses for such service can also be shown as business expense accordingly.

Fuel, Repairs, etc. – Personal Car used in Business

If you use your personal car exclusively for business purpose then you can claim the expenses incurred for fuel, repairs & maintenance, insurance, registration, depreciation as business expenses. Further, if you use it partly for business and partly for personal then you can claim an estimated expenses incurred for business purpose.

If you are an employer and you make re-imbursement to your employee for the use of his vehicle for business, is can also be shown as business expenses.

Travel Expenses

Most people are in the business wherein they have to travel a lot, whether it is within the state, outside the state or outside the country. Such expenses may include travel fare (car hire, air fare, rail fare, bus fare, and taxi fare), accommodation expenses, food expenses and business activity expenses. These expenses can be shown as business expenses to the extent it is incurred for business purpose.

Mobile Expenses

Every business makes a use of phone for communication purpose. Mobile and landlines are often used to communicate between clients, customers or business associates. This expense can also be shown as business expenses. Further, there may be cases wherein mobile is used for business as well as personal purpose. In such case an estimated amount can be shown as business expense.

Entertainment Expenses

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. So is the case in business. To improve productivity, motivation, efficiency, team spirit among the employees most of the business organizations have arrangements for entertainments. Such entertainment may include indoor games, In-house party, food & drinks, movies, etc. These are very helpful for the growth of the business and for maintaining a better and healthy environment within the organization. These expenses also form a part of business expense as it is incurred for the benefit of the business. Further, expenses incurred for the maintenance ofgreenery or a better infrastructure can also be shown as business expense.

Web Expenses

Internet is widely used in business organization especially in case of IT organization wherein the whole business is based on internet. People use it for accessing mails, research and development, web hosting, maintenance of website, etc. Such expenses can be included as business expense. In home business internet is used for personal as well as business purpose. In such case expenses can be claimed accordingly.

Credit Card Expenses

There are expenses, such as hosting charges, web-applications, travel expenses, for which payment is made from personal credit card of the entrepreneurs. There should a proper allocation of those expenses between personal and businesses, and expenses related to the business can be claimed to lower taxes.

Conclusion

You should never shy away from taking a deduction you are legally entitled to claim. However, at times these deductions are subject matter of litigation with the Indian Tax department, IT department being very skeptical about these expenses in the absence clear set of governing rules in this regard.

Thus, it is essential for businesses to have a basis for claiming these expenses fully backed with meticulous records.

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