Week 5 EOC: Social Networks and Job Hunting

 The general public of today love to communicate over social networks and just on the internet in general. So it is not surprising to see that Facebook’s job recruitment tool is growing in popularity and competing with a networking site such as LinkedIn. Facebook has a user base of 750-million people and they are all exposed to the social network’s job board. It’s safe to say that a fairly great number of its user base will at least check out the new tool. “More companies are trying to tap Facebook Inc.'s 750-million-plus user base to find new employees, threatening traditional job boards” – the Wall Street Journal: Recruiters Troll Facebook for Candidates They Like. Facebook’s popularity is its biggest asset in that: in today’s society, whatever happens to a person, he or she will most likely post it online. For example: an unemployed Facebook user can find the job board and if he or she finds it appealing they can immediately post their experience with the tool and suggest it to their friends, who are more inclined to trust their friend more than an advertisement for the tool. “Consumers hear about products and brand experiences from others just like themselves—people they trust—rather than from commercial marketing sources.”- Marketing An Introduction: page 143. Facebook is a threat to a website like LinkedIn which I had to be introduced to in a communications class. If I did not here about LinkedIn I would most likely be one of those Facebook users who use the job board tool to find work. But knowing about LinkedIn I can say that I will use it to look for work that is searching for a specific skill set. “Use LinkedIn to recruit higher-level executive talent”- the Wall Street Journal: Recruiters Troll Facebook for Candidates They Like.

Week 2 EOC: Boston Consulting Group

The video game market has two very big products being released in the next month: the Xbox One (a Microsoft gaming console) and Playstation 4 (a Sony gaming console). There has been lots of hype about these consoles since the last E3 where they were announced and since then more details have been released. In the gaming community, there has been lots of excitement for these two big products and many avid gaming fans have already pre-order their consoles. We are leaving this generation of gaming which has been fairly successful since launch with decline over the years. "Xbox 360 consoles have moved 70 million units since it was released in November 2005" -www.vg247.com. Video game consoles are products that are already doing well in the market and improving on these console leads me to believe that these products are cash cows. Not only are many video game enthusiasts going to purchase (or have already purchased) the Xbox One or The Playstation 4 but many parents will by these products as a gift for their children during the holiday season considering that the Xbox One and the Playstation 4 are being released a month before the holidays. Nintendo on the other hand does not have anything new to release as far as consoles are concerned. Their last console, the Wii U sold "just 160,000 units globally between the beginning of April and the end of June, an astonishingly low number."-www.ign.com. They also sell the 3DS, which seems to be the most successful, and the 2DS, a new hand held console that is capable of everything the 3DS can do except for 3D. These consoles are all dogs for Nintendo and are generating enough money to support themselves. I expect Microsoft and Sony to make great profits for the upcoming months.