Friday, February 22, 2008

Internet Use-- another post for my Internet Marketing class

I mentioned in one of my earlier posts that this blog was created for an internet marketing class project, and that I would have to put up a few posts regarding a specific topic; internet use.

Well this is the second post regarding internet use, and today’s post is how businesses are using the internet.

A business that I’m sure many viewers are familiar with, Lands End, has added a feature to their website that is to serve as beneficial to its customers. Instant messaging is a popular online past-time with people of various ages, and businesses are trying to incorporate that into their business plans and marketing strategies.

Lands End has a Live Chat option, where customers can chat, LIVE, with a customer service representative in real-time. This means no more waiting on hold for ten minutes to speak with someone about a question you may have regarding a recent purchase or a pending order. Instead, with a click of a button, you are instantly connected to a real person.

Personally, this is more beneficial to both the consumer and the business because the customer feels that they are important and that the company cares about their service. And the business is maintaining their customers, satisfying them with instant gratification by not keeping them on hold forever, which ultimately can lead to loss of sales.

Our world is continuously evolving into this technological society, where everything is done on the internet. Personally, I’d rather chat with a customer service representative online versus the phone, if I know that I’m going to reach a real person right away. It makes me feel that the company cares about its customers and really wants my business.

Have you ever used a live chat option to order or get help with something online? If not, try it; it’s a much better feature than sitting on hold forever. Click here to check it out.

Friday, February 8, 2008

REHAB!

So many celebrities are hitting rehab lately. The latest news, Kirsten Dunst has entered rehab.

The 22 year old actress has checked into rehab at Cirque Lodge Treatment Center in Utah; the same place Lindsay Lohan and Eva Mendes recently checked into.

This is actually a surprise to me because I had no idea she was even a hard-core partier. Apparently I was wrong.

I know everyone has their problems, but it seems that Hollywood isn’t the place to be if it’s causing everyone to put themselves into rehab.

So much for that acting career.

Who’s next on the list?

Click here for more

BRITNEY’S OUT!

Britney is out of the hospital… EARLY!

Apparently the doctors tried to keep her in but the courts didn’t find a just cause for her stay.
What?! No just cause?! The woman’s crazy!

I do feel bad for her, a little bit, but she needs help. She’s refusing help from her family and friends and the only hope anyone ever had of her recovery was in the hospital. Forget that now, that’s been shot to hell.

And it’s also no surprise that she now wants her father out of her life, and in replace of him and the rest of the family, she’s with this loser paparazzi boyfriend; I’m sure he’s bringing a lot to the table and is surely helping her situation. Heck, if he liked he/ loved her/ wants to get her better, wouldn’t one think that he might encourage her to let her family back into her life and help her get better? My goodness, someone strap her down and tranquilize her!

This might sound mean and harsh but I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw reports of Britney’s death in the next month or so. Hey, she’s placing this on herself and it’s stupid how the courts are in denial of this too.

Click here for People's article
Click here for OK!'s article

Monday, February 4, 2008

Internet Use: Post for MK 299 class

The purpose of this blog is not only to get people to visit it and post their comments as well as mine, but it’s a project for my Internet Marketing class. And as a result of this being a project, I have to make a few posts about in-class discussions and assignments. So for this post, it’s going to be related to a topic which I will be teaching, along with my three other groups members, next week in class—Valentine’s Day; Internet Use.

Today’s topic on Internet Use has to deal with teens and how often they use the internet and what they are using it for. The results surprised me a little bit, but then again they didn’t because today’s teens thrive for the internet. My generation is growing with the internet—as we are maturing so is the web, whereas the generations behind me are growing up with it. Meaning, it’s been a hot thing since they were babies. For my generation, the internet got hot around middle school.

Just a few facts from PewResearch Center: 93% of teens are using the internet, using for social interactions; 35% of all teen girls blog and 20% of boys blog; boys post almost nearly twice as many videos than girls at 19% and girls at 10%; 27% of teens maintain their own personal webpage; 28% have created their own online journal or blog; and 55% of teens ages 12-17 have created a profile on some kind of social network, such as Facebook or MySpace.

When I read these statistics, I thought it was interesting to learn how many teens have their own blogs and/ or journals online. Personally, I never even visited a blog before this class, nonetheless create my own. And it’s also no surprise that most of the videos posted online, whether it’s through YouTube or some other website, are from teen boys. Usually, they’re the ones doing the crazy stunts for fun or for attention.

To add to the video comment, this website—PewResearch, noted that teens are posting blogs and videos and journals for attention and to obtain conversations with new and old friends. Again, not a big surprise. Teens today, in my personal opinion, don’t meet too many people outside of school by just meeting them on the street or bumping into them at the store. Instead, they’re meeting them on the internet through friends of friends or just by joining a chat room or, like the article says, through blogs and other posts.

Feel free to read more about these facts of PewResearch’s website, at PewResearch Center Publications

It’ll be interesting to find out more facts about teens and their use of the internet, as well as other uses of the internet by the rest of the population. Keep checking back for more posts related to this Internet Use topic.

Mallory*

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Heath's Death is taking it's toll

Poor Michelle Williams. The death of her ex boyfriend, Heath Ledger, obviously isn't easy to handle. It seems like it was just yesterday that Heath passed, but believe it or not, it's already been two weeks since the news was released.

For the first time, Michelle spoke out about Heath's death, asking that the public and the paparazzi give her and her two year old daughter, Matilda, the privacy they need.

This kind of goes back to my post on Britney and how the paparazzi are constantly in the faces of celebrities. I haven't heard too much complaints, yet, about the much needed space from Michelle and Heath's family, so I would like to assume that the press is respecting her wishes. In a time such as this, a far more worse case than Britney's, it's so important that the press respects their wishes.

I feel for her, I do. The couple recently broke it off after their two year relationship, and it's been said that since the breakup, Heath just wasn't himself. No breakup is easy and to add death on top of it, well, there just aren't any words that one could say to make anothe feel better.

And to add to the matters, two TV shows, Entertainment Tonight and The Insider, were scheduled to air a taping of Heath and drug use, prior to his death. Thankfully, Hollywood and many other publicists forcefully and highly encouraged that the two networks drop the video; and they did.

It must be me but I just don’t understand why certain people, the press in particular, have to ruin the lives of so many people. Is it really necessary to air such evidence at this point in time? Heath hasn’t even been buried yet and you have networks rushing to air material that is so irrelevant right now, just so they can gain publicity and money. It’s wrong and tacky and bad practice. This is the kind of stuff that turns people away from gossip like this.

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20175416,00.html
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20175486,00.html