Onyee's Critical Thinking

The Beginning!!!

2008-12-08T01:05:00.001-05:00

Interesting, educative, informative and entertaining are mild synonyms for what I have experienced these past 15 weeks of blogging and ITEC 335 in general. Looking back, I have wondered if there was anything I would love to change through the course of this class and I would say maybe one or two. On the other hand, I am wondering that if those times were not present, I might not be feeling the way I am now (happy...definitely). I have decided that I would start blogging when I get back to Nigeria. This is far from over for me. Instead it’s a beginning.

Back to the thing(s) I would have changed in the course. That will be the 14 days of Twitter. The only reason would be that I was not really interested in twitter because I didn’t see its use and effectiveness. That doesn’t mean that other people don’t have a use for it. Just me!!!

My highlights would be when I did the blog about employers recruiting through Facebook. It seemed like someone had unleashed a strange person inside of me. I just couldn’t seem to get past the idea. Maybe because where I come from, we are not even close to that kind of snooping. Hearing some classmates confirm it was surprising not because the employers checked their potential employees Facebook profile but because everybody who had gone through it see it as a norm… Well I still think it is an invasion of someone’s privacy (Just my opinion) Also, there is the measurement of social media ROI where there was the underlying question about how this is done. I found out that it’s not just monetary compensation that is gotten but personal gratification and (of course votes) when a goal is met. The best example of recent that I could think about was the president elect, Barack Obama.

I’m running off again. So sorry but hey what can I say? Anyway, if I was given an opportunity to do this course all over again knowing about it, I most certainly will!!! I was given the best professor anyone could ask for and wonderful classmates who made this experience of ITEC 335 worthwhile. As I go back to Nigeria, I would go with a truckload of memories(the lateral puzzles which I attempted just once, first class, the guest speakers, blog discussions, debates…I could keep going) I can say that I have achieved the purpose of this course which is social networking…connection!!!

Social Media and ROI……Way to go!!!

2008-12-01T01:49:00.006-05:00

The 21st century has given birth to a new evolution of media usage. From the traditional mode of advertising like newspapers and television to web 2.0. Companies ROI is being measured by the effectiveness of their social media message. Brand name is of utmost importance to a company. The best way to deliver a brand name to the hearts of your customers is through advertising and web based advertising has an added advantage according to experts. Gary Vaynerchuk in the article Vaynerchuk on Social Media ROI by Peter Bihr says

“Traditional media advertising is incredibly expensive and doesn’t provide nearly the rate of return you can derive from intelligent web-based marketing campaigns in 2008 and beyond.”

Speaking of Brand names and the efficiency of Social media, the last guest speaker in class, Alison Byrne Fields talked at length about how the president elect Barack Obama has been able to use social media(blogs, twitter, Facebook, etc) as a tool to sell his brand (personality and product). He was able to convince the American people and the world at large that he was the right candidate to take the US to the next level. Also in her post, Alison talked about four reasons why Obama should keep using social media in the future. This is to say that the returns from his campaign has been great and his customers(the people)want more connection. Specifically,the people have expectations to be met by the brand(Obama)

ROI measurement isn’t just about money for individuals and companies. It’s about what the party set out to achieve before embarking on the use of social media tools. Barack Obama did not set out to get money. He wanted to make a change from the normal status quo using social media and web 2.0. In the article, What is the ROI for Social Media? By Jason Falls, Joanne Puckett sums up my points by saying

“If your goal is to participate in the conversation, to enhance your relationship with your audiences and become a trusted member of the community that surrounds your brand, then your measures should prove you’ve done those things. Your ROI is what you got out of the conversation, not what you got out of their checkbook.”

OBAMA!!!

2008-11-05T15:11:00.004-05:00

Alex posted this link on twitter and i wanted to share it. Hope you enjoy this as much as i did.

Video Credit:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGAQib1l0m4

Are you a tweeter?

2008-11-03T01:48:00.003-05:00

Twitter was not a tool/service I was familiar with before coming to the US. Since the evolution of the different social networks, I would say that I am not surprised that such an invention is available. Personally, I don’t really have anything against people using twitter. I especially found the article 25 Twitter tips for college students by Laura Milligan an interesting read. The educational hack part was the one that got me. Sometimes, a professor’s office hours might not be the convenient time for you. Having online real time to ask questions and generally brainstorm is not such a bad idea. Also, there is the collaboration for a project where you get ideas form fellow classmates and other students around the world. “Tweeting” would be really helpful here.

James Karl Buck’s story is one where information was passed on at the right time. But I ask, what if his friend didn’t see his message or he couldn’t connect? That would have been a different story but it wasn’t so Twitter wins the day. As I said earlier, there is nothing I have against this service but I think I draw a line at updating my status message and telling the whole world what I am doing every time(even using the bathroom...just kidding) . Suppose if this message gets into the wrong hands? Well social networking is important but at what cost?

Team Brainstorming....Tangible or Virtual?

2008-10-27T01:20:00.004-04:00

Virtual means of communication has been making itself known through all the evolution of social networking. From the Virtual network sites where “some individuals” feel more comfortable expressing themselves, to the Virtual team where diversity plays a role to enable better and efficient working relationship. When I read the article The Strange Beauty of Virtual Teams by Jessica Lipnacks and Jeffrey Stamps, I found out about the research done to determine the more effective way of team brainstorming. According to this article,

Instead of regarding the lack of face-to-face as an impediment, our teams found it advantageous. Many projects came in under-budget, ahead of schedule, and with breakthrough results. The outcome of one such project, conducted at what was then Boeing-Rocketdyne, was so successful that our HBR co-authors, along with the project’s managers, published it as a case study under the title, “Radical Innovation without Collocation.”

The advice given from the 6 ways to build trust with your virtual team by John Butler pretty much covers the important fears or issues lots of people would want addressed. These were availability, Competence, Consistency, Fairness, Openness and Promise of fulfillment. These factors have to be present for trust to grow. Still I ask, is it enough? From what I observed from my sojourn into second life, you can be anybody that you want to be in there. How would you know that a certain person is giving a fair contribution? Is this person who they portray? Give me your honest opinion….

Citizen Journalism!!!

2008-10-20T01:45:00.006-04:00

Citizen Journalism! Citizen Journalism!! Citizen Journalism!!! In a way, this is what I have been doing these past seven weeks of blogging. A definition of citizen journalism would be journalism by non journalists (people like me).I don’t think I can imagine myself writing a story for a magazine because sharing my thoughts on my blog is scary enough. Watching the clip from YouTube about Citizen Journalism has helped me understand this particular concept. John Tobbin, Boston City Councilor has reached his audience through his video blogs which I think is a very creative idea. More and more, there is an audience building up to get information from blogs, online news and online advertising. The days of the printing press according to the video clip are numbered.

Robert Scoble made the same point in his article Scobleizer: What Newspapers can learn form the Tech industry about him being someone that gets his news and information online. According to him

“I say that not as someone who's willfully ignorant but as a news junkie who subscribes to more than 600 feeds in Google Reader, including those from The New York Times, San Jose Mercury News, and USA Today. What's killing the newspaper business -- with thousands of jobs lost and even the Washington Post Co.'s reporting its first loss in 37 years -- is its inability to reach people like me.”

He is trying to give an advice to the newspaper business to take a leaf from the technology world and I think he is right. Social networking has been all about connection. And the ultimate connection would be able to reach different people on different platforms. From the old fashioned (newspapers) to the More technology oriented crowd.

However, while reading Eric Schonfeld’s article Citizen “Journalist” Hits Apple with False (Steve Jobs) Heart attack Rumor, I was able to look at the other downside of Citizen Journalism. Someone decided to post a story in CNN’s iReport about Steve Jobs having a heart attack which caused the stocks of Apple to drop by 10%. Questions would asked about how to solve this problem. I would agree with Eric. He says that

“Let’s not let one bad apple ruin the whole experiment, though. Obviously, there are a lot of smart people out there who can contribute to general news gathering. There needs to be a better truth filter on iReport and other sites that allow the anonymous reporting of news. A better reputation system for contributors would help. They should be encouraged to use their real names. And maybe a bigger disclaimer needs to be placed up top saying: “Read At Your Own Risk.”

That would be the best way. Don't you think?

When do you know which DOTs to connect?

2008-10-13T02:06:00.004-04:00

From the beginning of this semester, it has been one talk or the other about social networking. This includes the various ways that social networking has been helping organizations and people in general to connect. This weekend, I met some classmates from high school. We had lost contact for about 8-10 years and we only got to hook up through Facebook. Reading Business Networking Advice by Josh Hinds has made me better understand the question he asked Ryan Mapes, one of the people behind GoBigNetwork about mistakes made in business networking. According to Ryan,

the biggest mistake I see is a lack of follow-up after meeting someone. If you meet an important contact and exchange business cards, be sure to send a quick email when you get back to the office. This can help solidify the relationship and open up the doors for further correspondence down the road”

.

This to me doesn’t apply just to the business world. It is an important part of the social network concept to bring people together to share ideas, thoughts and interests.
Social Networking has opened a lot of doors for people. There have been a lot of successes recounted by people. An instance would be the article Six Degrees of Cooperation by Yasmine Ghahremani where Andra Marx a senior account at Intralinks strikes a deal thereby making millions of dollars for the company. According to her

“the deal involved some fortuitous timing, but it certainly wouldn't have transpired if I hadn't been able to connect the dots”

.

My question then is, how do you know which dot to connect? As in whom out of your social network group should you keep as a serious contact or not? Writing this post has made me remember my experience on Facebook which I posted on my first blog post when talking about stalkers and privacy. Can a person like the one mentioned be a dot for me?

Recruiting With Facebook? Hell No!!!

2008-10-06T01:51:00.005-04:00

Wow!!! That’s the word that came to mind when I read the article Plea to ban Employers Trawling Facebook in the Times Newspaper. I wouldn’t know why a person looking for a credible referee for one of its potential employees would go to a site like facebook to search for it. I’m thinking, suppose if it was possible to get information from the virtual world concerning someone who you have known for a while. Do you think you could relate this person to whom you know in real life? I don’t think so. I would think that most of the people who visit sites like second life want a certain level of anonymity which they don’t have on SNS like Facebook. Maybe their regular everyday life has been one of pretense. Letting go where no one knows who you are could be their idea of living in another life.

Facebook has had lots of issues just like other SNS sites like MySpace, hi5, Cyber world and so on. Go on Facebook now and find out how many young children have joined because it’s the thing to do. Most of them don’t get to read the agreement before clicking the “I accept” link. I am perplexed that someone would use the information on these sites as a credible source for employing people. I totally agree with Margaret Moran, the Labor MP for Luton South. In the article, she says,

“Social networking sites were never intended as a factual reference point for young people.The technology allows unverified content to go up very easily. It is simple to load up spoof profiles and meddle with images. Companies have no way to verify what is up there.”

Furthermore, during the wonderful carefree days of our youth, we tend to be adventurous and less “responsible”. That’s why when we are mature; there is a distinction between the two times. Why then should someone pay twice or more for the same youthful exuberance? To reiterate what I have been saying, Deborah Fernon, the resourcing adviser at Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD) has advised companies saying “

But we would warn companies that in the quest to find the right person for a job, social networking sites could be at best irrelevant and at worst misleading. Also, good practice requires that every candidate is treated equally, which means all candidates would have to have similar profiles before information is used, otherwise it would be discriminatory

”. This to me says it all.

The Awful Truth About Facebook

Nigeria's Independence Day

2008-10-01T04:14:00.004-04:00

Nigeria, the giant of Africa is 48 today. Here is a link about my country. HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY to Nigerians, home and abroad.

Develop Some Yelpitude

2008-09-29T04:25:00.003-04:00

Social networking keeps getting better and better. Now, it’s conversational. I would really like to have an experience where someone gets to listen to what I have to say and give a response to my complaints/questions. Two weeks ago, we talked about companies like Nike introducing online customer interaction. This is even more productive because there is a sense of reality when talking to someone about problems being experienced while using their products. This would most of the time give immediate gratification if a solution can be found. Reading the article Conversational Marketing Asks, Can we talk? has opened up a whole new world for me.

Businesses have found ways to progress and to make their businesses more accessible by their customer. The most important thing apart from profit that a company is concerned with is the customer’s satisfaction. Companies like Ford, Motorola and the likes have shown great marketing skills because it is one thing to introduce an idea and another to actually act on it and use it effectively. In exchange, customers are loyal to such companies that have taken their time to listen to their problems and try acting on it.

After reading Digital Domain, I agree with the author that relying on professional critics would not be a reliable form of feedback. So why use it? It is now possible for a company/customer to get direct response to a survey or review. That is what Yelp is all about and since this topic has come about, I’m glad that a Yelp employee would be coming around to give my class a talk. After reading this article I decided that I wanted to develop some “Yelpitude”. Somehow, I think that conversational marketing is the way forward. Not only is it interactive, but it is effective.

UGC and ME

2008-09-22T00:20:00.006-04:00

Who could think of the world without the internet and web 2.0? I guess there has been a steady incline of this miraculous discovery. Before the advent of the UGC, people were more stilted in the expression of their opinions. Now, different sites have been a source of encouragement for social networking and getting feedback.

I remember the struggling musicians of those days who have to gain approval from recording studios in order for their work to be heard. UGC sites like YouTube have made it possible for their talents to be discovered. More and more examples are out there around us. One of such would be my blog. Here I am sharing ideas and communicating with people I might never meet but who have a connection with me through my thoughts and ideas. Although people like Andrew Keen and Doris Lessing have serious criticisms against the internet, I think that the internet and UGC saves a lot of time and energy without losing much of anything(at least I think so)

I read Molly’s blog and I agree with her that some people have nothing better to do than to misuse the opportunity of UGC. Just because people like this exist does not mean that there has not been some noticeable improvement in people’s scope of knowledge. I noticed that before I started blogging, there was always the black and white for me but reading other people’s blogs have shown me some shades of gray in between. This to me, is what social networking is all about. Connection!

Urbandictionary

2008-09-18T23:34:00.004-04:00

Its amazing that I didnt know anything about urbandictionary.This is where i found out about it.You can go a step further by checking this out.

Crowdsourcing and CRM..smart thinking

2008-09-15T04:58:00.004-04:00

Crowdsourcing is a term which I was not familiar with before reading the articles for the week. I am most impressed that the heads of prestigious and large organizations like Nike, IBM and the likes have decided to take social networking to the next level. The question to be asked is if this concept has been advantageous? From the article Nike’s New Public Design Studio, it is obvious that the relationships between the consumer and the various companies like Nike have been strengthened. The exercise of crowdsourcing gives the customer a sense of belonging which in the end emphasizes the saying “the customer is king.”

CRM couldn’t be any better. Even in the virtual world, companies like Adidas and Reebok connect to customers who are interested in customizing or buying products. This channel could help customers who want more anonymity to express their creativity without fear. Companies secure a customer's loyalty through this kind of connection.

Organizations like Nike have started reaping the fruits of this innovation. So, not everybody wants customized shoes but what of those that do? All in all business couldn't be better and customers involved are satisfied. What feedback can be better than that?

Nike’s New Public Design Studio

Virtual Networks; the way forward...or not?

2008-09-07T04:00:00.006-04:00

This week’s reading has brought to mind next week’s sojourn into Second life. Second life is a virtual world where people meet and share ideas and daily life activities. Anticipation is not a good enough word to describe my feeling at the moment. Creating my avatar and meeting up with Professor Melander and other classmates is likely to be the highlight of my third week in the American University, Washington DC. Social Networking as I read from the article More Internet users getting a virtual life by Ellen Lee, is now about communicating in the virtual world.

While talking with some folks back home in Nigeria, I got the feeling that most of them find the idea of virtual networks very creepy. The predominant question was; why would you want to go to a world so far away from the real world to meet people? Some of the answers to this question are the reason why I think that virtual networks like Second life, vside and Gaia are making progress in the realm of social networking.

One instance would be the use of Second life to train IBM’s new recruits. According to Chuck Hamilton, the director of the center for learning in IBM, this concept has helped to manage costs and to guide the incoming employees to perform more effectively. Also, learning has become much more fun and engaging.

Much as this notion of the virtual world is quite intriguing and interesting, the same issues from the last weeks’ reading comes up. In the first article mentioned, Raney who is a partner with Redpoint ventures says that “

It's inevitable there will be too many.”

This statement being about the expansion of networks. On the other hand, I think the pros seem to outweigh the cons in the sense that people tend to be themselves while in the virtual world than the real world coupled with the points made by Chuck Hamilton. I guess this counts for something; don’t you?

More Internet users getting a virtual life

Fast Talk: Getting A (Second) Life

Facebook: Success or Trial?

2008-09-01T20:02:00.007-04:00

Before the advent of social network services like facebook, MySpace, hi5, the world was really a very boring place especially for the youths. In American University of Nigeria, Yola, facebook has become the site for the latest gossip and happenings on campus. This would be cool for those that liked that sort of thing.

I remember over a year ago when everybody was on my case to join facebook. I wasn’t ready to hook up with old classmates, and the likes. Even those you wanted to give a wide berth would surely fish you out. It brings this stalker scenario to mind. I totally agree with Paul Saffo in The Economist where he said that social networks tend to lose value when they exceed the expected size. Facebook would be the perfect example.

A few days after joining Facebook, someone from my class in high school added me as his friend. I accepted!Well that was one mistake i vowed not to make again. While we were in school, we didn't communicate or move in the same circles. After adding him, he started hitting on me.I told him in no uncertain term that I was not interested. I guess he wasn't used to being refused. He went further by offering money as incentives for me to change my mind. My God!!Was I insulted? I was so angry that I deleted him instantly from my friends list. That taught me to be careful of creeps, even those under the disguise of social networks like Facebook.

After this incident, I have been very sceptical about adding even people I know to my friend list. I know social networking is important and I ask, am I wrong to be overly cautious?

1st Experience Blogging

2008-08-27T13:22:00.003-04:00

Hello Everyone.
Since i have to put in something, I will!I am really looking forward to sixteen weeks of making my thoughts known to the whole world. That seems very exhilirating and at the same time, VERY SCARY. I think i won't disappoint because Professor Melander is quite helpful with tips for a wonderful blogging experience. Well next week is almost here so keep in touch and you would be sure to get something from me.

On my honor, all posts on this blog are my own.