Blog Archives - Page 3 of 6

Are You Using Wooeb’s Interactive Search Engine Platform?

If you haven’t heard of Wooeb.com yet, you need to check out their site. Wooeb is an interactive search engine platform. Rather than having to wait for search engines to pick up your information, they put it all together in one place.

They did a nice job with with creating ads and banners. This is an example of an ad they can create for you on their site. You can also click on it to find out more about my book: How to Reinvent Your Career.

They also offer press releases that you can incorporate on your wooeb site. To see my site, go to: http://wooeb.com/drdianehamilton

Check out an article about the Top 5 Reasons Wooeb Boosts Your Online Presence by clicking here. In that article they list the following benefits of using Wooeb:

1. Everything is in one place

2. You own your URL

3. It is accessible to everyone

4. Wooeb indexes search engines

5. Messages boards are included to discuss topics with others

Introverts and Extroverts: Which Type Prefers Social Networking?

I recently had a discussion in one of the courses I teach about whether introverts or extroverts were more likely to be on the social web. Some students made a good argument for why there may be more introverts on social networking sites. Introverts tend to like to take their time to think about what they want to say before they say it. Therefore, the online environment is a good place for them to be able to type what they want to say at their own speed. Other students made a good argument for why there may be more extroverts on social sites. Extroverts like a lot of discussion and interaction with others and therefore it makes sense that they’d be out there conversing, even if it was in written form.

I did a little research and found an interesting study by Maggie Morrison and Sally McMillan from the University of Tennessee. A total of 351 persons participated in this study examining the behavior and characteristics of consumers in user generated content. Their findings indicated that most respondents read or lurk more often than they post. They also found that men were likely to score high on the posting factor and women were more likely to score high on use of social networking sites.

As far as the whether there were more introverts or extroverts, the authors found that participants who are more likely to lurk and post at social networking sites are also more likely to score high on the extraversion scale.

Check out a blog by abisignorelli.com where the author speculated that there were more introverts by clicking here. The author put together a quick one question survey to gather some data. Click here for that survey. At the time of this writing, the results from that survey indicated 57% were introverts and 43% were extroverts.

Blog.thick.com tended to agree that more introverts were on the web. In that article, the author states that the internet has helped the introvert come out of their shell. To see the article, click here.

Twitterwatchdog.com also agrees that there are more introverts socializing on the Internet, stating that Twitter is a safe haven for shy people and introverts. Check out their blog by clicking here.

Mashable.com noted in one of their articles that Guy Kawasaki, the 15th most influential Twitter user and one of the most recognizable names in social media, is a self-professed introvert. Click here to go to the Mashable site to answer their survey to answer whether you are an introvert or an extrovert.

So what do you think? Are there more introverts or extroverts out there social networking? The University of Tennessee study showed more extroverts and the informal surveys showed more introverts. In our book, The Young Adult’s Guide to Understanding Personalities, Toni Rothpletz and I write about the differences between introverts and extroverts. We are both extroverts and find the differences between the two groups fascinating. If you are interested in learning more about Myers-Briggs’ and their definition of the difference between introverts and extroverts, click here.

In our book we list several examples of each type of Myers-Briggs personality type.

Here is a list of some famous extroverts that we write about in our book:

Tom Hanks
David Spade
Oprah
President Obama
Johnny Depp
Michael Jordan
Matthew McConaughey
Ben Affleck
Robin Williams
Robert Downing Jr.
Sandra Bullock

Here is a list of some famous introverts:

Tiger Woods
Albert Einstein
Sir Isaac Newton
Meryl Streep
Julia Roberts
John F. Kennedy, Jr.
William Shakespeare
Michael Jackson
Marilyn Monroe

If you are interested in seeing more . . .you can check out the lists of celebrity examples in our book which will be published soon. I will keep you updated.

Online Schools Using Skype, Tinychat, Video Conferencing, Wiki and Other Technologies

Recently one of the universities where I work sent me an email stating that they require that I have a Skype account. I was curious to see if other schools were using Skype and did a little research. I found an article which I found interesting from informationtechnologyschools.com. In the article, they mention 10 ways to use Skype in the online classroom:

Videoconferencing
Tutoring
Live Lectures
Guest Lectures
Global Projects
Student Presentations
Classroom Discussions
Announcements
Oral Examinations
Virtual Field Trips

For the complete article, click here.

I can see that Skype would be extremely useful in synchronous classrooms. Click here for another article about online learning using Skype from collegefinder.org. I like that they are finding new and unusual technology uses for the classroom. Click here for an excellent article on 100 inspiring ways to use social media in the classroom from onlineuniversities.com.

I’ve seen that some schools are using Tinychat. PBworks.com claims, “Tinychat delivers dead simple video conferences without the extraneous ad-ons and inconvenience, making video conferencing an accessible, uncomplicated experience. It works on Windows, Mac and Linux; with Firefox, IE, Safari, and Chrome; and there is a version available for iPhones. You can have up to twelve people in a room with HQ video, protected by passwords and moderators, share your desktop with them, and your conferences can be recorded and embedded on your website.” – Check out this tutorial on how to use Tinychat by clicking here.

When it comes to video conferencing, though, one of the advantages I see for online learning is that it can be completed in asynchronous format. In other words, users can log on at any time of the day and not at a specific time. As an instructor, I find this to be extremely helpful to me. I do my best thinking at around 5:00 am and I doubt my students would want to log on for a lecture at that time.

Asynchronous video is still an excellent option for online courses. It may not have the interactive abilities that programs like Skype have, but it may also avoid some of the confusion and problems that come with understanding the technology as well. There is also the blended learning option that some schools embrace. Some schools have parts of the classes offered synchronously and parts asynchronously.

There are tools for both types of learning. There are advantages and disadvantages with both. Chronical.com stated the following about synchronous online tools, “If using the “same time, different place” model of communication, some common barriers to implementation of synchronous tools are cost and bandwidth—not only cost and bandwidth on your end, as the individual teacher or the institution, but also to the students. This is especially true with conferencing systems; video/web conferencing requires equipment to deliver but also to receive. Although the benefits of real-time video conferencing are clear—it’s as near to a physical classroom environment as you can get—the software, hardware, and bandwidth necessary on both sides can be more cost-prohibitive than actually physically attending a class.”

That same article addressed asynchronous online tools, giving the following examples of technology that can be used in this asynchronous online setting:

Discussion boards: whether integrated into your online learning environment or not (such as Google Groups), well-managed discussion boards can produce incredibly rich conversations about topics at hand.
Blogs: my personal favorite, as not only are the students discussing with one another (and the instructor), but they’re learning something about writing for a wider audience whomay or may not be listening in. The open nature of blogs also allows for communication between students in other classes at other institutions who are studying the same topics. You might have to make “comments on blogs” count for a grade in order for some students to do it, but such is the nature of the beast—those students probably wouldn’t talk in class, either.
Social Networking Site: Facebook and Twitter can play important roles in your asynchronous communications strategy. Facebook pages for a class can be the destination for up-to-date information about the course, without your students having to friend you (or even one another). Twitter, and Twitter lists, can be useful sites of asynchronous discussion, although not in the threaded format that one is used to seeing in a discussion board setting.
E-mail/Listservs: Some people consider mailing lists to be quaint relics of a previous technological age, but it’s hard to argue with the fact that they still work: an e-mail based discussion list does afford one the ability to carry on threaded discussions in a private environment, yet outside the confines of a managed system (for discussion boards). In fact Google Groups (referenced above) is a threaded discussion board that can also take place via e-mail, putting a different twist on the typical concept of the listserv.

I personally often use my blog in my online classrooms. I teach many courses where students are researching specific topics such as entrepreneurship, leadership, marketing, etc. By adding links to my blog where I have written about many of these topics, it helps add content to the discussions. I have not had students create their own blog as the above author mentions, although I like the idea, but I have taught classes using a wiki.

For those of you not familiar with what a wiki is, think of Wikipedia. That is the ultimate wiki where information can be added to a site by multiple sources. When classes are taught on a wiki, it is a bit more complicated as students need to write some code-like information. It worked out well in the school where I taught it, because it was a technology-based school where students had more technology training. One advantage of a wiki is for group-based projects. In the course I taught, students were able to work together on one big project where they could all enter information onto the wiki. The problem with any group project, wiki-based or not, is that you still have those students who do not participate as much as others.

As with any technology, there will always be some obstacles to overcome. However, I embrace technology and look forward to the next new product that helps increase student involvement and retention. For more information about online learning, check out my book: The Online Student User’s Manual.

What is Visible Measures? Measuring the Popularity of Videos on the Web

I teach several different marketing and advertising college courses. It can be a challenge to keep up with all of the different social media advertising trends. Companies want to be able to know that their message is being seen. One way to find out if your message is being picked up is through a company called Visible Measures. Visible Measures is the independent third-party measurement firm for Internet video publishers, advertisers, and viral marketers. According to Forbes , “Visible Measures is a New York firm that counts the popularity of videos on the growing list of sites hosting them, of which YouTube continues to be the most important.”

On their site you can sign up to receive free public beta for trends and track the hottest viral videos on the web. Once you sign up, you can chose a category such as media, dining, etc. You can also refine your search by agency, brand and even get specific about things like humor, reality, spoof, etc. It will then generate a list of the top videos based on your parameters based on the dates your select. I picked media for the week of September 6 and one of the top videos it picked up was YouTube Turns Five . . .see below.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tlmho7SY-ic&fs=1&hl=en_US]

Do you want to know the top 10 ad campaigns, top 10 film trailers, top 10 webisodes or those in 100 million view club? They have the charts. They have a paid program you can sign up for to find out even more detailed information. Are you interested in following the Old Spice campaign? You can type in Old Spice into their search bar and it will pull up a list of their videos, show their rank and their reach.

To keep up with what Visible Measures has to offer, you can sign up for their blog by clicking here.