My Blogging Experience

So this is my 10th and final blog...

I started blogging in September for the first time and didn't really know what blogging was about. There was not a lot of guidance given so I gave it my best shot. I have read some blogs that have been given awards and I didn't really see what was so special about them. I have also read some random blogs that I found online and they were just people blogging about their lives or things that were important to them. I suppose if I knew those people well I might have enjoyed reading their blogs but I didn't really have any interest. I think some people are naturally talented at writing and enjoy expressing themselves in words so I can see why people do it. I thought the blogs with titles were more difficult to write and preferred to have some freedom when writing them. But personally I think blogging is not for me. 

I found that I didn't know what type of content to put into my blog. I wrote about myself and I wrote facts and figures. I wrote from my notes and I wrote my opinion. I don't know if I really went down the right road in them. Also I am not one for writing down my feelings or even talking about my feelings so I felt the blogs are kind of embarrassing to write. I don't really want anyone to read them to be honest. My friends from Egypt have been asking can they read my blog about Egypt but I don't want them to, so I haven't told them they are actually online! 

I think maybe one day I will blog again when I really have got something interesting to blog about. I noticed my dad has a blog for his job and he talks about the industry he is in and articles he finds interesting. He never told me he had one until I told him I would be writing one and he gave me some tips. So maybe when I am working I will write one. I found blogger was hard to use and I couldn't really figure out how to change stuff around and put ads on my page which I would have liked to do. From looking at some of my classmates blogs they obviously knew what they were doing as they look so professional. But anyway I gave it a try and I suppose I will find out soon if I really am a talented blogger!

I can't believe there is a 'blogger's choice awards'. This just shows how huge the blogging world is. I would never have even thought it was that big until I searched for it. If I was a talented blogger I might actually make money from it or even get an award, imagine one day that might actually be me. I think I need to work on my writing skills first. Anyway here is the link to the blogger's choice awards, check out some of the best blogs in the world: Blogger's Choice Awards. The categories are pretty funny for example the hottest daddy blog! haha! Who comes up with these things I wonder. 

So I'm going to say goodbye for now to the blogging world and concentrate on my exams and enjoy Christmas. Maybe after Christmas I will have something exciting to blog about. Watch this space!

Happy Christmas Bloggers!

Au revoir! 

Mobile Commerce

It is amazing how far the world of technology has come. From the dial up connection internet to wireless internet for metropolitan areas. I remember when my dad got his first Wap phone and I was amazed that he could get internet on his phone. I think I only got my first phone in those days and it was a Motorolla brick! By 2004 there were 1.5 Billion Wap phones. I never used one of those phones but I can imagine they were a lot slower than smart phones today. By 2005 there were 60 million wireless internet users. By 2006, 60% of internet was used from personal wireless devices. Now the wireless market is worth nearly 90 Billion worldwide.

Mobile phones are something that you bring everywhere with you. They can do so much in one simple device. Contact people, take photos, make recordings, listen to music, for the internet, play games and you can use any of the applications available. Instead of just bringing your purse and keys you bring a mobile phone too. This may have been something unthinkable 15 or 20 years ago. It is an all in one device.

M-Commerce is the use of the internet for purchasing goods and services and also for transmitting messages using wireless mobile devices. Businesses increasingly use wireless to cut costs, increase flexibility, and create new products and services. It helps businesses stay in touch with customers, suppliers and employees. This increases worker productivity as it takes less time to contact the suppliers etc. For businesses it has also been the source of new products, services and sales channels for example internet "hot spots". 

The wireless technologies have come a long way from 1G to 3G, Infrared, Bluetooth, Wifi and WiMax. Infrared is basic and used in remote controls, PDA's and phones. It requires 'line of sight' in order to work, but it is cheap to produce. Bluetooth is a small form of wireless communication and the cost of production is low and it works within a distance of 10 meters. Wifi is almost universally available and all laptops were wireless enabled by 2005. Although security has been a target of negative publicity so there is Wifi protected access. The cost of Wifi has come down dramatically but is still quite high.

I bought a Blackberry recently and I love it. I got a great deal for 20 euro per month I get free internet and free texts to any network. It is so handy for sending and receiving emails as I never have to use my laptop for this and I can send them anywhere I go. It also means I can use Wifi wherever I go because it is a smart phone. If I am waiting for any important emails and don't have access to a computer I can just check my phone. I can download thousands of apps so I am never really bored when I have my phone with me. I can Instant message my friends abroad who also have a Blackberry and it is free. Most of my friends have smart phones these days as there are so many out there now that are not too expensive. Smart phones are probably one of the most popular Christmas presents this year. I think soon everyone will have one and it will just be normal to have one. I heard from a friend that works in Coca Cola that all the staff were given Blackberry's for free and their bills are all paid for. This sounded like an advantage to me but he told me it is so they are always contactable and have no excuse about being away from their computers. So maybe for the employees it is more of an annoyance.

I wonder will Santa order online this year

Digital Marketing

Digital Marketing has become one of the most popular ways of marketing. It has a greater reach than any other media. From 10am to 7pm online marketing is reaching a much bigger audience than any other marketing tool. It is obvious this is true from just looking around the workplace or the library or even on public transport. Nearly everyone is using the internet in some way during these times whether it is for pleasure or for work purposes, so why not use this as a form of communicating your product or service to your target audience. Technological and Societal factors have effected the impact of television commercials, I agree with this even from my own experience. I used to always watch television but now I mainly watch it on my laptop. I know a lot of people who use the internet in their spare time rather than watching t.v. and businesses have taken advantage of this by advertising on sites where people watch movies and t.v. shows. Television is not as special as it used to be when it was becoming more advanced and "high tech". The internet has become an alternative to it. 




Digital marketing increases brand awareness and more cost effective. Pay per click ad's can be as cheap as 10cent per click when you compare this to the cost of a television advertisement it is a hug drop. To have one advertisement on during XFactor it costs £250,000, that is without the price of producing the ad. Although this is a great spot for a business to have it is a once off and it is not consistent. An online ad can be kept consistent and regular therefore increasing brand awareness. It is said that younger audiences are influenced more by the web, this is an advantage today because as younger people grow up they will continue to use the web. Cheaper broadband and cheaper technology is also enabling digital marketing to grow as people continue to invest in new technologies and better broadband. Digital marketing can contribute to any marketing communications objective a marketer may have. One downfall I believe is that 79% of people scan and webpage and 57% of people scan an email, therefore the less and more concise information the better, which could be a disadvantage.

As we all know Google is one of the first sites people go to find information about any subject in the world. Whenever there is a question that can't be answered we say "Google it!" and usually this question is answered. For such a basic webpage it is extremely popular, so advertising here is a great advantage. But how can you get to number one on Google? That is the question! This is called search engine optimization which is growing annually by 65%. There are other search engines like Yahoo and Msn but Google is the most popular.We made a website recently which encouraged me to think what could I put on my website that would make it high on the Google list. 
So this is what I found was important:

• Key Phrases- 2 word (33%) and 3 word(26%) phrases are usually typed into Google. So have phrases on your page which are about this length.
• Title- A Unique title is important, it should be short, attractive and enticing.
• Links- It is also good to get links to your site or get links from reputable sites with similar themes because Google picks up on these. 

A cheaper way of advertising on search engines is targeted advertising using Adwords:

1. You pick a region to target
2. Create a short a sweet advertisement
3. Pick keywords
4. Set a budget

This is usually done by cost per click and a daily budget is put on it for example if a cost per click is 10cent then your daily budget could be 10euro to keep track of costs. Your ad position is determined by  the click through rate. Although search engines prefer ugly web pages and lots of text it is also important to keep the design of your web page right and appealing to it's visitors. Your offline marketing can also be integrated into your online marketing. To measure your websites online success you can use Google analytics which will tell you how your website is doing. 
Google Analytics

The Facebook Era

I was just thinking today about when I did not have Facebook in my life... I remember when I joined it was when I just got back from Australia 2 years ago and I wanted to stay in contact with my friends over there. It was already so popular over there but I was still using BEBO another social networking site, which at the time was the bees knees of social networking in Ireland. Sadly Facebook ruined that for them.
I remember joining and none of my friends in Ireland had a Facebook so I was not very interested in using it but I used it sometimes.

Then came Erasmus, the year for Facebook. I became a Facebook addict in Germany. On it all day talking to people from home, talking to people from Erasmus, even talking to my friends that lived in the apartment next door. It just shows how lazy I am I would sit in bed and chat on it instead of calling in to them to have a proper conversation. I don't think its just me though, everyone does it. It's like no one wants to actually talk anymore. I suppose texting started this off but now you can send messages to anyone anywhere in the world through Facebook. I would be on Facebook all day in my apartment because I had no television and in the winter there was so much snow we did not leave home too often. We would take photos just to put on Facebook instead of to get printed and bring home to show family. This would never have happened 10 years ago. You could find out what events were on and where people were at all times by using Facebook therefore a phone was not needed in Germany to contact anyone. 

But I have come to the stage where I am over it. I log on for 2 mins and I log off, I log on, I log off, I log on, I log off...etc! It is boring, I have lost all interest in anything going on. At the moment there is two topics on everyones status's XFactor and Snow, neither of which I am interested in. But I get bored and go back on so thats why I'm thinking what did I do before when I was bored. It is crazy how much Facebook has taken over, everyone has a page even businesses. It was Facebook's 6th birthday this year (I didn't know websites had birthdays). The so-called age of privacy is gone! I would love to know if it will ever switch off like BEBO did. I never thought BEBO would and it did because people lost interest. Imagine if it shut down for one day what would people do??

I did add a video to my page today, this guy has kept me entertained when Facebook couldn't!

Web Standards & Accessibility

 I think web standards are essential because the internet is evolving continuously. There are different browsers and different ways of accessing the internet rather than just using a computer or laptop. Internet on the go is very popular now with the release of smart phones and iphones. So I think its important that the W3C have made standards so that internet is still easy to use and access from mobile devices. I have a Blackberry phone and I use it all the time to access my emails and surf the internet and I think it is so easy to use and really handy when I do not have access to the internet on my laptop or in college etc. Everything is really easy to read and they have made things like Facebook easy to use as well, although it is not like the traditional layout on a computer. I have even cut down on using the internet on my laptop because I can use it so easily on my phone.

More importantly is web accessibility. After our talk with the blind lecturer Roisin I really could see how important it is that all websites are accessible to everyone. When the program JAWS came on it was really fast and I could not understand most of it, but she was so used to it she could. But I really saw the problem and felt sorry for her when we were on a page with many pictures and she knew by the accessibility of the the page that it was full of images and she found it hard to navigate around. I closed my eyes for a minute and imagined only being able to hear the mans voice explaining what she was doing on the computer and it would really annoy me to have to rely on this. I am lucky as I found it very irritating to listen to that voice speaking.

I agree 100% with making websites accessible to people with a disability and I think more web pages need to be changed to facilitate for this. The internet is such a huge phenomenon and I believe the W3C are right to make it a law to have accessibility standards. With regards to the argument we had in class that if there was a disabled person in the class who needed to go a little slower than the rest of the class well I do not think the rest of the class should be going as slow as the person. I would suggest that the lecturer gave some extra classes to that person instead of the whole class waiting. I am not being discriminative I hope but if the disabled student was getting a few extra classes he/she would be on the same level as the rest of the class anyway.

So when I make my website I will be ensuring the following:

• I will provide text alternatives for my visual information
• Keep my pages clear and concise 
• I will ensure movements on the screen can be turned off
• Provide text capturing for any audio or video
• Use colour carefully
• I will stick to web standards
• Well navigated and well structured pages
• Alternative content for script, plug ins and applets

W3C Website

From eSex to eCommerce

First of all I would like to say, 57 billion dollars revenue world wide is made by the sex industry- that is an enormous amount. I suppose if you look at Hugh Hefner he is certainly doing well for himself (smart man). This Industry is certainly not suffering from the recession, looks like people are still spending money on porn even if they do not have money for their bills! I think this is a crazy amount for something which is not totally accepted by society.

From the statistics I have read there are many negative effects of internet pornography. The fact that 3 billion dollars is spent on child porn annually makes me feel a little bit sick. It seems that it is very easily accessed on the internet which is a horrible thing. To think that there are people out there who would spend money on that type of stuff is unbelievable, this is when pornography becomes completely seedy and dangerous. You never really know who is out there and who could be looking at your pictures. I would have thought that these people could be tracked with Geo location software or some type of software, but obviously we are not advanced enough.

I also cannot believe that 20% of men and 13% of women watch porn in work! Have they not got jobs to do?! I think they deserve to get caught if they are going to be doing that in work, around their colleagues and bosses. I just do not know how something like this would even be on their mind at work, maybe when they are at home but work is somewhere the atmosphere is usually serious and also generally you are surrounded by people. But I do accept that there is a huge industry out there for pornography and I think it is acceptable if it is kept somewhat 'innocent' and if child pornography is prevented. I'm not sure I agree with the statement that people have porn addictions but maybe you have to see it to believe it.

On a positive note I think that what internet porn has done to advance the internet is incredible! Video streaming, iplayer, live chat, payment systems, subscriptions, security, advertising with no seed capital, video conferencing, Geo location software, adult check age verification, web analysis software and affiliated networks. These are big innovations for the internet and I think it is great because we all use these technologies on a regular basis and I would never have thought they came from the porn industry. Without many of these technologies we could not have half of the websites we use regularly. Without payment systems there would be no online shopping, without security our computers could be full of viruses and without video streaming I could not watch any of my favorite programs before they are released in Ireland! So we should also be thankful for the internet sex industry. I think many people out there are not aware of these advances either and many of them are still afraid to talk about this industry openly or even accept it.

I wanted to mention the series Sex and the City. This show is also full of pornography and sex but it is shown on regular television channel and is accepted more than internet porn. It was so successful that 2 movies were made. I wonder why this sort of program is acceptable and seen as normal but internet porn is still not 100% accepted around the world. I think people still do not like to admit that they watch porn. But it is clear from the sex industry revenues that many many people do. I always thought it was just men who watched porn but obviously they are just the only ones who will admit it!

Walk Like An Eygptian...

Me and my Erasmus friends.

I went to Cairo last month to visit some friends from Erasmus, to see how they live and to have a holiday of course. It was an experience I can tell you! The first culture shock was before I even landed in Egypt, it was in Heathrow airport. I was in terminal 3 and this is where all the Far East and African flights depart from. I felt like the only white person in the airport. The staff and the other travelers were all foreign or of foreign origin. I could not believe it. There were people walking around in completely different clothes covered from top to toe, something I would not see often in Ireland. One thing I noticed was the huge amount of baggage they all carried as well it looked like they were bringing everything they owned abroad. Anyway I went through security and I was not the only white girl anymore.

When I arrived at Cairo airport I forgot I was not in Europe anymore and tried to walk through departures without a visa, luckily I was stopped or I may have been in some major trouble trying to get home! I was collected by my friends and now the next culture shock was about to begin. There are no rules of the road in Cairo. It was Midnight there and the roads were covered in cars, mini buses, vans and taxis bumper to bumper traffic with every car trying to get past the other. We eventually got to a road with less cars and it was 'get down the road as fast as you can!' as far as I could tell. I was hanging onto the seat for dear life- this seemed normal to my friends. It is very corrupt there, bribes are accepted for everything. The police do not enforce any laws even drink driving. It even seems acceptable to the people as they are so laid back when it comes to things outside of their religion. Islam sets the law.

Check out the crazy traffic in Cairo.

Speaking of religion the call to prayer is also spoken across the country 5 times a day but I did not see anyone actually praying while I was there. But they do follow their beliefs strictly and even the way you act in public has to be appropriate. This applied to me even though I was foreign it was clear I would go by their rules.

At night time the streets of Cairo are still busy but there is not a woman to be seen. There are thousands and thousands of men sitting outside cafes smoking Shisha and drinking Egyptian tea. This is like some sort of ritual they do everyday. Women do not go out after 11 p.m as it is dangerous and also seen as disrespectful to their families and to God. It seems discriminating to me but this is their culture I suppose. I stayed with my friends at all times at night because it would be dangerous for me being a foreigner there.

I discovered within the first few days that I had brought entirely the wrong wardrobe and could not wear most of my clothes as they were too revealing compared to the Muslim women who wear something called a Hegab. These cover every part of their body except their eyes. Initially it is quite scary looking but I was used to seeing women like this by the end of my trip. It was 40 degrees and I had to cover most of my body- not what an Irish person is used to in hot weather that is for sure! Another thing that surprised me was that the people looked so old fashioned and traditional but used the latest technology. Women would be dressed in a Hegab but have an iPhone 4 in their hand or a Blackberry.

Obviously I'm taller than the Pyramids! 

Egyptians all shout at each other (in Arabic) and speak to everyone this way. It seemed really rude to me but this is their way. It frightened me sometimes when they would do that because I thought they were getting into a fight and a few minutes later they would be laughing?! Strange. They also talk to anyone and make friends with someone nearly everywhere they go. They are by far the friendliest people I have ever met (even though it is said Irish people are the friendliest you will ever meet). The streets are crowded and filthy with cats running around everywhere and there are huge sky scrapers all over the city. It is not beautiful in the city but I saw a lot of beautiful places there including the famous Pyramids, completely breath taking you must see it to believe it!

Egypt was strange but the most amazing place I have ever seen. I would not go there without knowing some Egyptian people. Although they are extremely friendly they will rip you off in every way possible!

No Phone No Problem

Last week I decided that I would turn off my phone for 48 hours. I thought email on its own was not very challenging and the internet was a no-go because I spend most of my spare time on the internet. I think this is from living in Germany for a year without television and using the internet for entertainment and communication and to keep our sanity! I didn't have internet for 2 days and I had the 2 most boring days ever.The television in my student accommodation has only got 3 fuzzy channels so I rarely watch it and our Dvd's don't work in our Dvd player so really without the internet I would be pretty bored there too.

I also have more college work then I have ever had in my life at the moment so I need my email to keep up to date with work. Some of our lecturers send us notes through email because we are not set up on Moodle (after 5 weeks of college). So my phone was the only choice if I wanted to test myself. I think I am one of the only ones who did give up my phone. I think it's because some of my friends rely on their phones more then me.

On Saturday night I was in Dublin and the battery went on my phone. My charger was in Dundalk so I had no choice but to live without it on Sunday. I was working all day and then when I got home I wasn't feeling well so I went to bed quite early-I didn't really notice that my phone was off. I went back up to Dundalk on Monday morning and plugged my phone into the charger, left and went to college. That's when I was in eBusiness class and realised I already had over 24 hours of "phone fasting" done. That made it easier for me to complete the fast. I got home in the evening and looked at my phone- it had turned on automatically. It said on the screen that I had 4 texts and I really wanted to check them but I didn't! I turned it back off. All day I kept reaching into my bag to check my phone which was annoying cause there was nothing there but it was just out of habit. I had no way of telling the time either as I don't own a watch and usually use my phone. I couldn't set an alarm so I relied on my sister to wake me up on Monday morning.


We went out on Monday night and I didn't have my phone with me and apart from my handbag feeling empty I didn't mind too much. I knew I wouldn't be on my own. I came home that night and after 46 hours I turned my phone back on, so technically I didn't do 48 hours but I'm happy with 46 hours.

I better admit though I didn't lose all contact with the world because I used Skype both days to talk to my friends from Egypt. So I don't know if thats called cheating but I made some calls, maybe without Skype it would have been harder but it was easy enough to live without my phone. I think if I gave up everything I would have cracked up I cant even imagine the world without the technology we have. Nearly everything I do is by technology and I think a lot of my generation are brought up using the internet and email.

NAMA???

When we were given the title of this blog I really did not have a clue what I was going to write about. I thought my blog is only going to be a sentence long so I emailed my dad to find out what NAMA actually is. I'm not going to lie I have heard about it on the news and in newspapers but I still really don't know much about it. I rarely watch the news and in Germany I did not even have a television. So my dad filled me in on Irelands economic situation, which is always good to know I suppose.The impression I get is that without NAMA we would be a third world country. Our bankers were stupid and gave out loans to people who could not pay them back in times of financial crisis. So, luckily those bankers have been sacked! Now NAMA is looking after the country and making sure we can pay all this money back. NAMA is now the biggest property owner/ developer in Europe, am I right? The Irish tax payers (you and I) are now paying for the mistakes of all the banks- doesn't seem fair to me- not that I get taxed much but still not very fair to those who do. All of this confuses me and it doesn't interest me much because I don't have to worry too much about the Recession yet, not in the working world yet. Seems like the country is in a lot of debt but I just want to know when are we going to be a rich country again.

Back in college!

Having the Craic in Heilbronn

So fourth year has begun. Loving that this class is about going on facebook, Twitter and Gmail! I've been back from Germany for 6 weeks now and still missing Erasmus and all the friends I made. I'm wondering when I will stop wishing I was still on Erasmus. My friend Grace is going to Germany next week- taking my place in Heilbronn (she better live up to the name). I am so jealous but I've had my year abroad I suppose. Luckily I am going to Egypt in October to visit some friends there and discover a totally different culture.
Looks like this year is going to be a tough year, but I'm glad to be back. I'm going out tonight for Shannons birthday it's the first night back in Dundalk so I can't wait. Love our new house and living with the girls. Looking forward to continuing my blog, I'll keep you posted :) over and out amigos!