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.