My Blog

Week 12

In our final week, we were looking towards the future, and what it held for social media. Internet activity and technology have drastically developed in the last two decades. Just think about how much growing there's left. Shane discussed with us a few theories about what we are to expect. 

I read the article on blackboard  "The future of social media according to Vice" and I thought it was enlightening. They were interviewing normal people, asking them if they think technology will decline or develop. 

Generally people had the view that it would continue to grow and thrive. I agree with these people, and if the growth is as rapid as it has been, it's scary to think how much of a role it will play in our lives. 

Even now I feel we are drifting further away from reality. I hope that through the development of social media over the years, we stay connected to humanity. 

Shane also took us through some of the more recent trends and we discovered that WhatsApps user base has increased by a massive 100 million since the start of this year.

Week 11

This week the topic of discussion was the issue of ethics in the world of social media. Shane divided us into groups and asked three questions of us.

Would monitoring employees at work via technology be ethical? 

Myself and my group decided that the magnitude of the surveillance would have to be examined.

Under what circumstance is it ethical to use consumer data from another company?

Permission should be granted by the other business before such an action.

Is it ethical for Facebook to alter your mood using newsfeed?

My group and I found no issue with this matter.

Ethics play a significant part in social media, and restrictions are put in place to ensure lines aren't crossed.

Google Trends

In my preparation for class, I followed a link on blackboard. It led me to a page which displayed all the most relevant trends on google. I wasn't aware that google trends existed and I found some of the patterns very interesting.

I watched two youtube videos in relation to google trends.

1. How to use Google Trends To Do Target Market Research
2. basics of twitter

These videos I felt really expanded my knowledge of google trends and now I use it quite frequently.

Week 9

A guest speaker named Lucie graced us with their presence this week to talk to us about social media within a business.She told us how to best use social media to benefit our business. She began by identifying the four C's

1. Creativity
2. Creation
3. Communication
4. Connection

She then went on by demonstrating the importance of spreading brand awareness through social media. Everyone is online these days, so it's a top priority to ensure people are struck by your product when they turn on their computer screens.

Lucie made me think outside of the box and she really informed me on the importance of social media as a source of marketing. Especially in the digital generation we live in, all of us should be expanding our knowledge of social media.

Week 8

This weeks e lab saw us creating our own Flickr accounts. Flickr enables its users to post their favorite photos online, and organise them into named albums. The account making process itself was relatively easy. I instantly loved Flickr and ever since that e lab I've been using it constantly. 

We distinguished the difference between tags and sets. Tags allow you to easily search for photos in the photo-stream while sets allow you to create collections of photos.

Week 6

This week we were doing another online e lab. It was related to screencasting this week. We learned that "screencasting enables you to capture information on your computer screen and           combine this material with audio to create a video. For instance, you might use    screencasting to provide how-to instructions to complete a given task".

I found screencasting to be a more than sufficient way of presenting information. It is especially beneficial for our group project as we had planned to use one as a means of marketing the mashup.

http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/myscreencasts

Week 5

This week, we were exploring the possibilities of prezi, a very effective and easy presenting tool.

Luckily, for one of my previous modules I had been asked to make a prezi so I was already aware of the endless advantages that come with it. 

Here is the finished article..

http://prezi.com/pqrmerpjw2z3/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

Ironically, the prezi that I created was about blogging. But evidently I enjoyed and am still enjoying my blogging experience.

Week 4

This week we were introduced to the concept of social bookmarking and it was demonstrated to us so we could use it in the future. As part of our e lab, we were required to set up our own Pinterest and Diigo accounts.

Pinterest is a is a social bookmarking website that allows users to create and manage theme-based image collections, such as events, interests and hobbies. In this case, we were asked to set up our own 'board', and then add a pin to that board. I also followed another Pinterest page and liked and repinned one of their photos. Along with our e lab, there was a tutorial video, helping newcomers to set up Pinterest, and displaying the various features.

We were also introduced to Diigo. I had never heard of this site before and I was curious to see how it worked. Diigo is a free social bookmarking, research, and knowledge sharing tool createdto mimic the ease of taking notes while providing a network for sharing and discoveringinformation. Diigo boasts many features including

1. Highlighting
2. Taking notes
3. Screen shots
4. Searching
5. Collaborating
6. Bibliographies
7. Sharing 

I genuinely thought that these two social bookmarjing sites stood to me, and I have used Pinterest especially, since setting up my account.