Yes, we are still attempting to bring a smile to your face and brighten up your day, that is why the Thoughtpick team would like to present you with our sixth fun collection of social media and networking related cartoons, jokes and clips!
Everything Will Get Social by Geek & Poke
Facebook and God! by mecool
We hold in our hands, the most precious gift of all: Freedom. The freedom to express our art. Our love. The freedom to be who we want to be. We are not going to give that freedom away and no one shall take it from us! Diane Frolov & Andrew Schneider, Northern Exposure, Cicely, 1992
Touching quote right? I am sure most of you would agree. However, are we really holding our “precious” freedom in our hands? Are we appreciating it as we should? Are we conscious of how our actions might negatively influence the health and sanity of our freedom? I think not!
During another daily round on Mixx, I found the following cartoon:
Internet Freedom?
It made me think about the heavy weight the future of our freedom carries upon its shoulder due to this “much freer access of information”. It also reminded me of my clean up trip on Facebook a couple of days ago and of how I had to remove around 300 so-called friends and place around 200 others on my limited profile! [read full article >>]
“Television is dying,” Jay Leno…
How is social media affecting the old, traditional yet long-loved media channel: the television? Is social media slowly pushing television to its grave? How is social media able to encourage less television viewing and promote more Internet usage simultaneously?
Television dead?
Allow me to begin this post by presenting you with a short personal experience of mine which will, in turn, help you realize how I thought about this topic and where my ideas are coming from in addition to where they are headed!
I have been a mildly heavy Internet user for the past two years or so. A year ago, my interests in reading, writing and going out started changing: I started spending more time on Facebook and less time for going out and seeing friends. Since March 2009, I think I became an “Internet addict”, replacing most outings and TV time with Internet use, especially social media related sites and channels! I can recall that the last time I actually sat down and watched anything on TV was late March of this year!
With this little story in mind, let’s take a deeper look on how social media is discretely replacing the role of our beloved television!
Is it always fair to blame others for our mistakes? Since the introduction of Web 2.0, why is social media being held responsible for almost every little thing that goes wrong in our lives? To what extent do our ignorance and negligence play a role in making us targets to many different types of undesirable situations, such as theft and so on?
Precisely 2 days ago, I came across the following article entitled “Burglars using Facebook, Twitter to find targets“. My first initial reaction, naturally, was: Oh my God! Social media is seriously a threat; its usage disadvantages are way more than the benefits one reaps from using it!
It took me some time to reassess and reevaluate the topic and look at it from a different point of view. Then, a while after, I remembered a line from a previous Thoughtpick article entitled “How Safe Are You? Privacy and Risks in Social Networks”, and I quote: “Think about it this way, what would be the effect of putting a neon sign on your front lawn saying “On vacation till the 25th””!
Is Social Media Guilty as Charged?
Let’s take the following scenarios:
Is social media turning into one of the main reasons for purchasing trendy, fashionable and tech products these days? Could a brand’s wrong utilization of social media affect its image negatively? Is it fair to solely depend on web marketing and social media channels (such as Youtube, Twitter and Facebook) in order to decide whether to purchase a certain brand or its competitor?
A month or more ago, I published an article about Blackberry Storm vs. iPhone 3G. I noticed that our readers really enjoyed this type of topics. Therefore, the ThoughtPick team, and after an idea-loaded brainstorming session, decided to turn this type of posts into a series: Social Media & Web Marketing Wars!
A Little Bit of History…
Before moving on to evaluating the effectiveness of their social media utilization, it is only fair to talk a little about Dell and Toshiba’s histories.
Let’s begin with Dell. Dell was established in 1984 by Michael Dell and it employs more than 76,500 people worldwide as of 2009. “Dell grew during the 1980s and 1990s to become (for a time) the largest seller of PCs and servers. As of 2008 it held the second spot in computer-sales within the industry behind Hewlett-Packard. The company currently sells personal computers, servers, data storage devices, network switches, software, and computer peripherals”.
As for Toshiba, it was founded by the merging of two companies in 1939. Toshiba America Information Systems was created in 1989. “Toshiba is the world’s fifth largest personal computer manufacturer, after Hewlett-Packard and Dell of the U.S., Acer of Taiwan and Lenovo of China.”
As a crucial part of my research, I made an effort to cover 4 important aspects of Dell and Toshiba’s online presence, especially when it comes to social media platforms: Twitter, Youtube, Facebook and Blogs.
What does Dell conduct itself on Twitter?
Dell seems to very well understand the power that Twitter is able to equip it with and appears to be doing the most it can to reap the benefits of having a strong presence as a Twitter user:
We were in the middle of our weekly meeting, conducting the customary brainstorming exercises and, as usual, discussing ideas and topics; how good they are and which directions we can take them and so on. Beirut and Fadi seemed to have 2 completely different opinions regarding Twitter and its usefulness for businesses vs. its disadvantages. We decided to write this “duet” article and in turn listen to our readers opinions.
1,2,3…. Debate!
Let the debate begin!
While Twitter, like any other available tool at work – be it telephone, email, or even internet access – can be abused if not used the right way, it can also provide many benefits and open new opportunities to any businesses. Don’t blame the tool, blame people who abuse it.
There are many ways where Twitter can benefit your business. The following are my favorite top 5:
Dell Free Coupons Tweets
Did the good old days of meeting up to pool ideas, knowledge and thoughts in efforts to create unmatched outcomes through brainstorming sessions come to an end? How could brainstorming sessions be organized in such a way that brings about valuable results? What are the main things to be avoided during brainstorming sessions?
The following article is based on research in addition to my experience in brainstorming sessions in an effort to help you harvest the most from the group idea pooling you conduct at your company or organization.
Brainstorming is a technique for creatively solving problems and breeding fresh and unique ideas. Despite the belief that brainstorming negatively affects productivity levels and causes distractions and lack of focus, well-organized brainstorming sessions, especially for startups, have the ability to make decisions, “boost morale, enhance work enjoyment, and improving team work“.
Monday's Brainstorming Session!
Though some elements may vary depending on some internal and external factors, the main elements of a successful brainstorming session are:
