Jimmy's Blog

Lindsey's Posting on Ads

2006-05-14T16:14:00.000-07:00

I read my team mate Lindsey's posting on ad's being everywhere and fully agree with her. It is crazy today how much of our media is used as ad space, and it seems as if it is constantly increasing. I agree with Lindsey on the fact that it is more important for a company to try to find new ways to promote their products rather then just finding a new place to stick their ads. People are already using DVRs to eliminate watching commercials and popup blockers to eliminate these ads, so putting them somewhere else will not help. If anything it will just cause people to find new ways to block out the ads.

Summary of East Coast Surfing

2006-05-12T14:36:00.000-07:00

Because there wasn't an article on east coast surfing I decided to create one. I never thought that it would be that popular of a page but there have been a few people who have added to it. The first edit that I made was actually creating the site and adding some surf spots that I have surfed at or have heard about along the east coast. I also added a picture I took at my beach back home during an amazing day of surf. For my second edit to this article I added a few more surf spots as well as a few of the local surf shops on Long Island. For the third edit I rewrote some of the introduction, added a popular surf forecasting link, and added a few pro surfers who grew up on the east coast.
I think that I had a good impact on the community. I thought it would just be me creating the article but a few others have actually added some of their own surf spots which is kind of cool.

Step Into Liquid Summary

2006-05-12T13:35:00.000-07:00

I decided to edit the Step Into Liquid article on Wikipedia because I have loved this movie ever since I first saw it a few years ago. When I first started editing the article there really wasn't any information, so I had a lot of material to work with. The first edit that I made to the article was that I added a little information to the introduction of the article and some quotes about the movie that were on the front and back of the DVD. The second edit I made was reformatting the site and adding an IMDB profile. The third edit that I made was adding a section that included the features that are on the DVD. The special features are actually pretty cool on this DVD and has a bunch of stuff to keep you occupied.
I feel that the edits I made had a good impact on the community. Because it is a small community that watches this article I haven't really seen any reactions to my edits yet.

Summary of Wikipedia article on Surfing

2006-05-12T12:29:00.000-07:00

The surfing article on wikipedia was probably the article that I was most looking foreword to editing. For my first edit I decided to add some surf spots to the section on popular surfing areas. Its a huge misconception that the east coast doesn't get good waves so I thought I would add some spots that I know are amazing surf spots. For my second edit I decided to add some more movies to the list. The article already had a good amount of movies listed but lacked a lot of newer movies which I thought should be added. For the third edit I added a few more surf movies and created a new section for forecasting links.
Because my edits are still present on the page I feel that I did help the community grow. The information that I added helped create new sections of the page in which others later posted their own information.

Jack Johnson Wikipedia Summary

2006-05-12T10:55:00.000-07:00

One of the 4 articles I chose to edit for my wikipedia product was an article on Jack Johnson. I decided to edit the article on Jack Johnson because he is one of my favorite musicians and I am a huge fan of his movies. For my first edit to the article, I added some information about the surf movies that Jack Johnson has made. That was pretty much the one thing that the article lacked. When I went to make my second edit, I was still having a hard time trying to find information to add. I decided to expand on my previous posting about his surf movies and to reformat it to include pictures like had been done for the cd's in the above section. For my third edit to the article I did a little research and was able to find some information that the article was lacking.
Overall, I think that I added a good deal of information to the community. Before I had made my edits there was very little information about Jack Johnsons film career. Most of my edits seem to have remained except someone did take the pictures of the DVD covers off.

Search Engine Optimization

2006-05-11T14:21:00.000-07:00

For the past few classes we have been learning about the 4 p's and most recently have learned about the promotion aspect. I feel that most interesting feature of promotion is search engine optimization. Search engine optimization is interesting because it involves trying to find ways to create google juice and make your site rank higher in a search result. Until we started learning about the different ways to perform search engine optimization, I did not think that it would be so easy to increase your ranking in search. Even a change as simple as change as adding some text to the title of your web page can help improve the ranking but providing more words that search engines can associate your site with.

Webshots Targets Collegiates With Community Site

2006-05-11T11:39:00.000-07:00

I was just looking over my bloglines account and found an older article that was posted by ClickZ. The article is about how Webshots has developed CollegeLive, a program which is only available to college students. From what I can tell it seems like it is pretty similar to the facebook. Their site will aim to create an environment for its members to interact much like the facebook does and will offer social planning tools that will allows its sponsors and its users to promote events.
I am interested to see how this company plans to survive in a market that is already so defined. Because of its late start I feel that it is questionable that they will survive. Sites like the Facebook and Myspace are already so developed and have such a following that I feel it would be hard for a company to come how take their market share.

East Coast Surfing edit

2006-04-30T19:20:00.000-07:00

For my 3rd edit to the article on East Coast Surfing on wikipedia i decided to add a little to each aspect of the article. The first edit I did was rewrite the introduction section and add a little more information to it. I also decided to add a few surf spots that i have heard of or surfed at, as well as adding a link to Surfline which is a very important information source in regards to travel and swell updates.

3rd edit to Jack Johnson article

2006-04-30T19:03:00.000-07:00

Its getting pretty hard to add information to the wikipedia article on Jack Johnson because it contains most of the information that I know about Jack Johnson and about his musical career. I just decided to add some information that I found on his web site to the section on his biography. The facts that I added basically contains information on where he was born and who his musical influences are.

Step Into Liquid edit

2006-04-30T18:52:00.000-07:00

I just made my 3rd edit to the wikipedia page on the surf movie Step Into Liquid. For this edit I decided to add a section to the article on the special features that the DVD offers. When I bought the DVD I was surprised that it had a ton of special features that are actually informative and interesting. One disc actually has a surfing computer game on it, as well as an interactive program in which Robert August instructs the viewer which surfboard would be the best for them to ride.

DealCatcher.com

2006-04-20T13:48:00.000-07:00

I thought that the guys from dealcatcher.com gave a really interesting presentation in class the other day. It was really interesting to hear how they stated in a bedroom buying server space for $8.00 a month to a company that generates millions of dollars in income for a bunch of different companies. I had never heard of deal catcher until the presentation but was some what surprised when i heard the purpose of the web site. It was hard to imagine that a site that basically functioned as a massive referrer to other sites could be that profitable. I also found it interesting that their company spent relatively nothing on advertising and spread solely on word of mouth.

"Da Vinci Code Promo Breaks New Marketing Ground for Google"

2006-04-18T22:44:00.000-07:00

ClickZ recently posted an article entitled "Da Vinci Code Promo Breaks New Marketing Ground for Google." The article basically explains how Google is working with Columbia Pictures to create a contest that will promote the release of their new movie The Da Vinci Code. The program that Google has created will promote the movie by releasing a new puzzle on their users home pages every day for 24 days. After the 24 days have passed and all of the puzzles have been released, the first 10,000 people to complete the 24 different puzzles will be eligible to participate in a 48 hour challenge in which they can win one of several prizes.
I think this is a great promotional idea for the Da Vinci Code, because it relies on the principles of buzz marketing. I think that a lot of people will take interest in this game because it is another way to promote an already highly anticipated movie based on a best selling book.
I checked out the site and it seems pretty interesting. If anyone wants to check it out for themselves just go here and create a name and password for google if you don't already have one.

Surfing 3rd Edit

2006-04-17T15:37:00.000-07:00

For this edit to the surfing article on wikipedia i edited a few different sections. The first edit that i made was deleting a link for the new movie The Benchwarmers from the list of surf movies for obvious reasons, and added an actual surf movie that i recently watched and thought was very good. It is pretty cool how wikipedia allows people to go in and edit others postings and how it relies on its users to maintain a code of ediquate.
The other section that i edited was that i made a new section in the article titled forecasting links. I also added some of my own links and moved some other links from other spots in the article to this new section.

Step Into Liquid

2006-04-17T15:20:00.000-07:00

For my 2nd edit to the Step Into Liquid page, I decided to reformat the page to make it easier to read the information. The main aspect that I reformatted was the large image of the DVD cover on the right side of the page. I felt it was taking up too much space and decided to shrink it down and put it inside of an information box. The information box that I made contains information as to who directed and produced the movie.
As a side note, I found this triva fact on IMDB that says the record as to the biggest wave ever ridden has been broken. I though that this was interesting because this scene is one of the most impressive scenes in the entire movie and really leaves the audience in shock.

The 66-foot wave ridden by Mike Parsons at the Cortez Bank is believed to have been the largest wave ever surfed at the time the movie was released. It has since been surpassed by a 70-foot wave ridden by Pete Cabrinha in 2004 at Peahi in Hawaii.

East Coast Surfing

2006-04-17T15:10:00.000-07:00

I noticed that when I went to make my 2nd post in the article East Coast Surfing, I noticed that other people had started to edit the page as well. It''s pretty cool that I was able to start this page and hope that over time it develops into something that can be very informative for people looking to learn about surfing on the East Coast. For my 2nd edit, I decided to add a few more surf spots in New Jersey that I have surfed at along with some of my local surf shops on Long Island. I hope that people continue to give their input and help develop the article.

Jack Johnson 2nd posting

2006-04-17T14:58:00.000-07:00

I just made my 2nd posting to the wikipedia article on Jack Johnson. It is hard to add a lot of new information because the article is very informative and contains a lot of information about Jack Johnson's life and music career. I decided to expand and reformat the information that I had previously posted. I decided to add pictures of the DVD covers of the movies, that Jack Johnson and the rest of the Moonshine Conspiracy and Woodshed Films crews have created, so that it would resemble the format used above to showcase his cds.
I thought that this would be a good addition to the article because it should make more people aware of the films that Jack Johnson has made.

Loocsixela Posting

2006-04-08T09:25:00.000-07:00

For class we were soposed to include the word loocsixela in our post to see how it would rank when we searched for the key word in google.

Facebook Fallout article

2006-04-01T10:12:00.000-08:00

I was reading an article in The Review the other day about how a UD administrator was using a fake name and fake profile on Facebook, and was reminded of Ryan Vertucci's blog posting about how personal blogs, and profiles created on sites such as Facebook and Myspace are getting students into trouble with their Universities. I know that some of my friends who are RA's have been asked to change some material in their Facebook profiles because of people monitoring them.
The article in The Review discussed how a UD administrator by the name of Matt Leno created a false identity under the name of Raymond Matthew. Although Leno says in the article that he was only interested in learning about the Facebook site, his profile has been removed as a violation of Facebook's policies.

First post to Jack Johnson on Wikipedia

2006-03-29T10:09:00.000-08:00

I just made my first post to the article on Jack Johnson on wikipedia. It was hard to think of something to include because most of his biographical information and information about his music had already been posted. Because I couldn't include anything about his music I decided to include some information about his films. Although most people know Jack Johnson as a musician, he actually has been in a lot of the surf movies that he and his friends have produced. Some of the movies that Jack Johnson has produced under the label Moonshine Conspiracy Films, which is now Woodshed Films, are Sprout, September Sessions and Thicker Than Water.
One aspect that makes the films unique is that Jack Johnson, who has been a surfer all his life, actually surfs in them. Jack Johnson also helps make his films unique because many of his friends who he gets to star in the movies are pros who are ranked high in the surfing community. Personally, one of the main things I have always liked about his movies is that his ability to sing and write music, makes for a very relaxing movie that usually comes with a really good soundtrack.

2nd Posting in Surfing

2006-03-29T09:47:00.000-08:00

I just made my second edit to the surfing article in wikipedia. The section on surf movies seemed to cover some of the classic movies like Gidget and Big Wednesday, but did not really have any recent movies other then the movies that have gotten a lot of publicity, such as Step Into Liquid and Riding Giants. To correct this I just added a few recent movies that came out in the last few years and that have gotten a lot of attention in the surfing community such as Sprout and Second Thoughts.

Pheedo Presentation

2006-03-24T15:21:00.000-08:00

I thought that the presentation given by Dana VanDen Heuvel was very informative and helped me understand the reason for the growth of RSS feeds. Dana described RSS in his presentation as "a popular way to pull in new and information from across the web," and mentioned that it "allows consumers to pull content easily from web sites and blogs." This definition hit on the key aspects that have caused such a large growth in the amount of people who subscribe to RSS feeds. One of the key aspects is that it is entirely opt-in, meaning that the consumer is the one who chooses to subscribe, and remains completely in their control.
The fact that the reason for the increase in RSS usage is the convenience that it offers its users really made me think about how it has the potential to continue to grow. As RSS continues to grow, I can also see how marketers will see that opportunity to advertise through RSS growing as well. However, RSS is already a popular means to advertise, mainly because of the lack of spam and the decreased cost that is associated with it when compared to other online ads such as banners or text based advertisements.

Buzz Marketing

2006-03-19T11:02:00.000-08:00

I thought the concept of buzz marketing and the examples that Mark Hughes presented were very interesting. When you think of marketing you normally think of advertisements and commercials, rarely think of word of mouth as a very beneficial form of advertising. Upon further review, it becomes clear that using buzz marketing can be more beneficial then the other forms of advertising out there. One example that Mark mentioned was that when he worked for half.com he had come up with the idea to rename Halfway, Oregon into Half.com, Oregon for one year. This was a great idea. It is a new way to advertise your product and a perfect way to get people talking about what your product is and what you were doing. This example basically summarized the concept of buzz marketing for me. It showed that once you capture a persons attention through some form of unconventional advertisement, other people will find out and through them buzz marketing will take place.
As a side not I was doing a google search about the transition of Halfway to Half.com, Oregon to find out more information and thought it was interesting that Dish Network had followed in their footsteps and had renamed Clark, Texas to Dish, Texas in exchange for free satellite service for the 55 homes in the town for the next decade. Here is a link to the article that was posted on USA Today: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-11-17-dish-texas_x.htm

Step Into Liquid first post

2006-03-19T10:10:00.000-08:00

Today I made my first edit to the wikipedia article on the movie Step Into Liquid. I was surprised to find out that when I first went to the page, there was hardly anything listed, expect for a list of surfers who had appeared in the movie. I still have think some more about how I want to develop the article but think that I can turn it into something that reflects how good the movie is.
I first saw the movie Step Into Liquid with some friends at a theater in New York City. It was amazing watching a movie like this on the big screen; it just enriches the entire experience. One of the most memorable scenes in the movie, for myself, my friends, and most people that watch this movie, was when they filmed the surf at a break called Cortez Bank which is a surf break 100 miles off the coast of San Diego, that is home to tons of seals and great white sharks. During this scene a surfer named Mike Parsons drops in and rides a 66 foot wave. It was amazing watching him drop in on such a big screen where you could really understand the size of the wave.

Pay the Piper Blend Post

2006-03-18T14:34:00.000-08:00

The Dana VanDen Heuvel blog recently posted an interesting article on this coffee shop called Stone Creek Coffee that developed a new promotion in relation to St Patrick's Day. Unlike other restaurants that focus on St Patrick's Day, Stone Creek Coffe decided to focus on the day after. Because St Patrick's Day is considered to be one of the biggest days of drinking over the course of the year, Stone Creek created a promotion with their coffee to help cure the next day hangovers. The promotion was called the Pay the Piper Blend and consisted of developing a new blend of coffee. I thought the fact that they relied only on advertising through word of mouth was very interesting because they relied only on their customer base and the quality of their product to attract business. It would be interesting to see how the promotion turned out, maybe there will be a future posting on this topic.

ClickZ Blog Posting

2006-03-18T14:14:00.000-08:00

ClickZ recently posted that Epic records plans to feature some of their artists on the Xbox game system through the use of Xbox Live. The program would basically make the music of a featured artist on the Epic music label be available for users of Xbox Live to download artist content and music videos to their Xbox system. Personally I think this is a great idea. It gives people the option to learn about featured artists and provides it through a very popular medium that is constantly expanding. With the debut of their new system Xbox 360, and all of the publicity that has been surrounding it and it release, Epic is sure to reach a wide audience through the use of the Xbox Live feature.

East Coast Surfing

2006-03-18T12:54:00.000-08:00

After looking on wikipedia, and finding out that there wasn't any information on surfing on the east coast, I decided that I would try to make a page that only focuses on east coast surfing. The east coast have so many surf spots, several of which are the home break of many pro surfers. Florida native Kelly Slater, the current and 7 time world champion, is one of the many pro surfers that grew up learning to surf on the east coast. I am still developing it and trying to ad information on surf spots that I know, and some famous surfers and surf shops that I have heard of and have been to. Hopefully I will be able to work on it a lot more in the coming weeks and be able to create something that is very informative about east coast surfing.

Adding some surf spots

2006-02-21T19:20:00.000-08:00

For my first edit on Wikipedia, I choose to edit the article on surfing. The first addition I made to the article was to add some of the famous surf spots in Costa Rica to the article. After having went there on a surf trip and getting to experience the amazing surf it had to offer, I felt that it needed to be up there.
The second correction that I choose to make to the article was to add a few good surf spots on the east coast. Because areas such as California, Australia and Hawaii are usually viewed as the having some of the best surf in the world, few people ever consider the east coast to have good surf. The truth is though, that in the right conditions, New York and New Jersey can provide amazing surf, especially during hurricane season.
Hopefully my additions will stay up so I can create a new page that focuses on east cost surfing.

Blogs Purpose

2006-02-19T15:42:00.000-08:00

Over the course of the semester I will be using this blog for a project in BUAD 477. I will also be commenting on the required blogs, the blogs of my teamates, and 4 Wikipedia articles i have chosen to follow. The 4 articles that i have chosen to follow are: Surfing, Jack Johnson, Brand New, and Taking Back Sunday.

First Post

2006-02-10T14:07:00.000-08:00

this is a test to see if the blog has been created