Road Trip ’11
Road Trip ’11, a set on Flickr.
Road trip from New York to Arizona
matt's blog
a comm studies blog
Geo-Location
The group teaching Geo-Location shed some light on services such as FourSquare and Gowalla. Before the class I have used FourSquare, but had only heard of Gowalla, never used it. The assignment for Gowalla was fun, planning a trip with ten stops along the way was somewhat challenging, so I did a mock of the trip I am taking after graduation.
An app like FourSquare is incredibly useful for businesses, sure people like to use it for fun, but what they don’t realize is that they are promoting and publicizing companies and businesses that they “check-in” at. This could be very useful for a business because if the business partners with FourSquare, they can have alerts sent to FourSquare users as they pass the store, restaurant, etc. that will alert them of deals and incentives to come into their business.
As far as personal use goes I do not like to use these services because I always forget to check in and I don’t know anyone else that uses them so it is sort of useless for me personally, however I do see many practical uses both personally as well as professionally.
FYE Project Progress
My group for the FYE project has been creating a Wiki page that will serve as a place for FYE students to learn about as well as share their knowledge of the Alfred University campus and the surrounding community of Alfred, NY. There will be assignments attached to this Wiki page that students will be required to complete. These assignments will have to do with the University and the community. There will also be a Facebook group page linked to the Wiki for students to receive news and other information.
I do not want to give away too much before we present this to the FYE committee on Wednesday 🙂
Personal Project Drumbeat – Matthew German
Strategy
1)What is the goal? My goal is to create a Personal Brand for myself. Before I can create a personal brand I need to figure out who I am. Both on the Internet and in person; even beyond that who I am on what different social media places. With a personal brand I can be a presence on the Internet in social media that is more than just someone with friends on Facebook, or someone who follows some celebrity’s Tweets. Social media is an ever growing market with untapped business potential, and I want to be on the forefront for that. I also want to learn how social media can help with sales, mire than just spamming users with adds.
2) What already exists? What already exists are the social media sites themselves, such as Facebook, Twitter, blogs, LinkedIn, Flickr, StumbleUpon, and so on. With these sites there is limitless potential for one person to make a name for themselves, it just requires more work than collecting Facebook friends. Another resource that exists is the fact that there are some people out there doing what I wish to do, which is beneficial for me because I can learn from them, as well as expand upon or improve their methods/ideas.
3) Who trying to reach? Essentially, my target audience would be a potential employer or possibly clients if I do this on on my own one day. I am trying to reach those who know that social media is important, but just do not have the know-how or time to utilize it themselves. Also, I am trying to reach others in the social media realm, because they could potentially be helpful, or even partners, who knows.
4)Why passionate? I am passionate about this because I enjoy playing around with technology and learning the ins and outs of a product or service. Therefore social media is very interesting to me, because it allows people to interact and network in a whole new way. Social media is fascinating in the way that anyone can find what they are looking for provided they know what outlet to use. Social media is so much more than Facebook and Twitter.
5)How does idea make things better? This has the potential to make the web better if I can find a good and organized way to determine someone’s personal brand, then I can share it and help people become more successful in whatever it is they wish to do.
Story
1) 5 Sentences. Social Media is constantly growing and changing. Many people do not understand how important social media can be to their lives and careers. With a personal brand I will have more opportunities to tailor things towards career or personal life. Social media is quickly becoming an essential tool for networking, both in business and socially. A personal brand allows you to know what tools to use for fun and what tools to use to get ahead, and why.
2) Story.
Social Media is constantly growing and changing. There are new sites being developed all the time that allow users to share information a new and unique way. Even the services that already exist are improving themselves all the time, just look at how far Facebook has come. It went from a simple college friend service, to a social media giant that most all other social media services are centered around. If it can be shared, there is a link to do so through Facebook.
Many traditional business owners do not understand how important social media can be to their business. Through social media a business can grow in a number of ways. Once a business has created a following, there are strategies for turning those followers and fans into customers or clients. Just creating a network and facilitating communication correctly can lead to growth.
With a personal brand I will have more opportunities to tailor things towards career or personal life. This works in the sense that social tools like Facebook and Flickr are fun, and are a great way to keep in touch. However, they are not great for branding yourself professionally; there is too much room for error with what can be posted to those sites. Sites like Twitter and LinkedIn are incredibly useful for professional applications; LinkedIn is obvious because it is a professional networking site. Twitter is good because it allows people to follow those in the same industry or with the same ideals; as well as create content to send to those same people.
Social media is quickly becoming an essential tool for networking, both in business and socially. Networking is an important part of finding the job or career you want. Social media is an essential tool for networking; LinkedIn is an outstanding way to become connected with the right people. With a LinkedIn profile you can connect with the people you need to network with in order to be successful. On the other end, sites like Facebook are great for making new friends, and perhaps starting a professional connection, but it should not continue there.
A personal brand allows you to know what tools to use for fun and what tools to use to get ahead, and why. If you create your own personal brand, you will know the type of person you need to be in different media outlets. In my case Facebook and Flickr are great social, fun tools; LinkedIn, blogs, and Twitter however are powerful tools for getting ahead. Each person may be different in the way in which they have to tailor their social media lives in order to get ahead with what they want to succeed with.
Tools
When creating my personal brand the tools that I will need will be the social media services that I will utilize.
Facebook will be used to keep in touch with my friends and make posts about things that I care about like cars and technology. Beyond that, Facebook is not a site that I would like to broadcast myself professionally on. It feels like too much of a social place instead of a professional place. Therefore, I keep my Facebook private and visible to only my friends.
With Flickr I also use socially; not quite as much as Facebook, but still not to any professional extent. I use Flickr to make my photos public for people to see. I do keep them as Copyrighted instead of using Creative Commons, because I like them to remain mine. I also use Flickr to follow my friends’ photos and comment on others’ photos that I like. I really enjoy photography, so seeing great photos that others take is fun.
StumbleUpon is a fun tool that allows you to tell it your interests and it will give you back a randomly generated site that follows your interests. I enjoy this because it makes browsing the internet much simple, because I don’t have to weed through garbage sites to find good ones. It also allows me to save the sites, as well as post them to Twitter or Facebook if I so choose. Which is great because I enjoy posting things on my Facebook that interest me, such as car photos or information.
LinkedIn is an essential tool for professional personal branding. With LinkedIn I have my resume uploaded into my profile so that someone can see all of my experience and work history. In addition to resume elements, I have used LinkedIn to link out to other sites that I think may be helpful in showing employers my interests and knowledge; such as both of my blogs (including this one) and my Flickr page. I said before that I am using Flickr for fun, but my car photos just show my interests in another place. LinkedIn also allows me to put things like my goals, and achievements, and other elements that aren’t typically put on a resume.
The blogs are another aspect of my personal branding; with this blog “Matt’s Blog” I keep up with the Comm 200 class “Using Social Media” and post updates on social media technologies that I am using and learning about. As well as state ways in which these services could be used personally or professionally. My other blog, which is based around my 1999 Ford Ranger, keeps track of the work that I do on the truck, on a project-to-project basis. I have done work between the time that I bought the truck and created the blog, but I do not have photos or specific details about them. I am however keeping up to date information about the current work I am doing. This blog is useful in showing my interest in cars, and working on and maintaining them. It is my biggest hobby, and has been since I was young.
Twitter is another social media tool that can be useful professionally. Twitter has the potential to create useful connections, as well as serve as a constant updating stream of news. I follow the Twitter feeds of professionals in social media, and many technology websites feeds. This allows me to stay updated on technology news as well as social media news.
People
In terms of people, there isn’t really anyone I can reach out to, as I am creating a PERSONAL brand. I have and can read articles about personal branding, but I do not need anyone to create anything for me, nor to I need someone to create content. Because I am the only one who can use my profiles correctly and honestly.
Prototype
Prezi Presentation on Personal Branding
Photo Sharing with Flickr
For the Comm 200 second co-teaching presentation my group taught photo sharing to the class. The main focus of the presentation was on Flickr, as it is incredibly useful and versatile when it comes to sharing photos. However, it is not just for sharing photos, there are so many ways to apply Flickr into other works or projects.
With Flickr you can upload a photo or a video up to 90 seconds in length. Once uploaded you can easily add tags, a title, a description, and add it to one of your sets. A set is literally just a set of photos that you like to group together based upon something they all have in common, such as an event, a place, or just a theme. Once the photo is tagged, titled, and placed in a set you can use an online application called Picnik that allows users to upload a photo and edit it on the Picnik site. Picnik is partnered with Flickr, so you don’t even have to leave your Flickr page to do this, it is an option in the “actions” drop down menu. Flickr also allows you to share your photos via email, Facebook, or your personal blog.
In addition to all of the aesthetic and naming you can do with a photo, Flickr allows users to Geo-tag their photos. Geo-tagging is essentially when you locate on a map where the photo was taken, and that location becomes linked to the photo. This is where Flickr becomes a great tool outside of photo sharing. For example, in our co-teaching assignment that we gave to the class we asked the class to get into their groups from a different project. At which point we used their topic from the other project and had them go out into the town and find the locations we assigned each group. The students had to find the location, take a photograph, upload it to Flickr, name it, describe it, and Geo-tag it. However, the catch was, we did not tell them where exactly to go, we gave them clues, and they had to decide which location we were talking about.
Outside of a class project this has potential to help out with numerous types of projects. Say a city’s parks department is looking to raise awareness or host a clean-up event of some sort, this would allow them to go out ahead of time, take the photos and Geo-tag them. This provides those who they send the Flickr link to the ability to see the parks amenities and where certain parts are; or for the clean-up it allows them to show what needs to be done, giving volunteers the opportunity to offer their services in the areas best suited for them.
Overall, Flickr is a very useful tool that is both fun and productive.
Springpad.
For the Comm 200 Co-Teaching assignment I have been working on and preparing to teach social notesharing. Specifically, the service I have been using most and have a great understanding of is Springpad. Springpad is a service that allows users to save almost any information that they want to remember.
Say you are on a website, and want to save the page, and wish to access it from any computer, not with just a bookmark on your personal computer. You can simply go to the Springpad website and paste the link into a new item in one of your notebooks. Notebooks work like a physical notebook would, they allow you to categorize your information making it easier to find later. There is also an extension for most of the major web browsers that allows you to “clip the page” which adds it to whichever notebook you choose.
However, Springpad is not only for saving webpages, while on the site you can search for anything you want to remember or have for later, and save it. For example, if you search “chocolate cake recipe,” a list of recipes will appear, with the most popular being at the top. Once you have found one you like and save it to a notebook, when you view the recipe it will show the entire recipe, not just a link to the original destination.
In addition to being able to save and categorize things like recipes, webpages, products, movies, music, etc. you can tag your saved things so that all of your related items are saved together and can be easily accessed using the list of tags on the left side of the page.
You can also find friends that share similar interests as you and share your saved things with them or with anyone by making it public. There is also the option to find friends through Facebook, your Gmail contacts, or Yahoo! contacts. In addition to finding contacts, you can share your saved things through Facebook, Twitter, Diigo, and over 300 other services.
Springpad is available on any computer on the internet, or on any iOS device, and on Android devices.
Here is a link to a short YouTube Video about Springpad.
Info.
I am a senior Communication Studies major at Alfred University, and am using this blog as a part of my Comm 200 course, "Using Social Media."
matt's blog 