Tag: social networking

06

“Are your ‘Friends’ really your FRIENDS?”

Jun
1 Comment »   Posted by Staci |  Category:Fun, Social media

A few weeks ago a friend of mine suggested that I check out the KIN (new Microsoft phone) Webisodes on Facebook. So I took 5 minutes out of my day to take a look at the adventures of a girl named Rosa, as she traveles with her new KIN to visit her social network face-to-face and find out if her “friends”, are really her Friends.

Now, for a social media geek like myself, this is an extremely intriguing idea, because I’ve made friends and built relationships with people I don’t know personally. We are able to have a relationship online, in the “fake” world, but the question is could we be friends in the “real” world. This is exactly the question Rosa is looking to find out. The KIN is Microsoft’s latest phone living only on Verizon.

Its biggest pull is that it you can tweet, talk and post in real life. According to its website, the KIN was designed to communicate as naturally as you, as Microsoft put it, “KIN is everything you love, everyone you want, all together in one place.” More than the idea of the phone being so connected with your social networks, I love these webisodes. I have an Iphone, and it connects me enough to my social networks, that I don’t feel the urge to go out and buy a new phone, but I do LOVE every time a new webisode is posted. Rosa is such a curious grounded person that she is incredibly relateable. The concept behind these webisodes is so brilliant I wish I would have thought of it first!

For example, the episode that go me hooked, Rosa asks the questions, “should we be friends with our parents on Facebook?” Now I AM friends with my parents on Facebook, and I think I’ve learned enough about posting private things on the internet that it’s doesn’t bother me to be friends with my parents. Unlike many of my friends who wouldn’t dare friend their parents on Facebook, I mean I’m even friends with my Grandma! Plus, I’m pretty close with my parentals so that’s not really the issues. But some of the things Rosa brings up is that her mother embarrasses her online, all the time. You can check out the video yourself here, it’s actually quite funny. But her mother said, “You should be comfortable enough with yourself that it doesn’t matter what I say to you online!” Which is so true.

My mother is slowly grasping the concept of Facebook, but still, nonetheless she weekly has a question trying to decipher the difference between her Wall and her Newsfeed! (Don’t worry mom, you’ll get it soon!).

Online Marketing tactics like this are great. I truly appreciate something that connects my social networks with my cell phone. Rosa asks  legitimate questions that you find yourself say, “OMG I think about that all the time.” Although I may not be running out to buy a KIN, Microsoft has done a good job of hooking me into their webisodes.

Disclaimer: I have NOT been provided compensation for this blog post. It is truly a topic of interests.

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29

Looking at Social Networks: GolfingMyWay.com

Mar
No Comments   Posted by Staci |  Category:Social media

Rule of thumb, one should never go into business with friends—Friends and business just don’t mix. This isn’t the case for three 21-year-old University of Oregon entrepreneur students. Jake Horton, Scott Rasmussen, and John Robinson co-founders and owners of GolfingMyWay.com, Inc. These young men believe that it is feasible to run a successful business with your best friends. With the launch of GolfingMyWay (GMW) BETA in mid-February, the site has acquired a following sole from word-of-mouth.

GMW brings a feeling of community to an individual sport. Users have the ability to discuss favorite courses, players, books, movies and video games. Also, they can compare clubs, share stories and tips all within one venue. This site helps to jumpstart a community conversation about a sport so many live, breath and dream about on a daily basis.

GMW gives young golfers a way to connect with one another. With the size of the golfing industry and the endless possibilities of social networking there is nothing but opportunities for these young men to take the basics of Facebook and Myspace and expand the features with GMW.

-My Swing: where users can upload a video of their swing and GolfingMyWay.com will outsource the video to have a professional critique the users swing.

-Pro Notes: enables users to stay connected with their pros and continue a conversation about tips they should continue to work at between lessons.

-In the Bag: feature allows users to highlight and rank their clubs, and leave comments.

GMW’s features such as In the Bag, Pros Notes, and My Swing will provide the technology to bring golf into a 2.0 world. The team is looking into patenting software, which will allow golfers to upload their score via mobile device while on the course. This device will reduce the use of paper scorecards by automatically uploading scores online to save golfers time, while also providing the ability to record a variety of stats for players to analyze where they need to work on their game.

With 42 million golfers nation-wide GolfingMyWay.com hopes to have eight to ten million users within the first five years of launching .

GMW hopes to change the way golfers not only play the game of golf, but how they communicate with one another and turn a individual sport into a group experience.

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31

Rules and Regulations for Teachers online personal lives…. served up fresh from their employers

Jan
No Comments   Posted by Staci |  Category:Public Relations, Social media

This is a response to an old post, but I found it extremely interesting so I apologize this is not timely.

In response to a commentary Regina Lynn wrote about Ohio teachers being asked to stay away from social networks, I believe they are being well advised to stay away from the mainstream social networks such as Facebook and Myspace . But as Lynn points out, the internet generation is graduation into the workforce. It is unfair to ask these new teachers to give up their communication and ties to college and maybe even their only communication to friends abroad.

I believe there is a healthy medium for which a teacher, who walks such a thin line when it comes to relationships with students. Being careful comes with the territory and these new and exsisting teachers need to understand that they are walking on thin ice when it comes to teacher-student relationships. If a teacher has either one of these accounts, which he or she knows their students also have accounts, their profiles need to be extremely private and they need to take caution in posting inappropriate pictures and content to their web pages.

When it comes to sites such as Match.com I believe a teacher has every right to be a part of the site as long as they are in good taste, while knowing many have a different definition of “good taste”. The internet is an online venue opened up for the entire world. You NEVER know who is going to read your blog, profile, or news article which is posted on such a widely available venue.

My suggestion is that teachers take precaution. If you post something inappropriate either your student will call you out on it, or your employer… and I’m guessing neither one is the more preferable. You never know when a student may call wolf and you’re stuck knee deep in legal battles just because you couldn’t resist to friend a student on facebook.

Find other forms of communication and up the privacy on all your accounts. You should anyways… there are a lot of creepers out there….

Photo is courtesy of Old Shoe woman from Flickr.com

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