Creative Entry #6

All That Is Gold May Possibly Twitter

(Ta-weet)

Launched in 2006, Twitter is the newly popular web service that allows users to connect through short messages.

Users can sign up for accounts at Twitter to keep a record of their own ideas and actions.

Users can also choose to ‘follow’ other users and will automatically be updated whenever those individuals update their Twitter status.

Twitter makes it easy for users to follow multiple accounts by sending all updates to their personal dashboard.

Twitter can be synched up with various services such as RSS, SMS (cell phone TXTs), Facebook, and blog sites.

Twitter allows companies to release information about upcoming products or services.

People interested can follow these companies to get the latest news or release information for the products they love.

Companies can also communicate directly with their customers to ensure the highest level of quality.

Additionally, users can send messages directly to companies to let them know of any problems they see.

Let’s look at any example now.

Here is the actual dialogue between a customer and major airline, Jet Blue.

Timestamps precede the comments to let you know the rate of the conversation.

“Twitter User” has been used to replace the actual name of the customer.
____________________

Twitter User:
1:42P > NIGHTMARE FLIGHT last night. Thank you for the 5 hour delay ; the additional 1&1/2 hour delay on the tarmac; and
1:44P > & the return trip to the gate because you allowed passengers to board that weren't suppose to be on the plane & the broken TV
1:45P > NIGHTMARE ; Finally, all my love was lost for you when your WIFI absolutly suks in the T5 terminal. :(

From Jet Blue:
1:56 > We try to keep everyone comfortable, and informed during weather delays. Sorry for the inconvenience. WiFi at T5 is fixed.

Twitter User:
1:57 > NIGHTMARE "All Mighty "Sugar-Coater " of an ugly experience.
2:02 > It seriously is NOT a weather delay when you load passengers going to Ft. Lauderdale on a Phoenix flight & taxi around for an hour
2:04 > &then return 2the gate and then return to that tarmac. How could that even happen w/yr barcode system? It was an incompetence delay
2:14 > T5 WIFI was overloaded by the amount of people delayed in the terminal.. NOT broken. &never works near any of the gates. Planning?

JetBlue:
2:25 > T5 WiFi degradation was caused partially by load (681 high water mark) partially by tech issues we addressed overnight.

Twitter User:
2:36 > Thank you for your honesty in regards to the WIFI situation
____________________

As you can see, the customer was upset about the service they received from the airliner.

However, by the end of the dialogue, the customer understood the situation and thanked the airliner for their honesty.

Quick and efficient communication was made possible by Twitter.

Kudos to Jet Blue for providing speedy and useful information.

Don’t you wish all company communications could be this humanistic?

(PS: I kinda wish the message limit was more than just 140 characters per post ;-)

2008: The iTunes University Race!!

Check it out. The year is 2001. Apple launches a little application known as iTunes. Cool. Competition for Windows Media Player. iTunes offers a simple way to catalog all of your media into an easily browse-able library. More than that, iTunes doubles as a media player itself offering versatility and playback for a plethora of media formats.

Fast-forward 2 years later: 2003 sees version 4 of iTunes which adds the iTunes store. iTunes now provides an opportunity for users to purchase music and other media directly off the internet using an account through iTunes. At this point, iTunes becomes a perpetual money-making machine, allowing users to purchase whatever media they like directly from home. No CDs. No DVDs. No hassle. Plus, it’s all legit. Awesome.

Fast-forward two more years: 2005 sees version 6 of iTunes which adds podcasting. For those unfamiliar with podcasting see my last post (11/17/08). Cool? Cool.

Okay – great – so iTunes can categorize, player-ize, purchase-ize, and pod-ize your media. Can it do anything else?

You bet.

Enter 2008. The year iTunes U becomes popular. iTunes U is the expansion of iTunes to encompass the growing world of universities, colleges and higher-education institutions. iTunes U provides an opportunity for universities to share everything that’s great about them with the world. Lectures, special events, homecoming or athletic highlights – it’s whatever you can think of. If it can be filmed, recorded, produced or imagined. Anything goes. iTunes is the ultimate experience for universities to open the door to let the world outside know exactly what it’s like to be a Tiger, Bear, Saluki, Sooner, Husky, Gator- whatever.

Let’s take a quick look at the University of Washington’s podcast site:

(University of Washington iTunes U homepage - all rights reserved.)

As you can see, the University of Washington has broken their media into various categories including Husky Life, What’s Hot, It Happened at the UW and Endless Campus. Each of these categories hosts various videos about the university.

So, video on the internet- that’s nothing new, right? Well, yeah, video has been on the internet since the 1990’s. But, here’s the thing – never has it been so well organized and efficient. When you get on iTunes you can synch directly up with the University of Washington home page to find all of their media. Or if you prefer to switch it up – go check out the University of Oklahoma site.

Think about it this way – let’s assume you’re a senior in high school. For kicks, let’s say you’re attending Firestone High School in Akron, Ohio. Cool, right? Alright, let’s say you’re interested in attending the University of Denver, University of Southern California or Fort Hays State University. Okay, so plug university in each into iTunes U and you’re instantly greeted by a variety of videos highlighting student life. Awesome! But you can usually find a lot of this on the actual website. Okay. Let’s say you’re really interested in sociology. Furthermore, let’s assume each site has hosted a few videos of recent lectures by sociology professors. You can literally watch the classroom sessions and see which school best suites your interests. Classroom lectures of your major from your top choices. That’s iTunes U.

So who’s on board? A quick Google search shows that UC Berkeley, Stanford, MIT, Penn State, Texas A&M and the University of Washington, for starters. Who’s going to lead the race? Whomever updates with the most interesting and relevant information. Who’s watching? Oh, only about 50 million current iTunes users =) (http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2008/04/03itunes.html).

So let’s follow the universities trekking into new territory. Support ‘em. Show ‘em some love. Go Eagles, go Wildcats, go Cyclones, or Go Huskies- whatever- Just go iTunes U!

(Harry the Husky/Spirit is property of the University of Washington - all rights reserved)

Ridiculously (Really) Simple Syndication

(Come on guys, let's keep things simple.)

Really Simple Syndication (RSS) allows users to generate a personalized homepage which will automatically receive updates and feedback from a list of subscribed websites. Put another way, RSS allows a one-stop locale for an individuals’ favorite sites and news. For example, let’s assume that Jack (a MOSTLY hypothetical individual) really likes grunge music- like, more than any of us or anyone else you can possibly imagine. Jack can then set up a ‘reader site’ at a location such as Google and subscribe to various websites who continuously discuss music or other band-related information. By doing so, Jack no longer has to visit 20 different sites every time he gets on the internet to find out if anyone has posted new information about his early 90’s musical taste. Instead, Jack merely logs into his RSS reader site and quickly scans through all the newest updates from his favorite websites. There it is: in one site. Simple. Really simple. And it also allows Jack to spend more time doing… whatever Jack does (visiting Seattle? I don’t know. Whatever.)

Enter Public Relations. Ah yes, the art of sending mass communications to targeted audiences. Now how does RSS play into this? Figured it out yet? It’s simple, really. Really simple.

From a business aspect, let’s assume you are the manager at a major state university bookstore. Furthermore, let’s assume you would like to stay on top of the latest technological breakthroughs from companies with whom you purchase products from. Okay, so, the obvious players in this category may include Adobe, Microsoft, and Apple. Perfect. Next, let’s assume you are trying to watch the horizon for what new products are coming out and how many to order for your store. A simple (really simple) way to accomplish this task would be to set up an RSS reader site which would automatically give you updates on the progress of specific products. Therefore, it’s possible spend less time watching the various news on these products, and more time doing whatever else you need to.

But let’s say that’s “too business” in nature. Okay, fine. Then let’s assume you work at local news-station and you would like to keep up to date on the latest deals and decisions from local businesses. Simple. Set up an RSS reader to watch all the latest RSS feeds from local businesses and the deals/decisions that they come to which may affect the community. Just like that, any news worth reporting will come to your RSS reader site, automatically.

As you can see, the world of RSS is not only simple (ridiculously so) but also incredible effective at reporting the latest news relevant to your audience. Even more so, the news you deliver only needs to be sent once as RSS will automatically send it out to all audiences who have identified with your organization. So there you go, a simple solution to otherwise, not-so-simple (in the past) problem.

(Let the feeding frenzy begin!)