Coffee Anyone?

I was watching Modern Family, ABC.com the other day and the commercial that was playing between sections was a Starbucks commercial. The commercial really caught my eye and I wondered to myself what else Starbucks does to promote itself. First I just started to YouTube other Starbucks commercials then I decided to log onto their web-site and that's when I found that they have a section on their homepage dedicated to their on-line community. Their on-line community is based on six different things: Twitter , Facebook , YouTube , My Starbucks Idea , Starbucks V2V , and Flickr .Everyone knows and can find them on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, and that's why I want to talk about the other three on-line sites that Starbucks has to help promote and get their customers involved.

One of the communities is the My Starbucks Idea, and on the page you can submit any idea you have for Starbucks. You can also comment on others ideas and join a discussion. It also shows ideas that are in the works, under review, reviewed, and launched. Another feature I found cool is it sorts the ideas into different categories and you can see how many have been submitted. It's cool to think that people like you and me are responsible for some of the things that Starbucks is doing.

Another community is Starbucks V2V, and this is a database that can connect your actions that you display in the community to others and get them involved in them too. For example, I am a Chi Omega and our philanthropy is Make-A-Wish Foundation, so if I wanted to post something about what I was doing in the community for Make-A-Wish then others could see it and maybe join my action to get involved. This site is a great way to get the community linked together and involved. I also saw a commercial for Starbucks that says if you do 5 community service hours then you would get a free tall coffee. It shows that Starbucks really is community oriented and it shows that they care about the people.

The last community is Flickr, and flickr is a site where people can upload there favorite Starbucks photos. You can also discuss what the photo is showing and your experience you had while at Starbucks. This site is free advertisement for Starbucks because the customers are doing all the work.

I believe that Starbucks has gone above and behind to promote themselves and show that their customers are what matters to them the most. What do you think? Do you think they could do anything better or do you think they have done a wonderful job?

Do you think Twitter is a Social Networking Site?

The article "Twitter is Everything but a Social Network," written by Chelsi Nakano, http://www.cmswire.com/cms/social-media/twitter-is-everything-but-a-social-network--008614.php , has made me wonder what everyone else thinks about Twitter. Do you think it is a Social Networking site or do you think it is more of an information/news site?

In her article, Nakano gives several definitions of what Social Networking is and if you read the given definitions why wouldn't you think that it is anything but a Social Networking site? But the Vice President of Twitter claims that it shouldn't be put in the same category as Facebook and other similar sites because it is an information/ news site. Even though I agree with him, I believe it is still a Social Networking site because it links people together and also it's not primarily a site that just to get news out.

The article also discuses how people don't want there Social Networking sites to be associated with the term "Social Networking." I don't understand the problem with the term because that is simply what they are. The sites are all Social, meaning they connect individuals together and they are a part of Networking, because they are sharing information with others. I don't think the term should be frowned upon but should be accepted. What else would they rather be associated with? The article suggests that they could go with other terms such as: consumption environment, one giant mashup, an information shower, or a totally gorgeous platform. None of those would be appealing and Twitter should just accept that it is a Social Networking site.

I look at Twitter as a site that is a mixture between Facebook and a blog. What is your take on Twitter? Do you think it is a Social Networking site or do you think it should be placed in a different category?

Twitter usage at the 2010 VMAs

Last night, September 12, 2010, was MTV's VMA award show. During the preshow & the award show something I found very interesting, MTV decided to use Twitter as a source of entertainment and a way to get the at home views & audience members involved with the show. To get your tweet on the show you had to you had to type in your tweet #VMA (which means its a trending topic) and you tweeted using the celebrities name or names. Then MTV would tally up who got tweeted about the most during the show. Lady Gaga held the leading spot for most of the night, with Justin Bieber close behind. I personally didn't tweet about the VMA's but I thought it was cool how MTV got their Twitter so involved. It was a lot of free publicity for Twitter and it probably brought more people to Twitter so they could vote on MTV. I'm not sure if twitter approached MTV or vice versa, but it was a good move on both parts.
Also, during the show I would frequently check my Twitter too see what the other celebrities that were sitting in the audience were saying about the show. Being the celebrity junkie that I am, I found it so interesting to see what the celebrities were saying because they were seeing things live that sometimes we didn't get to see. Twitter in my eyes is quite possibly the best social networking site for things like the VMA's because celebrities can update there status and they can do it quite frequently. It is a great key to help draw spectators like myself into the show.