Exciting work projects

Today, my boss gave me an assignment that I did not expect at all.

"You're communications and journalism majors, right?" He asked, and I dragged myself into his office, wondering what that had to do with being a law clerk in his office. He shows me a homepage of a Web site, in which he is trying to bring his legal assistance to small and medium businesses in financial trouble. He currently pays a company to run the site and to bring in traffic. But the site hasn't gotten any hits so far. No new clients. No new cases. Nothing.

My job was to figure out why the Web site wasn't generating any traffic. I had no idea how I was going to do with, since I have little experience working on Web sites. But it turns out that I knew a lot more than I thought. He threw all these questions at me like, "What's this RSS feed? What does it do? What's a tag cloud? Why are there so many different links? Where does this link go? How does this tag work?"

I was surprised that I could answer ALL of his questions. I gave my boss a list of things wrong with the site, and why it wasn't generating any traffic.

Turns out that the information that I gave him from what I've learned was accurate. He was wasting money, paying a company to run a free weblog for him. Now it's my job! I had no idea that even the law firm that I work at would have trouble using social media applications and they would need MY assistance!

Privacy on the Internet?

Social networking programs and applications have made it difficult to maintain privacy on the Internet. However, we all have control over what information we put up on our profiles and what others can see. Then, why is it that people still have a problem about their privacy? Why are people's reputations getting ruined on the Internet? Personally, I think it has to do with the information they share with others online. How else would people get that information if it didn't come straight from the source?

Lesson: Learn how to use all the applications you are using, especially the privacy settings.

I just wanna dance!

The whole idea of a flash mob is so intriguing to me. After the influence it can have on a giant crowd of people, I mean why not? It looks as if it would take a lot of organization, but in a way it takes your mind off what's going on and focuses on the little things in life. Take this example: People in Stockholm tried to lighten the mood after the death of Michael Jackson with this tribute.

Sharing is Caring

"Information sharing produces shared awareness among the participants and collaborative production relies on shared citation, but collective action creates shared responsibility by tying the user's identity to the identity of the group." --Clay Shirky Here Comes Everybody

Mr. Shirky makes a good point, especially using his example of VOTF in Chapter 6. People are all trying to access all types of information through different mediums. Shirky points out that the best way to get this information, and the fastest way, is to keep sharing it through different social media tools that are provided to us. There is a constant want and need for information and displaying it throughout different mediums gets the information faster to the public. There are different ways of now sharing information that should be embraced.

Take Twitter for example. Before I even open my web browser, I open TweetDeck to check out all of the updates. Then, when I look at different news Web sites, I've already seen more than half of the information. Isn't that very helpful?

Social Networking Research

According to the Pew Research Center, younger generation are no longer blogging. Older generations are taking over the social networking revolution, while the younger generation is "dying down." Why could this be?

Social Media and Young Adults, a study conducted by the Pew Research Center, gives specific statistics of youths using the social media tools that are provided to them. I found this specific finding to be interesting: "While blogging among adults as a whole has remained steady, the prevalence of blogging within specific age groups has changed dramatically in recent years. Specifically, a sharp decline in blogging by young adults has been tempered by a corresponding increase in blogging among older adults."

Why is that? Why do you think older generations are embracing these social networking tools rather than younger generations?

Where's my audience?

After starting this blog, I can't help but wonder where my readers are. How is it that I get get readers? How will my blog survive without a somewhat dedicated readership?

It's all about networking. I put myself on Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, SoulPancake, and even added my blog to my signature at the end of every e-mail I send out. Is that enough?

I came across a post from another blogger that addressed the same concerns I had and showed me the light at the end of the tunnel.

Then I realized, the only way I could do this is if I read other blogs, comment on other blogs, find other readers, and drag them along to mine, hoping that I can make my blog interesting enough to maintain a readership.

Isn't that similar to the problem the newspaper industry is having?

What does social media mean to you?