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!