Sunday, December 7, 2014

TOP TEN Revelations



1. Social Media connects people, allows messages to be spread quicker and shared with a larger public. Social Media allows users to create and share information with anyone they desire online, mobile, or virtual platforms. Social Media can benefit businesses tremendously and can help you increase your sales. Study done in 2009 showed that companies in social media grew 18 percent. I personally use Facebook and Instagram the most to connect with my friends, family, and to look up for brands and products I consume.

2. Social Media is changing our consuming habits. People has changed their way of  using information. “We trust traditional sources less, we respond less to compact form  of information, we have shorter attention spans, we’re breaking down the barriers between private and public life” (B. Bonin) People are more aware of what they buy and do research of products and brands before buying them. I definitely agree with this statement because I always look for reviews and what is being said about a product or service before I purchase them. My favorite sites are Amazon.com to compare prices and check reviews and Yelp to see what people are saying about local establishments.
3. Companies should not ignore Social Media. Now word of mouth has a more powerful impact that even advertising campaigns. With more media channels available people are more likely to buy what others buy or items that have the most reviews. Although a company needs to invest large amounts of time of human resources to see results in social media, it is worth it and all companies of all size should give it a try. I personally do not trust any business with zero virtual presence. In my opinion, a brand, company, product etc., should be able to be found on a Google search.
 
jattmarketer.com 
 4. Identify how to use properly Social Media channels. During this class and the elaboration of our Social Media 4 Social Change project we had the opportunity to learn and put this in practice. We created our own blog and used it to write about and promote our project.  We learned the basics of building communities on Facebook to engage with people. On twitter we learned the need to identify conversations we wanted to be part of  and check what is being said about our brand or project. We used video as a complementing tool to give a voice to our project. We learned how concept, conversation, and collaboration are all very important to take into account when it comes to SM campaigns. We can always implement one more than the other, but at the end you need all of them to succeed.

5. Brand awareness is key to succeed in social media campaigns and very important to engage and have conversations with customers. When you create a relationship with customers, you are creating loyalty too. Branding matters more than ever” (S. Agresta) Companies want to engage with people. They want people to identify themselves with brands. Companies know that by creating messages that people will feel identify with they will sell more products. Social media can be used by small and big companies.


6. Customer service and public relations big turn over after social media. Building relationships with bloggers and journalists is very important. Brands are now involved in community management having direct contact with customers, loyalists and fans. My favorite part about this is also the immediate response you get to your requests or concerns about a product or service. Now you don't have to wait on a phone line or send a letter to customer service; through social media you can be heard immediately.

7.Set goals for social media outreach that include your targets levels of communications and the level of engagement your audience has with you. Identify the places where you want your outreach to take you. Identify other spaces you want to be comparable to. Concept, conversation, and collaboration are all very important to take into account when it comes to SM campaigns. You can implement one more than the other but, at the end you need all of them to succeed.

8. When making a mistake is important to show the human face of your brand, be real, transparent, and authentic. Identify the parties involved and make sure they know that you are aware of what you did and you will address the issue. Do not delete a bad comment on your blog or a bad review of a product on your website. Use those bad comments instead to get a real-time insight of what is being said about your product or service, and address them in your own space.

9. Agencies are necessary for scale, expertise, and convenience. “No brand will ever be able to match the types of media relationships and expertise that agencies house. Brands will always rely on agencies to help them achieve results faster” (Agresta 235). We as students of Media and Communications have a lot of opportunities out there to start a career in the Media industry, there is a big demand for it. All businesses regardless their industry, need Social Media.

10. You are never too late to start Social Media. Social Media offers opportunities to grow your business and engage with customers. Everything you do online can even help you increase off-line sales. It is never too late to start up a social media account.  However, the longer you wait, the more time and opportunity for success their competitors may have.  

Saturday, December 6, 2014

ARE TRACKING DEVICES NEXT STEP FOR HUMAN EVOLUTION?



Tracking and collecting data of ourselves can be significantly good. Contrary to the idea of having all these devices collecting big data about people everywhere invading our privacy, it seems  this data can be use for actually good things. This video shows that rather alienation and slaving from tracking devices, people using these artifacts can actually help collect health information for early detection of diseases, to learn more about ourselves, create pathological patterns of the ways how we act and evolve.

“Your trivial-seeming self tracking app is part of something much bigger. It’s part of a new stage in the scientific method, another tool in the kit. It’s not the only thing going on, but it’s part of that evolutionary process.” - Ethan Zuckerman paraphrasing Kevin Kelly

Friday, December 5, 2014


DEVICES REDUCE CHILDBIRTH MORTALITY

It is 2014 and unfortunately in many developing countries women die while giving birth. The World Health Organization estimates that approximately 800 women in rural areas of developing countries die every year because they can't access health centers on time when giving birth. 

Many organizations have been working to help reduce the rates of maternal deaths. Three devices developed by Norwegian company Laerdal Global Health are being implemented to save the lives of many babies that die for complications during the birth process. These devices are ‘NeoNatalie Suction’, ‘NeoNatalie Newborn Simulator’ and ‘MamaNatalie Birthing Simulator’ and are all designed to save hundreds of thousands of lives. Making this simple, affordable, and effective devices available for midwives to help all those mothers expecting a baby can make a big difference. The kit is being implemented to teach midwives how to respond when giving birth so the risks of having a mother or a baby die when giving birth can be reduced even on a 47%. 





Saturday, October 25, 2014



SMARTPHONES TO PREVENT BLINDNESS IN KENYA

"Peek" is a new app developed by experts of  London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, that could help thousands of people to get easy access to eye exams. This new app can help in the prevention and diagnose of eye ailments such as glaucoma, cataracts, myopia, and far-sightedness. With the implementation of this new technology there is hope to bring down the number of people who can get blind in the future due the lack of access to eye specialists. 


http://www.gizmag.com



Reaching out to people without access to eye diagnoses is crucial because with early detection, blindness can be prevented or cured. Mr. Bastawrous in his TED talk explains how they detected that people in Kenya had more access to cellphones than they did to clean water. This is when his team saw a great opportunity to use the technology of smartphones for something that could give great benefits to the entire community.  The  app and the kit were then developed in London  at the School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.  The kit needed  with the app is portable and easy to use. It allows people to get complex eye tests without the need of having an expensive equipment.



 

 

 

Fighting Malaria With Drones

          Flying robots are being used in island of Borneo - Malaysia to fight malaria. Malaria is an infectious disease that according to The World Health Organization "killed more than 600,000 people last year, mainly children in Africa and Asia". The drones are expected to help researches to map and detect the reasons why the rise in the number of people infected with this virus that spreads from mosquito and macaques to people.


How it works?

         According to Mashable.com the drones "create a detailed map, which we can then superimpose or overlay with the human and the macaque movement," Drakeley told Live Science. The movement patterns of both monkeys and humans were derived from GPS data. Locals were asked to carry around GPS tracking devices, while certain macaques were fitted with GPS collars.
The hope is that this GPS data will help the researchers pinpoint where humans and macaques are most likely to interact, and the drones will show the researchers what these areas look like and help them figure out why both species might be drawn to those areas.


        Hopefully the drones can do their job and help hundreds of people infected with the virus not only in Malaysia but among other countries with high rates of this type of infection.

Sunday, September 14, 2014

What is all this about?


     Technology is a crucial part of our lives. It has changed society and individual lives in an imaginable way. Inspiring Technology will give you an insight of all the inspiring things that have been achieved in the world thanks to technology. From the invention of the life straw - water filter that has helped thousands of families in Africa to have access to safe intake of water to the invention of small sensors in fitness devices that are helping people achieve a healthy lifestyle. This blog will have inspiring stories of technology changing the lives of many people in America and around the world.
http://water.org/water-crisis/water-facts/water/