Here is my Google site about Web 2.0 Technologies!
Check it out!
https://sites.google.com/site/web20michaelharris/
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Alibaba.com
YouTube Video -- Blue Rock BBQ
The YouTube video on the front page is basically an informative / promotional video for Alibaba. Rather than just giving facts however, the video gives you a view on how Alibaba actually helped a couple successfully start their own business, Blue Rock BBQ. Alibaba helped Blue Rock BBQ get started by offering successful ways to market the company's brand name (i.e. loyalty cards, gift cards, and t-shirts). Alibaba also offers instant messaging with suppliers through its 'Trade Manager' function. This is a tool that entrepreneurs would greatly benefit from in order to find a supplier that is going to meet their needs at a reasonable price.
Deco Breeze
A success story that I liked was the one for Deco Breeze. Basically, Deco Breeze is a company that designs fans in a variety of shapes, figures, symbols, colors, etc. The reason I liked this story so much is because I would have never come up with the idea to start a company based on creating unique fans. However, if it weren't for Alibaba, the story may not have been a success.
In 2005, Phil Weil had an idea to start a new line of fans that combined style and functionality. In order to progress with this idea, though, Phil needed to find a good manufacturer for his fans. Through Alibaba he quickly found his future business partner, Sunway Electric Manufacturing Ltd (Sunway), which was located in China. The partnership between the two has since been a great success for both companies. Phil also gave much credit to Alibaba.com when he said, "the chances of us meeting Sunway without Alibaba.com would have been like winning the lottery."
Small Biz Toolbox -- IRS on Starting a Business
This link provided me with basic tax information on starting a new business as well as properly managing it and making the right decisions. Some topics covered in this section included the type of business (business structure), business tax (income, employee, excise, etc.), a checklist for starting, as well as many others. This would be a very useful tool for anyone who is starting a business, but may not know all the rules, regulations, and laws associated with it.
The YouTube video on the front page is basically an informative / promotional video for Alibaba. Rather than just giving facts however, the video gives you a view on how Alibaba actually helped a couple successfully start their own business, Blue Rock BBQ. Alibaba helped Blue Rock BBQ get started by offering successful ways to market the company's brand name (i.e. loyalty cards, gift cards, and t-shirts). Alibaba also offers instant messaging with suppliers through its 'Trade Manager' function. This is a tool that entrepreneurs would greatly benefit from in order to find a supplier that is going to meet their needs at a reasonable price.
Deco Breeze
A success story that I liked was the one for Deco Breeze. Basically, Deco Breeze is a company that designs fans in a variety of shapes, figures, symbols, colors, etc. The reason I liked this story so much is because I would have never come up with the idea to start a company based on creating unique fans. However, if it weren't for Alibaba, the story may not have been a success.
In 2005, Phil Weil had an idea to start a new line of fans that combined style and functionality. In order to progress with this idea, though, Phil needed to find a good manufacturer for his fans. Through Alibaba he quickly found his future business partner, Sunway Electric Manufacturing Ltd (Sunway), which was located in China. The partnership between the two has since been a great success for both companies. Phil also gave much credit to Alibaba.com when he said, "the chances of us meeting Sunway without Alibaba.com would have been like winning the lottery."
Small Biz Toolbox -- IRS on Starting a Business
This link provided me with basic tax information on starting a new business as well as properly managing it and making the right decisions. Some topics covered in this section included the type of business (business structure), business tax (income, employee, excise, etc.), a checklist for starting, as well as many others. This would be a very useful tool for anyone who is starting a business, but may not know all the rules, regulations, and laws associated with it.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Web 2.0 Summit - 2010
Ron Conway, "The Crystal Ball"
Ron Conway decided to introduce us to up and coming entrepreneurs that he has invested in because he is certain that they are the future. In fact, his exact words about these people were, "the companies that were invested in, that have three entrepreneurs today, are the Twitter's, Facebook's, and Google's in four years from now". He coined these businesses, that he is certain are the future, as the "Crystal Ball". His reason for this presentation was simply to introduce us to these new businesses and, in my opinion, to promote these businesses as well. After he introduced these businesses he allowed for each one to give a 30 second pitch about their new business.
I think this sort of presentation can specifically help businesses who are trying to "one-up" their competition and get ahead of the game. This allows for current businesses to invest in these new entrepreneurs, which would be a risk, and hope that it pays off in the future. The other side of this, however, is that current business will have a new competition which apparently is well planned for the future. After seeing this presentation, it will be very interesting to see how these companies fare in the future!
Susan Wojcicki, "The Perfect Ad"
Susan informed us of valuable information about customer shopping. According to her studies, 42% of shoppers research products, online, before buying them. Also, only 3% of shoppers actually buy products online. This means that for most shoppers who buy their products in the stores, nearly half of them will do research online before actually making the purchase. Because of this information, Google has re-engineered their search engine so that shoppers can look up products and find out which stores nearby have them in stock. Their main goal here, as Susan mentions, is to merge together the online and offline stream. The reason I think this is a great idea is because I am definitely a customer who does online research before purchasing. And after I research, I usually go to a variety of websites, of the stores I think carry the product, and look up or call the company to see if it's in stock. However, with Google I would be able to save much time and find the closest store that is carrying the product I want. However, Google didn't stop there. They also made it so that shoppers can access this same information using their mobile devices and even in magazines with the "Google Ad". So, in conclusion, Google has once again showed why it is the number once search engine to use!
Ron Conway decided to introduce us to up and coming entrepreneurs that he has invested in because he is certain that they are the future. In fact, his exact words about these people were, "the companies that were invested in, that have three entrepreneurs today, are the Twitter's, Facebook's, and Google's in four years from now". He coined these businesses, that he is certain are the future, as the "Crystal Ball". His reason for this presentation was simply to introduce us to these new businesses and, in my opinion, to promote these businesses as well. After he introduced these businesses he allowed for each one to give a 30 second pitch about their new business.
I think this sort of presentation can specifically help businesses who are trying to "one-up" their competition and get ahead of the game. This allows for current businesses to invest in these new entrepreneurs, which would be a risk, and hope that it pays off in the future. The other side of this, however, is that current business will have a new competition which apparently is well planned for the future. After seeing this presentation, it will be very interesting to see how these companies fare in the future!
Susan Wojcicki, "The Perfect Ad"
Susan informed us of valuable information about customer shopping. According to her studies, 42% of shoppers research products, online, before buying them. Also, only 3% of shoppers actually buy products online. This means that for most shoppers who buy their products in the stores, nearly half of them will do research online before actually making the purchase. Because of this information, Google has re-engineered their search engine so that shoppers can look up products and find out which stores nearby have them in stock. Their main goal here, as Susan mentions, is to merge together the online and offline stream. The reason I think this is a great idea is because I am definitely a customer who does online research before purchasing. And after I research, I usually go to a variety of websites, of the stores I think carry the product, and look up or call the company to see if it's in stock. However, with Google I would be able to save much time and find the closest store that is carrying the product I want. However, Google didn't stop there. They also made it so that shoppers can access this same information using their mobile devices and even in magazines with the "Google Ad". So, in conclusion, Google has once again showed why it is the number once search engine to use!
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Microsoft Lync & Cisco Webex
Microsoft Lync is a very efficient software that will be very useful, both professionally (business use) and personally. Businesses today are continually shifting into the virtual technology with VoIP and video conferencing. Microsoft Lync is just the next step. This program will be a great utility for employees to work together and have meetings without being in the same location. Lync allows the employees to collaborate and individually edit the same project from wherever they are in the world. Lync also allows for business meetings to take place at any time, without the worry of having everyone in the same room; employees will see the same thing (presentation), at the same time, and also be able to see and converse with each other in real time. I truly believe that this tool, that Lync has created, will be a key aspect to every businesses in the near future. It will also be easier on the employees so that they don't have to schedule to be at the same place at the same time, in order to have a meeting / presentation.
However, Lync also allows for personal use! Everything said before can be used for personal use, such as in school for a group project, but it also allows for instant messaging and video chat. This could be used between a two friends, or a group of friends, for any reason and also for family members to keep in touch.
Cisco Webex is a similar software to Microsoft Lync. However, I consider this software to be more associated with business use. Like Lync, Webex allows for employees to converse and see the same thing without being in the same room; it seems to have all the same business features that Lync has. During a presentation using Webex, you can, at any time, give control to another member in the presentation. I think this is a great feature because in presentations / meetings you usually don't just listen to the ideas of one person. This allows for everyone to give their input and show their own ideas. This program doesn't, however, seem to have as many personal uses as does Lync. Cisco Webex seems to be mainly focusing on business use and because of that I think it will probably be the better tool to use in a business. But, I don't think it would be fair to judge until I have had experience using both of them!
However, Lync also allows for personal use! Everything said before can be used for personal use, such as in school for a group project, but it also allows for instant messaging and video chat. This could be used between a two friends, or a group of friends, for any reason and also for family members to keep in touch.
Cisco Webex is a similar software to Microsoft Lync. However, I consider this software to be more associated with business use. Like Lync, Webex allows for employees to converse and see the same thing without being in the same room; it seems to have all the same business features that Lync has. During a presentation using Webex, you can, at any time, give control to another member in the presentation. I think this is a great feature because in presentations / meetings you usually don't just listen to the ideas of one person. This allows for everyone to give their input and show their own ideas. This program doesn't, however, seem to have as many personal uses as does Lync. Cisco Webex seems to be mainly focusing on business use and because of that I think it will probably be the better tool to use in a business. But, I don't think it would be fair to judge until I have had experience using both of them!
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Assignment 3
My image was created in the shape of an airplane. Reason I chose this image is to because I enjoy traveling and plan on doing a lot of traveling when I get older. The individual words in the airplane represent all of my interests; including movies, music, sports, places, and other interests.
So how can blogs, wikis, and tools like tagxedo benefit a business? The answer could probably vary but I personally think that these are good tools for businesses to get their name out and get "followers." To get "followers," however, these sites should probably be used more on giving background information on the business and telling the people the true values and beliefs of the business. Then if the people like what they see and agree with the business, maybe they will begin "following" the business and perhaps become a customer as well. But once the business has followers, they can start to do a little more promoting. They could continually update the "followers" on new information or products related to the business. The business could also even post pictures of any new products for the customer to see, or even videos of the products in use. And one other thing they could do, that I think customers would really like, is communicate back and forth with customers. For example, if someone posts a question on one of the business products, the business should actually take time to answer. I think this would show the customers that the business is actually loyal to them and is actually listening to their concerns. To be honest, the uses of these sites might be endless for business, but it's for sure that business could benefit from them!
Thursday, January 13, 2011
About Me
Hello!
My name is Michael Harris. I'm a senior here at Appalachian State and will be graduating in May 2011. I'm majoring in Computer Information Systems (CIS) and plan on doing an internship after graduating. My main interests are sports (mainly soccer, football, basketball) and anything outdoors (hiking, fishing, snowboarding, anything). My favorite sport though is soccer and I'm a huge fan of Manchester United!
My name is Michael Harris. I'm a senior here at Appalachian State and will be graduating in May 2011. I'm majoring in Computer Information Systems (CIS) and plan on doing an internship after graduating. My main interests are sports (mainly soccer, football, basketball) and anything outdoors (hiking, fishing, snowboarding, anything). My favorite sport though is soccer and I'm a huge fan of Manchester United!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)