Social network EQUAL social problem?

Social network like Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Youtube are getting popular nowadays. As Malaysian, we are most familiar with Facebook. As we all know, social networking sites provide us a plate form to get to know more friends, reconnect with friend with cheaper way, exchange opinion, sharing and etc. Some said that social network equal to social problem but some denied.


Social network = Social problem?? (O.o)??
People claimed that as social networking site provide a plate form for each other to interact, we are hardly to recognize whether the person is in good intention or not, so it lead to social problem. Moreover, everything can be spread online very fast and people has no time to judge whether it is true or false and make conclusion, if it is sensitive news, it will lead to social problem as well. Besides, gossiping, rumor can be conduct in internet basis as well. People get hurt even they didn't meet up. Some might said since it provides interaction easier, people are becoming not familiar with face ti face interaction.


It seems like make sense that social network equal to social problem. But is it TRUE? Let's discuss it in dept. Will people with evil mind suddenly become angel mind merely because of the vanish of networking site? Will we be able to differentiate one is good or bad even if we interact with them face to face? Will the sensitive news become never happen merely because no one is spreading? Lastly, will people stop gossiping or sharing rumors among each other if they quit social networking site?

Definitely, NO!

   People behavior will change, but their nature never change. A bad guy still a bad guy who conduct crime in real life. A news still a fact even if people are not spreading it. Gossiping still happen even though we remove social networking site. From these question, we can clearly seen that Social Networking is not equal to Social Problem. 
   We cannot conclude that Malaysia is becoming worse in safety merely because we saw post on Facebook everyday. The crime rate might just same as previous, but because of the help of social network, people are easier to get information or updated news. Thing are share very fast, so everyone think the matter become more serious. But it might be wrong. Human nature is, bad thing will spread and good thing will keep. Therefore, most of the time, we can see lots of bad news posted on Facebook. You know what? Not because of nothing good that happen, merely because human's nature. 
   When we look it from the other angle, we can said that social networking actually raise the awareness of users towards all problems and issues. Of course there is some people spreading news in bad intention, back to the point, the problem in on people behavior, perception and intention, but not Social network.


Hence, Social Network is NOT = to Social Problem.!!!!


Stop social Problem my changing our intention, perception and behavior is a better way than claiming social network's fault.

Engaging in Social Network site: Necessity or Lifestyle?

People nowadays are engaging in social networking sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, Linked in and much more.
What actually it is? Social networking site is where people which have similar interests, views gather together and form a group of community. It is an Internet online platform which connects people with others, to share their views, interests and ideas.
Are social networking site a necessity or lifestyle for you?

More and more people are using social networking site to communicate with each other. Some use it to keep in touch with their friends, old friends, classmates, relatives which they meet by face-to-face or in other countries and to know the news update about their friends. They can communicate to others by using chat systems or conversation systems. Some people use it for entertainment purposes and business purposes. As people nowadays are busier than before, many companies and groups conduct their meeting online by using social network site. This can save their time and some of them may be hard to schedule time for meeting. It is easier using virtual network than real face-to-face meeting. Professions and students can use this platform to discuss their ideas, assignments and even collaborate with others for projects.

As social network site becomes more and more famous, people choose to set up their businesses through social network sites. Through this, businesses or people can create their own page to sell, provide services and promote their products. It is cost free. Some businesses promote their products and services by paying fees to advertised on the social network site to get attention of users. People will notice the advertisements and spread it to their friends, more people will know about the companies. It is much more efficient and effective. 

Social network site starts to become a necessity to people. It helps us to communicate with others, share our stories, update our news and information, to discuss ideas or conduct meetings. Businessmen have found a new and effective way to advertise their products and services.

In a nutshell, social network site is no longer a lifestyle for people, it is a necessity which people relies on it for many purposes.

Business Social Network: Opportunities and threats

  Social networking is the grouping of individuals into specific groups such as small rural communities. Nowadays, social networking is not only possible in person but also for business, high school and etc. The most common social networking is Twitter and Facebook. As for business social network, it is a socio economy activity by a groups of businessman act or behave upon business opportunities.

  The opportunity for business social network would be social networking can really help the company grow their business and interact well with existing customers. Besides that, many business people agree that business networking is a more cost effective method than through advertising or public relation as business networking is a low-cost activity that involves more personal commitment than company money.

  However, there are some threats for business social network. The first is perhaps the effect on productivity in the form of addictive games on Facebook such as Farmville and Texas Holdem Poker. Next, the malicious links that are being spread on sites and these scams work by luring people to click on links posted on social networking sites with those scandalous comments. By clicking on those links, people are potentially downloading and infecting their computer with malware which could harm their IT network. To make things even worse, they will potentially be spreading the problem around the business via their business social network.

  In conclusion, the company should fully utilise their company’s opportunity efficiently and effectively while tackle their threats carefully as it may harm the company’s reputation.

Related link:

http://www.smallbizpod.co.uk/blog/2009/08/17/social-media-and-small-business-opportunity-and-threat/

How Social Media is changing E-commerce and the world

Facebook, Friendster, Twitter are the examples of social media. But, what is social media? Social media is a category of online media where people are talking, participating, sharing, networking, and bookmarking online. It is very useful and easy for everyone to share their own ideas, photos, videos, likes, dislikes throughout the world. Everybody can find friends, business contacts and become part of a community or a brunch of different communities.

How social media generate revenue? Social media assisted revenue per share to generate the revenue. For example, someone tweets a product and then places an order, then Twitter will generated $ 26.12 from that order.

Now, let’s look at the topic talking about “how social media is changing e-commerce?”
First of all, social media cans exposure to new products. New products are being released everyday and it is hard to keep up with. By digging into our profile, social media website can recommend products to us every time we shop in their shop. Undoubtedly many of these suggestions will involve products we have not heard about or we had previously never considered purchasing until then.

Next, social media bring users to social incentives for purchasing. Wanting new and better things others already have is a powerful factor in purchasing behaviour. Many of us want the latest and greatest; and this desire increase when the people we know having it. So, many customers are purchasing due to social incentives.

Then, how is social media changing the world?
Social media will make information universal. Anyone in the world now has access to the totality of human knowledge. If this sound hyperbolic, just imagine how likely it was for a kid in a third world country to read classic literature a decade ago. Besides, education nowadays is becoming a global right for all people and social media makes it easier for both children and adults to communicate with each other and learn about the world at large.

Lastly, social media has changed the way we communicate. It becomes easier for us to communicate with each others as compared to last time. Businesses used social media to communicate directly with their customers. They can obtain feedback and ideas, monitor conversations about their businesses and let their customers know that they are genuinely interested in them. If utilized and kept current, social media can greatly aide how businesses access their customers, market their products and allow businesses to establish essential customer relationships. As a business tool, social media have great potential, changing the way many businesses opera.


http://socialmediatoday.com/david-amerland/344152/how-social-media-changing-world

Mobile Payments: Are Malaysians ready for it?

Do you know what mobile payment is? Is it a money transaction through the mobile phone? Yes, exactly! Mobile payment refers to a payment service that operated under financial regulation and performed via a mobile device. Consumers can pay for different types of services or products through mobile payment instead of paying cash, credit cards, or cheque.

There are four models in mobile payments:

1.      Carrier Dominance Model

2.      Bank Dominance Model

3.      Collaboration Model

4.      Peer-to-Peer Model

Are Malaysians ready for mobile payments? In my opinion, I think they are! Because, today’s world is a network world as well as Malaysia is also considered as a developing country. Through mobile payment, Malaysian can just make the payments through their mobile phone, but not paying cash to the services or products they want to purchase. This is a much easier way for them.

In addition, Citibank Malaysia has launched this mobile payments system to Malaysian. Thus, Malaysian for sure will be ready for this system since it is convenience for them. Citibank states with the slogan that “Paying bills whenever you can and whenever you are”; this slogan will attracts Malaysians who are living in a busy lifestyle of today’s modern society. Citibank allows Malaysian pay their household bills instantly with just a simple SMS from their mobile phone anywhere and anytime just through this mobile payments system. Malaysians will be no more hassles searching for the internet connection as well as saving their time.


http://www.telecomcircle.com/2009/03/mobile-payments-business-models/

Transaction privacy and security: How does e-commerce affect my privacy

E-commerce is the buying and selling of goods and services on the Internet, especially the World Wide Web (www). When we, as a consumer buy or sell thing online which involve registration, IP address, we are actually involve in e-commerce or in other word, we are part of e-market.

How does transaction privacy and security affect our privacy? 
As we involve in e-commerce, when we access to some website for free, we usually click on agree to all during our registration or signing up session. Yet, in the term and conditions, there is a condition where we agree to receive targeted ads. With this, the company or that particular website can track your online activities and determine which ads to show you.
This is actually using SPYWARE.

So, what is Spyware?

Spyware is Internet jargon for Advertising Supported software (Adware). This usually involves the tracking and sending of data and statistics via a server installed on the user's PC and the use of your Internet connection in the background. It is a way for shareware authors to make money from a product, other than by selling it to the users. There are several large media companies that offer them to place banner ads in their products in exchange for a portion of the revenue from banner sales. Adware is the product of spyware but it is not all.
There are also products that do display advertising but do not install any tracking mechanism on your system. These products are not indexed in our database. Some users who didn't notice the term and condition might think the advertisement is annoying, however, it is not an illegal software. Due to privacy concern, users might object to it and prefer not to be tracked. 

Cookies?

Cookies on internet is not like what we always eat during tea-break. It is not as nice as that.



Another affect on consumer is due to cookies. Cookies are inherently harmless. They are simple text files that help coordinate the remote website servers and your browser to display the full range of features offered by most contemporary websites. These features include all your activities on internet. As cookie technology evolves along with website publishing and advertisement technology, privacy issues are sure to arise time and again. Third party (people who supply the cookies) will be able to access to users’ personal information and figure out their behavior. 

As a conclusion, cookies and spyware do have bad consequences to users as people usually don't like being tracked. Even though there is no harm, people like to have privacy and didn't want other to monitor what they are browsing. However, they have some benefit towards users as well. It makes us to use computer more convenience as it helps us to stored our ID and password on computer in cookies. Besides, if I am the owner of webpage, I can easily approach to my potential client using cookies.


Not feeling comfortable with cookies and spyware? Get rid from it. There are few websites suggest how to remove or prevent it. As shown in below.

Related links:
1) http://www.microsoft.com/security/pc-security/spyware-remove.aspx

2)http://www.pcworld.com/article/129094/how_to_remove_spyware_from_your_pc.html

3) http://www.wikihow.com/Clear-Your-Browser%27s-Cookies

Cyber Crimes in Malaysia

    Cyber crime is a criminal activity done by using computers and the internet. Although Internet is a great place for working together and building a better world, it also has its dark side. Every year billions of dollars are made in a number of different cyber crimes and the victims are usually people like you and me.

    Based on the articles found, the most cyber crimes in Malaysia are love scams and fraudulent online purchases among those 403 cases that reported within the first three months of the year. The statistics shows that in year 2011, the frequency of cyber crime has increased by 348 cases and incurred in losses by RM16 million as compared to year 2010. For the love scams, it usually falls under women especially single-mothers, unmarried woman and women with marital problems as African nationals love affairs with local women.

     As for fraudulent online purchases, the reported cases are commonly reported by those who bought goods and services through common websites such as alibaba.com, e-lelong.com and mudah.my.  People leave a lot of personal information online and such information can leave the people vulnerable to let others stalked. Apart from that, another cyber crime was online financial fraud whereby customers were asked for their bank account number.  The simple concept for those identity thefts is, get access into people account and use their personal information for their own benefit. So, never connect to your bank account on a public computer, or using Wi-Fi access point that are not trusted.

                In conclusion, computers and the Internet do made our lives easier in many ways yet it is unfortunate that people use these technologies to take advantage of others. Hence, it is smart to protect yourself by using antivirus and must be careful whenever enter any personal information.


Related Article:

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/cyber-criminals-scammed-victims-of-rm16m-in-q1/