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.