Although Yahoo! used to be one of the internet giants, it has recently been viewed as a cyber “basket case”. The company heavily relied on advertising to generate revenue, rather than a heavy flow of traffic from an increasing number of visitors to the website. Internet companies were willing to throw caution to the wind, in certain respects, because they felt confident in buying an advertisement on the Yahoo website. However, when these companies soon started realizing that traffic was not getting them enough business, many of them backed out and discontinued to advertise. Yahoo faced another challenge because they defined themselves as a media company when clearly, they were a programming/technology company. Their identity was not clearly established. Even though they operated as a software and technology business, the fear of the giant Microsoft Company deterred them from associating as such a company. If the company had chosen to seek out traffic and gain more hits from internet surfers, then they would probably not suffer such a loss when other start-up businesses stopped asking for as many advertisements. The ambiguity of job description was a hindrance to the company, as well as its lack of vision for where the company was going. The valuable lesson that can be learned from this company is that goals and visions must be clearly established in the beginning. And when it comes to internet business, (which most companies are switching to, or at least including,) then customer attraction is a key component of success. Yahoo should have maybe focused on retaining heavy traffic, rather than prompting businesses to seek advertisement. Yahoo is not doomed to an “extinct internet dinosaur” title, IF they react quickly and appropriately. However, they must clearly define their goals, and act swiftly to counteract the damage of the company.

This week, Robin Wauters of TechCrunch posted a brief article revealing some interesting market research data from eMarketer™ Digital Intelligence. Their extensive research shows that 57% of America is on Facebook. Nearly three out of every five people you pass have Facebook accounts. That is an astounding number, even for those of us who are familiar with Mark Zuckerberg’s successful social network. For some more perspective, nine out of ten social network users have a Facebook account and only 11% of Americans use Twitter. How has Facebook succeeded to such an incredible extent? Well, here are a few thoughts I have.

1.       We live in a fast-paced society that is becoming less personal. Cell phones and texting and the internet and email were the beginning, and social networking is adding to this tendency.

2.       College students and 20-somethings generally set trends in our culture. Their parents want to be young and relevant and kids want to grow up and be “cool.” Since Facebook expanded from initially only targeting college students, these markets have exploded as Facebook users.

3.       Facebook is very user-friendly (though some may argue it is increasingly too complicated). Myspace suffered from advertisements and spam, a reputation as a pervert hangout and exorbitant applications and confusing layouts. So far, Facebook has avoided these pitfalls and is much more attractive to the general public of computer users.

Growing old with Facebook should be interesting. Where will it be in three years, five or even twenty? Surely the generation who saw the invention of personal computers wondered the same thing.

As I read blog posts, news stories and articles I’ve learned to avoid the comments section. Why? Well, anybody who has read ANYTHING controversial (and sometimes not) on the internet has experienced annoying comments from people who are either ignorant on the topic or just like to cause trouble. Reading their comments often just maddens and frustrates me about the irritating people in the world.

Just as in real life, some of these individuals actually engage in this behavior with the sole intention of stirring up anger and internet arguments (which we all know go nowhere). The term for this group is “trolls.” Sadly, trolls have also been known to post disturbing and extremely offensive content in response to tragedies, such as teenage suicides.

Is this guy stirring up anger online?

Trolling has even come to a point of social organization. A look back into this site’s archive finds an excellent post from Cody Crumrine with a number of extensive responses. This blog post covers the “Anonymous” group, which hosts controversial online protests directed towards religions, movements and activities.

A suggestion for the rest of us: ignore inflammatory remarks on the internet. In my opinion, taking up your cause on the internet with a pseudonym is cowardly. Come out in the open if you feel what you have to say is worthwhile. And be civil!

An issue that has been recently brought to my attention is how effective and important a name can be. My grandma told me a story this weekend that really sparked my interest in the thought. She had a friend that owned a small florist business. It was called ooh la la flowers. Well my grandma so innocently typed in the name and clicked on the first hit. To her dismay what she got was not a picture of a beautiful flower arrangement, but a porn site!

So why would this lady choose to make that the name of her company? One has to take into account the fact that that could be an issue. My poor grandmother has been scared by the internet and a poor choice of naming. At first naming a company was simple. You thought of something that would catch the eye of the American public. Then when things started going international you had to make sure that your name didn’t have another meaning in a different country. Now it is vital to make sure that your company name will work with the internet. Who knows maybe this lady gets a lot of accidental hits from people trying to look at porn, but for the most part it would seem that it would hurt her potential customers. The internet can work for you or against you, you just have to be careful to really utilize it for all it can offer.

One way to form an internet presence is to gain notoriety as a consistent form of entertainment, quality news, sarcastic reports, trolling, or many other niche markets.   YouTube sensations such as raywilliamjohnson, shaytards, huskystarcraft, and epicmealtime are popular, bring in huge ad revenue, and garner millions of views because of their consistency in providing what people want.  People know what they like, and these people are more than the one hit wonders of the internet.  Advertisers such as P&G have picked up on this trend, and with their Old Spice marketing campaign, they have consistently brought lighthearted, clever, and amusing ads to the public eye.  Finding an audience for your broadcast may take time, but if you continue broadcasting consistent, desirable product, people will remain loyal and promote you to others.