Tapping into the Power of the Crowd

The phenomenal growth in the popularity of social networks has expanded its user base from individuals to include businesses of various sizes. Millions of people spend hours eacy day on multiple social networking sites such as Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Contemporary businesses quickly respond to this trend by integrating social networks into their marketing strategy to gain visibility, connect to their customers, promote their products and services, and improve their bottom line.

While knowing how to tap into these social networks effectively can greatly benefit smart businesses, the adoption of social networking tools into the workforce can also pose major concerns such as lowering productivity and raising security threats. Some potential benefits and threats associated with integrating social networks into a business include the following:

The Benefits:

• Expand online contacts by establishing an impressive profile, thus minimizing costs associated with advertising and marketing efforts.
• Reach out to people personally by encouraging them to connect and become friends. This also extends connections to their network of friends as well.
• Present an online image of a business that is innovative, reputable, and reliable.
• Implement market campaigns such as special promotions, important announcements, and directed web links.

The Concerns:

• Reduce overall productivity when employees spend too much time on social networks during work hours.
• Lower company morale when some employees have to cover the workload for those who are addicted to social networking sites.
• Create problems for IT administrators to deal with high level of bandwidth usage when employees visit those sites with audio/video interfaces.
• Introduce spams and infecting malware when using third party applications within the social network sites. E.g. Koobaface worms associated with messaging software.
• Damage the company's reputation when disgruntled employees make derogatory comments about the company or when they are found to view sites with offensive and illegal content.

Faced with the dilemma of embracing this new way of online communication and confronting major security threats, companies have to decide how much access, if any, to grant their employees. Is it better to ban access to all social networking sites altogether, or grant full and unmonitored access, or settle somewhere in between? It appears that the option favored by most companies is to strike a balance by offering their employees restricted access and setting limits on Internet use. In doing so, they must also equip themselves with the following measures:

• Install current anti-virus software in all computers
• Set up a company firewall to guard against unauthorized access
• Establish and enforce company's security and Interney usage policy
• Monitor Internet usage by the employees and monitor social networking sites
• Grant employees restricted access and monitor access using web filtering software
• Conduct web security awareness training to all employees

The scary thing is that recent Facebook's privacy changes allows sharing of its users' information with other pre-approved third-party applications so that our friends would know about us, not just through Facebook, but through other sites that have alliance agreement with Facebook. Even scarier is that government agencies including the FBI and IRS also use social networking to piece together information as part of their clues to chase down criminals.

The question is: Is our life becoming public just because we joined social networking sites?

Sources:

Internet Addict Image.

Diaz, Sam. "Facebook Fan Pages Get Boost with 'Social Engagement Hub'" ZDNet Technology News. 10 Mar. 2010. Web. 9 Apr. 2010.

Dignan, Larry. "Facebook's Privacy Changes: When Will It Go Too Far (and Will You Even Notice)?" ZDNet Technology News. 29 Mar. 2010. Web. 9 Apr. 2010.

Dignan, Larry, Sam Diaz, and Andrew Nusca. "FBI, Feds Collect Facebook, Social Media Data; Why Are You Surprised?" ZDNet Technology News. 17 Mar. 2010. Web. 9 Apr. 2010.

Kelleher, David. "5 Problems with Social Networking in the Workplace." Information Management. 6 Oct. 2009. Web. 9 Apr. 2010.

Beware of Mobile Stalkers...They're on the Loose

Many telecommunication businesses believe that the GPS-enabled phone is a game changer in the wireless phone industry. As early as 2007, mobile social networking already existed, integrated with GPS location awareness programs (such as Buddy Beacon and Rave Guardian) and cut-down versions of social networks (such as Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter). Businesses expect this nifty new gadget to spice up the life of many, especially those under 25. While many embrace this new revolutionary technology with open arms, others fear potential cyberstalking.

Here are some positive and negative aspects of Mososo:

Pros:

• The GPS-enabled phone can pinpoint your location and direct you to places such as famous landmarks, motorway services, restaurants, or other entertainments.

• The whereabouts of your friends can be quickly located, making it easier for you to hang out with them.

• Software like Ubisafe can help parents to track the exact location of their children.
  

• The GPS alert services can help locate an elderly relative in distress quickly.

• A cyberscort service, such as Rave Guardian provided by Rave Wireless, Inc., links to campus police to ensure the safe arrival college students to their destination.

• Location-based services can generate business opportunities through the use of ad marketing.
  

Cons:

• To some, there are privacy concerns since the GPS phone keep tabs of you even while you are asleep and you have no control over who knows where you are (or who is stalking you)

• Being tracked by your friends, boss, or loved ones every minute of the day can be quite annoying.

• Being bombarded by location-based services with targeted ads and updates, and having your phone screen clogged up regularly can be irritating.

• Location awareness posts safety concerns. Pedophiles or identity thieves can hack into the mobile network and locate the whereabouts of you and your family members.

• The software application can be extremely addictive. Youngsters can stay logged into a virtual network, thus losing awareness of the real world.

Two years ago, some people were skeptical of the location awareness program on wireless phones. Today, it is evident that this integration solution is gaining popularity. As an example, back in 2007 mobile social network programs (like Buddy Beacon) were available only on compatible phones. Today, such programs run on multiple wireless carriers and phones. Speaking of which, Campus Police at American University is currently using Rave Guardian as a part of its student safety program.

Well then, if we had food, water (although some may prefer beer), and a GPS-enabled phone that we could text, send photos, watch movies, hound our friends, and locate hot spots (of course transportation and some money would be nice), then what else would we want?

Sources:

Cieslak, Marc. "Rise and Rise of the GPS Mobile." BBC NEWS | News Front Page. 7 Mar. 2008. Web. 10 Feb. 2010.

Goodale, Gloria. "Students' New Best Friend: 'MoSoSo'" The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com. 19 Jan. 2007. Web. 10 Feb. 2010.

Hamilton, Anita. "A Wireless Street Fight - TIME." Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com. 15 Feb. 2007. Web. 10 Feb. 2010.

McCarthy, Caroline. "The Mobile Social: Not Ready for Prime Time?" Technology News - CNET News. 13 Feb. 2008. Web. 10 Feb. 2010.

Samsung Mobile Phone. Digital image. Web. 10 Feb. 2010.

Is the World Getting Creepier?

David Simond's Word of Mouse discusses Conversational Marketing, a new breakthrough of online marketing. Through this form of advertising, marketers draw on the the power of the Internet social networks, such as Facebook and Myspace, to connect to consumers and promote their products and services.

As expected, there are pros and cons to this new trend.

Pros:

• It's cool to become friends (or fans) of my favorite bands and organizations on Facebook because I get updates on what's new (e.g. new music, latest fashion, upcoming events, discounts, and freebies). I happened to be a fan of AMF 300 Shady Grove, a local bowling alley. It is just notified me about college night on Thursdays from 9:00 PM to midnight. College students who show their college ids can play unlimited bowling for just $10, eat for $5, and drink for $3.

• It is also good to show what you're a fan of. Not only does it serve as a conversation starter, it also come in handy when friends and family need hints on finding me gifts.
  

Cons:

• I find the Fandango scenario kind of creepy. Imagine you purchase movie tickets (via Fandango) while signed into Facebook, it automatically notifies your Facebook friends via news feed as to which movie, what theater, and what showtime. If the "not-so-desirable" someone decides to come along or show up unexpectedly, it's not easy to say "no". In fact, this is also true with online Blockbuster Movie Rentals. When you add a movie into your queue, it notifies your Facebook friends via news feed which movies you are interested in seeing.
  

• I also find the status update on Facebook creepy. Sometimes it feels like someone is watching what I put out there. For example, if I update my status or information page about liking Starbucks, there would be abs on the right offering free $25.00 gift card (which is usually a scam attempting to solicit personal information.

Regarding the statement that "Facebook allows its users to opt out of sharing their information", I find it frustrating at time. Facebook updates its site as often as people change clothes, and when that happens, all the privacy settings get messed up. It sucks because everything gets shared again until we reconfigure the settings.

For the article Why Conversational Marketing Requires Fundamental Business Change, Vicky Tamaru identified three requirements of conversational marketing to be effective. These include on-going, two-way, and authentic conversation with the customers. However, I feel that these are general marketing strategies for most businesses. In order to retain customers, a business must maintain good relationships with them and earn their trust and loyalty.


Sources:
Image

Tamaru, Vicky. "Why Conversational Marketing Requires Fundamental Business Change | Branded Entertainment." Business Resources, Advice and Forms for Large and Small Businesses. Web. 02 Feb. 2010.

"Word of Mouse." Economist.com. Web. 02 Feb. 2010.