Well it's the end of the semester and that means, end of the 404 blogs. This semester we discussed social networking, social capitalsm (whuffie), and how to use the web to our advantage.
Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, Facebook and other social media sites not only help you stay connected to your friends and family, but can also help grow your business. Using these sites for customer service purposes, and actually using them and responding to comments and feedback, will boost your whuffie and keep customers satisfied. These customers will be more than likely returning customers and will refer your business to their friends and colleagues.
Besides business purposes, these sites have other multi uses. Facebook for example allows those that are far away to stay connected by getting quick updates on what eachother are doing and photos. Twitter allows a person to get quick updates from not just their friends, but from celebrities and businesses and learn about sales, promotions and awards won (#Toyota). Flickr allows you to view photos about businesses and companies, while YouTube allows you to view video footage of it. YouTube is great for ordinary people as well, and they can upload photos for everyone to see, or just certain viewers. Much like YouTube is Skype, except it involves live feed for people to do basic video conferencing across long distances.
I recently saw a basic cell phone in a store that had no camera, no caller ID screen, and no internet capabilities. It was a basic flip phone that did nothing but call and text. At first, I had no idea what it was until I picked it up, and then I felt really stupid for not recognizing a phone, but I thought this was a perfect example of how technology is constantly changing and emerging. Now instead of just talking on the phone, we can use our phones to have live video chats with people so we can see who we're talking to. We have GPS's, Facebook apps, can deposit checks into our bank accounts with our phones and google what actor was in what movie. And it's all at the tips of our fingers.
Technology and the web are crazy tools and as time progresses so will everything else. Who knows what the world of technology holds for us, but it will be nothing short of exciting to see what emerges.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Whuffie Factor pt. 2 - Comm404
So far a lot of new ideas have been introduced surrounding this whole "whuffie" idea, and this author definitely hits home in Chapter 2 of her book.
Almost everyone today has a Facebook or is a member of some other social networking site, but have you ever thought about the influence the "friends" you have on that site have over you? On FB I have over 400 friends, but only keep in contact with about 5 of them on a weekly basis, while another 20 are probably monthly and some I have never even visited their profiles or talked to them, even though I know them. However, even if I'm not keeping in touch or view their profiles I still receive their status updates, and if one of them updates about the new hit movie of the year and how amazing it was, you can bet that I am in the theater that weekend to see it. If someone makes a comment about how awesome a TV show was that night, the next week I'm making an effort to watch it. Instant influence. This same concept works the other way around as well; I now have the power to [attempt] to influence hundreds of people that I don't even see or talk to! That's what the author in this chapter discusses. She says that now with social networking sites we are getting more influence over these potential friends more than by advertisers. True? Maybe. Believable? Definitely.
Besides entertainment and online shopping, the web has other powers to influence. One particular example that I found most touching was when a WWII veteran died in 2007, tens of thousands were able to mourn his loss via YouTube. This event wasn't limited to his friends and family but to every single person on the web. The author explains that with videos such as these and tools such as YouTube, even the older generations are getting more involved with networking and the internet. It's a way to reach out to people and share your thoughts and opinions with people you didn't even know existed. Even companies such as Wal Mart are using things like Facebook to reach out to college students in an effort to bring in new business. In my personal opinion, the web is all about finding yourself, what you like, what you don't like and people you can connect with that in the real world you might not have thought possible.
To be whuffie rich, the "first order of business is to make connections and establish credibility." So stop wasting your time meeting friends in coffee shops, go home and get on your computer and make the connections where it really counts! ;)
Almost everyone today has a Facebook or is a member of some other social networking site, but have you ever thought about the influence the "friends" you have on that site have over you? On FB I have over 400 friends, but only keep in contact with about 5 of them on a weekly basis, while another 20 are probably monthly and some I have never even visited their profiles or talked to them, even though I know them. However, even if I'm not keeping in touch or view their profiles I still receive their status updates, and if one of them updates about the new hit movie of the year and how amazing it was, you can bet that I am in the theater that weekend to see it. If someone makes a comment about how awesome a TV show was that night, the next week I'm making an effort to watch it. Instant influence. This same concept works the other way around as well; I now have the power to [attempt] to influence hundreds of people that I don't even see or talk to! That's what the author in this chapter discusses. She says that now with social networking sites we are getting more influence over these potential friends more than by advertisers. True? Maybe. Believable? Definitely.
Besides entertainment and online shopping, the web has other powers to influence. One particular example that I found most touching was when a WWII veteran died in 2007, tens of thousands were able to mourn his loss via YouTube. This event wasn't limited to his friends and family but to every single person on the web. The author explains that with videos such as these and tools such as YouTube, even the older generations are getting more involved with networking and the internet. It's a way to reach out to people and share your thoughts and opinions with people you didn't even know existed. Even companies such as Wal Mart are using things like Facebook to reach out to college students in an effort to bring in new business. In my personal opinion, the web is all about finding yourself, what you like, what you don't like and people you can connect with that in the real world you might not have thought possible.
To be whuffie rich, the "first order of business is to make connections and establish credibility." So stop wasting your time meeting friends in coffee shops, go home and get on your computer and make the connections where it really counts! ;)
Friday, November 12, 2010
The Whuffie Factor pt. 1 - Comm404
First of all, let me start off by saying that I was most definitely confused upon reading about this new concept called The Whuffie Factor. Now, social capitalism is not exactly a topic that I spend time thinking about or researching it, but after reading a chapter in a book about this concept, it's made me wonder why so much time in my college career has passed without me hearing about it.
Social capitalism is social relations that have productive benefits. The Whuffie Factor is very similar, except it refers to how you keep your reputation via web, such as Facebook, Twitter, and other means of social networking. And the author predicts that one day your whuffie will mean the same to people as currency. Scary concept, eh? Well, I thought so. Although I have internet access and FB, Twitter, Flickr and other apps on my phone, sometimes I don't always have the time to keep up with everything and reply to everyone and make sure that I am in good standing with everyone on these sites via web. My whuffie is therefore at risk.
The author explains that online and the real world are two parallel economies, and that of course real money will always be needed in the real world, in the online world this will not be so. If you have a lot of social capital you will be ahead in the competition that is "Web life." High wuffie will gain you loyalty from customers and put your business in good standing and will get people to talk about you in a more positive light, so why take the risk of ignoring possible whuffie-building opportunities?
Still confused? Think about it this way. Your all time favorite band creates a Twitter account to let fans know when their next tour is, where book signings are and when their newest album is coming out. Problem is, they fail to update their status. They also failed to create a MySpace and Facebook account, and their official web site hasn't been updated in a few weeks. Now what? Their whuffie drastically drops as does the loyalty by their fans. This same concept is true for anyone who belongs to a social networking site, including blogs. Anybody can move down the "social whuffie ladder" by neglecting their "online responsibilities."
So my advice to all of you reading this now is to go update your statuses, respond to comments and messages that are left unresponded to on all of your social networking sites and get out there and build your wuffie, because one day it might be too late and you're gonna wish you had that whuffie-moola!
Social capitalism is social relations that have productive benefits. The Whuffie Factor is very similar, except it refers to how you keep your reputation via web, such as Facebook, Twitter, and other means of social networking. And the author predicts that one day your whuffie will mean the same to people as currency. Scary concept, eh? Well, I thought so. Although I have internet access and FB, Twitter, Flickr and other apps on my phone, sometimes I don't always have the time to keep up with everything and reply to everyone and make sure that I am in good standing with everyone on these sites via web. My whuffie is therefore at risk.
The author explains that online and the real world are two parallel economies, and that of course real money will always be needed in the real world, in the online world this will not be so. If you have a lot of social capital you will be ahead in the competition that is "Web life." High wuffie will gain you loyalty from customers and put your business in good standing and will get people to talk about you in a more positive light, so why take the risk of ignoring possible whuffie-building opportunities?
Still confused? Think about it this way. Your all time favorite band creates a Twitter account to let fans know when their next tour is, where book signings are and when their newest album is coming out. Problem is, they fail to update their status. They also failed to create a MySpace and Facebook account, and their official web site hasn't been updated in a few weeks. Now what? Their whuffie drastically drops as does the loyalty by their fans. This same concept is true for anyone who belongs to a social networking site, including blogs. Anybody can move down the "social whuffie ladder" by neglecting their "online responsibilities."
So my advice to all of you reading this now is to go update your statuses, respond to comments and messages that are left unresponded to on all of your social networking sites and get out there and build your wuffie, because one day it might be too late and you're gonna wish you had that whuffie-moola!
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Journalism Made Easy: Technology!!! - Comm404
"Information wants to be free." Technology makes this happen.
Technology can be overwhelming at times, but if used correctly any journalist can make their lives and the lives of their readers much easier and much more interactive, hence bettering the process for everyone involved. Journalism is news, and news should be a conversation between the journalist and their readers. Although this method is frowned upon (many believe it should be in lecture form), I think this is the most effective way to gain loyalty from your audience and be successful. A great way to start this conversation is through the comments that readers leave on either a news site or their blogs, which is evident by this blog. Have a question? A comment you'd like feedback on? Let me know! Let's talk about it here! More often than not these comments are left annonymously through a screen name, which protects the identity of the reader, but some newspapers find this troubling. When it comes to legal cases and people are commenting about the case or have information, authorities want real names so they know who to go to for this information. Doesn't this defeat the purpose of true journalism? Screen names protect the identities of commenters as well as possible people with tips or leads.
Besides comments, journalists can converse with readers through social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, Flickr and many others. Journalists need to get involved with who their reaching out to, because without that they are defeating the purpose of their civic duty. Although I agree with monitoring comments for offensive material, or even threatening materials, all others should be left for others to read and leave comments on. Not only should the readers be able to communicate with the author, but with other readers who may or may not share their same viewpoint.
To optimize the internet and digital journalism, journalists should attach appropriate tags to their material (which is definitely lacking in this blog) and give appropriate headlines so that any search in a search engine could provide their article. This is a great for a reader to stumbleupon a topic they may not have particularly been looking for, but found it to be relevant to their needs.
Keeping track of readers, comments, site visits, and other materials should also be done to ensure that the internet is being used properly and that all parties involved are benefiting. A great way to do this is to gather the information and put it into a data site, such as Hitbox or Omniture, to keep track of this and in an organized manner. By knowing who is reading when and how and what their reactions are, the better the internet and other forms of technology can be used.
"The first rule in public speaking is to know your audience"....so don't go blindly into the field of journalism, know what you're doing, who you want to reach out to, and how you're going to accomplish it before you do it.
Technology can be overwhelming at times, but if used correctly any journalist can make their lives and the lives of their readers much easier and much more interactive, hence bettering the process for everyone involved. Journalism is news, and news should be a conversation between the journalist and their readers. Although this method is frowned upon (many believe it should be in lecture form), I think this is the most effective way to gain loyalty from your audience and be successful. A great way to start this conversation is through the comments that readers leave on either a news site or their blogs, which is evident by this blog. Have a question? A comment you'd like feedback on? Let me know! Let's talk about it here! More often than not these comments are left annonymously through a screen name, which protects the identity of the reader, but some newspapers find this troubling. When it comes to legal cases and people are commenting about the case or have information, authorities want real names so they know who to go to for this information. Doesn't this defeat the purpose of true journalism? Screen names protect the identities of commenters as well as possible people with tips or leads.
Besides comments, journalists can converse with readers through social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, Flickr and many others. Journalists need to get involved with who their reaching out to, because without that they are defeating the purpose of their civic duty. Although I agree with monitoring comments for offensive material, or even threatening materials, all others should be left for others to read and leave comments on. Not only should the readers be able to communicate with the author, but with other readers who may or may not share their same viewpoint.
To optimize the internet and digital journalism, journalists should attach appropriate tags to their material (which is definitely lacking in this blog) and give appropriate headlines so that any search in a search engine could provide their article. This is a great for a reader to stumbleupon a topic they may not have particularly been looking for, but found it to be relevant to their needs.
Keeping track of readers, comments, site visits, and other materials should also be done to ensure that the internet is being used properly and that all parties involved are benefiting. A great way to do this is to gather the information and put it into a data site, such as Hitbox or Omniture, to keep track of this and in an organized manner. By knowing who is reading when and how and what their reactions are, the better the internet and other forms of technology can be used.
"The first rule in public speaking is to know your audience"....so don't go blindly into the field of journalism, know what you're doing, who you want to reach out to, and how you're going to accomplish it before you do it.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Mobile Journalism-Comm404
As a journalist, I love the idea of mobile journalism. Not only does this make my job easier, but hopefully enhances the experience for my audience. Mark Briggs, in his book Journalism Next, uses an example of a soccer player crashing his Ferrari as a way to show the importance of this mobile journalism. In the example, a journalist knew of the accident well before anyone else, and was able to stay put and shoot the video and images before the police could come and close down the scene. This is a perfect example of hard-breaking news that was relayed to the audience in what can be described as record time, and before any other news organization could get wind of it. The journalist was able to break the story before anyone else, therefore displaying the perfect definition of what a journalist does.
A scary though to me whilst reading this book was that children in the United Kingdom receive their first mobile phone, on average, at age 8. What an 8 year old child is doing with a cell phone, or what they even need one for, is beyond me, but it just goes to show that everyone needs to be connected to eachother at all times in some way or another. With statistics like these, journalists would need to find new ways to be able to reach out to this audience, and in affect would be reaching out to an even bigger audience since they would all be connected with their mobile devices. The audience is going mobile, and so should the journalist.
Besides using mobile devices, journalists are using other types of digital material to "digitalize" their lives. Email is used more frequently than phones 80% of the time, so it is also important for journalists to have access to email, and even better if they have a mobile device that they have with them at all times that they can receive email on. Journalists can also use other programs such as powerpoint and excel to organize their stories and ideas. Another job of a journalist is also to gather data, statistics, and other information in which programs such as excel would come in handy.
Overall, it is not just mobile devices that can shape the world of journalism, but other advanced technological programs as well. Journalists need to be able to use all sorts of programs to further their readership and pull in new audiences. Now that everyone is connected somehow in some way to one another, it is important to think about that when getting out the latest hard-breaking news story and think about the many platforms that are required to ensure that this will happen.
A scary though to me whilst reading this book was that children in the United Kingdom receive their first mobile phone, on average, at age 8. What an 8 year old child is doing with a cell phone, or what they even need one for, is beyond me, but it just goes to show that everyone needs to be connected to eachother at all times in some way or another. With statistics like these, journalists would need to find new ways to be able to reach out to this audience, and in affect would be reaching out to an even bigger audience since they would all be connected with their mobile devices. The audience is going mobile, and so should the journalist.
Besides using mobile devices, journalists are using other types of digital material to "digitalize" their lives. Email is used more frequently than phones 80% of the time, so it is also important for journalists to have access to email, and even better if they have a mobile device that they have with them at all times that they can receive email on. Journalists can also use other programs such as powerpoint and excel to organize their stories and ideas. Another job of a journalist is also to gather data, statistics, and other information in which programs such as excel would come in handy.
Overall, it is not just mobile devices that can shape the world of journalism, but other advanced technological programs as well. Journalists need to be able to use all sorts of programs to further their readership and pull in new audiences. Now that everyone is connected somehow in some way to one another, it is important to think about that when getting out the latest hard-breaking news story and think about the many platforms that are required to ensure that this will happen.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Journalism Aids-Comm404
Mark Briggs brings up some very interesting points in his book Journalism Next.
With the dying market of print journalism, as some might call it, it is important to go above and beyond normal practice to pull in readers and maintain readership. Briggs mentions something called audio journalism. Audio journalism is the "invisible medium" according to Briggs, and if done right can be just as powerful as a journalism tool as anythign else. With audio, the same things can be accomplished as with the written word you may see in a newspaper. Mobile phones can also be used to aid journalists, especially when on the road. Most phones these days are capable of video and audio recording, which can then easily be uploaded to almost any site or sent as an email to a publisher, editor, fellow journalist, etc. Audio is the new wave of journalism that allows an audience to not only read what is going, but to hear it as well. Emotion is key when covering news breaking stories or even human interest stories. With audio, the audience is able to hear that emotion from the journalist reporting from the scene and gets a sense of what it is really like to be there with the natural noise in the background. Reading about the sirens blaring around a house on fire is one thing, but to hear them while also hearing about the story will help the audience feel closer to what is going on and tug at the heart strings.
Briggs also mentions video when reporting. Of course, there is broadcast journalism, but I took this chapter in his book to mean video as an aid, not as your main source of news. Video will also bring in the audio part of journalism as well, but now the audience can see a clip of those sirens passing by the journalist instead of just reading or hearing about it. Every hour there is 20 hours of video being uploaded to YouTube, and while I am sure that these are not news pieces, it is astounding how much video footage is out there and how many people are really looking at it. Video is a great way to reach out to people because they are more apt to watch a quick 30 second video than they are to read your 13" story in a paper, depending on the person, of course. Video journalism also puts the world of journalism into anyones hands that has a video camera. People can do this from home, as is obvious by the video posted in this weeks blog, and can be done in just a few short minutes. Like audio, video can be sent to anywhere in the world and can be used on news programs without the person actually having to be there. In print, the writer has the first sentence, the lead, to suck the audience in. With video, Briggs says the journalist has 20 seconds to suck the audience in...it's a trick, tricky business, and with all these new ways to use technology, there is no way journalism is going anywhere any time soon.
With the dying market of print journalism, as some might call it, it is important to go above and beyond normal practice to pull in readers and maintain readership. Briggs mentions something called audio journalism. Audio journalism is the "invisible medium" according to Briggs, and if done right can be just as powerful as a journalism tool as anythign else. With audio, the same things can be accomplished as with the written word you may see in a newspaper. Mobile phones can also be used to aid journalists, especially when on the road. Most phones these days are capable of video and audio recording, which can then easily be uploaded to almost any site or sent as an email to a publisher, editor, fellow journalist, etc. Audio is the new wave of journalism that allows an audience to not only read what is going, but to hear it as well. Emotion is key when covering news breaking stories or even human interest stories. With audio, the audience is able to hear that emotion from the journalist reporting from the scene and gets a sense of what it is really like to be there with the natural noise in the background. Reading about the sirens blaring around a house on fire is one thing, but to hear them while also hearing about the story will help the audience feel closer to what is going on and tug at the heart strings.
Briggs also mentions video when reporting. Of course, there is broadcast journalism, but I took this chapter in his book to mean video as an aid, not as your main source of news. Video will also bring in the audio part of journalism as well, but now the audience can see a clip of those sirens passing by the journalist instead of just reading or hearing about it. Every hour there is 20 hours of video being uploaded to YouTube, and while I am sure that these are not news pieces, it is astounding how much video footage is out there and how many people are really looking at it. Video is a great way to reach out to people because they are more apt to watch a quick 30 second video than they are to read your 13" story in a paper, depending on the person, of course. Video journalism also puts the world of journalism into anyones hands that has a video camera. People can do this from home, as is obvious by the video posted in this weeks blog, and can be done in just a few short minutes. Like audio, video can be sent to anywhere in the world and can be used on news programs without the person actually having to be there. In print, the writer has the first sentence, the lead, to suck the audience in. With video, Briggs says the journalist has 20 seconds to suck the audience in...it's a trick, tricky business, and with all these new ways to use technology, there is no way journalism is going anywhere any time soon.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Qdoba - Comm404
Qdoba is a fast, casual “fresh mex” restaurant that originated in Nebraska in 1993. There are 450 Qdoba locations nationwide that serve burritos San Francisco style with tacos, quesadillas, taco salads, chile con queso, Mexican gumbo, and guacamole.
Qdoba operates a website, www.qdoba.com where customers can locate a menu, locations, information regarding franchising, special deals and customer service. Their fully functional website is appealing and easy to navigate. Through their website, they have an E-club where members can receive special offers and notifications on new items and coupons.
Qdoba does have a fan page on Facebook, but it’s not very informational. Currently, it has 985 people who “like” their page. The Dinkytown location has their own branch fan page, which currently has 2414 people “liking” their page. Their page is very appealing, someone is actively updating their status enticing people to stop in for a meal or starting conversation.
A large branch in Nashville, Tennessee operates the most active Twitter page for Qdoba. They have trivia questions with prizes for customers who answer correctly and actively engage their customers. They are the largest Twitter page for Qdoba currently.
Qdoba is just beginning to utilize mobile messaging to customers. If customers text the word “BURRITO” to 474992 they will receive special offers and restaurant news right to their cell phone. They are seeing a fairly high response rate to people who sign up.
Qdoba customers and fans have also posted videos about the restaurant to YouTube, including a promotion for a burrito eating contest hosted by the restaurant chain and uploaded by the QdobaMN, reviews, commercials, and information about some of their employees. Unfortunately, the QdobaMN channel only has one video today.
Customers are also uploading photos of their burritos and what restaurants around the country currently look like to their own Flickr pages, although Qdoba has no official page yet.
Qdoba is a nationwide company that so far is utilizing almost every possible way on the internet to get their name out there, and where they lack their customers make up for. It seems that they choose to advertise more online than they do with billboards and commercials, which says a lot, given the percentage of restaurants that go under that do use billboard advertising. This just proves that audiences are moving towards the Web and are reading less and less the things they see posted on the side of the road.
By Sarah L and Briana S
Qdoba operates a website, www.qdoba.com where customers can locate a menu, locations, information regarding franchising, special deals and customer service. Their fully functional website is appealing and easy to navigate. Through their website, they have an E-club where members can receive special offers and notifications on new items and coupons.
Qdoba does have a fan page on Facebook, but it’s not very informational. Currently, it has 985 people who “like” their page. The Dinkytown location has their own branch fan page, which currently has 2414 people “liking” their page. Their page is very appealing, someone is actively updating their status enticing people to stop in for a meal or starting conversation.
A large branch in Nashville, Tennessee operates the most active Twitter page for Qdoba. They have trivia questions with prizes for customers who answer correctly and actively engage their customers. They are the largest Twitter page for Qdoba currently.
Qdoba is just beginning to utilize mobile messaging to customers. If customers text the word “BURRITO” to 474992 they will receive special offers and restaurant news right to their cell phone. They are seeing a fairly high response rate to people who sign up.
Qdoba customers and fans have also posted videos about the restaurant to YouTube, including a promotion for a burrito eating contest hosted by the restaurant chain and uploaded by the QdobaMN, reviews, commercials, and information about some of their employees. Unfortunately, the QdobaMN channel only has one video today.
Customers are also uploading photos of their burritos and what restaurants around the country currently look like to their own Flickr pages, although Qdoba has no official page yet.
Qdoba is a nationwide company that so far is utilizing almost every possible way on the internet to get their name out there, and where they lack their customers make up for. It seems that they choose to advertise more online than they do with billboards and commercials, which says a lot, given the percentage of restaurants that go under that do use billboard advertising. This just proves that audiences are moving towards the Web and are reading less and less the things they see posted on the side of the road.
Qdoba presentation
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By Sarah L and Briana S
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