Social Media Uses By John Deere
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Thursday, February 25, 2010
Video Referenced in Class
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Just wanted to post the video which I mentioned in class on Tuesday.
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
An Open Letter to the Faculty/Staff of Iowa Wesleyan College
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Dear Faculty/Staff of IWC,
First, I'd like to let you know on behalf of all of the students at IWC that we appreciate everything you do for us. I know that it's not the pay or location that keeps you around here doing your job, but your love and passion for teaching or just helping in higher education and I'd like to thank you all for making our college experience here great.
That being said, I'd like to comment on the number of e-mails which you send out to the entire Iowa Wesleyan College student body. I understand many of you have very legitimate issues and events that must be communicated to students, but I ask that you PLEASE limit the amount of e-mails which are sent.
When I held the Student Government Association presidency, I had discussions with many professors about how often students check their IWC e-mail accounts, and why this number is typically very low. I always answered with the overload of new e-mails (about 5-12 on any given day), the subject is the main factor. Plain and simple: If the subject of the e-mail does not apply specifically to the student, they will not read the e-mail. Now if each student checked their e-mail once a day and had an 50% decrease in new e-mails from the IWCStudents list, this would allow for us to be able to give each e-mail the time to go through and read the body, regardless of who the subject is directed at.
My suggestion to the Faculty and Staff of Iowa Wesleyan College is to think about a few things:
Yes an e-mail is the easiest way to communicate with us, but is it the most effective? Be creative in your promotions (granted this doesn't apply to certain departments where important information needs to be cut and dry. I couldn't really see Ed Kropa "sidewalk chalking" about the last day to withdraw from a class). Like I said, we get a lot of e-mails. If you want us to take your class, come to your event, or find your glove (see below), try something else on top of e-mails.
Missing items shouldn't be e-mailed about. The campus lost and found is in Student Life (Colleen is a regular Sherlock Holmes it seems... at least for my keys), so if one finds an item it should be brought there. And if you're looking for an item, go there first. Simple? Yep.
I shouldn't get e-mails about a major or course which I'm not in. There is a section in the portal for professors to e-mail course specific users. If you don't know how to do it, I bet the I.T. department would be gladly to help out.
If you send out a lot of e-mails about smaller things, think about doing a weekly "newsletter" of sorts. That way instead of 5 e-mails during the week, just one on Monday gives you a better chance than seeing your name 15 times in my e-mail box. Odds are we'll delete all of them, even without looking at the subject.
Like I said, this e-mail isn't to attack you all and I hope it doesn't come off as that. This is my effort to help Iowa Wesleyan a better place for the students and the faculty/staff; We get less clutter in our e-mails, thus giving your e-mail a better chance of being read and having more time focused on it.
Again thanks for all of your continued time and effort put into making our college experience the best it can be!
Sincerly,
Joe Calderone
On behalf of the students of Iowa Wesleyan College
First, I'd like to let you know on behalf of all of the students at IWC that we appreciate everything you do for us. I know that it's not the pay or location that keeps you around here doing your job, but your love and passion for teaching or just helping in higher education and I'd like to thank you all for making our college experience here great.
That being said, I'd like to comment on the number of e-mails which you send out to the entire Iowa Wesleyan College student body. I understand many of you have very legitimate issues and events that must be communicated to students, but I ask that you PLEASE limit the amount of e-mails which are sent.
When I held the Student Government Association presidency, I had discussions with many professors about how often students check their IWC e-mail accounts, and why this number is typically very low. I always answered with the overload of new e-mails (about 5-12 on any given day), the subject is the main factor. Plain and simple: If the subject of the e-mail does not apply specifically to the student, they will not read the e-mail. Now if each student checked their e-mail once a day and had an 50% decrease in new e-mails from the IWCStudents list, this would allow for us to be able to give each e-mail the time to go through and read the body, regardless of who the subject is directed at.
My suggestion to the Faculty and Staff of Iowa Wesleyan College is to think about a few things:
Yes an e-mail is the easiest way to communicate with us, but is it the most effective? Be creative in your promotions (granted this doesn't apply to certain departments where important information needs to be cut and dry. I couldn't really see Ed Kropa "sidewalk chalking" about the last day to withdraw from a class). Like I said, we get a lot of e-mails. If you want us to take your class, come to your event, or find your glove (see below), try something else on top of e-mails.
Missing items shouldn't be e-mailed about. The campus lost and found is in Student Life (Colleen is a regular Sherlock Holmes it seems... at least for my keys), so if one finds an item it should be brought there. And if you're looking for an item, go there first. Simple? Yep.
I shouldn't get e-mails about a major or course which I'm not in. There is a section in the portal for professors to e-mail course specific users. If you don't know how to do it, I bet the I.T. department would be gladly to help out.
If you send out a lot of e-mails about smaller things, think about doing a weekly "newsletter" of sorts. That way instead of 5 e-mails during the week, just one on Monday gives you a better chance than seeing your name 15 times in my e-mail box. Odds are we'll delete all of them, even without looking at the subject.
Like I said, this e-mail isn't to attack you all and I hope it doesn't come off as that. This is my effort to help Iowa Wesleyan a better place for the students and the faculty/staff; We get less clutter in our e-mails, thus giving your e-mail a better chance of being read and having more time focused on it.
Again thanks for all of your continued time and effort put into making our college experience the best it can be!
Sincerly,
Joe Calderone
On behalf of the students of Iowa Wesleyan College
Monday, February 22, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
"Eye"'ll be asking for this from Santa
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This post doesn't have much to do with social media, but something that is pretty interesting and (to me) amazing.
Eye Controlled Earphones
The concept is since your eyes have an electrical potential, the headphones have tiny electrodes that picks up the change in electrical activity from which way your eyes move. Look left two times in succession to go back a track, and right two times in succession to skip a track, and so on for the other controls (looking clockwise/counter clockwise changes volume, etc).
This to me is extremely interesting, as technology is now beginning to morph into the body's natural movements and functions. What could be next? A blue tooth molar cap that lets you talk to people from your phone through it? A massager that dectects when your stressed and adapts instantly?
To me this use of technology is amazing. The slow adapters may see it as unneccesary or creepy, but think about what would our great grandparents would have said about Twitter, which the public is slowly but surely beginning to adapt to.
Eye Controlled Earphones
The concept is since your eyes have an electrical potential, the headphones have tiny electrodes that picks up the change in electrical activity from which way your eyes move. Look left two times in succession to go back a track, and right two times in succession to skip a track, and so on for the other controls (looking clockwise/counter clockwise changes volume, etc).
This to me is extremely interesting, as technology is now beginning to morph into the body's natural movements and functions. What could be next? A blue tooth molar cap that lets you talk to people from your phone through it? A massager that dectects when your stressed and adapts instantly?
To me this use of technology is amazing. The slow adapters may see it as unneccesary or creepy, but think about what would our great grandparents would have said about Twitter, which the public is slowly but surely beginning to adapt to.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Blog Maverick Analysis
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1. Blog Maverick
2a. The author is an individual, Mark Cuban. He is a famous personality for owning the Dallas Mavericks and a very successful entrepreneur
b. He does show his bias, but states that it is his bias for the most part. He also acknowledges when he can't discuss certain aspects (if he did in companies he's an investor in, he could have a legal problem).
c. It's a combination of both personal and professional. Cuban posts certain things dealing with his professional life, such as when he had charges brought to him by the S.C.C. for insider trading, but also with various aspects of his personal life and ideas that he has brought up. At one point, he offered a challenge to individuals with what he called "Open Source Bail Out" where he offered the best entrepreneurial ideas a grant to get the business off the ground.
3a. This blog is generally focused on the business world. Cuban tends to appeal to business men and people interested in forming a business, giving various ideas and tips to be more successful. He discusses a variety of topics in business and media, for example explaining many times what newspaper companies will have to do to regain ground over electronic media (still appealing to the business world).
b. The content is very informational, mainly with business and technology (Cuban is a key investor in an HD television network and other high tech areas) but is also pretty entertaining. He responds to many critics through his blog in a very smart way, but also shows his sense of humor. If you watch the NBA games where you see him, you can tell he's pretty outspoken and doesn't mind the fines from the NBA.
c. The content is updated about once a week, but is pretty sporadic without a specific updating regimen.
d. Cuban generally creates new content, unless replying to content.
4a. The blog has been around since 1999 (Link here)
b. Not much is revealed in a search through the archive. It's more of what exactly he's been doing now. Replying to critics and generating his own information and advice for entrepreneurs, hoping that his advice can work for everyone else too.
5a. Sites that appear in his blog roll are sites he either invests in or sites that are something he has created.
b. The community he tries to associate himself with is a community of success. All the links are to currently successful projects of his, whether or not he's the face of the companies/organizations.
c. Many different types of sites link to this. The majority is fans of the Dallas Mavericks using his blog for information on the Mavericks situation.
d. This site does not use trackbacks.
6a. Cuban does use comments to support two-way communication. In his open source bailout project, he actually only accepted submissions through comments. This allowed for others to gain advice and plans from other's plans and then modify to make them work for themself.
b. There are MANY comments on this blog. Cuban does not seem to respond to comments on his blog.
c. Yes, many of the same people do comment.
d. I can say that most people read this for either tips on how to become a better business person or curiosities about the Dallas Mavericks.
7a. The design is pretty straight up and almost boring. Other than the title at the top, there rest is text. I think it adds to the site because Cuban is a no-nonsense type of guy. The point of the blog is his words, not a flashy design.
b. Very easy, because there is only text. He uses the text for his blog and then few links on the right and that's about it.
c. I agree with it. He shouldn't want to impress people with the design, his ideas are the impressing part.
8a. I would rank it as a definite 5.
b. Cuban is a VERY successful man with millions of dollars. His advice can always be useful. He not only uses advice that he used to become successful, but almost thinks outloud on certain aspects, so you can almost gain a business idea from his blog. The entertainment value is pretty high, because you may see something on the news about Mark Cuban, and shortly after he'll respond in an almost personal sense for everyone to read. I hopefully one day will become successful in the business world, and who knows, maybe it'll be from a variety of things I gained from Mark Cuban.
2a. The author is an individual, Mark Cuban. He is a famous personality for owning the Dallas Mavericks and a very successful entrepreneur
b. He does show his bias, but states that it is his bias for the most part. He also acknowledges when he can't discuss certain aspects (if he did in companies he's an investor in, he could have a legal problem).
c. It's a combination of both personal and professional. Cuban posts certain things dealing with his professional life, such as when he had charges brought to him by the S.C.C. for insider trading, but also with various aspects of his personal life and ideas that he has brought up. At one point, he offered a challenge to individuals with what he called "Open Source Bail Out" where he offered the best entrepreneurial ideas a grant to get the business off the ground.
3a. This blog is generally focused on the business world. Cuban tends to appeal to business men and people interested in forming a business, giving various ideas and tips to be more successful. He discusses a variety of topics in business and media, for example explaining many times what newspaper companies will have to do to regain ground over electronic media (still appealing to the business world).
b. The content is very informational, mainly with business and technology (Cuban is a key investor in an HD television network and other high tech areas) but is also pretty entertaining. He responds to many critics through his blog in a very smart way, but also shows his sense of humor. If you watch the NBA games where you see him, you can tell he's pretty outspoken and doesn't mind the fines from the NBA.
c. The content is updated about once a week, but is pretty sporadic without a specific updating regimen.
d. Cuban generally creates new content, unless replying to content.
4a. The blog has been around since 1999 (Link here)
b. Not much is revealed in a search through the archive. It's more of what exactly he's been doing now. Replying to critics and generating his own information and advice for entrepreneurs, hoping that his advice can work for everyone else too.
5a. Sites that appear in his blog roll are sites he either invests in or sites that are something he has created.
b. The community he tries to associate himself with is a community of success. All the links are to currently successful projects of his, whether or not he's the face of the companies/organizations.
c. Many different types of sites link to this. The majority is fans of the Dallas Mavericks using his blog for information on the Mavericks situation.
d. This site does not use trackbacks.
6a. Cuban does use comments to support two-way communication. In his open source bailout project, he actually only accepted submissions through comments. This allowed for others to gain advice and plans from other's plans and then modify to make them work for themself.
b. There are MANY comments on this blog. Cuban does not seem to respond to comments on his blog.
c. Yes, many of the same people do comment.
d. I can say that most people read this for either tips on how to become a better business person or curiosities about the Dallas Mavericks.
7a. The design is pretty straight up and almost boring. Other than the title at the top, there rest is text. I think it adds to the site because Cuban is a no-nonsense type of guy. The point of the blog is his words, not a flashy design.
b. Very easy, because there is only text. He uses the text for his blog and then few links on the right and that's about it.
c. I agree with it. He shouldn't want to impress people with the design, his ideas are the impressing part.
8a. I would rank it as a definite 5.
b. Cuban is a VERY successful man with millions of dollars. His advice can always be useful. He not only uses advice that he used to become successful, but almost thinks outloud on certain aspects, so you can almost gain a business idea from his blog. The entertainment value is pretty high, because you may see something on the news about Mark Cuban, and shortly after he'll respond in an almost personal sense for everyone to read. I hopefully one day will become successful in the business world, and who knows, maybe it'll be from a variety of things I gained from Mark Cuban.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
The Power of Twitter
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In Wes' case study last week, he discussed the way airlines use twitter to interact with consumers to address user's complaints and let consumers know what's going on. This past weekend though, Southwest was caught receiving some intense and very publicized complaints from a famous voice, via twitter.
Kevin Smith (writer, director, actor, etc.) of Mall Rats and Jay & Silent Bob fame, had purchased two tickets (a "customer of size" policy required him to do so) but upon standing by for an earlier flight he only had once seat. Southwest then told him after he had boarded the flight he would not be able to stay due to limited space and, well, him being larger.
He became irate and went to the fastest spreading media outlet: Twitter. Posting comments such as "Dear @SouthwestAir I know I'm fat, but was [the] captain […] really justified in throwing me off a flight for which I was already seated?" and various explicit tweets directly to the Southwest customer relations twitter page.
Twitter caved and apologized many times, to which Smith never accepted, nor did he accept their $100 voucher gift.
This shows how intense the pressure of the public is, and how you can gain the attention of many extremely quick with Twitter. Everyone has this on their phone, laptops, desktops at work, pretty much practically anything with an screen and a microchip supports Twitter, and now Southwest is suffering VERY bad P.R. with this situation. Kevin Smith's tactic was very effective and it doesn't seem Southwest is going to be able to get out of this situation without egg on their face.
I do believe this was done to the extreme, in after looking at Kevin Smith's twitter page he has posted nothing but aspects of this situation constantly (to a point of annoyance) and his true motives, a new movie coming out, may have shown through.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
PRSA Ethics
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In reading the PRSA website, they define many aspects of Public Relations and how one should conduct PR in a professional manor. I have taken a business ethics class and a general ethics class, and it seems that most of the things that they discuss are second nature to most people. What comes in trouble is when the public relations professionals take this for granted and manipulate their power in a negative manor. Especially looking at the ethics section on the page, you can see that the PRSA do not take ethics lightly. They want to be a reputable association that members can take pride in being a member, even allowing for people who have any confusion on the issue to confer with the Board of Ethics and Professional Standards.
This is hugely important, especially when all that the public sees is put out by the P.R. department similar to what my industry will (hopefully) see as a marketing executive. Marketing is very similar to public relations, while P.R. tends to be more hindsight. As a marketer, I need to have very strong ethics and not be there to mislead the consumer but inform and promote. Not only is it ethically wrong to deceive the consumer it's illegal and very very costly to do so.
What struck me as pretty interesting is how big of advocates for this profession the PRSA is. They post many various rebuttals to any media outlet that poses a discussion towards the profession, professionally and curteously informing the public into the truth. I did not know that anyone did this but I think that it's very good for an industry to be able to show how successful and beneficial their members are.
This is hugely important, especially when all that the public sees is put out by the P.R. department similar to what my industry will (hopefully) see as a marketing executive. Marketing is very similar to public relations, while P.R. tends to be more hindsight. As a marketer, I need to have very strong ethics and not be there to mislead the consumer but inform and promote. Not only is it ethically wrong to deceive the consumer it's illegal and very very costly to do so.
What struck me as pretty interesting is how big of advocates for this profession the PRSA is. They post many various rebuttals to any media outlet that poses a discussion towards the profession, professionally and curteously informing the public into the truth. I did not know that anyone did this but I think that it's very good for an industry to be able to show how successful and beneficial their members are.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
E-mail in the decline... still?
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Email is Far From Dead
I recently read this article from MediaShift. Dorian Benkoil discusses on how constantly for the past five years, news outlets have claimed that media is slowly becoming outdated. Certain social media platforms are taking over, and society prefers the "more" instant version of IM that such outlets as Facebook and Myspace have implemented, or the instant service Twitter provides.
Dorian is very right in the sense that these alternatives are very competitive, but also correct in saying e-mail just seems to be a safer source. People tend to think of their e-mail password as a lot more sensative than their social media passwords, and the fact of attatchments and such that are directly from one's server to another (for the most part) gives users confidence.
The use of e-mail with Facebook, Twitter, LinkdIn, etc gives e-mail more value, as you can check your e-mail once and see all the notifications from each service. It serves as a very simple aggregator, using the platform's preference options to determine what exactly you're notified of.
E-mail is definitely not on the decline, as everyone's been saying for the past five years but is proven to be the most secure form of communication and allows for users to aggregate all of their notifications into a simple subject line on their inbox.