Technololgy Is Not Just For The Young

It seems that everyone is trying to learn a thing or two about technology. I Just read an article titled, Scholarship Gives Cash to Teens Who Help Seniors. In this article it stated that high school seniors are actually being given an opportunity to get a scholarship by simply putting together a plan to help senior citizens learn more about technology.

The program is called Seniors Helping Seniors Scholarship Program. Technology is an important thing and really is a must know in today's society. I know adults who are not that old that don't even know how to text message, let alone use a computer that well. These are simple tasks, and people need to learn how to do this. Technology can teach us a lot. Take this class for example, it would be non existent if technology would not have come as far as it has today.

The internet and technology is one of the greatest and most useful resources that we have. I don't know where the world would be without it. I think that this scholarship is a great way to not only teach the senior citizens of this world a thing or two about technology, but I think that it will also allow the younger generation to see how important technology really is.

Technology is going to continue to play a great role in this world. It is only going to continue to get more advanced and have more features. Everyone really should learn at least a thing or two about it.

Ikea's New Campaign

Ikea has a new theme that states, "Home is the most important place in the world." I think that this was really smart of the company to use this theme, because a person's home is one of the most important things to them. They are using this campaign worldwide, which allows for them to be able to concentrate on better ads, since they can send it out all at once. Even the website looks very similar between countries. The American version of the website is almost identical to the British version. But, although they have the same concept they take two different approaches. Americans have a nationwide photo project going on where photographers have to capture the nature of home. It is called America at Home 7 Days. The British on the other hand are taking the route of making your own home feel special to you, and make it the best place that you like to be. Their campaign is called Not Going Anywhere. I think that this helps strengthen their argument that home is the most important place in the world, because although they are using different campaigns they have a common idea and goal.

Brain Solis who is a blogger, wrote a blog titled, Conversational Marketing Versus Market Conversations which relates to the new Ikea campaign ad. Ikea has taken a different approach than they used to have. They use to be fun and exciting, only trying to get the idea across that if people bought there products that they would be fun and exciting. Now they have taken a more personal approach. Like Solis said they are starting to think in "Conversations." They are reaching people's inner feelings, which in turn makes there consumers have a better bond with the company.

Ikea is using a unique approach in there new campaign. They really capture web 2.0 and use it to there benefit. From a pr standpoint there website is designed nicely and does a good job of showing everything that you can get from the store. Also, with there commercials and other websites that they have put up they have really made it easier for their fans and buyers to keep up with them. They really do have a great marketing stategy and a good concept of the importance of making sure their consumers really do feel at home.

Citizen Marketers

Chapter one of "Citizen Marketers" titled Filters, Fanatics, Facilitators, and Firecrackers really dug into the lives of web 2.0 users, and helped to explain all the different forms of online uses there are in this world.

I was most intrigued by how the chapter started off. I was amazed with how much power one person can generate. When Dave Muscato started his website, it created a revolt against Sony to release Fiona Apple's album. This eventually led Sony to re-record the album which they did not want to, and even release the record, that without Dave's help, might not have ever seen the light of day.

After reading this story in chapter one I googled Dave Muscato and his website freefiona.com was the first site to pop up. It was interesting to see how a simple website could generate so much hype and followers, and to witness how much power the Internet has.

The main thing that the chapter focused on was the "Four F's"

-Filters: These were basically just sites created by people who found a product interesting and who gathered all the information that they could find on this certain product. It was interesting that the people who chose to create a website about a certain product could actually make a living from doing this. It would great to be able to sit at home and do something that I love.

-Fanatics: These people wanted to see something get done. Basically, fanatics are people who believe in something and want to stand up and fight for it. If I had something that I was really passionate about I could do this. I bet it takes a lot of time to gather all the information and facts to start a petition.

-Facilitators: The book described facilitators as being "the mayors of online towns" (pg 17). These people seem to be the ones who are the best benefit to a company, partially, because they work closer with the company more times than any of the other three F's.

-Firecrackers: This group was my favorite because this is something that I would actually do. They are described as, "The one hit wonders of citizen marketers" (pg 19). It seems that these people are the ones who just do something for fun or create something that they think would be interesting. Sometimes the creations they come up with just spread and takes off, maybe even being seen by millions, even though this may never have been their original intention.

This chapter was full of useful tips and opened my eyes to a lot of different things. I never really had any interest in this kind of stuff before, but after learning more I am starting to think that some of this could actually be really fun, and I may even try to pursue it.

Everyone Is Social Networking

I want to start this blog off by saying that I am not advocating joining this site, or supporting the company that I am going to talk about in this blog; I just stumbled upon an article on MSNBC and thought it was interesting to see all the different kind of people who are turning to social networking, as a way to help promote themselves.

The article that I stumbled upon was titled "Playboy Looks to Court College Students." This article talked about how the Playboy company is going to start a new website that is directed towards college students. The article stated, that the website was going to be similar to the already popular social networking sites Facebook and Myspace. Since magazine sales have been declining over the years, they had to try and come out with a way to gain some more fans. The website is going to be called "Playboy U." This site is only going to be strictly for college students, and they are going to have to prove that they are.

I thought that this article was very interesting because I never realized how widespread social networking is becoming. Playboy is a huge name, and they too are even using social networking to further promote themselves. This proves that social networking is becoming increasingly popular for promotional use, and that it will be around for many years to come.

Reaction: The New Influencers

After reading chapter 2 of "The New Influencers" I had a new insight on blogging. I personally have never blogged before this, partially, because I have never realized the great benefits that can come from it. In chapter 2, I was intrigued with how much new information can open up a person to new learning. Blogging, along with many other forms of social networking, makes it easy for people to get connected, but like the book states, it still allows everyone to be his or her own individual.

Each of us is allowed to write whatever we want in a blog, just like I am doing now, and other people will do in this class. Blogging also allows us to help each other out and build a network of knowledge. Hopefully, in this class people will add comments to my blog that inform me about information that I left out, or that strengthens what I am saying so that I can learn more. I will have the oppurtunity to inform people about things that I know as well. Because like the book stated, "commenting is a core part of blogging protocol."