Marketing to Consumers via Web 2.0

Companies are always looking for a way to get to consumers in their desired demographic. As a result, when you want to speak to the millennial consumer, you have to speak to them on their level and in their language. lol. Facebook and MySpace sites which once started out and college age dominated applications are finding a shift in the average user. Now the younger crowd is focused on MySpace while GenX and Baby Boomers are getting into Facebook - and are one of the fastest growing segments.

Additionally, businesses are using this medium to find a way to market to you as well. When you become a fan of a company sponsored page in Facebook, that is almost like signing up for email updates from the company. I have had Kohl's send me specific coupons in Facebook at different times than I receive them from the main e-mail mailings.

This has also shifted to Twitter. What was once an undercurrent is now mainstream. Colleges, businesses, politicians, news and individuals are all trying to get information to you quickly. It is a way to push out new quick thoughts to everyone without the depth of an email. In 140 words or less, you can get a message about your favorite product, company, celebrity etc. Frankly, you could spend your entire day doing this but instead we must make time for data modeling and sql.

Some links to twitter posts I have found entertaining:

tmz.com - for the latest celebrity gossip shows a stream of tweets on the side of their home page

UGA has a number of clubs and programs which post and communicate back and forth via twitter

GPC has follow me on twitter and facebook links

Coca-Cola is auditioning for commercials on Facebook

Check out your favorite company and chances are can follow them or friend them or fan them....

More later,

CH

To Tweet or Not to Tweet....

Thou shalt not tweet the following:

- that you are someone who you are not (impersonation)

- that you are a company when you do not represent them (trademark infringement)

- anything confidential (privacy!)

- any threats against others (violence or threats)

- someone else's materials (copyright infringement)

- something illegal like some do on Craig's list (unlawful use)

- that you are a verified account when you aren't (verified accounts)

- spam

- porn

- hold an account name to keep it from someone who would want that name (squatting)

- sell user names

- send malware

Do any of the above and you will lose your tweeting ability....!

Tweety Bird

Yes, I have tweeted which makes me somewhat of a twit right? Of all of the Web 2.0 applications, this is the one which I have been avoiding like yersinia pestis. Yes folks, the plague. My number one issue with any of these Web 2.0 activities is giving up my anonymity. I have always stayed away from anything which had public viewing and access because, I really do not want to reconnect with some people from years gone by. That is why I just joined facebook this past January and maintain a tighter coterie of people that I have known for years. Maybe I just hate all the spam and extras. Then again, when you are no longer friends with someone or work with some people sometimes it is best to leave the past in the past.

So, of course I set up the account and because I did not want anyone else to get one of my frequent sign ins, I used my own name versus an avatar of some kind. Immediately after setting up the account, the system requested access to my address book - see the privacy invasion starts! Also, with companies and professionals able to access these types of sites, one must be careful to never post anything compromising and also make sure you know your friends well enough to know they will not be doing so as well.

I did like that you can protect your profile - much like facebook and block people at will!!!! I did find a couple old friends who are tweeters and have them locked in so I can follow their tweets.

At this point in time, I would prefer to reserve judgment as to how much I will use this technology. I already have too little time on my hands and have not been able to catch up with everyone on facebook, now to tweet as well....that will be decided in time.

More later,

CH

Wiki-Wonka

Wiki me this....Wiki me that....

So, I have been asked to do a Wikipedia edit this week. What has been so hard for me is my thought that Wikipedia is a garbage in-garbage out device. Anyone can post and anyone can edit. While I am not so presumptuous to say that I am an expert about any given subject, there are several where I can usually hold my own. I say usually because when I went searching for the topic to edit, I was met with PhD level knowledge about everything I encountered. Either what I knew was already included or the article was so sophisticated that I did not want to disrupt their flow.

It is said that a generalist is someone who knows a little about a lot of subjects but does not master any. I guess from my experience that I am truly a generalist. I'm the one in the family who gets the trivia right or they threaten to send to Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader? but all my factoids are already known. I am going to keep looking for that miniscule area where I can impact and post my changes....

Although I still view Wikipedia as a lesser academic resource, I think it is truly perfect for finding out information quickly and then sourcing elsewhere for more academic pursuits.

More later...

Update: I found a subject which although I don't have all the citations, I lived thru and have contributed a post. My family owned a toy store during the 1980s and stuffed animals are near and dear to us. I posted to the Gund page - Gund is a manufacturer of premium stuffed animals most notably known for Snuffles. So, I had success adding my two cents to this site.

CH

Phantom of the Opera

Last week, we had an absolutely enthusiastic and inspiring evening with Molly Holzschlag. Her passion for standards and web development were infectious. I even felt like I could do it too! That is until I went back to the drawing board and then determined, somethings are really just not my forte. I rented several library books and have buried my head in them ever since.

What I found to be so interesting is the issues with Microsoft Internet Explorer. Having come from a supportive view over the past 10+years of 'it is ok that Bill Gates owns everything' to now knowing there is a concerted effort to change what I am seeing on given websites has me beginning to get a bit angry. I have stayed away from my windows machines and am deciding at this time, what next. So, I downloaded Safari onto a Windows computer, take that Microsoft!

I have never been a fan of anything that has to do with Mozilla or Firefox as every chance I had to use them, they did not perform accurately nor did they work like I needed at the time. Yes, I have a distaste for open source and free goods; probably too much conditioning from using exchange servers and years of internet explorer.

Now, I have been using my mac with Safari exclusively and have to ask why do I need a second browser at this point? It works for my basic needs and having another seems like wasted space.

My past / present interaction with Opera has actually been as the system to house testbanks. Instead of using another application, the textbook manufacturers are using the Opera browser as the vehicle to let me choose test questions for tests. Additionally, it was tied back to the publisher to link to the textbook's website.

So, I am willing to look further but still am not really sure why I would need another browser....

More later.

CH

Greetings from the Abyss

Hello Everyone,

I have to say last week's class was great - I love to go through and study business models. Michael Porter in particular was someone who I often read. Value Chain anyone??? Maybe coming soon. The Blue Ocean strategy and Red Ocean strategy had for me intriguing potential - but really felt like it could only apply with a new market or new industry option - lacking in real players or on the other side it would work for the open ended question - what if we could - much like those who created new technologies in Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works years back.

Conversely, after enjoying time going down memory lane with the Management models, I entered into information overload again......

Last week I talked about how much I loved Google reader. Having access to so much information is invigorating as I am a sponge but getting the aggregation to work the way I need it to, is not what I expected. I have subscribed to many blogs and numerous business and technology sites but there are so many things to read, I wish it could filter for me. I even added something from my old industry to have something to lighten the mental load. I am struggling a bit with all of the technologies at one time. If I spent all the time needed reading the feeds, blogs and other research, I would no longer have time to sleep, teach or do anything else. Are we not approaching a true information overload point? When to say when? It seems to become all consuming and perish the thought if the power went out and the wi-fi became inactive.

Still struggling, I am not even sure how to get to an OPML file and don't get me started on HTML.....got through the first part fine but then felt like I missed a few classes before the next level.

I'm drinking energy drinks and vigorously learning from everyone and know there is a magic point when it will all click. Until then, I will remain lost in the abyss - reading the RSS feeds on Google reader.

More later,

CH

A Week of Firsts!

Greetings Everyone,

This has been a week of firsts for me. I bought my first Apple brand anything, listened to my first podcast,

Getting my first Mac - I was the one who always said Apples are for eating and make a good pie. However, now I can honestly say, that there are some extremely cool and powerful tools that I now can access with the computer and I look forward to spending quality time over the weekend getting to know the MacBook Pro. I wish I could say that the technical challenges that I encountered - such as not having printer drivers work, not having add on software items ready from Adobe for the Snow Leopard OS, plus what was not working for MySQL is a first. However, I remember extremely well how bad it was when transitioning from Windows 3.1 to Windows 95 as well as subsequent versions. In a couple weeks it should begin to work itself out.

Finally, I have an iPod. I have fought it for so long and then of course, downloaded over 40 freebie aps the night I got it. Another project for the weekend - figure out how to convert nearly 8 GB of Windows wma files to iTunes.

My first podcast. Interesting. I am a fan of listening to talk radio and the news and I can see how this could be really useful having directed technical information sent to me. However, I have been old school so long. I look up the news that interests me and read the story instead. Perhaps that will change in coming weeks.

My favorite find of the week - Google Reader! Since I like to follow certain topics, I really appreciate this ability to have a centralized location that streams in the info I want to see. I added a number of subscriptions that I can check on daily or every few days to keep up with what I find important.

My other first - Element K has issues sometimes when running when I am connected wirelessly - acts worse than dialup! But, finally figured that out today and had a remarkable difference.

That's all for me this week. Playing catch up over Labor Day weekend wish everyone a safe holiday!

CH