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!