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.
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