Entry 4: Privacy and ethical issues unique to e-business

The whole concept of e-business is quite difficult to understand, especially for me. While some may view the e-business environment as effortless, I am not surprised that others do not find it complex and problematic!

In this day and age, business has evolved and adapted itself to the wonders of modern technology as most businesses today is conducted through computers, wires, and the Internet. This has transformed the way we perform purchases and transactions and the new unique issues brought abut by this form of doing business. Ethical and privacy issues in e-business have changed the face of consumerism compared to the traditional storefront business where issues were more straightforward and much simpler!

You see, unique of e-business, the private information of individual consumers and other business are protected and enforced more considerably. Along with this is the cost of actually maintaining this privacy as it cost more to maintain privacy with e-commerce security measures compared to a traditional storefront security. For example if you have a load of private computerised information, wouldn’t it be easier to just store them in a computer with the click of a mouse rather than print out copious amount of paper information (in turn destroying the environment!) and storing them in a physical safe? Personally, I would rather spend more money protecting the privacy of consumer information on computers with electronic security programs!

Ethics covers a whole wide range of topics in e-business. It’s close ties to privacy for the e-business organisations and especially for its consumers. Organisations have made it a point to ensure that their consumer’s information is well protected and in strict confidence. UNIQUE to e-business, consumer information is EXCHANGED AND PROTECTED ELECTRONICALLY in secure websites and databases. In addition, it is our duty to make sure that the information that we provide is truthful.

The list goes on on the dos and don’ts regarding the ethics and privacy issues in e-business. But the core requirement or for lack of a better word, the core focus of these issues is naturally the protection of information of it’s customers, other e-business organisations and the organisation itself. Without this, it can lead to identity theft and whole load of legal issues.

Entry 3: Twitter vs Facebook

Twitter and Facebook, both hugely successful social medias and a driving force in today’s society, and the huge role that it plays in connectivity between individuals.

Despite what many may think, the phenomenal of social networking can still be considered to be in its infancy stage. People assume that since these social networking sites are such big and successful companies, one can easily forget that it was just a couple of years ago when these sites first ventured into the infinite space of the Internet. With its current exponential growth, it’ll make a person wonder how big these sites can become 10 years down the road. Or will one take over the other? Or will they co-exist side by side peacefully without hampering each other’s growth and popularity? There are so many questions concerning Twitter and Facebook. Questions that currently can’t be given a straight answer. Because after all, like I said, both companies are still growing. Only time can tell what is the future of these sites. So, right now all we can do is compare and contrast between both sites and just predict which will fare better than the other.

Twitter Pros

· Easy to navigate and update, link to and promote anything

· Reach far beyond your inner circle of friends

· One feed pools all users; anyone can follow anyone else unless blocked

· Pure communication tool, rapid responsiveness

· You don’t have to be logged in to get updates; you can just use an RSS reader

· Very interactive, extensible messaging platform with open APIs

· Many other applications being developed (Twitterific, Summize, Twhirl, etc.)

· Potential SMS text messaging revenue from wireless networks (although Twitter states they are not currently getting any cut)

· Potential future advertising and/or enterprise subscription-based revenue streams

· With its “thin” overhead, Twitter is probably more scalable than Facebook, giving it a cost advantage

Twitter Cons

· Limited functionality; find people, send brief messages, direct replies

· Limited to 140 characters per update

· Not all people find it immediately useful

· Over-emphasis on follower counts

· Easily abused for spam and increasing the noise level

· Relatively smaller installed user base

· As yet no readily apparent monetization strategy

Facebook Pros

· Application mashup; find people, make connections, email, instant messaging, image/video sharing, etc.

· Most people can quickly grasp the value of connecting with friends, family and established contacts; some people report they use Facebook instead of email and IM

· More emphasis on deep connections with others vs. who has the most connections

· “True Friends” feature increases your transparency to selected connections; almost like having private and public profiles

· Huge, rapidly growing installed user base

· Inherit stickiness, third party applications, “gift giving” and personal data collection make Facebook a powerful advertising platform

Facebook Cons

· More difficult to navigate and update

· Requires investment of time to realize sustained benefit

· Opt in model requires a user to allow others to connect

· Less immediate responses; unless you stay logged on continually

· Overhead of mashup and “thick” applications could limit scalability, bloat cost structure

The future of social networking

Looking at all these pros and cons between Twitter and Facebook, while zealots may point to either one as being more superior, the truth is, that these social networking sites has both its disadvantages and advantages. Ultimately these sites are just in its essences communication tools! So depending on how individuals want to broadcast their messages to others, it will depend on which type of medium they prefer to use! Naturally, both will continue to evolve and morph as users find new ways to extract value and either network may or may become a long term winner in the rapidly evolving social networking space. Because at the end of the day, the site that has the better profitable, scalable and sustainable business model than the other, will naturally overcome it’s competitors, just like Google did during the dotcom era.

Entry 2: social media + interactions = travelling the world FOC

What is the definition of social media?

“Social media are media used for social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable communication techniques. Social media is the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into interactive dialogue.”

- Wikipedia

See the relevance? Just by giving you guys the definition of social media, I am already tapping into one type of social media, which is Wikipedia and how are you guys reading this in the first place? Through another type of social media! Blogspot.com! Now can you see how interconnected we are in this century and how our lives have become so interwoven into social media! To the point where just by looking at our generation today, it is as if our lives depend on it! But what if that is not just a far fetched statement but actually true? Think about it…

The first thing you do in the morning when you wake up is to check your Twitter account, followed by you Facebook account. Whenever you want to research and look up for some info for class, you immediately type Wikipedia.com into your URL. Whenever you feel like watching generic entertainment on the Internet, you go to YouTube. With all these advancements made in technology, the connectivity between social media and us just keeps getting closer, tighter and stronger. What if it takes over our lives? That’s a scary thought to keep in consideration.

BUT…

Lets move on to something more positive. An example about how social media was used effective and social manner. I recently discovered about a seasoned traveler who through the use of his website, managed to travel the world for free!

Ramon Stoppelenburg

Is a world traveler and a Dutch author who in the beginning of 2001 started the website www.letmestayforaday.com. By using the Internet for requesting a place to stay and help with food and drinks, he received 3,577 invitations from 77 countries. In exchange for the given hospitality he wrote an extensive daily report on his website before hitchhiking to his following location. The travels took Stoppelenburg through the Netherlands, Belgium, France, England, Ireland, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Austria, South Africa, Spain, Australia and Canada. Coverage by international media and the number of visitors to the website allowed Stoppelenburg to have everything sponsored: his website, clothing, camera, backpack, shoes and even his airline tickets.

Now imagine that? Just wishing I could do the same as well. Because I just want to travel the world too! All expenses paid! But back to the topic at hand.

So guys can you all see how helpful social media is? How influential it can become? And this happened almost a decade ago, can one actually fathom the growth that social media has gone through for the past ten years?! I cant… but if you can, please leave a comment below to share your thoughts!