Virtual World Blog Posting

This week we played with a virtual world that put you in scenarios with natural disasters. Your goal was to save as many people as possible.  The virtual world was not like the popular second life or world of warcraft but it did give you the control of a virtual villages fate. I thought the scenarios were interesting. Scenarios that were in the game included flooding, hurricaines, tsunamis, and a wild fire. My favorite scenario was the wild fire because I kept the whole town alive! It was cool that you had to use your brain to think of the best way to protect the people. I would say the graphics and maps were kinda lame. They could have given you better graphics and options to save people. I had a few top scores and did play the game at home, but only to finish the scenarios I did not finish in class.

Marketers could use marketing basically everywhere through out virtual worlds. They can set up real life business's in the worlds such as Macys, Mcdonalds, and Best Buy. Buying pretend virtual products in these stores will get you to think about these business's and possibly influence you to go visit the store and make a purchase. It is a good way to target a younger audience that is easily influenced by games and what they see in them. If the buckle is in my favorite video game, then it must be a good place to buy clothes. If a teen see's a Pepsi machine in a game, it may drive them to go get one to drink. Billboards could be displayed through out a game in appropriate places. For example, Placing a auto insurance ad in a virtual car lot.

At first I thought marketing in virtual worlds is silly, but its no different then product placement in movies and television. It can be useful and influence many. People who are easily influenced by things they enjoy are the key factor for marketers. It can be supported by other social media by being allowed to share your virtual world with your social media sites. If it is shared, other people see the information and what is being marketed in the virtual world. The more people who see it, the better.

Review site "Yelp"

 

Yelp connects people with great local businesses. Yelp was founded in San Francisco in July 2004. Since then, Yelp communities have taken root in major metros across the US and many other countries. Yelp had a monthly average of 86 million unique visitors in the fourth quarter of 2012. By the end of fourth quarter 2012, Yelpers had written more than 36 million rich, local reviews, making Yelp the leading local guide for real word-of-mouth on everything from boutiques and mechanics to restaurants and dentists. People looking for the best places to go utilize yelp when making decisions. 

  Some of these Pro's include:

• You can find basic information including the hours of a business, their contact information and their website using the site.
• You can search for types of businesses in your area that you might not easily find on other local search sites
• You can read the opinions of other people who have gone to the place of business which can give you an impression of what it would be like to go there and whether or not you would like the place.
• You can initiate discussions through the "talk" section of Yelp which lets you ask for specific or more detailed information about the business.
• You can add your own opinions to improve the site and to support the local businesses that you really like.

 Some of the con's include:

• People get paid to write reviews on Yelp. They aren't supposed to but businesses have been known to pay writers to write positive reviews on sites like Yelp in order to increase business. This means that you may be reading something that you think is honest when really it was only made up.
• The opinions on Yelp are just opinions. Many people take the information and advice on Yelp as though it is factual. It is important to remember that everyone's standards for "quick service" or "clean rooms" differs and that you can't assume a place is good or bad because one person says so. 
• Many places only have one rating, making their grade appear excellent or terrible.
• There is often misinformation on Yelp. Sites like Yelp and Wikipedia let anyone put information on them. For the most part, the group moderates each other to make sure that information is correct. However, incorrect information does appear on sites like Yelp.

I chose Yelp because it was my go-to guide when I moved to South Florida. It influenced my decisions on restaurants and take out when I did not feel like heading over to Winn-Dixie or Publix.

I chose to do my review on Clearwater Chiropractic and post it onto Yelp's website. I have been wanting to do a review for this business because I truly feel they are awesome people. The office ladies and the Chiropractor are all very friendly and professional above and beyond average service, in my opinion. Having never been to a chiropractor before recently, they have set the standards high. The review was easy because I feel positive and strong about it. I feel it is credible because it adds on to the other positive reviews this business already has!

 http://www.yelp.com/eau-claire-wi-us

Instagram media sharing

Instagram was launched in October 2010 by co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger. Instagram is a fast, beautiful and fun way to share your life with friends through a series of pictures. Simply snap a photo, then choose a filter to transform the look and feel. Pictures are shared on Instagram, and can be easily uploaded to other social media platforms including Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr. It has been commonly referred to as “the Facebook of photography.”

Instagram in Statistics

• 100 million Monthly Active Users
• 40 million Photos Per Day
• 8500 Likes Per Second
• 1000 Comments Per Second

 

Instagram Pro's

• Fast, easy, and efficient photo-sharing. 
• Status updates, expressed visually.
• You have the option of also posting the photo onto other popular social networking sites
• It allows you to take world-class photographs without having to carry anything besides your mobile phone, which most people carry with them everywhere anyway. The convenience of not having to carry around both a digital camera and your cellular phone is definitely something that people who heavily document their lives can appreciate.

Instagram Con's

• It takes away the creativity of photography
• Many are also concerned with the policy that Instagram adheres to when it comes to the privacy of and rights of sharing the photos that are posted onto the application. 
• Unbeknownst to many, Instagram reserves the right to reproduce, reuse, and redistribute any image that users upload onto their feed. This not only creates a privacy concern, but also a financial one. This means that any photo posted onto the application may be used in advertisements and marketing campaigns both without your consent and without any sort of compensation.

I believe ANY company can successfully use Instagram for one reason or another. I will pick on Bridgeport because it's where I am almost everyday. Bridgeport could take photo's of new products, items, and employee event's to help promote the store. It is an awesome way to display new merchandise, show new specials, and engage customers in the events of the store! It is just another social media tool that any business could use to their advantage by showing fun photo's.

Social Media Privacy Policies

 

The first privacy policy I decided to check out was Instagram. Instragram was recently under fire for policy changes! On December 18, 2012, Instagram released a new policy that angered users around the world. This was because the main point of the policy announced that it has the right to sell users’ photographs without payment or notification. The policy was set to take effect on January 16, just three months after Facebook completed the acquisition of Instagram. Instagram has since changed their policy and it was updated on January 19th 2013. They are still sharing your info with anyone and everyone, but your photos will not be sold out to third party's! That was a huge concern for celebrities wanting to be a part of the service. The deal was you had to delete your account and start a new one to  be safe from the photos being sold.

 The second policy fact from Instagram that surprised me was they have a childrens policy which states the following:

Instagram does not knowingly collect or solicit any information from anyone under the age of 13 or knowingly allow such persons to register for the Service. The Service and its content are not directed at children under the age of 13. In the event that we learn that we have collected personal information from a child under age 13 without parental consent, we will delete that information as quickly as possible.

I wonder why its only under 13? There were many parts of the policy that were typical including:

A device identifier may deliver information to us or to a third party partner about how you browse and use the Service and may help us or others provide reports or personalized content and ads. 

Following termination or deactivation of your account, Instagram, its Affiliates, or its Service Providers may retain information (including your profile information) and User Content for a commercially reasonable time for backup, archival, and/or audit purposes.

Next I took a look at Apple's privacy policy and surprising to me I found the following policy:

 We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we learn that we have collected the personal information of a child under 13 we will take steps to delete the information as soon as possible. I guess that one is pretty common....

I also thought this was interesting and surprising:

In the U.S., we may ask for your Social Security number (SSN) but only in limited circumstances such as when setting up a wireless account and activating your iPhone or when determining whether to extend commercial credit.

The two typical elements of the policy are they may Apple may collect information on people you connect with on their devices and they have access to your location basically at all times.

My feelings on privacy policies are basically every company needs one. A company does not really have any way around that. A company's social media policy would really have no effect on whether I would work for them or not as long as it was ethical. I would not want to stand behind a company doing shady things beyond reason with peoples information.

LinkedIn

I have finally created my LinkedIn profile. It was important for me to just basically list what I have done in the past and my interests. I wanted to mention the type of job experience I have had as well as what type of duties I preformed at my previous jobs. It is very easy for people to see I have a lot of phone, customer service, sales, and retail experience. Even though I am navigating from some of those types of jobs, the skills I have learned are important for any position as well as everyday life. 

 My philosophy on LinkedIn is I have created it for a class and that's about it. I believe it was something I wanted to wait on, until I graduated, entered the job world, or established exactly what I want to do with myself. I would say I am a "professional" LinkedIn user. I prefer to contact with people I know or in similar industries. I hope Linked in helps me in the future when I need it, at this point I have no expectations of the site. It is new to me and I am just beginning to learn about it. Right now I will use it to connect with people I know and research the business I like and the site itself. 

I decided to check out Sam Schatz's blog on LinkedIn. Sam had a short but sweet blog that covered a few good points. His main reason for checking in on LinkedIn will be for job hunting. I think this is another aspect of the site I will use and his blog reminded me of this. He also mentioned you can follow business's you are interested in working for as well as people who may be influential on getting you into those positions. He laid out the facts and the important factor's of what LinkedIn will do for him.

Facebook for business

I think Facebook is a fabulous marketing tool. When you market your business on facebook you are reaching out to a huge audience, but you are also open to feedback. I believe this is the best way to promote your business and get idea's for new items, sales, and improvements. Even twenty years ago a lot of business's lacked in feedback and really only went off sales and in house experiences. Facebook has changed that and really opened up a whole new world to business's and how they market their company and products. Whether you currently see the value of social networks like Facebook or not, the reality is that a whole bunch of people use it. Learning to draw the right type of people to you and connect with them are key ingredients to getting your name out there and picking up some new clients or customers.

I think there are alot of usefull tips to use when marketing your business on Facebook. Including the following:

* Use photo's and use as many as you can- this helps people to see what they cant experience by being online

*Be unique and different- people don't just want to see the usual "come on in" posts!

* Reward your followers- contests and giveaways are a great way to keep people following

* Create a clear call to action- make it easy for followers to access your website, order products, and find your business. Show and tell them what they want!

*Always be honest- Facebook is the last place you want negative feedback or inaccurate information ruining your credibillity

First I would say set your goals and then determine how to measure your goals. Things to be considered:

*How many people are visiting your page

*How many people are clicking on links

*How many people are sharing content

*How long people stay on the page

Answering these questions will provide you with a good idea how your Facebook promotion is affecting your business. If it is not a significant change, then do something different and possibly add some paid ad's. However, start out small with paid ad's to see what works and what does not. 

Facebook Privacy

Facebook privacy and their settings give me a headache.  I really thought I had all my privacy settings figured out, but I was wrong. I think its very hard for people to keep up with Facebook's privacy settings with all the constant changes. It's overwhelming and irritating. I feel their should be a class on how to use the settings, otherwise so many people leave their profiles open to the world. They are there to protect our information, yet it is so complicated to use.

Full privacy protection is important to me for my account. I feel this way because I have had Facebook for a while and may not be so proud of posts from my past. I suppose I could possibly go back and delete, but then again I feel it was a part of my journey. I do enjoy the fact I have a diary of sorts to look back on. I feel it is important for Facebook to keep strict privacy settings and I cant think of anything they could add really. You have the ability to block just about anything accept your cover photo and I don't care if anyone can see my 5am Miami photo. They should make it easier for you to block your photo's, it is such a pain going through them all to add the restriction!

I love some points that Ben brought up in his blog! You should take a look at  http://lifestylespoorunknown.blogspot.com/2013/02/thoughts-on-facebook-privacy.html
I do think that people can post things on your wall or tag you in photos that could be incriminating. Sometimes your friends are not aware of your audience and unaware of the damage they are doing. I do think that some sort of approval system or permission should be required before your friends embarrass you and get you in trouble with certain people! However, for now the inappropriate tags and posts live on...