Obscene and inappropriate posts

In the two weeks that we have been posting, the site has received a good deal of traffic (988 visits while I'm writing this). Not too shabby for an in class project. I enjoy my students' enthusiasm for this approach to teaching, and I try not to be tyrannical or overbearing with my administrator buttons.

Some controversy is good, even when it is directed at UNBC's own promotions, or institutions close to the School of Business. This IS the Internet after all. But last week's post about not-for-profit organizations by team Tropical Tigers was inexcusable. Senior administration quickly caught wind of that group's obscene tirade and I was forced to remove it.

Or maybe I accidentally deleted the post instead of a redundant RSS feed. We'll never know what actually happened, but I assure you that I have new respect for a big button labeled "delete forever."

Happy posting everyone, including those who have left comments. And remember, the Internet is Serious Business.

Tropical Tigers: On UNBC as a 'Green' University

Tropical Tigers: On UNBC as a 'Green' University: "Last Tuesday we discussed in class on how UNBC could market themselves as a green university and in particular with internet marketing. I c..."

Serious Business at UNBC: Tropical Tigers: Marketing for a Nonprofit Organiz...

Serious Business at UNBC: Tropical Tigers: Marketing for a Nonprofit Organiz...: "The Tropical Tigers of UNBC have news to share. If you're a nonprofit organization we have found online eight easy marketing steps for you t..."

Can we please have search results?

It's only week two, but some content on the blog is already generating a good deal of page views, but the blog is virtually non existent in Google results. This has generated some surprising search outcomes. For example, team Minty Moose's opening post got some immediate attention, making its way (with some proactive help) onto other sites. However, a search for "serious business at UNBC" results in a link to the post appearing on the JDC West Facebook page, and the original post on the blog is nowhere to be found.

The idea behind writing the blog is that we can look at stats and SEO and have a toy to play with. Blogger provides a fairly pain free route to having a class do that, except with an extra challenge: Blogger is not Google search friendly. As counter-intuitive as that sounds: here is an article explaining why Blogger is SEO unfriendly.

So what should we do? Perhaps some manner of syndicated Wordpress blog is in order ...

Is The Web Dead??

WIRED magazine declared in a recent issue that the "the web is dead". This statement was supported by an article that states with evidence that the web is now a minor contributor in the internet world. It declared that the internet is composed of: the web, peer-to-peer, videos, and other. Slightly over half of the internet is contributed by videos, followed by equal portions to peer-to-peer and the web, and a small remainder to other (Cisco estimates).

The main notion behind the statement is that the web is on decline from previous years in which it dominated the internet. Nowadays it is much more common to see an internet user browsing apps such as Facebook on their phone. Almost all forms of useful media and information can be accessed via apps; this minimizes the use for "surfing the web" to find the same information.

Although WIRED had many valid points, the article was met with criticism from various websites. Many claim that the information provided from Cisco was manipulated to have a more dramatic impact. The web could have a much larger share depending on how videos was comprised. One website claimed that YouTube, accessed through the web, was grouped into videos, giving it a much larger share of the internet.

Depending on the user, one could bypass the web completely, with possession of a smartphone. Someone with an iPhone does not need to access the web to connect with friends, find out the weather, sport updates, and read current events, etc. In contrast it can be argued that without a smartphone, one is left to rely on the web to find the same information.

UNBC G4G: Meaningful or Meaningless

Step One: Make sure you "like" UNBC on Facebook.

Now, you must wonder why we must "like" UNBC in order to be part of this competition. We, as participants, have no choice (if we want the chance at $1000) even if we do not like UNBC in the first place (theoretically speaking). Not only that, but it shows up on our Facebook profile, and through the newsfeed network (being all our friends). Needless to say, this can be a very disguised marketing ploy to generate more attention to UNBC's Green Image.

Step Two: Answer the question "Why do you deserve gold for being green?" Be specific & limit your answer to 200 words or less.

Paradox much? How can we be specific in under 200 words or less. Not only that, should the Green people deserve a reward for being Green? The purpose of being green to lower their carbon footprint, for sustainability, and for the future of green business. Although UNBC claims to be Green, according to Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, what about business professors? They print out the entire class the powerpoint notes, not to mention it's one sided. What is the point of the Gold for Green (G4G) contest?

Step Three: Post your answer on UNBC's Facebook wall. Tell everyone you know to vote for you submission and keep checking back to make sure you're in the top 10!

To summarize step three, it means "How popular are you?" or in other terms, "How well can you market your green practices in under 200 words?" To choose the winner by the most likes sounds exactly like being Green - Cheap. Don't get the Monkey Chicklets wrong, I'm sure a lot of people aren't cheap that are green, but it's a stereotype. How many of the likes actually read the entire post? If the Monkey Chicklets were green (we're obviously not green), our friends would just have to click "like" so we have a chance to win $1000. Mind you, only the top 10 will have the opportunity to win the $1000. That's right, even if you're the best liar and the most popular, you only have a chance to win the Gold for Green.

Don't worry all you liars and popular people, you at least get the green gift bundle from UNBC Bookstore....if you're top 10.

Gold for Green - Check it out if you're really interested, especially if you're a green/sustainable person, or a marketing/business student at UNBC!

Tropical Tigers: Marketing for a Nonprofit Organization Project

The Tropical Tigers is a group of UNBC Internet Marketing students who are looking into Marketing for a Nonprofit Organization, namely the Canadian Information Processing Society known as CIPS Click here to view CIPS Canada website.

CIPS is 'Canada's Association of Information Technology Professionals' providing educational, networking, I.S.P. certification, ITCP accreditation, job postings, member discounts with partner organizations, etc. for IT professionals and students.

Our focus will be on CIPS Prince George Omineca Section and CIPS BC Society.  Our objective is to enhance awareness of the organization and promote the benefits to improve recruitment and retention of membership.

UNBC Alumni Entrepeneur

Our group interviewed Dan Abraham, founder/creator of pglistings.ca, an online real estate listings business. Dan is an UNBC alumni who completed his undergraduate degree in anthropology and education. Recently, he was offered a full scholarship to pursue an environmental science degree at UNBC which he turned down in order to continue running his new business. Pglistings.ca is an online real estate listings website that provides users specific information and a slide show driven tour of homes for sale, lease and rent in Prince George B.C. Dan has a very good understanding of internet marketing tools such as Google ads, Analytics, and search engine optimization (SEO) which helps him analyze and forecast his budget in order to keep his business venture as profitable as possible. His philosophy is to keep his website as user friendly as possible. This allows him to target the 50+ age market.

Since starting his business 10 months ago, Dan now has 12 committed agents as clients and maintains an optimal 20% market share. Dan's photography background has allowed him to create stunning visual presentations of homes while maintaining a reasonable load time. These slide show presentations give him a competitive advantage as in the past customers were inclined towards looking at print media, television and radio as primary sources of listing their homes. One of the most powerful tools Dan, and other internet marketers have at their fingertips is Google Analytics. Google Analytics is a service offered by Google which tracks all incoming traffic and provides detailed analysis of how users interact with the site including their location, time spent on site and bounce rate. This service has allowed him to recognize the most attractive marketing tactics. Further- more it allows him to supply detailed statistics to his advertisers in order to sell ad space.

A piece of advice Dan leaves with us is that starting a business has a lot of risk and you need to be prepared to take that risk in order to be successful.