Social Networks vs The World

I am having trouble seeing how social networking sites are having a big impact on businesses outside of advertising. I love how facebook only shows me ads that I want to see based on my "likes & interests" and the things I click on (are they watching me?? Hmmm, maybe that will be next week's blog), but how is it really helping outside of that? I have read things about how businesses will do a search for you and dissect your facebook page when they are trying to decide whether to hire you, but I don't really see how that helps businesses in the long run, either.

I can see building "better" relationships with your coworkers, and ever your boss(es), but that only goes so far, and it certainly doesn't make big changes on businesses. I currently work at a restaurant in Miami, and we just recently launched a facebook page where we advertise specials and give out coupons. As far as advertising is concerned, this has actually brought in a good amount of new guests, but perhaps I should further explore how social networking will help out our business.

Becoming friends with guests of our restaurant is a process that we have already begun working on. But should we be more active and post comments on their status, or even on their pictures? "Hey take a look at this! That restaurant we went to last month likes my status and wrote LOL. Let's go eat there again next month!" Hey, it could work.

I don't think becoming close with our online relationships is really an option. These people don't see a restaurant that they're friends with as an actual person who could potentially be their friend. I think the idea would be to remain acquaintances and simply remind them that we exist. It could also give them a sense of comfort and familiarity with our establishment.

The amount of time required to do this effectively would have to be determined with time. So far, just a few of the managers work on the page during downtime at the restaurant. If this thing grows, so could the manpower necessary to keep it running smooth and effectively. I wouldn't be surprised to find that some larger companies have employees working full time on similar projects.

So, as for now, advertising is the only thing that is making a real impact on this particular business when it comes to social networking. But as many of us have already found out, the sky seems to be the limit when it comes to the internet.

The World Wide Government

I, for one, am thrilled of the way that the government has incorporated the use of the internet into their many services. Filing taxes online seems like a dream come true, and getting a new driver's license is such a breeze.. In fact, I couldn't even imagine doing it without the use of the internet as it saves so much of our time and effort. But some of the services they provide just seem as if they would be best done the old fashioned way: face to face. I personally haven't had any issues, but I can certainly see why so many people have.

I honestly do not see the sense in having virtual city hall meetings. I suppose it is a step up from conference calls, but I think our government should be conducting these important meetings in person. So much can be gained from being in the same room with the people whom you are conducting business with. I have little knowledge on how these meetings are actually conducted or how important they truly are, so I did some research of my own. Because of my limited Google search skills, I wasn't able to find much information. What I did get, I found at http://www.broadbandcommission.org. I was able to discover that the meetings aren't held for the more important government decisions, and actually allow the public to watch, and is a great tool in getting the people more involved.


The biggest problem I see in all this is the massive amounts of information the government is now forced to process and store on computers. I imagine that before everything was on the world wide web, the information was brought in at much
lower rates.





















I'm afraid that now everything has become impossible to organize, and things have a much greater chance of being lost or misplaced. But heck, maybe I'm just being too paranoid. At least they haven't lost me in their database!

To Protect, or Not to Protect?

This is a very tough blog for me, as I do not fully understand the significance of the "Advertising Option Icon." That is not to say I don't know what it does. As I understand it, the website is geared towards informing people of the principles for Online Behavioral Advertising. But what is behavioral advertising?

Behavioral advertising is, as defined by www.bbb.org, Ads using information collected across multiple unaffiliated web sites that you visit in order to predict your preferences and show you ads most likely to be of interest to you.

While this is obviously a very useful tool,
many people fear that it is a violation of their privacy - and that is where this image to the right comes in. But will simply seeing this icon cause people to click? And even if they do click it, will they learn any truly helpful information? I personally am having some trouble believing that the answer to either of these questions is "yes."

After doing some research on their website, I have found that the publishers of www.aboutads.info believe they really will help, but no evidence that they actually will.

I took the liberty of asking a few of the more computer savvy people at my job if they had ever seen or heard of this company or their logo, and to no surprise they all answered "no." I asked them if they thought this company would be of any use to them, and they all answered "no", although half of them agreed that behavioral advertising does violate their privacy. I asked a total of 4 co-workers each of these questions.

So, according to this blogger, the consensus all seems to be the same: www.aboutads.info will be pretty much obsolete before any of your friends even discover what it is.

Can We All Be Crime Fighters?

What an amazing idea: Get paid to sit at home and fight crime? Sign me up! But at what cost does joining this internet business, a UK firm that goes by Internet Eyes, come? And will it really pay off?

According to their website, Internet Eyes pays users who successfully deter a crime, with their main focus being on shoplifting. On their main page, Internet Eyes points out that shoplifting is at its highest levels in the UK, and they claim to "combat this rise by detecting these crimes as they happen."

But how long do users have to sit and stare at their computers before spotting a crime? I've been in and out of stores my entire life, and I've only once spotted a kid stealing, and I even considered that to be pretty low odds. And even if you do witness someone shoplifting, what are the chances that you are actually going to successfully stop them from behind your computer monitor at home?

And then there is signing up, filling out forms, and registering to become a viewer on their website. I went through the process, but eventually decided it was in my best interest not to follow through and become a member. It wasn't the fact that they asked for personal information such as my address and telephone number, nor was it the fact that The United States wasn't available in their drop down list for "Country." Even after I discovered that they had a total of five different terms & conditions that I was supposed to read and agree to, I continued with my application.

It wasn't until after I filled out all of that information that they asked me to pay them for my subscription. Wait a minute - I thought I was the one who was supposed to be getting paid for this! I already had little doubt that I would never make a dollar off of this website, but now I am expected to pay this company in order to give them my services? So what is really going on here?

It is pretty obvious that there are people out there who would use this as an excuse to spy on unknowing strangers, but the fact that they require you to pay pretty much weeds out most of the genuine people who really want to help. I was going either way with this before - it seems to be violating privacy issues, but we already know that the cameras are watching us at these stores, plus it could be doing some good. To me, however, the simple fact that this website charges its users to look at strangers all day puts this in the category of inappropriate. For all I'm concerned, this idea should be squashed and we should leave the crime fighting up to the professionals.

The Digital Revolution is Here!

The world is changing, and we are all in the front seat of a massive revolution. It is said that the digital revolution began in the 1980's with the marketing of computers, and strengthened in 1992 with the invention of the internet. It is becoming evident, however, that the revolution is making its biggest impact here in the 21st century. With the inventions of such easy to use and convenient products as the Ipod, smart phones, Amazon's kindle, and now internet tablets; the need for hard copies of books, magazines, DVD's and music CD's is diminishing. The loss that many businesses are suffering due to their investments in such products is alarming, but newer companies are emerging and taking advantage. Amazon.com, one of the biggest internet retailers and the inventor of the Kindle, is reportedly worth $160.6 million; while Blockbuster, which has been around for 25 years and has over 6,500 stores world wide, just declared bankruptcy late last September.


But why such a big change, and why now? According to www.internetworldstats.com, in 2002 there were 1.2 billion cellphone subscribers and 631 internet users. By 2010 those numbers skyrocketed: 4 billion cellphone subscribers and 1.8 billion internet users. Those statistics are little bit scary. In the past 8 years, each of those numbers more than tripled, and we are seeing those changes have their affect every day. With so many people online, less and less are relying on printed copies. I can't remember the last time I've seen a newspaper, much less read one. I've even stopped subscribing to Foodnetwork Magazine and Consumer Reports, as all the information I need is on their easy to navigate websites.

Personally, I am all for these changes, as they are severely shrinking our carbon footprint... and whether people realize it or not, this has been a big concern for a while. Not only are we killing less trees, but deforestation and the usage of fuels is severely damaging our planet, and any reduction in these activities is huge. I for one am glad that the digital revolution is growing, and I'm excited to watch the world as it changes.

Harry vs. Boeing a Good Thing?

      The cold and basically automated response by Boeing to 9-year-old Harry regarding his drawings doesn't seem to have caused as much harm as it has good. Yes, it is certainly upsetting to see that such a big and respectable company, a company that many children such as Harry look up to, was unable to give an encouraging response to one of their young fans who was so eager to hear back about his airplane designs. But people in social media sites live for this kind of buzz. We love to vent and fuss about things that bother us, and sites such as these make it extraordinarily easy to communicate to the world the things that peeve us. The fact that there was a reaction by Boeing, and that they did apologize and admit fault, doesn't necessarily mean that they were "put back in line." It wasn't that they really messed up this situation, they just didn't handle it the best way possible, and thanks to Harry and his dad, next time they probably will.
     
      Lucky for Harry's father, John Winsor, this was a great opportunity to get some free publicity for his company, Victors & Spoils. I doubt, however, that he had any idea that his posting about the situation with Boeing on his blog was going to get this sort of attention, but I assure you he welcomed it with open arms. His company has now gained much recognition after the story was published in The New York Times in May of this year. Now can we hold any of this against him? I say not, as the whole story has seemingly caused no harm.
   
       It is hard for me to find any true harm in John Winsor revealing this story to the public. I, for one, would never hold that sort of "cold" response against a company, especially one as big as Boeing. According to (www.airplane-trade.com) and (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Boeing_customer_codes), there are hundreds of airlines all over the world that use Boeing jets, and for good reasons such as cost and reliability. I wouldn't hold the fact that they didn't know how to handle a letter from a 9-year-old fan against them, and I don't think any airlines would either.