HW 13: Blogs Will Change Your Business

After reading "Blogs Will Change Your Business" by Stephen Baker and Heather Green, I came to the conclusion that the impact of blogging on businesses is more powerful than the impact of blogging on communication. Though I have more commonly heard of blogs by individuals for social and creative expressions, I believe that blogging in the business industry will have a great impact on their progress as a company. With the advance of blogging, the business is able to communicate ideas concerning improvements and ideas that will better benefit their sales. Blogging has given us all a great opportunity to have our say in what we believe, which can go both ways in blogging for business and blogging for communication. It is important for the business to have their consumers aware and up to date with the new and improved advances. With the advantage of blogging, the business is able to receive feedback on the products, which will enable the company to improve. Blogging is a new phenomenon, yet Jeff Weiner, Yahoo's senior Vice President stated in "Blogs Will Change Your Business" that it is just the beginning. "Never in the history of market research has there been a tool like this". (page 229) The quick and instant access of spreading information from company to company and consumer to consumer is "an up-to the minute read on what the world is thinking." When in an industry that needs improving, or has already been improving, blogging provides the form of communication that can even greater improve your development and growth as a company. "As the bloggers read each other, comment, and link from one page to the next, they create a global conversation". (page 228) Ultimately, what is at stake here is the danger of when blogs "attack". Because blogging is an online communication tool, open to most of the world, different views come together and can create a conflict. It is the business's responsibility to monitor their comments and deal from there. Conflicts arise in any situation, but blogging gives the company a larger world wide view of a situation, which has a great impact.

HW 11: Making Global Voices Heard

After reading the interview with Rebecca Mackinnon in "Making Global Voices Heard", I became more interested about the Chinese-language blogs that are controlled and monitored by Chinese companies. As I read that blogging has been increasing and becoming familiar and popular in China, I wanted to look farther into this. After looking up Isaac Mao's blog on http://isaacmao.com/meta, I was able to make many connections from MacKinnon's statements about the blog. The blog is pretty basic, providing no "eye-catching" designs or phrases. Yet as I browsed through each post, I found that Isaac Mao gives an easy understanding of what he is talking about. The topics he discuss deal mainly with issues in China, such as the World Economy Forum, P2P, and Flickr being banned. He also had posted about more general things such as when he spent a week at Kansas Lake, and problems he finds on the highly known web page, Google. As Rebecca Mackinnon had stated, his site had been previously blocked and temporarily shut down due to China's Internet Censoring system which triggered "objectionable content". Because blogging has its tendency to be known for your ability of free speech and to able to get your voice heard, bloggers now have to be cautious of what they say, or if they are saying too much. Mackinnon stated that you are not only reading about politics, and the vastly changing economy, you also come across posts about daily life, connecting to social and cultural life. I found this true in Isaac Mao's blog. While it is true that, Isaac Mao provides good insight on different happening in China, it does not necessarily follow that many will be prone to read his blog daily, due to his lack of enthusiasm in his great work.

HW 9: Cyber Support

After reading Ayelet Waldman's "A Weblog Saved my Life Last Night" I had more of an understanding of why women like Waldman spend their time blogging and not pertaining to their duties of being a mother and supporting a family. Waldman was blogging and following an infertility and miscarriage weblog where the women that Waldman communicates with share their stories and open up to each other. Although not all of the women have experienced these problems, they are still showing showing a great deal of support and emotional understanding. Waldman is an author of six books, yet finds blogging "perfect" for herself. Waldman's theory of the blogosphere is extremely useful because it sheds insight on the difficult problem of genetic termination, miscarriages, and other birth problems that Waldman could relate to. The blogosphere gives these women from all around the world the opportunity to share and respond to each other, without the chance of running into them the next day at the local grocery store. I find appreciation in these women for the sense of support that they give, yet I believe that there is a line that needs to be drawn when revealing too much about yourself. Waldman blogged about her husband, her children, her sex life, all the way to her depression. Though she was undergoing a mild form of bipolar disorder, she should have seeked professional help. I found Waldman particularly lucky when she was in the position of nearly killing herself after having a suicidal reaction to one of her antidepressant drugs she was on. It was late at night, her husband was out of town, and she had no one to turn to. After blogging about her suicidal feelings, an immediate response was given from her friend in Israel, who knew Waldman was serious. If it was not for her fellow blogger, she may have not been stopped that night. Fortunately, the blogosphere has clearly proved in this circumstance that there are people out there who will listen, understand, and help you in any kind of condition.

HW 7: Why Public?

I believe that it is important for parents to monitor what their middle school children are doing on the Internet. Middle school is the age where children begin to experience and explore different opportunities that the Internet offers. During this age the children are undergoing many different changes including their bodies, their friendships, their experiences, and their work. With the Internet undergoing many new advances in social networking, this makes it very prone for them to get caught up in the act of LiveJournal, Xanga, or other such blog networks in which they can express their feelings and emotions. This would seem like a good idea in order to take stress off the children, yet why are these children posting their own life experiences for anyone to read, when they can just have their own personal journal or diary. In Emily Nussbaum's "My So-Called Blog" she explains that these children are indeed opening up a different side of them for all to see.

"A result of all this self-chronicling is that the private experience of adolescence-a period traditionally marked by seizures of self-consciousness and personal confessions wrapped in layers and hidden in a sock drawer-has been made public" (Kline and Burnstein 351)

Some say it is a desperate cry for attention while others may say it is just a way to relax and express their emotions running through their heads and to have other be able to relate and respond to their stories. Yet I have heard and seen of blogs in which children have ridiculed other children for the content that was in it. Why should parents be allowing their children to post this information on the Internet when it may just end up causing them more harm then they were already feeling. In order to avoid this, I believe that parents should have the right to view what their children are doing online for their own safety.

HW 6: Interest Statement

For the Semester-Long Research Project, the social computing technologies that I am most interested in are chat rooms, texting, instant messaging, and social networking services. I am interested in these forms of social computing because I, as long with the majority of students my age, commonly use these forms of technology on a day-to-day basis. Instant messaging and texting has grown so large that even my mother has a screen name, and my father now texts! The kinds of empowerment of marginalized groups that I am most interested in are overcoming sexism, overcoming ageism, and overcoming racism. I am interested in these topics because I find them to still be a problem in our society. I am currently taking an Intro to Women's Studies class which discusses the inequalities based on gender, and I have become very interested and concerned with the fact that women are still not receiving the same forms of "treatment" that men are receiving. The geographical ares that I am interested in are North America and the US because I believe that the forms of social computing that I have interest in are most commonly used in these areas of the world. I look forward to further studying these topics!

HW 5b: I think, Therefore I Am

Before I begin may I state that I do not deny the fact that blogging has become a new easy and accessible form of publishing and communicating ideas and arguments that has vastly changed our society. As David Kline expresses in "I Blog, Therefore I am" all other sources of media in which we have relied on for many years, will soon be diminished with the constant growth of blogging. This I find hard to believe. Though the number of households that read the newspaper daily is decreasing annually, does not give support to say that we will soon see the end to this form of media. We live in a constantly growing and on the rise time period, which emphasizes the fact that new forms of technology and information will soon be processed into our daily lives. People who care about what is going on around them, will continue to read the newspaper daily, while others may find these new advantages, like blogging, as a benefit and better assistance. Blogging is simply receiving the information that they discuss, argue, and contemplate through other larger more commonly used media. Without the mainstream media providing us with these updates from around the world, blogging would not be able to publish their ideas and opinions online, because that is their source of information. Not everyone can relate to blogging, or have as much passion for blogging such as political leaders and followers do. I can not see basic forms of media in which we all have relied on for so many years to be cut off and eliminated just because of blogging.

HW 4: The Voice of the Customer

Everyone hates rainy days. Lounging around, helplessly motivating yourself to get something accomplished. When I began David Kline’s “The Voice of the Customer”, I climbed up onto my bed shivering from the breeze of the rain, and my stomach began to rumble. I knew I wouldn’t be able to focus without eating. I looked outside and thought “there’s no way I am going to set forth on campus through the pouring rain to eat at the Dining Commons”. So I thought, “What’s quick, easy, and delicious?” Campbell’s “Just heat and Enjoy” soup. It was as easy as walking down the hall, popping it in the microwave and within 2 minutes you’re devouring something equivalent to your mom’s homemade soup. American's today tend to believe that a healthy balanced meal is essential to your health and well-being. Campbell's soup is not only contains all the good nutrition facts your mother would look for on the back of a box or can, but it is also delicious! Being in college and surrounded by the many distractions of friends, family, and the tremendous work load, there sometimes is not enough time to sit down and fit in a 20-30 minute meal. Campbell’s advertises this beneficial way of eating through advertisements, the affordable prices, and right on the front of the can. “M’mm! M’mm! Good to go!” is written on the can, something I decisively thought when I sat back down to read. Having already been cooked, you can still endure the same great taste as whether you were to wait 15 minutes to make un-cooked soup. This method of “cooking” is a great advantage for “on-the-go” people. Whether you are heating up Campbell’s soup for a child on the run to soccer practice, a father late for a meeting, a college student hurrying to class or simply, just an easy way to enjoy a great taste, Campbell’s Soup offer’s many varieties to satisfy your needs.