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I went to the #InciteXchange event last month and listened to Jack Hughes. Jack Hughes is the Founder and Chairman of Top Coder. During the presentation, Jack Hughes talked about the importance of encouraging the youth to participate in innovative process. That is one of the basis for Top Coder, which hosts online computer programming competitions. Below are some pictures from the event

I learned many things in the Social Media Innovation class including the important of establishing on online presence for your business and how to do it, how the search engine is built as well as many many applications available on the Internet such as Xtranormal, Google Analytics and sitemeter. However, the most interesting experience for me when taking this class was the online marketing campaign for my Facebook Fan Page. Specifically, our group had four people and we have to come up with an idea for the Facebook fan Page that we will promote. After some discussion, we decided to establish a Fan Page named “Coupon Box,” which provides our fans with coupon codes of many well-known clothing and shoes brands. We used many different techniques to promote for the site such as blogging, carrying a facebook ad campaign, posting introduction video on YouTube,etc. It is interesting how I can apply what I learned from marketing into the campaign such as how we define our market segment and how to differentiate our fan page. Overall, it was an amazing experience that got to learn and use  marketing and technology at the same time

Viral marketing happens when the popularity and adoption of a product or service increase thanks to the word of mouth of the current customers/users. With that definition in mind, it is certain that all of us have, at one point, participated in viral marketing. For example, you bought an Apple macbook and you tell your friends that the product is good and you really like it because so and so. You are participating in viral marketing for Apple!! Personally, the product that I often do viral marketing a lot is food. When I go eat at someplace and I think the food is good, I will not only come back but I will tell my friends about it. Many of you who visit my blog may see the post about Victoria Secret vs. Tokyo Buffet that I wrote a few weeks ago.  The reason why I chose Tykyo Buffet was that I like the food there, so I wanted to write about it in my blog. Although the post does not directly market for the Buffet, my blog’s statistic shows that a strong traffic attracted by the post. Thus, some people would be introduce to the place after visit my blog.

Regard to network effect, viral marketing is more or less likely to be successful for products with  network effects. The network effects of communication technologies and networks such as the Internet, social networking, and the World Wide Web will provide the means for people to communicate with more people instantly. Thus, it enhances the effectiveness of viral marketing.

I’ve been checking-in using Foursquare and collecting points for the last 10 days. The way the points on Foursquare work is that you are awarded points with each of your check-in. Your check-ins earn more points if you are the first of your friends to check in, it is the first time you check-in the place, or you are the mayor of the place, etc. Only the points you are collected during the last 7 days count. Thus, in order to have a high ranking in the leadership board, you need to check-in often instead of trying to rack -up the points for the whole week and then do nothing after that.

I do not have a smart phone so I use my laptop to check-in instead. In order to check-in using mylaptop, I need to install a plug-in in FireFox.The plug-in is available here. It’s a good alternative to participate in Foursquare in my case. However, since not everywhere I go have an Internet connection, my check-in is limited. As of 10:00pm April 9th, 2011, I checked in 23 times for the last 7 days and earned 92 points!!

As of April 7, 2011, I have collected 4 badges on foursquare:

• Newbie: I got it when I did my first check-in
• Local: I got this badge when I check in my apartment building 3times in one week
• Bender: I got this on the fourth day checking – in foursquare
• Adventurer: I got this badge by checking-in at least 10 ventures

Those are the badges I collected so far. Looking forward to collecting more badges and more fun. To friend me on foursquare, please click here

From Digg’s website

Digg is a place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web. From the biggest online destinations to the most obscure blog, Digg surfaces the best stuff as voted on by our community. We’re here to provide tools for our community to discover content, discuss the topics that they’re passionate about, connect with like-minded people, and make some new friends in the process. By looking at information through the lens of the collective community on Digg, you’ll always find something interesting and unique. We’re committed to giving every piece of content on the web an equal shot at being the next big thing.

Below is the screenshot I took after submitting my first item:

Foursquare is a location-based social  media website, primarily for letting your friends know where you are and helping you figuring out where they are.You can check-in where you go using your smart phones and  the application will let you know if any of your friends is also at or near that place. Additionally, you can collect points, prize “badges,” for the number of places that you check-in.  Eventually, you can earn coupons, for going about your everyday business.

And it’s becoming popular. Foursquare now has almost 275,000 users in less than a year. Join Foursquare today to explore this new big hit in social media!!!!

You can connect to me on FourSquare by clicking here

I’ve just recently created a LinkedIn account. If you are a college student and are looking for to build a network in order to land an internship or full-time job, it is vital that you join LinkedIn. For those you haven’t heard about LinkedIn, as defined in LinkedIn website

LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 100 million members and growing rapidly. LinkedIn connects you to your trusted contacts and helps you exchange knowledge, ideas, and opportunities with a broader network of professionals.

It is easy to set up a LinkIn account.

•  First, you need to create an account. All you need for this step is an email address. After you enter your email address and password, you will need to go to you email account to confirm your email.
• Now, you should be able to log in LinkedIn using the email address and password you just created. You will see that the structure of LinkedIn is similar to you resume. LinkedIn is a social network, yet it looks nothing like Facebook. You should come be professional in LinkedIn because people do get job and internship through their connections in LinkedIn. People (i.e. connections) in LinkedIn is mostly your employers, potential employers and co-workers rather than friends.
• If you already have your resume polished, it’s very quick to set up a LinkedIn account. You can first import your resume. The information about your education, work experience, ect. will be automatically added in LinkedIn.

• When you have the bone of your account set up, the rest is self-explanatory. You can add the a summary about your self, your specialty, some additional information (i.e. the organization that you are in, your blog and website, honors and awards that you had, etc.), and personal information (email, birthday, etc. ) if you want to.
• Once you get your profile set up, you can now use your email to look for people you know to request to connect. LinkedIn categorizes connection into 1st connections (people in your network) and 2nd connections (people in the network of your connections). Thus, if you want to get to know some people in a company but you do not have connections with anyone in that company, you can search to see if any of your connections have connection with people in that company. Then, you can ask that person to connect you and your desired connections.

To view my profile, click here. Good luck!

Hanoi- the capital:

To visit HANOI is to steep yourself in history, tradition, and legend in a capital that has been inhabited continuously for almost a millenium. Visitors often note that the city is quieter, greener, and “cooler” than other big cities of Vietnam. Hanoi’s present architecture is mainly from the 19 th and 20 th centuries, and the French-built section of the town is largely intact. Yet, the city preserves many old religious temples and shrines dedicated to the nation’s heroes or deities, who supported the farmers to cultivate and protect the fertile land on the Red River right bank and gather the first commercial guilds to form what later became an exciting urban town

(Left: The Huc Bridge; Right: Hoan Kiem Lake)

Nhatrang City:

Established as a port town in the 1920s, Nha Trang now has a population of 280,000, and serves as the capital of Khanh Hoa province. Fishing is the major industry. It is one of the nicest cities in southern Vietnam, blessed with lovely beaches, 19 beautiful surrounding islands and great ice cream! To meet the increasing number of local and foreign tourists, different kinds of hotels and guests houses have been built along the beachfront, intermingled with old French villas. It’s pleasant to  cycling in Nha Trang and the surroundings, since the city has wide boulevards and little traffic. On days where it is too warm to cycle, you should take a boat out to the islands for a day of snorkeling in turquoise water and coral reefs, have a fantastic seafood banquet for lunch, and return to town just in time to wander down to the beach for a late afternoon beer of fruit shake.

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