Shep

"If you're not getting pitted, then you're not trying"

[therealshep-blog]

Book Analysis

I decided to choose both these books based upon my major of marketing. Throughout my college career I have learned different marketing techniques that involve social media. So, these two where the most logical choice. 

Both books were extremely interesting in that they both related the importance of marketing. Although used in different ways, they all had the same goal which was attract consumers. 

"Marketing in the Age of Google" gave a interesting perspective on Google and how they run their business. This perspective was due to the fact that the author actually worked for Google. Vanessa Fox really stressed the importance of understanding the use of online search engines. She pointed out the right ways to search and the wrong ways to search. Fox believed that if you fully understand search engines than your business can produce profits. 

"Twitterville" emphasizes the use of Twitter in business and how global neighborhoods will make geography increasingly irrelevant. Shel Israel did a fantastic job in pointing out that if organizations choose to ignore customer feed back than they will be doomed. Throughout the book, Israel included many case studies from major companies such as Dell, Comcast, and ford to just name a few. These case studies were about how Twitter has now become incorporated into business plans. 

[toomey]

After reading article, “How Social Media Changes HR,” it was interesting to see how employers are now interacting with their employees. The article talks about how changes in company policy allows corporations to use Social Media as new tools to interact with employees. I am going to discuss...

[tiredryan-blog]

After seeing Google’s project glass in class it made me wonder how far away we would be from seeing this as a reality.  While I don’t fully understand how everything in this works because I don’t have the technology skills to understand it all, it seems like an amazing idea.  The idea of being able to control everything you need with just your voice can make things a lot simpler.  However there seems to be some downside to this technology in my opinion.  If you want to say something but don’t feel comfortable saying it in public you may just avoid bringing it up all together.

In terms of how close are we to this becoming reality, I stumbled across the video linked in the URL.  According to the source a man was already able to make this a reality on his own by using Adobe Air.  If you watch the video that comes with the link you will see an actual working method of Google’s version.  While this man created this by himself, you can only begin to imagine what a Google constructed team could put together.

In this instance Google doesn’t currently have a working version of this available to the public, but after seeing others create working version may speed up there team to make it possible.  Google has a great technology team and could use that to their advantage to perfect this item before many can even figure out how to.  Google has a great idea in the making but how long will it be til it is truly considered reality?  The answer is pretty unclear at the moment because a lot has to happen before this can be perfected according to many experts.

While the original video leaves us wondering how this concept is possible, the new videos of people creating them by themselves leave us wondering how long until Google releases its first pair.  In my opinion Google will start working very hard on this project and try to make it a reality as soon as possible.  While many people are caught up in the Iphone state, this invention could potentially pass that and become the next big thing.  The idea seems very hard to perfect but with a lot of time and hard work I’m sure the Google staff and whoever they consult will be able to make this a reality in no time. 

[therealshep-blog]

American Express Turns To Social Media

Social media has affected almost every single major business in many different ways. Social media could be beneficial to companies or could extremely hurt them.  As bad as it may sound, not having enough likes could have an impact on how successful your company may be. From a business aspect, to not utilize social media for profits would be erroneous; to ignore it would be pure insanity.

As credit-card companies turn to social-media sites to engage with customers, some consumer advocates worry the virtual may replace the physical pitch on college campuses. Credit-card lenders are mining their customers' "likes" on Facebook and scouring tweets on Twitter as they look for new ways to entice existing customers to use their cards more frequently and raise their appeal among younger consumers, avid users of social media. American Express the largest credit-card lender by spending, has rolled out merchant deals to customers through Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare.

  According to The Wall Street Journal, experts worry that these platforms may give lenders another door around rules that took effect two years ago aimed at protecting young consumers. One of these rules is the CARD act, which protects young people from unfair marketing by credit-card companies that often led to over priced credit-card debt.  American Express has been one of the larger credit card companies that is using social media to promote its cards. As stated before, they use social media to offer deals to specific retailers that otherwise would not be offered without ‘liking’ the page.

  This use of social media is a prime example of how companies are taking advantage of its infrastructure and turning into pure profit. By taking advantage of these kids, credit-card companies like Amex will see exponential growth in demographics.  It truly is not fair that credit card companies can entice young users thorough social media to incur so much debt that they can not pay off. My advice for these kids is to avoid scams like this at all costs. 

[therealshep-blog]

Direction of Facebook

Ah yes, the ever popular topic of where Facebook is heading. The multi-billion dollar giant is finally in a transitional stage of what to do with all of its money. With the most recent and controversial acquisition of Instagram, Facebook is thinking ahead. As crazy as it sounds, $1 billion deal with Instagram may not be enough. Facebook is estimated to have a $100 billion market cap with little room to produce profit. So, what do you do with all this market space? Simple, you spend money.

With Facebook going public within the year, the multi-billon dollar company needs to start thinking about investors. As painful as it may sound to Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook can’t focus primarily on the happiness of its 845 million users.  So, what do they need to focus on? Facebook wishes that this question can be answered in a simple executive summary like most billon dollar companies, but in fact this question requires greater detail. To advertise on Facebook would be detrimental to its core business model and would turn the users away. Apps that allow Facebook integration like Zynga produces some profit but not enough. So, where can Facebook produce profit?

Let’s go back to advertising. Advertising on Facebook is out of the question. But what if Facebook could use other platforms to advertise for them? Bingo. The Wall Street Journal suggests that Facebook should buy ABC, CBS, NBC, and possibly the journal itself. This would allow Facebook to advertise without taking away from sites ‘coolness’ factor. Americans already understand that mass media channels listed above have advertisements; it’s already a norm. This strategy will produce huge profits that will attract investors.

It is well known that Facebook has to do something with all this market space and simply sitting on it will do nothing.  Not exploiting information about users will be the absolute worse thing Facebook could do. Not only will it not produce profit but it Facebook would fade from existence. No one can put a price tag on all the personal information Facebook has collected from users. So why not take a risk and buy? 

[jroy9390-blog]

Being Facebook friends with the person you are dating can complicate things. The article, “5 Ways Facebook Changed Dating (For the Worse)”, discusses how Facebook can have negative effects on user’s romantic life. The 5 ways Facebook is changing dating for the worse are:

1. Overanalyzing Will...

[kingdavidmco435-blog]

Have you ever came across an annoying person who has posted a comment that almost incites an online riot? I mean statements that are clearly intended to offend and piss people off like the one I found on Yahoo answers. Here is an example below:

” Who else hates fat people?

Who else hates...

[therealshep-blog]

Facebook Privacy Around The World

Have you ever heard of the Europe Vs Facebook organization? Chances are you have not. They are a small group comprised of 10 students that are launching a campaign that would force Facebook to conform to European privacy and data protection laws. I'll say what your thinking, Facebook has to obey other countries laws? Trust me when I first read this article I was shocked too. 

This organization is lead by an Austrian law student named Max Schrems who many say actually has a plan. Facebook Ireland Ltd., the companies European headquarters, met with Max to discuss concern back in February. In light of this meeting Max quoted, "my biggest problem with the situation right now is that we are kid of the couple of students that are now representing all the rest of Facebook users". He then later stated that it would be more efficent if this were dont by a government body or elected official. 

This organization is a prime example of Facebook users that are not happy with the companies privacy rules. Facebook needs do further research on privacy laws before entering into different countries. It would seem that Facebook as become more concerned with making profit then caring for the general public. Although this may not hurt Facebook's American image it could hurt images from other countries.

Mr. Schrems thinks there are still changes to be made. "Generally, they were super friendly but I still have the impression they don't really know how European law works somehow. They just re-interpret it and then they stick to their re-interpretation."  

[therealshep-blog]

Social Media Contributed to the Uprising in Egypt

There is a common misconception that Facebook and Twitter caused the uprisings in both Tunisia and Egypt. Social media did not cause the citizens of Egypt to take to the streets and risk harm or imprisonment. Revolt was almost certain to happen within the year. The Egyptians citizens were fed up of their government not providing them with basic needs. That being said, social media did have an integral part in orchestrating this uprising. 

Social media sites has mass organizational tools that allow users to connect and communicate effectively. These organizational tools were used by Egyptian citizens to rally at certain locations to demonstrate and communicate their opinions on their current government. At first it was merely hundred people protesting, but as more users became aware of these social media groups crowds grew by the hundreds. As crowds grew, violence and looting became an issue. One could argue that if these social media did not exist then these protests would have not lasted as long. Think about it, with out all the buzz social media created protesters would not have been so eager to participate due to the fear of imprisonment. 

As protesters started looting, social media turned from helping the protesters to helping the authorties. Social media groups were created to help prevent these looters by tweeted their whereabouts and where they were going to steal next. This would have been a good time for Egyptian citizens to use location-based platforms to inform store owners of the whereabouts of these looters. 

A New York-based Egyptian blogger intereviewed by CNN quoted,"I urge you to use the words 'revolt' and 'uprising' and 'revolution' and not 'chaos' and not 'unrest'. The Egyptian blogger wanted the world to understand that the people acting on violence was not a valid representation of the cause to uprise the Mubarak regime. She knew that if the global media used words such as 'chaos' or 'unrest' then it would support the Mubarak regime instead of the cause she fought for. 

Once again, social media did not cause this 'uprising' but it clearly aided it.

[asegay-blog]

We all know that social media has made a huge impact on the internet. We use it on a daily basis, updating our status, chatting with friends, and using it in many different ways. Now the questions is, why can’t the company you work for do the same? In the past, companies has block all usage of...

[cnnhotspot-blog]

Due too a recent article alarming and surprising news has been announced. Can anyone estimate how much facebook is worth? I knew I couldn’t but was very surprised to find out the recently facebook is announced to be worth $100 billion dollars! Just even in 2011 last year facebook’s value was...

[therealshep-blog]

[katherinetorresaz]

I’m afraid I’m going to have to bow my head and admit that I don’t pay attention to anything in the political realm as much as I should. This admission is made more depressing by the fact that I’m a journalism student, and should be absolutely on top of anything newsworthy.

Super Tuesday was no...

[djdrysdale-blog]

Before I actually had to blog, and was just responding to posts I had no problem. But now that I have to actually post a blog I wasn’t sure how to do it. But then I thought back to Adam Haught’s Are You a Blogger? a couple of weeks ago and thought to myself; this can’t be too difficult. So...

[katherinetorresaz]

Okay, so social media is booming. People are spending increasingly more time on their Facebook and Twitter accounts. Networking doesn’t happen only in person anymore but happens through sites such at LinkedIn. Blogging can be considered a form of employment.

The reach of social media is phenomenal, but many businesses are still behind when it comes to using it to attract consumers, and the businesses that do use social media aren’t using this platform in the best way. 

Just because a business does operate on social media does not mean that they’re in the clear. A company may publish all their business philosophies on Facebook or send out Twitter blasts about some promo they’re having, but this alone is not effective in growing or even maintaining a media-savvy customer base. Why? Because every other business is doing the exact same thing. It’s gets really old really quickly for the customer, and after a while they start to become numb to the endless barrage of commercial tweets or status updates. 

Okay, so if you’re a part of a business that’s been operating this way, you probably want to hang your head right now. But there is still  way to keep your audience happy online. The way to do this is to keep a dialogue with your customers. If they tweet about an issue with one of your products, respond back with a solution. If people ask questions on your Facebook page, don’t just direct them to the customer service hotline, answer them directly on their post. Make it easier for your customers to get answers and let them know that you’re listening. 

People in general want more time and less hassle. I think social media is a great tool to help meet those needs. What businesses need to do it capitalize on these resources, and realize that social media interaction is a two-way street! 

[khanhqlam]

This brief article I found was interesting considering that Google+ is growing, well that is what I thought until I read this. I do not know much about Google+ besides that they are trying to go a different way from Facebook and other social media website (which is good). Originality is what...

[therealandrew24-blog]

After searching for a bunch of articles to write about, i finally came across one i thought was interesting. The article is called “Why we check in: The reasons people use location-based social networks.” I found this article to be interesting because i myself check in sometimes, but i’ve never...

[therealshep-blog]

I think this could become a safety issue. People need to be cautious about where they check in because someone could rob their house knowing that they are not there.