Reflective Blog Post

Looking back to the first day I came in, I did not understand what this class would be about. I knew it had to do with social media and thought I knew quite a bit about it. Throughout the course, we learned of several different mediums and it was very interesting. I learned a lot from the technology presentations each of us were required to do. This course taught me a lot about social media STRATEGIES, which is just as important as what site or app you are using as a business.

We also learned quite a bit from working with the CMMA. We presented to them several times and I think they were very happy with our final product to them as a group. It helped us to learn how real companies out there need help developing a strategy to gain followers. It is so interesting because social media seems so easy to use, yet a lot of people struggle with it.

Looking forward, I will use this course and its lessons to monitor my social media and technology myself. We did a few activities that involved monitoring our technology use, and I realized that I need to work on it! It was very helpful and I think it will end up helping me in the long run.

Thank you for a great semester, and a fun and interesting course! I will see you next semester in BIS 260.

My Social Media Video!

Hey Guys, here is my short video on how social media is used in my field! Hopefully I tell you something that you weren't aware of, or teach something that will make you say "oh wow"!

Enjoy!

Cyber Monday- Deal or No Deal?

Cyber Monday has been a growing trend over the past few years. It is a huge e-commerce day where retailers make a large number of sales over the internet because they offer great prices that day. Today was cyber Monday and I took a look at a few items I wanted to purchase. I didn't see that great of deals. I don't know if I wasn't looking in the right spot, but I was not impressed by what I saw. I have worked at retail stores such as Sears, Lowes, and Menards over the past 5 years so I know what a good deal looks like. To me, Black Friday and the whole rush of shopping on those days is absolutely ridiculous. The things people go through to save a few dollars is unbelievable. You hear on the news about people being hurt, getting in fights, and being trampled over buying things like headphones. Maybe Cyber Monday could eventually be our savior from taking people away from their families on thanksgiving to go to work. Maybe if people just shopped online people wouldn't get trampled and hurt while going to a store trying to make their kids happy on Christmas. Every year stores open earlier and earlier. This year stores opened at 8 pm thanksgiving night, and some didn't even pay their employees time and a half. It is quite pathetic to think about. I hope Cyber Monday can find ways to improve their deals and take the stress away from everyone on black Friday for years to come.

Twitter...Good for Business?

We know that on Facebook businesses can post things as long as they want. They can get into their specials and upcoming deals, post about current events, and many other options. On Twitter, you are limited to 160 characters. Is this good for businesses, or bad? The purpose of a Twitter for business is to update and "tweet" frequently so it shows you are active and have a strong social media presence. You can gain a lot of clout by getting "retweeted" and more and more people begin to see your short post. Dog Central comments on people who tweet at them, and they post several times every day. This makes people laugh and feel "cool" when they get retweeted or commented on and it makes them want to go there even more. Is this true for all businesses? I am not so sure. Twitter is a different type of social network because it can be used in so many different ways. I like it more than facebook personally because facebook got annoying with very long posts by the same people every single day. What do you guys think is the best avenue for businesses? Twitter, or other social networks?

Continuing Trends?

I got to thinking last night while I was watching a Christmas movie, about how movie stores such as Blockbuster and Family Video are closing down all over the US. this is because of the Ondemand features by cable companies, Netflix, Hulu, and other technology which can steam movies directly into your home. I was thinking about in 20 years, if people will still be going to cinemas? Will we ever see a day that people just stream new releases into their home too, or is going to the cinema something that wont ever fade. Not to mention, "Dinner and a movie" is always a go to on a first date. What will happen in the upcoming 10-15 years with these trends. When I was younger I always thought it was a privelage to go rent a movie. Now, we can get those movies for basically 1/4 of the cost right into our living room. It is unbelievable to think how fast times have changed and where we are today. We went from projectors, to videotapes, to Dvd's, now we are on a virtual movie store with every movie that's ever been made right on our fingertips. Where we want the future to go is up to us. If we stop going to see these new movies, then cinemas will also become non-existent. It is a really interesting topic to think about, what do you guys think?

Impact of Social Media on Relationships

Bob Dylan once wrote "times, they are a changing". With the ever changing technological universe, more and more relationships are starting from meeting someone online. To me, this sounds like such a crazy thought. People are constantly joining dating sites, but I am talking about Facebook and Twitter as a channel to meeting new people. Research says that 1 in 4 relationships start online. This may be where they start now, but it also changes other people's relationships as well. It is a lot easier now to talk to other people whenever you want. It never used to be so easy, so a lot of jealousy comes out of a girlfriend/boyfriend messaging other people as well. A lot of my friends have had this happen and it really makes you think. In my parents era, they could barely even talk on the phone when they weren't together. Now, we text all day long, get one facebook and chat, get on Twitter and tweet, and it is an entire new era that we are in. What do you guys think about this issue? Have you ever gone on a date with someone who you met online? I am interested to see if this trend continues to grow.

Impact of Social Media on Holidays

With the holiday season upon us, we need to look at the impact that social media plays on them. We have days such as "Cyber Monday" where retailers have Black Friday prices if you buy things off the internet from them. OF course, how do you think people find these deals? They have to visit the stores website or social media sites. It drives so much internet traffic that the stores end up making such a profit that they couldn't even in the stores. All they pay for is the website maintenance, not 50-60 workers trying to sell it. By this day, their marketing plan has already been executed and put in place. Now, it is in the hands of the customer to use their technology and buy the products. Things such as QR codes you can scan with your phone and get discounts, coupons, browse the website, or whatever the company wants them to be able to do. People are spending more money than ever over the internet! Don't worry, retailers know this too. It has a major impact on how they do their business. I am interested to see where this goes within the next 10-20 years. Will in store sales decline majorly? If everyone just orders off the internet, we need more delivery services and the right resources to adjust accordingly. What do you guys think? Do you shop online for your Christmas gifts?

Social Media at Thanksgiving

I just wanted to write a post about how apparent the things we talked about in class were at my thanksgiving dinner. I looked around so many times, and it seems that everyone had more of an interest in their phones than the one time a year all of us get together!! Don't worry, I said something about it. I told them how I did a ban of technology and tried not to use my phone. They thought I was crazy at first, but as I kept talking about it, they decided that they would try it as well! I said look around, Aunt Cindy, I see you one time a year. Both of us are on our phones instead of catching up and talking to the people in the room who we never get to talk to. It is so weird how I can see these things happen so easily now since we talked about it in class. At a thanksgiving dinner, I thought it was appropriate to bring up. I got everyone to put their phones down and the day went a lot better. More conversation, more laughs, and a lot better time than everyone sitting and staring at their phones. We were only allowed to use our phones to take family photos after that. So, thank you everyone for the class discussion, did this happen for anyone else?? Comment and let me know!

Individual Poject

My area of study is General Management. For the individual project, I would like to show how using social media in firms marketing campaigns can have an extreme effect on the bottom line of an organization. As a manager, we care about running a profitable and efficient company. We need to utilize social media into our plans because the world is becoming more and more dependent on it for the most up to date news, updates, prices, and hottest topics in business. I am actually doing a Marketing communications plan right now for Dog Central in my Marketing 310 class. We suggested that they utilize QR(Quick Response) codes so students can see a flyer, scan it with their phone and see what deal they have that day. It is a unique marketing strategy that utilizes social media and it could link up with their Twitter, Facebook, or website. I have done a lot of research about this topic and I think doing a prezi about it would be beneficial. I think I still have a lot to learn about the topic but I can't wait to dig deeper on how this effects a company like Dog Central.

24 Hour Ban

Recently I did the 24 hour ban from using social media. I found it to be very hard because I constantly wanted to check my twitter and facebook to see what was happening that day. I found it incredibly difficult because all of this technology is always just at the tip of our fingers. Without my phone I almost felt guilty because I thought that people were trying to talk to me or something important was happening. I definitely see the purpose of having us do this assignment because it really made us think about how we live our lives. If you go to a restaurant look around, and probably half of the people are on their phones instead of actually listening to whoever they are with talk. We have allowed social media and technology to control us and actually change the way we communicate. It is almost like we would rather communicate with whoever is not there, instead of who it is you are sitting with. I will probably try harder to go a few hours each day without using my phone because I need to try to stop being so dependent on checking it. A good way to do this is just leave it in my room while I am at home or to leave it in my car during class.

Louis CK on Conan

I enjoyed the video clip we watched in class featuring Louis CK, the comedian, on Conan's television show. He brought up really valid points about how dependent everyone has become on technology, and why he doesn't want his kids to be like everyone else. He even mentioned that he pulled off of the road and let out a good cry, because by using his phone 24/7 he lost that feeling of personal emotion and never gets to really let it out. He wants his kids to be able to express themselves and not have to depend on their phones so much which is where this world is coming to. It is scary how fast our interpersonal communication with each other has dwindled down and there is no reason for that.
 Part of me wishes this golden age never happened so we would be able to work on our people skills again. Maybe we need to use the technique of Louis CK and teach our kids that not using technology all the time to accomplish everything is ok. We have lost our ability to problem solve somewhere along the way as well because we are so infatuated with our phones all the time.

My Opinion on the 24 Hour Technology Strike

I have not completed this yet, but I wanted to share how I think this will work before hand. I think it will be absolute chaos. Unfortunately, people can not go more than an hour (even in class) without checking their phones. If we are to boycott social media and our phones for an entire day, people will go berserk. I am not saying that I am not a part of this problem, because I am. I am sort of afraid to do this because I play a lot of games on my phone, as well as use it for email, etc. We need to come up with a way to live without technology if we need to, and actually re-learn our communication skills. We have suffered in our interpersonal communication with the emergence of these new technological advances, and gives us more of a reason to not react to peoples faces, but hide behind our $500 smartphones. This assignment will be very interesting, I can't wait to read how it goes for the class. I personally am not looking forward to it, but it is very intriguing to see if I can do it.

Reflection on CMMA

Our project working with the CMMA is coming along very smoothly. We have gathered a cornucopia of information and are now progressing through our project deliverable. Recently, the group got to visit Morbark, a company within the CMMA, sadly I could not attend. I am sure they learned even more valuable information on how we could incorporate their business with technology. Moving forward, we still need to set a final plan they could use to get their companies names and career opportunities out there. More and more people are going to college, and missing out on these jobs that may not require a 4 year degree, rather a license or some sort of certificate or trade schooling. I look forward to sharing with them what we have learned through the past couple of months. We can use this information in the future when we give our final presentation.

I was also excited to learn after talking with Dr. Nancy Hicks that I will be working with the CMMA in the spring semester, during BIS 470. I am excited to move forward and help the association as they transition into A New Digital Age. I like how all of these things are tied together.

Emerging Technology

Recently in class I did a presentation on the AroundMe app. Just to continue the intriguing discussion, I think that everyone could benefit from using this. I mean, it is like having a free GPS, phonebook, and information hot spot all in one place. It is unreal to me how one place can have all of this information, and then you can get exact directions on how to get somewhere at the click of a button. It really makes you wonder what else is next. A couple of years ago I paid over 200 dollars for a GPS, and now it is outdated. It gives you a peace of mind knowing that technology like this continues to just pop up out of nowhere, and none of us know what the next big thing is. We didn't even have internet until 1993, and now you can get internet in the new smartwatch offered by Samsung. I think it is important that we all try to keep up with these changes because one day it is going to be essential to know how these operate. Businesses and a lot of organizations rely solely on their social media strategy to gain customers and traffic. Apps like AroundMe help to contribute to the new and changing times we once dreamed of.

CMMA and Manufacturing Careers

It was interesting in talking with the CMMA about the different types of careers available to people once they graduate high school. However for us, it may be a rough spot to tell a high school graduate not to go to college, and there are other options. We are all for the most part, seniors in this class. So, for us to tell people basically not to go to college would be hypocritical. Instead, we should focus on the more career oriented aspects of it, and tell them that a college degree could ultimately get them in a president position within a company, or management, or accounting for one, etc. There are several options, but I thought this was worth mentioning since it was a big part of our meeting. I hope we can find a way to tell high school students about this, without sending the "college doesn't matter" message, because it DOES!

New Digital Age

Is it right to be able to censor what people can see on the internet? Can you imagine the outrage people would have in the US if we had a dictator who said only certain people can read the news or look at something that everyone is entitled to. We are pretty lucky that for the most part we have freedom on the internet, but at the same time we need to look at how our freedom may cause privacy issues not only for us, but for other people as well. The first thing we do when we meet someone new is add them on facebook or twitter or whatever the network may be. You get a glimpse into their lives and you don't even know that person. It is an odd thing if you ask me. But, times are changing and it is a new digital age that we are living in.

Chaper 8- Guide From the Middle

In chapter 8 of the Social Organization, the author brings up several key points about the management of "transparency" and inward-out communication. He says in this chapter that you should focus on results as an organization and community, and not the means of achieving them. An effective and collaborative community/organization will believe in itself and therefore achieve the results desired by figuring out their own timeline, and way that people work best together. This is where being effective communicators comes in handy because they can choose their own environment, create their own culture, and let their people make choices. The chapter said that "allowing engineers control over their own tools led to a 25% increase in overall productivity". This solidifies that organizations should structure their goals for their workers, but let it be just that, structure. This point builds off of last chapter. Having just the right amount of it is the best thing possible for any organization.

Chapter 7 "Launching the Community"

This chapter discusses how to get the community involved in your organization and use the community as a resource for your success. You need to find the right way to collaborate with various groups and segments within the community. With my organization, Dog Central, they are looking into possibly getting a few hot dog carts so they can do business at the football games in the future. This is something that would get their name out there for people who have no clue what they are, and gets them out in the middle of the community where a majority of students attend games.

The chapter also says that in order to have a collaborative environment, you need the right amount of structure. It says "Too little structure can be as limiting as too much". This is very true in the sense that we need to have goals, deadlines, and specified design of some sort in order to receive a desired outcome. If there is no supervision, things will not get done. If there is too much controlling and a manager is breathing down your neck, you are less likely to achieve the greatest result. Having the right amount of structure could definitely benefit all organizations, and could be why 35-45% of all new businesses wind up failing.

Chapter 2, Who Owns the Future

As we move into a changing and more challenging generation, we are becoming ever more reliant on "the internet of things". This term reminds me of this book because we really don't know who owns the future. The theory on the internet of things is that in our lifetime, things will be able to speak with one another. Our coffee pot will communicate with our alarm clock and start brewing before we wake up. Things will get to this point at some point in our generation. We need to remind ourselves how to accomplish daily tasks and take our phones and computers away for a little while. I am personally worried that some people cant do anything without their phone, laptop, iPad, etc. If we cant do the basic things in life without being distracted by technology, do we really want them to be ones who "own the future"??

Chapter 5 and 6 - Social Organization

In chapter 5, the author brings up "The Importance of Purpose". This is something I think we could all learn more about. We spend so much of our time wandering the internet, playing games, and have no clue what the purpose of it is. We could be spending this time doing something productive,  but we are instead mindlessly wandering and searching for unknowns. People need to have a purpose, and need to have a cause to be able to get things done. A good way to put it is how the author did on page 67, "Without a purpose that people find compelling and that provides specific organizational benefits, business value will be left to chance and, worse, the community may even create unnecessary risk for the organization". This shows us what effect having a purpose could cause not only for us, but for the organizations we work for, or people around us.

Chapter 6 identifies that we should create purpose roadmaps. They provide a context for who participates, what motivates those people, how they interact, and how these purposes could effect later decisions. Doing this would get people thinking harder about what they wanted to do and the goals they may set moving forward.

Is my Organizaton Meshy?

While studying my organization "Dog Central" I have found that they are not necessarily a "meshy" business. Mesh is referring to the sharing and interconnecting of businesses and as Lisa Gansky says in her video, it could be the future of business. Dog central is trying to be more interactive but they are a new business and are just trying to gain customers by being their own independent store. They do things their own way and adapt to students needs (being open 11-4 am on Friday and Saturday). The video brings up a good point about us beginning to trust more local businesses that we may not have before. Great ideas get started by taking an idea like the owner of Dog Central did and running with it. Sometimes stepping away from the crowd and going your own direction is a good thing. They are not a typical restaurant, they only sell hot dogs and fries. They could expand, but that isn't what they want to do.

The World We Live In

As we read these books about our society and how dependent we are on technology, you can't help but to wonder what it would be like without it. We have so many things going on at once, and have a self created mass panic if technology is not used at all times. If people can't log onto facebook they are so frustrated they can't see straight. Why is it like this all of a sudden? The internet wasn't even around until the 90's. We need to get back to how we used to be and learn how to do things the old fashioned way. I agree that technology is great to help us keep in touch with all of our friends and family that we may not always see. But now you can get a degree without ever stepping foot into the classroom, and people are relying more and more on things they shouldn't be.

My Company and Mass Collaboraton

The company I have chosen to follow is Dog Central, because I am interested in their marketing techniques and will be doing research on them throughout the semester for my marketing 310 class. They use mass collaboration by having transparency, participation, independence, emergence.

They have transparency because they have created an identity for themselves, the late night hot dog place for college students. There is no confusion as they do not sell a lot of other food, and a lot of people know what this place is and what they make.

They use participation by having a facebook and being available for people to look up at any time.

Dog Central has independence because you do not have to be a member to access their site, you can log on, look at the menu, and use the user friendly website at any time for free.

They also use emergence as mass collaboration because as more and more people talk about them, the better their business gets. They get a lot of marketing by word of mouth.

In Lanier's "Who owns the future" we read about the future of technology and how it has taken over our society. It is interesting how we words some of his ideas and his thoughts about privacy being taken away from us. Who owns the future is it us? Is it the government and are they slowly taking our privacy from us without us knowing? Websites like google plant cookies onto your computer so they know what to advertise to us, is this fair? I personally do not like that something is keeping track of what websites I go to. It is an interesting idea, but as we move into the future it will slowly continue to increase as a problem for us. When does the line get crossed and when do these things stop happening. Technology has changed the way all of us think and act, and now we need to be more careful than ever with what we post or decide to put online because we do not know who could be watching.

The New Digital Age Chaper 1

In the introduction and Chapter 1 of The New Digital Age, the authors are explaining how much more reliant we are becoming as a society to technology. It explains how many people are connected to the internet, on social media sites, and how we will continue to move further and further along with our constant innovation and mind blowing ideas. The world is not what it used to be 20 years ago. There are now kids with cell phones, everyone with a facebook page, and completely hooked on technology. The New Digital Age is an attempt to explain these changes for those who have seen this overwhelming change develop, and have been left behind.

You are Not a Gadget's take on these issues is how much it changes people. It has effected people so much that it changes lifestyles, communication skills, and almost lose their "human" side at times. It really makes you open your eyes about where our society is headed, if people are so concerned with technology right now, what about in 5,10,15 years? Where will it be and more importantly, where will we be?

I believe that these issues are more serious than we think. Children in school now use iPads, and technology will be the only thing they know by they time they are in college, and who knows where it will be by then. It is a very intriguing topic to think about.

Blog Post #1, Organization and Social Media

The organization I chose to look at was Dog Central. I thought it would be perfect because I am doing a project in Marketing Communications class about them also, on how they could improve their social media presence and gain more customers. This relates to the organizations in The Social Organization because they are trying to look at the pros and cons of social media. Does it really cause that many problems with productivity? And how can it be used as a catalyst to gain more "followers" of the organization. New businesses like Dog Central which is a new restaurant downtown have unique products that not a lot of people know about. Social media is a way to blast this information out to everyone and let them know what makes their product unique from the other 500 restaurants in Mt. Pleasant. Each business needs to look at how social media could help them develop, even if they have been successful in business for more than 50 years. Competitors come along, and businesses have to adapt and find new ways to reach their target market.