Sue's Blog

MySpace too dangerous?

2006-05-19T21:27:00.000-07:00

I was reading Scott's Blog about MySpace and concerns with saftey of children exposed to it. He described an article he read about how Massachusettes needs to raise the age requirement for users to use MySpace. He said that Attorney General Tom Reilly wants certain measures to be taken in order to make the site more safe for minors. This is in response to several incidents of people being arrested for sexual content aimed at minors. Reilly wants a user identification system on the site as well as easy accessible links that users can go to if they receive any explicit content. If complaints are made, he also wasts MySpace to respond within 24 hours. Additionally Reilly wants to block explicit images and advertisements by providing parents with software to prevent such incidents from happening.

After reading Scott's Blog I immediately thought that this was a great idea. I was briefly a member of MySpace and one of my biggest complaints goes along witht his article. I hated the fact that anyone could send you a message on MySpace, regardless of whether you knew them or not. Because of this feature, it is common to receive explicit messages from random members of MySpace. The messages are completely inappropriate and are clearly sent out to mass amounts of members. For this reason, I absolutely believe that these precautionary measures should be adopted not just by MA, but every state. It's a matter of protecting children from creepy people on the internet.

Happy Dogs...

2006-05-19T21:13:00.000-07:00

I read the article "Cuteness Creates Buzz for Old Navy" posted by The Diva Marketing Blog which was really interesting to me. The article describes a contest that Old Navy is hosting to find a mascot dog for their commercials. Customers can submit photos of their dog as well as games and information for dog lovers. You can also view a journey your dog takes in the challenge of becoming the next model. The article also points out problems with the website, such as inability to view pictures properly, etc. There are also suggestions the company may consider to make this experience more effective and enjoyable.

I thought this was interesting because I am a part-time employee of Gap, Inc. I have been working in the company for almost 5 years, so I get really into anything having to do with Gap. I like to see what forms of advertisements work for the company and which ones don't. I think that this on will definitely help the Old Navy brand. I thought that this contest was a great way to interact with the customers and really get the brand name out there. If I weren't an employee, I would enter my dog!

Summary of A Million Little Pieces Wiki Edits

2006-05-19T20:55:00.000-07:00

The last of my Wiki articles that I edited was A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. In my first edit, I added a paragraph at the end of the Controversy section. I also noticed that someone actually added one sentence to the end of my paragraph.

My second edit was the most interesting to me. I had researched the internet and found a blog written by James Frey addressing the controversy he generated after publishing his book. I added a link to this blog to the wiki article, and someone actually deleted my entire edit. Im assuming it was deleted based on the fact that it may not have been a valid source of information. For all I know it may have been a phony blog.

In my final edit, I added information I found in a CNN interview. The entire controversy about the validity of the book began from a discovery from The Smoking Gun. I found out that the investigation began as a hunt for a mug shot, and turned into discoveries of lie after lie, by James. I added this as well, and it still reamins.

Overall, I thought this was the coolest blog to watch. I think it may have been the fact that the controversy began recently, only in January so there is a lot of current and changing information about it. Since it is so controversial, It was more interesting to edit because people actually deleted and added to my comments, making it more interactive than the other three articles.

Summary of Ben Folds Wiki Edits...

2006-05-19T20:44:00.000-07:00

Along with Tracy Chapman, I also decided to monitor another musician, Ben Folds. I have loved his music both when he ws solo and when he was part of Ben Folds Five. In my first edit, I realized that the article failed to mention his former bandmate's names. I thought this was important to his article because her had gotten his fame from being a member of Ben Folds Five. This information has stayed a part of the article.

My second edit I found out that William Shatner guest sang in one of his songs. I also found out that they performed together on the Conan O'Brien Show. I added this to the article, and this as well hasn't been removed or edited.

On my last edit I researched and discovered that Ben Folds had a total of five songs on the "Over the Hedge" soundtrack releasedin 2006. I added this, and it still remains there.

Overall, editing this article was very similar to editing the Tracy Chapman article. Information on him was either hard to find, or it had already been mentioned in the article. However, I did learn a lot more about Ben Folds then I had known before.

Fun Sweepstakes...

2006-05-19T20:26:00.000-07:00

I read the article, "Pepsi Smashes it up with Pepsi Ringtones" and I found out some pretty cool sweepstakes that will be affective soon. According to the article, Pepsi, Motorola, and Yahoo will all be partnering to provide free ringtone with video attached to Pepsi customers. For the past year, Pepsi has partnered with Yahoo-Music. Recently Pepsi partnered with Motorola, who also naturally formed a partnership with Yahoo-Music as well. The plan is to provide free music and video ringtone codes in over 800 million Pepsi products. These sweepstakes will be advertised across Yahoo sites, as well as a 12-week Motorola Tour where consumers can "Live Their Music". Additionally, this benefits Yahooo in that the video content allows them to offer unique content to consumers. If consumers enjoy this, they may be locked-in and subscribe to furture video ringtone offerings.

I thought this was a pretty cool sweepstake to offer. Everyone loves ringtones, and video ringtons are even cooler. This is a great way for Pepsi to target the Generation X and Yers. It is also a great advertising tool for Yahoo, and may help them to gain a competitive advantage.

Summary of Tracy Chapman Wiki Edits

2006-05-19T20:09:00.000-07:00

Tracy Chapman is one of my favorite musicians of all time, which is why I chose to watch her Wiki article. In my first edit, I found out that it was predicted that Tracy's fourth album wouldn't succeed. However, despite these predictions, it actually sold over 3 million copies in the first year. This fact remained as I had entered it.

My second edit was just a grammatical correction.

On my third edit I found out that not only did her music generate popularity for herself, bout she also paved the way for other musicians such as 10,000 Maniacs and R.E.M. This edit still remains as I entered it.

Although I enjoy Tracy's music, I didn't enjoy watching her Wiki article as much. I felt that it was difficult to find valid information on her. The article also has so many facts about her that it was hard to find anything that wasn't already written about. Regardless, I enjoy her music and I think everyone should buy her cd's :)

Summary of ER Wiki Edits...

2006-05-19T19:49:00.000-07:00

I decided to watch and edit the ER wiki article, since it is my favorite televesion show of all time. In my first Edit, I found out that the show had 115 nominations and 23 Emmy Awards. The show was also a recipient of the George Foster Peabody Award. This edit is still on the article, and hasn't been deleted or revised.

On my second edit, I realized that a current character on the show was not listed. I found out that Kristen Johnston from "Third Rock From the Sun" plays Nurse Eve Peyton. I added this as well to the article, and it still remains how I entered it.

On my last edit, I was reading the article carefully and I realized that a famous guest appearance was not listed. A few years after the show began, Kristen Dunst played a troubled teenager named Charlie. On several episodes, Dr. Doug Ross had to help her get out of trouble and keep her on her feet. I knew this just from seeing way too many episodes, so I added this fact, and it still remains on the article.

Overall, I thought that editing this page was one of the hardest of the four articles. I felt that since it is such a popular show, that pleople would be watching every move made on the article. On top of this, most of the information about the show was already listed on the article, making it more difficult to find facts. I was surprised however to see that all of my edits remained as I inputed them :)

Final Edit on Tracy Chapman

2006-05-19T13:45:00.000-07:00

I just finished my final wiki edit on Tracy Chapman. I found out, from the VH1 website that "her album helped usher in the era of political correctness -- along with 10,000 Maniacs, and R.E.M., Chapman's liberal politics proved enormously influential on American college campuses in the late '80s". I added this to the wiki article.

Final Wiki Edit on Ben Folds...

2006-05-18T14:00:00.000-07:00

I just finished my final Wiki edit on Ben Folds. Researching him for the last time I found out that he has five songs on the "Over the Hedge" soundtrack, which was produced in 2006. The songs are "Family Of Me," "Heist," "Lost In The Supermarket," "Still," & "Rockin' The Suburbs (featuring William Shatner)". I added this to the article.

Final Wiki Edit on ER...

2006-05-17T20:32:00.000-07:00

I finished my third wiki edit on the t.v. series, ER. After reading the article again, I realized that a notable guest star was not included in the list. I remembered that in the first few years it aired, Kirsten Dunst guest starred as a troubled teenage girl, named Charlie. Doug Ross (played by George Clooney) spent several episodes trying to help her get on her feet. I was surprised that she wasn't mentioned, since she is so famous, so I added her to the list.

Don't forget to watch it tomorrow night!!! It's gonna be a good one...

Final Wiki Edit on A Million Little Pieces...

2006-05-17T19:52:00.000-07:00

I just completed my final edit on A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend giving it a try. Although most of the storyline is fabricated, it is still a great book to read.
As far as my edit goes, I did some research and found out how it was initially discovered that what Frey wrote about was in fact false. The Smoking Gun was the first website to unveil the truth. According to an interview with CNN, editor William Bastone of The Smoking Gun stated, "We initially set off to just find a mug shot of him". He further said "It basically set off a chain of events that started with us having a difficult time finding a booking photo of this guy," Bastone said. That led to a more prolonged review of various parts of Frey's book, he added". I thought this was an interesting fact that triggered a nationwide controversy. I added these quotes to the article.....we'll see if they stay.

Ben Folds Wiki Edit

2006-05-13T17:52:00.000-07:00

I just completed my second Wiki edit on Ben Folds. I was researching about him, and I found out that on his solo album, William Shatner sang in one of his songs called "In Love". It was also performed on the Conan O'Brien Show. I thought this was a pretty cool fact, so I added it to the page...

ER Wiki Edit

2006-05-12T06:26:00.000-07:00

I just completed my second edit on the ER wiki article. I researched and found that the article failed to mention a recent guest star who was filmed on several episodes. Kristen Johnston from "Third Rock from the Sun" played Eve Peyton, a controlling ER Nurse Manager. I added this fact to the Guest appearances section.

Tracy Chapman Wiki Edit

2006-05-10T10:29:00.000-07:00

I just did my second edit on the Tracy Chapman Wiki article. I edited some grammar mistakes, let's see if they stay.

~loocsixela~

loocsixela

2006-04-26T20:48:00.000-07:00

loocsixela

I'm experimenting with this loocsixela-blog. I'm testing to see whether my link to this will bump me up on the google search...

Another loocsixela blog...

2006-04-26T20:31:00.000-07:00

So, I was looking through the google loocsixela search, and I wasn't able to find the blog I set up earlier today. I thought that maybe it wasn't showing up since it is a blog in my own personal account. So I began a brand new blog account with loocsixela as the username. Let's see if this blog gets a better rank!

Wiki Edit on ER...loocxisela!

2006-04-26T13:34:00.000-07:00

My favorite television show ever created is ER on NBC. I have watched it since it was first created in 1994. I still enjoy watching it every Thursday night, as well as the two hours of re-runs played every Monday through Friday. You can ask me amost any trivia question on ER, and I will probably know it :)

I decided to add ER to my Wiki watch list, and make any necessary changes to the article. Through research on NBC.com, I found that ER received the George Foster Peabody Award, it had 115 nominations, and 23 Emmy Awards. I added this to the trivia section of the Wiki article. Let's see if it stays!

~loocsixela!~

hmm...loocsixela

2006-04-26T12:53:00.000-07:00

I saw that a website had a link to my blog on the google loocsixela search, so I checked it out. The Oprah Wiki Edit entry on my blog came up on a site called BuzzSpree.com which seems to be some sort of search engine for blogs. There is a link on that site to the Google blog search, where my blog appears as well. Pretty cool...

~loocsixela~

New Blog! loocsixela

2006-04-26T12:47:00.000-07:00

I was curious to see what would happen to our google search if I created a blog called loocsixela?

A Million Little Pieces Wiki Edit: loocsixela

2006-04-19T07:47:00.000-07:00

I recently did some more research for my second Wiki edit on A Million Little Pieces by James Frey, and I found some pretty cool information. As I posted before, James Frey wrote this book claiming that all of the stories were actual incidents he encountered as a drug-user. Later, it was discovered that almost all of the stories and characters in the book were fabricated and embellished. Oprah confronted James about his lies on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
In my research, I found a link to a blog by James that discusses the controversy with the book. He openly admitted that the stories were lies and states "My mistake, and it is one I deeply regret, is writing about the person I created in my mind to help me cope, and not the person who went through the experience". This blog is interesting because it allows you to see his point of view about his book.

~loocsixela~

Ben Folds Wiki Edit

2006-04-18T10:28:00.000-07:00

In addition to Tracy Chapman, I am a huge fan of Ben Folds and Ben Folds Five. You probably know Ben Folds Five from the hit song "Brick". A few years later, Ben Folds spun off and began a solo career, producing five of his own albums. Some familiar songs are "Rockin' the Suburbs" and "Annie Waits". Folds is a talented musician who played almost all of the instruments used in his solo albums.
I did some research on him from the VH1 website, in which I found some notable information. I decided to add this info and the link to the Wiki article. I found the names of the other members of Ben Folds Five, as well as when the group was formed, which I felt was important to the article. Check out the Wiki on Ben Folds, his accomplishments are very interesting to read about.

~loocsixela~

James Cherkoff's Skype Presentation

2006-04-11T17:35:00.000-07:00

In class James Cherkoff, Director at Collaborate Marketing, delivered a Skype presentation about Open Source Marketing. He explained that the new generation is becoming in more control of the media and marketing. He also said that traditional marketing rules no longer apply, and therefore new techniques need to be applied. Many websites are creating marketing campaign's that allow the consumer to become more involved with their product. One example he gave us was Jones Soda, which allows customers to invent flavors, and in return their pictures are printed on the label of the bottle.
Being pressed for time, I wasn't able to ask James a question. I was curious as to what types of techniques should marketers use for older generations such as the baby boomers? How would they respond to these new innovations? Would they accept these new rules, or stick to their traditional beliefs?
I personally e-mailed James, asking him these questions. This is what James responded

"I think a lot of the really quick, mass-adoption of distributed media tools such as photo-sharing, blogs and wikis is being driven by a younger generation of 'digital natives'. However, there are plenty of early adopters in older age groups that are using new technologies to their own ends - the 'digital immigrants'. But, as you'd expect, the two groups tend to use them in different ways for different things. So while a native might be live in MySpace, an immigrant may use a blog to keep a journal about a professional interest or hobby. However, both parties are doing the same thing - using decentralised media to create their own networks. For marketeers this is a big shift meaning the idea of 'passive' consumers is starting to look out of date"

Additionally, James gave me a link to an article he previously wrote about this topic.

I thought that James gave me a great answer. Although I can't see my parents publishing a blog, I agree that this type of marketing will still affect this generation. As technology is becoming more essential to everyday life, I think that the "digital immigrants" will have no choice but to accept this new form of marketing.

Thanks James!

~loocsixela~

Great music...

2006-04-11T15:44:00.000-07:00

In high school, I discovered the striking music made by Tracy Chapman. Like many other people, I only knew her from her first hit song "Fast Car". I enjoyed her style so much that I went out and purchased the CD, which I immediately fell in love with. I played it non-stop until I had all of the words memorized. Even my first song on the guitar was the chords to "Talkin Bout a Revolution". I further went on to purchase all of her following albums to add to my collection.
Chapman's music is different than most of the music you hear today. Both the music and the lyrics are intelligently created. The songs tell stories and sound like true poetry. Many of the lyrics are very honest and express problems in today's society such as domestic abuse and poverty. In addition, many of the songs are about love, such as "The Promise" ,also one of my favourites. Her music is mostly acoustic, making it relaxing to listen to. It feels great to listen to music that actually has meaning and inspiration to it.
Since Tracy Chapman is one of my favourite musicians, I decided to monitor her Wikipedia article. I did some research on her and added it to the article. The one fact I found out was that, despite predictions that her fourth album wouldn't be a major success, it actually sold over 3 million copies in the first year. I made this change to the article, hopefully it stays!

This one's for the Girls...

2006-03-24T12:36:00.000-08:00

I was reading Debbie's Blog about the website Don't Date Him Girl! So I went to the website to check it out myself, and she's right, it is haliarious!

This website is dedicated to helping women protect other women from cheating men. Anyone can post a profile and a picture about a cheater to their database. In addition, anyone suspecting their new man of cheating can research them on this site to gather any trashy info about him!

I was reading over one of the site's blog postings and I came across some interesting details about the site. An article was published in the New York Times on Febuary 16 about the site. They said "The site’s vocal naysayers, angry men, have surfaced in full force, flooding our inbox with hundreds of foul e-mails each day, while women around the world hail the site as a godsend".

They further reveal that they are in the process of releasing a weekly podcast beginning April 8th. The podcast will be featured on iTunes and will showed every Saturday following the release. These podcasts "features expert relationship advice from both sexes, profiles of women who’ve overcome infidelity and the men who cheated on them and a segment called Ask Your Girl, helping listeners, male or female, solve their relationship problems".

Hmm...sounds interesting. Reminds me of the t.v. show, Cheaters (one of my favorite, trashy reality shows). I may have to take a look at one of these podcasts :)

p.s. I wonder if I can find my ex on this website?? (lol)...

Phishing for nothing...

2006-03-24T12:13:00.000-08:00

We talked in class on day about internet frauds. Specifically, Professor Brown mentioned scams where emails circulate claiming that a credible company needs your personal information. I never received an email like this until just a few days ago. Here's what it said (Keep in mind there are logos on the webpage that I couldn't copy and paste):

Dear CHASE Customer,

We regret to inform you, that we had to lock your Chase Access because we have reasons to believe that your account may have been compromised by outside parties. In order to protect your sensitive information, we temporaly suspended?your account.

To reactivate your account, click on the link below and confirm your identity by completing the secure form what will appear.

http://www.chase.com/account.html

We have seen unusual attempts for logging in regarding your personal account, therefore this confirmation regarding your account it only for security reasons.

Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter.

Have questions? Our online help screens provide answers to many frequently
asked questions. You can also click the Customer Center tab then go to the
Contact Us page to find a list of helpful numbers to call.

Please do not reply to this automatically generated e-mail.

We know you have a choice of banks. Thanks for choosing ours.

Sincerely,
Online Banking Team,

From what I learned in class, this is an example of Phishing.

But I don't have an account with Chase...

The end of blogs?...

2006-03-24T11:56:00.000-08:00

I read the article "When Should a Blog End?" by Shel Israel, co-author of Naked Conversations. He described in this article how several popular blogs are closing, such as Dave Winer and Vichi. In addition, two blogs referenced in his book are being terminated as well. He stated that "Companies, blogs, marketing programs, like human lives come and go. It's the natural order of things. The only problem wth it is that many people yearn for accurate analytics, and so far, the abandonment numbers are nearly impossible to determine".
My opinion? I think this blog thing is pretty cool. I think there are great advantages to blogging...it opens you up to another world. The blog trend seems too popular to disappear. If blogs do fade away, I'm sure it won't be for awhile...

Podcasts at BU

2006-03-24T10:36:00.000-08:00

I read an interesting article on ClickZ called "Boston University Reaches Alumni with Video Podcasts". This caught me attention since we recently learned about podcasts in class. The article describes how BU is providing video podcasts of their athletic events to the public. They will contract with iTunes to provide this service, hoping to build "stronger ties with BU fans, students and alumni". Alumni spread all around the country will be able to watch their alma mater over the computer. It is crucial for BU to keep close connections because the college receives many donations from them. The article stated that "In BU's fiscal year ended June 2002, gifts from alumni, family and friends totaled more than $90 million, according to the University".
The podcast will be available to view an hour after the event, and will also be free to the subscriber. According to the article, "The BU Athletic department will limit the length of each download to about three-to-four minutes, but may make longer video available in the future".
After reading this, I thought this would be a great service that the University of Delaware can provide. I wouldn't mind logging into iTunes next year to watch some UD Football clips...

Here is more info from Boston University.

Price Discrimination Lecture

2006-03-18T15:28:00.000-08:00

In class the other day, we read an article about Amazon.com and had a brief discussion on it. The article, "Amazon's old customers pay more" described how new Amazon customers are experienceing deeper discounts than regular customers. Regular customers, posing as new customers, found lower prices on the same items than they were offered. Naturally, this upset them since they feel that their loyalty to the company should result in lower, not higher prices. Amazon responded by saying that the different prices are a result of price-testing. In class we questioned whether this was considered price discrimination or not, and whether this act is legal or ethical.
I was particulary interested in this article, because I am learning exactly what price discrimination is in my Marketing Channels and Retailing class. I had an exam on this information the day before, so this topic was fresh on my mind. According to my textbook, Retailing by Patrick M. Dunne and Robert F. Lusch this topic is not an uncommon problem in retailing. The definition of price discrimination, as stated from the text, "occurs when two retailers buy an identical amount of 'like grade and quality' merchandise from the same supplier but pay different prices".
Additionally, I researched and found that according to the FTC website, the definition of price discrimination is as follows:

"A seller charging competing buyers different prices for the same "commodity" or discriminating in the provision of "allowances" -- compensation for advertising and other services -- may be violating the Robinson-Patman Act. This kind of price discrimination may hurt competition by giving favored customers an edge in the market that has nothing to do with the superior efficiency of those customers. However, price discriminations generally are lawful, particularly if they reflect the different costs of dealing with different buyers or result from a seller’s attempts to meet a competitor’s prices or services.
Price discrimination also might be used as a predatory pricing tactic -- setting prices below cost to certain customers -- to harm competition at the supplier’s level. Antitrust authorities use the same standards applied to predatory pricing claims under the Sherman Act and the FTC Act to evaluate allegations of price discrimination used for this purpose."

So, according to this definition, is Amazon guilty of price discrimination? From my perspective, I feel that Amazon has the legal right to continue to price as they are. The definition implys that retailers may need to offer varying prices due to different costs of their customers. In this situation, Amazon may need to offer certain discounts to new customers. They also probably have special offerings in order for them tolure them in to become a regular. Although this is considered legal, it may not benefit the company. As more existing customers discover this tactic, they may feel that being loyal to Amazon doesn't pay off. Ultimately, they will most likely stop shopping at Amazon if they are not offered more price benefits.
Amazon was found guilty of the same practices a few years ago. Here's an article I found.
This is just my point of view. Obviously I am not an expert in this field, but let me know what you think, after reading the definition.

A Million Little Pieces..

2006-02-28T13:20:00.000-08:00

After watching Oprah announce her new book club book, A Million Little Pieces, I knew I had to rush and get a copy. This book was supposed to be suspenseful and life-changing. It was a biography of drug-abuser, alcoholic, and former criminal, James Frey. This book tells the personal story of the difficulty of coping with a deadly addiction.
I immediately went to Border's, where I was told I would be put on a month-long waiting list! Walking out rather disappointed, I was ecstatic to hear a voicemail just three days later from Border's saying that they had a copy on hold for me. I can't ever remember being that excited to read a book. I began reading as soon as I got back to my house, and Oprah was right, I just couldn't put it down.
The stories James Frey told were intriguing and made you see things from someone else's shoes. I loved the book, and talked about it to my friends, telling them they had to read it. Then I was watching the news one night, and I was shocked to hear that James Frey's stories were all lies. Frey appeared on Larry King Live holding his ground and denying all of the accusations. Oprah called into the interview as well, and gave Frey her full support. Then on his second appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show, Oprah confronted him and he finally admitted many of the stories and characters were fabricated.
I've been doing some research about the book and the author, and nothing sums up the situation as well as the Wiki article about A Million Little Pieces. I even added a few comments of my own...hopefully they wont get deleted right away!!

does this work?

2006-02-20T11:04:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to post pictures and links....this is a pic I took from Acapulco at Spring Break last year...

Why am I blogging?

2006-02-20T08:59:00.002-08:00

This is my second blog post. This blog thing is a little confusing, however, I know that it can really help me once I know what I am doing. The purpose of this project is to gain experience with Internet tools that are used frequently in the business world. For my InfoTech Applications in Marketing Class, I will learn how to create, maintain, and design blogs. I will also become familiar with Wikipedia by editing four articles that I have selected ( Oprah's Book Club, A Million Little Pieces, Tracey Chapman, Gap, Inc.) throughout the semester. We will also be reading the books, "The Search" by John Battelle and "Naked Conversations" by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel to gain a better understanding of the web.

Hopefully I will be a pro by May...

blog

2006-02-15T10:52:00.000-08:00

this is my first blog...