You say you want a Revolution

For those of you who do not follow music, the title of this particular blog entry is from a Beatles's song. The Beatles's were and are still considered one of the most innovative bands in music history.

As people have mentioned already in their posts we are graduating college in 13 days. It has been stated numerous times that our economy is in a recession. The Dollar is weak. The Euro and Pound are stronger than ever. What will happen when we graduate? The election will still continue and Steven Colbert will continue to crack jokes on candidates. But what will we do that will impact society?

The reason why we are the revolution is because we are living through the transformation and proliferation of new media. We are the ones who are creating this change. These are people who are considered the most influential people according to TIME MAGAZINE. I end my final blog posting with this question. What revolution will we soon to be college graduates instigate?

Social Networks Break Outside Internet Slowly....

To my blog readers I am sorry this posting is late but I was home for the Jewish holiday of Passover and was celebrating the holiday.

A few days ago I was loading my pictures onto face book. I then received an im from one of my friends. I could not believe it! You can now see who is online and communicate with them through instant messaging. As the author in this Economist article mentions "the problem with today's social networks is that they are often closed to the outside web." Though outside companies like BMW, movie studios, and other companies market on facebook with creative and interactive campaigns, users do not combine their outside activities on the outside world web onto facebook. This is why igoogle and yahoo are beginning to research ways to combine social networking onto the gmail and yahoo mail. The goal is to combine outside internet use with social networking.

GPS cellphones save the world

I don't know if anyone else is overwhelmed with all the new and innovative social networking technologies out there but I am. After reading this article, I started to think about how many people have access to this technology and how many do not. People who do have internet are sure to have access to all of these modernistic websites but not everyone can afford cell phones that have GPS systems and reach and locate everyone.

In regards to that I have to mention this other article in my blog posting because I literally stumbled upon it. The article focuses on how cell phone companies like Nokia are sending anthropologists to third world countries. They are not marketing to the locals they are there in order to understand the culture and see how their technology can be used in the country. If technology such as the Mobile GPSs system should be targeted to everyone it should be priced at realistic and affordable prices. If this does not happen they will not reach the people they are trying to target.

Social Media Consuming Politics

In a recent New York Times article "Finding Political News Online, the Young Pass It On" writer Brian Steltzer discusses the proliferation of political news on the internet. Young consumers e-mail videos and stories to friends by sending out a chain e-mail or message on social networking websites. They rely on these messages to stay current with the political race. Internet users are adopting a social filter while using mainstream websites and nontraditional media. This provides a constant viral chain and can be an advantage and disadvantage for political canidates.

You can have user generated content like the Obama Girl Video which spread like wildfire across the internet and the Steven Colbert for President facebook group which had more members than any other political candidate. Nevertheless, it can backfire on a candidate. The article "John Edward's Web General" explains how Edwards was attacked by not a politician but by a youtube user. The person posted a speech Edward's made and set it to the song 'I Feel Pretty'.

This demonstrates the capability the internet has to ruin a candidate's chance in the race. Politicians must be viral 24/7 if consumers are viral 24/7. A politician's career can begin to plunder just by the click of send to all friends in a facebook message.

Is who you know the way to go?

Employers are using social networking websites to breach every bracket. It first began with searching potential employees on facebook profile but now there are social networking job websites like Linkedin and Jobster. I find these websites to be useful for employers and employees. They allow recruiters to narrow down and evaluate potential employees. Some of these social networking websites are used as tools. These tools like Linked In help people connect with one another. They are allowing employers to find accurate information about people. However, I still believe in personal and face to face relationships. A person may sound good on paper or screen for that matter but it is not until you meet the individual will you know if the candidate is a valid match.

Even Barack Obama formed a Linkedin page!

Citizen Journalism is on the Rise

Last semester American University had two prestigious journalists speak at the school hardball Helen Thomas and MSNBC White House Correspondent David Greggory. When the floor was open for questions I remember a student asking how each of them felt about web 2.0 and the idea that John Stewart and his Daily Show was more hard news then the traditional nightly news. Gregory quickly answered the question and moved on to the next one.

Does this mean that journalists are actually scared of Jon Stewart? As Helen Thomas has says "there needs to be more hard news" and right now the traditional media is not producing hard news. This is why people are beginning to rely on non traditional media like blogs. News sites are now allowing users to write and report on there websites. The users are now the journalists. Citizen Journalism is the way our news media is now going and will continue to perpetuate.

Virtual Is The New Step to Reality

Remember when your professor said to the classroom that everyone would have to work in groups for the next assignment? A normal response from a classroom of students would be a moan. The professor would then respond how " you have a chance to see what it is like working in the real world." The question I am about to propose is that maybe students and professionals should require training in "virtual group projects". It is sometimes required for people to receive training in team building skills.

But has anyone thought of virtual teamwork skills? It is already hard for people to work together face to face. this article explains how a company who needs to work together online can create a successful team. According to a study in this article, "The Strange Beauty of Virtual Teams", it is more difficult for people to keep focused and on task with virtual groups. If someone is in a virtual group they need to be able to balance their online and offline work accordingly. If they do not, they will affect the rest of the team's project.

Facebook is yesterday, Lets Link in!

I remember the first time I heard about Linked In was this past summer while I was interning in Manhattan. It was the last few days of my internship and some of the supervisors were talking about their linked in profile and who they knew in common. Linked In is the facebook for business professionals. However, it does not have photo uploads and stickers like facebook and myspace. The sole purpose for this business tool is to network and to stay in touch with former colleagues. Linkedin has over 3.5 million usres and it allows people to build networks and to communicate with potential employers and contacts. Many people have even used it as a job search tool and found the job that will lead them to the next step in their career. The majority of students in the class are juniors and seniors. As we begin to look for jobs we should start utilizing this tool. When you are marketing you have to build and protect your brand. You are the brand and you have to sell yourself to employers.

Welcome to the Hotel California.......

While reading the article "You are what your kids" I could not stop laughing when the author talked about his daughter dating. "By the time she starts dating, I wont need to greet her dates at the door with a shotgun, I will have a digital history of tor the public to read. I can have my facebook account on private but it does not mean that the poor kid and know pretty much everything about him, before I meet him". We really have to be careful about what we put online (Especially you boys). The information is an open book people will not find a way to read it. You have to scrutinize everything you do online. A recent study by Pew Research stated that 55 % of online teens have their profiles restricted to a certain extent. This explains why we are so paranoid when posting our lives online because we don't know who will be reading and analyzing. This is why people must restrict everything. They need to think of the computer as a friend but also as an enemy. As the Eagle's song says "Welcome to the Hotel California such a lovely place such a lovely face"

Second Life Takes Over Reality

Second Life takes Advantage of Reality

When I first heard of second life I did not know what to think; a virtual world where you can interact with different users and create a new identity. You are fluctuated into a world with potential love interests, money to use, and even career opportunities and social networking?

We read about how people change their identity. Should they really do this? Now there is social networking and career opportunities on these virtual websites. People can network on Second Life and meet potential employers in the real world. I am personally not a fan of this. I believe in face to face relationships. Face book and social networking websites are great for keeping in touch with people but they make us lose a face to face connection. We need to get back with reality.

Internet Users Are Stupid?

"Welcome to the dark side of Web 2.0, where focused expertise is replaced by rampant amateurism; opinion is mistaken for knowledge; and credentials, degrees, and years of experience mean virtually nothing. Andrew Keen, author of The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet Is Killing Our Culture, is your tour guide"

This is the introduction commentary to Andrew Keen's feature "The Digital Emperor has No Clothes". To summarize, Mr. Keen believes that it is amateurs not professionals who are writing on blogs. I hate to break it to Mr. Keen and Nobel Prize winner Doris Lessing (won Nobel Prize, based her speech on how people on computers "lack culture") but not all the writers and creators of Web 2.0 are stupid. Many are college educated, knowledgable people. In a way he is offending people he probably knows.

I do agree with him when he says how it is smart for the New York Times and other traditional newspapers and magazines to offer themselves online. The New York Times has been a part of my childhood. I would come down for breakfast when I was a child and my dad would be reading the paper and drinking his cup of coffee. I would sit next to him and smell the coffee and the paper. This is the strength of the brand. They turned a threat into an opportunity by offering the paper onlne and immersing the site with blogs, podcasts, and continuous updates.

Customize Nike

katie's blog visually describes going into a Nike store in NY. You can picture the New York subway, the hustle and bustle of the Manhattan streets. You walk into a Nike store and you can customize your own shoe. It is amazing!

Converging the Corporate and Internet World

I have been reading many articles about how the corporate world is trying to mingle with the internet world. Many brands realized that they need to reach their consumers by facilitating the use of social networking and familiarizing themselves with blogs. Companies want to interact with their consumers and find out what their needs are. The way to do this is through social networking, blogging and internet innovation. An example of a company who is leading this trend is Nike shoes when they promoted "experimental marketing"in their stores. They are trying to bring brands to life through the experience. Nike allowed customers to customize their own shoes virtually and in person. Brands like Nike are finding new and innovative ways to combine online and in store consumer and brand interaction. This fortification of customer relationship management and social networking proves how this combination can be a useful tool for marketers when they are trying to reach their consumer.

Corporations vs Bloggers

It really amazes me how the internet has expanded in the past 10 years. The internet is growing more and more each and every day. If a corporation is not keeping up with the latest internet trends they fall behind everyone else.

I am always going to remember the day the Iphone was released. I was working in Manhattan and was walking to the train station. I passed the AT&T store on 5th Avenue and the line was around the block. Now not everyone wants to use AT&T as the provider but Apple made an agreement with them. CNN reported later that month about a high school kid who figured out a way to bypass the AT&T network so people could use other networks. Google hired him in an instant for a summer internship. Companies are nervous and excited about blogs. They finally have realized that they need to be on track of the emerging trends as new start up companies and bloggers are taking over.

Social Networking Around the World

I was recently in Israel for 2.5 weeks for a campus fellowship program with GW, Maryland and American University students. This trip allowed the students from the three campuses to connect and intertwine expanding their own personal network. The reason why we are all keeping in touch is the non-traditional outlet face book.

For the past five years, facebook has grown tremendously. In a recent Newsweek article, Zuckerman said he wanted facebook to become ubiquitous among all age groups. As mentioned in the article many corporations are realizing how social networking can have an influence on strategy implication. Networking helps build and maintain relationships and this is necessary for companies to grow and expand. It is making social boundaries more permeable and visible as managers are beginning to ask who knows what about certain areas.

Papers to Read

newyorktimes. com
latimes.com
wallstreetjournal.com
Three newspapers which should be looked at on an almost daily basis.

The First of Many Posts

I am a student at American University. I am currently taking a class called Social Networking for Business. I felt this course would be relevant to take because it relates to what I want to do with my career goals.

“On my honor, all posts on this blog are my own”