Second Life?

Our this weeks assignment was to explore a virtual site called Second Life. Here’s what we came up to.

Second Life is a virtual role- and communication place (”CMC” computer mediated communication) and it has a realtime chat (”synchronized communication”) and it has over a million users from all over the world so it is a part of a social media, where you can ”meet” new people. You can interact with people via messages or microphones. There is also its own virtual currency, the Linden Dollar, (I found it a little amusing) which is exchangeable with real world currency. Isn't that crazy? So you can actually buy things and make some kind of bisnes with people.

When you log in Second Life you start your journey by creating your own avatar. You can be man or woman or even a dog. But hey, you might have always wanted to be a dog, congratulations, in second life that's possible, or even better.. you can also be a vegetable, mineral, or a combination.(come on like seriously?) Basically anything is possible in second life. You can improve your avatar along your journey.

It seems that Second life is a place where you can actually have a second life, a whole other place to live your life. life what you have created around you. for example you can have a family in real life and you can have a family in second life. 

Second life also have these awesome beaches, pools, discos and nice cars, a very rich way of life. I think people wants to experience that kind of lifestyle if it isn’t possible in real life.

Avatars seemed to be very good looking, men had trained bodies and tattoos, and women were skinny and had also very goodlooking bodies. We thought that they looked a little plastic, and they could be a little more realistic. Based on screenshots they also were having very little clothes on. And there we’re lots of sexual things happening there and even a women giving birth to a baby. So it's safe to say that some of the actions here are things that can happen in real life also but there were also a very disturbing things like a women having sex with some kind of dog? So others things maybe not so realistic...

                                                                          

Of course these kinds of sites have also negativity around them. Maybe one reason is because you can't really know who is behind that avatar, it can be anyone. So you need to be realistic and careful.

Here is one really interesting document about second life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUwD7u7wwcY

-CS

Internet Bookstore - How to Market It?

Our assignment this week was to create a plan for a company's communication in the network society. We had to come up with a new company that doesn't exist yet and figure out what that company sells and to whom.

What is the company?

An internet based book store, that sells both concrete copies of the books, and also virtual versions, e-books. Books differ from all kinds of genres to all kinds of origins. All books are not available in both forms, both that is the company's aim. All the registered customer's also have an account on the site, where you can save your e-books. You can access to that account on every device that has an working internet connection. When you purchase a book, you can also automatically download it straight to your computer or other device. Books are able to be read on tablets and phones through an app, that is free of charge. You can this way have a reach for tour purchased books anywhere you want.

To whom are the company's products aimed at?

This company is for every person who is eager to read and/or collect books either virtually or physically. Company's products cover a large audience and there are books for every age, gender and interest. Customers who are keen to virtual downloads and e-books can also gain a lot from this company. Streaming is of course wireless and very easy.

Where in the social media can the company be found?

This bookstore can be found in a lot social media outlets. One of the most largest of these is Facebook, where the company has an own page, where new releases and news can be found. Also adverts from the company can be found on Facebook's sides, especially when a person has an interest on books.
Twitter is another big outlet, where all the same information that comes in Facebook can be found. Other social media outlets are for example Instagram, where the company can be found uploading quit often, mostly of the new releases and maybe host a photo competition every now and then.
Also on blogs where a person has an interest for books, can this company be advertised and it's products displayed on the sites. Blogposts can be made of the books and the bloggers can cooperate with the company. There can also be ads of the company on YouTube on the start of different videos. The company also has an own YouTube channel, where it frequently downloads book-related videos.

What are some effective marketing strategies company has?

This bookstore does not have any shipping costs, even with the physical products. This makes it easier for the customers to place an order. The variety in the books is also a selling point for the company, because the products vary so much and really fit for every one.

One of the marketing strategies is spreading and using QR-code. The company's code guides the device straight to the company's website. There can also be codes that guide you straight to a single book or a category in the shop. Pictures of the codes can be spread in a lot of different places around public places in a sticker form. For example on public traffic, street adverts and in school hallways. They can also be spread in libraries, although that would probably not be legal according to law.

There can be different sales according different holidays ans seasons. Also discounts for students and elder people are important, and a good selling point for the company. Specially school books can be purchased with a student discount all over the year. It is important to get people interested in the company on special times. For example over Christmas time the sell numbers can be increased a lot if the advertisement is on point.

It is also very useful for the company to have tracking on the site, so you can see where from social media the customers come from. This way the company can really focus on that social outlet and really increase it's potential in the number of customers. This way it is also easier to find sponsors for the company, when you can reference to a number of visitors on a social outlet.

SWOT- analysis is always a good technic to use. (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) This analysis can be used when the marketing strategies are made. It is important to know where you lack knowledge or talent and on the other hand, where you are more strong and can really shine.
Developing the company is always important as well, and turning your weaknesses in to strengths. You have to change and keep up with all the new inventions to succeed, especially when the business is so addicted to social media and digital world.

Written by Jonna Sulkanen

Steam vs. HDFin

Our this week´s assignment was to find two webpages: one trustworthy and one untrustworthy site which relate to group´s theme, lifestyle. After finding these two pages, we were assigned to discuss their features and in the end to write five arguments for the trustworthy website, and five arguments against the untrustworthy one.

We decided to discuss these two webpages: 

1. http://store.steampowered.com/  (trustworthy)

2. http://www.hdfin.com/items.php (untrustworthy)

Steampowered.com is a platform for game distribution, multiplaying, and communication between players. Steam offers both free and chargeable games, and in order to buy games and communicate in the community users are required to create an account. Steam has about 70% market share in the distribution of digital PC -games, so it has a remarkable role on the gaming market.

Five arguments for STEAM

1. The webpage is trustworthy, because the main links lead the user to reasonable pages, the search -function is easy to use, and the information is logically organized in certain places such as the list of genres, latest offers, most popular games, etc...The structure is clear and smart.
2. Site functions in multiple languages, this makes it a lot easier to use the page. Steam.com also has existed for quite a long time on this line of business, over ten years, and over the years it has gained even more than 125 million active users.
3. Webpage clearly informs the user about its developer and the characteristics of it. The developer of Steam is a professional, informal gaming- and entertainment corporation called Valve, which consists of a group of professional game creators.
4. Steam does not require much information of the user in order to join the community. The Steam download is completely free, and it´s available to various operating systems. It also takes extremely small space on the hard disc when downloaded (1,5Mt).
5. Webpage has a professional appearance: the texts are written correctly (grammar, formality), color scheme is simple blue, there are no irrelevant adverts, the privacy protection -practices are accessible, as order contract and other juridical information.

Hdfin.com is a webpage for streaming movies and series online for free. Its idea is very similar to Netflix. Besides viewing movies users aren´t only able to rate them and participate in different discussions on the discussion forum, but also download their own content, such as pictures and videos, to the website. In order to view content, users are required to create an account to the page, and attach their email to their profile. 

Five arguments against HDFIN

1. The webpage is untrustworthy, because most of the links on the website don´t work properly, nor do most of the movies. Also, often wen a link is clicked open, suddenly there pops one or various windows on the screen with some kind of adverts. This is called a pop-up advertisement.
2. Webpage´s appearance is unprofessional and unconvincing. It looks cheap and unreliable. There are many irrelevant advertisements on the main page already. There´s no logical structure, the pictures are bad quality and the whole site is unclear in general.
3. On the homepage there´s a message from the administrator of the site (HDFin/HDLord). It´s lacking a clear aim, and sounds very odd. It´s written in very rash and emotional manner: full of colloquial language and grammar errors. This gives an extremely unprofessional impression of the website, and refers to amateurism of the administrator.
4. The webpage does not mention, how have the movies ended up there. Generally, the content is very suspicious and dysfunctional and is most probably illegally downloaded. Hdfin is run by advertisements, and this contains a security risk to users.
    
5. There´s a 'FAQ', 'Terms', and 'contact us' -page but they open only in english even if Finnish was set as a language. 'Terms' -page is out of reasonable order, it´s constructed very disorganized, and it does not give the viewer a sensation of trust in the content and the way page functions.

S.P.