Stream and Web Environments

3. How can you avoid information overload in a real-time web/streaming environment?

In today’s world of the Internet, anyone can become overloaded with the information that they see.  I think that the best way to not become overwhelmed with information is to set some guidelines.  The first thing that one can do is decide exactly which stream or web environment that best suits their needs.  Next it is important to decide what exactly you will follow on that environment.  To help decide this it is best to ask yourself some of the following questions:

1. What is the purpose of your environment choice?

2. What do you find to be the most important ideas and/or things about the topic(s) you want to follow?

3. By following this, will it serve you in the future?

After you have determined what your purpose is and whom you would like to follow, begin to add those to your environment.  One should next think about how many times and for how long they want to view the site for up-to-the-date information.  By following some of these things, a person may be able to not become overwhelmed with the vast amount of information on stream and web environments.  

Exercise 2

1.  What do you see as differences between the five blogs I asked you to subscribe to in terms of the type of blog and type of post (genre, length, etc).

The lengths of the blogs are different with some having only one paragraph and others being a full page.  Most of the blogs included pictures or graphs, but one in particular was plain.  The genres or topics of each were also very different.  The first blog In the Library with the Lead Pipe is a very interesting site.  It attracts its readers with a catchy name and catchy topics.  The down side to this blog is that the posts seem to go on forever.  Other genres include: the changing world of libraries, the world of digital technology and books, the role of librarians, and trends and technology.  Some of the blogs reference their information while others are talking from experience.  Not all of the blogs include a background or other color aspects making some of them unappealing.  These were some of the differences that I found in the blogs.   

2.  What types of posts do you find most appealing to read and why?

I personally enjoy blogs that include some type of graphic.  I feel that graphics help explain what is being talked about.  I also like posts that are creative because they help catch the idea of the reader.  I did not particularly like some of the more creative post, but I think that was because of the content within rather than the main blog. 

3.  What three library blogs did you subscribe to?  Please include a 1-3 sentence description of each one.

The three library blogs that I choose were: Gargoyles Loose in the Library, Miss O’s School Library, and the St. Joseph County Public Library Blog.  The Gargoyles Loose in the Library blog is a very informative and colorful for its readers.  The librarian has included several pictures along with short paragraphs.  I think the pictures really help bring this blog to life for the students and other readers.  Miss O’s School blog hasn’t been updated in a week, but it provides its patrons with the latest news about books and library news.  This blog includes original post by the librarian and also links to other blogs.  I do see that this blog is not updated as frequently though.  The St. Joseph County Public Library Blog is very simple with its white background, but the blog includes several pictures and important information for patrons.  Personally, I like how one of the blog post was made to look different by simply changing the font and background color.  This made the post stand out in my mind.  I also liked how the titles discussed in some of the blogs were directly linked to the library’s card catalog.  

4.  Based on the blogs you chose, what are some of the characteristics that you think make a library blog successful?

Through looking at the above three library blogs and a few others, I feel that a good library blog must include pictures or graphics.  These help a library blog more informative to its patrons.  I also think that including outside lings into a post is helpful because it allows the reader to access more information.  Lastly, I would suggest that blogs be colorful or creative in the formatting of the blog site.  

Exercise 1

For this exercise, I decided to look at JCPenney.  I not only shop at this store, but had noticed some recent comments made about it on social network sites and in the news with the announcement of Ellen DeGeneres being the new spokesperson.  Through my research, I was able to find that JCPenney uses several different branding tools or appears on several different online tools.

1. What are people saying about this organization online?  What tools are they using to talk about the organization?

            It appears that the majority of people online are saying positive things about JCPenney.  The few negative comments that I encountered were addressed by telling the customer that they could email their concerns to JCPenney.  Each of these responses was polite and did not attack the customer for their opinion.  The tools that people are using are: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Polyvore, Kaboodle, Chictopia, and personal blogs.  On Twitter, customers were talking about the recent announcement of Ellen DeGeneres and how they could not be more proud of JCPenney taking that step.  Some of these tools were new to me, but customers are using them to share their thoughts about JCPenney.

2.  Is the organization responding to these people through social media?  If so, how effective do you think they are?

            Yes, on some social media sites they are responding to the people.  I think that it is effective because they are not attacking the views of their customers.  Instead they are asking their customers to send them an email with their concerns or views of JCPenney; this was especially true on Twitter.  I feel that this is more effective because it makes the customer feel that they are valuable. 

3.  What social media tools is the organization using to proactively communicate with their user base (rather than just responding)?  How effective do you think they are in building relationships and engaging their customers online?     

            JCPenney is found on several social media sites.  The list was quiet surprising to me because they are only a retail store instead of a celebrity or really major company.  One can find JCPenney using the following social media sites to advertise their brand: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Polyvore, Kaboodle, and Chictopia.  Each of these tools is different, but JCPenney is using each of them to their advantage.  On many of these sites, JCPenney posted about their hot new items or their new way of pricing.  Several people commented on some of these new ideas either through encouragement from the store or freely.  For example, on Facebook people were asked questions about what they thought about new items at the store and the new way of pricing.  Each of the sites that I visited had a nice following of people meaning that JCPenney is doing something right about building online relationships with its customers.  I believe that JCPenney is on the right track of holding onto longtime customers and gaining new customers through its online social media venture.  JCPenney should keep up this way of advertisement.        

Twitter's Positives and Negatives

3. What do you think of Twitter?  What are some of the positives and negatives?

            I was not a fan of Twitter when it came out because I felt that it was another Facebook.  While I like using Facebook, I did not see the value of its services.  Now after taking classes at SJSU and by creating a Twitter account I see what wonderful things it brings to the world of mass communication and social networking.  Twitter has become the way of the future for mass communication because of its simple use and fast delivery.  These two things are just part of the positive reasons for using Twitter.  Twitter also allows a company or person the ability to post short messages about what is happening with them.  Another positive aspect of Twitter is that it is completely free.  It allows news companies, sports teams, colleges, Hollywood, etc to share exiting new developments with the world without spending any money.  Overall, it is a very informative way of communicating with a mass group of people.

            Even though Twitter has many positive qualities about it, it also has some negative ones.  First, it can be an over abundance of information for one person because it is so simple and fast to post to Twitter.  It can also be overwhelming for individuals if they have decided to follow several different things.  A third negative to Twitter is that once something is posted it is really hard to make it go away.  This means that any negative comment that is made would be permanently saved even after removing it from one’s feed or making a correction to it. 

            Twitter is here to stay and it is a valuable tool for libraries to use because it allows their patrons to instantly receive updates on what is happening at the library, what new resources there are, and other news worthy events.  It is our job as librarians to learn how and when to use Twitter to promote our library in a positive way.  I am open to the challenge, but will need more time to learn how to best use it.

Branding Libraries

2. How effectively do you think most libraries are in building a strong, consistent brand online and why?

After doing a search for public and school libraries, I was able to see that libraries are updating their web sites on a daily or weekly basis.  Next, I looked at if they were using branding tools to promote their library.  A look at several different web sites led me to the discovery that very few libraries are branding themselves with the help of Facebook, Twitter, blogs, or discussion forums.  From the Twitter accounts and Facebook pages that I was able to find, I can see that libraries are using them on a consistent basis to promote the activities/events or important information to their patrons.  One of the school libraries that had a Facebook page link on their home page informed the students that they should like the page, but would not be able to do access the page on a school computer.  Based on these examples, I would conclude that there are some libraries that are building strong and consistent branding.  I believe that over time more and more libraries will be using the Internet to help brand their libraries, but this will only occur after librarians and administration see the positives in using the Internet to brand the library.