Jul
11
2010
Travelling starts on Monday!
The coming Monday will be the first time I travel for work. I’ll be travelling to Regina every Monday morning and returning to Vancouver every Thursday evening, and this will go on for the next 3 months or so.
Do people eventually hate it?
I remember in my interviews, the interviewers kept on emphasizing that there’ll be lots of travelling involved. They repeated it so much that I got the feeling a lot of people join the company saying they love travelling, but eventually hate it. I’m guessing it’s because…
1). Get tired of moving around so much and just want to settle down (e.g. get homesick)
2). Non-ideal flight times (e.g. midnight flights)
3). Long waiting times due to flight delays or indirect flights
4). Constantly being in a rush (e.g. have to head for the client site immediately after getting off the plane)
(Feel free to share any other reasons you can think of!)
Will I hate it?
I don’t think so? When I did co-op in Ottawa back in 2007, my friend and I would travel to/from Toronto almost every weekend. Usually we’d leave Ottawa immediately after getting off work on Fridays, and return Monday morning. When I did co-op in Waterloo in 2008, I greyhound-ed to Toronto every Friday afternoon and came back late Sunday night. I’ve also done a couple of midnight flights (usually because they were cheapest). The inconvenience of travelling around at inconvenient times… that never bothered me too much before.
I love to read, so as long as I have a magazine or book with me, or have 24/7 access to the Internet (e.g. my BlackBerry, and now recently my iPad), it’s almost impossible for me to ever get impatient or bored.
Things to look forward to
1). Racking up frequent flier miles
2). Hotels – I always liked staying in hotel rooms…
3). Change of scenery, food – I love eating out so it’ll be nice to try the local cuisine there
4). Become a master at packing – I always sucked at packing clothing and fitting things into a suitcase. Hopefully I’ll eventually master this talent.
5). Flexible travelling – I’m not sure if we get this option for this project since we’re on training, but I’m definitely looking forward to the flexible flybacks in the future. My closest friends are all in Toronto and it always puts a big smile on my face whenever I get to visit them!
How will I prepare for this first week of travelling and not get bored?
It’s too soon to tell whether I’ll like and be well-prepared for travelling. I’ll post an update after a couple of weeks. But for now, here’s how I’ll prepare for the first week of travel:
- Bring one book and one magazine
- Download a couple of episodes of my favorite anime onto my iPad
- Bookmarked the Books24×7 site to read on my iPad
- Bring a personal item that reminds me of home
- Look up at least one restaurant I want to try in Regina
It also helps that my wireless plan includes My5 Canada-Wide, so I can keep in unlimited contact with the people I love without worrying about long-distance charges.
The list will expand as time goes by I’m sure, but overall, I’m pretty sure I won’t get tired of travelling. It takes a lot to bore me 
If I lose my 3G connection or all my devices suddenly go out of battery though, then yes I’m doomed…
Let’s wait and see..
It’s too soon to say anything without experiencing the weekly travels first-hand. Here’s to hoping that I won’t soon hate it!
Jul
11
2010
Sources:
- The Daily Cloud
- Wall Street Journal
- The Daily Cloud
- Wall Street Journal
Fujitsu announced today how the business will rely heavily on cloud computing. Key points include:
- Will spend 25% of its 2010 capital investment budget (that’s $1.1 billion!) on supporting a cloud computing infrastructure
- Create 5000 new cloud jobs in 2011
- President Masami Yamamoto: “Our medium- and long-term growth depends on cloud computing”
Read the sources for the full details. Microsoft also recently announced that they will be cutting some jobs (albeit a very small proportion) to restructure its workforce towards a more cloud computing focus (ITPro).
I remember reading some skepticism one or two years ago, with critics saying cloud computing is just a hype and won’t offer any real business benefits. It’s great to read that more and more companies are placing heavier reliance and emphasis on cloud services.
Jul
11
2010
Source: Engadget
The Pew Research Center released their Mobile Access survey results recently, which studies how people use their cell phones. They reported that usage of non-voice data applications has grown signicantly over the past year, i.e. that people are using their phones for non-phone-calls-related purposes a lot more now.
Here are my responses
I use a BlackBerry regularly (love it!) and recently started using an iPad (love it as well!). My responses to this survey would be:
- Take a picture – Yes, although I’m generally not a camera person. I take pictures when I see something interesting or memorable to take. The BlackBerry 9000 camera isn’t that good either; maybe I’ll take pictures more often if I had a new Android or iPhone.
- Send or receive text messages – Definitely use this a lot. I prefer text messages for asking quick questions or arranging plans. It’s just so much faster and convenient than phone calls or voicemails.
- Play a game - Sometimes. When commuting, I like to surf the Internet much more so I rarely play games on my BlackBerry or iPad. I only do so when I lose my 3G connectino
- Send or receive email – YES!!!!!! I love my BlackBerry because I use it to check and send emails like crazy. Really helped me stay productive and sane during school projects. Made good use of those 45-minute commutes to/from school and whenever there’s a waiting line.
- Access the Internet – YES!!!! Obsessed with Google News and tech blogs and what not. And of course surfing the Internet became a lot better since I got my iPad
- Play music – Nope, never. I got an iPod before my BlackBerry so I’ve just stuck to habit. Once I get a newer phone later this year (new BlackBerry or HTC EVO or other Android phone), I’ll probably use the phone for music-playing though
- Send or receive instant messages – Yes, my BlackBerry allows me to have 24/7 access to MSN (although I don’t use it that often now) and of course our excluse BBM club.
- Record a video – NEVER. Again I’m not a camera person so that’s probably why.
Jul
11
2010
Here’s a quote from the “4-Hour Workweek” by Timothy Ferriss (Amazon)
“‘Expert’ in the context of selling product means that you know more about the topic than the purchaser. No more. It is not necessary to be the best – just better than a small target number of your prospective customers.”
I really like this line and feel that it can be applied to life in general, not just salespeople. Especially for recent university graduates like me, we may sometimes feel intimidated when meeting and working with highly intelligence, successful, and experienced consultants, managers, senior managers, executives, and so on.
But hey – don’t lose confidence! You can still be an expert at topics you like and wow others in the workplace.
What do I want to be an expert on? Many things – I love to read, research, and take notes on business and tech topics. One recent trend I’m especially interested in is cloud computing. I hope to become a cloud computing “expert” in a project team some day!
Remember – an expert doesn’t have to be the absolute best in that topic, he just needs to know more than his audience!
So what do YOU want to be an expert in?
Jul
11
2010
Have you ever seen notices like these in your apartment or office building?
I was walking back to my apartment building in Richmond after lunch one day. My house keys were dangling from my pants pocket. I noticed an old lady in front of me unlock and open the front door of the building. I didn’t increase my speed when she did that, I just continued walking forward at my normal pace.
I honestly was not any bit upset or annoyed that I was delayed like this. Instead, I was very happy to see that there is at least one tenant in the building that is diligently trying to protect the security of everyone in this building.
“Please do not hold the door open for strangers”
“When entering the parking lot, please make sure the gate closes fully and that no one has followed you in”
Obviously these notices serve to protect the security of its tenants. By letting strangers into the building, you may be allowing thiefs to rob apartments, offices, cars, or even people.
But isn’t it awkward? I mean we’ve been raised to hold the door open for strangers as a sign of courtesy. So if we notice someone behind us and he looks friendly enough, would you really swipe your key card, go in, and purposely close the door in front of that guy? * awkward * !!
Well, a recent experience at my apartment building opened my eyes….
I was walking back to my apartment building in Richmond after lunch one day. My house keys were dangling from my pants pocket. I noticed an old lady in front of me unlock and open the front door of the building. I didn’t increase my speed when she did that, I just continued walking forward at my normal pace.
As she entered, she noticed me and turned around:
Her: “Excuse me, do you live in this building? What floor do you live on?”
Me: “Yes I live on the ___-th floor” (and dangled my keys to show her)
Her: Sorry, can you close the door and open it with your keys?”
(I close the door and open it with my keys. Meanwhile she doesn’t walk away or take the elevator – she stands there and waits for me).
Her: * smiles * Thank you for doing that. I just wanted to make sure that only tenants enter the building. You understand, right?
I honestly was not any bit upset or annoyed that I was delayed like this. Instead, I was very happy to see that there is at least one tenant in the building that is diligently trying to protect the security of everyone in this building.
And guess what? That wasn’t awkward at all!!
Summary: The next time you’re swiping your key card to enter the office or apartment building, make sure the door closes fully behind you. Don’t hold the door open for someone because you’re afraid they’ll think you’re impolite otherwise. As that friendly old lady taught me, this really isn’t an awkward situation. You can still close the door in front of that person while remaining polite
May
26
2010
Hong Kong vacation: May 2010
Just got back from my HK vacation a couple of days ago. As a Canadian ‘tourist’ visiting, everything seemed super cheap there. For example:
- McDonald’s big mac meal was on a promotion for only $20 HKD (~ $2.70 CND with a 7.4% exchange rate), and other McD meals are normally about $3 to $3.5 at most.
- Standard bubbletea is only $12 HKD (~ $1.62 CND) and tastes really good too!
- Some pretty nice clothing at casual stores like Giordano and Bossini go for < $20 CND (shirts) and < $30 CND (jeans), and these are the standard prices too. Discounts and sales bring the price down further
- No sales tax to pay, and tips aren’t forced upon you like in Canadian restaurants
Overall a really great trip, and apparently my mom has a lot of really wealthy friends in HK, so dining out was always a very enjoyable experience
Summer plans
Other than personal plans and goals for the summer, also have some website or project-related goals to set…
- BlackBerry apps development – Started working on a simple BlackBerry app that I hope to release (probably for free?) in early June. It’s been really fun developing an app, and I plan to do more this summer!
- BlackBerry apps blogging – As a beginner to BlackBerry apps development, I’ve encountered some bumps along the way and I plan to blog about these so that other beginners won’t have to be stuck too long at them like I was!
- GISH-N project: CPSC 319’s GISH-N project (a PHP web app) was certainly one of the most intense, exciting, and memorable projects done during my UBC undergraduate degree. Now we get to work on GISHN ver 2.0 for the client this summer..
- Technology news blogging – My earlier blog posts this year were part of a term assignment for the UBC COMM 464 (e-Marketing) course and focused mostly on social media. I hope to do more blog posts this summer, covering any technology or social media topics or interesting news.
Hopefully all these projects / plans go well 
Mar
23
2010
Moms are everywhere online now!
Studies show that moms are becoming more and more involved online. For example “Tech-Savvy Moms Increase Social Media Use by 462%” found that the number of American tech-savvy moms who use social media jumped an astonishing 462% since 2006. Another blog entry – “Retailers Can Lure Moms with Social Media, Free Stuff” found that 60% of moms use Facebook and 15% maintain their own blogs.
Furthermore, moms love to talk online – over 93% either seek for advice or give advice before buying a produce or service. To put it simply, online moms have a LOT of influence on moms’ purchasing behavior. We can see how much influence they have in a recent news article regarding P&G Pampers diapers.
Example – Pampers gets attacked by Mommy bloggers
Source: Pampers feels wrath of mommy bloggers
Pampers recently executed a major innovative change to its Cruiser diaper design, making it thinner, more absorbent, and more environmental-friendly. However, one American mom – Rosana Shah – soon noticed that the thinner diaper wasn’t as absorbent as before and voiced her complaint. Although P&G quickly issued her an apology and refund, the mom believed this incident is something that all moms should know about. So she blogged…
Now, mommy bloggers and Groundswell moms everywhere read about it, talk about it, share it. Negative comments about the P&G brand have reached over 75 websites and several social networking sites.
Key take-away points
A huge proportion of moms are moving online to find and share parenting advice. They aren’t just spectators either – they actively talk to each other. In fact, 15% of them are Mommy bloggers. The recent P&G Pampers disaster and how quickly it spread amongst online moms should illustrate how much influence online mom conversations can have on any company that targets kids and parents.
Mar
23
2010
Last month when we learned about viral videos in our e-marketing course, I recall the prof asking – “What makes a good viral video?” I was skimming through some of the viral videos in the Doritos Viralocity viral video campaign I blogged about last week, and I thought of one possible good answer:
Viral videos can free-ride off viral trends
For instance, consider two of the top 4 videos that’s currently winning in this viral campaign…
1. Doritos Tablet – parodies the new Apple iPad
2. Snax Effect – parodies the infamous AXE commercials.
These rank in top 4 out of 1000+ video submissions
These two videos rank in the top 4 in the viral contest. The other two belong to Peter Chao who, as mentioned before, is a Youtube celebrity from Vancouver. His own celebrity status may have fueled his success in this viral contest, so I’ll exclude him from this blog post.
Wow – these two videos combined earned around 2 million points so far (from Youtube views, Diggs, Tweets, etc…) That’s amazing. They parodied the iPad and AXE commercials very well, free-rode off those trends, and are in the lead of this contest.
Implications?
To summarize, I think that if you’re a small company or individual with little brand recognition, making a viral video that parodies some current viral trend would be a great way to ensure it gets spread rapidly.
Mar
23
2010
During the same National Business and Technology Conference referenced in the earlier WIND Mobile entry, there was also a social media panel. I took the opportunity to ask a question…
Question: “I hear that many companies avoid social media entirely because they fear getting negative responses. How would you convince these companies to change their mind?”
Answer 1: “Haters are actually just supporters who want your love and validation”
My thoughts: This response stuck in my head. The panel is right – excluding the haters who post negativity on your site because they have nothing better to do, most haters post on your site because they’ve had a negative experience, feel neglected, and want you to offer your love to them again. They still support your brand – that’s why they posted on your official site and not an unofficial 3rd party community. They’d love to actively support you again, they’re just waiting for you to respond!
For example – consider this Macy’s customer (below) who complains of poor customer service at one of the stores. From the wording and tone of the message, you can tell that this customer is a bit upset, feels wronged, and seems to want someone to tell her she deserves better. And that’s what Macy’s did – they acknowledged her. Sometimes it’s as simple as that.
Answer 2: “They’re going to be saying negative comments regardless, so you might as well provide a standard outlet where they can vent and you can respond”
My thoughts: Very true, and I’ve heard this in our e-marketing class and from reading other blogs and articles on the topic. If people have negative comments to share, they WILL share them regardless of whether you provide an official outlet or not. In an official outlet (e.g. the Macy’s Facebook page), the majority of the people are positive about your company and may help respond to change that negativity into something positive (and you can join in and respond as well of course). In an unofficial hate outlet (e.g. Futureshopsucks.com), the majority of the people there hate your company as well and will probably reinforce the hatred conveyed in each negative comment.
So, since people will say negative things about your brand no matter what, why not provide them an official outlet where you and brand evangelists can monitor, control, and minimize the negative impact it has on your brand?
Other reads:
If you’re interested, here are some other good reads on the topic:
1. “How to Respond to Negative Comments on Blogs and Social Media”: Four experts in social media share best practices on how to respond to negative comments.
2. “Social Media FAQ #1: What if they leave negative comments on my site/blog/forum?” – Author shares thoughts on why you shouldn’t avoid negativity and how you should respond to them.
3. “HOW TO: Deal With Negative Feedback in Social Media” – Another author shares similar insight on how to deal with negative feedback.
Mar
23
2010
We’ve been learning so much about the benefits of social media lately, so it was a nice surprise to read the Sprouter blog posting: Your social media strategy won’t save you. The author summarizes a Social Media Breakfast talk she attended, where the main take-away point was that a social media strategy – while great and all – cannot be your ONLY strategy in reaching your audience.
Your Social Media Strategy Won’t Save You
View more presentations from Tara Hunt.
The presentation slides describes 4 main reasons why social media can’t be the only strategy:
- Social media doesn’t scale
- Social media is a band-aid
- Social media is about…. being social
- Trust is at an all-time low
I found these slides to be a great and very informative read. The presentation slides and the Sprouter blog do a great job at conveying the message, so I won’t attempt to regurgitate it here and mess it up. I just wanted to say that I found Points #2 and 3 to be most interesting.
2. Social media is a band-aid: If you have a reputation for poor customer support or lousy services and you join some social networking site (e.g. Twitter or Facebook) to engage with your customers, sure that’s great and all and maybe it helps your customer support, but how did that change your reputation for lousy services? For example – “what happens when customers start asking – ‘WTF don’t you fix the problem instead of just being my Twitter buddy?’”
3. Social media is about… being social: They cite another study that studied the reasons why adults and teens use online networks. 90% of them for example use it to stay in touch with friends. “Nowhere even close to the top of that list is the desire to be sold to… or find interesting new products to buy… or have a chit-chat with a brand representative”. I must admit that I never considered this before. We learn about following the Groundswell approach of doing technographic profiles on your target customers and make sure they’re very active as Joiners before joining social networking sites. But really – even if they’re very active, they’re probably active in socializing with friends. There’s no guarantee that they’ll be enthusiastic about socializing with businesses…
Overall a really great read, and I recommend you to check out the blog posting that summarizes the presentation, and to check out the presentation slides themselves.