Unlearn

Epilogue: What have you had to “unlearn” (i.e. that only phones are for having conversations) in the past 10 years due to technological change?

I guess the thing I had to unlearn is that social media websites such as Twitter can actually be a good way to brand yourself in a job market. I was so against the idea of Twitter because if an employer Googled you, every "tweet" you ever made would be public knowledge. However, now that social media networks have become such a huge part of society today, I realized that you can start using these websites to your advantage. Call me old fashioned, but in the job market today there are so many things you may need to do in order to be prepared for a job interview. For example, be up to date with important bloggers such as Seth Godin in the Marketing industry because he has a lot of influence over others. Another thing I had to unlearn is the fact that cell phones are not ONLY for conversations anymore. The development of smartphones has allowed even the basic cell phone to become a camera or an instant messaging tool.

Many online merchants today, such as eBay and Amazon, use rating systems empowered by its customers. Is this adequate for determining which products to buy, or which users to trust? Cite examples from these two merchants that support your opinion (whether it is good enough, or inadequate).

I think that the rating system on both eBay and Amazon are adequate for determining which products to purchase online is trustworthy because the consumer has the opportunity to read through past customer comments. While this places a significant amount of trust on past performance, it is known that that past behaviors are a a good indication of future behaviors. For example, someone left this as a customer review of eBay, "I have been an eBay Member for several years and have always told others of their responsiveness and the ease of getting a hold of customer service. I even sold my car on EBay!" On the other hand, there are always going to be those sellers and buyers on eBay that are below average and upset the normal flow of the website.

Researching Information on Social Networks

James Surowiecki’s book mentioned in this chapter outlines four elements to create a so-called “wise crowd,” one that can make decisions better than experts. These include “diversity of opinion” and “independence.” Since social groups online seem to form crowds of many like-minded people, what caution would you give someone using information they find from a socialized website or resource?

I would caution someone using information they find from a socialized website because the information will most likely be biased in one way or another. When a group of like-minded people come together over the World Wide Web there may also be a lack of credibility considering it is just a group of regular people instead of a group of experts who have actually done research. I would advise a person using social media, such as blogs, to put in the extra effort and research the opposing side of the argument. This way the information you read will have illustrated both side of the issue.