Long Tail

1) An example of a long tail business would be like a business that sells very old classic car parts. The parts would not be sold in a normal parts store because the vehicles are too old and too rare. For example, 1954 Chevy Corvette car parts would be very tough to sell in a normal car parts store. They would need to be sold online, along with other classic vehicles.

2) I would consider my self a bargain internet user. I will search online until I find the deal that I want. I have done this many times with airline tickets, vehicles, motorcycles, parts, guitars, and many other things. Just about everything that I search to buy I first look online for a bargain.

Protect Your Privacy

So it really bothers me how little concern people have with the privacy of their personal information. Though having personalized web browsers and stored information is convenient it is truly a dangerous game to play. At what cost do we freely hand over the keys to our lives. The faceless corporations that save and use our information for financial gain risk our privacy. And often websites demand information given before use. I don’t see why quality of service can be given without the use of my personal information. I fear even that I too have been too lax when it comes to these observations. Entering card numbers into pay pal, answering surveys, clicking remember me out of laziness. Has our society turned to a point that we willing offer those keys without thinking? It is scary to think that almost anything can be done online. My god we can grocery shop, order take out, pay bills, watch movies and or even get a college degree while sitting on the couch. Where does this information go? Who actually sees it? Who do they actually share it with? These are the questions that we need to ask. Specifics need to be answered. And by answered I don’t mean a ten page fine print explanation that I must click agree to continue. Tell me flat out who, what, when, where and why. Every day we willing give away our freedoms one click at a time. It is time to take charge of your information and actually care where it is all going.

New Technology

http://www.sas.com/en_us/insights/big-data/internet-of-things.html

The reason I decided to put this article up about the Internet of Things is that the world is on the verge of a vast technological change. Data is the future of information flow. This article talks about how the world will soon link everything together through the internet. Such things as simple as how much trash is in you trash can will automatically send data to the trash pickup company to come and get the trash can. Or how many toilet paper rolls are left in your cabinet. If it is low it will send this data to the store to send you new toilet paper. I feel that with this change already starting to work its way into our businesses it is only fair to learn about the value of what this data linkage can do for our future.

Information and Networks

The network law that I agree with the most is Sarnoff's Law. This law proposes that value is determined through the amount of listeners and or viewers. One might argue that not all people enjoy everything that they see and or hear yet to me both good and bad attention is positive when it comes to media value. Not only does this expose people to numerous advertisements it also spreads like wildfire. Whether liked or not liked people talk, people share and people make other people want to check something out. Once that person spreads his or her opinion it invokes curiosity thus causing others to view the program. These overall numbers of views to me are what drive the industry. With views comes advertising money, with advertising money comes more programs. Its a cycle that is gaged by those overall view numbers, not the quality.  And that in itself is value.

 Even though I support Snarnoff's Law I feel that in the future the overall spread of information and value will be gaged through testimonials. I think about how social media runs today and how people value what others say about a program, no matter the medium. Whether it be the new movie coming out or the new video camera in the market opinions matter. This being said, testimonials will rule how people get there information 5 years from now. It has already started. Look at ebay or amazon or even 5 star  ranked movies on Netflix. How your peers view something and what the overall social consensus on a topic is or is not will be the new way of getting information. Though peoples overall opinion will stand on how they feel about a product or service, opinion based testimonials will continue to grow as an influential medium for information flow.

Thoughts on "Why We Blog"

Summary of "Why We Blog":

So the meat and potatoes of this article was that Blogging is a great outlet for many different thoughts, feelings, and or discussions. It talks about how Blogging is somewhat of a Democratic way of expression. Varies types of people from all walks of life use blogging as a way to get what is in their heads out into the world. This is not to say that all bloggers pursue feedback. Many of them just simply use it as a way to get it all out. This medium provides an easy way to get their opinions out into the world without being too intrusive. Readers can either read it or not. It is not like sending an email to someone. This holds a feeling of obligation to read. With blogging people have a choice to engage or not. Blogging can be cathartic, offer community, be a muse to others or just simply offer opinions on issues. Though it is some peoples opinion that blogging offers limited interactivity, I tend to disagree.

In all, I feel that it offers a great way for people to interact and share ideas all around the world. This medium is a great way to tell the world what you truly think about absolutely anything you want. You can talk about politics, or car reviews or pop culture or whatever. And to me that is the great thing about blogging. You can say what you want and if people don't what you say then they don't have to keep reading.

My First Blog