Cloud Computing: The Next Generation

Computing relies on sharing computing resources rather than having local servers or personal devices. In the term cloud computing, “cloud” relates to “the internet” so cloud computing is a type of internet-based computing.  Apple’s iCloud is the most popular cloud computing service. iCloud was launched on October 12,2011 and by January 2013, iCloud had more than 250 million users.  iCloud allows users to backup and restore, login from other devices such as computers, save their emails, contacts and calendar dates, find their iPhone, store music and pictures, etc. By having all of these features, Apple has beaten out the other cloud computing companies.  iCloud automatically downloads your files to all of your devices so they stay up-to-date.  iCloud works with iPhones, iPads, Macs, and Windows PCs.  The first 5 GB of storage is free! If you want, you can buy additional space for a yearly fee ($20 for 10 GB). 

According to Strategy Analytics, almost 2,300 devices are connected to cloud computing, with Apple’s iCloud services accounting for 27% of them.  Dropbox is 17%, Amazon Cloud Drive is 15%, and Google Drive is a 10% of those connected device.  Cloud computing is “heaviest” with younger people, ages between 20 and 24 years old, and Apple iCloud attracts more females than males.  This is due to Apples lead in music storage, which is the leading cloud use case.

Features:

One of the best features in iCloud is “iTunes in the Cloud”.   Once you purchase music on any device, it automatically syncs with the rest of your devices. The music will also be stored so you can download it again if necessary.  It is possible to download purchased Tv shows and movies to your device.

The backing up and restoring feature lets a user back up photos and videos in their camera roll, device settings, apps, messages, etc.  All of this is backed up and saved into the service, and if a user needs to restore their information back into their device, it is all there.

 “Documents in the Cloud” is a great way to keep all of your documents with Pages, Keynote, or Numbers updated on all of your other devices.

Find My Device

Find my Device is another great feature to iCloud.  Find my device helps a user find their iphone or ipad if it goes missing. You go to iCloud.com to see where your phone or iPad is located, and then you can play

a sound or send a message to your phone incase someone else has it (as shown in the picture).

Photo stream automatically saves your most recent photos taken with your iPhone or iPad and “pushes” them to all of your other devices.

Now that you know more about cloud computing and its features, here are a couple of questions I would like you to answer:

1.     Do you use cloud computing? If so, which service? If not, why?

2.     What do you think about cloud computing? Do you think that it will become more popular in the future?

References:

http://www.howstuffworks.com/cloud-computing/cloud-computing.htm

http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/infrastructure/apple-dropbox-lead-cloud-storage-market/240151382

http://www.gcflearnfree.org/icloud/1

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/C/cloud_computing.html

Do We Have the Rights to Talk about Work or our Boss on Social Media?

It is not new to hear people got fired because of their updates on social networking sites. In one extreme case, a man got fired even for his random thoughts posted on Facebook. So, is it legal for companies to fire employees because of their updates on social media sites?

Employees have the rights to discuss face-to-face on “protected concerted activity” as outlined by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). For example, employees can talk about their wages and work conditions with co-workers. According to The Lodging Magazine (2013), the answer to whether employees have the rights to talk about work or their boss on social media sites depends on whether the employee’s update is considered as protected concerted activity.

The article in The Lodging Magazine reported two cases with the published decisions from NLRB. One case involves in an employee’s sarcastic comments about the employer. This employee is not protected because NLRB believes that the comments were made “solely by the employee without any discussion with other employees.” In the other case, an employee responded to a co-worker’s criticisms of her job performance as well as the performance of other co-workers. This employee was fired, but NLRB ruled in favor of the terminated employee because the employee’s behavior is “a call to group action that related to their working conditions.”

Even though it is noted that the decision made by the NLRB may turn out to be invalid because the Supreme Court by the Administration is still pending on its decision on whether the NLRB “lacks a quorum and is unable to conduct business,” employers are advised to keep such decisions of NLRB in mind. In the end, the article lists six suggestions for employers’ considerations (direct quotes):

• Eliminate policies that require employees to maintain confidentiality over wages, bonuses, or commissions.
• Review social media policies for non-specific terms that need further definition or stricter language.
• Adjust overly broad language that prohibits employees from discussing company policies, schedules, safety, dress codes, work assignments, other staff, or management.
• Eliminate or change language that prohibits posting of company logos, company name, identification of employee with the company, etc.
• Where legitimate issues are involved, define information that the company considers confidential (private employee data, guest information, strategic marketing plans, financial particulars).
• Consider a disclaimer at the end of the social media policy that makes clear that the policy is not intended to restrict an employee’s Section Seven Rights under the NLRA.

My suggestion to individual users is to think before posting any negative comments about work or their boss. They may ask themselves: besides venting my feelings about work or my boss on social media sites, how does my update help solve the issue? Are there other places for me to vent my feelings? Are there other places I can seek solutions (e.g., the HR Office, the corporate HR Manager, the NLRB, etc.)?

I agree to the article that managers need to revisit their companies’ policy. Ideally, I believe that the best solution to “stop” employees from bad-mouthing the company or their supervisors is to nurture an organizational culture that value employee feedback. If employees know their employer listens to them and shows genuine interest to them, they tend to be more open to their managers about their feelings and thoughts. If their issues are solved, they will not need to vent their feelings on social media sites any more. What do you think?

References:

Ryan, Andria, & Lominack, Reybun. (2013, March). Word to the wise: the National Labor Relations Board is weighing in on social media communications and employee rights; Here’s what hoteliers need to know. The Lodging Magazine (The official magazine of The American Hotel + Lodging Association), p. 20-21.

SEO

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a pretty simple, self-explanatory term. Successfully doing it, however, is extremely challenging. An entire industry has been born to help businesses and people optimize their websites for higher search engine rankings. Distilling all of that information into one blog post would be impossible. We will instead touch on some of the basic terms and concepts that are frequently associated with SEO.

We all know what search engines are and we all have our favorite one. Google, Yahoo, Bing are a few of the most common names in search and all primarily do the same thing; turn your search terms into a list of the most relevant websites. But how do they do that? First, each of them has a massive database that includes all of the words on all of the world’s websites (wow!).  Second, they have “spiders” (computer programs) that crawl over all of these web pages to keep the database up-to-date. Finally, they have proprietary algorithms that quickly match the search terms you type in to the database of webpage words they have. In approximately .19 seconds, you’ll be given a list of what your chosen search engine thinks are the most relevant websites for whatever you were looking for.

As a lonely website wanting to be found, it is imperative that you show up on the first page of this Search Engine Results Page (SERP). Knowing what we know about how search engines work, the KEY is having the right WORDS on your webpage to match what is being searched for. Yup, keywords are, um, key. From the URL, to the page titles, to photo tags, to filenames and, of course, your actual content, you want the purpose of your website to be conveyed through relevant keywords.

From the basics of keywords, the ins-and-outs of SEO get complicated quickly. Having other webpages link to yours is important – say, a newspaper review. Have fresh content to keep the “spiders” interested in your site is important. Fine tuning your long-tail keywords is important – i.e., moving past simple keywords to chains of words like “the best social media class at SU” that people might search. Being able to analyze and adjust your SEO plan as algorithms change, your competition changes and peoples search habits evolve is yet another factor to consider when launching your website.

How comfortable would you feel handling your websites SEO? If not, how much would you be willing to pay for this type of service?

References

http://www.seomoz.org/

http://savvypanda.com/blog/long-tail-keyword-research-for-seo.html

How Much Does “Popularity” Cost on Social Networking Sites?

Money cannot buy us true friendship in the real life, but can we buy fans or followers on social networking sites? Absolutely, and the price might be cheaper than expected.   

Eric Steuer reported the following price tags in Wired Magazine:

Facebook: 500 likes for $30 or 20,000 for $699 on Socialyup.com

Twitter: 1,000 followers for $10 or 1,000,000+ for $1,750 on FanMeNow.com

Pinterest: 100 followers for $15 or 5,000 for $95 on Pinfol.com

YouTube: 30,000 views for $150 or 1,000,000+ for $3,100 on 500views.com

I can certainly afford to pay $30 to make my Facebook page look better, but if I rarely engage the Facebook users on my page, how likely can I build a meaningful relationship with them? Without a meaningful relationship, can I create value for me and the Facebook users on my page? Probably not. That’s why I argued earlier that only the relationship built on engaging conversations can create value. Likewise, even though companies can buy thousands or millions of likes or followers, without engaging and meaningful conversations, company will not be able to convert the likes and followers into customers or sales.

What do you think of the act of purchasing fans or followers? Can we treat that behavior the same as cheating? If so, are the companies cheating the customers or potential investors? What suggestions will you provide to the companies who want to recruit (but not to buy) real fans and followers?

Relevant discussion:

How Much Is Your Tweet Worth? 

The Price Tag of “Like” on Facebook?

Can You Carry a Good Conversation? The Basic of Social Networking  

References:

Steuer, Eric. (2013, April). Best friends$: No matter what social network you’re on, you can buy your way to popularity. Wired, p. 32.

The picture was downloaded from MalaysiaFinance.Blogspot.com

We Have Good Reasons to Become Facebook Addict, Psychologists Said

“Yes, yes, I know. I should have stopped, but please just let me finish posting this update …” God knows how difficult it becomes these days to get people’s attention away from Facebook or just any social media platforms. People are tempted to check news feeds and updates.  

Let me ask you another question: When was the last time you checked your Facebook? Was it just a minute ago before you put down your cell phone? Or right in this moment while you are trying to share my discussion on Facebook? For a long time, Facebook has become the most visited website in the U.S. (3^rd place in the world) and the website on which Americans spend the most time. There must be a good reason why people can’t have enough with Facebook.

According to recent report on Monitor on Psychology: A Publication of The American Psychological Association, Facebook indeed has the “magic” to satisfy people’s need for connectedness and self-promotion, boost people’s self-esteem, and help people maintain offline relationship. If people feel lonely and disconnected, they can find comfort on Facebook. If they are not feeling lonely, they can also go to Facebook to maintain their social connections. So, Facebook attracts people, regardless how lonely or social people feel.

Research evidence also shows that people who look at their own Facebook page for as little as three minutes can show a significant increase of self-esteem as compared to the control groups who either look at themselves in a mirror or simply wait in a room for three minutes. It is believed that the “Photoshopped version” of people themselves have a positive effect on their self-esteem.

Facebook can also be considered as a means to build a person’s social capital. Because of Facebook, people can now access the updates of their friends, which they would not be able to do otherwise, and thus, have fewer chances of missing out a story or sometimes, a job opportunity.

Is that so? What is your reason of using Facebook? Do you think Facebook help you boost your self-esteem? Does Facebook or social media in general allow you to maintain a closer relationship with your friends and family? Furthermore, are you addicted to Facebook or social media in one way or another? Or do you know anyone who is addicted to Facebook or another social media tool? Please feel free share your stories with us.  

References:

Winerman, Lea (2013, March). What draws us to Facebook? Psychologists and communication researchers are studying how Facebook so successfully lures us in. Monitor on Psychology: A Publication of The American Psychological Association, 44(3), 56-58.

The picture was downloaded from the Joking Cobra Blog.