Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Four Stars for UGC

I find the internet to be a wonderful source for everything—I could not live without it. It facilitates our lives so much. You do not have to go anywhere because almost anything is a button away. One can go shopping without going to the mall, one can do research and read books without going to the library.

Also, the internet is a way for people to express themselves and generate valuable information. I, like the people in the article, believe that UGC is extremely helpful for companies and people in general. I find reviews, blogs, and Q & A walls to be very helpful for the people in general.

I like to shop online a lot, so I really like that many companies let people write their reviews. Because through the comments of people that have bought the item I get feedback from people like me and know the opinion of people outside the retailers about the item.. Granted, they are opinions and subjective responses. But the reviews are mostly, in my experience, about general expectations of a product that most people have and not about ‘oh like them or not’, which is more subjective. Most of the time the review tells you, for example, that the shoe is greener in person or that the dress runs small because the person usually is another size. Like the article says, having reviews minimizes returns, thus increasing profits. Because through reviews I know what to expect, be it a darker color or know to order it in a bigger size.

Another personal story that relates to UGC and blogs…When I was sick with mono I googled my symptoms—that I had an unbearable throat pain. And I found sites of people saying they had this same symptom and others responded what they may have according to past experiences. I know it is bad to look for medical advice from strangers—they most probably aren’t doctors—but I was not looking for a diagnosis. I was trying to look at things people did to lessen the pain. By reading the answers I realized that many people had had the same problem and I enjoyed reading their comments on how they had felt. Some wrote exactly how I was feeling---that I would rather die than keep having the pain and that no one else understood, but they did! So it gave me a sense that others knew how I was feeling so in a way this UGC gave me comfort.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

spreading information through social networks

For this week the discussion was about the effect of the internet on politics. One of the articles talked about how could Facebook change politics.

While one could argue that not everyone is obsessed with social networking sites or have the time to spend in them looking through messages, I do think it is a good way for politicians to target the younger generations for whom the internet is an indispensable part of life. Not only do many use it to pass on information through quick clicks of icons that forward to emails or short messages from these social sites, but active and passionate people get their messages through to these people and if these messages are interesting enough those who read it will pass it along to their friends and so on.

Thus, while I don't think politicians should depend on Facebook, Bebo, or any other social networking sites to spread their campaign goals and ideals I do think it is a way to appeal to a good crowd as long as the message is interesting and attention grabbing enough so that many read it and feel the urge to pass it along.

These sites should then be considered a good asset to have, yet probably not an indispensable one since it is not actually appealing to the whole population.

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Many friends do not mean valuable connections

Sites like Jobster and Monster can be really good and effective for recruiters and also for people looking for different job opportunities. In these sites, you can upload your resume and put yourself out there for employers to seek you out and find out what you are about. I find these sites to be very good, especially for us seniors who are one semester away from graduating from college and need to be considering places to work at. They are a great option for recruiters to seek out future employees. It is another outlet for finding employees and a way for them to bypass expensive recruiting companies.

On the other hand, I do not like the part of the sites like LinkedIn that create networks and profiles. I agree with the idea of these sites being useful for job searching, but not for networking. I believe that this site, like myspace and Facebook, was creating for a useful purpose. But in the end they become overused and lose their appeal and credibility. In one of the articles the same idea was stated: “Just as we are now seeing a consumer backlash on MySpace--people have too many ‘friends’--we may see a similar reaction with the networking sites, and their value will decline." As you invite more and more people into your network and you have more connections, the less valuable and strong those connections become.