Social Media Project (Clear)

I have to say that group work is not my favorite type of project, but I got lucky with the group I was with. They handled the situation professionally and got their parts submitted in a timely manner.

I enjoyed this project because I really enjoyed looking at the social media platforms in an in-depth way to see how a company like Chick-Fil-A used just about everyone of them in a competitive advantage.  Chick-Fil-A is a very popular restaurant that has an amazing brand image and awareness within the United States.  They had some issues a few years ago about gay rights, but used social media to reach their audience quickly to explain their situation.  They stated that they are a Christian company based on Christian values and when they donated to the so-called "hate group" they illustrated that they had no issues with who eats at Chick-Fil-A, they just liked what that organization was pushing.  They had no alliance with the organization and just supplied food for them.  I thought that they used their social media outlets very effectively and to this day, after researching with my group, I recognized why Chick-Fil-A has such a positive image in today's market.

It's pretty amazing how communicating through social media can make things a lot quicker.  I never met the people who I worked with personally, but we connected through those interfaces to get our point across about Chick-Fil-A.

We split the research rather evenly.  I took care of the Facebook and Twitter pages which were both very visual and were maintained by someone with Chick-Fil-A.  Those individuals would tweet back to customers and fans of the brand and even negative posts would be taken into consideration and the employees of the company were very good in catering to those individuals personally.  The sites also gave tons of information about the menu, showed where you can download coupons and made the brand image of Chick-Fil-A a more personal experience.  When individuals have the chance to get connected with a large company on an intimate level, it really improves the brand's image and market to a global audience.

Below are two snapshots of the company's Twitter and Facebook.  It's pretty amazing how they have come so far.

The Cloud: Blog 7 (Clear)

I have to say it's rather fascinating how computing has evolved in the past 40 years.  How did we go from a computer taking up an entire room, to being able to communicate and access information in our hands.  I found this week's set of lectures to be extremely entertaining and awarding.  I think that cloud computing is the best way to improve the economy.  Not only can small businesses begin competing with larger corporations, it just simply puts a little more power into the people of youth.

Google and Gmail has been a substantial part of my learning and managing time.  Without the use of "Google Docs" I would have to constantly go back to writing e-mails with group members and edit large research reports.  With the development of cloud computing, I can now do this important communication at my own time, allowing me more time to accomplish other tasks.

I think it's really important that we the people of today's society, not forget to communicate face-to-face, but it's also important to utilize today's technology to the fullest extent.  My favorite part of this weeks lectures was when we focused on Platforms as a service, Desktops as a service, and Software as a service.  I think it's important that you notice that Saas is beneficial because you can everything at your fingertips with a monthly purchase.  One of the most annoying things about previous software, in my opinion, were the constant updates.  I hated having to get expansion packs or buy another $50 software, for a simple update.  I also liked how every 10 years, we have a substantial increase in computer technology.  As Professor Olson stated in his lecture, every 10 years there has been a computing cycle that requires a new platform.


o   1960’s--- mainframe computing
o   1970’s---mini computing
o   1980’s—client/server computing
o   1990’s—Desktop Cloud computing
o   2000’s—mobile cloud computing
o   2010’s—social revolution…based on the cloud! (Post PC Era)


I also really enjoyed how small 27-person companies are making a difference in the way they compete in the market by using cloud-based technology.  I really want to explore more options in improving a companies branding and I think that having great, easy-to-use software for you customers is extremely beneficial, considering most people in today's society are beginning to migrate to that type of communication and interface.  


This was also a really cool cloud-based software that I found interesting and made me understand cloud computing a little better.  Let me know what you think!