Security

The more I am getting into the Groundswell book, the more talk is about social networking sites and there great benefits. And while yes, one must admit they are a great invention I have to say there can be some security issues with them. If you are on Facebook and say I'm going to the grocery store for a while then people will know you're not home. If you are on Twitter from your cell phone and you say that you are somwhere where you might be alone that could be setting yourself up for a realy problem. It is important to remember that these networking sites are great but at the same time be smart about using them. Be smart about what you put on them because with these sites, you never know who may be looking at your page or your tweets.

The new age of customer support

One of my favorite inventions with all of this new technology and knowledge is the customer support that you can receive online. Our article was discussing Dell and ever since they impleneted their customer service option online, 20%-50% of questions are answered online. This is one of the greatest inventions because it saves people so much time and allows them to get answers to questions alot quicker than having to drive 30 minutes to the store. Of course there are some questions that may not be able to be answered over the computer and that need to be addressed in the store but for a basic question this is a great service to have. I would say I would buy a product such as a computer somewhere where they had online customer support bersus somewhere that didn't simply because I feel as though that particular business is trying to connect with me and be more customer friendly. Technology can help companies in the since that people may use their company because they are trying to gain more ways to help the customer and communicate with them.

Customer Power

Customer power is essential to any company. As our articles have stated the company brand is what the customer wants. Cusomters essentially have the power to make a company float or sink. If someone likes your product, great. They let everyone know how wonderful it is and you have great success in your business. If they don't like a company they will be sure to let the company and every follower know about it. Hence your company sinks. So basically the bottom line comes down to listening to your customers. If they want something do your best to try to please them. Don't let your brand be what your company thinks it is, cause it's not. It's all about what your people want and they may define what they want totally different then what the company does. People rule the businesses!

What makes social networks take off

People; the customers are what make social networks take off. People who want to connect with people and people who want to find new friends are what help Facebook and MySpace excel. These cites allow for people to keep up with friends, birthdays and special events that may be going on. You can even tell your friends what are you are doing second by second on cites like Twitter. People are always thursting for knowledge even if that knowledge is about other people or people they don't even know. Knowledge about everything is at our fingertips more so now than ever before and we can constantly keep with up with people in a real life up to date time. I'm not so sure that I want people knowing what I am doing at every second of the day?

Twitter

I have heard alot about Twitter but didn't really know the many ways that it could benefit a business. It can help the company stay in contact with customers but most importantly I think that it can help the company gain very valuable feed back. One thing that alot of people are going to enjoy is the way that this company can put out special promotions and coupons to its followers. The more followers there are the more people there are to communicate and give feedback to one another.
The more people feel that there feedback is being listened to the more likely that the company will have alot of fans.

The first test

So today we had our first test in class. I feel as though it went really well. I think that I have really been able to master alot of concepts that have been discussed in the articles and in class. I was really excited that it was an essay test because I feel that I expanded on what I knew which really boosted my confidence that I am really learning something from this class.

Something that I like most about this class is that the concepts are put into really life situations that help me relate them alot better and it helps. I am really starting to learn what a vital part technology plays in businesses and technology and helping them succeed.

How to talk with the groundswell Chapter 6

1. Post a viral video - When you let people see the video they will share. People are the customers and they will pass around information and talk. That is one of the major benefits of the internet.

2. Engage in social networking sites- Everyone now-a-days is involved in a social networking cite. When you create a profile on a cite it lets customers see what information you want to put out there. It expands your name and message further and further and more people will pass it along.

3. Join the blogosphere- If people in your company write blogs then people will read them. This will allow people to interact with staff of your company and get certain messages that you want out, out.

4. Create a community- This is a prime way for you to interact with your customers. Listen to them as they listen to you and take the feedback that they give you. Having a community really poses no purpose in my opinion unless you listen to the feedback of your customers.

To Collaborate or Not To Collaborate

Collaboration has it pros and its cons. Technology has made the idea of collaboration seem easier and beneficial to some extreems. Collaboration can be good in many ways that the article mentions such as:

1. Cost savings because the best and most effiecient practices will be put to use.
2. You have more expertise so better decisions can be made.
3. innovation because you have more people working and more people to encourage to create knowledge.
4. increased revenue through the sharing of the best ideas.

However, while it seems collaboration is a great idea and a company would be stupid not to do it, it has its downfalls.

1. People may not want to share the knowledge that they have or learn from others. There are some people who think they know all and they are not willing to except new knowledge or further their own knowledge.
2. Some people may not want to share the knowledge that they have because they may not want to help the other company or may not know how to seek it out from another company.
3. Some employees of the company may not want to work with employees of the other company thefore creating an inablity to work together.

So while sometimes collaborations may be a good idea sometimes they may be hard to initiate. It is important to find ways to encourage employees to create new knowledge, expand on their current knowledge, and share with others the knowledge that they have.

About.com

The online site about.com is very unique. I really like the way that they do business. About.com is an online "neighborhood' as they call it where people can come together to ask questions regarding numerous topics and then other guides/ contributors can answer their questions to the best of their knowledge. They keep a list at the bottom of topics that they need people to guide or write about so that encourages people to get involved.

They manage their site by relying on indivduals to partice and essentially SHARE KNOWLEDGE. The people are inticed to share the knowledge that they have creating it elsewhere and passing it on to people who are curious about a particular subject.
People may feel encouraged to visit this website because they will be talking and reading what normal everyday people write.

This is a really neat way of doing business. Personally I had never heard of this website but next time I have a question about something I will be sure to visit this website and pass along the word to other people that I know!

Groundswell Chapter 5

The brand is what the customers say it is. That is the main point of this chapter. It's not was the VP says it is, it's not what the manager says it is; It is what the customer says it is! The customer RULES! Cusomter can do a variety of things to explain there satisfaction or dissatisfaction of your company, and remember people talk. They post their opinions or rate your company on different sites. The downside however is that you don't hear from everyone. In my opinion you will only hear from the really happy customer who wants to praise your company or the really angry company who wants to make his/her point known!

Companies can set up their own private community online and encourage customers to go that particular site to give their opinions. Or companies can begin brand monitoring which is checking all the other sites where people may put their opinions.
Regardless of the option you choose, people talk and they share opinions so beware!

Groundswell Chapter 4

There is nothing more important so far in this book as for companies to learn how to use the groundswell to their benefit. This task can seem hard for some but really if the company follows a few basic steps they can strive in the groundswell. You have to define: people- what are customers ready for, objectives- goals?, strategy- how do you want relationships with your customers to change?, and technology- what applications should you build?

How to use it to their benefit is outlined by these next few steps:

• Listening- Listen to your customers. Learn what they want.
• Talking- Spread messages about your company.
• Energizing- Energize customers you already have about your company.
• Supporting- Help customers support each other.
• Embracing- Integrate customers into the way your business works.

With these few simple steps, companies can thrive. An essential part as you can see from above is PEOPLE (CUSTOMERS)! If you listen to them, support them and integrate them your company can succeed.

Groundswell Chapter 3

The social technographics profile includes:

• Creators- online customers
• Critics- react to other content online; post comments, reviews or reflections
• Collectors- save URL's and tags on social bookmarking services
• Joiners- Participate on social networking sites
• Spectators- Consume what people produce
• Inactives- Non-participants (which do actually exsist)

With the help of these types of profiles you can "understand how social technologies are being adopted by any group of people."

You can keep up with friendships, making new friends and the creative impulse.

Groundswell Chapter 2

Like many types of change when they first occur, alot of people don't think that they can succeed in the new change. When in all reality when it comes to the groundswell, with knowledge and experience (and the want to succeed in it) companies, people and policies can thrive in this "new" type of world.
There were a few examples given of technology that are in use that I alone use so some of the stats on them were actually very interesting and surprising to me.
First were blogs which are a personal type of entry. The book says that 1 in 4 people use blogs which was surprising to me. I hadn't used a blog until I began this class and the only people I knew that used blogs were celebrity or media personalities.
Social networking sites are another one of the "up and comings." With these sites you can maintain profiles, connect with each other and interact with other friends. The books says that 1 in 4 people visit a social networking site monthly which I thought was actually a little low. I feel like alot more people use social networking sites and they will continue as time goes on.
The last type of technology they mention that I use is the wiki, which I use for this class.22% of people use Wiki according to our book and to be honest I had never heard of it before this class. It is a very useful site in the sense that my group and I can keep EVERYTHING together and talk to each other and the teacher can view the site too.

Groundswell Chapter 1

We have all heard of some of the websites that are considered to be part of the groundswell but there were several mentioned in the first chapter that I had never heard of. Basically groundswell means that people are getting the information and things from each other now-a-days vs. getting it from large corporations. Examples would be purchasing things off of E-bay or Craigslist from another person or getting information from someone on Facebook or MySpace.

With technology evolving the way it is (and the groundswell concept) companies are going to need to readjust their focus on things such as the message they want to percieve and how to better market their companies. People aren't buying the car magazines to find out about cars their going to carfax.com. People aren't going and buying their newspapers anymore; they are accessing them online.

More and more business will be done on the internet. For companies that want to strive during this time it is going to become extremely crucial that they learn the in's and out's of the computer world. They will need to understand why people access the information that they do and how affectivly they do it.

Organizational Culture as a Knowledge Resource

I have to say first that I really enjoyed this article. There are several points that I found very important that I am going to ellaborate on.
The first point will be the type of environment that is crucial to knowledge sharing and my second point will discuss "types" of ways that a business can be run and the most effective in sharing knowledge.

The article stated that affective knowledge management practice requires a culture that fosters and rewards the creation and use of knowledge as it's sharing among individuals and group members. This is a very important point because people need incentive and/or the ability to feel open with their peers to share ideas. Some companies offer incentives and some people just need to know that in the future there will be benefits. In order to affectivly share knowledge it's important that everyone feels open to the ability to do so. If a company doesn't effectivly communicate with their employees knowledge sharing will essentially be shut down if they don't feel as though they can share that knowledge and that their opinion will matter.

Employee vs. Job Orientation:
Employee orientation is a much better choice of running a business than in a job orientation model. With an employee orientation people will feel cared about and that the company cares about them. When an employee feels respected, odds go up that they will commit to their job, be open to new thoughts and even share some of their own knowledge that they might not have if they didn't feel like they mattered.

Involvement with a Community

When I think of a community in a business sense I think of the place that I last worked. I worked at Parent Teacher Store where we really worked off of each other and our customers. Our customers frequently provided feedback on what they liked about our products or maybe why they wouldn't buy a certain product from us. We weren't really "managed" by one particular person but insight was taken from all employees who wanted to participate in creating better innovations for our company. We were as the article talked about "self flourishing" in that we made most decisions on our own.

Some customers would provide us feedback and some wouldn't ever tell us why they wouldn't buy a product. We offered no incentive to our customers for telling us information but most would so that we could make our business better. We also had an online website where customers could relay their feelings about our stores.

It was very helpful in the sense that we could create better content for our customers because we were an "open" community.

A knowledge community at Hallmark

Some things in this article really stuck out to me that I would like to further discuss. The first thing is that stories and innovations are allowed to come from anywhere within the community. They are not just limited to managers or people who are higher up in the business. I really like this since of "community" and that EVERYONE is involved because that can get drowned out in many companies.

Communication is important in a community because the more that people are open with each other and talking to everybody the more likely new knowledge and idea will come about. If no one talks there will never be new ideas born.
In my opinion stimulating innovation is a very important basis of a community. Include everyone, encourage everyone and value their opinions and in response you will have lots and lots of new ideas!

Brigham & Women vs. Nucor Steel

Brigham and Women hospital had to take data and input it all into a data system that could be used for data entry. Nucor Steel essentially had to use experiments and tril and error to find the best techniques to get the job done. Nucor Steel was more employee related, always finding ways to motivate the employees to share knowledge and to make the most efficient ways to produce. Brigham and Womens put the knowledge in the computer ( a system all doctors have to use everyday) and made it something they got used to and used every day. The doctors applied this knowledge everyday by using the entry system and using the software to view patient records. Nucor Steel applied the knowledge by finding the best techniques and applying them in all practices.

TECHNOLOGY=BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S
PEOPLE= NUCOR STEEL

They both used both technology and people but one more so than the other. You have to have the technology for the people to use and you have to have the people to use the technology if you have it. Therefore while one may be used more in a particular setting, they are both of equal importance.