Social Media Project

      
Social Media Project link : http://ism3004.wikispaces.com/Sprint


         The social media project was a project that took quite a while to complete. It was a different type of project from the other ones because the one requirement was to work with a few other people as a collaborative effort. At first, I thought it was going to be very difficult considering this is an online-type class, but it turned out to be easier to communicate than I thought. Using a combination of email correspondence and the discussion board, I think we effectively created a detailed wikipedia on the social media effort of Sprint. 


       We decided on Sprint because one of the team mates worked for Sprint and had some background knowledge into their social media efforts. Doing my part, which was researching and typing the YouTube, Wikipedia, and other social media, I learned a lot about Sprint. They had a much more extensive campaign than I was aware of. They use YouTube to market their 4G network and allow for viewers to respond positively or negatively about it. They also categorize individual phones that are on sale at the Sprint stores so that potential customers can read reviews or post one. 

wikicommons

     The Wikipedia portion involve describing the details of the company and how it evolved as a company, but it only gave the cold hard facts. I don't think wikipedia is one of the better forms of a social media outlet just because as an interactive encyclopedia, it's important to stay objective. Other than generating interest by participating in the research, I don't see how this would be a great place to advertise. 

simplyzesty

       Twitter was a great area that Sprint excels in. The @sprintcare was a great idea to take care of individual problems while allowing other people to see the resolution. One of my team mates, Burton, wrote about this and said that he saw many more replies when @sprintcare was used than when the @sprint was used. Twitratr was a problematic part of the project, because I think it didn't accurately reflect Sprint as a corporation. Many of the people that tweeted were tweeting about negative problems with their phones because they were seeking out service. 

Week 13: Clear Social Media

Methods of Social Media Advertising


The rise and popularity of the internet has shown a growth in internet advertising as well. What started out as occasional advertising on websites and pop-ups that can be annoying have transformed into a more efficient and a more profitable way of attracting customers. Two behemoths in internet advertising are Google and Facebook have paved the way in the evolution of internet advertising and have used two methods of collecting revenue for themselves. 


The Hunt

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When using Google, people are on a specific fact-finding mission to search for something they want which can be for information purposes, looking for a product, looking for something for a business and Google's business model is based around targeting what customers are looking for and advertising similar products that companies have paid Google to advertise. Google uses the search history to advertise in other areas of the web. Web 2.0 has allowed Google to advertise in multiple areas and not just specifically on a Google Search.


The Hike

wikimedia commons

Facebook employs this in their business model. Rather than aiming at the people that are concentrated on seeking out information, they target the people that are exploring their site for longer periods of time. Facebook mostly uses banner ads that charge companies by what is called CPM (Cost per thousand impressions). They place ads in various areas of the website and hope the placement leads to more interest. 


Below is a video of the new innovations in the advertising field that facebook is developing to target the right audience more efficiently

Extra Credit - Google+ Experience

I have been a member of Google+ since June of 2011 and I have to say, I really like the entire package. Google+ has taken all of the essentials provided by facebook and more! I don't have alot of friends on here yet, but hopefully alot of people on facebook will make the transition to Google+. 


My google+ homepage: https://plus.google.com/103511755377218568721/posts


Some of the cool features:
One of the first things I noticed is the way you can group people you know. Previously on facebook, you had two options when creating a friend request, a friend or not a friend. While that may work for some people, others would rather not divulge all that much information about their personal life to someone they don't know that well and conversely not be annoyed by constant status updates from this acquaintance. The official categories are Friends, Family, Acquaintance, Following. Those categories make logical sense to me. 


Google Hangout
I really liked this option. It was something I tried within a few days of using the site. It takes the functionality of  webchat interfaces like skype and joins it with an actual social network. Another interesting feature is the intelligent design behind it. For example, I tried it with two other friends and the camera would automatically shift over to who ever was talking onto the main screen while still having your other friend visable in the smaller screen. Inside the Google Hangout was a functionality for playing youtube videos. This is something that I think is revolutionary! 

Created by Brad Amidon, using Print Screen 

Instant Queue Photos
When you snap a great photo with your cellphone and would like to share it with people, the typical thing you do is find a way to upload it online. Well google+ sort of skips a few steps here. I discovered the pictures I was taking was being stored on google+ in this instant upload area. The thing I liked about it is that it gave you the privacy you needed by not automatically uploading just any picture, but letting you scroll through which ones you wanted to post and not post. 


Facebook Poll Opinion 
The article here states that a survey showed 50 percent will abandon facebook as their primary social networking place to go to. It revealed that many aren't switching from facebook for purely reasons of innovation, they are using google+ more because facebook is making users more frustrated. I would switch to google+ if more of my friends regularly posted on there, but I don't see all of them moving over to the new site anytime soon. 


Funny Video: