Friday, March 27, 2009
Online JCOM Reading 3
I was reading this article on Facebook and I have to say, I got halfway through it and burst out laughing. It was real LOL too not just the lol you type when you know somebody is expecting it, I actually Laughed Out Loud. In this article a woman is talking about how her daughter has Facebook and the woman weighs the pros and cons to this.
One con she points out is what my friends and I like to refer to as Facebook stalking. My group of friends from high school and I will get together and gossip over all of the drama going on with people we haven’t talked to since graduation and yet we all feel as if we know every detail in their love life. We talk about who is engaged and whether the guy is cute. We’ve never even met the guy but we know he is probably worthy of her since he’s going to BYU and will graduate in 2010, he’s majoring in Chemistry and seems to have a lot of cool friends. This may be a bit of an extreme example but I know it’s not just us who do it. A girl I have worked with maybe three times is my Facebook friend and she told me she saw pictures of my trip to Seattle last summer and asked how it was, and I was not creeped out one bit, chalk one up to Facebook.
This mother also talks about how ‘friend’ has become a verb because of Facebook. I have been asked how to spell my name so someone can ‘friend’ me. I knew what they meant, who wouldn’t? Though if you don’t know how to spell my name I would wager we aren’t really that close. I’ve also noticed ‘Facebook’ becoming a verb as well. I’ll take a picture of my friends and they’ll insist I ‘Facebook’ it. The mother in this article seems to think this is a negative part of Facebook but I think it’s just part of our language evolving.
My mom recently got a Facebook and yes I am friends with her, I love my mom! But she absolutely loves it. She found a Facebook group with tons of her friends from over 20 years ago in it. She thinks it’s an amazing way to keep in touch. I think the pros of Facebook far outweigh the possible cons. I can write a ‘hey, how you doing?’ on my friends wall. A day or so later I will have a short update on her life. Though it is not the only way to keep in touch, it is convenient for people you care about but were never super close to.
I say embrace Facebook and any other type of social networking group. Yes it can get you fired if you are stupid, so don’t be stupid. Yes people can post too much info, so don’t be one of those people. Facebook is not a place to jot down your innermost secrets but a fun way to keep in touch.
Online JCOM Reading 2
In an article I read it talked about high speed internet companies becoming more and more upset with the ease of surfing the internet over AT&T or similar cell phone companies. Their main complaint is that these cell phone companies are not paying for the use of internet and that they should have to in order to maintain this ability to surf it.
These companies are also going as far as claiming that Google or Yahoo should have to pay them in order to be a search engine and whichever pays more will basically become America’s primary search engine. Executives from Google say this is ridiculous in that it inhibits the very nature of the internet and though it won’t be a problem for Google to pay a fee, it may be for small new companies that could be just as successful.
I am a true lover of Google and as I was reading this article I thought it would be horrible if such a tax on the internet had been about when Google was just starting. However, a recent article I read made me examine my true feelings for Google.
This article was about how Google keeps records of what you have searched. Though I did not care too much about this, as I read further I was slightly more disturbed. Apparently, it is possible for a court to subpoena your Google searches and use them against you. A guy in North Carolina killed his wife and part of the evidence that got him convicted was that he had searched the words "neck," "snap," "break" and "hold" before he killed his wife.
I personally think that is a slight stretch. I am not a psycho but I’ve looked up some pretty random things before. I have had assignments for class requiring me to look up things I normally would not search for, and I use Google for nearly every search I conduct. For my criminology class I had last summer I typed in many variations of ‘child murders.’ I personally am not interested in reading morbid stories like this but someone who obtained a record of these searches might think I was a crazy person. I don’t know! It seems crazy that Google can keep these things stored to potentially use against someone at a later date.
The connection between these two articles is that there seem to be no specific laws on how the internet should be used. The Electronic Communications Privacy Act, which seems would protect against keeping a log of your Google searches, was enacted in 1986. That’s before I was born and way before the internet was widely used. Yet that is the most recent electronic privacy law we have. As for the issue on who gets to use airwaves and whether search engines should pay a fee to internet companies the Telecommunications Act of 1996 is the most recent code of conduct we have.
It is painfully obvious that things need to be cleaned up on the internet. In an age where information can be found in a matter of seconds, our laws have not been changed in decades. It’s time the government catch up with the internet.
Leia Mais…Thursday, March 26, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
The Explosion of Twitter!
Twitter has swept the nation! I turn on the Ellen DeGeneres Show and she is talking about who she tweeted or what she tweeted about, I’m still not 100 percent positive on the correct usage of the word ‘tweet’ in accordance with Twitter.
On a website called Social Earth they say Twitter has increased usage 55 percent in one month, read the full article here. That is amazing! I have never seen any advertisements- online, billboards, radio, or television- about Twitter and yet everyone knows about it and everyone is talking about it. That is Public Relations at its finest.
I Googled ‘how did Twitter become so popular’ and it seems all it took was a few people to use it, tell their friends and Twitter exploded. President Obama uses Twitter as does CNN and numerous celebrities. In this case word of mouth seemed to be more effective than any gigantic marketing campaign Twitter could have launched.
While I am still new to the Twitter scene (I started an account but haven’t played around with it yet) I am still slightly confused about why it is so amazing. It is basically just status updates on Facebook isn’t it? Maybe the beauty of it is how simple it is.
I found a blog asking the same question, why do people use Twitter? Click here to see the results he came up with, some had to do with getting information quickly, before it hits mainstream media. Some say it’s just to network. Maybe I’ll pose the question on my own Twitter and see what kind of response I get. I’ll let you know!
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Positioning Burger Planet Draft
Annekah Martinez
Ryan Miller
Amber Winward
Leilani Vaiaoga
Introduction
Target Audience: 30-40 year old women
Positioning Statement: Burger Planet is committed to providing healthy alternatives along with their signature menu items.
Positioning (features, benefits, data)
Healthy New Options
Overcomes target audiences health concerns.
- New options include white meat, less mayo, options with no bun, fruit sides and more salads.
Increase market share with health conscious 30-40 year old women
Shows we listen to our customers concerns, builds credibility
- Held focus groups to determine target audiences desires and changed accordingly
The Success of Burger Planet
Brand recognition, Corny the Clown
Loyal clientele
Global Reach
- Has served 52 billion customers and counting.
- At last count, had 8,921 franchises in every state and 17 countries.
- Headquartered in Gary, Indiana.
- Employs 48,272 people.
- Founded in 1934.
Jayne Peterson
No other Quick Service Restaurant Industry has hired a fitness expert
- McDonald's, Hardee's, and Burger King, have been trying to position themselves as being healthy choices.
Associated with Opal Whitcomb
- Whitcomb is viewed highly credible among target audience
Raise credibility of Burger Planet’s commitment to healthy options
- Peterson is president and CEO of Looking Glass, Inc., a multi-million dollar fitness and health enterprise
- Peterson helped Whitcomb lose 75 pounds and keep it off
Conclusion
Summary of positioning
Leia Mais…
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