This guy already took my idea. I guess he must've taken Digital Frontiers

Things Donnell Has Learned

1. If there is anything that is more important to success than networking, someone please tell me. I’m all ears. It’s okay. I’ll wait….Oh, really? Nobody. That’s what I thought…You see, you can have the best ideas in the world but if you can’t get anybody to get behind them (more importantly, if you can’t get the right people behind them), you won’t get anywhere with them.
2. SCHOOL IS FOR FOOLS!!! Now that I have your attention, I only halfheartedly meant the previous sentence. If we look at some of the world’s most successful people, many did not complete college. Instead, we learned that sometimes it’s better to devote 100% of your efforts to the thing you are passionate about than to go 75% with fall back plans. Like the creators of Grooveshark said “What’s going to be there in 4 years? Your business idea or college.” I’m looking to “Get Rich or Die Tryin’.”
3. If you are broke and you have no name, there is still hope for you. For example, there are simple ways to market your product or services without paying for an expensive mass media campaign. Instead, you could implement social media into your campaign. As an aspiring rap artist, I have seen the success of other entertainers such as Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em launch successful careers via viral marketing on sites such as Youtube.
4. Many times it’s important to build a culture around your organization using an online presence. For example, a blog can do wonders if it allows for public interaction, keeps people informed, and most importantly, keeps people interested. The way to keep people interested is by understanding your public, catering to their interests, and updating the website with interactive content. A great example of this is the blog called Spine Magazine which is updated with videos, podcasts, links to free downloads, news, and reviews. People interested in hip-hop music can delve deeply into the realm using this website and can even interact with the writers by adding comments.
5. Bad ideas are not always bad ideas. Sometimes a bad idea just needs a little tweaking in order to make it a good idea.

Frat daddies such as this guy are way too top tier to be without a date to their functions. Just scope the bow tie, frat shag, and let's not forget about that little guy riding the horse on his shirt (let's call him Ralph).

The website, designed similarly to social networking sites such as Facebook and eHarmony, was built to match good looking frat bros like you with sorority girls. After all, you frat way too hard to have nobody notice you. And the process is so simple you can navigate our interface in order to scope the countless bras (sorority version of bro, but if I had to tell you that then this site probably isn’t for you) with a Natural Light in your left hand and 10 more empty ones on the floor. All you have to do is create a profile (for free) complete with pictures of you in your Ralph Lauren button down, pastel colored short shorts, Sperry boat shoes, and frat goggles (Costa del Mar croakies advised). Then, you enter the fraternity that you are in and on which campus (example: Phi Gamma Delta at the University of Texas-Austin). We have field experts at most major college campuses throughout the South (looking to expand soon) who have ranked fraternities and sororities into tiers. This is done to maximize similarities between you and your potential dates.

As you can see, sorority slam pieces can range from really hot to not so much. Thus, we will provide the whole spectrum for you.

Sorority girls are ranked in our database according to a formula. Our experts survey every girl interested in entering our system around the following criteria: 40% of the formula is based on looks, 10% is calculated from personality, 30% level of inhibition, and 20% level of partier (all calculated out of 10 points). This is all multiplied by a sorority tier multiplier(lower tier sororities range from .5 to 1 and middle to top tier sororities’ multipliers can go as high as 1.3). Most importantly, only a female GDI with at least an 8 out of 10 in the looks department will be allowed to create an account (ad their multiplier is 1). No male GDIs are eligible for this service (sorry, try eHarmony big guy).The higher the final score, the higher she’ll be rated. Now for those of you who think you’re deserving of a high scored broad, you may be mistaken. That is why the same formula is used for you. For example, if you’re a lower tier bro with a final score of a 6.3 (which is very high for a lower tier bro) don’t expect to be paired with a top tier sorority girl who is rated as a 8.7. Instead, your options will be limited to a decently rated middle tier sorority  slam piece or a rare ugly top tier sorority girl (good for you, buddy).

Since this resource is free for all of you bros, you’re probably wondering how we make money. Well, my natural response would be to say mind your own business. But, in the interest of my business, I’ll tell you. You may have heard of this new technology called advertisements. Well, if you look closely at our sidebar, you’ll notice the advertisements for frat essentials such as frat goggles, boat shoes and clothing companies such as Ralph Lauren, Vineyard Vines, Guy Harvey, North Face, etc. I can’t legally tell you that you must click on these advertisements, but if you see an advertisement that appeals to you, feel free to click your mouse on it. You can also buy novelty items from our visitor shop such as TopTier frat tanks, coozies, cigarette holders, etc. These essentials will ensure that you are not ever caught off guard wearing brands such as Express, Gap, American Eagle, Aeropastale, or Abercrombie or wearing shoes like K-Swiss.

You’ve never heard of it, you say? Well, that is good in a way. We don’t want GDIs coming out of the woodwork to try and create profiles. But, we do want those of you who frat hard to enjoy the benefits of being frat. So, we are working diligently towards a marketing plan. Firstly, we will host a blog which will link with other social networking sites such as Facebook (bros aren’t lame so they don’t read Twitter) and other blogs such as broslikethissite.com and frattinghard.com (which are about the only blogs a bro might read). We are paying for targeted advertisements on Facebook (for example, a bro at the University of Florida who states an interest as Alpha Tau Omega will see an advertisement to our site). Also, a regularly updated Facebook fan page complete with testimonials and videos will be used.

In the United States, most people equate the Internet with the accessibility of dirty pictures and videos. But, there’s way more to it. Instead of relying on the snail mail for a birthday card from your grandma, you can instantly send and receive letters, cards, etc. via electronic mail. The best part is it’s FREE! But, that’s not all. Some people may be a little too tired, lazy, or incapable of going to the bank. So, of course Al Gore and the Internet gods had a solution. Why not create online banking? Now, people can handle their money online from the click of a mouse. Of course, now that there are online banks, there are online bank robbers also known as “identity thieves.”

Imagine John Dillinger without guns, fancy clothes, safe houses and you have a modern day identity thief. A little less glamorous, huh?

A few trends have developed with the emergence of the Internet. For one, people are networking more than ever. With so many faces to book and so many things to tweet, people are learning things from…each other (gasp). And now, there’s this thing called Chat Roulette where you can either chat with a student halfway across the world or make fun of old, morbidly obese shirtless men.

Also, we see the Internet becoming a one-stop portal for everything in our lives. Sooner or later, I envision a world where the instant we turn on a computer, we will instantly gain 25 pounds and grow pimples because of the addiction that is the Internet. People will become creatures similar in color to the creatures in I Am Legend (that is until the Internet offers some sort of tanning service) due to lack of sunlight.

Regulation, however, is not necessary.We live in a free society and although there is a lot of potentially offensive material (see Chat Roulette), it is up to parents and individuals to censor themselves and their children.

Do you really trust this guy to contribute useful information through user genrated content? If you haven't already, think twice.

Sure kids. It sounds pretty freaking awesome to be able to share content with random strangers who you’ll never even meet (like youtube pages. You can share knowledge with people about cool things such as how amoebas reproduce, show strangers pictures of your cute kids, or even market things to a targeted audience.  For example, Domino’s Pizza now uses facebook and twitter to inform customers about upcoming events and special offers. What makes it kind of intriguing is that random people can discuss how much they love Domino’s Pizza and share information about the pizza company.

In fact, some may argue that if Domino’s had been in the loop of user generated content, they could’ve prevented the crisis that occurred when two employees posted a youtube video that depicted them doing unsanitary things to a pizza. So, now that they are down with the new generation they can monitor viral situations such as that. Further, I will admit that their use of facebook is clever. In fact, when you click on their fan page, you aren’t even taken directly to their wall. Instead, you are taken to  marketing tab titled “stop the puffery” which basically bashes the competition’s use of inflated language in their digital media campaigns. Also, their page is full of cool stuff like coupons and daily special offers.

Yet, even with all of this cool stuff, I’m not completely sold on user generated content. Imagine a world where you could fabricate something believable, publish it online, and have millions of people believe it instantly. Well, that world exists. Check Wikipedia. I bet you could find in one of their sections about Dr. Dre that he is a critically acclaimed medical doctor. Thus, one could say that with user generated content, history and reality are both written by those with power (which has become virtually everyone). For example, I could create a facebook page for a fake person and friend everyone that I could find. That would not make my fake person real just because their image is on the internet.

To conclude, user generated content is great to a point. We must, however, take it with a grain of salt.

If only he knew that web analytics was the only way to ensure his awesome doohickey would sell...

So you thought that sweet ad you just saw was so cool you had to just click on it? And that resulting webpage you just visited with all of those cool pictures of awesome toys and gadgets was created just for your enjoyment? That sexy design with the soothing blue and yellow trim and easy to navigate template was all for you to visit and leave, huh? Well, not exactly. You see, that website you visited was really designed as a trap. A trap, you say? Well, it’s not as sinister as you may think (ok, kind of).

A website that sells products such as Amazon is designed to get people to visit their site through advertisements and eventually buy something. That’s right, they want your money.  All of it (insert evil laugh here)! Not quite, but almost. However, not everyone is willing to give a website their money just because they visited and left an “impression” on that website. In fact, most people don’t automatically buy something just because they visited a website (known as the bounce rate). Thus, the job of these evil corporations who run these websites is to trick you into buying something. This is where conversion marketing and analytics comes into play.

Conversion marketing is simply the art of improving your ROI (return on investment) and having potential customers become actual customers. Web analytics is the tool used to determine how effective your website and its advertisements are in getting people to actually buy something. Furthermore, analytics can determine trends and compare your website to other industry leaders’ website. That way, you can see how they effectively use their website’s design to imrpove their conversion rate.

For example, in the project my group is doing in our class, we can use web analytics to determine how successful the MSE program (Master’s of Entrepreneurship) website is at getting people to fill out an application. So, let’s say that 2 out every 100 people who leave an impression on the website actually fill out an application. Then, let’s say that the program would like 9 out of every 100 people who leave impressions to be come applicants. The web analytics tool can pinpoint which areas of their webpage are weaker points from which people can lin

Entrepreneurhip is defined by innovation and creativity. Any program claiming to be about entrepreneurhip should capture that meaning in its message

I always thought that being an entrepreneur was thrilling and gave people the urge to try new things. Well, if  the University of Florida’s Masters of Science in Entrepreneurship’s website is any indicator of excitement, then any normal person would rather be read the Merriam-Webster dictionary than go through their website. Their program IS exciting and does include so many interesting lecturers and concepts. Yet, the program has not yet found a way to capture the idea that they are not your traditional MBA program.

For one, it fails to distinguish itself from the crowd of masters degree programs. Specifically, there is already another program that goes by the name “MSE.” This program is Materials Science Engineering. When you type in MSE program at UF into Google, the entrepreneurship program does not even come into the first page of results. Rather, the aforementioned Materials Science Engineering website is the first to pop up. Think of the numerous people who may have been interested in the entrepreneurship program but were turned away after not finding their website.

Thus, the first thing the MSE program must do is to recreate its image. We propose that the program create a different informal website with the name innovateUF.com. The name captures the mission of the program and resonates with people who are interested in the things the entrepreneurship program does. Furthermore, the new website will allow visitors to interact with the site more. We learned from Google that an organization’s best assets are their customers and members. By putting videos, links to news articles, and allowing lecturers, professors, students, and guests to post content people can learn from each other (the goal of any educational institution). Also adding a Youtube video page would allow people to access some of the content by relativity to other content.

Basically, the main thing that the MSE program must do is make its information more accessible. Creating awareness by rebranding the program and allowing more accessibility will spell more success for the MSE program.

Origins

Most people think of hip-hop as the club banging, pistol whipping , bedonkadonk shaking, head bobbing, stickin it to the man kind of music which has grown to describe the lives of a disadvantaged sect of Americans: middle-class, white teens. However, this is only partially true. In order to understand where hip-hop is today and how I can become the king, we must understand where it originates. We can trace the origins of hip-hop back to block parties in ancient New York City (circa 1970) where local DJs used to mix funk and soul music. Eventually, DJs started to “jack” baselines and set them on a loop repetitively so that a speaker also known as an “emcee” could brainwash his or her audience into believing what it is he or she was trying to say.

Hip-hop music has become the language of suburban youth

Recording

Along the way, “artists” discovered a technique that would allow the world to understand how truly awesome they were.” Artists such as Sugar Hill Gang and Grandmaster Flash started recording songs that told the world of how awesome or “ill” their music was. It was all good in the hood as this new, innovative music found its way into the urban discotheques and people of all different colors starting rocking it to the bang bang boogie and to the rhythm of the boogie, the beat.

As hip-hop progressed, it kept its roots in club banging, but eventually started being expressed by those with criminal records and who spoke out against oppression by The Man or “Whitey.” This musical style made popular by artists such as N.W.A., Tupac, The Notorious B.I.G.,and 50 Cent among others became widely accepted among the suburban communities of the United States as upper middle class white teens began to fight against the oppression of their parents.

Rappers often speak out against oppression from guys like this also known as "Whitey" or "The Man." You can find them in their corporate offices telling the real brothas how to make music or in classrooms where they brainwash young, impressionable students.

How I WILL take over hip-hop

1. It is important to note that hip-hop developed from taking old music and using their baselines and instruments to make new songs. I’ve already grown accustomed to taking music that isn’t mine and singing over it as seen by my experiences at Karaoke night at Grog. I will continue to do this.
2. Rappers such as Soulja Boy appeal to an ingorant sect of the American public. In order to appease my audience, I will cease to read any books which brings me to my next step in becoming a hip-hop mogul…
3. Rappers like Kanye West gave up school to pursue a career in music. That is why I’ve decided to stop attending classes and eventually get kicked out of school so that I may eventually dedicate a song to all the teachers that told me
   I’d never amount to nothing, and to all the people that lived above the buildings that I was hustling in front of that called the police on me when I was just tryin’ to make some money to feed my daughter.
   Which brings me to my next point…
4. I’m going to start hustling. What I’ll be hustling I don’t know but even if I did I wouldn’t disclose what I was hustling for fear of The Man holding me down. But, I’ve heard it on many rappers’ songs. And Rick Ross even named a song about it.
5. We’ve all heard the story of 50 Cent getting shot at 9 times and we’ve witnessed what that has done for his career. We’ve also seen what Kanye West’s car accident has done to elevate his career (he made a song while his mouth was wired shut, which put him on the map). That brings me to the conclusion that I must endure a painful, freak injury. I was thinking something along the lines of walking the streets on which I’m hustling in a neon pink shirt with a target on the back. Hopefully, someone will get the point.
6. Then, as we’ve seen with rappers like Maino, becoming a member of the elite State Penitentiary Club does wonders for connections. So, why not let myself get caught “hustling” outside of my neighborhood police station or an elementary school?
7. While in prison, I plan on using my spare time to becoming as jacked as possible by using the bench press in the yard and working on my ups on the basketball court.
8. After getting out, I’m pretty sure that A&Rs will just flock to me after I put out my first EP which will be titled the “The Documentary of the Realest Man Alive.”

My first EP cover

Changes in the Industry

I foresee many changes in the industry. For one, hip hop has become viral. With the advent of internet technology, artist will no longer have to succumb to “The Man” (who tells rappers what to rap about)  to give them distribution deals. Instead rappers may comment on the real chronicles of “the streets” without fear of retribution or backlash. Furthermore, I can already envision hipsters influencing hip-hop to the point of no return. Like everything, when hipsters get a whiff of something cool, they begin to creep into the picture until they have poisoned the genre completely (see Kid Cudi).

Hipsters like this often come to ruin everything they touch.

When our instructor just stared at us after he announced the instructions, we realized we had to get to moving. We went outside and starting brainstorming. Should we create value by speaking out about an issue or should we do something artistic, fun and light hearted? Maybe we should speak out about Haiti? Maybe we should speak about women’s rights? We decided to speak out about Haiti. Then, we walked to Turlington Plaza and to our surprise two of our classmates had an awesome idea for awareness about Haiti. Feeling defeated, we went and thought of another idea.

As we wandered toward Library West, we saw a group of students organized for Writing on the Wall (an event put on to symbolically knock down the walls of intolerance). We decided to piggy back off that idea and create a way for people to post a pledge to break down the walls of intolerance and “speak no evil.” Yet, the project got off to a rocky start when people rejected us for literally a minute of their time left and right. Yet, we persisted. Let’s be honest, our grade depended on it.

Afterward, I definitely reflected on the fact that this experience taught me that thinking outside of the box can lead to bold ideas. Also, the project opened my eyes personally to the hypocrisy in my own life in terms of the way that I treat others. Many times, the words that we say have an effect far greater than we could have imagined. All in all, this project taught me a lot about myself and I got to work with a great group of people along the way.

Here’s a video that shows our wall.

Steve Jobs’ success can be attributed to his knack for selling people on his ideas. A person can have a great ideas, but if they can’t get anyone to buy into them, they are doomed to failure. Steve Jobs, whose wardrobe seems to compare to famous Nickelodeon character Doug’s closet, does not fit this category. Many times, Steve Jobs comes off as eccentric. In fact, some people may have even believed a statement as outlandish as Steve Jobs eating babies. However, his eccentricity makes him a brand in himself and he has an army of weirdos buying his products. The simple fact remains he is very good at what he does.