Peer Evaluation

Social Media as a tool in Work Communities course gives me a good opportunity to know about the several new information. Particularly, GDPR and Privacy & security were new to me. I liked the course and the content. Frankly, I don't have much time to invest more time in this course because of my personal reasons. But it gives me a good glimpse of knowledge that could be useful in my personnel and professional life while handling the social media platform and its tools and services.


Peer evaluation  

I evaluated Blog 1:
https://naiserityisyysasunnottomuustyossa.home.blog/

In my opinion overall the blog was good and informative. But in terms of assignment, I felt some of the content requirement as per assignment description were missing. Also I didn't find separate links for each assignment. So I tried to look for the content  required in the home page. It has some information related to assignment 2 and 4. But from the post I could understand that she is having good knowledge about our study content already.

I evaluated Blog 2:
https://oppija19.vuodatus.net/lue/2019/05/hi-everyone

I think this blog was very interesting and perfectly done as per the course assignment requirement.  Also I can able to see the good effort in the blog and its content. All the assignments 1- 4 are completed with clear and concise information. The blog was really user friendly in terms of the User Interface.  I was able to find  the link for all the assignments in a single click. Nice work.

Learning Assignment #4

Self Evaluation

The structure of the implementation, Is it good? 

The structure is good and consistent.

What do you think about the needs of the selected target group?

As target group is Hobby based community, The information sharing and the personal data security in the blog are important 

What about the selected tools and environments - do they fit together?

Advertising, promoting and communicating are the main necessary task in the hobby community blogs . In mean time it is also important to give special importance to the data security. For this purpose the blog is taken as a social media platform for Advertising, promoting and communicating . Hobspot and Google Analytics are taken as social media tool which helps in posting the blog post easily and also provides several Ad-ons  to maintain and manage the blog with less effort. Google analytics helps to analyze the traffic destination and campaigns. Other tool (iThemes) is used to make sure the blog and its data are secure and  have a recent backup available to restore if anything goes wrong.

How to improve the content of the implementation in the future and what new ways there is to utilize Social media:

In future, We might use some of the other available tools to enhance the customer experience while using the blog like posting some help videos through YouTube to ease the registration process in the blog, Adding pintrest photos and  twitter links about the updated and upcoming events ,calendars and freebies. 

Constraints between Social media and chosen organization:

The chances for data breach and the hacking are high in social media platform like blogs. So It needs extra effort and knowledge while selecting the tools.

Learning Assignment #3

IMPLEMENTATION PLAN

General info:

The social media implementation plan is developed for the Young girls Hobby community which deals with various games and groups. The idea is to develop a blog which is used as a platform where the current match details, registration for new courses, Rules and regulations for participants,membership details  and other communications and notifications are shared and utilized fo the wellness of the Young girls Hobby group members

Background

Social media is gradually replacing newspapers and journals. Being present on the Internet is necessary for any community or a brand to develop its business and attract new clients. The advantage of being present in social networks is reach. The online communities wants its message to reach as many people as possible. To maximize this reach, a community group/business needs to have a presence where the customers are and increasingly they are on social networking sites. Social media offers a great opportunity to unite people with similar interests. The blogs are used as a platforms dedicated to the exploration of interest. A hobby or interest-based network is a good place to keep up with current trends among fans of a particular industry or its products.

Name of the plan - The use of social media to increase the awareness about the existing Young girls Hobby community and its offering for the young girls in Tampere region.

Aim of the plan - The Aim of the plan is to increase the community members and the groups.

Target group

Currently Young girls Hobby community activities and the events are less visible to the online Young girls community. The awareness about the happenings are moderate. This makes a way for competitors. In order to grow the community and its groups, Social media platform is taken into account.

Why is the implementation important?

It is important for the growth of the community. Also It helps to communicate frequently with the community members and the other members who wish to communicate.

What problem can the implementation solve?

Blog is a great way to help market or promote community groups and its services. Through this we can promote the new groups or can use it merely for informative purposes. Also It helps the co-community members to share their own experience and to have an obscure thought or idea and then have another random person online share that same experience or mindset.

What tools are chosen?

Google Analytics and Hubspot

What social media tools and services are used and for what purpose?

Google Analytics is used to track and monitor the user behavior in the blog.Also it helps to see the information of the traffic destination and the interest of the blog visitors. Hubspot is the another tool  which provide tools for social media marketing, content management, web analytics and search engine optimization.

Why these tools and services were chosen?

Hubspot helps to improve the communication with the community members and the new customers, It also allows to post  several post  in one place. It helps to monitor the performance quick and fast. Google Analytics is FREE to use; Basic implementation is easy compared to tools from many other vendors. Powerful customizable reports; It allows us to create your own reports with an easy drag and drop interface. Handy way of tracking campaigns; It gives an option to  literally track any campaign that is driving traffic to your website. Lots of great add ons are available; Add ons make the Google Analytics implementation, configuration and monitoring a lot easier.

What type of privacy and security issues are there? How have you solved them?

There is a chance of data of the member groups registered online in the blog could fall into the wrong hands. This problems could be solved by Using domain privacy.
When registering a domain, we have plan to use the domain privacy. Instead of listing the personal address and contact information in the public database, our host’s information will be listed. And second threat is hackers and malware. To protect the site against hackers and malware, We plan to use a  smart service(iThemes) to make sure it’s secure and  have a recent backup available to restore if anything goes wrong.

Updating and maintenance

The updation and the maintenance will be planned with the organizers.  The blog and the tools which is used for this implementation will be updated based on the requirement and the notification. The implementation is open  and free to the community group members and the organizers.

Learning assignment #2

Discussion about privacy issues

Below is the link for the article which I read in blog and participated in discussion regarding

my opinion for the targeted ads, data breaches and the free stuffs while using the social media platforms.

https://medium.com/@FabioAEsteves/i-have-nothing-to-hide-why-should-i-care-about-my-privacy-f488281b8f1d

What privacy aspects should employees be aware while using social media tools?

Most of the employees view their personal social media pages as private in their work place. However, employees should be aware that any of the information posted as a public on their social media can potentially be accessed by people such as current or potential employers, co-workers, government and law enforcement agencies and others outside the employee’s trusted network. Based on the privacy settings set by the individual user, personal information and communications posted on a social media site can be read by unintended people.

Every one as an employee should aware that, subject to existing workplace policies and rules, some organizations monitor their employees’ social media. Also  their personal information can be  collected, used and disclosed by the employer. Employers should view tracking existing employees through personal or work-based social media as a collection of personal information that may be subject to applicable privacy legislation in their jurisdiction. Employees should know that social media information may seem transitory and informal,  but once personal information is posted online it gains permanence — and can be circulated and searched by others. Employees should be aware of the potential damages to individuals and the corporation through inappropriate disclosures of personal or confidential business information on social media.

What are the benefits of openness and transparency (i.e. we can identify participants in online discussions, we can see in what company people are working

When is it beneficial for the employer and employees to share personal information online?

The expectations in terms of customer in openness and transparency are high in every business environment. Social media, in particular, enables customers to place their opinions very firmly in the public  domain, and how a company responds to this feedback can make or break its reputation. Websites such as Glassdoor are just one way employee scan make their views known about the organisations they work for. Employees understand the link between their jobs and the overall vision and aims of the business. This is widely considered to be a key driver of employee engagement.  Because engaged employees are happier, more loyal and more productive – all of which is

great news for employers too. Employees feel more engaged when they feel they are working towards a common goal. These all happen by openness and transparency.

What kind of damage can occur if privacy is not taken care of?

 

The possible consequences of an improper or unintended disclosure may be: a defamation lawsuit; copyright, patent or trademark infringement claims, a privacy or human rights complaint; a workplace grievance under a collective agreement or unfair labour practice complaint; criminal charges with respect to obscene or hate materials; damage to the employer’s reputation and business interests.

Digital identity and how it is formed?

A digital identity is the body of information about an individual, organization or electronic device that exists online. Unique identifiers and use patterns make it possible to detect individuals or their devices. This information is often used by website owners and advertisers to identify and track users for personalization and to serve them targeted content and advertising.

A digital identity arises organically from the use of personal information on the web and from the shadow data created by the individual’s actions online. A digital identity may be a pseudonymous profile linked to the device’s IP address, for example, or a randomly-generated unique ID. Digital identities are seen as contextual in nature since a user gives selective information when providing authentication information.

Examples of data points that can help form a digital identity include:

Username and password

Purchasing behavior or history

Date of birth

Social security number

Online search activities, such as electronic transactions

Medical history

What does it mean if there is no information online or in any social media services about a political, CEO or communication professional?

It means that they have protected their personnel and other information through several precautionary mesures to avoid the data breach and data identity theft consequences. Some of the precautionary measures are :

Protecting the  computer and smartphone with  up-to-date security software.

Using complicated and strong passwords in all online accounts

Using only  reputable websites while making purchases online

Boost the Network Security using Firewall

Be aware of selective date sharing

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Article 13

Write to your blog about the them. What is the key message in them? What has/will change? How does it relate to social media?

GDPR article 13 explaind about the "Information to be provided where personal data are collected from the person". The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a new data privacy regulation that aims to give individuals in the EU protection and control over their personal data. This affects how businesses can collect and use personal data. The regulation was enforceable from May 25, 2018.

The article insist that the person  who is accessing online must know what data of theirs is collected and how it will be used. Also people who are interested in and who choose to opt-in to the business and targeted ad email will receive the content in their inbox. This stricter regulation on the use of personal data for marketing and advertising, wll make the consumers to have a better experience

Businesses are required to collect and process only personal data that are necessary for each specific purpose and implement measures to protect personal data. With stricter rules on collection and processing of personal data, there would likely be fewer data breaches . Consumers will be able to decide upfront whether they want to receive marketing emails from businesses or whether they want their website behavior to be  tracked for analytics and advertising purposes. After the GDPR regulation, cubersecurity has enhanced , Data Management was improved, it  increases marketing  ROI and It boost the loyality and trust amoung the online users.

The GDPR article 13 is mostly related to social media because several social media advertising features use customer data that we upload, collect personal data, or track behavior

on their site. Also most of the social media platform such as blogs uses tools such as Google Analytics to  track visitor behavior for advertising purpose.

  

Learning assignment #1

1a) I have used various social media tools in my personal and professional life. From that, particularly I would like to mention here about the Google Analytics, Content calendar and Google trends .

Google Analytics:

I had used the Google analytics to manage the blogs. By setting up the Google Analytics account, It collects the data from the website automatically and shows the reports accordingly.

The data gathered by the analytics  helps me to see the traffic and goal conversion data that arrives from different sources which provides good idea of what is working the best for the blog and the website. 

Another best feature is the dashboard which displays an overview of the traffic, goal completions, and other metrics in one place. Next is the Visitors menu which gives the information of the location demographics of the blog visitors. This also have a details of the average time spend on site and bounce rate of visitors from particular countries. Even this feature allow to drill down to particular countries and see the stats as well as the goal conversion rates in particular regions.

By clicking the pages option under site content we can know which pages keep the visitors on the website the longest and have the lowest bounce rate.

Site Search option helps to determine whether the people are finding what they are looking for on the site. It also give ideas of which pages of the content need more specific information as well as the new content need to be created  on the site to further engage the visitors.

Content calendar

It helps to plan the content a month at a time.  With this I was able to organize the content and streamline the communication. 

With an organized calendar, anyone can plan and schedule all of your social media posts in advance . For example, If we know the details of new product launch in advance, We can create the promotional materials and schedule the post in advance ahead of deadline. It reduces the risk of forgetting to post and ensure the content is being published on time

Using this we can create content categories, add team members and link all of the social accounts such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, change the approval system, and customize the dates and times the posts need to be automatically schedule.

Google Trends:

Google Trends helps to understand the freshest data in trend based on the keyword search. With the help of this, the bloggers could research the keyword to be used in the blog or website which attract the visitors and raise the traffic.

In Google Trends, we can see the details of the country, city, or metro a particular search is most popular. Based on this details we will able to study the products or services needed most in that particular area/location.

Unfamiliar social media tools and services:

Hootsuite:

Hootsuite is a social media management tool which helps to track and manage many different social media network channels such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and many more in one place. It is free for all users , if always use Hootsuite to manage our networks.

Potentials:

1. It allows to add more than one account of the same network. 

2. It has a feature to manage and post to multiple channels at the same time.  

3. Hootsuite allows to delegate responses to different team members.

4. Messaging feature which allows team members to send private messages to each other.

5. Hootsuite sends you an email with a pdf attachment of your click summaries and graphs showing:

1. Number of clicks per day

2. Geographical information on the people clicking through

3. Top referrers

4. Most popular links

1b) Example of companies using Google analytics in their business:

Samsung- is using Google analytics to see which of its products are generating buzz, and is able to use this information to change around page displays and the relative importance of each of its phones and other products on the landing page. Especially with the holiday season coming up, optimizing their site is of immense importance.

Shopify- Online shopping website relies on Google analytics to understand the effectiveness of their marketing efforts, visitors and optimize the store for conversions and sales.

Some ideas on how a company could use the selected social media tools in day to day activities.

Using Google analytics tool, companies can analyse the performance of their website. This tools helps the companies to know about the information of their website visitors. The insight information provided by the tool helps the companies to improvise the services.   

Google analytics provides different reports which helps to analyse the website traffic in many way. For example the Real-Time reporting is a great tool for monitoring website traffic lively. This report will show who is on the site at that very moment , the page they are using and their geographical location. This is useful for measuring the immediate results of the ongoing campaign and make better decision based on the report.

Next the using the Audience Overview report, We can see the total number of visitors and details of the new or returning users etc. The information about visitor countries can help to better understand interest from countries that you may not currently ship to.

Summary on how people use social media on your field

In my field, Facebook is used often by the company and the co workers to communicate with the customer . Mostly company uses the social media tool to increase the visibility of the business and its products. Also uses the social media to increase the personal and professional networks. It helps the company engage in interaction with their network.

In my business studies, we use social media to connect with the learning groups and the lecturers. Most of the campus news, announcement, updates and the events from the university are published as a post both by the staffs and students. Expert videos and the content shared in Youtube videos are useful resource for subject related learning. Youtube is used often by our business students for assignment and presentation purposes.

Good and bad examples on how people use social media.

Linkedin is a good example of how people use the social media tool in a good way. It allow the registered users to search its job board with keywords and location— and provide features to even apply to jobs. Job alert option helps the job seekers to set job alerts based on their career interests through email. The special feature such as turning on the “I’m interested” button - which will help to let recruiters know that the candidate is open to hearing about new opportunities. This helps to exhibit the job seekers skill and the experience with their professional network and recommendations.

Heinz Ketchup story is a bad example of how people use social media to damage the company popularity and name. Heinz introduced a QR code on their ketchup bottles for a promotion campaign. The QR code is linked to the promotion website owned by Heinz. The promotion was over and the website was not maintained by Heinz. The QR code on the many ketchup bottles was in circulation linked to the website. Mean time the website was taken control over by German porn site. If someone scan the QR code on the back of the Heinz bottles found themselves directed to a porn site.