Online Living

This week is all about "Second life." It is an online based program where you create a character and interact with other people in this virtual world. It reminded me of the video game World of Warcraft. That is primarily a game where fighting is a major focus, however in Second life, it is used as a networking and communication medium. I am very interested to see how it works and who is currently on the network. I have never heard of this program before so it is all new to me.

I find it interesting that it is being used by businesses and their employees. I think it is a valuable tool that can be used by many different organizations and age groups. For example, fraternity's can hold meetings online or parents can hold PTA meetings from their living rooms. A major advantage to this is leaving yourself time for other things that fill your schedule. It never seems that there is enough time in a day to do all the things you planned to, so second life helps facilitate that.

Word On The Street

This weeks section from Naked Conversations, by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel focused on "word of mouth" advertising. They talked about how ICQ started and was the basis for AOL's AIM. In addition they brought up the introduction of "Skype", an internet-phone program. The main strategy to advertise these programs is through blogs and conversations, instead of the old approach of "interruption Marketing", as Scoble and Israel put it. I personally don't agree with this method of mass marketing to unsuspecting audiences and essentially bothering them. We've all been annoyed by telemarketers in this day in age and I don't know one person that actually listens to what they have to say and take them seriously. In fact, most people play jokes on them and make a game out of it; some say thats cruel, others say they deserve it!

With everyone being so well connected through the advent of the Internet, the best way to spread news is through blogs, posts, comments, and direct conversations. As I read the section, I recalled how I found Skype. I didn't stumble upon it or read about it in the paper; I was showed by my dad, who discovered it from a friend living in England. It's the same idea for AIM. I was 13 and in middle school when it caught fire in my community, simply by word of mouth.

This is so important for managers to understand because for them, they are able to save thousands, sometimes millions, of dollars through this method of advertising. With low expenses should come low rates for their services , which for anyone else, is nearly impossible to compete with. One critical thing to remember is that you need a two way discussion. To only blog about a program's or product's advantages can potentially hurt the company. As we learned from last week, be honest and quick, and the rest will follow.

Scoble, Robert, and Shel Israel. Naked Conversations. 1st Ed. Hoboken, NJ: Jon Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2006.

lab work

hey mike,

let me know if this worked

http://auono.blogspot.com

The Two To Remember

This week I read the two sections from our text book, Naked Conversations, by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel. In the introduction, they talked about what the book is about. It is basically made up of real blogs from employees at companies spanning many different industries. They believe that blogs cannot be ignored and have taken a prominent role in marketing. In class we discussed its importance for companies, but Schoble and Israel brought up some new points, such as "It's the first to decentralize corporate communications, wresting it from those who historically controlled it, and it eliminates many of the geographic barriers that have restricted relationships between people sharing similar interests."

Later in the book, they created a list of thirty four suggestions on how to blog effectively. Since blogging is new to me, I found it to be very helpful. Two things that were consistently mentioned were quick response time and honesty. In my opinion, I believe these are the two most important pieces of advice they offered. As they say in business, "Time is money." If someone has a question or comment on your blog or about your company, how quick you respond will influence their view on you and your company. Also, blogs can be seen as conversations over the internet, so why should it be any different than a conversation in person. To lie in a blog is as if to lie in person. Personally, I would never trust that blogger in the future if I caught them lieing. Seeing as I agreed with Schoble and Israel on this section, I am excited to read what else they have to say on social networking.

Scoble, Robert, and Shel Israel. Naked Conversations. 1st Ed. Hoboken, NJ: Jon Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2006.

3 For All

With a solid first post under my belt, I think I'm ready to tackle my second. After skimming some of the other articles, I found myself intrigued by, "A Practical Guide to Social Networking", by Rob Cross, Jeanne Liedtka, and Leigh Weiss. They discussed three types of social networks: customized response, modular response, and routine response. Each are designated for their respective industries.

I do believe it is important for a company to strategically choose a method that works best for them. In addition, each department within the company may take alternative routes to the same result but the types of social networks must be clear and known by everyone in the company. Though some communication methods may be informal, there needs to be a good amount of organization. These different types generate a game plan for an effective communication flow. I have to wonder if there are any other types of social networks.

Lastly, I feel that more connectivity is better. This article claims that is not always the case, however I believe in todays world with key terms like globalization, teams, and work groups that social networks and connectivity are the oil to a car--they make it run. The spread of knowledge, in my eyes, can only be a good thing.

http://sixdegrees.wikidot.com/local--files/reading-history/practicalguide.pdf

The Introduction

The first assignment in most courses is usually daunting and of unfamiliar territory. Interestingly enough, this class seems to take a different approach and coincides with the current technologies. Though I personally have never written a blog, I have read a few of my friends'. I am interested to learn such along with other social networking tools, so here goes.

I have read two articles tonight. The first is called, "FIRST HAND: Connecting to Collaborate: An Interview With Rob Cross." Essentially Rob cross explains how things really get done in corporations today. Though in the past we have used organizational charts and diagrams that appeared to depict the organizational flow, however, things aren't always as they seem. Rob claims that there "informal counterparts to organizationals charts." One thing that surprised me was how effective instant messaging can be for organizations. I used to think that was purely a social software that only teenagers and young adults used to keep in touch with one another. Additionally, I wished Cross would've been more specific about the survey he used. What sort of questions are asked and is it the same for each company?

The second article is called, "Saguaro about Social Capital." Although the article was short, it introduced a new phrase to my vocabulary list. Social capital is defined as, "the collective value of all "social networks" [who people know] and the inclinations that arise from these networks to do things for each other ["norms of reciprocity"]." The term networking to me means, who you know. Growing up, I constantly heard the line, "it's not what you, it's who you know." I knew from the start that it would be important to keep in contact with almost everyone you meet for there are opportunities around each corner. For example, a friend of mine currently works with a company (unnamed for privacy reasons) and heard of an opening, so he is personally handing in my resume to the office to give me an edge in the selection process. My only question is are there any negative aspects to social capital? I can think of so many positives, but not many negatives.