Jeff

My name is Jeffrey!

[toomey]

Book Analysis Summary

For my book analysis, I compared Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith, and Marketing in the Age of Google. I choose these two books because they are great to be able to comparatively analyze them and see how even though they are different they can still be compared and used together. Trust Agents is about how and why trust is very important when it comes to your consumers and the fact if they don't trust your online presence then you don't have customers that will stay. The other book, Marketing in the Age of Google, it shows how consumers are searching and what they are searching for. These books go together because you need to know what customers want so you can give them that, which in turn will help gain their trust of your brand.

[katherinemckeon-blog]

In this New York Times article, a new type of sustainability movement is discussed-one that involves the revolutionary powers of Facebook. A new app has been released that allows people to post their energy consumption levels to their Facebook page and challenge their friends to energy reduction...

[toomey]

I believe this is a great new initiative that has taken place to really benefit people in the community and the world. Thanks to social networking this is possible at a very large scale. If this was an initiative not done on social media, it would not have gained the attention of the New York Times and having people around the world logging into their Facebook pages and their smartphones to join in on the competition.

[torijoelle]

On April 9, 2011 Jenna Wortham wrote an extremely interesting article that discussed the combination of social media with the old theory of FOMO or fear of missing out. While this is a theory that has been around for awhile social media has allowed it to catch fire. FOMO deals with the concept of picking up a newspaper on Monday morning and realizing what you missed over the weekend. While you may be bummed that you missed a big concert or event however it’s in the past and at that point there is nothing that can be done. What social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Foursquare, and so many others have done is allow you to see what your missing out on as its happening. For example the writer of the article describes cuddling up on the couch for a movie night by herself when her phone starts to update her on what her friends are doing at the same time. While she is having a cozy night in she finds out that right near her home a couple of her friends checked into a venue that usually hold concerts and such and she also is able to view a picture of another set of friends dinning at an upbeat and trendy restaurant in her city. When viewing these photos and check ins this causes the writer to think about if she should be out doing things like her friends. It even had her debating an impromptu night out. While she decided to stay in and opted to turn her phone face down (she couldn’t yet bring herself to turn it off) we can see much social networking has affected our lives. While the writer does admit that she doesn’t always get jealous and states that a lot of times she is excited to see what her friends around the world are doing she can be affected by the status and picture updates of her friends and more specifically those closer to her location as well as those who fall closer to her age. The concept of FOMO isn’t a new one but the ways in which we can experience the phenomenon are changing and evolving. Do you think that FOMO is a common experience for lots of social media users? Is it Facebook and Twitters fault or are these types of feelings inevitable?

[toomey]

I do agree with the above blog post. I do feel that FOMO is something that many people that use social media and social networking sites can feel from time to time. They see their friends going out and having a good time when they are not. That feeling might not always be the best and it is social media to blame. What I do feel that people need to realize is though, the nights you are going out and posting about it, those other friends might not be doing the same, they might to relaxing at home.

[toomey]

Social Media and HR

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 some of the changes that are being made and the type of impact they are having.

With companies begin using different online tools that have been created to be used for social interactions to interact with their employees for business use. It is interesting to see this change for me because I feel like the social networks should be used for people to interact with their family and friends, not also having to get information from work there. If people want to work and get work information they will go on their work email or work computer.

I can see why employees would want to use these tools, they feel that their employees are using these tools all the time so they would be more likely to check their Facebook or Twitter when they are at home rather than their work email. This is good and bad for a couple of reasons. If something really important needs to get sent to people, that could be an affective method, but then again, is it really that important that people have to be working around the clock? I do not feel that is necessary.

If I worked for a company that wanted to give work notifications via social networks, I would hope they would make it an opt-in or opt-out option. Its great that they want everyone to work all the time, but that doesn’t mean people should have to and they especially need to have an option.

[toomey]

Social Media Changes News

Social media has become a great tool to receive information or news faster than a person’s local or even national news station can report on it. When this can become a bad thing is when the news starts to get distorted, intentionally or unintentionally. A great example is from article, “Social Media Distorts Truth in Martin Shooting.”

As the article mentioned, initially there was not much attention about the shooting on a national level until the media put it on all the networks. From that point, it went to social media that is when things really took off. People started grouping together to make hate groups against the person that killed the 17-year-old. There were groups that talked about how they want to kill the killer.

Social Media has some great benefits when it comes to getting news across to people, but something that is not always looked at as a good thing is when information is misleading or the wrong news is being reported. Because of Social Media, the story about what happened to the 17-year-old, enraged people and they started writing things on social networks about the story, that might be misleading and not necessarily true.

What is important to remember, like anything, to get accurate information you have to see who is reporting the information. Just because Twitter is very helpful in passing news along quickly, a lot of the times fake news trends and people respond to it. Sometimes they will say certain celebrities have died and causes tons of people to get upset and it was for nothing because it was not true.

[noirmatrix-blog]

I have been a fan of reading through online forums for several years now, with one of my favorites being reddit. Many of the redditors refer to it as the center of the internet as it has information on every thing from the latest findings of cern to public celebrity interviews, followed by not...

[toomey]

It can be difficult for people to use the internet if they do not feel comfortable with how Google collects personal data and how they use it. Especially with Google's recent privacy policy change, they collect more information about their users from across all of their services. It would be nice if they user could choose when that information was deleted but like mentioned in the post, Google can keep if forever.

[gromkid-blog-blog]

Did you know there’s a mobile food phenomenon going on? “Like, roach coaches?” Yep! Well, not exactly.

Austin, Texas, is home to weirdos, the annual South by Southwest festival (SXSW), the capital building and a giant movement of gourmet food trucks. What does this have to do with...

[toomey]

I have seen food trucks like this that get very involved in social media, and it is great to see. These very small business, just the food truck, but that hasn't stopped people from taking advantage of the free tools such as Facebook and Twitter to help interact with their customers and promote their business.

[n3dtalks]

Living in the United States of America, we are influcened by social media daily, and in all sorts of forms. Other countries, especially third world countries, may not be as up to date with all of the new forms of social media there are avialble today, that’s why I found this article to so...

[toomey]

It is great to see that Social Media is being used to help promote people voting in other countries. The tools are highly used in the United States and it is great that other countries are realizing how these tools are being used for great benefits and allowing people to share their thoughts.

[torijoelle]

Just a little less then a year ago the New York Times wrote an article about the new concept of a “social media background check”. According to the article this check runs a search on everything that the person in question has done with social media both good and bad. For example this means that when the run the background they might see that on Facebook the person is an avid supporter of animal rights groups and that they are a member of multiple charitable groups. However on the downside to this is that if the person they are researching has EVER in their life made a tweet or status about something racist or involving sex or drugs they will see that as well. Do you really want your future company knowing what you “accidentally” wrote on your Tumblr when you were out drinking Saturday night?

So the question I asked myself was is it our responsibility to know better or smarter social media etiquette or is social media our own personal/recreational activity that shouldn’t be a consideration when you apply for a job? But that is a question that does not seem to be simply answered. While I think that to some degree you should have the opportunity to express yourself especially with out having to make everything you write professional sounding I would suggest a fake username. A lot of my friends have done this with their Facebook or twitter accounts as they have entered the time of either college applications or job searches. Let your good friends know that you are doing this and the others will figure it out but at least if you have a name with no connection to you posting things that are a little more private the company can’t connect them to you personally. Another option is to create to seperate profiles and one can serve the purpose of professional friends and now background searches and the other with your nick name or something could be your private account. 

However, the other suggestion which seems so obvious but is easier said then done is just done post, tweet, blog, or upload anything that could get you into trouble. Next time you upload a photograph to facebook ask yourself “would I want my grandma to see this?” or the next time you tweet when your angry think about if you would be embarrassed if your boss read it?

So those are my suggestions and questions posed about the situation of a social media background check but I have skirted a little around one of the bigger issues revolving around this article, is this right?? Should random people be allowed to look up everything I have ever done or said? Is this against our privacy? According to Max Drucker “We are not detectives, All we assemble is what is publicly available on the internet today”. The article also states that the federal trade commission has determined that companies can run these background searches claiming that they fall within the fair credit reporting act.

My one favor I ask of those who run these social media background checks is just to keep in mind what is relevant and what isn’t. What occurred when I was 16 and what I am now. What I said about something that would never ever affect the company as opposed to a red flag. But what do you guys think? Are companies in their right to search through our Facebooks and Twitters? How do you think people should prepare for these types of checks? Will this affect the amount of people who now choose to use social media?

[toomey]

It is crazy to think that there is such a thing as "Social Media Background Check" that companies can and do use to look up the personal life of a potential hires. I do not feel that it is appropriate because it is someone's personal life. It is not representing their professional life or how they would perform at work.

[ahaught-deactivated20131206]

For the past six days, Facebook, Twitter and many other social media websites have been blowing up with the latest viral video, Kony 2012. Now, if you don’t know what I’m talking about, it may be a good idea to do a Google search for “Kony 2012” or better yet, sign into Facebook or Twitter. I’m...

[toomey]

Social media can take a news story or a message like Kony 2012 viral around the Internet in no time. One person posts the video and passes around the social networks in no time, from network to network, to friend to friend. Social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and many more make this possible.

[brittshirk]

Continuing on the topic of privacy and social media, I recently came across an article written by Todd Pheifer on Yahoo news. It discussed how many employers and colleges, especially those who participate in school athletics, now want the passwords of their students and/or employee’s Facebooks and...

[toomey]

I do not feel that anyone should have access to other people's passwords because that is the point of the password. That is an invasion of people's privacy and under no reasons should someone need to go into someone else's Facebook account. I do not agree with the fact that people should have passwords in college athletic's. Facebook is a way for friends to connect with each other and if they are going to talk about the program to their friends, they will do it online or in person.

[toomey]

Companies Use Your Social Media Data

After reading the article, http://goo.gl/NhNp4 "How Companies Are Using Your Social Media Data," it is interesting to see how companies get the information they do receive about people and what then end up using it for. When your parents used to tell you, whatever you put online, it is for everyone to see, and that is very true, anyone including companies can see and use your public data.

It was interesting to see in the article the research they have done to see how many people do not even realize that a comment that they make on a social networking site can be used in a companies database. Even better, for the people that might be aware of it, they do not know what that information is being used for.

There are companies out there that all they do is collect information about what people's interest are and what they say and comment about different topics. Those companies sell it to other companies to help them market their products and services to their potential customers. It provides a nice service to companies but at the same time, you are selling information about other people without their knowledge.

I feel it is important for people to at least be aware of the information that is being sold about them, even though it does not seem like their personal information such as their name and address are being sold, but pretty much everything else is. That is what happens when you have all your information online, it is available to anyone who wants to find, see, or purchase it.

[ahaught-deactivated20131206]

Privacy tends to be a huge issue when it comes to social media. But employers and colleges around the nation are taking the invasion of privacy to a whole new level. A recent article from MSNBC warned students and future employees they may have to give up their privacy in order to work/go to...

[toomey]

It is honestly crazy that they require you to becoming "friends" on Facebook with one of the coaches to allow them to see everything in your personal life to be allowed to play a sport. I do not think that is appropriate at all. People have a right to their own privacy and should not have to allow people into their personal lives on Facebook if they choose not to.

[therealandrew24-blog]

When signing up for a social media website, we all know what were getting ourselves into. We all put our lives on the internet for everyone to see and this can ultimately tell a lot about a person. The article.Police officers can use facebook to track and spy on people and the video titled the...

[toomey]

It is crazy to think that police officers can easily track and get search warrants to go into people's personal social network accounts. I agree that it does not seem right do to. When you talked about how the police were doing "fish" on a person that was wearing the same shirt on a picture in Facebook as someone in a crime did, I do not feel it is right because there is no hard evidence to be fishing around.

[toomey]

Over-sharing

People love to share things about themselves with other people and now with the internet and social media, people are starting to love sharing even more. We have access to so many different tools that allows us to share in many different ways and with many more people. This can sometimes turn into something that isn't always the greatest things about all this sharing, over-sharing. Some people will tend to over-sharing information online.

Over-sharing can a bad thing for many different reasons. It can give a negative outlook on how people view other people.  People might know realize when they are sharing too much information because there are just unwritten rules about what to post. Since they are no official rules, people might know what is socially acceptable. If they was writing to many personal things on one social network or possibly to often, that can be over-sharing of information and not something others want to see.

You can argue that if people did not want to hear all of this information about someone, that they wouldn't follow them, which isn't always true. People might want to follow other people, but might not except to hear little details of their day or every detail about a conflict of something that is bothering that person. With this over-sharing, privacy is a big topic because then what in your life is private, if you are sharing everything? But that is not always going to be easy to answer for some people.

With all the different social apps and networks out there on the internet allowing other people to share anything they want about themselves, and leading to over-sharing, that person can be viewed as not really having any privacy limits. That is not necessarily a bad thing, it just seems as if people might not realize what they are doing. Over-sharing goes along with privacy and people need to be more aware of the type of information they are sharing and with whom they are sharing with.

[katherinemckeon-blog]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jT0JT3N47g

I recently started the series “Portlandia” on Netflix, and this clip was in the first episode. This technology loop that the character finds himself is more or less my life in a nutshell. Our generation, including myself, has become so dependent on...

[toomey]

I would have to agree with you on the fact about how that is just my life as well. I am always on my Mac, iPhone, and/or iPad doing a number of different things, similar to the video clip, checking email, sending tweets, text messages, and everything else you can possibly do on these devices. I also agree with the fact that I do not think it is healthy, but it is hard to let it go because of how connected we are on these devices. I try and turn some of my ethnology products off for a little bit, but it normally doesn't last more than 5 minutes.

[therealandrew24-blog]

Some of you may or may not know of a social media app called “Instagram”. As of right now instagram is only available for the iphone but developers say an app is in the making for android phones. For those of you not familiar with this app, instagram is an app where people post pictures and users are allowed to comment on people they are following. Users are also allowed to change the effect of all the pictures they want to upload and they can choose from 17 different ones.

The article “why your brand should be on instagram” talks about how businesses can effectively promote their company through the use of instagram. It also talks about how instagram is different from facebook and how it can be used differently from facebook and other social media apps such as twitter.

The articles starts out with stating how instagram is different than other social media apps. It makes the point that instagram isnt “walled” like facebook is and this makes it easier for companies to connect with customers and strangers new to the company. It compares instagram to flickr, and states that flickr doesnt have a app for phones but only a website. I believe that companies can get out there alot more and be more successful if they have an app that can be accessed on mobile devices. If people are able to see pictures on the go, they wont miss a post and thus all your post can be seen at all times through your phone and i think this is the reason why instagram is so successful.

Not only can instagram be used for social and fun purposes, but it is a great way to build a brand. The article gives the examples of starbucks and Burberry using instagram and it explains how they use them effectively. Burberry is said to post pictures of their most recent fashion shows and recent designs. Starbucks ask their followers to post pictures of their daily coffee and tag them. The owner of Burberry says that their companies has brought them over 5000 followers. This is a perfect example showing that when having an app, companies and social media sites can attract more customers or followers.

One reason why instagram is so effective is because it is so quick and easy to use and people can quickly learn how to use it. Instgram can make a picture youve taken look and feel better. When i say feel i mean it can make you put a certain emotion when you look at a picture. This is due to the face that their are effects that can do this when added to the right picture. If you are going for a professional, sharp look, there is an effect for that. There is also an effect to make a photo look old and vintage, and if you want to focus on a certain item in a picture you can blurr out a spot in the picture to add emphasis on a certain item.

Here is the link: http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/Why_your_brand_should_be_on_Instagram_10436.aspx

[toomey]

Instagram I would agree is a great tool. It is nice that it is available on the iPhone as I am able to post pictures from wherever I am. I do agree with what you were talking about how companies like Starbucks use it to help build their brand. It is basically free for them because of the social marketing that happens when people post pictures of Starbucks cups.