Week 14 Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations?

• What definitely surprised me the most was that there was a classification system for the social responsibility of an enterprise. For instance, in stage two the organization recognizes that it has a social responsibility and it keeps a low profile by donating to well known charities while talking to the public about how they haven't been socially responsible in the past. I wonder why the end stage, stage three, is associated with donating to "controversial" charities? Is social change inherently controversial? Interesting.

2) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

• I wish the author had explained more about the "heightened sense of accountability" inherent within social entrepreneurship. Like, it makes sense that when you are a social entrepreneur, the people you answer to are those who are affected by your efforts but I wanted that better explained.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

• What are the implications to a social startup's organizational structure and/or processes with the heightened sense of of accountability? I am interested in starting my own non-profit so I want to know the answer to this question for the benefit of my future nonprofit.
• What's the difference between a social enterprise and a nonprofit? I don't think this is clearly stated in the reading.

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

• I would disagree with the author when he or she states that a key part of having an environmental strategy is promoting diversity. I know a big problem in the environmental community is that it is largely white, upper-middle class people that can afford to care about the environment. I think that an environmental strategy should include promoting diversity but that's not usually reflected in real life.

Google Gold

1) A discussion of your general approach and strategy to search engine optimization (SEO). What were some of the activities you did for each blog post to pursue SEO?

For each of my blog posts about my venture concept, I tagged the words "revenge porn" and "survivors." I also tagged some of the pictures I posted with those words. The commenting with a link to my blog was the only other SEO tactic I engaged in.

2) What were your keywords. How did you select those keywords? Did you change or refine your keywords through the semester?

"Revenge Porn," "survivors," and "Post Back." I thought these words were really targeted towards my business (which is a service for survivors of revenge porn). In retrospect, I wish I had used the keywords "Gainesville revenge porn survivors." I selected these keywords because I thought the survivor part would differentiate me from a lot of the revenge porn resources on the web which generally use the term "victim." These keywords stayed the same throughout the semester.


3) How did you use social media to enhance your SEO efforts? What your your surprises or general impression of using social media to improve your blog's profile? Was social media generally receptive of your blog, or did it get ignored?

Um. I didn't really use social media to enhance my SEO effort. I don't even think I shared a blog post to my facebook at all. Surprisingly enough, I had a few classmates and friends tell me that they've read my blog posts. Which is strange because I didn't think I was doing too good of a job at using SEO.

4) What was your most "viral" post? In other words, which post obtained the most traffic? Why do you think?

My most "viral" post was the Free Money post. Which is terribly ironic because, while I completed the assignment, I didn't get credit for it because my video was downloading on my friend's computer. I know why it was viral though. So many students didn't do that post so when they went to do the commenting on it, they had to search through the class blog directory till they found someone who had actually did the assignment.

5) Finally, did you make it to the first page of Google results for your keywords? If not, what page of results did you make it to?

Nope, I definitely didn't make it on the first page. I stopped looking for myself after page 26 of a "revenge porn survivors" search. In retrospect, I should have picked more specific words.

This is the image I found when I did an image search of the name of my blog lol

Very Short Interview, Part 2

Impression of the initial interview: 
So looking back over my first interview, I am super embarrassed. Ben's responses weren't bad at all but I feel like I'm really awkward and unconfident in that video. I've linked it here for comparison. I think I was unprepared for that interview, in retrospect, and it shines through in the video. Also, the quality of the video sucks.

My 2nd Interview with Ben King, CEO and Founder of Keep It Simple Technologies:

How far I've come:
The second interview really made me realize how much I have progressed in being able to talk with people and to network. Even during the course of this class, I have seen an improvement in myself in how I am able to ask for things I may need or to speak up when before I wouldn't. I think being in an entrepreneurial environment as well as growing up a bit has really helped me improve my confidence and my ability to articulate.

It's a lot easier to talk about entrepreneurship with fellow entrepreneurs now that I have taken this class as well as taken the Business Plan Lab. I think my questions are a lot more targeted towards business rather than "wow! That was a great idea," because I have more knowledge now. Which means I hold myself to a higher standard than I did before in terms of participating in business discussions. For instance, I used to think it was okay not to ask questions or talk when someone asks for entrepreneurial feedback because I thought I didn't have anything to say. Now I can make a comment on their revenue model or whether or not they have a MVP. What's cool is that this business acumen is standard throughout the world, like a language I can finally understand, and it makes me feel like I belong. Knowing more about entrepreneurship has definitely improved my confidence and for that I am very grateful.