TripHuddle.com

I discovered this site while I was working on improving my LinkedIn profile; it was posted in one of the groups I am in on the site. I was intrigued by the name, so I decided to look in to it a little further. A quick Google search turned up plenty of information on the site, here is some of what I found.

TripHuddle was founded by six people who had become very close friends during their time in college and,  upon graduating, were spread out across the U.S. They were having difficulty planning trips to get together. They could plan trips on a surface level, but keeping track of all the details was very difficult to do between them. So they came up with an idea to develop a social network that was based entirely on the idea of planning trips and sharing ideas with friends.

There are three major areas to TripHuddle. Users can share their trip information with friends on other social networks by letting them know where they are going, how they are getting there, and when they will be arriving. It also allows users to collaborate with one another and organize all the aspects of their trip plans. They use a shared calendar and can even share ideas and vote on them.

I think this is an excellent way to help people plan trips with one another, whether they may be in the same area or across the globe.

The Xbox Live network

Xbox Live is an online service provided by Microsoft that has been around since 2002 for the first Xbox system. Now it is used for the Xbox 360 system, and is being made available for mobile devices that support the Windows software. There are currently two options available for users, Xbox Live Free and Xbox Live Gold, which charges users a fee.

Some of the current features that are available for Xbox Live Gold users are:
-voice chat, party chat, and video chat (these also require the use of a headset, the Xbox Vision Camera, or an Xbox Kinect)
-The use of Avatars, which can represent the users likeness
-An opportunity for downloadable content for the user's games
-Online Multiplayer
-Connect with Facebook, Twitter, and last.fm (must have an account registered with these sites)
-Can also use Zune, Vodafone Casa TV, ESPN3, and NetFlix (must have an account or a ESPN3 supported ISP address)
*Xbox Live Free offers only a few of these features, which include voice chat, downloadable content and the use of Avatars.

Some upcoming features that will be supported on Xbox 360 include connecting with Hulu Plus, which will allow users to watch videos through Hulu Plus. Also, users will be able to interact with their Avatars, as well as other Avatars through the use of the Kinect.

I feel that Xbox Live provides users many opportunities to interact with other users, much like many other social media sites. You can develop a user profile, connect and chat with friends, and play games through the site. It also allows people to connect with other social media sites and it also allows users to use tools like NetFlix and, eventually, Hulu Plus. This would be an excellent way for advertisers to reach consumers, and seems to pull a lot of the major benefits of many other social media sites and roll them all into one.

Social Media Sites: A Hunting Ground for Cyber-criminals

One thing for businesses, and the general public, to consider before they create an account on Social Media sites is the quickly growing rate of attacks that are being made on these sites by cyber-criminals. According to Symantec, a computer security firm, there were 286 million new cyber threats that emerged during 2010 that targeted social media sites. Due to the popularity of these sites, coupled with the new ground of social media for writers of viruses, these cyber-criminals have a wide range of opportunities to attack people. These new attacks represented a 93% increase in web-based attacks, which were created to steal money or data, and in some cases, taking over entire businesses.

The things to watch out for right now are viruses that piggyback off of news events that get clicks towards malicious links. They also get users to click on these links by telling them they have been tagged in photos or videos. There is also an increase in attacks on mobile devices and tablets. This will only increase as the use of these devices increases.

While the attacks of these sites will continue, it is important not to worry. Spyware and virusware are never far behind in finding ways to detect these malicious attacks and keep them from doing to much damage. Plus, most of these attacks haven't proven to be too lucrative for cyber-criminals. The upside of social networking sites to companies, as well as individuals, is far more beneficial, in my opinion, than the very low probability of getting a virus.

Social Media Marketing for Small Businesses

As is the case with other marketing techniques, small businesses can't always market in the same way that big businesses do. They don't have the same budgets that the big businesses do and they also don't have the same needs. However, that doesn't mean they shouldn't develop some marketing techniques. More specifically, small businesses can and should be encouraged to look in to social media marketing. Social Media is a cheap and effective way for a small business to increase revenue. Here are some tips that I found that can help small businesses develop a marketing plan that will be effective. Before you start looking in to these tips however, it is important that you set clear goals for what you want to achieve.

The first thing to do is sign up for Facebook and Twitter. Do basic searches on your industry and your competitors. You can use both platforms to get your own name out there and see what your customers and competitors are saying about you.

Next you will want to look in to starting a company blog. Use good, interesting content that will allow you to get people interested in your blog. It is recommended to write about things that pertain to you, as a small business, and things that you are interested in (within reason, of course). You will also want to participate in other blogs. This will help build a level of credibility and trust among potential and current customers.

Finally, you will want to get a LinkedIn page. Like Facebook and Twitter, you will want to have a look around, to see how competitors are using it and if people are talking about your business. You can also begin to connect with customers. You can have customers or vendors recommend you to others.

All these tips and more can be found at http://mashable.com/2009/10/28/small-business-marketing/

The Rise of Blogs and the Fall of Newspapers

Recently, I was reading one of my favorite blogs that I go to for all my Kentucky Wildcat sports information, Kentucky Sports Radio, and there was a post about how they were having trouble with a newspaper in Lexington, KY, the Herald-Leader. The paper would even go so far as to never mention the paper by name, and they wouldn't allow any of their employees to speak to anyone affiliated with the blog. Whatever KSR did to the Herald-Leader must have been pretty bad right?

Actually, the reason the paper was so bitter was most likely due to the fact that KSR takes a lot of readers away from any of their sports articles covering most anything (although they wouldn't admit to that). Also, the writers of the KSR blog were not shy of calling the Herald-Leader's writers out, or any writer for that matter, on writing things that they didn't support with proper sources.

This particular situation is just one instance of blogs taking audiences away from newspapers and magazines. In fact, according to a study done on this topic (http://www.labnol.org/internet/blogging/blogs-popular-than-newspapers-magazines-google-trends/3242/), blogs passed newspapers and magazines in popularity on Google in early 2008.

The question to ask is why are blogs becoming more popular. The reason is that readers can get the news they want to hear about for free, whereas with paper and magazine articles, they have to purchase the medium and then search through them and hope their was something about the topic they wanted to read about. For example, I am a huge fan of UK, WKU, and Tennessee Titans sports teams. When I want news on those teams, I go to blogs like Kentucky Sports Radio to get the information I want, and I don't have to sift through everything else.

Second Life, An Avenue for Marketing Products or a Waste of Time?

If I had to guess, many of you have heard of Second Life, but probably don't know exactly what it is. Second Life is a virtual world that is available to users on the internet. It allows people to interact with one another through the world using characters known as avatars. Users can customize their characters to look however they want and they can explore the world of second life (known as the grid).

Currently, there are over 20 million people registered for second life. This sounds like a marketer's dream; a internet "world" where marketers can have more control over whether their advertisements are visible, as opposed to the real world, where people can select what they pay attention to. There are already several companies utilizing the Second Life opportunity; such companies as Coke, Dell, and Coldwell Banker have some sort of presence. As people play the game, they come across advertisements and can even use the companies' products in the game.

Unfortunately, it is easy for users to tune these ads out. For the most part, it is up to the user what they see and use. For example, one of the better known aspects of the game is that characters can fly as a means of transportation. This is only used for short distances, teleportation is used for longer distances and is much more popular. For this reason, most of these ads are skipped over. Also, many of these companies operate on islands and they are only accessible through teleportation, so users elect not to go to these islands.

While marketing through Second Life sounds like a great idea, due to the large amount of users, it seems like it isn't very effective. If users are able to avoid the advertisements, and people are typically apt to ignore them,  then odds are they will skip over yours if you choose to put it on there. If it were up to me, I probably wouldn't choose to advertise on this social media outlet.

The advantages of advertising on Facebook

Have you ever been scrolling the pages of Facebook, possibly reading about your friends lives through the news feed or creeping someone's photos all while you are supposed to be writing that paper (or blog post), then looked over at the right hand side of the screen to see all the ads? Well, a great deal of those ads reach your eyes because they are tailored specifically for you.

A simple Google search of "advertising on Facebook" brought up the Advertising page on the website. Here, potential advertisers are greeted by a page giving an overview of the benefits of advertising through Facebook. In fact, the tag line on the page says, "Reach over 500 million people where they connect and share." The overview provides you with how you can reach your target audience, deepen your relationships with customers, as well as control your budget. All very important aspects to marketers. If you still aren't convinced you can click on the case studies tab and get a much more detailed explanation of how everything works as well as fact-filled support of why it is a good idea for your company.

The first page in the case studies tab is about reaching your target audience and it shows how a photography company was able to design there advertisements to show up on the pages of women ages 24-30 whose relationship status said they were engaged. There were also facts showing how the cost of advertising was worth it when you consider the amount of revenue it can produce, and how ads viewed through Facebook were more likely to be viewed versus off Facebook.

Some might be a little concerned with the fact that people can advertise in this way, but as it is your demographic information is public and as far as I can tell, nothing unethical is presenting itself in this form of advertising.