Readings for Sept. 10

       I really like this chapter in Made to Stick because of the strong emphasis it puts on explaining that the reader is an active participant in any story. I don’t believe you can read anything without automatically feeling as if you are either a part of that reading, or you have at least created some sort of visual in your head that you got from the reading. On page 213, the authors explain that “mental simulation is not as good as actually doing something, but it’s the next best thing.” Stories are what give us this mental simulation if they are constructed in a way in which they “stick” into our minds. There are different parts and values to a story that make us relate or act in ways that maybe we wouldn’t if we hadn’t read the story.

       In the case of the nurse, this story could actually save lives if read by the right people who are in the medical field and run into these same sort of problems. The story isn’t only effective for those in the medical field, however. Other readers can have emotions arise from reading the story: feelings of fear for the baby’s life, relief after the nurse saves the baby and then inspiration from the nurse becoming a hero. It’s amazing how the same story can have different effects on different people, depending on how your mental stimulation relates you to the story.

       In relation to Jared’s story, he says, “we don’t always have to create sticky ideas. Spotting them is often easier and more useful” (224). This made me think about the creative inquiry class I’m in. Throughout the semester, we are working to develop a program in which we provide scholarships to children in a country where education isn’t available for everyone. Just $60 can provide a child with a school uniform and a year’s worth of school supplies and tuition. Our idea is to get students to donate the money they receive from selling their textbooks back to the store. The problem is, how do we do that? How can we convince students (who are always so excited to get back as much money as they can from the book store) that instead of blowing $60 downtown or out to eat, they could change a child’s life. I think that what we need is a “Jared” story. A story from a child in need is what is going to create emotions for Clemson students that will potentially influence them to donate money.

       I really like this reading. It shows how important and powerful stories can be in changing lives.

Readings for September 3

In Chapter 3 of Design to Thrive, the section that really stands out to me is “Preserve Institutional Knowledge” (33). I agree with Howard’s statements about how important it is to pass along knowledge developed by different people in an institution because those people won’t always be around to teach others what they know. Just as the MATRF room provides access to multiple types of social media, most businesses should have a similar way of preserving their technology. Otherwise, important ideas and decisions will be lost once the creator of those ideas leaves the business.

This reminds me of my old job that I used to work at back home. It is a statewide bank, and my job was to help the vice president/secretary with her daily activities at the main office branch. Her job is hectic everyday because of all of the responsibilities she has. Even with me there helping her, I’m not sure how she manages to get everything done by the end of the day. When I worked with her last summer, she took a week’s vacation, so I was responsible for getting things done while she was out. I’m pretty familiar with her daily tasks since I’ve worked with her for many years, but I still had to rely on 2 or 3 other people when I wasn’t quite sure how some things were done. It made me realize that once the vice president decides to retire, I have no idea how they’re going to find someone to take over because once she walks out, all of that knowledge is going with her, just as Howard suggests (33). The technology she uses is dated, so whoever takes her place is going to have to convert all of the files and data to new software before they can use it.

It’s a scary thought because of the importance of her job to the business. This example shows how crucial online communities are in passing along new information and keeping ideas alive, no matter who came up with them. It proves that every growing business needs to progress with technology in order to preserve knowledge for new employees.

Readings for August 27

Chapter 2 of Gillin’s Secrets of Social Media Marketing gave a lot of good tips and information regarding the best way to advertise and display information to consumers. I found it interesting that many companies choose how they are going to display information before they actually figure out what that information is. It seems so obvious that you should figure out what your goal is before you decide how to implement it. I think some companies are so focused on using the latest technology that they forget that a lot of consumers are comfortable with using technology that they are already familiar with, so these businesses should have that same mindset. The chapter explained it perfectly when it said that we are better off using tools that we’re familiar with, rather than using those that require time and learning. I’m not saying that no one should ever learn new technology, but I think it’s important for businesses to get on the level of their consumers before making choices about advertising.

Something else that I found interesting is how much social media affects the image of different businesses. I always check reviews of certain products before I make a decision on a purchase, but I never really realized how important those reviews are in making or breaking large companies. It is so important that businesses listen to what their customers are displaying all over different types of social media. Even though they can’t control what people write about them, they can, and should, do something to fix that problem before it becomes extremely harmful to the business.

Chapter 6 focuses strongly on the importance of social networks and who should use them. One of the main benefits of social networking is that it creates a community between all types of people that are interested in similar things. However, even though social media is great at bringing people together, it’s not necessarily the best form of communication for marketers. On page 102, it says that “86% of members join sites to see what their friends are up to,” not to find out different brands and products. The main reason people use social networking is to keep in touch with people who they used to be close to or maybe to those who they wouldn’t normally talk to. Marketers realize that even though social media is so popular and used by so many, it’s not necessarily the place where people are going to be attracted to different businesses. This is important for businesses to understand so they can figure out which sites are going to benefit them the most in this social media age.

In Design to Thrive, the importance of communities is made clear, just as it is in Chapter 6 of Secrets of Social Media Marketing. In order for RIBS to be successful, communities must be there for influencing, belonging, and making social networking significant. However, in Chapter 2, we find out that social networks and online communities aren’t exactly the same. In social networks, the individual person is the main importance, while in online communities, the interests that brought people to form the community are the most important things. This reminds me of groups on Facebook. Although people have individual profiles, they can “like” or join groups on Facebook in which that particular interest is more important to the community than their actual identity. Despite their differences, I think it’s important that social networks and online communities work together to create an environment for online users.