Music at Work: Necessity or Nuisance?

It’s a quiet day at the office.

The sounds of the keyboards a clicking away and you can hear the hum of appliances and the buzzing of fluorescent lighting throughout the room. It’s kind of nice, but also kind of eerie. Then a voice is heard that cuts the silence like a knife.

“Do you mind if I put on some music?”

What’s your reaction when a co-worker suggests this? Do you agree that the place is too quiet and needs some sound, or do you immediately nix the idea in favor of silence?

Playing music at work is no big deal for some, but it’s a major distraction for others. Certain businesses have established policies about playing music in the workplace. Some don’t allow it, some allow it in small amounts or at a low volume, and others have top-of-the-line sound systems that pipe music throughout their whole facility (I’ve seen this in many manufacturing facilities. The music gives workers’ ears a break and provides a more pleasant alternative to the constant buzz, hum, or grind of machinery). Workplaces that play music in common areas lean toward classical, jazz, easy listening, or middle-of-the-road rock. Most offices have that one person who wants to crank up the hard rock for everyone to “enjoy”, but there is that respect factor to consider.

But is music a necessity or nuisance? Does it help or hinder productivity?

It’s an individual choice.

We sometimes take music in the workplace for granted, but just think of how much longer that doctor’s appointment would take if they didn’t have that soothing “muzak” playing. I’m one of those people who can’t stand long stretches of quiet. I listen to music on my way to work. I’ve listened to music in some way, shape, or form at every job I’ve had – even bringing in my own CDs to play on the computer if I had to. It’s just easier for me to stay on task if there’s a song playing in the background; it makes the day go much faster.
Setting the mood

Depending on your profession, you might find music to be more of a necessity than others. Certain professions lend themselves to quieter environments—those that involve number crunching, measuring, or any other type of precise task come to mind. If your job requires total concentration or undivided attention for the majority of the time, you’re probably better suited to a quiet atmosphere.

But others thrive on sound—namely, the creative field. Artists, designers, interior decorators, or writers, often use music to set the tone for the day. I know creatives of all kinds who have based their own work on a song or musician. But music can be a great motivator for anyone, no matter what the field. Some of us like to play songs that put us in a certain frame of mind that can provide that extra boost to get through a long-lingering or time-consuming project.

I’m in an office for most of my workday, and although it’s not a wildly creative environment, just playing music helps to put me in a better mood. Though I have busy times when I’m on the road or running to various meetings, most of the time I’m at my computer, and it gets a little tedious if there’s nothing but silence all day. I go to my list of standbys—those musicians I can listen to almost any time of day, no matter what I’m working on. My usual staples for my 9-5 job include Bruce Springsteen, Peter Gabriel, Sarah McLachlan, and Dar Williams. Writing needs a different, mellower playlist—usually jazz, folk, or new age. I use music to keep me motivated at the office just as I use it to relax and get into the “zone” for writing.
Sounds of silence

But I can also respect those who need complete silence in order to be productive. My boyfriend is one of them. As he works on papers for grad school, I respectfully plug in my iPod and we’re both happy. There are times when I don’t mind the quiet but if I know I’ll be in one place, such as my desk or in the car for a long time, I make sure that I have some music handy.

How to Make Facebook Fan Count in Text in Your blog

Adding a Facebook Like Button on your website or blog is perhaps one of the easiest and most effective way to get more fans and earn more likes. If you have hundreds, thousand or perhaps tens of thousand of fans, it might be a good idea to publish a fan count. Fan count displays in numeric text total fans your Facebook page has, or rather, how many have liked your page.



The technique is simple and very similar to displaying Google feedcount in text. The only difference is – we will be using Facebook’s API. In this post, we want to show you how it can be done so you can add them into your WordPress blog or PHP powered website. Load up your favorite code editor, here we go.

Step 1 – Get API Key, Application Secret & Page ID

These are the three mandatory information you’ll need to get things started.

API Key and Application Secret
Sign in to your Facebook and click on Developer‘s link on the site bar. (If you don’t have a Developer’s account, you will have to sign up for one first)


Click "Set Up New Application". Enter any application name, agree to the Facebook terms and click "Create Application". Note: We are not going to create a real application, but we’ll need to go through these processes to get a API Key and Application Secret.

On the next page, you should be able to see your personal API Key and Application Secret. Copy it down somewhere or leave the browser window open.


Page ID

Page ID is the ID of your Facebook Fan Page. If you don’t have a Facebook Fan page, you’ll have to first create one. To get the ID of your Fan page, click edit page, and look for your ID (numbers) at the end of the URL – http://www.facebook.com/pages/edit/?id=XXXXXXXXX
Step 2 – Get Facebook.php

You’ll also need the Facebook API PHP SDK file called Facebook.php. Download it, and place it in the root of your folder. Learn more about Facebook PHP SDK.


Step 3 – Display Fancount

To show off your fancount, place the following code in your php file,
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require_once('facebook.php');
$facebook = new Facebook(array(
'appId' => 'app_id',
'secret' => 'secret_key',
'cookie' => true,
));
$result = $facebook->api(array(
'method' => 'fql.query',
'query' => 'select fan_count from page where page_id = page_id;'
));
$fb_fans = $result[0]['fan_count'];
?>

And then you will want to edit the codes to change the following:
Line 4 – Replace app_id with your Facebook Application ID.
Line 5 – Replace secret_key with Secret.
Line 10 – Replace the last page_id with your Facebook Fanpage ID.

Please refer to Step 1 on how to get app_id, secret_key and page_id.

To display the fancount, insert this following code anywhere in the page:
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That’s all. Style your fancount and make it attractive. See a working example on Psdeluxe‘s top right corner.