Social Media project

     Here is the link to the McDonald's wiki site: https://ism3004.wikispaces.com/McDonald%27s

       Probably the most interesting thing about the project was setting up a Google Alert for McDonald's. By going to google.com/alerts, you can ask google to send you news related to a particular subject by email. As someone who aspires to be a sports journalist I can use Google Alert to give me the most up to date news regarding my favorite teams. It can also be used for long-term research projects, just enter your subject then have the results sent to your email that way you don't have to do multiple searches through the search engine.
      Another thing I learned from this project was how to work in groups through internet only means. I have worked on countless group projects in a physical classroom, but this is the first time I have not been able to work physically with group member. The only issue I had with the group part of the project, was that once Michael decided to use McDonald's for out company he already posted almost the entire project. There was no discussion amongst the group over who would do which part in fact we fought there were only four people in our group until Friday when our last group member finally introduced himself.
       Probably the biggest take away from this project is the overall impact social media has had on businesses and corporations. The fact that McDonald's has eight to nine people whose sole responsibility is to manage the twitter feed, is an example of how every corporation is starting to recognize the importance of social media and more importantly how to use social media to their advantage. Companies that choose to ignore social media will quickly be left in the dust and will have a difficult time generating customer service in a timely fashion. Based on this project, I would consider Twitter to be the most important social media tool.

Week 13: Clear

Here is a chart of reason why companies have resisted using social media. Photo provided by Mark Smiciklas. http://www.flickr.com/photos/intersectionconsulting/4044928113/

    This week the concept that was made clear to me was the importance of knowing about different types of social media. Facebook current has more than 750 million users and allows those users to build network with people they know. Twitter has more than 175 million user and utilizes 140 character messages called tweets to quickly establish a network with a whole bunch of people. Since most Twitter accounts are public it will allows you to establish relationship with more people and businesses than Facebook allows due to Friend requests. Linkedln is the largest professional network with 120 million users and provides an avenue to network with people in your chose profession and can even be used to land jobs within the field.
     Understanding different types of social media is very important in the business environment. Social media gives businesses and consumers a way to interact on a more personal level. Social media can also help a business keep up with its industry or in some cases even be the precedent setter within their industry. Having a social media presence just gives your business a better opportunity to be seen.
      I found an article that explains how social media is changing businesses. Businesses have gone from trying to sell to making connections with individual people. Social media has also helped businesses put out their message about good customer service right away with a simple tweet or Facebook update rather than having to do a big press release or statement about your customer service. The article also points out that businesses who don't adopt social media into their business strategy will be at a disadvantage. Here is a link to the article: http://mashable.com/2009/09/22/social-media-business/