The future technology...

Goodbye Com125!

Free topic!

As I was doing research for my previous entry about multimedia, I recalled visiting this website www.hotel626.com a few years ago. This interactive website is known as an advergame, which is basically an advertisement in the form of a game. Hotel626 invites visitors to participate in a game where players are trapped in a haunted hotel and have to complete tasks to get out of the hotel. To create a multi-sensory experience for its visitors, the game asks you to activate your webcam and to switch on your microphone; both devices will be made use of later in the game. Also, for a more realistic experience, players have to play the game in the dark as the website can only be accessed “after-hours” from 6pm to 6am.

 

The game consists of ten levels, each level will have a unique task or puzzle which you have to complete before moving on. Hotel626 uses audio to enhance the experience of being trapped in a haunted hotel. Whilst playing the game, you will be able to hear the sound of your footsteps, your breath as it quickens and your heartbeat as it races. At the last stage of the game, players in the United States are asked to enter their phone numbers so that they will be able to receive a phone call over their actual mobile phone from a ‘friend’ who will provide the player with directions to exit from the hotel.

I first played this game when I was 17, and it was only a year later when I interned for an advertising firm that I realized hotel626 is an advergame launched by Doritos to promote their 2 new flavours of chips. This shows that many companies utilize multimedia for marketing communication purposes and that this strategy is not limited only to companies that sell multimedia products.

The internet will be 42 years old in September!

The internet is a form of technology that has evolved the most in the shortest period of time. Since its introduction to the masses, it has seamlessly integrated itself into our lives. Without the internet, we will be sent back to the stone age of receiving information about events in the United States a month late, making ridiculously expensive phone calls to speak to our relatives overseas, using our mobile phones solely for text messaging and calls etcetera. How can we drive without checking traffic reports online? How can we do our homework without Google? How are we able to organize events with our friends without Facebook? Who are we going to tell what we ate for lunch without Twitter? Most people have started to live their lives guided by the internet; we are now so accustomed to using this technology that we find it hard to live without it.

As we have seen over the past decades, advancements in technology can do wonders and change our lives in many ways. There is no doubt that the internet will continue to grow, but it is difficult to predict how the internet will grow as it is impossible to concretely map the overall structure of the internet. These are some of my predictions of the future of the internet...

1) 3D Internet

The 3-Dimensional (3D) technology is being made available and affordable to the masses through movies and soon, televisions. It is only a matter of time before it becomes available to almost everyone connected to the internet.

The introduction of a 3D internet will display ultra-realistic representations of places and people. It will allow us to attend virtual meetings, concerts and even participate in virtual games.

2) Surf the web on any device

The integration of the internet into mobile devices has been met with tremendous success as half of all internet connections today come from mobile devices and the mobile web adoption and growth rates today are 8 times what wire line-based adaptation was 10 years ago. In a few years, I predict that the internet will be integrated into household appliances and other consumer devices. This trend of web-surfing internet appliances has already started as interactive coffee tables and cocktail tables have now been developed.

This video below shows Microsoft's vision of the future; it displays how the internet will be integrated further into out lives as it will be made accessible through almost any device.

3) Multi-touch computing

With touch screen technology becoming commonplace, the next phase would most likely be intuitive approaches to interfacing.

Clayton Miller shares his concept for multi-touch computing.

10/GUI from C. Miller on Vimeo.

Apple’s Magic Mouse signals the beginning of multi-touch computing, although I feel that this technology will eventually evolve in such a way that our hand gestures and movements will act as a mouse.

By hacking his Xbox's Kinect, David Stolarsky managed to create the "SwimBrowser," a browser that requires the user to use hand motions similar to those you would use when swimming underwater. This allows us to have an idea of how we will be able to use the internet without a mouse in the future.

Swim the Web - Kinect SwimBrowser from David Stolarsky on Vimeo.

Previously journalists enable us to receive information about worldly happenings as they pen down such information and publish it in newspapers, magazines and books. However, with the internet, journalists have lost their monopoly on international news as with the web 2.0 and user generated content, the role of the producer is now assumed by the consumer; people now create, distribute and ‘own’ the news.

Firstly, journalism is the profession of reporting or photographing or editing news stories for one of the media. The duties of a journalist include the following:

1) Reporting the truth
2) Being loyal to the citizens
3) Verifying information
4) Maintaining an independence from those they cover
5) Serving as an independent monitor of power
6) Providing a forum for public criticism and compromise
7) Striving to make the significant interesting and relevant
8) Keeping the news comprehensive and proportional
9) Exercising personal conscience

So how exactly is the internet shaping the future of journalism?

In the past, we look to journalists for information. Now, with the internet, previous consumers of journalism are able to read such information and generate their own versions of the news. Participatory journalism does little of reporting information about news, but instead stimulates conversations about news. Such citizen journalists typically include their opinions on an issue and report information in such a way that it reflects their biasness toward an issue.

The internet has allowed consumers to become journalists, but I feel that it will not render the job of a journalist to be obsolete in the future. As all of us know, the information available on the internet is not entirely accurate and objective. Furthermore, as consumers take on the role of journalists, they do not fulfill the duties of a journalist as they typically allow their emotions to affect the manner in which they report the news. We still and always will read newspapers, books, and scholarly journals when we seek information, as these are known to be more reliable sources. The internet is shaping the future of news and information, but journalists are still necessary for verification of truth and impartial writing. Many people look to the internet for a rough synopsis of the news, and to more reliable sources for the full story.

The video below shows a discussion of the internet and print journalism.

For the past few years, many have attempted to find out why are young adults and the youth in Singapore apathetic towards politics. Talks with ministers, television programmes, and surveys conducted on the streets and many other ways have been employed to find an answer to this question. Are Singaporean youths too self-absorbed? Do they not have sufficient information about politics to form an opinion? Or is it simply because they take our existing ruling political party for granted?

When I was younger, I admit that I was incredibly self-absorbed and apathetic towards politics. All I wanted was what I had all along; although I was appreciative of this, I took it for granted. It was not until the 2006 General Elections that I started to pay more attention to politics in my country. I recall a lot of girls in my school saying that when they are able to vote, they would like to vote for one of the opposition parties. I asked why, and my question was met with superficial answers such as “Singapore does not have free speech!” I thought this was ridiculous as I could not believe there were people who wanted to vote against our ruling party just because they envied the American ideology. Furthermore, these girls were anti-PAP and they could not even justify their position in more than a sentence. I am unsure of the stance the general population of youths in Singapore have towards our ruling party currently, but I feel that this example reflects how politically apathetic my generation is. Most youths do not appear to be concerned about politics and worse, they make uninformed choices about it.

Our schools teach us little about Singapore politics; therefore, most youths are not typically exposed to information that will help them understand and learn more about politics. However, I do not think this is why Singaporean youths are politically apathetic. Although censorship is commonplace in the country as differences in opinions about politics are rarely voiced out due to self-censorship, strict laws and the herd mentality, with the youths’ connectivity to the internet, it is not difficult for them to search for such information themselves. It is not for a lack of information that Singaporean youths are politically apathetic.

I feel that Singaporean youths are uninterested or unenthusiastic about politics mostly because they feel that they are not in a position that can make a difference or an impact. They feel that their opinions will most likely go unheard, and they are not even of age to vote; so what difference can they make exactly? Furthermore, our ruling political party, the People’s Action Party (PAP) has been doing an extremely good job of running this country (albeit, there is still room for improvement), how are we able to tell them to do a better job? Most youths feel that they have little say in their future which is why they choose to remain unconcerned about politics in the country. If they should feel and realize that they are in a position of influence, they will actively seek out information about politics and perhaps be more motivated to learn more about it.

The youth in Singapore should realize that they have a say in deciding their future as the people in the country is the government. We decide how we want to be governed and how we want to live. The strength of the word is in the masses, and the government has to listen to us. If we remain politically apathetic, we and the future generations of Singaporeans will not be well equipped to lead our nation into the next phase of progress.

Bye!

What is marketing communication?

In a nutshell, marketing communication is all strategies, tactics, and activities involved in getting the desired marketing messages to intended target markets, regardless of the media used.*

*As cited in http://en.mimi.hu/marketingweb/marketing_communications.html

Multimedia is commonly used for marketing communication as it enables the integrated use of text, audio, still images, animation, video, and interactivity with users to create a multi-dimensional experience for consumers. With the use of multimedia, companies can create ‘new’ worlds (virtual worlds) that engage and stimulate all senses of an individual and also provide a virtual brand experience for its existing and prospective customers. It can also create individualized experiences for its consumers based on their preferences recorded through their interactions with the company.

The formal definition of multimedia is, “a computer-based interactive communications process that incorporates text, graphics, sound, animation, and video.” Interactive communication is a key feature of multimedia as users determine what content is delivered, when it is delivered, and how it is delivered.

Many corporations engage multimedia for marketing communication purposes by creating websites and videos that users can access over the internet. Music files, video files, and podcasts are also occasionally made downloadable from the website.

It comes as no surprise that Sony and Apple utilize multimedia for marketing communication since these two brand names are well known for their consumer electronic media devices.

Sony

As we enter Sony’s global website, we are first greeted by flashing images of the products and new technologies the company offers. The rest of the home page consists of various tabs and sections with hyperlinks to other pages in the website.

Sony’s main webpage is extremely traditional, which can be a little boring. However, the web pages for its specific products are more attractive and interactive as they employ the multimedia uses of video, audio and animation.

With that said, if one does not take the time to explore Sony’s website, they will be unable to discover the other web pages linked to it. Sony’s main webpage does not attract and captivate the attention of its audience, but I feel that its other web pages do.

As part of their advertising campaign, “It Only Does Everything,” for the PlayStation 3 (PS3), Sony launched a series of commercials featuring a character named “Kevin Butler.” These commercials employed the use of humour which engaged audiences and have also aided in the sale of PS3s. The many ‘episodes’ of the series were released online, and the fictitious character in it also has a Twitter account which enables Sony users to reach out to ‘him.’

Apple

Conversely, when we first visit Apple’s website, we are met with a main promotional picture of the iPad 2 and several tabs at the top of the page. Apple’s website consists mainly of images and text, with a few videos here and there. Contrasting this with Sony’s main webpage that is ‘cluttered’ with information, Apple’s webpage appears much simpler and cleaner. The whole website adopts a minimalistic outlook as being clean, simple and ‘white’ is the signature of the brand.

The video below shows the famous Apple iPod commercial which features dark silhouettes holding a white iPod and dancing to the contrast of a plain background. The commercial has been used and reinvented numerous times as different generations of the iPod have been launched. Its simplicity and ingenuity allows the concept to be reused as by simply tweaking certain details such as the colour of the background, the song used in the commercial and the dance moves of the silhouettes, a whole new commercial is created.

By comparing Sony’s and Apple’s use of multimedia for marketing communication, I must say that I am more impressed by Apple as the company has managed to utilize multimedia to create an online brand experience instead of simply presenting information to its consumers. Upon visiting Apple’s website, I feel that I am able to experience the brand as the website conveys its character well. On the other hand, watching Sony’s advertisements and visiting the company’s website, I find it hard to experience the brand’s identity. This could be perhaps because Sony operates on a much larger scale than Apple as it is more diversified in the electronics manufacturing industry. After all, Apple houses fewer than 20 products while Sony has 1000s of products.

As Singapore is a global financial hub which plays host to many Multinational Corporations (MNCs), the country is a prime target for cybercrime. Furthermore, individuals in the country are known to be affluent and well-connected to the cyber world. A study conducted by Symantec consumer division Norton revealed that 70% of Internet users in Singapore have fallen victim to cybercrimes, and that 71% of such users do not expect cyber-criminals to be brought to justice. Most victims choose to stay silent about cybercrime as their financial losses are minimal and the costs of resolving the crime are high. This silent digital epidemic has caused many cybercrimes to go unreported and serves only to encourage cyber-criminals.

Cybercrime is essentially traditional crime such as fraud, extortion, and theft, facilitated through the use of a computer and a network. 

Mild cases of cybercrime committed by Singaporeans have received coverage in the news. The sentencing of 17 year old, Garyl Tan Jia, and 21 year old, Lin Zhenghuang, for crimes of mooching off another person’s wireless network saw Singapore to be the regional pioneer in clamping down on wireless network freeloaders. 

More extreme cases of cybercrime can be seen through the scandal of UltimateBet and AbsolutePoker.

Gamers of these two renowned online poker gaming websites reported that there were users cheating in games and winning millions by doing so. The investigation that ensued did not resolve much as no clear culprit was identified due to the companies’ decisions to remain silent about this issue. The players of AbsolutePoker were refunded approximately $1.6 million in total, and UltimateBet had to reimburse its players a total of $21.1 million. It is said that the culprits had hacked into the websites and cracked their software. These culprits are rumoured to be former employees of the websites who had also secretly installed a back door in the software which allowed them to spy on players’ cards. 

As the internet is becoming the centre for commerce and entertainment, users are becoming more susceptible to cybercrime. The transaction of money over the internet is commonplace, and this makes us more vulnerable to crimes such as fraud, scams, and theft. Furthermore, the lack of laws guarding the internet makes it difficult for cyber-criminals to be prosecuted. Normally, cheating in traditional casinos would warrant the culprit’s arrest, but when it is done over the internet, the blame shifts from the culprit to the company. This is apparent in the case of UltimateBet and AbsolutePoker, where both companies were blamed for allowing cheating to occur in their websites, and the culprits did not face charges and did not have to return the money to the companies. 

Also, with technological advancements made cheaper and more available to the masses, there are an increasing number of mobile internet users and a new form of cybercrime that takes place in this medium. As the 3G technology is relatively new, most of us are unaware of the risks of accessing the internet over our mobile network. “Smishing” is a form of cybercrime that is similar to phishing as it uses social engineering techniques to gather personal information from its targets. Smishing victims typically receive a mobile phone text message containing a website link and a statement that warrants one’s immediate attention; for instance, “DBS is confirming that you have purchased a $3000 computer from IBM. Visit http://www.fakewebsite.com/ if you did not make this online purchase.” The website that the target will respond to will be a legitimate looking website which will ask for personal information such as one’s address, credit card number, CVV code, ATM card PIN etcetera. 

In 2010, the Cyber Crime police station of the Crime Investigation Department (CID) in India reported that there were several incidents of smishing in the country. It was reported that upon clicking the web link in the text message, malware gets downloaded in the user’s mobile phone memory, enabling the hacker to read all the data stored in the phone. Several women have complained about cases of blackmailing through smishing; for instance, their intimate videos and pictures stored on their mobile phone were used to coerce them into paying money to the cybercriminals. 

Such forms of cybercrime that utilize social engineering are not as easy for us to detect as it plays on our reactions and behaviour to certain messages. For instance, the Nigerian scam banks in on our human inclination to seek easy monetary rewards, and although it has been unsuccessful due to it being too widespread, people are still being conned by versions of this scam. Smishing utilizes social engineering as it scares its victims into thinking that they are paying for something they did not purchase.

Hi all, for this week’s blog entry, we were asked to make a movie and post it up!



I have recently created this ‘movie’ for the purposes of my sociology module. It was quite a difficult process as I was unfamiliar with using Microsoft Movie Maker, but I managed to create this by playing around with the tools and googling for instructions when I was stuck. It is actually quite a simple process in writing; I basically had to combine all the mini clips which we have filmed, cut the scenes where appropriate, and ensure that the whole video did not look too choppy. I hope you will enjoy the video and be motivated to learn how to use either Microsoft Movie Maker or iMovie as it is quite enjoyable to toy around with!

When I was about 10 years old, I started using my father’s computer. I had little use for it except to play solitaire and minesweeper, and to print out birthday cards. The homework that was assigned to us in school did not require us to do research online or to be typed out in a word document; we were asked to write our answers in notebooks, ‘jotter’ books and textbooks. Upon visiting my friend’s house the other day, I saw that her 11 year old brother was doing research online for his homework, and this made me notice how digital media and technology has changed traditional classrooms. 

At about age 11, my primary school had installed several personal computers in all classrooms in addition to building computer labs for classes to be conducted in. Aside from learning how to use the keyboard to type ‘efficiently,’ I do not recall learning anything else about this technology. My classmates and I used the computers in our classroom for other reasons; we would go to school earlier everyday to log on to www.sfogs.com for a morning scare and play super Mario or speed typing games. Conversely, children in primary schools now use personal computers to complete their homework assignments and to learn through playing educational games such as this math game. 

Digital media and technology now not only facilitates learning in classrooms, but is essential in classrooms for higher education. For instance, in university and even junior college, teachers and professors have to use the computer and projector to display information on power-point slides. This makes learning more effective as students are able to receive visual and oral information at the same time. Students also have to access online portals such as Blackboard to keep up to date on information about their courses. 

As digital media and technology is being integrated into the learning experience, most schools have transformed the physical learning experience to an online one. These schools offer online courses in which students do not have to attend classes; homework, discussions and exams are all conducted online. This enables students to have more flexibility in their schedule as they are able to ‘attend’ lectures and study when they are free to do so; students are no longer tied down to rigid class schedules. However, this lack of constraints also presents disadvantages for students who tend to procrastinate. As there are little deadlines and no constant reminders from professors that a deadline is approaching, procrastinators tend to leave their work up to the last minute to complete. Online courses also allow little and indirect interaction between students, and this might cause a feeling of educational isolation. Furthermore, it is difficult to replicate a classroom setting online as the interactions and depth of discussions that occur in traditional classrooms are dependent on the relationships students have with one another. Without having physically interacted with one another before, students might feel awkward communicating with each other online. 

Although there are several disadvantages that digital media and technology brings to traditional classrooms, its presence in educational institutions will only continue to increase. Some have speculated and predicted how future classrooms will look like under the influence of digital media and technology advancements. In the year 2000, Powerpoint presentations were rarely used in classes; now, students have become almost dependent on these presentations. So what will happen a decade from now? How will classrooms look like in the digital future?

What do you think the future digital classroom will look like? Maybe something like this...

Not entirely impossible as schools in Japan and Korea have already started utilizing robots to teach in classrooms. Would you want your teacher to look like this?

Most people use the terms e-business and e-commerce interchangeably as they mistake these two separate terms to mean the same thing: online businesses. Although e-business and e-commerce are generally similar, it is important that we note the difference between these two distinct concepts. 
 

Formal definitions for both terms:

E-commerce: “The use of electronic communications and digital information processing technology in business transactions to create, transform, and redefine relationships for value creation between or among organizations, and between organizations and individuals.”* 

E-business: “The transformation of an organization’s processes to deliver additional customer value through the application of technologies, philosophies and computing paradigm of the new Internet economy.”*

 *As cited in: http://www.apdip.net/publications/iespprimers/eprimer-ecom.pdf 

In e-commerce, information and communications technology (ICT) is used in business-to-consumer transactions, inter-business transactions, and inter-organizational transactions. Conversely, in e-business, ICT is used to enhance one’s business and is inclusive of all processes that an organization conducts over a computer-mediated network.  

Popular examples of e-businesses include eBay and Amazon. 

These two brand names are internet-only businesses; they are purely web based and do not have brick-and-mortar stores. Some popular brand names have both online stores and brick-and-mortar stores; for instance, Barnes & Noble. However, Amazon’s shares were up 145% in the year 2003, while Barnes & Noble’s shares were up only 49% in the same year. Does this indicate that internet-only businesses are capable of capturing a large portion of the market share from traditional brick-and-mortar businesses? 

In my opinion, online stores and brick-and-mortar stores cater largely to two different types of consumers. Consumers who value convenience, lower costs, and a larger variety typically choose to purchase online while consumers who enjoy the brand experience of stepping into a store, ‘feeling’ the product before purchasing, and receiving their purchase immediately prefer to shop in brick-and-mortar stores. 

Having been both an online shopper and a traditional shopper for years, I personally feel that both types of stores have their advantages and disadvantages. I enjoy shopping from both online shops and physical stores. For instance, I purchase my clothing items from online stores often as they are generally cheaper and have a wider selection as compared to the boutiques in Singapore; however, the sizings of clothing items vary with each purchase. Therefore, I refrain from purchasing clothing items from internet-only stores as I am unfamiliar with their sizing for clothes. As for miscellaneous items like books, I tend to purchase them from Amazon.com as they stock books that are not available in Singapore and are also generally cheaper because the website lists differences in prices for the same item sold by different people. 

Over recent years, there has been an increasing trend of young entrepreneurs establishing e-businesses in Singapore, and this in the form of establishing web stores that sell clothing and accessories. These online stores are coined ‘blogshops’ as they were first established through the use of blogging domains such as livejournal and blogspot; but, as these e-businesses gained popularity, its owners have started to purchase their own domains. 

Such web stores are becoming extremely popular in Singapore as many are drawn to the allure of low start-up costs and a high profit margin. The cost required to start an online store is low; however, as the market is becoming increasingly saturated, the barriers to entry have increased due to heavy competition. As such, many blogshops do not survive past the initial few months. The few blogshop pioneers dominate the market amongst Singapore shoppers as they had garnered loyal supporters throughout out the years and have had the time and resources to establish their brand in the local and perhaps, international internet community of shoppers.

Such blogshops and new online stores established by young entrepreneurs typically employ the use of social networking sites, like Twitter and Facebook, to market their brand and products. For instance, they establish Twitter accounts for their consumers to ‘follow’ so that they would be updated of the launch of new products and other information about the store.

Such online shops also set up Facebook pages as a means of displaying information and to also, garner support virally. 

In conclusion, there are as many disadvantages as there are advantages to online shopping. Advantages include cheaper prices and a wider selection, and disadvantages include defects in products, complicated return policies, and the risk of leaking secure information such as one’s credit card details and home address over the internet; therefore, even with the growing number of online shops, I feel that e-businesses will never fully replace traditional brick-and-mortar businesses.

@abelchoy @com125_class

Twitter is a micro-blogging and social networking website. Although all my friends are avid users of it, I have never been drawn to the appeal of it. However, for the purposes of this entry, I have decided to sign up for a Twitter account and start tweeting! Initially, twitter seemed redundant as it was akin to Facebook status updates which I can also easily access through my smart phone. Most twitter updates from the people I follow, friends and acquaintances, are about tiny details of their day or opinions that they have. For instance,

Aside from Twitter being a centralized source of humorous updates, I realized that this micro-blogging website is actually very useful as I am able to receive news about recent events through re-tweets and trending topics. Also, I am able to catch up on snippets of the news every day by following twitter accounts such as stcom (The Straits Times) and BBCWorld. Twitter also allows me to post questions as my updates and receive responses from my followers almost instantly. In a way, it acts as a mass texting or instant messaging system.

As Twitter is gaining popularity, many have started to compare this micro-blogging website with Facebook, which is currently the most popular social networking website. However, we must note that both websites have their own advantages and disadvantages, and in my opinion, appeals to people for different reasons.

Facebook allows one to connect with one’s friends and family, and also make new friends online. Unlike Twitter, which is essentially a one-stop location where you go to for a quick read, Facebook encourages its users to stay on the website and communicate with other users on it by leaving messages on their walls or commenting on their pictures. Facebook is a social portal model where one is able to chat with friends, message friends (alike to e-mailing), view pictures, and view videos. It provides users with a single portal where they are able to manage all their social interaction needs. Twitter, on the other hand, is more alike to e-mailing, instant messaging, and blogging. Twitter enables you to get responses from others almost instantaneously, whereas for Facebook, there is a considerable amount of lag time in response.

A common analogy used to describe the differences of Twitter and Facebook is that of a social gathering. Facebook is described to be alike to a social gathering where lots of people know each other and are comfortable sharing conversations with each other. Twitter is described as a large social event where one does not know most of the people there and therefore, have to stand out from the crowd and make an impression by saying something that is useful and interesting.

Both social networking sites, Twitter and Facebook, are also useful for businesses primarily due to its large number of users. For instance, many companies and organizations have Twitter accounts that users can ‘follow’ to receive updates about promotions or changes in the company. Social networking websites are able to disseminate information to a large number of people at a low cost. Furthermore, sites like Facebook have marketing packages that allow companies to utilize their planned business model to promote their company. Most companies now have both Twitter and Facebook accounts, and new e-businesses are also utilizing such platforms to promote themselves. Excited to learn more about this? Stay tuned for the next entry! Haha.

Static web pages have dominated the World Wide Web since it was first created. Such websites in which users are not allowed to participate in are termed “Web 1.0.” These are read-only websites that contain information published for people to view. In web 1.0, people are essentially consumers. With the launch of web 2.0, consumers are now producers as well. Web 2.0 can be seen in social media websites that encourage the creation and exchange of user generated content. Popular examples of such are YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, Facebook, and Blogspot where people have the option of not only reading but also writing/producing content.

There are many implications of the rise of social media, especially in the corporate world. As social media is on the rise, corporate communication is slowly being democratized. The power is now shifting from producers to consumers. With the use of the information superhighway and web 2.0 technologies, people are able to document and share their views on any subject without having to seek permission from corporations. The large impact social media can have on such corporations can be seen through the example of Dave Carroll who created and posted a video about United Airlines on YouTube after the United staff broke his guitar in 2008. His music video, “United Breaks Guitars,” which documents his experience with United Airlines went viral and has been viewed more than 10 million times. 

The popularity of Carroll’s video has caused permanent damage to the brand name as Carroll’s YouTube video link turns up as a result every time anyone does an internet search for United Airlines. 

The death of Martine Vik Magnussen which led to a boycott of Coca-Cola products also shows the power of social media. 

 

Magnussen’s murder was suspected to be linked to Farouk Abdulhaq, son of Saher Abdulhaq. Farouk’s father is one of Yemen’s most powerful businessmen, and his father’s company was the main Mercedes importer in the country and also a main shareholder of Coca-Cola bottling and distribution in the Middle East. As Farouk fled from Britain after the incident and refused to return to the country for further investigation, a group called “Justice for Martine” was formed on Facebook to encourage people to boycott Coca-Cola products. More than 53,000 people signed up on the Facebook page within the first two weeks. This Facebook group managed to capture the attention of the Coca-Cola Company and on March 14, the company announced that they will be severing all ties with Saher Abdulhaq. 

You can read more about this article at:

http://www.newsweek.com/2011/03/20/some-justice-for-martine.html

These examples show the rising power of social media and stress the importance for organizations and individuals to recognize its power and understand what it is exactly. 

Another popular form of social media websites are blogs. Before online blogging was made available, one would have to be published in a book or gain popularity through the media before one would be able to publish one’s thoughts. Now, anyone’s thoughts can published for free on the internet through websites such as Blogspot, Wordpress, Livejournal, and many more. Again, this shows the democratization of corporate communication as people no longer seek information solely from companies but also from individuals who they deem interesting and knowledgeable on certain subjects. 

There has been a rising trend of blogging as people have started to realize the economic viability of this activity. Blogging was once viewed as a way in which individuals can express their thoughts, but now bloggers are slowly being integrated into the corporate marketing structure as companies have realized that blogs have a large following and that the opinions of certain bloggers have the ability to influence its readers. Many bloggers are sponsored with products by companies or are paid to do advertorials for them on their blogs. Blogging is now utilized not only as a venue in which one can express their opinions, but also as a platform in which companies can market themselves. Therefore, blogging is made alluring to many due to such monetary and fame incentives.  

Social media websites are a force to be reckoned with. The power of the words and thoughts of individuals can be seen through social media websites as these sites provide users with a platform for vocalizing their opinions with minimal restrictions.

The Internet

Harrow all! This blog is for the purposes of my Com125 module which introduces us to the internet.

The internet is a collection of computers connected to form a global networked environment. It provides the infrastructure for us to use electronic mailing and to find information online through the World Wide Web. Both the internet and the World Wide Web are used by the masses worldwide. 

With technological advancements in cellular devices and satellites, many of us are connected to the internet 24/7. We browse web pages on our blackberries and iphones, update our statuses with insignificant details of our lives on social networking sites every hour, send/receive e-mails, and at the end of the day, return home to stream YouTube videos or movies online. This actually does describe my life in a nutshell, and I am sure it is the same for many of you as well. As the internet is now a considerable part of our lives, let us learn exactly what the internet is and how we are able to utilize it! 

The internet has significantly changed many of our lives. It has brought us all closer together as time and space constraints are not an issue in a virtual network. We are able to communicate with one another through e-mails; albeit this does present some form of lag time, and with internet programs like Skype, we are able to communicate face to face in real time. However, the issue these days is not about the benefits of the internet but the disadvantages it is causing us. Many have complained about feelings of detachment and isolation as we become so overly immersed in our online activities that we begin to ignore the importance of physical interaction. 

Overall, the internet has presented to us many opportunities that were previously unavailable to the masses. It has been integrated seamlessly into our lives, so much so that few of us can remember how we managed to survive without the internet before. There is no doubt that the internet has created many problems for us due to our overreliance on it, but if we are able to control our usage of the internet, we are able to limit the disadvantages it brings to us as well. 

Next up! Social media... Ooooh....