Chapter 8!

This chapter was a very educational chapter because it taught us a lot about online shopping, which is a large part of society today.  This chapter taught me the proper ways and techniques that I should practice in the future with my business in order to be successful in the online shopping field.  One of the most important points that this chapter focused on was ratings and reviews.  I think that ratings and reviews are very important for the benefits of a business because customers rely mostly on the opinions of former customers.  Personally, I rely on the reviews of customers from stores.  I feel that I would have the same experience as these other customers.  I feel like this chapter mostly focused on the potential downfalls of social commerce.  I think that it could have emphasized more on the benefits of social commerce.

I have definitely shopped through ads before.  I mostly see useful ads on Pinterest.  I don't really pay that much attention to the ads on Facebook.  On Pinterest, it gives you a direct link to the clothing sites that you are interested in.  The second most common social media site that I shop through ads with is Instagram.  Boutiques follow my account often, which leads to me checking out their accounts and sometimes ordering clothes.  Ads can be influential at times.

I think that I would rather shop in person rather than online.  I can try things on in person.  Whenever I order things online, they usually do not fit how I expected them too.  For this reason, I like trying on the clothes in person.

I think that it is very important to rely on reviews.  If customers take the time to type a review, it must mean that the business is either very good or very bad.  If a review is very good, it usually influences me to try the place out and see if it is a good run for its review.  If it is bad, I usually don't have that much of a desire to try the business.

Chapter 6

Hello to all!  It's time for the weekly Saturday blog...
Today we will be talking about social publishing.  The website that I have chosen to discuss today is pinterest!  I picked this site because I feel like it offers several good examples of social publishing and because everyone of course loves pinterest.  The site itself is http://www.pinterest.com/.  Throughout the whole website, there are several characteristics that would apply to the SEO category.  Some posts use hashtags, while others use keys words.  You can search based on the keywords, hashtags, titles, board names, etc.  There are so many different ways to explore this website based on your own desired needs and wants.  An SMO characteristic of this website is the way that the site allows you to "pin" and "like" posts.  You can also share your favorite posts on other social medias to spread the word to your friends and followers.  I do not think that this site needs much improvement as of right now.  They are constantly updating it, so it just keeps getting better and better.
Some good keywords that would accurately describe this site would be: trendy, popular, lifestyle, fashion, home décor, cooking, DIY, inspiration.  These keywords are what the website is most made up of and what it most exemplifies in my eyes.
The keyword that I searched was "DIY."  This is short for "do it yourself."  Whenever I searched this keyword, only one sponsored site came up.  It actually said the word "Ad" underneath it in a tiny yellow square.  Of all of the websites that popped up, none of the DIY sites were pinterest.  Pinterest is supposed to be one of the most popular websites for DIY projects, and I think that they could use more keywords in this category in order to attract people whenever they search these types of projects.

Design Thinking Process

Hello again! This week classes with the design thinking workshops were really fun for me.  I think it was a cool change in the normal class atmosphere and a chance to really show our creative side and practice doing so with a team of my friends.  Not only was this week a fun week, bu tit was also a week that was able to teach me a lot about the importance of design thinking in a business or program and how i can use this type of thinking to best possible benefit.
Through these workshops, I was able to better grasp the actual idea of brainstorming and what it really is.  Before the workshops, I knew that it had to do with coming up with random ideas, I just didn't know that you could be so broad and crazy with the ideas that you came up with.  Doing these brainstorming exercises showed me just how capable I am of coming up with cool and unique ideas and thoughts on my own.  It showed me how easy it is to be creative when thinking about a designated subject.
As you can see, my favorite step of the entire process was the step of brainstorming.  Whenever the teacher gave each group a subject to brainstorm about, it was fun to write down whatever popped into my head.  I never knew that i could possibly come up with that many thoughts about one subject within such a short amount of time.  it really opened my eyes to how many possibilities of creativeness exist within each subject and matter.  Once i started, the ideas just kept flowing.  It was a nonstop process of information for me.
I think that the design thinking process could definitely be used to my advantage in my future career processes.  Without brainstorming, it would be extremely difficult to come up with new ideas.  If i were to open up a store or boutique, like I someday hope to, I would certainly need to have a thorough understanding on the entire brainstorming process.  This process taught me how to look at a subject, completely take it apart and distinguish every part of it, then bring the parts back together to invent a greater solution and approach to the matter.
Overall, I think that this week was both very fun and educating for the whole class.