Week 14 - Facebook & More

Assignments from this week focused a lot more on Facebook specifically, and how it functions beyond that of just a website where people can share thoughts and ideas, keep up with old friends and family, etc.  This week we learned about the Open Graphs initiative, event though the original idea was introduced in 2010.

This concept of open graphs is an idea that interconnects websites, software, advertisements, music and people on a sub web created by tracking and analytics.  Facebook specifically wants to create a Facebook Open Graph by linking itself with other sites outside of Facebook.  Allowing people Facebook functions on other web pages allows the website operators the benefits of full Facebook analytics while also, however, allowing Facebook information about every site visitor in great detail.

This works by websites adding Facebook log-ins to their sites - apps do it too.  A lot of people are reluctant to sign up on new sites with new usernames and passwords they may forget, on sites they know nothing about.  Many people feel safer using their Facebook log-in information in lieu of creating these new accounts.  This works to everyone's advantage in the plan for the open graph.  Sites may be more likely to get new users, including the consumer demographics, and Facebook gains consumer insights.  The pattern continues on multiple websites across multiple genres and boom! The open graph is formed.

Though Facebook isn't the only large analytics company on the Internet gathering mass amounts of data, it is doing the best job of seamless, seemingly nonintrusive collection.  Google gets amazing amounts of information, but doesn't have access to every consumer's demographic information - because that requires a log-in.  Hence the reason Google+ was formed.  Google+ is basically a version of Facebook that was created as a social platform but collected demographic information about users for their profiles (which is the main advantage Facebook has over its competition).

All in all, Facebook does  a lot more than act as a landing group for sharing thoughts and pictures while staying connected with friends.  The larger it gets, the more trusted it becomes, and the better it gets at collecting data that can be recorded and expressed in ways that deliver customized web experiences to consumers.  The footprint is growing, like it or not, and some believe it could be problematic.

In a nutshell, anything that alters the presentation if data to appeal to on person specifically is changing regularly programmed content and censoring it by narrowing it.  Any alteration that limits information is censorship, and censorship holds extreme powers of control.  That's not excellent.  While a customized web experience sounds like a good idea, I'm interested to see what parameters are created and enforced in the near future as a result of these processes that will limit the power of large web conglomerates.

Week 13 - Learning A Lot About A Lot

This week we're focusing on social media and how it's relevant to today's lifestyles.  Not just looking at the beasts of Social Media as marketing tools, advertising platforms, or ways to spread information, the real goals of this week's assignments are to open our minds to all the ways Social Media are integrated into our lives, and how to use and understand that information.

I was introduced to a totally new facet of social media via Twitter, called  a TweetDeck.  I had no idea that even existed, and I'm fairly savvy regarding online platforms and Social Media as a whole.  I certainly would't consider myself an expert, as I am willingly not extremely involved, but I use accounts such as Facebook regularly.  I have a Twitter account, and an Instagram, but I have to admit that I only seldomly get on them to explore, much less post.

Based on what I have completed this week, I can say that I have learned a new way to use social media as a platform to my benefit professionally.  I kind of hate that fact that business really have to have social media sites these days in order to be relevant.  But they function as much more than places consumers can visit to learn more about brands and brand identities.  They also function as landing grounds for consumers to actively communicate and participate with the brands they either love or hate, but still post about.  Not to mention, Facebook has some of the richest analytics mines for business, including measurable reach.

In addition to social media topics, we were instructed to read a really interesting article called "Contagious: Why Things Catch On" by Jonah Berger.  The concepts in the article weren't new to me, but the article was an excellent read that was extremely well written.  The author has a way with words, and even the most uninteresting topic can become interesting when presented in a skillful way.  Though I was familiar with the main ideas of the article, I appreciated the way he organized his ideas and the STEPPS process.  Check it out here, if you're interested: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_x8VqUy9HyNRUdRWGZGSW9KLU0/view?pli=1

Overall, this week was informative and a bit inspirational.  I got to write about things a actually know a bit about, and read an article that only enhanced those ideas.  We'll see what next week has in store soon!

Twitter Timelines on Blog Posts? Apparently so!

This week we learned how to connect our twitter post timeline onto our blogs.  This was a lot easier than I thought it would be, and I think it could be really helpful in the future, or maybe even to promote awareness of my side project I mentioned in my previous posts, the promotion of my friend's soccer scholarship fund.

For this assignment, i chose a sidebar as the location for my Twitter feed.  I'm not very active on Twitter currently, but I can see the potential for promoting my endeavors.  I don't care to promote myself, necessarily, in Twitter at this time, but I think inserting a side-bar gadget such as this one is a cool way to link sites together and help promote personal or corporate brand identities.

As we learned, the more links a webpage has, the more relevant it becomes in search engines, yielding more results and placing higher on the result rankings.  Attaching a Twitter feed seems like and easy to increase links and compliment the individual styles of personalities or brands online.

Check out how it looks!  It appears more credible, even without reading the posts or content.  I think this was a positive addition to my blog, and it does help identify me as a person, which also helps people understand my writing personality:

Week 10 - Learning About SEO and Analytics

This week continues to be a challenge, trying to learn how to use Google Webmaster Tools to optimize search engine results, increase or at least manage web traffic, and how to interpret all the data I receive as a result of implementing these concepts and tags, keywords, etc. on to the pages I want.  As usual, I'm using my Blogger site as the Guinea Pig for my fumbles and attempts to learn these concepts and see what effect they have over time.

I think the information will be really helpful for sites I have for personal and business ventures.  I plan to track our newly created and still in progress memorial page in honor of my childhood best friend who I lost to suicide in March of this year.  I still have some work to do to update the three pages we are using as platforms for our cause, so if you visit them, please keep that in mind.  I will have them looking by the end of the year, but I need some time - which I have NONE of - to really polish them.  Until that is done, however, I invite you to visit our pages in progress.  I will be entering them into my Google Webmaster Tools page soon, so we can be aware of how effective our sites are, if they're reaching beyond our group of friends and family, and if they are helping encourage traffic and donations to our soccer scholarship fund.

I think this assignment will be very useful, even though I haven't had the opportunity to employ them for substantial use yet, in maintaining an active role in the performance of our web presence.  Please follow the links below and visit the pages we have so far, though they are still in progress.

 https://www.facebook.com/ShareETLLove/?ref=hl

https://www.jaxcf.org/give/erica-lewis-soccer-scholarship-fund

http://etlfund.wix.com/youbeyou

Thanks for this hard, but beneficial assignment.  I hope you all view our sites!

School, Me, and What It's Worth

Beginning this blogging project, I feel a bit unsure.  This school assignment could really help me develop my casual writing skills, and of course will result in an academic figure, but who will read it?

I am required to post my thoughts and ideas on the Internet, for any and all to read, as a course assignment.  Without this assignment, I can't say that I have ever really seriously considered regular postings to update followers on anything.  I suppose I have been under the impression that friends, much less strangers, honestly cared enough about my personal viewpoints and opinions on specific matters to intentionally subscribe to them.  Perhaps I was wrong.

As I sift through social media each day, I'm not committing my friends' images, memes, or complaints to memory, not am I intrigued by most of them.  I am, however, constantly reading articles posted by organizations I follow.

Creating a New Google Map - Using Google Drive Sheet

This week I learned how to create my own, new Google map using a spreadheet I created in Google Drive.  I have never created my own map before, but I've always wondered how to do it.  I'm actually really glad to have completed this assignment.  For the activity, we were to create a Google map that included all the pool locations for the JaxParks Aquatics program.  Their current format on their site is not user friendly, nor is it well organized.  Though they do include link access to individual locations, they don't encompass them all into one, easily viewable map.  So that's what we did!  Here is the map I created, based on the pools listed on the JaxParks website.  Follow this link to view their page:
http://www.coj.net/departments/parks-and-recreation/recreation-and-community-programming/jaxparks-aquatics/jaxparks-public-swimming-pools.aspx

This new map translates that list into an easily viewable, clickable, and printable database:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?hl=en&hl=en&authuser=0&authuser=0&mid=zSm1Fn6yfSH8.klLBdMNlTzGE

There are several ways self-made Google maps could be useful to organizations and consumers.  I can think of a few maps I wish existed right now, and I know I can use this lesson in future business.  I would have used it for an event I helped organize with my internship last week if I knew how to do it!  There were a few areas where the project could have used something of this nature - not just for the special event - but to help promote the purpose of the non-profit organization itself.  I'll recommend that we input this information into a file for year-round and special events as soon as I see the owner tomorrow!

I personally, though, would love to see a map of all the locations that host Craft/Farmers Markets.  I love to shop local and support my community, and I really enjoy walking around outdoors with my family and talking to the people who made or grew the products they're selling.  I feel good about buying from other members in my community, supporting our local economy, and making friends with vendors who may toss in some apples as a bonus to my order because they appreciate my business - just like Ms. Rosie did yesterday at the Town of Orange Park Fall Festival!

Jacksonville's Hidden Gems - My Addition

Take a look at my contribution to this map, Camp Chowenwaw Park!  I love this little gem!