Mitt is it!

First of all, I have to say that tonight's GOP debates were completely redundant. Most of what was said tonight had been said last time around. That is, minus Ron Paul's ridiculous outburst (I'm sorry, but we will never be isolationist...it is not what the American people want). But I think that Mitt Romney is the most articulate, freshest, and probably the most attractive of all the GOP Primary candidates.

1) I wish I could speak like him--words flowing so smoothly that I am convinced that he MUST be reading from a script.

2) It's about time we have a candidate on either side of the aisle with more private sector experience than public sector. While Mitt still does have experience as a GOVERNOR (wayyyy better than Senatorial experience when it comes to running for President), he still knows what businesses need from the government to survive.

3) He and his wife should be LL Bean models.

Anyways, this whole thing has a point. We Republicans in the DC Area who would choose Mitt as their primary candidate (no pun) have a way to come together! All you have to do is to go here and sign up. Trust me, someone WILL contact you. Mitt has a lot of promise, and if you are a student/Mitt supporter in the DC area, you should sign up.

Trent Reznor -- the "Ralph Nader of the music industry?"

We all know that Trent Reznor, whose birthday is later this week, knows how to use the internet to his full advantage. This time, he used his own website to declare his anger at intentionally "screwing the fans" by selling Nine Inch Nails CDs at a ridiculously high price. The Rolling Stone article that I just referenced called Reznor the "Ralph Nader of the music industry." Now, normally, I loathe activists and people of the Nader sort. However, as a fiscal conservative, I really appreciate Mr. Reznor's words.

I can understand the temptation of wanting to download free music, especially if you are fairly certain of not getting caught. I know that I would never do it, but LOTS of people I know do. At the same time, CDs are really expensive! How are we as consumers and fans to choose? It's a tough choice. I hope that more artists like Trent speak up against this crap. Afterall, where would the corruption end? In the end, it is such high prices that make stealing music so popular and widely available.

And the internet is a GREAT place to start.

Happy Birthday, Trent.

Well Karl Rove said...

Wow it seems like forever ago that Karl Rove was here on the American University campus (oh the humiliating days of our lives here at AU...). But we can try to remember some of the good things that came out of that lovely Tuesday night in the first week of April...

For one, I got my picture with him. I love being the token girl on the College Republicans E-board.

Also, what he spoke about was really substantive. At one point, someone (I think it was Joe Vidulich) asked about the future of politics and the internet. You know that if Mr. Rove says such great things about the internet's potential, it's gonna be big. And that's pretty much what he said in a nutshell for that question.

Anyways, this was such a great year...I'm sad for it to be over. We've accomplished a lot! One big thing was that our chapter made it as the spotlight chapter on the CRNC website! It's amazing. Also, our website this year has been the best that it has been in a while. I know that it is going to be switched up again next year (stay tuned for details) but we have gotten a lot of compliments on this one. We really used our website a lot this year. If you want to get on our listserv, all you have to do is sign up on the website! If you want to learn about internships, upcoming events, or really anything about us, just go to the site. For a conservative group, we were really very "progressive." Hehe!

Who knows what next year has in store...

Ever evolving, even after we're gone...

BUT I WILL NEVER LEAVE! MUAHAHAHA! I will be around for Web 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, and so on--whatever those will actually entail...

I was just reading the end of a book that our class has gotten pretty in depth with...Naked Conversations. It's actually kind of funny to think that this book may never have been published because there was always something new developing in the world of internet technology. Scoble and Israel had to leap at just the right time so as to have the most recent information without missing any recent, important information. I'd say they did a good job! Their book DEFINITELY provides an excellent base for studying this stuff.

Finishing the book and finishing the class here go hand-in-hand. While I am always relieved when a semester ends (especially with no huge end of the semester project), it is always sad to part with something that has become so familiar!

But what will happen with this blog? In Naked Conversations, they tell us that every second a new blog appears, and every other second in a given day a blog disappears. Will mine become one of those? Will yours? I mean, my URL is pretty catchy...anyone who talks to me on AIM would understand the connection of the whole "think green no i" thing (sixth graders are cute). Maybe I'll turn this whole thing into political commentary...then big name pundits will find me, first start to advertise on this blog, and then offer me a job. Ha! I can wish!

But people, leaving the class is more than just deciding what to do with this blog! We have social networks! That means...drum roll please...we can keep in touch! Geez, look me up on Facebook if you haven't already. You can see pictures of me dancing on tables, etc. Ha! Once again, that is a joke that actually refers back to my post about NameDefender and such.

It's been fun guys...but there is always something more to learn and discover.

Don't be Deputy Downer.

Ever since the first day I started taking classes in ITEC, all I've heard was how great technology is...and really though, it is. It brings us to a level of communication we thought was only possible in the "new millenium" (haha jk, it IS the new millenium, but i'm referring to hovercraft cars and what not).

So why are we starting now with all of the...no, YOU CANNOT GO THERE?! For instance, in The JobSyntax Blog, they talk about a limit on blogging. But does that have to be so? If you ask me, we've got a Deputy Downer on our hands.

Seriously, if I were at a networking event, and someone said, "Oh, hey, we are looking for new recruits...visit this blog," I'd surely go to it. There are certainly possibilities with this. For instance, the person who is leaving the position, or even past interns, can write a little blog about what they did, candidly say why they liked the job and what they got out of it, and then asked for questions. This way, the potential new employees can put themselves out there early. This could be a kind of interview...ya know?

I mean, I certainly judge people by the kind of questions they ask, don't you? This way, it gives a company insight into the people who are applying without looking at what they have actually achieved. What good is a person with a 4.0 if they have no social skills for an HR position? Not quite qualified.

A blog for recruiting is a GOOD IDEA. You may disagree, but technology can be manipulated to fit our goals...not the other way around.

She's the worst Professor I've ever had...

...But Robert Scoble told me to never lie in my blog through his book, Naked Conversations. So I can truthfully say that I have had some horrible professors, and Professor Melander is not one of them.

But really then, what is the difference between what Mark Jen did and the slander we are all secretly guilty via word of mouth? I'll tell you what the difference is...it's that Mark wrote this down and published it for the world to see. Without a doubt, we'd all be in trouble if we wrote down and published everything we said. So if we all do it, why is there such a double standard?

I mean, I'm pretty good at being honest. Sometimes a bit too much. But there is usually nothing I will say that I am not afraid to publish (my mother might advise otherwise...). I also wish more people weren't afraid of the truth--there is nothing wrong with being upfront.

But in this case, I have to side with Google. Employers can fire their employees for any reason they want (as long as it has nothing to do with race, religion, gender, etc.). If they think that having an employee airing out their dirty laundry on the internet is going to do more harm than good, they can do what they want (within boundaries) with this worker.

But then there is Heather B. Armstrong of dooce.com. While being fired becuase of aforementioned reasons, she went on to become a very successful blogger. She says in her bio, "BE YE NOT SO STUPID. Never write about work on the internet unless your boss knows and sanctions the fact that YOU ARE WRITING ABOUT WORK ON THE INTERNET. If you are the boss, however, you should be aware that when you order Prada online and then talk about it out loud that you are making it very hard for those around you to take you seriously."

But bloggers should heed these examples. While it is important to be honest and never hide information, take Scoble's words of wisdom and be nice to everyone. Also remember what your mom always said, "don't say it if you wouldn't be willing to write it down and sign your name to it!" Honesty is important, but so is keeping your job, right?

Group Effort = Success?

Let's be honest with ourselves.

These collaborative systems are amazing. They are leading the frontier of possibility 100 times further than we thought possible when the fax machine was invented. And they are definitely more efficient than emails, phone calls, etc.

When skimming over Teamwork, Supercharged after having read it, I noticed the word "wikis" in there. I came to the grand conclusion that Google Docs, for example, is very, very similar to Wikipedia. And well, we've all heard that "if you read it on Wikipedia, it's probably wrong" from one professor or another. So, if anyone working on a project with you can just add anything, where is the guarantee that it is not bogus?

For instance, we can look at ninwiki. (If you've read certain posts of my blog before, you'd have some inkling that i'm a huge fan of Nine Inch Nails.) Ninwiki is the main medium for NIN fans to learn about all of the Year Zero and its subsequent controversy buzz. It's pretty crazy what is going on with that. However, who is REALLY putting this all together? Is it the common everyday person, just interested in the mystery? Or is it actually one of Mr. Reznor's personal techies putting it together? If the latter is true, that reallllllly ruins it for me and for everyone (not that I approve of the message that NIN is putting out there anyways). But this whole campaign is creating a huge hype...and if it is a lie, people like this would be incredibly disappointed. Also, who says that it isn't a bunch of kids making all this up, and when Mr. Reznor caught wind of it just went along with it. There are no guarantees that this site contains real information, or if we are all being taken for a ride. There is no way to really know who the creators really are...

But applying this to the workplace, if anyone can have access to a document or project, what if they screw the whole thing up...or worse...DELETE IT!?! I can only imagine how I would have felt if Talila had accidentally deleted our social networking assignment. Or really, just my sections. Isn't this whole concept kind of dangerous?

Let's all sing! WHY CAN'T WE BE FRIENDS...

First, I want to say that "Who would you most like to be stuck in an elevator with?" is a very dangerous question--but maybe that is the point. Some people might actually articulate their first instincts...

But in all seriousness, Rob Cross's chapter, "Building Bridges" in The Hidden Power of Social Networks, brings up an excellent point. Not knowing anything about your coworkers is not necessarily a good thing, for you or your group projects. When you have a relationship with someone, you have a deeper level of trust.

From personal experience of working with fellow students on a few club executive boards, I know that people work best together when they also play together. And "play" could range from coffee after work, to a social event on the weekend, to eating lunch in a common cubicle.

But I must admit, this chapter strikes me as slightly silly. It basically contains a manual on how to be social. There is usually always at least one person who is more than willing (and generally does to an annoying level) to facilitate social interactivity. But do people even need that? All a work place really needs is the water cooler. Don't you find it to be a great stress release to find someone to complain about your boss to? You shouldn't have to fill out an information card--that is like entering high school again.

Although, everyone could trade info cards at the water cooler as if they were baseball cards. Or they could play games with them. OR...they could burn them all and sing campfire songs. Singing is great for breaking the ice.

Fire, hypocrites, and politics... (redundant?) ...

As I sit here in MGC on a lovely March night, I'm just wondering why there has to be a fire alarm in my dorm. Usually during an alarm, I text everyone I know and complain (creating a mini social network hehe), but tonight, I am going to...wait for it...BLOG.

It always happens to me that I blog about the first thing I read. In this case, I picked up Smart Mobs by Howard Rheingold. The first thing Rheingold talks about in chapter 7 is the power of the masses in overturning authority, or at least giving it a go. But the case of the "Battle of Seattle" when masses came to protest the WTO in '99 always bothers me. The chapter would be better off leaving this example out. In my opinion, it takes away credibility. And I'm going to tell you why.

These people don't know what they were protesting. The book notes, and it is very true that these people used cell phones and computers as mediums to let people know to come rebel with them. HOWEVER, what takes away credibility is that, without a doubt, at least 90% of all these "new fangled contraptions" (thanks, Grandma) were manufactured abroad. How can you prove a point with products paid for and manufactured by capitalists...those who live the very principle you are fighting against? Thanks for funding the companies that are bringing down the little people (in your opinion).

Thank God for politics and the ability to talk about it on the web. Now even someone as unimportant as me in the political arena can express their opinion..and hopefully make some people angry.

In the end, can you blame the pundits of today for setting off an alarm for saying ridiculous things (even if it is just for a reaction)? After all, they just want to sell books and make an honest living. Isn't that what we all want?

"I'm kind of a big deal" and rightfully so...

PEOPLE KNOW ME. Hahaha, for any of you who don't know, that is from Anchorman, a Will Ferrell movie. But in all seriousness, Tom told us about how he started AskTom for Oracle as a hobby in his spare time. It seems his little experiment has turned into a magnificent success, and he deserves all the credit he is getting.

This weekend, I attended CPAC--the Conservative Political Action Conference--and I thought about what Tom had said several times. The first was completely irrelevant, but funny, so I think I will share. A woman whose last name was Ducey came up to a group of us and started talking about how she was going to run for president in 2008. However, I thought her last name was "Dooce" for a second, and so I thought about the dooce blog. Ridiculous, I know, in more than one way. She also was a horrible dresser. I'm sorry.

So anyways, I had actually started paying attention to how many professional bloggers were there at the Omni Shoreham Hotel for the conference. One man, Justin Hart came to speak with me about his blog on Mitt Romney.

At the back of the exhibit hall, there were a whole bunch of bloggers set up with their laptops, recording everything that was going on. This brought me back to when Tom was talking about hypothetically blogging in the airport after being stuck on plane for hours on end. These people could basically sit there and type about anything they thought appropriate and interesting, and then wait for a response. I bet this kind of blogging is more fun than being a servant to the people and giving them technical advice (am I wrong? I could be).

Also, right before the controversial Miss Ann Coulter came in to speak (which she made comments that the bloggers are all over), I witnessed the ceremony that was rewarding the best blogger for the past year. Unfortunately, I did not catch the site, but I got that he recieved a large sum of money as an award (maybe I should take up political blogging???).

CPAC as a whole was a giant social network that will continue on long after the last exhibitor packs up and leaves the hotel. This is becuase blogging brings power to the people. Tom, a very, very smart man is able to help those who need Oracle help right away via AskTom. The arbitrary Republican in Idaho can stay connected to the party via Townhall or Redstate.com.

Thank you, Tom and all bloggers (even if you are really bad at it) for giving of your time and keeping us in the know. Without you, we'd live our lives a lot slower than we do. And no one likes to be behind.
(No child left behind? Haha, a nice little political joke for ya...)

Your inappropriate pictures subsequently create jobs.

That's right. Someones complaints that their keg stand photos were prohibiting them from getting a job sparked someone's imagination. Therefore, they started a potentially incredibly profitable business of cleaning up after your messes.

NPR tells us a little bit about a couple of these businesses. The first is Reputation Defender. This site finds your inappriate pictures and tells you to delete them. If you don't, they are more than willing to take legal action against any employer who won't hire you--freedom of expression, right? This appeals to both you and your parents, who are offered their own link to defend you in the workforce battlefield. The second NPR brings up is Naymz. This is geared specifically toward college students.

These sites, these weapons of self defense, are a great tool for college students especially. Hypothetical situation: you go to a party, you drink, you dance on a table, you do things you regret. It happens. Now the next day, you are not going to deny it! Because if you do, you are just not cool. Even the Naymz blog (see above link) would admit, "If you aren’t a complete nerd, odds are that you probably have some incriminating photos, dubious comments, and questionable friends on these sites." It is definitely a toss up..."should I do the right thing, or should I be AWESOME?"

I, of course, air on the side of capitalism. If you want these pictures up, by Jove, have them up. This is why we have lawyers with more and more new specialization areas every day! This is why some entrepreneurs have jobs! Take a risk, have fun, and let your grandma know that college is fun and you have no regrets (well, when it comes to the internet).

As a sidenote, I had to mention this.

MAD PROPS TO MYSPACE. I know that myspace is actually very annoying and trendy, but this time it did something right. My favorite band EVER, Nine Inch Nails, put up their previously unreleased songs onto the internet for all to hear via myspace.

Click here to listen to (in favorite order) "My Violent Heart", "Me I'm Not", and "Survivalism".

Ooh, NEAT, we could use this!

So, mobile communications as Rheingold talks about in his Smart Mobs seem SUPER FUN.

While the idea that I could find my soul mate while walking down the street seems like a good time, I think that we could use this technology to better society.

For instance, we could label certain people as criminals or offenders so that a person might know where to avoid people.

Could we also go so far as to put business information out there, so it would be like recieving a business card when you walk by a person? That would be like advertising yourself while you sleep! Of course, you'd want to turn off your phone while you are sleeping or in your house at all so as to avoid attracting stalkers....

Let me see

Technorati Profile

Tee Hee Hee

I do love being controversial!

Guerrilla marketing, as described by Jay Conrad Levinson in his popular 1984 book Guerrilla Marketing, is an unconventional way of performing promotional activities on a very low budget.
(Sorry, but Wikipedia worked best in this instance).

I would like to clear a few things up...

So I feel that I have "stirred up some controversy" with the connections I made last time. I would just like to explain it a bit further.

I was making the observation that blogging is actually a kind of guerilla marketing. It's really unconventional if you think about it--it's not a commercial, it's not an advertisement--it's an opinion piece. If a company could get an Op-Ed about their product in some newspaper every week, imagine how great that would be. However, since the internet is not really that old, and blogging is relatively new, it is still innovative.

The customer loyalty part comes along with the "addiction" to blogs. Once you read something you like in a blog, chances are you will come back. Some people read these blogs daily to see what is new in the market. This builds customer loyalty within a blog--which is great for a company to know about. That way they can take advantage of this audience and focus on them to sell to.

I hope this helps...

What is "going too far" in marketing?

Reaching people requires creativity. Especially if a company wants to reach people for relatively cheap. Things like blogs really are taking over in some aspects.

Firstly, if you start visiting a blog site and are intrigued by what it has to say, chances are you'll go back. Heck, you might even get addicted. This builds up customer loyalty. Ben McConnell talks about the importance of customer loyalty in Naked Conversations by Scoble and Israel. This has got to be a kind of guerilla marketing--the subject of my senior paper in high school.

Guerilla marketing has really always interested me: people reaching people in cheap and unconventional ways. People are turned on by new ideas. This definitely applies to blogs and the blog addicts. These people start reading, become addicted, and then tell their friends about it. Or they might see something interesting, share the link with one of their friends, and the process starts all over. Unconventional marketing could potentially be the greatest form of marketing for a company.

In Naked Conversations, the authors talk about how Microsoft started their blogs and that really impacted the company. I don't mean to be a downer, but couldn't they do more?

Here is another little guerilla marketing stunt Microsoft pulled...



Now you see, all this unconventional marketing is connected. AND effective. But are they going too far?

Intelligent, Well-Caffeinated, and Dangerous

Now, I really don't like to focus on the very beginning of a reading assignment, but it was the subject matter of the first few pages that really caught my attention. It was the whole, "What do people gain from virtual communities that keeps them sharing information with people they might never meet face to face?" in Howard Rheingold's book Smart Mobs.

Rheingold was discussing that matter with a friend of his who works for Microsoft up in Washington state. It is people like these, these innovators, who are responsible for the ability to collect social capital without looking a new "friend" or colleague in the eye.

I definitely appreciate the ability to meet new people, find people with similar interests and connect with them, and have the chance to purchase books from people I never really want to meet who live in states miles and miles away. My mom always told me never to talk to strangers, on the other hand. Isn't it dangerous to trust people with my contact and/or billing information when I don't know the first thing about them? Is all this innovation taking away from the relationships that could be built and time that could be spent talking in coffee shops instead of email? How can you learn to respect someone without ever hearing the tone of their voice, or seeing if they can hold eye contact?

Social capital is very important, but we should remember that we will always need human interaction to keep us from becoming robots.

Does Rob Cross give social networks too much credit? Or not enough? DUN DUN DUN!

"People who are stuck on the edge of a network are important because they’re underutilized resources and are three times more likely than better-connected people to leave an organization."
-Rob Cross

So first I hear that a social network will make or break a person's stay in a organization, statistically speaking. He goes on to later say,

"If you tried to force a single parent, for instance, or even a scientist or a subject matter expert, back into the fray, you probably wouldn’t get very good results."

But maybe the social aspect of the network is just what that person needs. For instance, the working mother could find a coworker whose daughter is looking for a babysitting job and would work for relatively very little money. I know about this kind of thing from personal experience. Most babysitting jobs my sister and I have had came from my mom's coworkers. People should take the time to get to know a little bit about the other people in their network, especially at work, so that each person can help make another's life a little easier. In this matter, I think that the network is not being taken full advantage of and may not be given the potential credit it deserves.

But I don't think that having a person not connected is going to cause a person to leave an organization. Haven't we all had a job or a class that we would much rather just get our work done and leave? Perhaps the people being examined here actually despise the people they work with and chooses to remain private? After a certain amount of time, they will finally get fed up with everyone else, and just quit. It is then not a matter of getting people involved, it is a matter of dealing with someone who does not like you and refuses to interact with you unless they must.

Otherwise, I simply must say that single mothers are incredibly hard workers and may not have the time to socialize. Either that or they find another, higher paying job which prevents them from staying. I feel that the statistics which Cross uses can be misleading. Since he spends so much time around social networking, what tells me that he is not just giving the social network too much credit?

Ok, now time for the first assignment...

So I started reading the assigned readings. The first thing that came to my mind when I was reading about the "types of individuals in the network" (NETWORKS 71) was how much I partake in social networks, both on the web and off. I mean, already today I've spent hours and hours (and hours) in class, talking to new people (and occasionally playing an entertaining game of tic tac toe, which I lost). This may seem creepy, but I usually tend to look people up on Facebook once I've met them. But then I notice that, "Oh, we have 17 friends in common! I wonder who they are!" and I proceed to look into them. This has the potential to lead to entertainment lasting hours. On the way, I find someone who I do know well in person, but feel the need to confirm it for all Facebook "stalkers" to see. When it comes down to it, I want to be the "central connector" that Rob Cross talks about. Then again, I'd say it is human nature to want to be connected with as many people as possible, especially when everyone can see it. It's a status thing to have over 300 friends and 2,000 posts on your wall. I am well on my way to that, but for now, I'll keep looking up the people I just met.



Cross, Rob and Andrew Parker. The Hidden Power of Social Networks. Harvard Business School Publishing Corp. Boston, MA 2004.

Take 2

"I am a student taking a class related to social networking so I'm posting to this blog for that reason. On my honor, all of these blogs are my own."

Let the good times roll.