I don't want to buy a car because I want the new iPhone........ Really???

This week, we will take a look at an article that blames the internet, social networks and high tech gadget as one of the reason for auto sales declines for the past few years. But is this really true? or is the car industry looking to find an new victim to blame because they are not meeting their goals?

In my opinion I do not see  the internet or social media networks as main factor of the car sales decline. The economy in the past years is a big factor. Times has changed and people has changed as well. It really all depend on your own particular situation. For some it is not so easy nowadays to get a car due to economic issues. The current economic situation is not the best for many in this country and it is not same as years before that parents were able to get cars for their teenager children as graduation gifts or maybe they were able to give you their old cars because they were getting a new one. Not anymore, some parents might be struggling to pay their own car installments or maybe they cannot afford to keep their old car. They need to sell it to cover the costs of buying a new one. Also for many teenagers the cost of having a car nowadays is not meeting their budget. Gas prices are going up every month, tolls are everywhere and insurance cost is on the roof and for under 25 driver is even more expensive. So how they expect that generation Y get the same need of buying a car as years ago? Because of all this economy issues, car buyers are opting for either buy a fuel efficient car which it will save money for them and they are also way less expensive or they also keep their cars for more years before taking the decision  of buying my new one (My case, I have a few more months to pay off my car and I am honestly on the debate of keeping it and enjoy not having to make car payments or getting a new one).


I think the internet and social media sites such as Facebook is really connecting people with businesses in another way. If I decide to buy a new car, I can always go online and check the models I am interested on. Also car dealerships now have great online deals that I can take "advantage" on. (That's is really the catch for you to go to their dealers lots) Anyway I can have a better idea of the prices in the market and get a better perception of what I am looking for and then take my final decision. Also if you you need a used car, you can easily go to autotrader.com and get exactly what you need in just one site. Also car lovers can get the latest updates on their favorite brands on facebook.com/lexus or facebook.com/toyota. It all depends on how companies can use the internet for their advantage.

Too Busy for those long lines!!!

In this current online era, where some people do everything online it is not unusual that government agencies are also expanding their services to the online world. Most of us use the internet everyday, for some we spend hours everyday behind a computer whether it is at home, work or school, for many of us computers and the world wide web make our life easier.  There is no needs to spend half a day going the driver licence office to get another card just because we moved and we need to change our address. It took me less than five minutes last time I did it. I had to renew my vehicle registration last month. I went online for five minutes pay the fees and in less than 5 days I had my new registration on the mail. Thank god I avoided that tedious line at the registration office. However, we can always say that all these new online methods have their pros and cons and few of those cons were addressed at Mr. Miyasaki post early this week. Some can say that they are concerned about their privacy of the content exposed on the web or also they might be concerned about the way this information about us is stored electronically or may be that we are losing that human touch with online transactions.

For me the key point here is the benefit to provide options for consumers. It is a fact that nowadays online services is not for everybody. Let's say there is still old school people out there that prefer to do their stuff face to face. But there is also people that they are too busy for those long lines at government agencies. So the government has seen this need and is providing options for different types of people and they can choose which one accommodates better their needs and way of life. There is always risks when we talk about keeping record of our personal information. As there is concerns about our information been exposed on the web, there is also concerns if our info is process on paper. There is alway that risk that our info will be exposed. Its can be misplaced and ended in the wrong hands. Also many companies anyway store your information in an computer database when you go to their offices. That person behind the window is inputting all your information in a computer right?? So what's the difference? Your information is still been processed and stored electronically. Luckily for everybody, as technology evolves many improvements are made to protect our privacy and the way this information is stored. Also we have the concern about the lack of human interaction, and to a certain point is true, no offense to government workers but some of them when they are behind those windows assisting you don't have the best attitude. I have been in many situation where they lack of patience probably because they do what they do every day and hundreds of times, but every person is different and for that I rather deal with a computer at home.

I don't think we can have a 100% automated government (at least for now) because not everything can be taken care of on a web site at the moment. There are always certain procedures that require additional work or verification that requires that face to face interaction. But why not in the future instead of going to the office, we can go online and video conference with a representative at the agency without the need of doing those long lines??? why not ?? It is not a bad idea huh?

Online Business Models

In this current high tech era, we have seen many companies that are turning to the online business to expand their companies. Many big companies such as Best Buy, Tiger Direct, have a solid ground with their own websites that represent a great source of revenue for them. We also have seen several businesses that their entire operations are online such as amazon.com, dell.com, eBay.com and they are very successful at what they do. This has brought a numerous amount of websites that had tried to hit the pot and become one of this multi million e-companies. Many have failed doing so, and what is it that they are missing to get success???

The main key of getting success for this companies are their business models. In the recent blog from professor Miyasaki, he show us a very interesting article that talks about proposed way to examine a good business model according to professors Amit and Zott called eValue framework. The four key value drivers, in their view, are efficiency, complementarities, lock-in and novelty.    


For me the lock in factor is very important. It is imperative that businesses get their customers engaged on coming back and continue doing business with them. A way to have their customer happy is by having great customer service. With companies such as eBay, people as seller or buyers have the guarantee that they will have a reliable transaction due to the support that eBay gives you for any discrepancy that might arise. I am regular eBay user. I constantly buying and selling stuff on their website and so far in more than 5 years I have no complaints about them. When it has been required, I have contacted them and they have result any issues at the best convenient way for both parties. And it is this reliability on their transaction that make me be a regular user and constantly go to their website when I looking to get anything online.


In the same way many online companies have created this safe environment due to his excellent customer service that made them successful on what they do and made customer to rely and prefer them whenever you are going to do online transactions. 
In addition with their excellent customer service, eBay business model engaged a solid strategy which involves the automation of traditional methods of selling goods, reliability for their clients, customer friendly interaction, global accessibility, diversification, and great advertising.


Now the really important task for current companies is the ability to evolve constantly and adapt their current business models to new technologies creating a better experience for their customer. In a way that the can be innovative, friendly users and reliable.


So what is your is business model??

Would you notice it?

As many of you might have noticed, every time we access a website you get all type of ads around the page. Just in case you you have not noticed it just try out searching something on Google and you will get several ads related to you search word on the right of your screen. Let's say one day you access Ticket-Master website to look for some tickets, do not get surprise if a couple of weeks later you gets ads around the web offering tickets for concerts or sports events. 
How does this happen??? Well, everything we do on the web it gets tracked and analyze by advertising software that will generate ads according to you online behavior. This is what is called "Behavioral advertising." But, have you ever given permission for your information to get tracked?



If you would like to have an option to not get this kind of advertising, now you can.  A group of and marketing associations had joined to develop a project which will facilitate web users to control and manage the type of advertising that they are been exposed on the internet.

So How this is going to work?

Basically the companies that will participate on this project will add an icon (Advertising Option Icon) that once you click on it will give you a brief description of why this ad is been displayed and also will give you the option to opt out if desired.


I think this is great idea been developed in pro of user's privacy, which will give us the liberty of choosing the advertising that we really want to be exposed to. Nowadays the internet has become a primary key for advertiser and it has been take to a point that a lot of our information is been exposed to this companies without our knowledge. This is a good start for authorities to take action on this topic, but it is really important to know how effective this initiative will be. 
Knowledge is power and it is imperative for this project to know that web users get educated about the options that they have. There's is a lot people that surf the internet everyday and they are not even aware of all the information that is been giving out. Also I was wonder if once you click on the opt out option, will this ad stop immediately? I have click millions of times on the opt out option for Spam email and I do not see any difference on the amount spam I get on my email. what about the do not call list? I have my home number listed on and I still receive some every time and then. So my big concern will be on the actual effectiveness of the icon and the way companies will be enforced to follow the new standards for advertising.


So would you notice the icon and take the time to opt out??? or Would you ignore it just because you don't think will stop the ads???? time will tell us if this really work....


Want to know more about behavioral advertising? This web site will help....

Sources:

E-Marketing for Sensible Folk

About ads

Better advertising
New York Times

Internet Eyes

This week we have a company in the UK that monitors CCTV cameras, you might be wondering.. what's is out of the ordinary about a company that does this? This is very common nowadays and England is well known about the usage of surveillance cameras. Well, they are actually using regular internet users to watch the videos and report any suspicious activity they might catch from them.

So how Internet Eyes works?


As of right now, people in the UK and US can subscribe to the web site and been able to be a watcher. The viewers get to see four live video feeds at the same time, and in the event of catching any particular behavior that might lead to a crime they will click on the alert icon which will send an automatically text message and an email to the business which will evaluate if they take action.


Privacy Issues?

Of course this new type of surveillance has brought a lot of controversy, mostly because of all the privacy issues that they are exposed. The majority of the concerns point out to the ability of control who are the viewers and the lack of control on the storage of this videos. There are many programs out there that might let you keep records of those videos or a viewer can simply point a video camera towards the monitors and record the videos. On their defense, Internet Eyes states that people will not have the choice to pick what to watch, they will not know the location of the business been watched and also they will be restricted from watching video feeds from their local area.

There's a lot to talk about this topic and in the end. It will be good for some people and bad for others. They will be people that agree on the fact that security will be overcome the privacy issues objections. And I guess will be a matter of time to realize the effectiveness of this system. It might be very useful for small businesses, not that productive for big retail chains. A similar idea was taken in place a couple years ago when the Texas Virtual Border  was implemented, which basically consist of allowing people to watch through a web site live video of the US Texas border in order to report any suspicious activity nearby the border. But a year later the project was declared ineffective mostly because of the multiple reports such as "Cow or deer walked by" or "armadillo by the water.” Very suspicious activity huh?


  Besides of the possible effectiveness of this system, it is obviously that will open the door to many likewise technology in pro of "our security".   What about if the system get integrated a database with real criminal faces on which the system is able to recognize the suspect via facial recognition software and alert the business of a possible threat? Interesting huh? Lets see what coming in the future...



REFERENCED WEBSITES
The Internet is watching you
Internet Eyes Citizen Spy Game

Off the mark

The power of Social Media

        

The power of Social Media 

                   

This week, we have an interesting story that involves Harry Winsor, an 8 year old kid who sent a letter to Boeing headquarters with a suggestion of an airplane design. He drew a sketch of his idea in crayon and decided to dream of Boeing considering his design for the future. Surprisingly for his father, an ad agency CEO, the company sent a cold form response letter. Apparently Boeing did not realized that the source of the suggestion was only an 8 year old boy (I guess they received a bunch of designs from grown up people made in crayon). For obvious reasons Harry's father was not glad with the response and decided to let the world know about it through his online blog and twitter, creating a big controversy and in consequence the appropriate apology and reaction from Boeing.

Nowadays, we all know the power that the internet has in our society. Social networks and personal blogs are a very powerful weapon to spread our ideas worldwide. The information that is published every day through the web is able to transcend to the extent of affecting tremendously the image of a regular person, celebrity, school, small business or a multi-billionaire corporation. Boeing immediately reacted to the numerous comments from the followers of the advertiser's blog. They sent another letter, this time keeping in mind that the response was for a kid, and they also invited all Harry's family to a tour inside Boeing premises.

There is no doubt that the letter they sent to Harry was not appropriate. This got me thinking... Did they really read the content of the letter? Do they automatically send a form response letter despite of the source? I think the main mistake of Boeing here is that they were too systematic about sending the response letter for legal purposes rather than caring for their fans or followers who are the people that would take the time to send a proposal for the good of their business. This small incident shows the big lesson they got from it. They learned that the voice of a single person can put them on the spot with a single blog posting. That is why many big corporations now have their eyes on what is said about them on the internet, they are very careful of anything that can be harmful for their image. They have Facebook, Twitter or their own company forums in order for them to be on top of what their customers think of them.


Another thing that concern me is... what do you think it would have happened if the kid's father had not been an ad agency CEO? He probably has a good amount of followers of his blog considering he is in the advertisement business. Do you think it would have had the same impact if a regular father would have posted this on his Facebook website? I think social networks are very powerful, but also the way the information is exposed  in order to reach a big audience is a factor that plays a big part in the way online information can be effective. A simple Facebook post from a regular father could have got a few friends responses reproaching Boeing actions not causing a "big deal" about the letter response. On the other hand, the story could have been reposted by one of the blogger's friends reaching thousands of people and creating the same effect.

Also this is not the first time this has happened. Apple, another big corporation was put on the spot with a harsh response of cease and desist from their legal department to child letter around 2 years ago creating a similar controversy when the story reached the news.
Apple story

Sources
Social Media Round 1: Harry vs. Boeing

Boeing hosts 8-year-old aviation fan it had snubbed