Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Twitter Etiquette

Are you on Twitter? I actually just got a Twitter account a couple of weeks ago (I'm behind the times, I know) and all I have to say is "Man do people tweet a lot!" I think you would literally have to be logged on to Twitter and staring at it for 24 hours a day to be able to keep up with all that is going on with the people I'm following. I found an article written by Margaret Mason, a writer for The Morning News, about Twitter etiquette that I think that everyone on Twitter should read. And I mean EVERYONE! It's not so much about what you should do on Twitter as it is about what you shouldn't do, and I completely agree with every point she makes. I don't need to know about every little detail of you daily life like the fact that you just ate a whole quart of Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey, or that you and your significant other just saw the new Twilight movie. Some parts of your life are best kept private and your friends might not want you telling everyone about their life either. So watch what you tweet because its out there for everyone to see. Permanently! Another thing that has been bothering me since I hopped on the Twitter bandwagon is that there are so many @thispersons and #whatevers. I think some people are trying to make their tweets as complicated as possible. Sometimes, and it may just be because I'm new at this, its like reading hieroglyphics. These are a few points that Ms. Mason brings up in her article along with many others. You can read the rest for yourself at this link.

Thanks for reading!

My Web Use

This semester, I have been taking a Business Communications Technologies course, and I have to say that it has opened my eyes to a lot of new things on the Web. (If you're not my professor you might have wondered why I have posted so many blogs about websites and Internet etiquette.) Before this class, I mainly used the Internet to get on Facebook or to do research for projects. Now I use Delicious to search for new recipes, I keep up with my favorite websites using Google Reader, I get on Digg to check out trending topics, and I have also used Wikispaces to collaborate with group members for group projects this semester. I've noticed that the Internet and its applications are more intertwined that I ever knew. Its been an interesting semester and it has really taught me a lot. (And I'm not just saying that because my professor is going to read this.) I think that I will continue to use the websites and tools that I mentioned in the future in my personal life, to keep up with whats new, and in my business life, to work in teams more effectively. I really suggest that you check out some of my previous blogs and look at the websites that I've discussed in them. If you've never seen them before, I think you will be delightedly surprised at what you will find.

Thanks for reading!

Wordle

This is something new to me. Its called a word cloud and I made it on wordle.net using this blog. It takes random words from a website (or you can also put your own words in) and puts them in a "cloud." Just by using words, it can describe you or the website that you use in an artistic manner. Pretty cool.

Thanks for reading!

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Finding Yourself

Have you ever been bored and decided to search your name in Google to see what you would find? Most likely, unless you have a super uncommon name like Batman McStupidson, you will probably pull up hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of results. (In case you're wondering, that one actually got 40 hits. Go figure.)

If I search my name, Westley Clark, I get 1,600,000 hits, and a lot of them refer to General Wesley Clark. (No relation.)

Something a lot of people don't know, is that there are ways to make your search more specific by putting quotes around your search or adding query language syntax operators, such as >= or AND.

If I search my name with quotes, "Westley Clark", my search is narrowed down to 22,600 hits. (I still get references to General Clark, but I feel like this is an abnormal circumstance because he is a famous general that ran for president.)

Ways of narrowing down your search, like this one, can be very helpful when you are searching for something rather vague. As a college student, I know that they come in handy when I'm searching for specific information for a report.

Try it out sometime and I'm sure that you will be pleasantly surprised at how much it can help you find what you are looking for.

Here is a link to a page that explains different ways of narrowing down your search.

Thanks for reading!

Social Media Etiquette

Time for another etiquette blog! Although all of them are important, this one is becoming more and more important every day as more and more people, especially businesses, join social media sites.

I just recently gave a presentation for one of my classes about the benefits of social media marketing. From a business standpoint, social media websites are the newest, quickest, and most cost effective way to advertise and get feedback about the new products and services companies offer. But from what I have seen, many companies don't really have a grasp on the idea of marketing with social media. Many seem to think that the more they can make their name show up on a website, such as Facebook or Twitter, the more it will help their company. This is just the start. Sara Carter, a writer for Social Media Today, posted a list of social media do's and don'ts that cover many of the problems that I have seen.

Social media, even in marketing, is a two-way street. Not only should it be used to advertise, it should be used to receive feedback, should it be questions about your product(s) or suggestions to make your product(s) better. Marketers need to remember that they are not only marketing a product, but they are also marketing their company. In order to do this effectively, they need to respond to feedback, good or bad, quickly and in a positive attitude in order to keep their customers pleased and show them that they appreciate them.

Also, marketers need to stop pushing the sale so much. I know that I get on Facebook in order to communicate with my friends. I don't want to be bombarded with advertisements that say "Boy do I have a deal for you!" Sometimes less is more, and if you want me to actually pay attention to you, don't get all in my face (or all over my news feed for that matter) trying to push your business. Make me feel like you are there to help ME and not YOU.

My post briefly summarizes her article, but I urge you (especially if you are a business man or woman using social media to market yourself or your company) to read what she has to say fully. So here is the link.

Thanks for reading!







Awesome Recipe: Baked Chicken-Bacon Alfredo


I tried this recipe out the other night, and it might just be the bacon but I've got to say that I think this is some of the best chicken alfredo I've ever eaten. You can make it with store bought alfredo sauce but I made the sauce myself using the Guiltless Alfredo Sauce recipe and it turned out great. Definitely worth a try!

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2010/04/baked-chicken-bacon-alfredo/

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Privacy Policy


For my Business Communication Technology class, I was instructed to read the Terms of Service and privacy policy for a social network on which I have an account. I chose Facebook.
There were two questions specifically that we were asked to answer: 
  1. What does the policy say about how your information will be used.   
  2. Do they say what will happen if there is a breach in security?

First of all, I would like to say that I have never read the Terms of Service or privacy policies for anything that I have joined (I think 99% of us don’t) and I remember why. It took me what felt like forever to sift through all of the information that Facebook gives you about what they do and don’t reserve the right to do with your information and how available it will be to everyone on the Internet. But, although I have been using Facebook for about 7 years, I learned a lot just by reading all of this.

To answer the first question, I read the privacy policy. Facebook uses your information to:
  • keep Facebook products, services and integration safe and secure
  • to protect Facebook's or other's rights on property
  • provide you with location features and services, like telling you and your friends when something is going on nearby
  • to measure or understand the effectiveness of ads you or others see
  • to make suggestions to you and other users on Facebook (like suggesting friends to you and vise versa) 
  • for internal affairs (troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research and service improvement)
To answer the second question, I have to say no; Facebook does not say what will happen if there is a breach in security. All I could find is that they say:

"We do our best to keep your information secure, but we need your help. For more detailed information about staying safe on Facebook, visit the Facebook Security Page. We try to keep Facebook up, bug-free and safe, but can’t make guarantees about any part of our services or products."

I visited the "Facebook Security Page" and found that it is just another Facebook account that makes post's about changes to Facebook and its policies in regards to security.

I challenge all of you who are Facebook users to read the "Data Use Policy." Not only will it tell you how Facebook can use your info, I think it will make many of you realize that we really need to watch what we put on Facebook because it isn't as secret as we might thing (I know I did). So here is the link.


Thanks for reading!