Blog #6 How a non-profit uses online blogging and advertising

The American Cancer Society does a great job using blogs, social media, and online advertising, for their event The Relay for Life. The relay has its own website, but it also has options now, where users can download the smart phone ap for the Relay. They also have widgets people can post on their Facebooks that will pop up on their feed to spread the word about their event, and to help raise funds. They have made it easier to spread the word and fund-raise online through email, blogging, and social media. They also have a variety of banner ads, pop up ads, and weekly emails.

Blog # 5 Ineffective and Effective PR Online

I think an effective use of PR online, would be the Boston One Fund. Word about the fund spread like wild fire , after the Boston Marathon Bombings. Word was spread by the mayor and other MA officials, but the general public did most of the PR work for them. Many people re-blogged or shared the funds message and photo, to get people to donate. There are online advertisements, and many people have started to share their stories. Creating a very effective use of online PR in the Blog and Social Media world.


I think an ineffective use of PR online, would be that of Torrid the clothing store. The only ads I ever see are always small and in the corner of pages, and it does not clearly represent the message of their brand. I have also seen a lot of complaints about their prices on Blogs and Social media, which gives a negative reputation than a positive one.

Blog #4 Write about one famous person in web history since 2001

Mark Zuckerburg is one of the five co-founders of Facebook, Facebook was originally coined "The Facebook" and was launched in 2004. Zuckerburg went to Harvard Universit in Cambridge, where he was already known as a programing prodigy. It was there that he developed, for fun, CourseMatch which allowed students to select courses based off of other students decisions, so they could better form study groups. He also developed Facemash which allowed students to pick the best looking person from a group of photos.

Inspired by the Facemash program, which Harvard shut down because it crashed one of their systems due to its popularity, he began working on a new program. He then launched "thefacebook" which three harvard seniors declared he used their ideas to create a competing social network to their HarvardConnection.com. The matter was settled in a law suit. Zuckerburg then dropped out of Harvard his Sophomore year to complete his Facebook project.

In 2010 Zuckerburg was named number 1 on the top 100 most influential people of the Information Age. In 2010 he was also named one of the most wealthiest men, for he became a billionaire at the age of 23 in 2007, and his estimated personal wealth is now at 13.3 Billion Dollars.

E-Market Paper

E- Market: Do It Yourself

            In the online world today, people can search anything and everything. In America one of the most popularly searched topics is Do It Yourself, or DIY projects and guidelines. The DIY’s or HGTV people according to the VALs system are categorized as the Makers. The Makers express themselves through building things, raising families, and carrying out projects by using constructive skills ("VALS™ | VALS™ Types | Makers | SBI", n.d.). Makers want to know how to make things on their own, so they want to use the internet as a tool to find out how to execute self-made projects. Websites marketed towards them should be traditional and easy to use, because makers like tradition and practicality, DIY Network, and doityourself.com do just that.

According to “Pew Internet and American Life Project”, about 55 percent of American internet users search for how to and DIY guidelines (Madden, Pew Internet & American Life Project, 2005). The demographics of “how to” internet users are made up by more men than women. For, sixty percent of male internet users, use the internet to search for DIY sources, compared to the fifty percent of female internet users (Madden, Pew Internet & American Life Project, 2005). However according to Alexa.com Men are underrepresented at DIY Network and doityourself.com, yet Women are overrepresented ("Diynetwork.com Site Info", "Doityourself.com Site Info" Alexa 2013).

When online users search for demographics on websites that would be geared towards DIY’s , such as Lowes’s website, the ratio from man to female is relatively equal. For example the percentage of males on Lowes.com is forty-one percent, and is fifty-one percent female ("Lowes.com Traffic and Demographic Statistics by Quantcast", 2013). That is only a ten percent difference. The amount of online users searching for DIY information has increased for women and decreased for men.  Both DIY Network and doityourself.com are very unisex. The colors used are tones that would attract both men and women, and cater to both women’s and men’s needs.  This would explain why there is not an extreme percentage gap between gender demographics, for the sites communicate effectively to both genders.

Internet users might assume that DIY Network would be more popular because it is an HGTV network website, but due to internet data research conducted by Alexa.com. DIY Network is ranked 1,252^nd most popular website in America and has a global rank of 7,442, yet it’s over all reputation ranking is 6,946("Diynetwork.com Site Info",Alexa). Whereas doityourself.com’s us ranking is lower at 1,535^th place, but their global ranking is better at 5,765^th place and has a better reputation at 5,917(“Doityourself.com Site Info", Alexa). Also, more people found doityourself.com through Google than DIY Network, for doityourself.com has a 47.94 percent click ability; whereas DIY Network has 34.79 percent click ability from Google ("Diynetwork.com Site Info", "Doityourself.com Site Info" Alexa 2013).

Both sites can be found by searching key words such as DIY, do it yourself, diy projects, and how to. According to the data recorded by Alexa.com online users prefer doityourself.com. Both sites have clear focal point marketing towards people who want to learn how to do, do it yourself projects. DIY Network has more credibility and professionalism because it is  a sub site off of HGTV.com. It’s affiliation with HGTV automatically give the site credibility, for it is a well-known brand, television channel, and media outlet. Yet, doityourself.com is more amateur, for DIY Network brings professional designer made instructions and design ideas to consumers. Doityourself.com caters more to the amateur and shows off consumer ideas and end products. The plus side to that though is average Americans get the chance to showcase themselves and their ideas, all the while getting to talk to fellow DIY consumers.

The websites appeal to the focal point of the audiences because they strictly cater to the VALS makers, who are the DIY’s, However from a design standpoint, doityourself.com has better color design. The use of the color yellow invites and brightens up the site, showing off a cheery glow. DIY Network uses red which is a power color, and is not quite harsh, but seems less inviting than doityourself.com. It may not have as much credibility, but doityourself.com is more inviting and welcoming. Both sites, as mentioned before use colors that appeal to both genders, however More men visit DIY Network than doityoutself.com , and more women go on doityourself.com than DIY Network, which can reflect from color design. Psychologist Daniela Ninesta did a study on men and the effects of red, and the study showed, “The red effect extends only to males and only to perceptions of attractiveness” ("Psychological Study Reveals That Red Enhances Men's Attraction to Women : Rochester News", 2008).

From a navigational standpoint DIY Network is better, for it is easier to use, where doityourself.com is not. Consumer reviews on Alexa .com for doityourself.com are nothing but great, but a consumer did complain about navigation, saying “Lots of stuff here. However, poorly organized. Most of it is jumbled and navigation is difficult” (“Doityourself.com Site Info", Alexa). Both use drop down menus with sub categories, which makes for more refined searching, however doitourself.com’s are more general, where DIY Network’s are specific.

If someone had to pick a site that was better than the other, one would think they would choose DIY Network, even though the data shows it is less popular than the other site. However, it has credibility, great navigation, it is not horrible to look at, and it shows both professional and consumer end products. So, if someone who is not a VALS maker, but would like information on DIY, they are more apt to trust the known brand, than the amateur brand, even if more consumers prefer it over the other.

References

DIY Home Improvement Information | DoItYourself.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.doityourself.com/

DIY Network - Home Improvement How-To & Remodeling Projects. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.diynetwork.com/

Diynetwork.com Site Info. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/diynetwork.com

Doityourself.com Site Info. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/doityourself.com

Lowes.com Traffic and Demographic Statistics by Quantcast. (2013, February). Retrieved from http://www.quantcast.com/lowes.com#!demo

Madden Pew Internet & American Life Project, M. (2005, June 8). More than half of internet users seek do-it-yourself information online | Pew Internet & American Life Project. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2005/Doityourself-Information/Data-Memo.aspx

Psychological Study Reveals That Red Enhances Men's Attraction to Women : Rochester News. (2008, October 28). Retrieved from http://www.rochester.edu/news/show.php?id=3268

VALS™ | VALS™ Types | Makers | SBI. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.strategicbusinessinsights.com/vals/ustypes/makers.shtml

Blog #4 Teens Vs. Adults

When I was a teenager, my friends and I only used the internet for AOL's aim, Facebook, email, and YouTube, but as I have gotten older I use the internet in a variety of ways. The way teenagers use the internet is different than the way adults do. Or, so that is how it was before the social networking take over. Using the web for adults was usually just for business and emails, and to check the weather. It is reported that in today's society Facebook has reached 500 million visitors, 250 million of those log in once everyday( Scott). Part of that is due to the influx of adult and bushiness owner users on Facebook. It has become a place where businesses can promote and connect with their customers ( Scott).

Teenagers are more likely to be affiliated with numerous social networking sights such as Facebook  Myspace  Google Plus , twitter, and Instagram  yet more and more adults and businesses are getting on to the trend, and a new style of marketing has emerged. Today's society has moved into the digital marketing age, where a lot of networking, PR, and marketing is done online through social media.

However, adults who are not in business, are less likely to be using a lot of social networking sights. A lot  adults do have a Facebook, such as my Grandma who uses it to keep in touch with all her grand-kids.  But, the difference in online activity is becoming less and less as the internet grows, and the generations get older. My mom uses the internet to check the weather, play games, use email, Facebook  shop online, use online banking, play bills, watch videos, and surf the web, and these are all things I do, but a few years ago , my mom barely knew how to use the internet. 

2 Websites with great web design.

In my opinion I think Pinterest has great web design. I find the navigation system easy to use, and the search bar is very useful. My dashboard is always filled with pins of the kinds of things I like, or the pins of people I follow. There are tons of great ideas on Pinterest and it is really easy to learn all about them. if you click on a pin that interest you, it will bring you to the site it is originally from to give you more information  For example, if I see a picture of a food dish that seems appealing it will bring me to site it is from, and I can find the recipe there and tips on how to make it. It also always you to re-pin and store the pins you like, so you can always go back to refer to them. It has a plethora of great information.

Another site that has great web design is Netflix. Netflix, has an easy to use browsing method, that allows viewers to stream through hundreds of movie and TV posters, and click on the one they want. the search bar is easy to use, and has a categorical navigation system. I am a regular Netflix user, and I have never had a problem navigating and finding the exact show and or movie that I want to watch. 

My internet use compared to others in my family.

• I use the internet for a variety of things. Like any average American young adult, I have joined the smart phone craze and the social media trend. However, I use the internet for more than just Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and E-mail. Yes, I use the internet mainly for those things, but I use it for a variety of other things as well. I surf the web, to check the weather daily. I catch scores and stats for all Boston Sports, because I hate when I miss a game, and the internet has made it easy for me to keep updated with current sports news. I also read articles from The Boston Globe, New York Times, and the Washington Post online, to keep updated with current events. Besides the news, I also do a lot of online shopping, anytime I need to buy a gift, clothes, or textbooks the first place I tend to look is online.  Online shopping has saved me a lot of time and money.I also listen to music online, with Itunes, Pandora, and spotify.  I use the internet for entertainment, I love Netflix, Hulu, and Youtube. If I ever need a laugh or want to watch a movie, I know I can go online and find just what I am looking for. Last but , not least , I use the internet for information. Any time I have a question, or I am curious about anything I "Google it".
• My mom uses the internet much differently than I do. She uses it for about four things: Facebook, Email, Shopping, and Games. My mom is a creature of habit, and has a routine when she goes online. She starts off by checking her Facebook, then her email. After that she plays a series of games on Facebook  that she has dubbed her "favorites". She then tends to browse through online catalogs. Where, I use the internet for almost everything in my daily life, she uses it lightly.