The Next New Thing

New Media has definitely changed our lives drastically over the years. In the past, physical paper copies of personal, government, medical or business were how we kept track of everything. Corporations, Hospitals, Entrepreneurs, Government agencies had enormous records departments were they stored there important data. This set up used up a lot of precious real estate plus staffing that was needed to maintain and manage the documents. There were definitely a lot of costs involved when you factor that all in. In this new age of technology, most of these physical can now be pulled up digitally  if it was scanned or if a data entry process was used in the first place. By using word searches or another type of search feature, you can pull up many items in seconds as opposed to the long amount of time it would most likely take manually. There are some places that are more organized than others but having everything digital makes it much easier and quicker to mine data. This allows people to multitask better. It helps people become more efficient and productive.

 

In the same vein of multitasking, an example of New Media that can do some wonders is having a “smart” virtual assistant. It can be an online secretary that will use artificial intelligence to help make decisions (financial, operational, and social). The “new media” would be a website that you could enter all of your personal, financial and business related data. This website will have all of your passwords and information so that it can help make decisions that would have been handled by an actual secretary. Let’s say there was a fire on a train and you were going to miss a meeting because of it, the virtual secretary can look for the next available train or flight and book it for you. It can even reach out to your client and let them know that the meeting has been rescheduled or announce your issues on your social media page. There will be options where you can enter your preferences, payment info, lifestyle choices, and whatever personal information is needed to help the program make decisions for you in crunch time. You would be able to enter data via text or voice and the program can make the best decisions for you. This program will basically help you manage your life and business. This would allow you to use staff for other things or help you reduce costs by minimizing headcount. This would be a wonderful program but I don’t think artificial intelligence is that far yet. Soon…

WIKI So Far...

My research for the Wiki will revolve around how New Media is used in the Clothing and Entertainment industries. I will focus on how Marketing and Advertising is handled in this new era of Technology. Another that I will look to add to the Wiki page is how Apps can be utilized to help in those two industries. Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.) is used extensively in these fields as well. I have been to a number of different entertainment and clothing/sneaker events that have utilized all types of new media to promote their products/businesses.

 

On top of the Marketing/Advertising piece, I have also done research on how new media is used to manage these businesses. Most businesses used traditional software like Microsoft Office, Accounting/Inventory Management software that can be very costly. With the advent of Apps, there are now inexpensive, even free, simple to use versions that can help you manage the basics of your business. You can pay a little more for the Apps and get a better version to handle more complex tasks. I will show how New Media has ushered in simple to use technologies that once required years of training to achieve.

 

I will provide a contents page as well as references for my research.

Privacy

A lot of what new media does is try to find out as much as they can of your personal information to they could make a profit through selling that information to advertisers. That is primarily how companies like Facebook make their money. Privacy and confidentiality is hard to police in this new world or media. How can you trust all of those confidentiality statements you see in most of these websites? They will most likely not sell them off to third parties but what is stopping them from monitoring your traffic patterns on their websites and selling you stuff that meets those patterns. Also, people need to be careful with how much information they are putting out on these social network websites. If you have your phone number, work information, school you are attending, etc., you are basically violating your own privacy because you are putting it our for the world to see. The confidentiality you may have looked for will be gone at that point. It is hard to keep your information safe. On the news recently, there were a number of famous people (even Michelle Obama) who had their finances, S.S. numbers and all types of personal information splattered on their website. This was insane but it seems like it can happen at any point if computers are the primary source of storing this information. This is the wave of the future and it gives us global access. Going back to paper files for everything will most likely never be an option for us again.

You also have to understand that when you post too much information online, you are opening it up for everyone to see. If you are looking for a job, employers/managers like myself will Google your name to see if there is anything crazy out there linked to you or try to see what your real character is by looking at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. -  pictures, comments, statuses, etc. This can come back to bite you in the long run and I will say from experience, I have passed on candidates from what I have seen online. What they say at an interview will sometimes not match up with what I find online and this can cause me to question one’s credibility. Be careful what image you display to the world. It can end things for you before they even start…

Advice

Baruch has done a decent job of utilizing New Media to keep up with the times. A lot of their material is available online. The library has an extensive online catalog of books, articles, journals, etc. This allows students the ability to access resources from anywhere in the world. This gives students more options and accessibility options. You can get most of what you need from anywhere that has Internet access. Professors can also do the same. There are also other new media technologies like Blackboard, Blogs, online registration, tuition payments, etc…It seems like Baruch also has social media pages like Facebook, Twitter, etc…

Considering all of this, I still think they could do more. The first I would do is most likely do, is add more online courses. I don’t think Baruch has enough classes available online. I would make it a larger part of the course offerings at Baruch. The school has a good reputation and I think this would boost up the enrollment at the school.

I enjoyed one of the previous articles we read in the semester where it utilized Twitter in class somewhat similar to this class. Using Social Media in real time would be something the professors could use to their advantage. You find professors getting distracted in class because they are trying to keep their students off of their electronic gadgets. If the professors would find a way to incorporate social media into the lesson, I think there would be some unique ways in which to keep everyone’s attention and applying it immediately into the real world. Things like Online polls, Q&A sessions, inbox conversations, etc…, would definitely keep the things interesting for the new generation. This can also open up other options like blogs and wikis for classroom information or discussions. It would be amazing if some proprietary software could be created (like Facebook) so that communication could happen internally between students, professors, staff, student clubs, etc. This can be used for promoting events, classroom assignments, important messages, etc. These would be a few of my suggestions. Hopefully they will come to life someday. 

Creativity and New Media

I went ahead and created a Avatar in Life. I did not create it to my likeness but maybe what I would like to like a few years. There are so many tools and details at your disposal in Second Life and I can see why people would immerse themselves into this world for hours and hours.

I toured some of the areas and visited a place that was based on creativity. It was interesting because it offered you the options or receiving emails or correspondence from the company. This is a great way to market your company and now I can see what the stories about Second Life were referring to when it talked about doing business virtually. Great idea!

I also visited the Panorama place that you see in the picture above.

 

 

This is what I came across. It was a pretty cool and visually appealing place in Second Life. I can tell this world is most likely never ending. I saw a number of people have a chat with each other and I was invited to a party. There was so much to do in this environment and I enjoyed myself. I do not want to get sucked into this world because I know I will spend way too much time playing this simulation game. In my opinion, this will continue to enjoy success moving forward. Great Job!

Creativity

New media has opened up a myriad of opportunities for the amateur computer or technology gadget user to look like a professional that has studied it for years. The user friendly software packages have put a number of tools in the hands of the common person which has piqued the interest of the masses. This has done wonders for creativity because people are able to create things that were only possible for people who have worked with computers for a long time or who have degrees in some type of technology hardware/software program. I can work my way around most business programs but when it comes to programs like Photoshop, Dreamweaver, etc., I don’t have the experience necessary to create anything impressive. I would be the first to say that I am not good at drawing or creating anything on a computer but I do have good ideas. With things like photo apps on an iPhone, I am able to do things with pictures/designs that I never thought possible. There are also computer programs that make it so user friendly that I can just use templates already pre-populated in certain programs that allow me to do something with the ideas in my head.

The ideas don’t always have to come from these large corporations or super-smart program/web developer with their fancy code language and difficult terminologies I have to Google every time I hear one. Innovation can come from the common person and New Media companies pick up on that. In the article “Twitter Serves Up Ideas From It's Followers”, Eric von Hippel (head of innovation and entrepreneurship group at the Sloan School of Management at M.I.T.) realized that the Twitter may have some ideas that the company could benefit from so he allowed them to help create new uses for the technology and it helped them become even more successful. This is smart because and idea can fall right into their lap and they didn’t have to spend millions of dollars in research and development. It is much cheaper going this route and allows them more time to focus on other things that can help them become even more successful. Look at mashups, this is a tough one for large companies because they have to be careful that the mashup doesn’t negatively affect their company if it looks like they are condoning something that may be improper but it could also give them a larger following that they could have never tapped into on their own. Nickelodeon allows their audience to create humorous videos using their characters but Disney would most likely consider this stealing. Again, these companies have to figure out what is considered acceptable use of their trademarked/copyrighted material. There is so much creativity that goes into these things and so much content out there, companies have to pick and choose which battles to fight. If they were to sue everyone, they would probably lose so much money on lawyer fees.

Creativity is tricky. Some could say that using someone else’s creation and putting a spin on it is not really creative but that can be debated. Original ideas are usually respected more than something like this but not everyone can do that. It can become expensive if you need specialized software/hardware or years of schooling. I feel that they are both creative but there definitely has to be a line that should not be crossed. In my opinion, New Media has done wonders in the way of helping foster creativity and the sky is the limit for even the common person with little design experience. Welcome to the future of technology.

Sources used:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/24/business/media/24crank.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/technology/internet/26twitter.html

 

Modeling Reality With Virtual Worlds

Virtual Worlds have been around for quite some time. Some sources point back to as far as 15-18 years depending on what was considered a virtual world. As a kid I watched a few movies that hinted at the future being controlled by computers and we would soon live in virtual worlds. It was always difficult to see that happening because we were so dependent on the real world, we could not forsee how that would even work. Smart phones were not around and we depended on pay phones or land lines to communicate with one another or mailed a letter if you had to send a note with a picture. We did not have smart phones or networked computers in those times so the thought of virtual worlds did not cross many people’s minds. Gamers may have thought of virtual worlds more than the common person because the games were a form of fantasy that they would engage their time and senses.

 

Now comes a future, with all of this new technology and virtual world possibilities that we could never have dreamed of as a kid. The 3D technology has become so advanced that some people can become completely immersed in a virtual world. Many people spend tremendous amounts of hours in these worlds. It becomes such an obsession for some that it takes away from family time and social time with real world friends. There are many uses for this technology. The Second Life video hit real close to home. As someone living with MS, I can relate to this video. My situation is not as dire but I definitely have limitations that prevent me from doing certain things that I enjoyed in my younger years. I can not do as many physical activities as I once did as a teenager and I have a number of issues like fatigue and memory loss, to name a couple. I have to be very careful but in this virtual world your imagination can run wild. It allows you to be free to create what ever your imagination comes up with. This is the wonderful part of this. We have to be careful though. This can also cause you to depend on this virtual reality so much that you may have problems being social in the real world. In my opinion, human interaction is so important in someone’s life. A computer can not replace that.

 

One of the coolest articles I read was called I've Been in That Club, Just Not in Real Life. I used to live in the Lower East Side and I still go there a lot because my mom and many of my friends are still in the area. It is so surreal to see this recreated in a virtual world. It helps you appreciate and relive some of your old memories by visiting places you can’t physically get to at the moment. The nostalgia of it would do wonders for people because childhood memories usually live strong in our minds. We all have said things like “I remember going to a certain place when we were younger and we wish we could do it again”. This type of virtual world can make some of that happen for you. This definitely can help feed some of your appetite but it can’t replace the real world experience. For some people it may actually have the opposite effect. It can make them miss the real world experience even more.

 

The article titled In Room 100, It's Sid and Nancy All Over Again, I found fascinating in that someone’s creativity was fostered by there want to make the hotel stay the way it was down to the crime scene in room 100. It was funny to hear that the “mailboxes” were missed and they made sure that it was a focal point of the recreation. The ability to make anything as it once was or change it to how you would have liked it to look can even create architectural jobs for certain people. If you created something that a builder may fancy, that virtual project may have a chance to become reality. There are a number of skills that can be utilized in the real world and you wouldn’t even know it initially. This type of creativity breeds new ideas that can be used by big businesses because they are always looking for ways to stay ahead of the competition.

The future will bring about new ways to use these virtual worlds. The creativity that will spawn from here will allow us to do anything without leaving your home. Businesses will most likely create ways to sell there products in these worlds. In the very near future, (if it hasn’t happened already) you will be able to recreate yourself down to your actual weight and size in these virtual worlds. This may allow you to try on clothes, jewelry, shoes, etc… just like you would in real life and make purchases that way. You may test drive cars or go house hunting with a real estate agent, all in a virtual environment. The possibilities are endless. There will be millions of people out there that would flock to this. This makes it easier to sell to anyone, anywhere in the world. It is amazing to see how far we have come with technology.

Sources cited:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UV52WRXm1Cg

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/06/arts/television/06itzk.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1363921738-Z4K9JcOH73hXnmJPa7T0pg

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/03/nyregion/thecity/03virt.html

Blog about Twitter

Twitter is a text message style technology that happens in real time on the web. Each post has a limited amount of characters that can be posted per Tweet. I will take a little time to compare Twitter to a forum-style school technology called Blackboard and in-class discussions. The discussions in each of these formats are handled differently but it all leads to communication. Each format has its pros and cons.

When it comes to Twitter, the 140 character limit is hindrance for some people, myself included. It is difficult for some people to express their thoughts fully with such a small limit of characters. It helps you build on a skill called brevity. I know I need to work on that. There are times when long answers are needed but in many cases brevity is the way to go. Twitter also is open to everyone not just a select few like in a forum setting or an in-class discussion. It is a fast paced environment that has no boundaries for the most part. You can also follow anyone on Twitter (approval needed at times) and they could follow you in return. There are concerns about how difficult it is to follow posts if people don’t add the hash tags that are required to group comments about a subject or school topics. The backtracking can be a brutal process at times. Twitter is useful to some but not all. I’m still on the fence with it but I may turn the corner and get just as involved as millions of other people who live by this format. I’m not a shy person but some people are. I see how this can benefit people who are not comfortable speaking in public because a post is a little easier for some people to write rather than having the anxiety of getting a probable negative reaction from your classmates in person or in a forum style like Blackboard. It’s more personal in those other styles because it is a limited group of people rather than hundreds or even millions of people on Twitter.

 

Looking at Blackboard, the threads (discussions) happen amongst a group of students that are taking a specific class. The speed of the discussions in Blackboard don’t happen as fast as they do on Twitter. You say your piece and then you wait for the other students or your teacher to answer. It is a closed environment as opposed to the open environment like Twitter. I like this aspect because it makes it more intimate. You are not just a small cog in an enormous wheel that is called Twitter. This is also a little easier for people who don’t want to speak in person. You can review other student’s viewpoints and it may help you see things from a different perspective. You also have time to think about what you want to say. You don’t have the same amount of time I think it is an effective tool for people who are strapped for time. If you have a demanding job that can prevent you from making it to class on time or if you are traveling for work/leisure, this can be an effective way to get an education. This is like the middle of the road when compared to Twitter or in-class discussions. The only concerns I run into are the speed of this system and that you can’t access it on your smart phone. Blackboard has outages and it is just plain slow. There needs to be a number of improvements made to this system because it will most likely get phased out. It seems to be an old piece of software. It works well but to an extent. Speed is definitely one of the negatives.

 

In class discussion is the last one I will talk about. I feel in-class discussion are the most important discussions that a student can have. This is what is going to prepare you for the real world. There is no hiding behind a computer, phone, tablet or whatever you’re using to access Twitter or Blackboard. It is extremely important to build your communication skills because that is one of the most used skills in almost any job. In-class discussions are great because you can actually see people’s reactions and body language. It also helps the teacher get a better picture of who you are rather going by what they see online. What you post may be misconstrued because they don’t see the body language that comes with your discussion. These are skills that we are losing as a nation because we rely on technology so much. You don’t have to worry about battery life with an in-class discussion. There are some negatives, like the conversations being dominated by a select few in the class. Shy people will stay silent for the most part and not participate in any of the discussions. There is also the issue of absenteeism in classes. Students will miss class, which will take diminish the participation aspect. It can also go in the opposite direction where there is too much participation and it becomes difficult to hear or keep track of what is going on. Again, I feel this is the best form of discussions there is.

Social Network Sites

 

MySpace

I feel that MySpace has lost its luster big time. This website definitely took the world by storm at one point. It was so popular that in just two years it had grown from a brand new company to one worth $580 million dollars (Purchased by News Corp in 2005). In 2006, it had surpassed Google as the most visited website. But then along came Facebook and knocked MySpace off its perch. MySpace was sold last year for $35 million dollars to Specific Media Group and Justin Timberlake. This means that Rupert Murdoch lost over half a billion dollars on the investment. The reason why some of this occurred had to with News Corp allowing MySpace to grow stale and antiquated. It has a cluttered interface and it seems geared to musicians. There was never enough personal information captured other than your location and whatever you entered into your user profile. At one point, it seems like the owners had given up on developing for the website. It just seems too cluttered for me and there is no real visual appeal to it. I’m also not a musician so it doesn’t attract me as much. I like music but not to the point that it is all I do or listen to. It’s time has passed.

 

Twitter

Twitter is much bigger than I expected. They have a current user base of about 500 million. That is a ton of people. Now I understand the influence people have on Twitter from reading the articles in this class. When you have this many users, the influence you have on causes, products/services and anything else one supports or rejects can make or break certain companies/organizations. If millions of people consider one person’s word gospel, you can count on the fact that companies, music stars, athletes, etc…, will be careful not to ruffle their feathers. I was not too enthused initially about the 140 character limit because I do tend to be long-winded in my comments so I didn’t think that was enough. It just felt like I was sending short texts over the Internet. I didn’t find it appealing at all. After playing with it for this class, it grew on me. The ability to shoot short messages back and forth with family and friends is pretty neat. When I saw the capabilities to keep in direct contact with celebrities, political figures, large companies or any entity that was otherwise inaccessible to the average person, I was impressed. There has also been a number of important news that showed up on Twitter even before the news heard about it. In one of the articles we read for class, many lives in Haitiwere saved due to the twitter folk taking a stand against the Air Force in where they wouldn’t allow necessary food, drink and medical supplies in the country of Haitivia a Doctors without Borders cargo plane. This unified approach from the Twitterati helped make a difference. These are some of the things that pulled me towards Twitter, plus the fact that the interface is nice, simple and clean. It is somewhat visually appealing. You could easily keep up to speed with the Twitter app on your phone. It also has the capabilities of posting pictures, running a business, sharing videos and raising money to name a few. This company has a great product. Twitter is definitely much better than I expected.

Facebook

Facebook is the king in the Social Network field right now. They have a user base of about 1 billion people. That is an astronomical figure. Facebook is the most appealing to me out of all of the Social Networks. It’s definitely the one I use the most. You can access from any computer, phone or tablet (the list goes on and on). This is definitely the most comprehensive of all the websites. It seems to contain all of the components that most of the major social networks have. You can send short messages (or long ones) in your status updates (like Twitter), you can post music and promote artists (like MySpace) and you could post tons of photos so people could press the like button or comment similar to Instagram. Facebook seems to have the whole package. The largest appeal to me is that almost everyone has a Facebook so you could keep in touch with family and friends, no matter where they are. I could find long lost family members, friends, teachers and co-workers, which would have taken me years if I used previous old search methods (asking person after person where so and so is, or acquire a phone number). I could now find these folks in a matter of minutes if I do the right searches. I have also been able to organize events and family gatherings through Facebook. I also utilize Facebook to run a business because this allows us me to stay in touch with my partners and our customers/potential partners. This website is the most comprehensive to me because I have access (for the most part) to my“friends” personal preferences, photos, likes and dislikes, personalities and comments posted on photos or “walls”. This is a gold mine for small & large businesses alike because you have access to all types of information that will allow you to cater to all walks of life. It also has clean look to it in all of its forms, PC, Tablets, Smart Phones, iPhones or wherever else you access the website from. I have to be careful to monitor my time on the site because I use it for business and pleasure. People on the outside looking in may think it’s just for pleasure and they feel ignored. I think this is a problem for many people. That is why Facebook is so popular.

Instagram

Last but not least is Instagram. I did not see the value in this App at first. When I started doing some research, I noticed that they have a user base of about 80 million strong. It seems like it came out of nowhere because I wasn’t really on to it. It just seemed like a place where you just post pictures and people like them or comment on them. That is what the main point of it is in a nutshell. When I finally logged on and created an account, I saw how cool it was. There are a number of interest adjustments you can make to your pictures and link them together by assigning a common hash tag to them. This allows you to build a collection of pictures for pleasure or for business. You can promote clothing, venues, restaurants, the list is endless. It is extremely easy to use for the most part but I do find it a little confusing at times. I don’t like the fact that you can’t scroll through a person’s pictures with the finger swipe. You actually have to close each one and then open a new one. That does get annoying after a while. The presentation is also not as clean as some of the other Social Networks. There is also no personal information stored on your profile this is not too helpful for most businesses or advertisers. It is a niche market that they have done a great job in. I know I stated some negatives on this but I actually enjoy Instagram a lot. I will us much more often now that I’ve gotten my feet wet with it.

Social Networking

Social Networking was once considered a fad that might go away and then became something that is a major obsession in many people’s lives. This new age media can consume hours upon hours of a persons life and companies see that as an opportunity for gain on their end. In the Social Networking world you can get back in touch with old friends, family, old co-workers, teachers and the list goes on and on. You can also connect with current friends, family, co-workers or acquaintances. You can do things like set-up events and invite all of your “Friends” from Facebook or even promote your music, clothing line and products/services that you provide. The information that you provide on places like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc… are very valuable to companies out there trying to find an outlet to advertise their services. The ability to socialize with distant family members and friends has been one of the greatest things about Social Networking. I have been able to connect with people I haven’t talked to in years. The new and old pictures/videos are usually a delight to see, especially of you have known these people for a long time. It makes the world seem like a much smaller place even though some of your conversations on happening from the other side of the world.

Let’s look at Facebook as an example, many people who log on actually use their real name, email addresses, home addresses, bios, their hobbies and many more pieces of information that are enticing to advertisers. This is one thing Facebook has over a company like Google. In the article “Great Wall of Facebook: The Social Network's Plan to Dominate the Internet” Larry Page (Co-Founder of Google) was a little upset that Microsoft was able to purchase a 1.6% stake ($240 million) in Facebook. Microsoft was Google’s sworn enemy and this left a bad taste in Larry’s mouth. Facebook executives stated that they wanted nothing to do with Google. They saw Google as their main competition in being the dominant force on the internet. Google sees the potential in the valuable data that Facebook has in regards to their users. As was mentioned in the same article above “Internet users behaved differently on Facebook than anywhere else online: They used their real names, connected with their real friends, linked to their real email addresses, and shared their real thoughts, tastes, and news. Google, on the other hand, knew relatively little about most of its users other than their search histories and some browsing activity.” This is a gold mine for most companies. Facebook makes sure that it keeps this information away from Google search engines by blocking this “proprietary information”. This was definitely embarrassing for Google because they usually get what they want but in this case they didn’t and it was also publicized. This definitely added more fuel to the fire.

Social Networking allows companies to hear direct feedback from the customers or potential clients. This can be good or bad but I think it gives them an opportunity to hear the likes and dislikes of the public, so that they could adjust their approach accordingly. Companies can also use a site like LinkedIn for recruiting purposes. This can be a much faster and less expensive way of vetting the right candidate for an open position. I work at an outsourcing company that provides Business Process Outsourcing (IT Support, Facilities Management, Reception, Word Processing, Print Procurement to name a few) for a number of Fortune 500 companies like Bank of America, Pfizer, Wal-Mart, etc… Whenever we win a contract to provide a service we normally have a small window to staff a location with as little as 2 people to as much as 100 or more employees. This will require a number of resources in the form of managers interviewing numerous candidates, HR assisting with paperwork, Directors or VP’s coordinating the workflow. This amount of personnel can cost a lot of time and money. Utilizing something like LinkedIn will allow us to reduce the amount of resumes or candidates you have to view or see. It helps save on costs and gives us more bandwidth to get the place staffed more efficiently. Many companies are starting to lean towards this approach (ours included) and it has its benefits.

Now there are some “Dark Sides” to this. I will point out a couple of issues I see with it. The first one has to do with the obsessions that come out of Social Networking. There are many people that can’t go five minutes without checking Twitter, Facebook or any other Social Network. This approach seems to replace the human factor of being able to have a conversation in person. There are people that are so consumed by this in that it affects their ability to hold a conversation in real life. As a manager, I notice it in some of the candidates that apply for jobs at my location. It is hard for some candidates to hold an intelligent conversation. It is not something that seems to come natural in some cases. I have interviewed a number of candidates that speak in short sentences, can’t maintain eye contact, using text language like LOL or TTYL when responding to emails. This is very concerning because it takes away from their ability to function in the real world. I am concerned for many of the kids and the future of our society. Things like this take up a lot of our time and are fun but it can make us fall behind the rest if the world if our kids can’t prosper in the real world. The US will continue to fall behind other countries because our future stars can’t compete in the business world.  We are so reliant on technology that we barely ever speak in person anymore. That personal touch is needed more than most people think. We need to be really careful with that. In the article “ Is MySpace Good for Society? A Freakonomics Quorum”, Steve Chazin (Former Apple Marketing Director and current CMO at DimDim.com) recalls something that happened in his office “I remember one day a few years ago when our office phones and Internet stopped working. No e-mail, no voicemail, no Facebook, no Skype, and no Twitter. People came out of their offices and talked. I enjoyed that day.” If we need to wait for an outage to come out and talk to people, we are in some big trouble.

The second one is the privacy issue you run into. A lot of your personal can be bought and sold without your knowledge and it can end up in the wrong hands or with annoying advertisers. Hackers can go in and do some damage to you as well if they get a hold of personal emails, phone number or any other information they could get their hands on. Lastly, as a manager I come across a number of candidates and there are times when I would get the feeling that I know the person from somewhere. I do a little search on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn and I may come across the person. Then it clicks in my head that this is where I know them from. On occasion, the candidate would end up being a “friend of a friend” and the pictures alone may influence my decision. I focus on the comments as well because it can tell a lot about a person’s personality. I have actually made some of my decisions based on this because the references or research of a person’s previous jobs do not always net good results. This is why everyone has to be careful with their life online. This can influence one’s career. You never know who is watching…

The future of Social Networking is limitless. Being that they have been able to capture hundreds of millions users and even a billion or more, there is no telling where it would go next. Virtual worlds may become the next big thing where you could go shopping together, run a business together or even party together from anywhere in the world without ever having to step foot in a brick and mortar building. This technology will continue to evolve and we will continue to experience new obsessions. It will be an interesting future.

Blogs vs. Wikis

Wikis and blogs are two forms of communication tools that essential are made to reach multiple people but utilize different methods in achieving that. They are similar in a number of ways but are very different in others.
 

 

Wiki is a shared database that can be edited by anyone who has access to it. You can set up the amount of people you want to give access to or you can make it public. Blogs are similar in that way as well. You can limit your audience or make it unlimited. The difference with Wikis, is that, normally there are many authors and blogs normally have one. When you have many contributors, people wonder about the integrity of the information: is it real or fake? It will easily make you think, can someone intentionally sabotage the information. Some people can do that but others can actually revert it back to its original form. Since there are many authors in a Wiki, there are a number of checks and balances in place. Users will make sure that the content of the information is accurate and the value of the content remains high. There are a number of people involved in the wiki that would have a high knowledge of the subject matter. An example of this is a wiki that we use in my corporation, where we share knowledge on operations processes, procedures and best practices. We have an extensive operations manual that we are constantly updating in order to keep it current. It is used across 11 sites, so all of the managers and supervisors make changes and updates regularly. There are a couple senior management team members that monitor the content to make sure it is accurate and effective. One measuring stick for effectiveness mentioned in a PC World article "Go to the grumpiest people you have and have them test it. Hear their complaints. It will help you figure out how to provide a wiki that's helpful and not cumbersome." This is normally the one of the essential goals of a Wiki. If the grumpy people find it helpful, there is a good chance that everyone else will.

 

Blogs normally consist of one author or a corporation that communicates their views in a more personal matter. This comes across as more of a diary that is shared with the masses or a select group. Wikis are similar in that the information is intended to reach a target audience or the whole public in general. In the eyes of many, blogs have improved the way we receive up to date information. Let's look at a newspaper for example, if you buy it late in the morning, there may have been a couple of important stories that have taken place since it was printed. The newspaper companies are not going to reprint thousands of newspapers in order to keep up with the blog news. Blogs can have major impacts on the masses depending on the corporation, news outlet, celebrity, etc...One of the key aspects of blogs is the ability to comment on the posts. This allows you the ability to get instant feedback from readers, which was not available in previous media like magazines, newspapers and journals. This is a major difference from Wikis because they are less personal than blogs, in that it is not set up for comments like a blog is. There seems to be more freedom of speech with this format that with a wiki even though those freedoms are sometimes frowned upon as in the "Pentagon Keeps Wary Watch as Troops Blog" article. Not everyone agrees with this new form of communication but it does not seem to be going anywhere anytime soon.

I found this nice little video (see below) that explains the differences between blogs and wikis. It is a nice look into the pros and cons of each one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsFU3sAlPx4


Both of these tools are making big impacts in how we communicate and their popularity is growing rapidly. Blogs are great ways to get up to date, news and information. It also allows people to express what they are feeling and they will see that they are not the only ones feeling that way. There are many people that think the same way that you do and this form will expose that for you. Wikis is a great way to keep your information fresh and up to date. It also allows for check and balances in a much easier fashion. Gone are the days of having meetings every time something needed to be updated or a new strategy/procedure needed to be agreed upon. With the wiki, you can do this from just about anywhere. Just log onto the website and update or correct previous data. With the advent of technology, our reach becomes greater every time. Both tools have some great benefits to them.
Not sure if this was ever thought of but maybe creating a family wiki. Creating and updating a family tree. It would be great to gives access to all of your family members and have them update every time a major event happens with someone in their immediate family. It gives us the opportunity to see what is currently going on with everyone.
 
 
Articles Cited:
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/156066/seven_tips_to_success_with_a_corporate_wiki.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/09/us/09milblogs.html?ref=politics
 
Videos Cited:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsFU3sAlPx4

ebay: Community or Bazaar?

The title of my project is eBay: Community or Bazaar?

The Internet has influenced greatly our current sense of community. In the past, we just would have thought of our surrounding neighborhoods but now we have to ask additional questions when you hear the word community. Are you talking about your physical community or are you talking about a virtual community? Our whole concept of community has changed when you look at how the Internet has allowed us to reach people all over the globe with the click of a button. We can share ideas, interests, products, etc..., with almost anyone regardless of your physical location. Before the Internet was around, you were limited to in who you could speak to or who you could sell products to. Now a company like eBay comes around and you have to ask yourself, is this an online community or a place to buy goods. My approach is to figure out what category does eBay actually fall into (community or bazaar) or see if they fit in both categories. I will look at a number of perspectives and how it impacts the people who use the site. I have used it as well so I can give my own views on what category it falls into. eBay definitely has it pros and cons, which I will spend time on. I have a start up company that I opened up with a few of my friends and e-commerce is one of the tools we use for the business. eBay will be one of the tools we use for this business. I will research how eBay will help me become a successful business owner. This is definitely an great topic for this class but something that could also help create a successful business for us.