Social Media ROI

It is very hard to analyze ROI of your company on social media. This is because the internet is such a fast acting view. There is a difference between window shopping, and walking in the store and trying something on. You may go to a website through a search engine, and the second you realize its not what your looking for you leave. You cant just use a website that counts how many hits. You need to look into the quality of what people are saying and your relationships with interacting with the customers or potential customers. Knowing how many people saw the site is great, but you need to know what they are getting out of it.

FOLLOW THE ARMY ON TWITTER

in this article, the army released its first official rules for troops in using social media, allowing them to be as open as anyone else. They obviously cant release any data that compromises a mission, but it is a huge step in allowing troops to communicate freely. It is a long way from how our grandparents could only write home every few days when they were serving. Whats Next? soldier@twitter, sign into barracks on foursquare?

AOL consumer monitoring

AOL's methods of monitoring what people are searching for on the web is a great method. Instead of the MAN controlling what we see and read about, they are actually giving us what we want. Some fear that we will just read about celebrities doing stupid stuff. I believe reputable news agencies will separate themselves from this type of media. Their tactic will show advertisers that AOL has a very good plan to get the most hits and get their product or service out there.

People Like Helping People

in the article the author talks about how the only way to find a job is to go out and make personal connections with people, but having a virtual bio sheet on a social network can help as well. This is quite funny since i was just discussing this with my older brother at 5 in the morning after partying in NYC for his birthday. Being a near graduate i expressed my worries of finding a job. He recently completed MBA school, and alot of people he know are having trouble finding jobs. He sent out 200 job inquiry emails, and did not hear back from one. He even admitted he applied for jobs he was severely over qualified for. he said the only way he found better leads for jobs was by talking to people he knew or had a connection with. His main target was alumni from his undergrad and MBA schools. This eased my worries a lot in that i felt like seeking jobs through family friends and common friends was sort of a "cop-out" way to look for one.

21st century secretary

With technology seamlessly keeping together our entire lives these days, it isn't a surprise that small business's are starting to rely on group work technology as much as the big corporations. These programs are very helpful in the larger corporations because it makes everyone accustom to the same protocol, and "standardizes" all operations.

My father owns a small business of about 9 employees. salesmen, an accountant, a secretary, and him self, the main salesman and CEO. He has been in business for close to 30 years, and has very particular ways of doing things. In his way of business, which moves on the fly so fast, it is hard for him to rely on such a tool to get information out. His main hurdle would be that since he is on the road so much, and only available to answer his 100's of emails when on the road 2 times a day, he diverts many issues to his secretary. All of his employees accustom to his normal protocol of calling and emailing with no organization, they would not reap any benefits from this type of system. The time it would take his secretary to learn the new system and how to use the new collaboration system would negatively affect their operations. too much of his business is relied on phone calls and negotiation, and these systems do not have a good enough substitute for a conference call. this is most beneficial to larger business's of around 20 or more.

There is An I(nternet) in TEAM

I personally hate it when in class we have to get into groups, but i understand the reasoning. We need to learn how to work in groups to be able to successfully work with the lack of some assets such as face time, or even real time collaboration. I have found that the loss of momentum is lost when there is collaboration going on through the internet. While many people know what tasks they need to complete and know when they are going to get to it, but do not convey it to their members. I make a effort to answer every email i get as immediate as i can (blackberry is always by my side) even if it is just to say that i got the email. Usually it is to tell them my schedule and when i will complete the task that is in question.

IPAD=WORTHLESS

i am sorry but i will not be fooled by the Apple charade. I may be someone who sees the glass half empty but Apple has been doing this for a while. They came out with the Ipod touch, which in my eyes is not a beefed up Ipod, it is a Iphone which lacks the phone function. Now this Ipad comes out. It is not even a laptop without a keyboard,flash, and lacks the specs to really substitute a real computer. Netbooks are bad enough, and i have never found one person who is satisfied with them as a primary computer.
The Ipad in my eyes is a glorified E-reader, and nothing more. Yea its color, can get apps, and it can surf the net via safari, but who are they actually targeting. its at a price higher tan most netbooks, and its functionality is very limited to apples agreements with software producers. I just don't see how it is that revolutionary as a product.

Linked Up and Ready-To-GO

Linked-In seems like a great social network. I will have to join that in the very near future. The rules that Guy Kawasaki sets in his blog , show great ways to make the most out of your experience. Its suggestion to put a link to your profile in your emails is a great idea. They make a great point saying how it would be awkward to put your resume in an attachment, but the link is very casual. It also is very helpful to check out your interviewer. The best way to win someone over is for you to be comfortable, as well as making them feel comfortable. If you two can relate about a common past employer, or having went to the same undergrad, it can do nothing but help your chances.

Informal Communication

In the article , this employee Bob gets in trouble for communicating with customers outside of the normal means of contact. Even though he was helping customers, and not giving away trade secrets, he was put under a red flag and treated in not the nicest of ways. I think this is completely irresponsible of a company. Many products are complex, where customers with different levels of understanding may be interested. Other customers may have questions that cannot directly be answered by a company officially. I find this alot on my Car forums that i visit. For a supercharger kit for example, a potential client may ask the community about a particular shop or product, and get valuable feedback. If they were to give negative feedback on a product, should that company not take steps to refute the bad mouthing they are receiving. Wouldn't releasing a product through a medium where the level of understanding is higher have a trickle down effect to less knowledgeable consumers?

Rock and Roll is the devils music

In the article "Nobel Laureate Says The Internet Makes Us Dumb, We Say: Meh", a very out of touch Nobel prize winner expresses how she thinks the internet is making our youth out of touch with the real world. These arguments against the youngest generation from their elders comes up all the time. Just as my grandfather though my dads rock and roll music was for the devil, and my dad thinks my music is just a bunch of drums and curse words, it is a cycle. Now it is not to say that Dorris Lessing is wrong. While it has come to a point that the youth can look up any fact on the internet and feel as though it is research, they might not be getting this information from a credible source. On the other hand, you must look at people outside of your social norms. Technology has made people in remote places to be closer than ever to the rest of the world. A person in India can look up the scores of their favorite NBA team, chat with their friend in Russia, and buy something made in china. Just because there is so much worthless data on the web, it does not mean that there isn't good to take out of it. After all......I read this article on the internet, so if it wasn't for the internet, i wouldn't know anything about YOU, Ms. Lessing.

Nothing in Life is Free

in the article "The Myth of Crowdsourcing", the author taps on the fact that there is not really a crowd of people willing to solve problems for anyone. When it comes down to it, if these people were so good at lets say programming, they would be already writing script and selling it. They would not be just doing it for free in their spare time for someone else. The real facts are that you will have a bunch of average joes with nothing better to do on their computers at 3 AM, doing what they find is interesting. With that information, someone who is paid to do the task just will improve on it and make it really useful.

Six Degrees of Lois Weisberg

this is an article about how networking is an amazing phenomenon. It basically is a few stories of a woman who is a natural networker and because of it may interesting things happen around her.
Networking is a natural thing to do when you meet new people. As the saying goes "it isn't what you know, it's who you know." This is definitely a true statement. Peoples reputations proceed them in most cases, and if you are able to make that a positive thing, you have less to prove when you meet someone face to face. In social circles, many people rely on others opinions of you. As in the passage, many people were networked together by asking someone "who should i talk to when I'm visiting....." This is why when you meet new people to spark conversation it is a good idea to ask where they are from and what they do.

My first Blog

hey guys.....are you bloggin...well i am. Its for a class. On my honor, all posts on this blog are my own