Week 6 - Wrap-up

I would like to start off by saying, thank you for this class. This has been one of the most exciting and interesting classes I have taken through Kelley, if not the best. There has been a lot of work, but it has been so enjoyable and full of learning that how could you not enjoy it?!

Overall, it was a great final week and really wrapped up the course. We discussed the future of the web. The crazy ideas that could be possible in 10 years, or maybe even 2 years. This week really made me think about how you can truly advertise and gain a customer base in the dynamic web we live with ... or as we saw with some of the World of Warcraft gamers, live in. I had no technical issues except a few sound issues with the Charlie Rose episode with Google's CEO, but it was definitely understandable. I am still very impressed with this class and I applaud Frank and Gil for making this class very organic and enjoyable for all. Thank you.

Signing off from the 6 week course,

-Alex

Week 6 - Charlie Rose and Google CEO, Eric Schmidt

That video was very impacting. It is fascinating to hear these type of people speak about the future of the internet and technology. It gives me so much hope for things to come. I enjoyed this video and it was almost a culmination of everything, or at least many things, we discussed and learned in this course. That makes it very important.

I was surprised at some of Eric's comments about reading books and using textbooks. He definitely had ideas and what sounded to be like experiences of what the future of classrooms would be, but he really hit hard on the importance of learning and reading out of textbooks. I guess he didn't specifically say that the books had to be hard-bound and couldn't be online books. However, it seemed as if he still clung to his generation's ideals in some regards, but really embraced what was coming ahead.

There were so many topics covered in the 55 minute video; I was amazed. I think Eric has it right about the privacy issue. The younger generation is more open to sharing. They might regret some specific cases, but on the whole they have benefitted. I loved his vision of the History buff who would walk down the streets of New York in five years and instantly get information about each building without even asking. It might sound creepy, but it would be great if something could know your habits so well that it would present new and better ideas, facts, and even products without a command. Hopefully people won't start marrying their phone or something because it "gets them," but overall the general concept is a useful and interesting one.

There was only one technical difficulty with this video and it was the sound during a few parts. I think it might just be the recording because it was not recorded in the studio and Charlie Rose's mic might have been malfunctioning a little bit. I also don't like how I cannot make the video full screen on my Mac. I am not sure why, but I haven't figured it out on most of the Charlie Rose videos. Either way, it was an excellent video as always.

Week 6 - Second Life Podcast

There are a lot of topics in the course that make you really think or do a double-take. This podcast caught me by surprise a few times. I could not believe that there was someone at Kelley who was so into using Second Life as a productivity tool that they are writing books about it and seen as a leading authority of the uses of Second Life. I truly thought Second Life was just another gaming application that was similar to The Sims, but more replication of yourself in a virtual world. I think the point was brought up that many users of Second Life are using it for the entertainment aspect. Before hearing this podcast, I would have thought that there was no other purpose of Second Life other than entertainment.

What also blew me away was that Second Life wasn't so nerdy as it could be useful for everyone. Well, it still might be pretty nerdy. 12 million people worldwide isn't a huge percentage of the population. It is probably still thought of as nerdy. I am remin

ded about The Office episode where Dwight uses Second Life a lot and then others in the office join to mock him. In the end they get kind of hooked too.

The biggest question that stands out there for me is how does everyone actually interact in a virtual world to conduct business, for example. If everyone starts to gravitate toward using Second Life as this place to have conferences, meetings, social gatherings, etc., then won't there be other companies that want to join in on the action? How do you standardize a virtual environments for those participating in Second Life to interact with the people who are logged on through a different virtual environment? If a new company creates a better Second Life, there will be difficulty in truly interacting with anyone anywhere. Take cars for an example. There are many different makes and models of cars, but there are standards that must be met for safety, usability, and maintainability reasons. Anyone who can drive a Honda can also drive a Ford, or a Volkswagen, etc. I am not saying that this isn't possible, but other than Microsoft's almost monopolistic domination of OS software in the 1990s, there are many differences and even complete incompatibility issues with software even today. Second Life would have to expand greatly (have hundreds of millions of users) and set standards for other software / virtual environments to interact simultaneously in order to make the vision expressed in the podcast come to fruition.

Week 6 - Advertisers Face Hurdles on Social Networking Sites

So here is another article that makes you question how companies are even making any money on the internet other than selling the tangible and intangible items. This article is old (end of 2008), but I have a feeling that Facebook still has the same issues. Advertisers want to be where the people are so that the people can see their product and want to buy it. People can very easily ignore the ads, especially on Facebook. The only advertisements I have seen on Facebook that are Facebook sponsored are the banner ads on the side. There is so much information on a single Facebook page, and users know where the important information is, so people can easily block out the ads.

I thought it was humorous when the NY Times article brought up the example how an 11-month Fan page campaign P&G was doing with Tide on Facebook generated only 18 submissions. It might have had many "fans" join for a contest or something, but there were only 16 (minus the P&G submissions) or even 15, or 14 (minus The Onion's submissions) for the actual campaign. I have definitely become a fan of a particular company or brand on Facebook just because of a drawing or a free give-away. It is effortless, but if I never remember to remove my fan status I continue to get emails from that company for future promotions, etc. Maybe the Facebook presence does work after all. In that scenario, the company theoretically didn't have to pay Facebook any advertising dollars to run that promotion. It sounds like the online advertising in social networking sites might be a highly debated topic in Marketing department for years to come.

Week 6 - Why Advertising is Failing on the Internet

This article brings full circle the online business model readings we had in the previous week. Maybe this author is right and advertising will eventually fail. I don't think that was his main point, but I do agree that advertising is less effective on the internet than in other media. We discussed the online ad games (Orbitz's "Sink the Putt", etc.). Those are catchy ways to have someone interact with an advertisement, but I think it gets old after awhile and people ignore it.

With so much content out there on the internet, people are going to keep surfing the net to find the information they need, and they will avoid the ads as much as possible. The author makes a valid argument of when you go grab a snack while watching TV. It is always during the commercials unless you really don't care too much about what is on the TV at that moment. I think the most annoying ads out there are the ones that consume most of the webpage and start playing sound on your computer. No one wants that. If I wanted to watch an ad, I would have visited YouTube and found something clever, not annoying. Those ads will drive people away because it frustrates them and they most likely can find the same information or product on a different site.

Advertising might be failing on the Internet, but at some point I think we will have to pay more for enjoying the stuff we do on the web. Nothing (or not much) in life is free and it will probably catch up to us. Maybe companies will realize they don't have a great Internet business model and leave the net, until people start paying. That seems unlikely to me, but that would be an extreme case. I really see advertising sticking around on the Internet in the future, but I think we all will, if we haven't already, block the majority of it out of our consciousness.

Week 6 - Promotion within your community

This read felt a little longer than other articles and excerpts. It covered very good topics for traditional marketers or those new to the internet. I think after taking this class, much of the knowledge gained gives us answers to all these issues with promotion in an online community. The topics the author discussed were "no brainers" to someone who has taken this class. That shows how well we have learned in this subject and how engaging the material is leading up to this final week. I don't have much to say about the content other than I feel confident in my understanding and abilities in this area.

Week 6 - Advertising in Video Games

That was a fun video about advertising in video games. I could really relate as I have played many video games in my time, and even more than I realized that had ads or even were ads. The Orbitz advertisements that are also games are very simple, but addicting. I didn't even remember the ad "Sink the Putt." That brought back a lot of memories. I played that game until I got a score of 4 out of 3 holes. I could never get a hole-in-one on that one hole with the hotel after getting two holes-in-one.

Anyway, this podcast made me realize how much advertising is out there in games. The most obvious advertising to me is in the sports and racing games. I think you see football, baseball, extreme sports, racing, etc. all with advertising plastered everywhere. It is not that farfetched to see it replicated in those types of games. In fact, at this point it would be weird not to see those ads. At the end of the video I think it asked the right questions about if the ads were relevant to the users and not so distracting to take away from the game play. That is how great advertising should always be. It is almost the subconscious messages that direct your customers and not just annoying them with your ads.

Twenty-three and a half hours the average 20-29 year old who plays World of Warcraft plays the game in a week?! That really is ridiculous! There is so much else to do in your week than take an entire day to just play one video game, especially at that age. I guess that is why there are complete economies in the virtual world because people can spend so much time away from the real world. It is sad, but I am sure those same people could find something strange I spend 24 hours per week with my time.

Week 6 - Googlenomics & Kick-off

Well, it finally got here. The last week of the class. What an interesting and enjoyable way to learn. This class made me want to gorget about my other class and just focus on all the exciting material and different ways to express knowledge in this course. This week looks like it has a lot of material focusing on advertising on the internet and in video games. Growing up as a video game junkie, I think this will be rather interesting. I recall when a lot of the video games started having sponsors and ads within the game. I never thought about it too much, but hopefully there will be great insight to the future of advertising. I plan on reading / viewing the following for this last week:

-Read article about Googlenomics (Required)

-View advertising in video games video (Required)

-Read Promotion within our community

-Read Why advertising is failing on the internet

-Read Advertisers facing hurdles on the internet

-View the podcast about Second Life

-View my new favorite online news program Charlie Rose interviewing Google CEO, Eric Schmidt

This seems like a lot to do for the last week of this class, but I am interested, so I will try to get it all complete.

Response to Googlenomics article

The people at Google are extremely intelligent. I thought I knew that when talking to some of them at career fairs and knowing some people who work for them. But to completely change the game of online advertising is something only a few companies could do. Google would always have my vote as number one innovator on the internet because everything it touches seems to be amazing. Google has over 60% of all searches on the internet, which is phenomenal, but taking that data and using it to better serve not only Google, but it's customers and users. That is just smart business sense. The more I can always do at work with data and not just do something by gut feel makes everyone else more confident in what I do. That is exactly what we see with this article. Customers thought it would fail ... miserably, in fact, but Google could back up its second-price auction advertising with actual data, save its customers' money, and turn a greater profit. What is the word above intelligent? Brilliant? Genius? I don't think I have ever been unimpressed by news about Google. This article just solidifies my "Trust Google" beliefs.

Week 5 - Wrap-up

I think this week was very manageable. I know we are all working on our team projects, so this week's material being lighter helped us all out. I really enjoyed the data topic though. I have mentioned that I have a background in Engineering and thus I really found this week's material stimulating. I think the more and more we all become connected through the web and the better the technology becomes, we will see better products for all of us and more specialized products. Is it an invasion of privacy? Maybe, to some extent it is. Overall, I think we will all gain when the companies we buy things from know exactly what we want or how we will react. It is something out of the movies, but our realities will eventually catch up to our dreams.

Week 5 - Virtual Reality Kimberly Clark

I think virtual reality was such a breakthrough that never evolved that much. At the end of the day you couldn't really touch anything, but you could look all around your virtual world. This is truly an advancement. There is no need for heavy goggles and you can actually move around the virtual store. Kimberly Clark really invested a lot into this interactive simulation. It was amazing to see what data they could track and use to change their branding of each product. It seemed like one session with one virtual customer would lead to thousands of data points to analyze their marketing effectiveness. And then 30 minutes later they can analyze another virtual customer's experience and gain an additional data set that helps tailor their product displays to attract their ideal customers. It does seem a little futuristic.

After watching the video, I am wondering if they are selling this technology to their competitors, customers, or even other retail / consumer based businesses. It seems like they could make millions/billions alone with selling this VR testing facility to other companies. I guess they would have to convince companies that VR is the next step in getting better data and information about their customers. Some might think the costs outweigh the benefits. What if Kimberly Clark sold this concept or partnered with a company like Amazon? It could really turn your online shopping experience into very effective shopping that leaves you with little surprises. Now maybe we don't all have VR rooms in our house to go online shopping, but even starting with that sort of environment on your laptop would be interesting. It could also just hamper the online shopping experience as it might be harder to find a specific product as easily as it is today. It really makes you think what will online shopping look like in 15 years.

Week 5 - Web Analytics Reading

We are discussing the data involved with Web 2.0 and its effectiveness in Marketing this week, and we finally have a winner for nerdiest material. This reading was very boring and not too enlightening. This was a 12 page pdf document (23 pages of a book) that only talked about three things: make sure you are asking the right questions, hire really good web people, and centralize your decentralized web analytic group.

The first topic was fairly relevant and something that we (MBA students) should need to know about really analyzing your web data. I think it was mentioned in other articles, but we need to remember it is not just about page hits. I always like to be reminded to think from the customer's prospective and tailor what you are doing to them. I like to add to that statement that you need to really understand who your customer is (internal, external, end user, etc.).

The majority of the article summed up that a company needs to put the money in the people and not just into the tools ... novel concept. Oh, and by the way, just hire the following candidate: . This section was not helpful for most readers, unless they didn't have a good job description posting for a Web Analyst.

The last topic wasn't very eye-opening either. There is the centralized model and the decentralized model. Both have their pros and cons, so just take all the pros from each model and make a hybrid model out of that. It sounds great, but I am sure there are issues with this model too. I saw conflict with the description of the reporting of the Business Unit Web Analysts. The business unit "owns" them, but they work and report through the Web Team. It sounds good in practice, but I think there still will be conflicts on interest. All in all, it still does sound like the best option of the three.

I want to point out that this was the hardest reading I have done so far in this class. The material was too long for the content; the material was dry; and it was physically hard to read due to the poor quality scanning.

Week 5 - Advertisers and Smartphones Article

I guess I am realizing that I am not as worried about privacy as others out there when reading these articles. The first few paragraphs sounded great to me. I think it is cool that advertisers are using all these data and marketing specifically to me. It reminds me of Amazon's recommendations. I have tried many of the recommendations Amazon gives me because others have purchased similar items and then I get to find something new. SWEET! If a smartphone can show me the local eateries based on my past purchases, page views, games, etc. and I get to try something new and different that I might love, why wouldn't I enjoy that?! Doesn't this make our lives easier and more productive?

I see the other side of it too. Humans and greed are a bad combination that always seem to surface. If someone really wants to push something even though it truly isn't in my best interests, then I am not as efficient or productive; and I feel cheated. If people use my information against me that harms me financially, emotionally, or even physically, then no one would want to sign up for it. The mobile web is very powerful, and "with great power comes great responsibility." (Spiderman, ha) But I think we will all get used to this. Sure there will be legislation surrounding smartphones and privacy, but I think the majority will find this type of advertising useful and helpful. In five years, everyone will have a smartphone (or pretty much everyone) and the mobile web with these smart Advertising "Numerati" will be able to make life better for us all ... or really get on everyone's nerves with constant advertising. :)

Week 5 - A Brief History of the Internet

There were many things I had heard about the Internet, but after watching this video I realized I did not have all the facts. It is hard to imagine that the concept of the Internet is over 40 years old and the World Wide Web is over 20 years old. It seems vastly different than what the internet was even 5 years ago. 10 years ago seems archaic to me now. The comments some experts had about the Internet in 2020 don't surprise me that much. You would think that this type of growth would have to slow down at some point, but maybe it won't. To offer a counter argument on the other hand, look at when we landed on the moon; everyone thought we would be driving flying cars and living in space in the not so distant future. We aren't there yet, but the Internet has evolved and continues to evolve at rapid rates.

I guess I never realized there was a difference between the Internet and the World Wide Web. Thanks for the clarification. Being more connected in the future has its positives and negatives, but maybe being more transparent will help all of us understand each other better in the future. It might be harsh at first, but it could be very enlightening. It is fun to let your mind wander about what the Internet will hold for us in 10 more years ... what about 20? Is that even imaginable? I guess we will have to live it to find out.

Week 5 - Kick-off & Numerati

I look forward to this week's material. It looks like it is all about the data we have on the web and how people / companies are using it to market better to customers. Having graduated with an Industrial Engineering degree, and also being a former Six Sigma Black Belt data analysis is something I am very familiar with and I find interesting. It looks like we have a shorter schedule this week. I assume this is so we can work on our group project more to complete it by the end of the week. My plan is to get the majority, if not all, of the material read/viewed in the early part of the week in order to work more on the group assignment. I plan on reading and viewing the following:

-Read the introduction to The Numerati (required)

-View a "Brief History of the Internet" video (required)

-Read Ch. 4 from Web Analytics: An Hour a Day

-Read the article "Advertisers Get a Trove of Clues in Smartphone," The New York Times, March 11, 2009

-View Kimberly Clark and Virtual Reality Simulations video

Reflections on The Numerati reading

This book starts out like a thriller movie or someone's bad identity theft story. It really gets people thinking about how powerful the data out there is and what people could do with it. I sit back and think that these things are already happening and life seems pretty good so far, so why try to fight it. Sure there are the "bad guys" out there who steal identities and try to exploit others. There are also the companies who are using your information to get you more relevant information, products, and services. Maybe that is an invasion of privacy, but maybe it is a really good thing. Instead of wasting time looking for something you want, or browsing through stores (online or in person), marketing will be even more data driven and get exactly what you were thinking of just because of your past history and actions. It sounds weird, but I think we will slowly move to that without even realizing it. I think it sounds pretty good in fact. If my past data can predict better what I want now, let it. Give me exactly what I was thinking or give me access to that new product or service that will help me out or give me the best satisfaction.

The reading did bring up some dark images that reminded me of the movie Minority Report, but we are a way off from that I think. Predicting murders before they happen is a little too Sci-Fi at this point. Noticing trends that will lead to criminal activity, now that might be helpful and make everyone more safe because those people have actually done something or are preparing to break the law. Maybe it is crazy, but in the end if Marketing becomes easier, customers will be satisfied easier too. If my needs and wants are satisfied easier from products and services, then I have more time to do what I love to do, and that sounds pretty nice.

Week 4 - Wrap-up

This week was a very cohesive topic week on Business Models for the internet / social media. I think everything really tied well together. I better understand the current available business models that many of these websites we have been following can implore to actually make some money. I am still baffled at how Twitter intends on making money as their CEO seems like he never has an answer to a question. He doesn't seem to really know what he has with Twitter. Anyway, that will be interesting as to how it will play out in the upcoming months. In my opinion, Twitter is one of the newest "mainstream" social media sites out there and will continue to grow.

I wasn't able to get to the other two readings this week as predicted due to travel, but I think that is OK. The articles and videos started to blend together on this topic. Again, I think this week has had the most cohesive material on a single topic that we have studied thus far. I look forward to next week and working more on our group projects to wrap up this course.

Week 4 - 5 Business Models for Social Media

Here was another take on the internet / social business models. The one that just boggles my mind is making money off of virtual goods. I know there are entire networks, games, second lives, etc. of people out there that live for this stuff, but that is just strange. I understand the concept of having an avatar or a character in a simulation or an ongoing game, like World of Warcraft, that you want to get upgrades for, but the little icons people send to each other through social media does not make sense to me. Why would I want a virtual $2 rose? Sometimes we have to get off the computer, even though it feels like we can't let it go.

I thought the "freemium" model was the way to go until I read that maybe only 5% of your customers will pay for the upgraded version. It is a very difficult line to walk. Your website needs to provide enough content that you get the users, and then you need something that is that much more of an incentive to switch to a higher paid version of your site. I agreed with the author, Jun Loayza; I will probably never pay for the premium version of LinkedIn because I don't see the benefit as of now.

The subscription model of Label 2.0 seemed to work. It was very similar to the "Freemium" model, or maybe the "Drug Dealer" model. They started with a concept for a business on the internet, gave it to the masses for free, got them hooked on it, then switched to a subscription. That would seem to work as long as you can retain your customer base, but you also need to see how you can entice new users in a way that they understand what they will get with the subscription and want more of it.

Overall, I thought this was a good article. I am impressed with the young entrepreneur who wrote this. It mentioned that one could reach him via his blog, but it looks like it is only updated on a monthly basis, which is a little puzzling.

Week 4 - Copyrights and Business Models

This was a pretty dry article. The background information on copyrights were interesting. The economic math in the middle was very dry and hard to follow in how it was written. The business models section was the best part.

I think there is a link between the story behind the initial US copyright laws and the piracy we see happening with digital media. Take the consumer as the US. The US saw the benefits of copyrighting, but also was a developing country and wanted the ability to steal/use ideas from the developed countries of Europe. The consumer understands that if her/his artist, film maker, author, etc. do not make money then they won't produce any new material, but the consumer wants to expand their collection, grow their interest, and test what is out there. I think if a consumer is a big enough fan, they will subsidize the costs of the illegal copies for the consumer who is testing out a new artist, author, etc. The artists who don't make it, probably wouldn't had made it if they were relying on all the lost sales to illegal downloads. Copies build a fan-base. Fan-bases will generate revenue through growth. If the growth isn't there, then the artist will fall. The artist needs to choose which business model or combination of models will work best for her/him. There will always be piracy on the internet (the article showed at least 20% in the highest per capita GDP countries), but the creative people who make the media consumers want will also have to be creative in how they get paid.

Week 4 - Disrupters eCommerce

WowthosewerethefastestthreespeakersIhaveeverseeninarow! I think they were time-constrained.

The data that these people have is incredible. The first speaker understood what data he had and how useful it was for companies. I think we can all give a sigh of relief when we see that only the aggregate is shared and not individual transactions. He spoke a little too quickly for me to truly follow his five minute talk.

I get the concept of 20x200, but it seemed a little irrelevant to the class. I guess it is just a different business model to buy art. It seemed strange to me, but I guess I am not a trained connoisseur yet. I might have to check it out just to see what it is about. Maybe I can spruce up my walls a little bit.

Alice.com impressed me the most. Everything she said about the (supposed) misconceptions regarding buying household items online costing more than going to retail stores was the same reason I hadn't purchased those items online. Their business model is no different than many online retailers of cutting out the middlemen and providing a cheaper cost product with high value to the customer. I am impressed. I am signing up with Alice as we speak (or read I guess). We will see how it goes with the first order.

Week 4 - Will Twitter Ever Make Money?

So, maybe I should have watched this video before posting last, but it sounds like the CEO of Twitter, Evan Williams, is looking at "extracting ... value" from the commercial entities on Twitter. I mean Twitter right now is the free billboard, TV spot, news article, word of mouth, radio ad, newspaper classified, etc. that many companies are using to gain followers and get information out to the public. It really doesn't seem right that a company can get a lot of customers to at least know about a brand and not have to pay for it. I think Evan Williams is doing it right: build the empire, lure everyone in, then figure out how to keep them and get something tangible out of them. Obviously no company would pay just to be on Twitter a couple of years ago when it was starting out. The popularity wasn't there. I think they can make money if they do it right. Give the companies some additional benefit/content they can use to help market themselves to their customers. Then they will pay for it. Good luck Twitter.

Week 4 - Economics of Giving it Away

This is what the tech bubble of the late nineties was, right? I guess I was unaware of the major websites we have been discussing in this class having any financial problems. I thought because there was so much traffic on these websites and just about every website other than them having links to their sites (search through Google, Tweet this, add to your FaceBook page, etc.) that the advertisements alone would bring in the bacon. Well obviously Twitter doesn't have any ads on it, but it took me awhile to realize the Twitter doesn't have ads. I just assumed it did. I think Twitter should charge companies to have official company accounts. I mean it is great to see what is happening at your favorite companies, but they are getting the free publicity out of it. They are in business to make money and should help subsidize the rest of us freeloaders Tweeting.

When FaceBook launched awhile back (I think I joined in the end of 2003), I really thought it would be a college networking site and no more. Now that we have all these companies using FaceBook, and the like, as free advertising hubs, they should be subsidizing for the average user. I could see an argument for a site like FaceBook to start charging for application use, like the iPhone apps, but it probably isn't very likely because people are trained to get these for free. Plus a lot of the apps I see on Facebook are games and there are so many free gaming sites out there (my personal favorite is addictinggames.com).

Maybe we are just not there yet. Maybe television will be extinct as we know it in 5-10 years. I do enjoy Hulu. All these networks made billions by advertising, not by charging for their channel (OK well some of them do, but the big networks don't). Why would we even broadcast through the airwaves in the future, just stream everything via the web and have one place where everyone goes for their own tastes. Then the revenue dollars from advertising will be realized, and you would start seeing more subscription services (maybe even bundles for certain sites, like TV packages now). It is fun to speculate.

Week 4 - Kick-off & Business Models

It is already week 4 and some of the work is starting to pile up. I am finally able to start my first post for the week and it is already Tuesday night, oh well. My goal for this week is to get a better understanding of how these websites and great new ideas on the web make money more than just have a lot of traffic and hopefully either sell a bunch of advertisements or sell the website. In addition to the required reading and video (see my thoughts below), I plan on viewing/reading the following for this week:

-Video - Will Twitter ever make money?

-Reading - The economics of giving it away

-Video - Disrupters: eCommerce

-Reading - Copying and Copywrite

-Reading - 5 Business models for social media startups

There are two other readings that are available for this week, but I am not sure if I will get to them. I will be on the road much of this weekend, which might be good to get more reading in, but could also be a hinderance. We will have to see how it goes.

Business Models on the Web - Article & Professor discussion

Wow, there are a lot of different business models out there, or are there? I read the article that had 9 main business model categories with 4 to 5 sub-models under each category. It seems excessive, but I knew of an example of almost all the sub-models. I think the internet is still relatively new. Sites are changing so rapidly and it is driving changes in the physical world. Who knows when or if the growth will ever slow down, but I would have to imagine the types and numbers of business models out on the net will increase more and more as the internet becomes more useful to all each day. The Infomediary model and the Advertiser model seemed like they could be combined to make for a more diverse site/company. A company could sell the ads and the tracking information that would go along with it to provide not only good ads on the web, but valuable data for the ads' originators.

The unitized purchases from iTunes are just fascinating. That is the best model for the net as it has no physical presence other than the developers to make and update the site/program and the servers to hold all the media. There is more to it than that, but still what a perfect model for the internet. I think that will be the model to strive for in the future. How do you digitize everything else we physically have or at least lessen the need for its physicality? I am not saying the other models won't or don't work, but a model like iTunes really sets the bar (and profit margins) high.

-A side note: This is an interesting survey conducted and people's responses to web advertisements. I found this searching for pictures for my blog http://thenewmediology.com/wp-content/banner-ad.gif

Week 3 - Wrap-up

Well, I got to everything I meant to get to this week. I am out of town this weekend making it more difficult to get to all the material available for the week. I did not experience any technical difficulties, other than finding some wi-fi spots I could connect to. This week, along with the entire class, has shown how powerful social networking can be. I really enjoyed thinking about how expansive our human networks have become with the internet and social networking. Knowledge truly is power and the quicker we can transfer knowledge throughout the world the better our companies, countries, and individual lives will be. I think all the social media is expanding so quickly that many companies need to be looking harder into these trends as to not be left behind.

Week 3 - Charlie Rose and Twitter

So I think it is weird that I am blogging about the CEO of Twitter who is a co-founder of Twitter and Blogger, both of which we are using in this class. The video proved that you don't have to be an eloquent speaker, or even very confident about your product to be a CEO. It was difficult to listen to Evan Williams at times.

Other than that, I think Evan was on the right track when he was talking about what Twitter would be in 5 years. I think it will become more mainstream and more people will be used to tweeting and reading tweets. I had never used Twitter prior to this class and after about 2 days of using it for this class, I signed up my own personal account. Now I find myself adding news sites, sports teams I like, and other friends that I follow just to be up to date. With the amount of class I have had over the last two years, I always felt out of the loop. At least I can browse headlines just to keep up with the world.

I thought it was funny that they decided on 140 characters to fit in the 160 SMS limit. It is funny because he said that SMS text tweeting is not close to being the top medium for tweeting. I assume most people who tweet on their phone do it through the web browser or other app on their phone. Anyway, the program was short but could have been shorter (like 140 seconds) due to the painfulness of listening to Evan Williams stumble over his thoughts.

Week 3 - Ted Talk - Social Media becomes the News

This was a very relevant video (i.e. oil spill, Greece, other major world events). I first would like to state that I love ted.com. It is very cutting edge and very thought provoking. This ted talk shows how quickly we can report the news as every day citizens. Communication happens so much quicker. I recall local newscasts flashing up a phone number to call to report something. It was a tip hotline for them. Now I think people can upload video, post pictures, and text / tweet so quickly that these hotlines have become "so twenty minutes ago." It makes you wonder if we will just become more connected each year that eventually we all will know exactly what everyone else experiences. We have that now with Twitter and other media, but multiply the current technology and imagine the interconnectivity of the human race. Impressive.

The Ted talk also reminded me of the iReport portion of CNN.com. People can upload videos, stories, etc. on a reputable news site. It makes stories feel more real and gives a more inside perspective without as much commercialism.

"iReport is a user-generated section of CNN.com. The stories in this section are not edited, fact-checked or screened before they are posted. ...

iReport stories that have a red "CNN iReport" stamp in the corner have been vetted and cleared. That means they've been selected and approved by a CNN producer to use on CNN, on air, or on any of CNN's platforms."

-www.ireport.com

CNN is confident with this reporting structure. It makes you think that newspapers will go under even more. News sources might be the new newspapers as you can still tweet stories and report on current events. The paper version is probably on its way out.

Week 3 - Making the Transition to the Social Web

After reading chapter 3 of Marketing to the Social Web, I feel like my company (Cummins) is way far behind in social web marketing. We appear to have a face on facebook and twitter, but I don't think we have transitioned to the "New Marketing" described in the reading. I think every company wants to say they are customer focused, and by rights we are, but we don't market to customers as an organic community. Many of the tweets are just links to articles on our websites. The facebook page has mainly a handful of people ranting about one portion of the business. There are plenty of other ways for the company to interact, but it appears they mainly are leaving Facebook alone and copying any story from the main website to Twitter. The company website is a standard company website with no more interaction with its customers than a contact us section.

This reading was somewhat intuitive after reading all the other material for this class, but it really drives the point to me that my company could do better in social marketing. What I found helpful was how the reading almost gave a formula as to how to connect with customers in the "New Marketing" world. It seems so simple, but the company needs to be committed. It looks like Ford is off the mark, or at least using smoke and mirrors to act like it is in the "New Marketing" world. It sounded like they were really connecting to their customers, but then, after the author's experience, it appeared Ford was censoring the posts and other interactions. How do you connect with the customer if you can't rely on their honest opinion? Overall, this was a good read that any "Old Marketing" people should read to start utilizing its best asset: the customer.

Week 3 - The Long Tail

This post will cover both the Long Tail reading and podcast. This is a concept that I think anyone thinks about when they realize that they might not be part of the majority in whatever the context. There are more of us that prefer something else than there are of you who like the popular thing. Can you direct your business to the Long Tail model? Maybe, if you truly can lower / eliminate a lot of the overhead costs. From a retail standpoint, the Long Tail method makes perfect sense. Create a business based on distribution centers and a solid supply chain, and you can create demand for virtually anything, if you offer it via the web. Of course there might not be shelf space, but there is still warehouse space, and you can still stock out of physical items. The digital items are perfect for this model: music, video, ebooks, etc. The only space a company needs is server space and bandwidth capacity, which is very cheap versus a brick-and-mortar store or even a warehouse.

How do you apply the Long Tail theory to a non-retail company? Any manufacturer of a physical product needs to create inventory, design all the features, distribute it, and keep the business profitable. A service company could theoretically hire niche employees to provide any type of service on demand (especially if it could be completed via the web or phone call). Overall, I find this concept hard to apply to other products and services other than the ones mentioned in the reading and podcast. There would have to be a huge shift in business models. Although, I do enjoy the wide variety of options as a consumer for my music, movies, and books. I feel special because I have my own style.

Week 3 - Origins of Social Media

This chapter in The New Influencers really did point out the origins of social media: blogs. Blogs have been around for much longer than any other social media I have heard of, other than maybe chatrooms, but I think those might be dead. Almost all of these readings for this class have had a fascinating story about a company / industry and their interaction with social media. The AOL customer service story was pretty funny. I had to look up the call on the internet, which pointed me to a youtube video from NBC news coverage. I had not heard about this story, but it helps understand how customer service via the telephone has evolved. Almost every customer service call I have made in the past year or so has been overly polite. I think the first line that every representative has to say is, "I completely understand what you are saying." In fact, sometimes they don't and you have to repeat yourself. Either way, it is impressive how much blogs can change the landscape of business (reference the Groundswell).

The descriptions of the different types of blogs was spot on. I think many people appreciate the ability to view comments and posts about topics relevant to them, but I still have a hard time understanding where many of these people get the time to blog constantly (I think this class is the exception to my rule). I also think that blogging has become a hobby. If someone wants to spend their time creating a blog and posting items all day long, then good for them. We know that it isn't profitable until you gain a massive audience, but if you want to blog vs. someone who likes to golf, for example, go ahead. I think I know people who golf more than they actually work, it seems like. The University of Tennessee professor who posts 12 times in roughly 12 hours on vacation(?!), that has to be a passion. I don't follow blogs very frequently, so many of the websites referenced in the reading were new to me. I might have to check a few of them out. This class is a big eye-opener!

By the way, does AOL even exist anymore? They were such a huge player in the internet and now I never hear anything about them.

Week 3 - Kick-off & iPad content

Week 3 Kick-off

This class is moving right along. This is a busy week for me, so I am starting early to try to make it through the week easier. We have an Adobe Connect session this week, and along with that interaction there are three pieces of media that will help us prepare our discussion. These are:

-The New Yorker article (Ken Auletta) focusing about the launch of the iPad

-Ken Auletta on Charlie Rose (video) talking about the article and iPad / ebook / publishing

-NPR Fresh Air segment with Ken Auletta about iPad / ebook / publishing

All of the above are one big topic focused on the new world of books and I have already viewed or read them all. I also plan on reading / viewing the following:

-Ch. 1 "Origins of Social Media" The New Influencers (Required)

-Podcast about the "long tail" (Required)

-Ch. 3 "Making the Transition to the Social Web," in Marketing to the Social Web

-Ch. 1 "The Long Tail," in The Long Tail

-Video: The moment when social media became news

-Video: Charlie Rose with Evan Williams, co-founder of Twitter

I am going to leave out the last two available readings: The Razorfish Social Influence Marketing Report and The Seven Segment System for Online Marketing. If I can get to these I would plan on reading the Seven Segment System, but only skimming the Razorfish article due to the amount of content (50+ pages). Reading the Long Tail chapter will be interesting after viewing the podcast and getting the professors' take on the topic. I think the readings will be so-so, but the videos are always interesting. I am beginning to enjoy the Charlie Rose program more and more after each viewing. I feel like you get a really good insider's prospective from these clips. I thought this class sounded like a lot of work, but actually blogging after reading or viewing this content is pretty straight forward and kind of fun.

Ken Auletta, the iPad, ebooks, and the Publishing companies

I read, viewed, and listened to all the content for the upcoming Connect session on 5/5/10. There was a lot of redundant information, but I feel like I really have a good understanding about the topic. I think Auletta brought up a very good point about the iPad vs. the Kindle that I alluded to in earlier posts. I think consumers want a device that can do everything, so they don't have to buy a million devices, switch back and forth, convert files because of compatibility issues, etc. Consumers also want COLOR!

I think Bezos's concept of the Kindle might not be completely flawed. Readers want to get involved in the book so heavily that they aren't distracted by anything else, but if the story is that good and there is interaction available with color, it would enhance your experience ten-fold. The content discussed how ebooks will eventually have additional media embedded in the books. If you have an iPad, don't you already have that? You can read a story, if a question pops into your head, you can open up the internet and search for content via wikis, youtube, twitter, google, etc. I believe interactive books would be easier and more enjoyable, but the iPad gives you this flexibility already. I know I do this when watching TV. My laptop is always open. My friends who bought an iPad say that it is next to them almost 100% of the time when they are at home. The iPad makes it so easy to access the internet, your books, pictures, movies, etc. that there is no reason not to have it right there for all your needs.

The publishing companies are done. Why, as consumers, would we want to put up with paying more for a book because it needs to go through a theoretically unnecessary middleman? The editing I completely understand. If authors write straight from their minds to the online retailers, and the quality is poor because the book was not edited, then publishers win. If Amazon or even the authors hire an editor to work directly with/for them, then you don't need the publishing company. The NPR piece gave great insight into this concept for me that the middlemen need to add value to the process or product in order to make me willing to pay more for it. There are a few reasons why people still go to stores for some items:

1. That is how they always have done it and it is almost instinct to do so

2. The selection available right now to tangibly experience and select

3. The interaction with the store associates give them confidence in what they are buying (trust)

Once we get comfortable with shopping online more (or the older generations pass), and we all start to trust the online recommendations, security, etc. there won't be much need for the middlemen. I think the consumers will become more involved with the ebook debate and the Publishers will either need to change their model or they will suffer a painful death trying to keep the old ways alive.

Week 2 - Social Marketing Playbook / Wrap-up

I will be honest that I did not read every word in this reading. However, I did scan it pretty thoroughly, and I think it is something that all marketing departments should read. They should read it soon as the information will become less relevant as time moves on. I have mentioned this in previous posts, but I think this reading got the top social websites correctly (for the present) mentioning Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube as the top sites. I really liked the analogy of the internet being one big conversation and companies need to join that conversation by adding value. The jingles and relentless advertising just create an abrupt stop in the conversation that a lot of people will ignore now. After reading some of the tips for how to get your organization on Twitter, Facebook, etc., I realized how far behind my company is in social networking. There was a note about not just posting link after link in Twitter, but have a conversation. My company, Cummins, has a Twitter account and that is pretty much all I have seen posted from them. That brings me to a question: Do all companies need to be socially involved on the internet? Obviously it will help build your brand, but does it make sense for companies that are more business to business sellers / providers to gain fan bases on the web? I think right now companies can get away with it, but in the future they will find their popularity fading.

Week 2 wrap-up

I accomplished all the reading and viewing of material that was available this week, and got it completed a day early. I am feeling good about that, but I know next week has more media to view and my work schedule is much more grueling, so hopefully I will be able to get ahead a little bit. Although some of the content I mentioned was a little boring this week, I still learned a lot from this week's material, and got to search for more things on the web that I can use in the future for work and personal tasks. I am looking at my brand communities I am involved in in a different light. It is neat to think about companies actually trying to make my experience better just by interacting with them online.

I also want to note that I did buy my first t-shirt from threadless.com, and I am very excited.

Week 2 - Google Security

This video was a little boring to me. I did like understanding better how Google's search work and Google's plans for innovation, but it was a little boring. The information at the end really enticed me about language translation and how that could expand to all information being available to everyone. It is an impressive concept and hopefully the technology expands quickly.

After viewing this video, I checked out my google account and looked into the privacy material. I guess I am not one who is overly concerned about the information that is out there on the web. Obviously there have been many movies and stories you hear about people's information being used by "the bad guys," but I am not overly concerned. I think we need to give up some information to make sure we are getting the right products, information, and services that we expect in the future.

Week 2 - Digital Engagement

Wow, there are a lot of sources for video on the web, ranging from silly videos to advertisements. I did not realize how many different websites and groups there were out there involved with video. This reading had so many different websites to post videos, get ads in your website, and connect with others via video that I am going to hold onto this article for future reference (although it might be outdated by then). The two most important pieces of information I took away was the numbers it takes to be successful website as per number of views / hits, and the video success formula.

"'I don't know if you should quit your job, but if you reach 500,000 people a month or more, you will have opportunities to monetize it.'" WOW! To make any money I need a half of one million people to view my video / series in a month to have advertisers even want to join or make enough substantial cash to focus my work efforts on the web?! That is incredible. I guess it makes more sense to me when you hear about all these successful web people who started something as a hobby and it just blew up. It sounds like one would need patience and perseverance in order to try and make it big via the web.

I enjoyed the formula for success for videos via the web (mainly because I have a engineering background and it just seemed suiting to me). The 15% promotion success criterion probably scares a lot of traditional marketers when they read this. The content and metadata did not surprise me as being 65% of the success of a web video. The thumbnail attributing to 20% of the success of a video caught me by surprise. But the more you think about it, when viewing a video, or if you have a selection of videos to choose from, you will look for the most relevant picture (thumbnail) of the topic you want to view. I definitely do this when I am on youtube. The big question is to what extent do you ensure your thumbnail captures audiences without the deceiving them or missing the point of your video. I think you will lose loyalty if you deceive viewers like the Britney Spears video example the reading referenced.