Enjoying a little talk with TED

TED talks have been around for many years now, but it never stops amazing me how fun and informative they are. Recently for an assignment, we were suppose to select and review a TED talk and blog about it.

It was not an easy task to pick out a single talk and then review it. I kind of went on a TED binge in the past 48 hours. BUT, good news, there was one that really stuck out in my head that I wanted to share with everyone.

The TED platform has never solely been about how great a presentation is, but more focused on the concept of sharing ideas. This video I think embodies that mindset. As Johnny Lee opens, he sets the stage for re purposing technology that wasn't even available 10+ years ago. Not only did he explain how to use inexpensive solutions to get more value out of existing tech but was able to demonstrate multiple uses for it as well.

During the talk, you can tell that Johnny was nervous; slightly sweating, the speed in his voice switching and using his hands consonantly to steady himself. It's what made me enjoy this talk more than anything.

You can have a great idea that's worth sharing but sometimes it doesn't help if you can't get an audience. I'd like to think this was one of his most difficult challenges, (of course this is only from watching his 6min video) to stand up there on stage and share his idea with a live audience.

I can relate, public speaking is one of those things you have to work at if it doesn't come naturally and that's why I really got into this one. I never watched TED talks for how calm or professional someone was presenting. That helps keep in audience focused of course, but I truly enjoy the ideas people are sharing and the fact that they are willing to get on stage and share them with the world.

Week 8 came out of nowhere!!

WOW!!!

So before I knew it, here I am half way through my first semester back to school. There are such a massive amount of projects and tasks to keep me busy I had almost forgot that I should take some time out to blog about it.

While I do enjoy the social media side of interacting, I've found I spend a lot of my time outside of class either discussing topics with my peers or sharing what I've been doing with friends and family.
There's still something to be said about being able to have a face to face conversation with someone verses online.

Let's see, I think it would be nice to share a little review from each of my current classes. That sounds like fun, right?

First up...
ITNET 101 - Intro to Networks
This class started off a little fuzzy. After the first week we lost our instructor because he had to cover for another teacher that decided to retire and funny enough I got the same instructor that I have for my Cisco class so that was a bonus. Then, because of the instructor switch, apparently no one could get access to one of the main learning tools online for the netlabs (which by the way are SUPER fun to do) so we ended up being behind 3 weeks worth of material (from labs) before anyone had access. All and all though, the intro course has been extremely helpful. Most of the material is pretty self explanatory if you've ever used a computer but I am very happy about the amount of detail it goes into the inner workings of network functions. Also, I can't say it enough...the netlabs are awesome!!

Next...
ITNET 110 - Microsoft Windows 7 Desktop Management
So this has been by far the most challenging of my courses. I think primarily because I've been using Windows 7 since beta and have come to learn the lazy mans way of using the system. Our instructor has a great way of explaining some of the more technical theories around how windows actually works which has been a huge help. Also, like the other courses the additional learning material offered online as part of the course is super helpful. What I've come to learn more and more about the Windows system itself is that, the variations in the file systems and policy settings, there are so many ways to secure the system and still have it function enough to work in a business environment. Which at first I honestly didn't think could be done without just unplugging the Ethernet cable :)

Then...
IT 107 - Social Networking and Business
I'll be honest, I wasn't sure what to expect with this class at first, but I love the instructors lectures more and more each week. He's very passionate and extremely involved in using social media and online tools to explain how to create a professional persona. It's not a traditional class with quizzes and tests. There isn't a mid-term or final exam, rather there are objectives and interactions that are required you be a part of. It's really one of those classes where you literally get out of it what you put into it. It's also the class that's responsible for the past couple months of my online activity. So, just in case there's any complaints I can give you my instructors name :)

Finally...
ITNET 131 - Cisco 1
This is the class I knew I wanted to take as soon as I saw the program it was listed for. Personally, these past few years I've been building a nice little network since I bought a house. It's been like a little play land for setting up wireless devices, setting up my network with all the computer linked together and running cables through the walls so I could plug in any devices I wanted to, in any part of the house. So, working with the top notch Cisco equipment has been awesome. One of the more interesting things is that the basis of how to work with Cisco gear from an education standpoint lines up with the intro to networks class so when I work through a chapter in that class it covers all the required cisco material, except for the hardware aspect, but that means I get more time to work with the gear. I actually decided to purchase a couple old 2960 switches so I can play with them at home as much as I want.

Well, that's were I am thus far. There's still much more to learn but I am already excited about finishing up this semester, setting my sights on my certifications and getting next semesters classes lined up. This was a lengthier blog so thanks for reading and I'll be sure to keep some more updates coming after midterms.

Twitter vs Facebook

This weeks blog I wanted to try and compare two companies who use social media to communicate with their respective audiences. Twitter and Facebook are right now by far the most popular of social media outlets, but each platform really does differ from the other so I wanted to investigate two companies that I am actually involved and familiar with.


UFC and Blizzard Entertainment

Head to Head on Twitter

Blizzard stats:                                   UFC stats:

Tweets - 70.2K                                  Tweets - 59.8K

Followers - 573K                                Followers - 2.67M

Following - 114                                   Following - 19.2K

So right off the bat I noticed that the UFC tries to do their best to interact with people who tweet or retweet any and everything regarding MMA or the UFC itself. It really shows in that they return the favor and follow fans that really stay involved in the fights or fighters.

Blizzard however does little in terms of interacting with fans that tweet or promote their products. The most interaction I gathered were primarily from what look like 3rd party vendors or people with very specific complaints about the function of a product or game.

I will say that both companies however do a really good job at promoting upcoming events or releases. The advantage the UFC has though is that their many events throughout the year are still all hosted and promoted in one location. Whereas Blizzard Entertainment really is just the hub for the variety of games that they have. So if you're interested in staying up to date on all or one specific event or game you have to follow multiple feeds on twitter.

I did attempt to interact with both companies over this past week on twitter. While I didn't receive any direct responses, I did get a few 'Favorite' hits on my tweets at the UFC. (Maybe because they had a PPV this weekend)


Head to Head on Facebook

Blizzard stats:                                  UFC stats:
Likes - 2,915,945                              Likes -17,420,220
Founded - 2/8/1991                           Founded - 1/1/1993

What I found interesting about the Facebook interaction in comparison between the two companies was that there was an obvious presence from Blizzard moderators. Both companies allow open posting on their pages with very few restrictions. But Blizzard most certainly appears to prefer the interaction on facebook with fans instead of twitter. I noticed quite a few humorous replies to peoples posts.

Surprisingly I don't think I saw one reply or direct response to the fan activity on the UFC facebook page. There's also a pretty huge difference between the amount of material posted on facebook over the amount posted via twitter. Of course when it's fight weekend like it was this last week there is a noticeable increase in on both platforms.

Summary

All together I think both companies do very well with providing up to date information about their products and events. Blizzard seems to try and pull you in with nostalgia quite a bit more than the UFC, or that could just be my bias, but the UFC really uses twitter in a superior manner and it shows in their following/follower numbers. Even though Blizzard Entertainment has plenty of sublayer accounts, I.E. World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, Diablo, etc., they really don't compare to the amount of fans who are more engaged on the UFC platforms.

I do like the fact that Blizzard does section off their respective games to other accounts but the overall feel between the company that provides those games and fans shows a pretty big disconnect which I believe hurts their ability to reach more audience members from those other accounts.