WEEK TWELVE - THE FINAL CHAPTER - REFLECTION

In semester two we were given the option of which module we wanted to take; Project Management or Business Web Innovation. Having previously worked in a Project Management role and having completed a similar module in College I was encouraged to participate in the Business Web Innovation. The first lecture was an introduction to how the web is changing, highlighting features and applications available which we were to cover in the upcoming lectures. At this point we were introduced to Cook (2008) Social Software technology framework classifying social software as the 4 C’s – Connection, Collaboration, Communication and Co-operation. This was a great way of reflecting each week’s topic and where it fitted into the framework which showed relevance to the individual topics.

Each lecture covered a different topic such as Blogs, Collaborative Writing, Media Sharing and so on which was followed by a Lab Class or Seminar. My blog has discussed each topic thoroughly and reflected on the good, the bad and the ugly!  Lecture notes provided were thorough and it would have been easy to base my blog on the notes alone however I was so interested in the topics that I felt the need to research further and learn more. I apologise for the lengthy blogs however I was truly surprised by my own motivation, amount, varied content and availability of knowledge to talk about in my blog. In reflection in my first week I wanted to blog about the whole course, every module – how naive was I? Really glad that Alexis had narrowed the blog to just the Business Web Innovation Module.

THE BEST BITS

• The boost to my confidence - I felt I took a risk in trying to write a blog which was fun and informative. This seemed to have paid off as the comments have been positive and the traffic to the site has received high numbers, from as far as Germany and USA!

• Learning new things – Each week I chose to research the topic further which gave me a thorough understanding, opening my mind to deeper interpretation (may have been assisted by reading the post of followers in certain blogs) as it allowed me to see two sides of an argument.

• Making a difference – E-Activity 2 surprised me as I was given a company, City of Glasgow College, to report on. I thought I could have done a better job choosing a company on my own however I was wrong. The College have read my report and are implementing some of my suggestions – I amaze myself! LOOK HERE 'Do you use @LinkedIn? Come on over and join our followers' was my suggestion!
• Usage in other modules - certain aspects of this module have become helpful in other modules such as Media Sharing, Social Bookmarking and Tagging which I used in most modules. This would also come in useful with the dissertation in fourth year as it would allow the reader to stay up-to-date with certain information.

THE BAD BITS

• Viewing to the world wide web – this wasn’t something I thought about at the beginning but the content has been open to everyone and I feel that perhaps it could have been made private with select people invited to read. It is after all an assessment however the fact that so many people read my blog has boosted my confidence so there are two sides to that argument. Had I thought about this a bit more I may have had stage fright!

• Group work – my own personal opinion is that group work in class is difficult to manage and isn’t a true reflection of a work environment. Yes I think it’s an important aspect to consider within the course but think it is unfair to assess group work, based on my experience.

Overall I’ve really enjoyed this module. The content is interesting with relevant activities and thorough notes/handouts/handbook provided. It has taught me new thinks or even just put a name to features and applications I was currently using. The workload seemed heavy for the marks awarded to it however this was perhaps my own fault as I wanted to research topics further and write a comprehensive blog or complete tasks to a high standard. Now who would have thought that in the beginning I thought it would be difficult to find something interesting to blog about!

Reaching the end of the course I have been highlighted to where the Web has come from, how it has progressed and that there is a definate future. This would suggest to me that whatever I do in the future, in terms of further study or employment, that the Web will form part of what I do. The course has provided me with the knowledge and confidence to participate in many of the applications available. Just need to wait for the title of - Social Media Rockstar!!

EEEEKKKK!!!!!!!-ACTIVITIES

As part of the assessment for the Business Web Innovation Module and in addition to this personal reflection blog, we were to complete 3 E-Activities and a report. I made the decision early on that rather than discuss these activities on a weekly basis or as I was doing them, that I'd wait until nearer the end of the Module. The blog is after all, a piece of writing which is accessible to others and can be viewed by the word wide web! Perhaps they should have been made private at the start, with lecturers invited to view? Perhaps the point is to get people thinking and wanting to read your views and opinions on things. I felt that if I were to blog about the e-activities early on that I may have offended some other students with my comments and this was not my intention. I also felt that as these activities were to be assessed that I could effectively be giving away some of my ideas, which I'm hoping are going to be unique. So here goes:

E-ACTIVITY 1

This comprised of group work and was split into three tasks. Task 1 was Background Research gathering information on what collaborative writing tools are, their features along with advantages and disadvantages. A search was also undertaken into organisations who were using these applications by using a variety of reputable sources. This part was undertaken individually with the plan that we would come together to discuss our findings. At this stage I organised my notes and findings into a table which was used for the results. Task 2 was Using the Tools which involved exploring the different collaborative writing tools, choosing 3 to discuss. As we had already used Wiki Spaces in the lab we made the decision to explore and use another tool to provide further knowledge, experience and go outwith our comfort zones. We decided to use Zoho Writer on a recommendation from someone who used it, however we had difficulty in logging in. We then went on to use Writeboard, however as we were collaborating our ideas we discovered that we may have issues when enhancing the text. To embolden or underline you had to type the coding to instruct this which we decided could become quite time consuming especially for the references. The majority of the work had been done at this stage however we decided to change our tool and meet to complete Task 3 - Writing the Results. This is where my disappointment kicks in, our group consisted of 4 team members however only 2 turned up. This resulted in us being under pressure to complete the task ready for submission and didn't provide the opportunity to discuss openly our thoughts. We used Google Docs even though the decision wasn't made as a team but was based on the findings and table I had prepared earlier. We also had to e-mail Alexis and explain why our findings had been submitted by only two of the four members. I personally thought that some had put more work in that others with regards to the quality and content of our findings, however it would have been unfair to speak negatively of them as they had completed the task in the previous tool.

Having ten years work experience I find the group work within the course to be unrealistic and difficult to manage. In a work environment you are more aware of the hierarchy, who is good at their job, who is good at specific tasks and who you can rely on for guidance and support. At university, as students you are all equals, so who should take charge? At the start of the group work I apologised in advance as I know that I can be seen to be taking over and like the dots on my 'i's and the crosses on my 't's! I like to feel accomplishment and proud to put my name on work which is submitted for assessment. Although content with the mark awarded for the activity, if I were to complete the task again I would be more inclined to speak to the team and make more suggestions for improvement regardless of whether or not I thought it would offend them.

E-ACTIVITY 2

This comprised of researching a companies use of social media and writing an A4 page summary report based on the findings with recommendations. Relevant company names were chosen randomly and I think I drew the short straw with City of Glasgow College. Personally I thought that I may have been able to write a better report had I been able to chose a company I could relate to and engage with. I appreciate how tedious it must be for the lecturer to assess reports on the same subject and actually feel that by having a company I was unfamiliar with forced me to research further than I may have done with a company I was familiar with.

I started off with some Background Information and was pleasantly surprised to discover that City of Glasgow College was formed from three colleges in 2010 and offers over 2,600 courses. It is unique in the services it provides due to its training Airline Cabin and Ship Simulator. The website was pretty impressive too and although we had been asked to follow posts on 3 social media sites the college were linked to many more, such as YouTube, Flickr and Googleplus.

I chose to follow posts on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter and in order to compare and contrast the social networking sites fairly and provide a representative sample the posts were followed between 23rd February and 8th March. The report summarised key findings such as: the frequency of the reports, type of posts, categorising the posts and the advantages and disadvantages of using each site as well as comparing and contrasting their use of social media and making recommendations for improvements. To try and stand out I contacted the college to see how they would respond to posts on Facebook and although they didn't reply in time to be included within my report they have since been in contact and they were keen to read the report and recommendations I had made. It makes it all a bit more worthwhile to think that my findings could make a positive change to how they deal with Social Media in the future.

E-ACTIVITY 3

This comprised of identifying a SME and investigating how they are varying the promotion component of their marketing mix when delivering services through the Internet, with specific use of Web 2.0 applications. A summary of our findings were then to be posted on to our specific seminar group's discussion board on GCU learn. As well as this we had to actively contribute to the discussion board and comment on and discuss each others' postings.
Now I thought that choosing my own company would make it easier and highlighted these thoughts in the previous activity. In reality it made it harder! The focus was to present your findings in just 150 words and I felt that I could have written so much more. In fact I think I wrote about 166 words, oops should I be admitting that so publicly? I chose to write about 'Spoiled Brat' a company of which I am a regular customer. As an award winning and successful fashion business they have executed a marketing plan successful through the use of Social Media and a written blog: to maximise free advertising, build awareness and trust to a wide audience, offer personal selling with lots of interaction and communication between buyer and seller, offers regular sales promotions to quickly stimulate sales through promotional products and exploited public relations through credible features from third party magazines and newspaper adverts. Clear why I am not only an admirable customer of their brands but also an admirable student of their working ethos and practises!

My aim was to be the first to publish my post to ensure that I was able to cover the key points of marketing through the Internet without being side-tracked by what others had written, and I succeeded. In my opinion I feel that I can sometimes doubt myself and question whether or not I'm doing things right so feel that if I go with my instincts and get things done within a reasonable time frame then I have time to rectify any issues which may arise. This theory has allowed me ample time to read each of the posts commenting on my original post, and thank each person for taking the time to read my post. It also gave me the opportunity to comment and discuss other members posts, agreeing or disagreeing with what they posted and contributed suggestions of further reading based on further research I had come across.
During this E-Activity, as with all activities, I thought it was important to be honest and blog on my thoughts and perceptions of the module and assessment methods. Perhaps I misinterpreted some tasks and the way in which it would be assessed however I have given 100% to the course and hope this is reflected in my results. I also felt that I showed courtesy and consideration to others when reading their posts and understand that they may have tackled the task differently with different opinions. I must also give credit to a fantastic book Turban et al, (2009), Introduction to Electronic Commerce, 2nd Edition, Pearson: London. This provided easy to understand definitions and references to case studies which made it easier to put the theory into a working environment. Many books, journals and articles were read to compile this blog however I always reverted back to this book for clarification!

If I had to undertake any of these tasks again I think that a disclaimer on the blog may have been worthwhile to state that the posts were based on my own personal opinions. I would also have made the blog private to ensure that I wasn't providing inspiration to others on the content. Time will tell when I get the results, I've taken a bit of a risk by producing a fun blog that I hope is light and easy to read when perhaps I should mave kept it more professional and structured, but I hope my hard work will be recognised!

REPORT

The report is a work in progress, with clear instruction for structure and content. My main concern is sticking to the 2,500 word count as I struggle with this requirement in most topics. Perhaps this isn't a bad thing as I have clearly thrived with this module, enjoying the content, learning process and activities and feel that I could debate many aspects of the content. For example guidance for staff on the use of Social Media, do we really need separate guidance? This module has helped me in other modules within the course and my Research Proposal title is: Social Media Software and the Future of Education.

WEEK ELEVEN - AND NOW THE END IS HERE.....

This weeks lecture is a continuation from last weeks which looks at Management of Social Media - Implementations and Control.

We continued where we had left off with Social Media Control and the risks involved. I don't think the list was exhaustive and could have been added to however it was nicely split between personal use and from a work perspective. It certainly highlighted weaknesses and many have been discussed in my earlier blogs such as the implications of the information you disclose with regards to people losing their jobs and harassment through the use of social media sites such as Facebook. A friend of mine is a midwife and within her contract of employment it states that she isn't allowed to use her phone on shift. A colleague of hers has been disciplined for posting on Facebook during a break that she couldn't wait for her shift to finish. I can see both sides of the argument; she was on a break however it's a paid break and her contract states she can't use her phone, but it certainly makes you think. Is this really an issue to be considered for disciplinary action?

Ethics and the issues of Social Media was next to be discussed and 5 main points were highlighted which was mostly common sense.

1. Digital Divide - this divide is not just who has access to digital technology but also who has the necessary skills and confidence to use them, World Bank Report claims this is narrowing,
2. Virtual Worlds - what behaviours is acceptable in the real world compared to the virtual work and can people separate them, this also can be referred to video games ie acceptable to shoot people in a game so would that be acceptable in the real world? Second Life is such a site which offers the opportunity to create a virtual world.
3. Cultural differences - there needs to be an appreciation for different cultures and people are easily offended. This has been drawn to my attention recently as I have family who live in Qatar, Doha and they often tell me tales of their shopping expeditions - Islamics have priority over Brits when waiting in shop queues! You can't even comment or complain as they may belong to a large influential family and if you offend them you can be given a fine or worse be exiled or deported!
4. Anonymity - asincronums between computers use IP address but should the information attached to this be private? Google are wrestling with this concept and think that users should reveal their real names. Now I can't help, why would anyone want to go by a fake name? Unless it was for nefarious purposes?
5. Privacy - this continue from the previous point, to what extent should people have access to our information and what should remain private?
6. On line surveillance - again to what extent should surveillance information be accessible and to whom. This is highlighted from BBC Panorama Documentary The Honey Moon Murder: A Panorama Special which has raised doubts over the case against Dewani and his involvement in his wife's murder assisted with the CCTV footage available. In cases like this how can you not think surveillance should be used?

We also discussed controlling Social Media and considerations for HR when recruiting people to work on Social Media. There is even a Social Media in Recruitment Conference to be held in Germany this year! I didn't really agree with the comment about how many people you should have working on Social Media to make it effective, (figures from The State of Corporate Social Media in 2011 suggests over 6 people is most popular) surely it should be how effective the employees are that will make it a success? Someone has to take responsibility for the authorship of social media, know what they are allowed to talk about and monitor the response, acting accordingly.

The answer: Social Media Policies. This led on to Social Media Policies which was split into staff personal use and staff working on social media. Like any task within a business it would be recommended that they use guidance or, policies and provide training on what they deem acceptable. We were fortunate enough to be given a copy of Intel's Social Media Guidelines who stipulate 3 rules of engagement:

1. Disclose: Your presence in social media must be transparent
2. Protect: Take extra care to protect both Intel and yourself
3. Use Common Sense: Remember that professional, straightforward and appropriate communication is best.

It was suggested by Margaret that we also look at Coca Cola Social Media Policy and although similar to Intel it offered 5 core values:

Transparency in every social media engagement.

1. Protection of our consumers' privacy.
2. Respect of copyrights, trademarks, rights of publicity, and other third-party rights.
3. Responsibility in our use of technology.
4. Utilisation of best practises, listening to the on line community, and compliance with applicable regulations to ensure that these On line Social Media Principles remain current and reflect the most up-to-date and appropriate standards of behaviour.

It was clear that Coca Cola respects the rights of its employees to use blogs and social media to self express and to further advance the Company business but has made the employees fully aware of the implications of their actions with regards to the use of social media and that the Company could be held responsible for their behaviour.

This You Tube video shows how Starbucks has become successful in social media. Starbucks is thought to be one of the top companies of social media and as well as the usual sites (Facebook, Twitter, You Tube etc) Starbucks created its own version of a social network My Starbucks Idea where customers can share their ideas on anything related to Starbucks. They also have Starbucks Blog Ideas in Action which is written by various Starbucks employees and talks about how they are using customer ideas, a great way of increasing customer awareness and brand loyalty! Their social media strategy creates a social media plan which communicates with a wide range of fans and offers the opportunity for customers to respond.

After looking at a number of policies it is clear that the emphasis is on control if a business uses Social Media and putting communication with customers as a priority!

No seminar this week to allow time for our E-Activites and report, thank goodness I'm all organised and have completed the E-Activity task. Sunshine here I come!

WEEK TEN - SOCIAL MEDIA ROCKSTAR

So this week I'm thinking that a position within Social Media would be an element to consider when looking at job adverts. How amazing would it be to have a job title as - Social Media Rockstar! Would it be feasible to act as a consultant for businesses who wanted to improve through the use of Social Media? I think I'm capable of assessing how well a company uses Social Media and make recommendations on how to improve. Now there's a thought! Amanda Affleck, Virtual Social Media Rockstar!

This weeks lecture was given by Margaret McCann on Managing Social Media, Implementation and Control and was to be presented over a two week period. With a slight delay due to technical issues, we started off by looking at how to increase productivity over time through the use of technology. From this we were able to discuss implementing stages of maturity which were highlighted as: unawares, obstructors, neutrals, supporters and champions. Margaret placed this implementation action into the Social Media Life Cycles which Defined Goals, Identify Tools, How the tools can be used, Implement Action and Evaluation. Lon Safko, author of 'The Social Media Bible' identifies 5 P's of Social Media Implementation; Profiles, Propagate, Produce, Participate and Progress. He identifies sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter and how they are free to set up a profile page. I found a short Pod Cast on You Tube which discusses, how by measuring your progress you are better able to manage:

We then went on to discuss how to implement these strategies from a bottom up and a top down perspective, and were able to discuss advantages and disadvantages to both. Mainly based around the individual employees and how they adapt to change and the management styles or culture of the business may affect how well it will work.

Like all technology there is an element of risk involved and this is the next topic discussed in the lecture. Margaret highlighted that Social Media can be a strength and a weakness:

"The relatively open and participative nature of web 2.0, is at once, a strength and a weakness" (Deans C, 2009, p58).

So is it a case of use at your own risk? The weaknesses include the risks and ethics involved and we discussed the most obvious risks such as privacy, loss of reputation, and as mentioned earlier in my blog, cyberstalking etc. What impact could these risks then have on a business? WSI Digital Marketing published a list of additional risks to both the employer and the employee with recommendations to avoid the risk. This then made me think, what are the legal implications of social media?
Now surely the use of Social Media should be to improve and enhance your business whether a simple decision is made such as replying to someones comments about your brand or experience on Facebook or a more complex decision such as launching a new business product or service. I understand that to get results from Social Media you really need to create a process based upon the aims and objectives set by the company. Also the need to use appropriate resources and activities by integrating social media to achieve them. But surely by just increasing your number of Facebook fans or Twitter followers alone is not going to help you achieve this?

I downloaded a free guide, '4 Pillars of Social Media Success' which provides a simple framework that aims to help you use social media to grow sales or cut costs with customer service. I think  this would be beneficial to any business who was considering using Social Media to achieve business goals and KPIs. As this lecture was to be presented over a two week period this topic is....

This weeks seminar was very fiery!!!! We were split into groups and given Social Media Employment Cases based on Social Media and employment gone wrong. Each group was to debate for and against the arguments in the Case Study. This was a great activity as, although I didn't agree with the argument our group was to debate, it forced me to consider both sides of the argument and listen to others. The Case Study we were given was based on a teacher who had had a bad day and posted an insensitive post to Facebook on how much she hated her students and made reference to a recent news story about a young student who drowned during a school field trip to the beach. This had resulted in termination hearings for the teacher which, personally, I thought was a bit drastic however we had to debate that the officials were right to investigate and hold termination hearings. Yes the comments made were inappropriate and most likely in breach of some form of confidentiality or behavioural policy which would have put the school reputation at risk but everyone makes mistakes. It got quite fiery between the groups and it was a valuable lesson which made you think about the consequences of our actions with regards to Social Media. Further reading, and I was shocked to find out that the teacher was fired over the incident and was shown on the Anderson Show. Kinda glad now that I didn't post those videos of me and a few friends using our car parcel shelves as sledges to slide down the hill at 3am New Years Day! Well hey I may be a 'mature student' but I still know how to have fun, and it could have been worse - it could have been the parcel shelf from a company car!

WEEK NINE - MASTERS OF MAYHEM...

...from my point of view or Management of Web 2.0 from an academics point of view. Can't help but ask, 'Are we nearly there yet?' Feels like this module has a never ending stream of tasks which are all, I'm  sure, strategically placed around other module assessments. That said I'm actually enjoying it! Yeah you heard right!! Although slightly disappointed as we were informed at the lecture that we should have had a guest speaker and they had cancelled at the last minute, so what was the point in telling us?

This weeks lecture was delivered by Margaret McCann and looked at Management of Web 2.0: Measurement and ROI. I feel that this lecture follows on nicely from our most recent e-activity and looks at how companies use Social Media. It was nice to see that the figures shown by Margaret reflected against my findings on how City of Glasgow College used Social Media - perhaps different categories but ultimately the same. MARKETING!

We were then able to look at companies who had successfully used Social Media. The one that stuck out for me was Barack Obama. On further research The New York Times published an article - How Obama Tapped Into Social Networking Power which explained that in 2007 the founder of Netscape and a board member of Facebook met with an unknown man who wanted to battle for leadership. The Obama campaign wasn't anything new however by combining the use of social networking applications an unseen movement and force was created which raised money, organised, fought campaigns and got the votes to become President. Fascinating!! Not just a few hundred 'friends' on Facebook but a whole database of OVER 2.3 MILLION names of supporters who can be engaged instantly - I don't fancy filtering through those friend requests!

We then went on to discuss the pros and cons of Social Media and the cons seemed to outweigh the pros. Now this intrigued me as I'm not really sure how I feel about Social Media - yeah Facebook is great for keeping in touch and will no doubt become invaluable to me when I move to the USA but it it really 'good' for us? When researching this topic I found a really interesting site - Social Networking Pro Con which is a non-profit website that presents facts, studies and provided pro and con statements on questions related to social networking and its impact on society. A sample of information I didn't know:

'Social networking and blogging sites accounted for 17% (about one in every six minutes) of all time spent on the Internet (180 KB) [20] in Aug. 2009, nearly three times as much as in 2008.'

Makes you wonder what percentage we are sitting at in 2012?? Now that's really fascinating!! Realistically thinking about this I can see both positives and negatives. For example according to a further study from the same website - Creating & Connecting Research and Guidelined on Online Social and Educational Networking by the National School Boards Association the figures suggest that 92% of schools require permission from parents for students to use the Internet whilst in school. It then goes on to say most schools block Internet access to inappropriate sites but I find myself asking, why haven't they provided a percentage? And is it anywhere as near as this 92%? Also what is deemed 'inappropriate'? It then goes on to say that 62% prohibit use of blogging or e-mails and 50% prohibit access to social networking sites. Okay this is where it then gets a bit contradictory - 96% of teachers assign homework which requires Internet access. So my question now is, is education encouraging use of Internet and could this be helping the increase in figures to social networking sites? After all the same report states that 59% of its students discuss educational related topics and 50% of its students specifically discuss schoolwork on social networking sites. Yeah the figures are American and they are ....... well different but it certainly makes you think about the future!

We then went on to discuss how to measure the benefits and the costs - or academically Return on Investment. Again we discussed the pros and cons and looked at examples of costs to consider. We then went on to discuss the actual equation:

ROI = (investment gain - investment cost)
                        investment cost

Really am I studying Business Web Innovation? Feels like I've been transported back to Recording Financial Transactions class at College! I feel that with the use us social media there are other elements to consider such as engaging the user, time spent on participating on social media sites and building up trust. Cost, Time and Resources - how can that be measured? In reality a business may need to consider the costs involved, even though most social media sites are free to set up, they may wish to upgrade their package such as LinkedIn offering an upgrade. They must also consider the additional elements I have highlighted above.

The lecture then went on to discuss processes, frameworks and strategies. AND again I feel like I'm in another module - a mix of Strategic Management and Service Operations Management. It's nice to see that all these modules I'm taking are linked however I can't help thinking that the work environment may be slightly different and that strategy may be dependant on individual management styles and the culture of the company.

This week our lab changed to a seminar which made a nice change from sitting in from of a computer. We were placed in groups to discuss our most recent E-Activity, how companies are using Social Media. This was an interesting task as I was able to mix with other students and learn how they dealt with the E-Activity and was surprised by their  findings. Catherine was really keen to research The Olympics however had been given Nandos to research. Nandos were very active in Social Media and had used recent fundraising and charity events which they sponsored to generate posts which allowed the followers to participate. Lynsey had been given The Olympics to research and we were disappointed to discover that they weren't actively using the Social Media sites to there advantage. I think in the end Catherine was quite happy to have missed out on that one!

As for me, well I'd like to discuss my E-Activity Assessments at the end of the blog as I feel that if I were to publish my ideas and tasks on a weekly basis then I could give away some valuable information or ideas. So keep reading!

WEEK EIGHT - TO MARKET TO MARKET TO BUY A WEB 2.0

This weeks lecture was delivered by Alexis Barlow and was on marketing - concept and orientation. How Web 2.0 is transforming marketing techniques. We looked at the 5P's of marketing, all of which were covered in college (however I appreciate that not everyone in the lecture has this background) Product, Price, Place, People and Promotion. Business Dictionary defined Marketing as 'The management process through which goods and services move from concept to the customer.' As a philosophy marketing is based on the business in terms of what the customers want and delivering their needs. Web 2.0 Marketing doesn't appear to be much different and the principles are pretty much the same as we looked at leveraging Marketing and the elements of the Promotional Ps and the use of e-technologies. E-marketing is defined slightly differently to Marketing as it uses electronic communication technology to achieve marketing objectives.  I found an interesting article on Google Scholar - Web 2.0 Storytelling Emergence of a New Genre.  This article suggests the pattern is changing and that social media marketing is open-ended, branching, hyper-linked, cross media, participatory, exploratory and unpredictable. So how can we control Marketing on-line? Simple answer we can't but we can perhaps guide it in a particular direction.

From this we were able to discuss ways in which we thought that the Internet has impacted on the 5 Ps:

Product - Introduces a digital version such as the iPad, Kindle or Tablet. Improves the product for example, the anticipated iPad 3 with voice dictation!
Price - Has become more competitive perhaps due to less overheads so companies able to lower prices. Differential pricing. Price can also be adjusted to meet the market, example given was BA flight prices in comparison to Sleazyjet.... eh Easyjet. You get what you pay for!
Place - Geographically can be reached globally and provides opportunities for new channel structures. Also virtual space is all that is required, for example eBay who rely on items being sold by customers and they do not need to offer catalogue, shop or warehouse space.
People - how you personalise with the use of customer service and advertising the image of your company.
Promotion - Emphasis being on promotion and how you tell people about your company. This was discussed further in the lecture.

Actually found this lecture really interesting even though I had covered marketing before - e-marketing is on a whole new level and I enjoy seeing things from another viewpoint and perhaps thinking about things I wouldn't have before.

We then went on to look at Integrated Marketing Communications where an organisation would use a mix of agents and traditional & internet promotion mix and how this is affected by Social Media. MMC Learning suggest that Integrated Marketing Communications is just a method of ensuring all forms of communiaction and messages are carefully linked together by integrating all promotional tools to ensure they work together. There are a number of definitions for Web 2.0 Marketing which we looked at but linking back to last week and the documentary we watched 'Mark Zuckerberg - Inside Facebook' we were able to see how social media had progressed to take members of virtual communities and how individuals link globally, to the extent that in November 2011 The Telegraph reported Facebook have suggested that the average number of connections between people has dropped from 6 down to 4!! Isn't that a bit crazy? Web 2.0 therefore creates a new and dynamic way to communicate and companies can effectively jump on the band wagon and use social media to communicate to customers, customers can communicate with each other and allows consumer participation in the form of feedback, discussion and debate. A short YouTube video simplified the process in four steps:
STEP 1 - Find interested people
STEP 2 - Deliver quality content
STEP 3 - Capture information
STEP 4 - Stay in touch and enables you to sell stuff!

But to what extent do companies shape discussion, surely Web 2.0 is a critical access point to reach and engage online audiences - Facebook have 800 million users at the last count! By using Facebook as an example it can influence consumer behaviour. Using my own experiences with Facebook I am often made aware of events that are happening through the use of Event Invites by my friends. My friends also post links to news or youtube videos which keep me up-to-date with things that are happening and makes me aware of whats happening as well as things they are interested in. For example my cousin sent me an invite to Cover the Night - Kony 2012 in April, but its not an event! It's just to raise awareness of a man who has spent 26 years abducting children and on 20th April they want people to wear red in protest!! I'm also guilty of asking for peoples opinions on Facebook, for example I asked my friends if they could recommend a new fitness class to me that wouldn't see me pass out 30 minutes in!!!! The response was phenomenol and I'm now booked for Cross Fit at Primal Legion. Yeah the pictures look a bit scary but I'm willing to try everything once! Now I'm also quite nosey and my friends are guilty of checking in wherever they are and shops they like or items they like and I like to follow that up and check it out! So how do Social Media sites influence this? By selling our information to advertisers? But another factor to this about is how safe our information is, do we expose ourself by revealing information in online communities such as Facebook? I read a new article in the Daily Record about a student who was writing a blog as part of her University Degree....sounds familiar! She was obviously a bit better at it that me and she attached her photo to the blog, but later discovered her picture on jumpers which were sold in Tesco!!! Now should she not be flattered that someone other than the lecturers read her blog?

WEEK SEVEN - BUSINESSES ON T'INTERNET

Today's lecture was given by Alexis which detail how the web is changing. She started off by explaining Web 1.0 which was all about accessing and reading information which has progressed into Web 2.0, collaboration using a mix of existing and emerging technologies. This has evolved due to web technologies such as WWW, HTTP, HTML and XML. Yip sounds a bit foreign - but on further reading I discovered that actually it was just different ways in which to transmit information and some of the technologies we've already covered (Wikis, Blogs, Pod casts) ...... okay maybe not that simple!

Not this Ajax!

The lecture then went on to discuss all this further, discussing Rich Internet Applications which is based on interactive web applications (maintaining features and functionality of desktop applications) and will provide the end user a more effective and responsive experience. All of which I read about on a blog! Next we discussed Ajax, not how I remembered it! Was this not a cleaner? Apparently not, its a fancy technique of web development. I amaze myself that I'm still learning!

Application Programming Interface (API) was next on the agenda and by this point I'm feeling a bit bored, hoping that this won't form part of our assessment. I'm a practical person, ask me to do and I can do - ask me to tell you how to do something and you'll get a different result. Further reading and I discovered that APIs can be used to share content and data between communities and applications, for example Twitter comments can be shared on a Business Facebook Account such as City of Glasgow College. So links back to week five - Fishfingers beans and mash - eh I mean RSS, FEEDS and MASHUPS. So I find myself asking, 'Why do we need it?' I suppose the answer is that it forms part of the Web Technology evolution, as more and more people are using gadgets such as SMART phones, tablets, iPads etc and it appears we spend more time on the Apps available for these gadgets than we do surfing the web!

Lots of content in the lecture this week as we then went on to talk about Cloud Computing which Alexis informed us that Cloud Computing together with SaaS are one of the fastest growing segments of the IT industry and allow delivered host services over the Internet. Now believe it or not I had a recent conversation with a good friend of mine who had attended an event in London to contribute ideas in the creation of a Cloud platform which would be tailor made to lettings and estate agents - London Cloud! The idea that the valuers or sales people who are perhaps losing productivity time whilst attending appointments or between appointment times could improve there productivity with the use of an iPad and Internet access is quite liberating! Having worked in this industry as Administration Manager I can see how this would benefit estate agents. Valuers had wasted journeys back to the office after every valuation just to download the images and leave the paperwork for processing. Using a Cloud could reduce costs, time and improve efficiency!

In the lecture we discussed Public (sells services to anyone on the Internet) 'V' Private (a network/data centre that supplies hosted services to a limited number of people.Categories are:

• Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
• Platform as a Service (PaaS)
• Software as a Service (SaaS)

Further research identified Hybrid Clouds where a company with a Private Cloud merges with a company who has a Public Cloud and they work together.

We then went on to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of Cloud Computing.

ADVANTAGES

• reduces cost in the long run for hardware, software, networking equipment and administrative costs
• reduces business risk associated with owning and managing computer technology
• existing IT staff can focus on other areas
• maximises business productivity with anytime, anywhere availability for users
• built-in state-of-the-art business continuity and disaster recovery capabilities
• financial flexibility and control over IT spending

DISADVANTAGES

• security will be dependant on the provider
• loss of control to the provider
• unstable cost structure
• potentially decreased business flexibility
• integration problems

Can't help wondering: Is this a hype, fad or real innovation? 

Talking about innovation, there was no lab this week as Margaret wanted us to watch a documentary 'Mark Zuckerberg - Inside Facebook'. After three pages of notes I feel I learnt a lot, not only about how Facebook has progressed and succeeded where others failed (such as FreindStar, Myspace, Friends Reunited) but also how other companies have been able to grow and succeed through Facebook. Now here's a young guy, a psychology and computer science student who took an idea and ran with it and through his knowledge/ideas and contacts he has been able to change a global culture on how we communicate daily. As mentioned previously in my blog I watched 'The Social Network' movie based on Mark Zuckerberg, but really at this point I don't think it matters whether he stole someones ideas. Is Facebook not just a progression from the likes of Myspace? Surely its how Mark and his team has kept the users interested and opened the boundaries to what we as users and Facebook as an Information Technology company are capable of? Their unofficial motto of 'moving fast and break things', the fact that they all work in an open plan office to improve collaboration and the fact that they have a vending machine which dispenses new keyboards etc. Surely that's not the same as FreindStar, Myspace or Friends Reunited?

Gaming and advertising are ways of making Facebook financially successful to the tidy sum of $100 billion. Other companies are designing games, of which Facebook takes a third of the profit! Mark Zuckerberg poached Sheryl Sandberg from Google, because she had succeeded in the introduction of advertising in Google. Really? How can he be criticised? He has found a way to use his audience to his advantage as well as to the advantage of his users - a true entrepreneur? He has found a way of businesses being able to advertise and narrow their audience to offer them products and services based on the information we provide. Yeah perhaps we haven't asked for it but it can be handy if you've previously stated you like an item and then you have the opportunity to share with your friends and vice versa. As long as the 800 billion users of Facebook maintain the good faith in Mark and his team and they maintain the comfort and privacy of its individual users then how can we not ....

WEEK SIX - 'YOU' ON T'INTERNET

The lecture this week was about Social Networking and how it works, given by Margaret McCann. Rather like Margaret as a lecturer she is very organised, timely, regimented and a little bit scary! Perhaps not words to put together with social or networking.....

Social Networking was defined academically by Boyd and Ellison (2007) as:

Web based services that allow individuals to:

1. construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system,
2. articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and
3. view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system.

OK to me and you that's, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Myspace etc. Ah the penny drops!! These sites attract millions of users and many will have integrated them into their daily lives (especially now with the increased usage of SMART phone). These sites offer a varied difference in technologies and the usage. I understand it as a way of sharing information  - putting yourself on the internet!

Further research into Social Networking Sites (SNSs) has actually made me question some issues with perhaps over-sharing information. An example of this on facebook is when people 'check in' at different places, highlighting the fact that they are not at home. A website Please Rob Me actually showed hundreds of people who were away from home! Don't get me wrong I've succumbed to the pressure and have a Facebook account but think I'm pretty sensible about how I use it; I'm selective with the friends I add (described in the lab as strong and weak contacts), selective with the photos I upload and generally only post the high-points or low-points in my life. Things I actually want people to know! Not helped by the recent programme on Channel 4 - My Social Network Stalker which saw a girls life pretty much ruined by emotional and mental abuse through Social Network Sites. Now that scares me slighly more that Margaret! So then went on to research how to protect yourself from stalkers and found a useful video from a news channel:

So how does this affect businesses and can Social Networking develop Social Distribution? I'm partner in two small businesses which both have pages on facebook, A N Designs Handcrafted Gifts and Glitzy Gifts. This assists with advertising (especially our handmade selection as it shows the variation), marketing (as it shows promotions and fundraising events we participate in) etc although on a much smaller scale to other businesses. I haven't pushed this too much at the moment as our business orders are steady and to be honest with everything I have on my plate I don't want to attract too much business at the moment.  

So in the lab we were given our next e-activity which was to choose a company and follow a sample of their posts on Facebook, Twitter and Linked In. I think I drew the short straw with City of Glasgow College, I'm hoping it will be more interesting once I proceed with my research. Twitter was the only social networking site which I'm not currently a member but I am now! Now I have been looking at ways to improve myself academically and it seems I have found a solution. Who would have thought that my all singing, all dancing i-phone (that I wasn't actually that keen on having) would improve my time managment skills. My tiny hand held device provides APS for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and my most recent acquisition Blogger. My long bus journeys can now be spent researching City of Glasgow College and blogging. Who would have thought that the I'd be doing my next assessment by phone!

WEEK FIVE - FISHFINGERS, BEANS AND MASH

Only joking - RSS, FEEDS & MASHUPS!

Just having a strange day, struggled to find a computer today in the library to log on and print off the lecture slides. In my quest to find a computer I actually counted 17 computers over level 2 and 3 which were out of order. Turned up to lecture slightly frustrated and glanced at the presentation screen and thought I had misread the title of the lecture - genuinely thought I saw shorthand for fish fingers, beans and mash!!

For a number of years I have used google as a method of searching for information on-line and haven't really given a second thought to how that information was brought to me. In more recent years and the introduction of SMART phones information has become even more accessible with the download of APPs. The lecture provided today by Alexis gave me the insight into RSS, Feeds and Mashups which I hold my hands up to, was away over my head!

Further reading allowed me to discover that RSS (Rich Site Summary) is simply a format for delivering web content which is regularly changing. For publishers of bloggs, web related sites and other on-line publishers this makes life a little easier and allows feeds of this information to be sent to whoever wants it. The number of RSS sites is growing as it is providing a solution to a problem; it is allowing the user to stay up-to-date easily by receiving feeds to the latest content of sites they are actually interested in, thus saving time as the user does not have to go onto each site individually, and maintains privacy as you are not forced to join each site and perhaps receive e-mail updates or newsletters.

A further solution is to use a programme called a reader or aggregator which continuously checks and searches all of the sites you subscribe to for new content and streams all the information feeds to one place. RSS readers are available on different platforms and include FeedReader (through windows) and NewsGator (which integrates windows with outlook). There are also a number of web based feed readers such as: MyYahoo (which I used daily without realising) and also GoogleReader (which we were to go on and use in the Lab).

In the Lab we went on to look at how to use RSS, and it turned out to be slightly frustrating for me. I couldn't log on to my google account and although I answered all the questions in a n attempt to reset my password I received a generic message stating that google would get back to me within 3-5 days. AAArrrrggghhhh!!!! Panicked slightly as I was worried about my blogg and whether I had lost my link to it. Managed to sort it out in the end but just makes me realise how much I depend on technology without really thinking about it. When eventually logged onto Google I used the web-based Google Reader to subscribe to various feeds. It was simple enough to use, you entered the keyword for your search and browsed the selection until you found something that was of interest to you and clicked to subscribe. This could then be added to the Star Items (which is a little like your favourites). As usual I looked at keywords for Virginia Beach and discovered that it was the 2nd best state to raise a family - starting to feel a little less frustrated ;0). This is an excellent tool which will come in handy when typing up my Research Proposal as it will allow me to be up-to-date with my information. I would imagine that those staying on into the fourth year will find this invaluable. We were also able to share the items we found with friends and colleagues although I think my friends are fed up with the references I keep making to my Big Move!

All in all it was a valuable lesson which I think could become quite addictive and I'm sorely tempted to subscribe to feeds just for the sake of it, so don't think it'll save me time in the long run. Now where serves fish, beans and mash? Feeling a tad hungry!

WEEK FOUR - SHARING 'STUFF' ON LINE

This weeks lecture, delivered by Alexis was on Media Sharing, Social Bookmarking & Tagging. Thankfully the technology was working just fine this week!

It would appear that the use of media sharing is exciting and boundless, and is opening knowledge and resources to everyone. We share media on a daily basis with Face book, Flickr, Digg, Upcoming, Myspace, Twitter etc. So how can businesses use this technology to share media, bookmark certain pages of interest and tag the bookmark to remind yourself of the content of the bookmark?

Time Magazine has recognised the phenomenon of You Tube and the prospect of sharing media files which has grown massively since its launch in 2006. Although it may not have originally been designed for business or even education, there is an increase in people using the likes of You Tube to advertise videos which are either informational, educational or entertaining. Businesses are using You Tube to get feedback on video adverts prior to releasing them. By uploading a video to You Tube and embedding it into a blog or website you can increase the number of times the video is seen. The following advert from Virgin Atlantic is very entertaining however the feedback would suggest that it is to be banned!



Pod casting became the next step in blogging with individuals recording an audio blog and uploading to the Internet. Followers could then download the pod cast, onto a computer, i-pod/MP3 player. An example of Pod casting can be found on i-tunes which split their pod casts into categories ie, sport, music, radio etc. Starbust Magazine Pod cast offer hours of movie and TV news and reviews on a weekly basis. So how can this help businesses? Small Business Trends Radio have sourced 100 Best Small Business Pod casts from 2009 which vary from interviews with entrepreneurs to advice for rural small businesses in America!

Prior to this lecture I may have looked at a website and added it to my favourite list as it would be a site or pages within the site which I found of interest or would surf regularly. The lab this week looked at software which would not only mark a page of interest so that you could go back to it at a later stage but also so that you could share your saved pages and make them available to others - Social Bookmarking! Prior to the lab we were asked to join Delicious, Social Bookmarking Software so that we could search different categories and find topics of interest. A link to this topic was then saved and a number of these links created a stack. Each link was given a tag to remind the user what the link or topic was about. Once we were happy with the stack we had created then we published the stack ready to share with people within the Delicious Community!

I created a stack based on links and topics related to my move to Virginia. My stack included links to Realtors, schooling, job sites and car hire or car sales. This is a tool which will benefit me during this course and would be beneficial to any project! For example, the Proposal Document for Research & Consultancy Methods for Business - a stack could be created with links to various sites based on the topic and on-line referencing. Bupa was given in the lecture as an example of how a company could use bookmarks, which provided links from employees on bookmarks for staff and clients. A further example of a company who use bookmarks is Google, they face the problem of being able to merge Google Bookmarks with Chrome Bookmarks. Now I was understanding all this to this point, but when you start going into who uses folders or labels it starts to get a bit confusing!