The End is Just The Beginning.

This is the last post that I "have" to write for my itec-335-social networking class. Also, this is my last IT class as an undergraduate. That's right, I am graduating soon. Last Friday 12/05/2008 was the graduation ceremony for Summer and Fall 2008 students at the American University in Washington DC. I found my name under the "2008 Graduate Candidates", I immediately thought to my self: haha, even the school thinks that some of us might flung. That's why its under "candidates".

From here, I need a vacation. I will probably be in the US. Its better to stay here becasue this way, I can apply and have face-t-face interviews with recruiters regarding jobs.

Idealy, it would be great if I find a job for the spring and summer. A job that I can learn from and not just get paid. I do not mind the job does not pay me monetarily as long as I'm learning from the job. Experience is the best teacher in my opinion and is pricele$$.
While working as full-time, I will be seeking my GMAT score to apply for a graduate degree at AU or GW for the fall of 2009.

Basically, this would be a rough sketch of what I would like in the near future.

I feel that I have a duty to deliver as a college graduate.
My only advice to you would be: take your time--learn--enjoy your self.

I hope to hear from you

Yousif

using Social Media to generate ROI

If you know the equation, all I need to know from you is: how did you get it?

My definition of Social Media: If you are reading this then you are living in the 21st century & therefore should know a little bit about it. If you never heard about social media, then I'm sorry but you might need to read :
"Social Media 101 for dummies"
It is forgiven if you don't have time or just lack the resources to learn about social media. There is no reason why there shouldn't be special programs designed to educate managers and CEO's on social media tools.

It is very important to learn about social media. Especially today for two main reasons:

1- There are always newer tools being launched.

2- Promising returns on Social Media.

Don't waste your time exploring every tool but rather find the one's that are relevant to you and your business.

Here is how to work social media:

Companies should launch a blog/twitter/forum/etc. separate or on the same website and allow comments. Customers can express them selves. Sure you will have negative comments which is why you need to add this:

Have PR to respond to customers and moderate the integrity of the posts.

By using social media, companies are not just creating wealth. More importantly and ethically, the company remains connected and maintains a relationship with its customers.

Now, the tricky part about all of this is how to measure ROI of social media. The short answer to this is: you can't.

Return On Investment ROI can be found on the financial statements of Accountants to measure success or failure. In the case of social media ROI does not have to carry a numeric value.
When you have a conversation, you can not give it a numeric value. Different ratings can be interpreted differently by different people.

Social Media Social media is a golden opportunity for businesses to get involved with customers rather than just creating more wealth. Even if the case was to measure the ROI on social media, it is still difficult to establish a correlation between social media and the end results using current measures.

As always, your comments are welcome

Twitter

Honestly, I have never heard of Twitter before reading the assignment for this week. After reading the posts that our Professor tagged, I now have an initial understanding of Twitter although I know that for our next lab, we will create a Twitter account and will explore its tools. This means that after this Wednesday, I will gain a better understanding of Twitter.

Let me share with you my first impression of what I read about Twitter and how I feel about it at this point.

First and far most important, as always, I have many questions about Twitter. I have not and will not explore for answers to my questions because I do not want my thoughts to be satisfied, at least not for the time being. Perhaps after the lab on Wednesday, I will have a change of heart as I'm sure that I will change some parts to this post to reflect a better more informative experience that I gained about or after using Twitter.

My second point to my first impression is that only after reading the first few lines of the assigned readings, Twitter appeared to be just another social utility like facebook. I honestly do not like favebook and have closed my account as a result. I feel that since I got into the social networking era, it became a hard habit to leave and very time consuming.

Third and last point for this post. I find Twitter a social networking utility with a large potential to grow. At this stage, the company is struggling a bit with its IT staff and keeping the system running without glitches. As any and even current www company, those challenges are just part of the nature of being online. Another reason why I think that Twitter will grow in popularity is because this company has different uses that can actualy be useful and make the lives of its users easier and more convenient.

If you would like to read more on my thoughts, come back and visit after Wednesday when we complete our lab on Twitter.

Brainstorming N Teams

How do you brainstorm?

Think of a storm of ideas going through your head. Now, dodge all of it down, no matter how bad the idea sounds to you. Basically, that is the way I define brainstorming.

The traditional meaning of brainstorming is that it's done in teams either individually or collectively. When done individually, then the term is "Virtual Brainstorming". This has been the terminology for many years until the introduction of the internet.

Now, virtual teams can be referred to: virtual characters of people who work in a team as pointed out by my classmate Na Rae in her post Communication matters of virtual team- working.

Originally, from my experience, I always thought that brainstorming generated better results when done directly together in teams. In fact, I think and produce better ideas when I work in teams versus alone. This is obviously the case when the brainstorming process is done right although it's not as efficient as working individually.

Today, I found out that I was wrong. After reading this post: Brainstorming? Try doing it virtually by Jessica Lipnack who quoted some research results, I came to realize what I was missing from the bigger picture. According to research studies, virtual brainstorming outperforms brainstorming groups nearly by two times.

Citizen Journalism, Good?

One day you are out and suddenly you see an accident happening in front of you. What would you do?

A good citizen would: call 911 and/or try to help.

But , What if you: simply did not have time OR had a previous bad experience?

These days, even when you try to offer your help, you get in trouble. It is important to reach out to help with good intentions and hopeful results. Still, just by being a witness, you could end up in an investigation. The most you can do in a critical situation is to call 911.

Citizens have duties towards them selves and each other.

Now, what if you were asking for trouble?

"asking for trouble" , bare with me as I elaborate further.

3 months ago, our communication professor assigned a reading for our next class. Among the readings, there was one that I thought was very interesting. That reading was on Citizen Journalism.

When I first read the title of "Citizen Journalism" , I thought to my self: doing what journalists do but without the job title. This can be dangerous.

Remember the tech massacre virginia?

Some students wanted to get quick shots and videos from their phones to help out by covering the scenes. Imagine how risky and dangerous that would be. Now, imagine if you were a journalist who does that for a job to make a living.

Not any person whose job title does not include the description of journalist is simply qualified to report on news. Even if he/she had the means (camera, cell phone, etc...) AND even if the story they are witnessing could be priceless.

Practicing citizen journalism can be risky and dangerous and more importantly, it is a trust.

CNN launched a new site on the internet that it called iReport. Basically, any any any one with access to the internet can post any any any report.

You can imagine what kinds of reports were published although eventually, taken down. What is the point of letting those kinds of reports get published in the first place? What happened to credibility?

People misuse CNN's iReport section because CNN has the credibility. So if they publish a title like: Steve Jobs had a heart attack or even something like IBM filed for bankrupcy.

Well, what is the effect of these falsified news?

Aside from it being not true, it is a lie and a shameless scare on the web sites that allowed the false posts to take place. Monetary loses in the stocks of those companies involved. Intangible loss and destruction of reputation that took years to build.

Social Networks

Social Networks. What is the first thought that you got now?

The first thought that I got is facebook.

I read the last posts of my fellow classmates who are with-in my blog circle. Those posts' main topic is on social networks and specifically about facebook.

In the blog posts, my fellow classmates are complaining about facebook.

Among the posts that I read, the most common reason I found when using facebook was the issue of privacy. My initial response to any internet site is: privacy.

Basically, the internet has no privacy. Even of you have the most secure site in hisotry, it's just a matter of time before someone breaks into your site and find what you are hiding. There are special task forces with the highest available intelligence that deal with hacking and encrypting 24/7 365 days a year.

Why my classmates complain about the privacy of facebook?
I think because it is the most site that they and the people they know use. Actually, the most used site for them is Google.com but facebook contains more sensitive information. If they were to spend as much time on any other site that contains some sensitive (personal) information beside facebook, again, they would complain about this new site.

"Spy vs Spy"

which spy are you?

I think your answer would probably be: as long as I'm the winner

Although in the video, both spys are in 2 distinct colors : black and white, I believe there exists many shades in between!

Allow me to explain my point:

You can be:

Curious
which is a sole part of the human nature

But
As they say : "the curiosity killed the cat" which is when you become very very curious

So
the next level is NOSY

The last level is : SPY
which is more like a 007 role. You do it as a part of your obsession or for a living. Can you imagine?

In this case, thanks to the spying employer, facebook is the champion of spies even though the purpose of facebook is not for spying, still its a major tool that allowed the employer to spy (a car is simply a way to get you from point A to point B but if it was used as a murder weapon, then the car is a part of the crime)

Why do I think that those two (facebook, employer) are spies?

Sadly, I am one of the people that you may know who have changed their names on facebook to make my employer's task of finding my profile a bit harder. I do not want my facebook profile to be the reason behind demotivating my future employer from hiring me. -"people weigh your words"- Unfortunetaly, from my friend's past experiences, employers often use social networking tools such as facebook as means of hiring their future candidates, but that's not always the case. I'm not being pessimistic but : when was the last time you heard that an employer hired a candidate because of the candidate's facebook profile? In fact, the opposite case is much more realistic!

I know that there are some features with-in facebook (among other social networking tools) that allows the user to set their privacy levels. Still, since facebook is public and not full proof, I'm still concerned about my employer finding my profile. As the saying suggests : "if their is a will , there is a way". If my employer wanted to find my facebook profile, they eventually will.

So, what's your take on this?


Let me know

Yooousif

http://itec335.blogspot.com/

The picture is from www.facebookspy.net

The video is from YouTube

How risky is too risky?

"NO RISK NO GAIN"

This was one of the first sentences that faced me when I started my finance course at the Kogod School of Business in the American University, Washington DC.

I do not try to be optimistic or pessimistic, instead, I go after learning how to become a realist. Take both extremes (best and worst) of any situation and strive for the best case. Keep in mind, you have to know where your current position is on that scale.

To demonstrate my point, here is a live example of an extreme optimism : Remember the mortgage crises?

How do you think it all started?

I can answer that question: it all stated with the optimistic person. This person was so optimistic that he/she gave a lot of money to a lot of people with "bad credit" as loans. Bad credit means : this person has a history of not paying a loan on time or not paying at all. In this case, the loaner (optimistic person), took a big risk by lending to people with "bad credit".

Another example is one that exists every day. A gambler. Specifically, addicts. Those people have an addiction to risk. They will not stop until they lose their shirt!

The following part is a famous dialogue between a failing student and a teacher:

Teacher: Why are you failing school?

Student: I tried but did not succeed!

Teacher: Try again.

Student: I'm afraid to fail again.

Teacher: Try harder!

Finally, the student succeeded and achieved goals !

I'm not suggesting that you take risks and gamble is Las Vegas. From my experience, taking risks wisely taught me a lot of lessons that I would have not learned otherwise.

Marketers acknowledge risk takers. In fact, consumers are divided into 5 groups based on their appetite for risk. The group with the most appetite for risk are labeled as innovators. In general, I fall in that group but it all depends on the product or service that I'm interested in.
How thirsty are you for risk?

My characteristics would be: I like taking risks. I do not wait for the reviews about a product and I would like to be among the first to own that particular product.

Again, depending on the product, I could be an innovator or not. For example, I have confidence in Apple products and I trust the brand. Therefore, I would be an innovator.

Please play the following video and let me know your opinion. I look forward to reading your comment.




Thank you for taking the risk to view my post

Yooousif

first picture: http://www.penelopeironstone.com

second picture: http://wilderdom.com

Video is from YouTube

UGC , Certified by Anyone?

2004 marked my first visit to United Stated to pursue my college degree. During my first month, I was introduced to Wikipedia.

I was not aware of the fact that anyone can post/adjust information on Wikipedia, so I took all the information on this website for granted. Later on I was notified by my Professor in Georgetown University not to use Wikipedia as a source to cite from.

The reason was because Wikipedia (in my Professor's opinion), is NOT an entirely credible source. In fact, I took a course that was dedicated to "sources". From this course, I learned different techniques to define a credible source.

As for Wikipedia, I learned that there is a committee that is responsible of the credibility of the information posted website. Still, it is NOT OK. I know, it is checked but : by whom?

My intention is to seek credible information from the internet. Please please and please feel free to comment on my blog, I will appreciate your feedback .

Thank you

Wikipedia on YouTube

Image was downloaded from www.smh.com.au

US vs Machines

I'm sure that you have watched at least 1 of 3 Terminator movies starred by California's governor: Arnold Schwarzenegger.Part 4 is still in the making by Warner Bros.



What about Will Smith's movie I, Robot ?




If you haven't watched any of those movies: get a life looooserrrr!


I'm kidding...

Basically, the plot of theses movies is : one day the "rise of the machines" will take over the world and beat the humans...


Anyways, back to the point: Machines taking over the world?
My answer is : WHATTTTTT?

and

Hahhhhhha , no way .

I'm surprised that some people believe that this could be possible. By people I mean
GENIUSES
according to an article published on March 25, 2007 by NY times, a direct quote : "We probably have at least another 25 years before computers are more powerful than human brains, according to the most optimistic artificial intelligence experts".

Let me comment on this quote

• That expectation is NOT optimistic
• 25 years? I think more like another 5 generations at least for machines to become a step closer to the human mind

Going back to Machines vs Humanity, I think that the idea of it is overrated!!!

Really, just think about it for a second. NO, really just think about it!

Us humans MADE MADE MADE the machines. As humans, we cannot produce a product that is superficial than us. Why? because that's God's job, not ours.

besides, machines do not and can not and certainly will not have a sense of humorrrrrrrr
Can a machine make up a joke? NOPE

Thanks for reading and I look forward to your interactions.





The movie poster is from yahoomovies.com
The second image is from bmontana.net

Matrix for every1?!

I remember when Neo had the choice between the Red/Blue pill... I also remember my first class in Itec-335 when I was asked if I would go to outer space...

The first thing that went through my mind was: WOW that would be so coool BUT wait!!
Will I be able to come back if I were in those shoes?

Virtual worlds are like limitless extensions of our imaginations and other people's imaginations as well. Imagine? what is real? define real? can you?

Imagine you can be anything you want and look and sound like what ever you like, how would you feel?

I know how I would: in one word : I would feel : FAKE !

This is my take on the idea even though I have NOT tried a virtual world like Second Life. I'm not being modest but I like to be my self because I'm happy with what I got and because I need to make the best of it.

Going back to Second Life from a business prospective, absolutely promising. In my opinion, this is innovation. Brands and branding and more brand recognition.... I think that this is the main point !! more business ---> more $$$$$$$

Another benifit....what do you think?

My Business Graduation Message

"Location, Location AND Location" these are the very first 3 rules that any real estate student learns in business schools.

Well, my punch line sounds more like: "Network, Network, netWORK, ...... and NETWORK". This basically is what I need to master as a skill that will never reach its full potential.

To back it up --> According to Cross and Prusak from the Harvard Business Review, research showed that people with stronger personal networks are more successful and satisfied than those with weaker networks.

Each and every person has a network of friends and people that they know. Every one is connected in one way or another. For example, you have a friend who you like to hangout with. You may also have another friend who you contact only when you need some personal advice. Maybe you have one friend who who you like to hangout with and listen to their advice at the same time. And so on ...

You see my point? Now imagine that you have many more friends or people you know whom you communicate with ---> you get a NETWORK

Now imagine that the more relationships you have and the stronger they are, the larger and stronger your network will be.

ITEC-335 1st week-progress

often in the business world, we hear an echo of : "sometimes, its who you know, not what you know".

One of the most important tools leading to business success is connections. As demonstrated in the academic curriculum at the American University in Washington DC which is led by bright individuals such as Professor Melander, Social Networking is a course that often runs out of space before classes start.

Students like my self, are realizing how important it is to stay in touch with one another and how fast and easy it has become to communicate, thanks to technology and social networking.


“On my honor, all posts on this blog are my own”