A blog for class... interesting...

Wiki Edit Summary

2006-05-20T02:43:00.000-04:00

If only my eyes would stay open for a few minutes longer... I don't know how the heck I planned on completing this after I was supposed to get off work tonight!

I can summarize three out of four of my wikis altogether. My wiki watchlist included Ben Roethlisberger, Fall Out Boy, Grey's Anatomy, and the National FFA Organization. Excluding the latter, I began this project with very little factual knowledge about my wiki choices. Therefore; my edits for Big Ben, FOB, and Grey's were usually very simple, and either cleaned things up a bit, or simply added trivia tid-bits for others to enjoy (which apparently, they did not). Overall, the pages for Ben Roethlisberger, Fall Out Boy, and Grey's Anatomy remained relatively unchanged, fundamentally. I didn't add anything earth shattering, nor did I detract from anything substantial that was already there. I simply let things be as they were so as not to step on anyone else's toes- the integrity of all three wikis was maintained throughout the course of this semester.
However; this is not true for my edits to the FFA wiki. This page has, and still does have, room for very much improvement. Many parts are poorly written, or very vague. In addition, the page lacked obvious content such as the FFA motto and mission statement, which I noticed immediately. Perhaps those who possess a great deal of knowledge about the organization are not familiar with Wikipedia, but I can only hope that the changes I was able to make will spur others to do a bit of research and continue to improve the page from here on out. Overall, I think this wiki was the one I concentrated on the most, because I was confident in the knowledge that I possessed concerning the subject. I am also confident that I made very positive and meaningful changes to the FFA wiki :)

I found this project to be very interesting. Prior to taking this course, I actually found Wikipedia to be very frustrating when it turned up in my search results, because I doubted its credibility. However; now, with a basic understanding of how the wiki-world works, I am much more confident in using it as a credible source for research. I can appreciate that it is a community built around trust and acceptance of a few basic rules that allow everyone to keep others in check.

Well, it's 2:56am, and I'm completely exhausted, so I'm going to have to call it a night :/ No more thinking for me, my head is starting to hurt, and my soft pillow is beckoning it!!

Is our world flat?

2006-05-20T02:30:00.000-04:00

Hmmm 2 1/2 hours before Alex wakes up to begin checking out everyone's blog projects...
And what am I doing at 2:28am?? Reading some of our class required blogs as my eyes insist upon sagging shut. Ugh procrastination :)

So, here we go. I was reading the Naked Conversations blog and discovered that Shel plans on writing a new book after he travels around the world in 23 days with Rick Segal. They are interested in meeting as many intelligent, enthusiastic individuals as possible that are in some way, shape, or form connected through what we tend to refer to as the global marketplace. Shel discusses the idea of a "flat word", a term which he borrows from his friend Doc, who was originally supposed to join the two in their travels; although we know the world is not flat (like the book that Alex rewarded two of our classmates with boasts) the idea of so many people from so many countries being connected via Internet marketing could almost insist otherwise. It's pretty interesting to think that the moment this blog is posted, someone thousands of miles away in Bangladesh could theoretically access my blog and read this very post. And that simple idea connects the two of us. Kudos to Shel and Rick for embarking upon a journey that will physically connect them with our global net-mates!

Happy Blogversary?!

2006-05-19T21:36:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to wish Tobi and her Diva Marketing blog a very happy anniversary! Or as Tobi chose to call it, a blogversary :) Maybe "blogversary" will show up in an edition of Webster's in the future... it's pretty crazy the kind of words that show up in that thing nowadays!

Tobi's mention of a virtual cupcake triggered my sweet tooth! I'm gonna find something to much on...

Video Ringtones??

2006-05-19T20:59:00.000-04:00

Well, I showed up at work on time and ready to make some money, but there were too many people scheduled so I got to go home! So of course, I'm taking advantage of my free night and doing.... blog work. :)

Today, ClickZ posted some news about a collaborative effort between Pepsi, Motorola, and Yahoo! Music to bring video ringtones to mobile phones everywhere. When a phone rings with one of these new video ringtones, a short video clip of the artist will show on the screen of the phone. In order to kick off this new idea, free ringtones will be given away under tons of Pepsi bottle caps.
Although I think this is a creative way for a search engine to participate in push marketing, I feel that this is and idea that isn't going to take off very far. I think most mobile users are happy with the ringtone options that are currently available, and wouldn't find any extra satisfaction in being able to view a music video while contemplating whether or not they should answer their call. I know that I would much rather stare at the goofy pictures of my friends' faces that I have stored in my phone anyway :)

Final Wiki Edits!

2006-05-19T13:51:00.000-04:00

It's Friday already?!! I have some wiki editing to do! So I'm going to blog and edit at the same time... here goes...
Ok, I'll start with Fall Out Boy. Hey! Someone deleted the fact I added to the trivia section!! :( Hmm... well I'll keep it simple then, and just update a previous edit I made about the band being featured at The Bamboozle.
Moving on to... the The National FFA Organization. I'm checking out the history of the latest edits, and the most recent one says "17:29, 17 May 2006 Tawkerbot2 m (BOT - rv 66.90.103.107 (talk) to last version by Goots2)". I have no clue what this is, and why it is including my username, Goots2! My last edit is still on the page, so I'm confused!! Anyway, looking at this page, I see sooo much that I could do with it! It is missing a lot of information about the organization! Today I'm going to add the FFA motto and the FFA mission in their very own section!! This is probably my biggest edit yet!
My next victim is Ben Roethlisberger. I'm going to add some trivia about Ben owning a rottweiler named Zeus... we'll see how long it sticks around! No one seems to like my trivia!
And finally, I will edit Grey's Anatomy. Since I finally watched the season finale yesterday, I'm not so nervous about things being spoiled for me! This wiki is definitely the most difficult of all to edit; especially since the article has been tagged for cleanup. Everyone is trying to condense information and eliminate seemingly useless info at the same time! So I'm keeping it extremely simple and adding two words, "and end", to the very beginning of the page. So it will now state that it is Meredith's voice that is usually featured in the voiceover at the beginning "and end" of each episode. I realize this lacks substance, but I'm confident that anything else would be deleted rather quickly, and feel that it is pointless for me to interfere with cleanup attempts.

Ok, I've hit all 4 wikis once again today! That's definitely a load off of my shoulders. And I didn't have to squint at all since I got a new pair of contacts in my new prescription from the eye doctor today! But now it's time for me to get ready for work!! I'm going in at 5pm and getting off at 1am, so hopefully when I get home I'll have enough energy to summarize my wiki edits, and squeeze in a few blogosphere posts!!

Wiki Wiki Woo Hoo

2006-05-16T23:00:00.000-04:00

Excuse the title... it's been a long day!
However, it has been a productive one- I edited each of my 4 wikis tonight!!
I began with Fall Out Boy, since the ringer on my phone is currently one of my favorite songs by the band; my ringing phone inspired me to get to editing! I added a piece of trivia to the trivia section about the band's lead singer.
Next, I updated Grey's Anatomy. I was a little nervous about doing so, since the season finale aired last night, and I taped it so that I could study, and haven't been able to watch it yet- I didn't want anything to be ruined for me by trying to complete this assignment!! So I scrolled right past the episode summaries, and updated the section about the unique dialogue the cast is known to use.
I then decided to edit the National FFA Organization wiki by posting the current number of members and chapters in the US.
Saving the best for last, I moved on to Ben Roethlisberger (aka the love of my life). I added a link to his blog, although he hasn't updated it since February!! That's ok, he's a busy man!
Alright... so I'm halfway there with this wiki project, and have 4 days left (including the crack of dawn Saturday morning before Alex wakes up!) to complete my final edits. Procrastination is kicking my butt again :)

I'm pretty far behind!!

2006-05-11T20:06:00.001-04:00

Hmm... looks like I definitely need to pick up the pace with this entire project! The end of this semester completely blindsided me in terms of the amount of work I have to complete for a few of my classes!
So, tonight I edited my Fall Out Boywiki to include information about The Bamboozle music festival I just attended in New Jersey. Interestingly enough, The Bamboozle itself doesn't have a wiki entry, so that might become a project of mine in the future!
And now that the contest is over, I guess I'll go ahead and attempt this whole loocsixela thing. I'm curious to see what a new addition will do to the search results...
Hmm... I suppose that's all for now, but expect to hear from me sometime this weekend, when I'll surely be wiki-editing again!!

Got Water?? Well you should be thankful...

2006-03-24T15:17:00.000-05:00

I took another stroll down blogosphere lane today and had much better luck finding a topic of interest to write about! I checked out Diva Marketing again because it's quickly becoming my favorite, and found her newest post to be very interesting. Toby was helping to spread the word that March 22nd was World Water Day. The purpose of this day is to call attention to the global water crisis our world is facing. Further exploration taught me that water-related diseases are the leading cause of death in the world!! 14,000 people die each day because of unsafe water! This is such a shocking idea for me since we are blessed to live in a country with a readily available clean water supply; each and every one of us is guilty of taking this for granted. This cause is one that definitely deserves attention! Monetary donations are obviously most effective in helping to solve the global water crisis plaguing countries such as Kenya, Honudras, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, and India among others. Our ability to save lives simply by taking two minutes to enter our credit card number on a donation form shows the profound way the Internet is impacting lives everywhere, even in countries that don't share in the technology.

A true blogging community

2006-03-22T12:41:00.000-05:00

I decided to take a stroll down blogosphere lane today, and started with Toby's Diva Marketing blog to see if I could find something that sparked some interest in me; I decided utilizing the links to blogs that were of interest to her might be a good place to start. Ultimately my journey led me to Radiant Marketing. The latest blog post describes a realtor named David in Mentor, Ohio who has taken business blogging to a new level by establishing an actual community blog for Lake County, Ohio, appropriately called the Lake County Blog. He has enlisted local organizations such as the United Way and the City of Mentor to be bloggers for the site. I agree with Radiant Marketing's opinion that this is a brilliant idea! What better way can there be for a realtor to market himself as well as the community he is trying to sell? If I were considering moving to Lake County, Ohio, I would definitely Google it to figure out if it were the right place for me. The best thing about the blog is that it provides an idea of the community from a number of different perspectives. I would predict that anyone accessing the blog and considering relocating to the Lake County area would then enlist David's help in fiding the perfect home in their newly chosen community, which makes him one smart marketing cookie!

Alright, enough blogging about blogging for now. I have to go to lab, and then take our first Buad477 exam!!

Students have caught the buzz of buzz marketing!

2006-03-20T22:55:00.000-05:00

I was reading my teammate Jaime's recent blog postings, and noticed one that she wrote about networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook. I personally have accounts with both sites, and can agree with Jaime's characterization of their being addictive!! However, I never really put much thought into the marketing behind the success of these two networking giants; I believe it all boils down to buzz marketing. I would go as far as arguing that neither site would be at all successful had it not been for the word of mouth that spread faster than syphilis at a frat party! (Oh wait... did I just say that?! Yes, I believe I did.) I think both are excellent examples of what buzz marketing is capable of, and are bound to be used as case studies for marketing students in the future. What is even more interesting about MySpace and Facebook, is that they are ultimately used as tools to market yourself, where word of mouth and buzz marketing can also come into play. Ahh what a vicious cycle.

CEO Blogging

2006-03-20T12:48:00.000-05:00

Recently Toby Bloomberg of Diva Marketing talked to our class via Skype about successfully utilizing blogs as a marketing tool. One interesting topic she touched upon was that of CEO blogging, which GM is currently using on their website. It is used more as a vehicle for public relations rather than as a conversation tool.
The more I thought about this, the more it reminded me of the blog that Ben Roethlisberger posts on his website. Although Ben isn't the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, he is a big media player; I think that he has realized the ability blogging has to help him to promote his personality both on and off the football field.
I think fans such as myself enjoy being able to delve into his personality and feel as though he cares enough to keep us updated on his personal and professional lives.

2nd Wiki edit... woo hoo!

2006-03-08T23:12:00.000-05:00

After class today, I realized I need to pick up my pace a little if I wanted to have all my requirements done before Spring Break! (Which, by the way, I cannot wait for!) So I decided to do a wiki edit tonight, because I'm tired and not feeling well, and it seemed to require the least amount of thought.
This time I chose to edit the wiki of my future husband, <3 Ben Roethlisberger <3. Everyone else has done a very thorough job with the entry, so I was hard pressed to actually come up with useful information to add to it. Instead, I simply made the term Denver Broncos clickable so that readers could jump to the Denver Broncos wiki right from Ben's page.
Actually, right now as I'm typing, I just thought of some info I probably could've worked into part of the page. Hmm... I guess I'll have to write it down and use it for my next wiki edit!
Well all.. night night, sleep tight, and don't let the bed bugs (or flue bugs!) bite!
<3

Wiki time

2006-02-27T11:59:00.000-05:00

A milestone moment in my life? Maybe not, but today I made my first "wiki" edit. My wiki watchlist includes Ben Roethlisberger, Grey's Anatomy, Fall Out Boy, and National FFA Organization.
My first editing victim is Grey's Anatomy. Someone with a lot of time on their hands went through the trouble of adding a section that describes each of the main characters of the show. So, I deleted it. I thought that would be a fun edit.

Just kidding Alex! I just made a very small addition to the description of Dr. Meredith Grey. The author of the section indicated that Meredith shares a house with Izzie, which is true. However, the house is shared between Meredith, Izzie, and George, so I simply added his name to the roster. Poor George is always in the shadows...

So yes, my first edit is complete, albeit rather insignificant. Just wanted to get my toes wet!

Oh, and to all of my fans out there, seeya in class!

Today is the day from... heck...

2006-02-20T12:16:00.000-05:00

This is quite possibly the worst Monday ever. I went home for the weekend, and was supposed to head back up to school last night. However, I took a little post-dinner nap, from which I woke up exhausted! So I decided to spend the night at home, and leave at about 7:30am to make it to my 8:45am class....
Well, this morning, I woke up on time, got ready, packed a few things, and headed out the door at 7:35. That is probably the closest to leaving on time I have ever come in my life. At about 8:15 I arrive on campus, and decide to drop a few things off at my room before class. Much to my dismay, when I pulled up next to my building, I realized I had forgotten my room key and pdi at home! So I went to class, and called my Mom to have her meet me at a halfway point to deliver my forgotten goods. It's now 12:20pm and I just settled back into my room. I decided I had about an hour and a half to do whatever I wanted (a.k.a. take a nap!) before my Buad477 class at 2:30. This promptly reminded me that I had a 2nd blog entry due today!! By the way, you can check out the class blog here.
Well, I suppose that's enough ranting for today! So I'm off to read the article due for class, and take my much needed nap!

"My First Blog"... how cute

2006-02-12T23:25:00.000-05:00

So, it's roughly 11:23pm, Sunday night, and I'm finally creating my blog. Based on this information, it may be hard to tell that I'm actually attempting to cure myself of procrastination this semester! The thing is, I can't remember if this blog set-up is due tomorrow or Wednesday. If it is due tomorrow, I suppose procrastination has gotten the best of me yet again; however, if it is due Wednesday, I'm on the road to recovery! Time will tell... :)