My 2nd Life Experience

Keisha Copperfield at the Amusement Park

I am an active video game player. I am proud to say that I like playing video games. My favorites are Gear of War 1 & 2, the Call of Duty Series, Madden Football Games, the NBA 2K series, and a host of other platform games that I love to play. I like being in other worlds other than my own sometime to relieve stress. I have recently signed up for a second life account due to the instruction of my professor. I have heard plenty of good things about it, before I signed up, but I just do not like to playing games on the computer, unless it like Roller Coaster Tycoon or something of that sort. I guess I should not consider second life as a game but that what it looks and feel like. The feel of it seems complicated. It is a “2nd Life”, because you can do all the things that you do in a “1st life”. With all that being said, “2nd Life” is a good idea for people who are interested in that sort of entertainment and people who want to market their clothing line, devloper skills, or other ideas, but it is not something I am interested in. Since we use it in class, I will conform. After the semester is over, my 2nd life experience will come to an end!

Digging in the “Groundswell” Part 1

The “Groundswell”, by Charlene Li, is a book that analyze the use of social networking used as a marketing tool. The book provides insight on how companies used the social media to help their overall business model. Li also provides case studies of companies that has reached out to the Web 2.0 to improve their business. The book is divided into three parts. The 1st part is titled “Understanding the Groundswell”. It can be described as a basic understanding of the groundswell. You have to understand it in order to be able to fully use it to its capacity.

There are advantages and disadvantages of using the groundswell. While using the Groundswell, companies have to understand it is about the users, the community, these are people that make up social computing. You have to satisfy them, if you run the risk of losing your community. An example used in Chapter 1 of the book is when Kevin Rose, owner of Digg, encountered a problem. The problem was that a blogger had included the HD DVD encryption code in his blog. The readers Digged it of course and it was located at the top of the Digg page, because it was the most popular article. Well the AACS LA,a baker of the movie industry, did not like this. Bootlegging is like an epidemic that, that has treatment but no cure. Digg decided to remove the article because it did not want to face lawsuits.  It was too late of course. The code had been posted on hundreds of other people blogs. It was somekind of revolt. The article were digged by the users and the technical guys were playing a game of tag and they were losing. Digg gave in, decided to let the article remain. The moral of the story according to the chapeter is that companies such as Digg have to stand by their community, because they are the ones who give the site life. 

Part one of the book also divides the Groundswell into “Social Technographics”. In-actives, Spectators, Joiners, Collectors, Critics and Creators are all apart of this ladder, in-actives being the least and Creators being the most. When using the Groundswell you have to know who your community consist of, who to target. 

The Groundswell is compared to the martial art style of Jujitsu. The groundswell is an art that must be developed until you master it. You use the groundswell as an advantage and use it against your opponent to the fullest.

ToonDoo

ToonDoo.com is a web 2.0 application that lets you use your creativity to the fullest by letting you produce your own books and comics. I am not much of a comic/book creator, but their are some people that may find this interesting. I read some comics called “Tech Support” by a Moto on the site and they were pretty funny. Its probably a website that I would frequent just to read the comics. Will post updates as I learn more.

“Talk to your daughter before the beauty industry does”—Dove Onslaughter

Dove has started an ad campaign targeting women and the things they do to be more beautiful. I think it speaks volumes, even though I had the volume muted when I was watching the videos. I got the message instantly at what dove was trying to accomplish. It wants parents or people in general to be aware of the things we do to become beautiful. I think their is a difference in taking care of your skin versus surgery that drastically changes your overall appearance. Today we live in a society that looks mainly outside a person and not at the inside, so its kind of hard to relate my opinion of how things are. I do believe that people, especially young teenagers and kids get caught up in all the fashion and glamour of society. I am not against this; I just believe a person can lose their identity. Being confident and having good self esteem are characteristics that are in leaders and team members. Those are two very important qualities that you need to survive in today’s world. In all, I think dove has started a good campaign. They have made it clear who they are targeting.

Be A LEGO Ambassador!

I have not played with lego’s since i was maybe 4 or 5 years old. My play pals and I tried to build everything that was on the boxes or even just plain buildings. After awhile, we all grew out of playing with lego’s. I probably got fustrated, because I was building the same thing over and over, so I started playing with the other new toys that came available. I know people love collecting all sorts of items such as sports cards or memoribilia, coins and stamps, but I have never heard of people collecting legos and lego kits, until I read Groundswell by Charlene Li. According to a case study presented in Li’s book, about 5 to 10 percent of revenue comes from adults. Lego decided to “energize” this particular market. Adult Lego fans have started their own communities such as AFOL (Adult Fan of Lego) and LUGNET (International Lego Users Group Network).  In order to keep the energy flowing, Lego decided to start a program called Lego Amabassadors. It created a relationship with the communities to excite more people to get involved. Being an Ambassador has its incentives on both ends to the company and consumer. The company gets to know what people think about there product regularly and the ambassadors get free lego’s.  This program is still vibrant as Lego has released a list of the 2008/2009 40 ambassadors from all over the country.

http://www.legofan.org/getstarted/getstarted.html

This is just a site that helps other lego fans by providing with ansers to their questions.

http://www.lego.com/eng/info/default.asp?page=ambassadors

This site gives more information about the ambassador program and a list of the current ambassadors.

Help…..Yelp

I have registered for YELP, but the website has yet to send an email to my inbox. Until I have confirmed my email address, I will not be able to write any reviews.

Update:

I received about 15 confirm your email from yelp, so i was able to write a review about Benihana.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/benihana-houston-2

It’s under Lakeisha F.

Dig Labs

I like the ARC on the dig labs website. Its a tool that is used to see what stories are being “digged” and how many people are also digging the same story. As people dig the same story the color arcs grow bigger and bigger. If you want to see what everyone is reading or finding interest in, then you will be able to see from the ARC. You can also see how many comments have been posted to that article.

Access Denied……Again

I tried to access the class google docs page, but I was denied again…lol. I do not know what’s going on with that, but I sent Dr. Ives an email. Maybe by the end of class I will be able to get access.

Update:

2-5-2009

Finally got access today….YAY!

Editors Wanted!

Wikipedia is a FREE online dictionary. You can search for useful information for writing papers or just looking up a quick reference. Sometime I find myself reading articles just to read them. Most teachers do not like for student to use this site because of the accuracy of the information that is put on the site is not always accurate. There was an online article that pertained to exactly to why some teachers do not like the site very much. Recently there have been altered articles found on wikipedia that portrayed incorrect information about  Senators Robert Byrd and Edward Kennedy. The articles said that both men had died. This has led to President Jimmy Wales (founder of Wikipedia) to try and implement a new system that would try and cut down on some of the inaccurate information. Wikipedia lets the users actually update and add articles to there online dictionary and allows anyone to make changes. President Wales wants to now have the site editors approve changes or new articles that are entered by the users. His idea is not welcomed by many, so he has asked whoever opposed to his new idea to come up with a new plan within 7 business days.

Link to Article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7851400.stm

Class Accomplishments

Coming into class (MIS 4397), I did not know what Enterprise 2.0 tools were. I mean I have used them in day to day activities, but I never knew that they were classified into an actual term. I have been on sites such as   and Facebook. I think this class will help me understand the Pros and the Cons of using Enterprise 2.0 tools in businesses. I think many businesses are using these tools to make their businesses a success. This class may also help me to learn about other websites that involve the use of Enterprise 2.0 tools. This is my first accomplishment now, because I have never been much of a blogger. Overall, I believe its going to be a great class for me to excel in and learn a great deal of information.