Ecommerce

Ah the joys of shopping online. I am not a big shopper in general, but like most people I think once I get started, I can easily get carried away. I think this was more likely to happen two or three years ago in the fat times, but that is a whole other discussion. Shopping online is great. You have everything you can ever want or need in one place, but with most things online it can be difficult at times to find what you want and if you are like most Americans like me, you will probably have very little patience to get what you want by mail when you know you can get it from a brick and mortar.

Therefore shopping online for me has now become a place of finding special items unavailable elsewhere or getting awesome deals with minimal hassle. Best place to find hard to find items is Google.com. A quick search will usually lead me to relevant links where I can find the odd sized seatpost, out of print record, obscure artists prints, etc… As everyone has experience, Google has a simple direct quick usability that keeps me coming back even though I am getting slowly suspicious of their back room activities as they partner with the government and growing army legal professionals. On the more traditional side of online shopping, www.groupon.com has become a new favorite. The site offers anyone a 24 hour window to purchase a deal of the day. The deal can be related to anything from food to clothes to a round of golf. Typically the discount is close to 50%. A friendly and well designed site directs users to the deal and invites them to subscribe to daily emails on the deal of the day. Not only are the savings remarkable, but the products available are usually of very high quality. Thanks to groupon, I golfed at some of the areas most well regarded courses for half of and bought my girlfriend a year long membership to the Art Institute for $40. The icing on the cake is that the transaction process online is very simple and return users will find it even easier to buy the deal of the day. Usability, value, experience, update all rate highly on this site and I encourage all of you to join. If you do, please join through the below link so I can get referral credit.

http://www.groupon.com/r/uu70626

Horizon Realty Sucks balls

article

Saw this story and was amazed. I understand why Horizon Realty was offended. People say mean things all the time about so many different things from people to ideas. From the article, Horizon's perspective that this malicious tweet is public and available to anyone. Unfortunately, Horizon doesn't understand microblogging and social media and it bit them in the ass. There is no issue here because Amanda's tweet has no weight. It is not presented as a statement of fact. She is not an expert on rental companies or residential real estate. She is a frustrated bartender. Sure, in her circle of friends, there will be those who take her message to heart, but that is not illegal...

Or is it? In this crazy legal system our country has devised, I imagine Horizon might be able to win this case. After all in America, you are now Guilty until proven innocent. Just check out the below article and what the police man says. This man is still in jail 6 months later awaiting trail.

Guilty until proven innocent

Anyways....

Apparently, Horizon Reality forgot to look at her other tweets to get a sense. To me it is automatically assumed that her statement is a not based on an actual conversation or document. In fact, since it is a tweet, the overwhelming majority of users probably assume that this is a rant based on emotion and frustration. Horizon really missed the mark here and ultimately hurt themselves by attacking their customer through the legal process. It brought them much deserved bad press and showed that microblogging is a tool that can lead to real significant media exposure.

Online news and journalism

The news cycle created by technology demands all things now and this leaves the current state of news open to criticism. The constant flow of new information leaves important details out as new information arrives. In the past details and facts were necessary to deliver news. Now "filler" stories flash in between "real" news stories that are never to be heard from again. This is especially relevant on online news media. The contstant updating and refreshing leaves fleeting glimpses of real world issues and events. The online news industry also blurs the line between fact and opinion.
This flighty attitude also extends into the accuracy of the news. Due to the cut and paste, get it now attitude, journalists are willing to distribute information that is not confirmed. I am not a journalist, but I have to believe that the priority should be delivering clear, concise, and objective news.
Society, media, finances, government, technology, have all changed the way we demand and process information. This leaves the traditional journalistic ideal behind. It takes too much time and news media can't wait while other stories are reported. Journalistic ideals are/were upheld in media like Frontline, The Economist, and Meet the Press (w/ Tim Russert). Where do you think the journalistic ideal still lives today?