Wow I cannot believe just how much hard work goes into web pages. It’s crazy to think about how something you usually just use to waste time (facebook, tumblr, etc.) is so complex and intricate.
I just recently changed my major to advertising and have not taken any marketing classes so the concept of the “sales funnel” was very interesting to me since I have never seen it before. I know that I follow exactly all of those steps whenever I’m looking for something so it seems to be a pretty accurate representation. The company I am interning with has recently decided to completely revamp their website and allowed me to help so the section explaining homepages was a life saver. It is so convenient to have this reading assignment coincide with a social media internship! The current site wasn’t up to date and it didn’t really direct a potential customer anywhere. The information was presented and was clear but there was no flow or reason to stay longer than a minute or two. The site did have a couple things going for it that were mentioned in the book though (concentrating things on the top left corner)
The Staples example was very interesting to read because I remember participating in that when it was actually implemented. It was cool to read about the background of it and the fabulous results. It reminded me to look into that and programs like it again for the upcoming school year.
The expert insight provided made me reflect on recent ways the internet has not always been using for education and light entertainment. When Vint Cerf addressed spammers creating “abuses of this online medium” to hack people’s accounts it made me immediately think of fake facebook links or advertisements that are interesting subjects that people click on and are immediately spammed and inadvertently spam all of their friends. Thankfully, I have learned how to avoid these but many people haven’t and it’s unfortunate.
Social Media Scoop! 
I would love to hear more about your internship. I hope you are documenting everything that you did on this web development project because that’s really really valuable experience that will help you get a job. The sales funnel discussion is useful from a marketing standpoint. If you’re selling something. The thing that frustrated me about it is, what if your organization isn’t selling anything? I mean, everyone needs to make money to keep operating, but what if you’re engaged in education, information, entertainment — not sales? Important thing to keep in mind, as you’ve learned in your internship, is to think about the visitor to your site, and what he/she needs and is looking for. Simple.