Running head: COMMUNICATION COURSE ASSIGNMENTS 1

The two Communication Course Assignments

Name

Institutional Affiliation

(Total Words: 1138)

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Communication Task

Question 1: Tweeter Feed Proposal (488 words)

People usually associate with social media activities, such as using Twitter, with brands

trying to promote their products or with celebrities trying to stay in touch with their fans.

Even so, in the last years, there has been an increase in using Twitter by educational

institutions

Thomas Edison State University’s Twitter handle, @tesu_edu, is successful in various

ways. The university is successful in communicating its brand in the following ways. Firstly,

the university interacts fairly effectively with the followers. Twitter is an effective platform

that the university uses to facilitate interaction between academics and the institutional affair

and the learners and prospects. The university identifies the usefulness of Twitter in

conveying all the breaking news to the relevant audiences. Also, the institution relies on this

platform's open nature to ensure the accessibility of both academic and general information

concerning it. Any interested individual can easily find help by consulting the smart and

thoughtful people at any time within the university’s Twitter handle. Various editors and

other top professionals are there to address the people's concerns that use this platform.

However, the university may improve on communicating its brand. It may increase the

frequency of the tweets, grow its Twitter followers, and leverage Twitter to win the email

subscribers.

Another useful aspect of Twitter to this institution is that it encourages and facilitates

the sharing of ideas. The platform is open to everyone that may wish to visit it. Therefore, it

is a great hub for meeting and interacting with individuals with various academic interests.

When any user posts any information or concern, all the followers will likely see and

contribute their ideas. Therefore, it is a source of information for several people. However,

the institution can improve this area by pulling rather than pushing. The institution should
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listen more and take appropriate action afterward. The institution should sense what the

customers share on the platform, both positive and negative reviews, and respond

appropriately.

Secondly, the University has an authentic brand voice. The university acknowledges

that its brand’s voice is a vital element when interacting with the world. Through this

authentic voice, Thomas Edison State University has conveyed its values and culture to all

the target audience. It maintains a consistent and recognizable voice whenever it conveys any

message. The institution has brand authenticity, resonates with all the target audience.

Undoubtedly, the university knows who it is, the target audience, the message, and how to

convey it. More importantly, the brand’s Twitter voice is both funny and serious. It uses a

funny voice when talking informally to the target audience, particularly when addressing the

students' lifestyle issues. However, it uses a serious voice when conveying formal

information regarding its academic and goals. The university can do better by developing a

unified brand voice and targeting specific personas. While the former focuses on

accommodating all the target audiences, the latter identifies the audience's categories and

tailor specific messages to them.

Question 2: Technological Item (637 words)

The MacBook

History and Creation

According to Finkle & Mallin (2010), Macbook has come from absolutely nothing to

this generation's powerful personal computer. Steve Jobs partnered with Steve Wozniak to

found Apple Computer in 1976 (Finkle & Mallin, 2010). The duo had been working in a

garage. Jobs and Wozniak implemented their idea of creating a computer prototype design

that had not been thought about before. They target to change what Sony had developed by
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creating a more easy-to-use design. However, the invention was not with challenges, just like

any start-up. O’Grady (2009) identifies a lack of software when Apple started. Jobs and

Wozniak created Apple I from hard work and commitment. Due to software's unavailability,

the duo hand-coded everything they intended into the machine (O’Grady, 2009). As years

passed, the pioneers understood their invention better and adequately. They learned various

aspects of their machine and started to improve it.  

With continued effort and determination, Jobs and Wozniak improved Apple I to

Apple II (O’Grady, 2009; Johnson, Li, Phan, Singer, & Trinh, 2012). This improvement came

with the creation of cassette drives. These drives would revolutionize the saving, loading, and

storage of computer programs. Other organizations within the technology industry relied too

on the inventions and prototypes of Apple Computer. The two now had two vital tools for its

activities; therefore, they opened a cottage industry. This young industry would address

various software needs. These inventions increased the fame of computers. Various

consumers started to draw interest and acknowledging the value of software and computers to

personal and industrial lives. Apple Computer welcomed a huge market of software

applicants. They sold software and ancillary computer tools that include accessories,

computer and software upgrades, and peripherals. These upgrades and new inventions have

transformed technology significantly by efficiently availing information.

The MacBook

The journey began with the invention of the computer prototype and the software.

Apple II of the 1970s paved the way for modern personal computers such as the MacBook. In

the 1980s, Jobs and Wozniak created the Macintosh (O’Grady, 2009). They depended on the

graphical user interface (GUI) and trackpad to improve every tool they invented. As such,

there was a significant improvement in the way the users could access digital content. The

software gave the technology a new dimension because of the user-friendliness of the
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software (O’Grady, 2009). The subsequent creation of a low barrier to entry through efficient

software redefined both the software and the hardware. The users could now easily access

and use the products without necessarily going through the user manual (O’Grady, 2009).

The new products continued to have higher levels of consistency and predictability for the

user interface when applied to different functions and roles. The new products also came with

interoperability capacities and built-in help systems that improved the users’ experiences.

Therefore, as time passed, Apple became better and more efficient in various dimensions.

Apple wanted to ensure that the users got the value that they paid for.

Apple wanted to improve internet access. Therefore, it created the iMac and iBook,

tolls that could be used to access the internet within a quarter of an hour (O’Grady, 2009).

Unlike the previous organizations and the competitors, this speed was the highest and the

most efficient to all the internet users. Later, Apple developed and popularized FireWire

technology. This invention meant accessing the internet at higher speed data and Wi-Fi to

facilitate wireless Internet access (O’Grady, 2009). The organization depended on these

innovative steps to convert the iMac and the iBook into the current MacBook. The MacBook

merged the iBook and the PowerBook to match the Intel processors since 2006 (Johnson et

al., 2012).

Ownership of MacBook

The Apple Incorporation is the current owner of the MacBook product. However, the

Vanguard Group owns most of the company’s shares, with approximately 8% of shares.
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References

Finkle, T. A., & Mallin, M. L. (2010). Steve Jobs and Apple, Inc. Journal of the

International Academy for Case Studies, 16(7), 31-40.

Jobs, S. P., Forstall, S., Christie, G., Lemay, S. O., Herz, S., Van Os, M., ... & Coffman, P. L.

(2013). U.S. Patent No. 8,564,544. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark

Office. https://patents.google.com/patent/US8564544B2/en

Johnson, K., Li, Y., Phan, H., Singer, J., & Trinh, H. (2012). The Innovative Success that is

Apple, Inc. https://mds.marshall.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?

referer=https://scholar.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1420&context=etd

Mallin, M. L., & Finkle, T. A. (2011). Apple Inc.: product portfolio analysis. Journal of the

International Academy for Case Studies, 17(8), 49-56.

https://www.academia.edu/12229692/Apple_Inc_Product_Portfolio_Analysis

O'Grady, J. D. (2009). Apple Inc. ABC-CLIO. https://books.google.co.ke/books?

hl=en&lr=&id=BL7HpqQvU34C&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=apple+inc&ots=VzPo1fhtb
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