A discussion on Social network site: Necessity or lifestyle

"Nowadays social network sites have developed and been created for different purposes. The main purposes are to find friends, to get acquainted, to find jobs or employees or to develop your business. The competition between social networks is really great today and only really quality and interesting social networks such as Facebook can attract users today. These websites use innovations such as new types of chats, video platforms, and media content to attract more users." Click here Social Networks: Influence on Our Life

Many social networking sites have become popular over the last few years and have become a necessity of life and useful business tools. For instance, “MySpace encourages smaller and medium-sized businesses to set up an online storefront as a way to advertise and promote business activities. By doing so, individuals can become "friends" or "fans" of the profile, and will be updated on current events, special promotions, and other essential information the business would like to share.” Since the creation of social networking sites, individuals are given opportunities to meet new friends in their own community and also from all over the world as long as the internet access is available. It makes the process of communication become easier and more convenient. 

Some studies propose that Facebook or Twitter could harm our social health as we are spending more time in front of our computer screens rather than meeting people physically.  For instance, if a person spends a lot of time to surf on social network sites and this has become a habit to the extent that the person stops to communicate with people in real life, the social network sites have become a disruption to the person’s life.

On the other hand, there are other people who  would argue that social networking sites are beneficial for society. With these sites, we can keep in touch with our college friends and others that we have not seen for a long time.

Facebook and Twitter and the other social networking sites are now becoming part and parcel of our daily life. There are many great benefits of social networking and the most important thing is, we have to learn how to manage our time so that we can fully utilize these sites in a moderate way.

Reference(s):

Amy Bax. Importance of Social Networking. Retrieved Feb 19, 2011 from http://www.gaebler.com/Importance-of-Social-Networking.htm

Social Networks: Influence on Our Life. Retrieved Feb 19, 2011 from http://www.articlesbase.com/networks-articles/social-networks-influence-on-our-life-3858057.html

James Hamaker. The Rise of Social Networking Sites and Their Effects on Our Lives. Retrieved Feb 19, 2011 from http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Rise-of-Social-Networking-Sites-and-Their-Effects-on-Our-Lives&id=2887717

 

A discussion on E-Learning offered in Malaysian universities: Pros and Cons from the students perspective

According to Wikipedia, E-learning includes all forms of electronically supported learning and teaching, in other words, it is implemented for the learning process by using the computer and network to transfer the skills and knowledge. For instance, Web-based learning, computer-based learning, and virtual classrooms are some of the E-learning applications.

Some of our Malaysian universities offer E-learning. For example:
UTM (Universiti Teknologi Malaysia)
USM (Universiti Sains Malaysia) and
OUM (Open University Malaysia)

OUM E-learning review

OUM was established on Aug 10, 2000 as the 7^th private university in Malaysia. Today, there are more than 24,000 students enrolled in OUM programs. Well, their learning styles comprise of self-managed learning, online learning, and face-to-face interaction.

OUM’s Learning Management System (LMS) is user-friendly, has a pleasant interface, and is integrated. It consists of 5 main components.

• myLMS includes myCourse such as course summary, announcement, course content, staff info, forum, etc, and myUniverisity serve   as the first interaction between the university and the student  such as user directory, calender, student online progress, etc.
• myMail includes student and staff e-mail component.
• myProfile includes profile, credit transfer, courses undertaken, course result, and payment.
• myLibrary  includes more than 36,000 titles from e-books and 50,000 titles from e-journal databases.
• Learner connections includes learning issues, FAQs, etc which provides useful guidelines and tips on education and life in OUM.

The pros and cons of E-learning from the student's perspective are:

The pros

• Travelling cost such as petrol bills can be reduced since students don’t have to go to the university as often as before anymore.
• Learning at students' preferred place and this helps them to feel more comfortable overall.
• Due to its flexibility, students can study,  anytime that they want to and whenever they have the mood. Besides, students can work in part-time jobs to earn extra money because the learning time is flexible.
• Students are not required to follow the university’s timetable; therefore it allows them to adapt their learning periods in line with their busy schedules.
•  E-learning can be very effective for some learners who are shy, the language challenged and those who need more time to study. 
• The side benefits are E-learning provides new technologies and technical skills for students that can be very useful in the future since technologies are improving drastically.

The cons

• E-learning system requires that students and learning providers  have the necessary equipment such as a computer with  Internet access in order to carry out this learning method.
• Lack of academic honesty of online students. For instance, students may simply ask other people to perform certain performance for them since there is no one to monitor them.
• Face to face interaction is reduced; students may find it uninteresting because they cannot talk physically with their friends anymore.
• E-learning requires full responsibilities from students themselves, they cannot depend on their lecturers to remind them.
• Students may have to go for training to learn new skills, this could be time-consuming.
• E-learning does not provide a true campus lifestyle for students. The social experience gained by students in this respect may be reduced.

Reference(s):

E- Learning. (Feb 21, 2011). Retrieved Feb 24, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-learning

E- Learning review. (Nov 18, 2007) Retrieved Feb 24, 2011, from http://o-u-m.blogspot.com/2007/11/oum-e-learning-review.html

What are the Pros and Cons of Online Education? (n.d.). Retrieved Feb 24, 2011, from http://www.justcolleges.com/elearn/proscons.htm

Corporate Blogging: A new marketing communication tool for companies.

According to Wikipedia, a corporate blog is used by organizations to reach their organizational goals. Generally, corporate blogs can be categorized into two types- Internal and External.

Internal corporate blogs usually only allow the organization's employees to view them. The purpose of these blogs is  to encourage employees’ participation, enable free discussion of issues, collection of intelligence, and as a direct communication between various layers of the organization and others.

External corporate blogs usually are opened to the public  And this  kind of publicly available blogs are often used to publish new products and services, to define organization policies, as well as to react on public criticisms and or comments on the organizations since some of these blogs allow comments to be made. In fact, external corporate blogs are biased in the sense that they offer a more honest and direct view, compared to traditional communication channels. Of course, marketers might be expected to have an influencing effect among the audience of external corporate blogs.

The motive in general of creating a corporate blog is to increase the informality of the communication experience in a blog; the timeliness of information posted on the blog could also increase the transparency of a corporation's activities. Last but not least, it allows the corporate organization to interact easily with a target market on a more personal level.

In order to reach buyers through online communication, it can be done by using email marketing, media, or corporate websites. But nowadays, corporate blogs have become an important tool in the marketing world. This is due to the fact that corporate blogs can reach lots of people without costly payments.

In fact, marketing professionals can make use of the blog posts to dispense information to a combination of buyers, existing customers and influencers such as the media. The contents covered should not be limited to the organization and its products only, but they can also be  extended to  issues happening in the industry's marketplace. This is because people read blogs to find honest comments about a subject, and if corporate blogs are interesting and provide valuable information, their readership will increase. Click here Corporate Blogs for Technology Businesses

Below are some tips which could help organizations to implement a successful corporate blog. Click here Corporate Blogging Tips

Choosing a blog name and theme
Choosing a suitable blog name with a focused theme is essential because it defines the value that it is bringing to customers.


Establish content
The blog should provide important information for interested customers i. For instance, a clear goal and plausible content in a  blog will allow users to know what the corporate blog is  all about and understand what they may find in the corporate blog.


Select bloggers
Select individuals that are knowledgeable as the corporate bloggers in order to write well about areas that the organization wish to cover. In addition, the organization is recommended to provide a measure of freedom and independence for the corporate bloggers to be themselves, as this would definitely encourage them to have their own personalities and writing styles. Bear in mind that a blog is about a connection between people, not a corporation.


Allow criticisms and get social
Organisations should welcome criticisms on the blogs as an opportunity for feedback and improvement. Therefore, corporate blogs  are encouraged to be open for public comments and opinions.


Promote blog

Corporate blogs' URLs should be promoted either using corporate websites, social networks such as Facebook, on business cards, e-mails or advertisements to gain readers' attention.

Reference(s):

Corporate blog. (Jan 18, 2011). Retrieved Feb 23, 2011, from           http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_blog  

Scott, D. M. (n.d.). Corporate Blogs for Technology Businesses: Authentic    Marketing at Work. Retrieved Feb 23, 2011, from           http://www.pragmaticmarketing.com/publications/magazine/4/1/corporat   e-blogs-for-technology-businesses

Swallow, E. (Jul 20, 2010). 10 Tips for Corporate Blogging. Retrieved Feb 23,        2011, from http://mashable.com/2010/07/20/corporate-blogging-tips/  

E- Government in Malaysia: Its implementation so far and citizen's adoption strategies

E-Government is the use of e-commerce and IT with which to access government information and delivery of public services to business partners and citizens. The implementation of E- Government launched the country to the information age and it was started with the initiation of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) by the Malaysian government. In Malaysia, the status of E – Government has been accelerated in order to transform Malaysia to a knowledge society by year 2020. The Malaysian E-Government has seven flagship applications: They are E– Syariah, Electronic Services (E – Services), Electronic Labour Exchange (ELX), Generic Office Environment (GOE), Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS), Project Monitoring System (SPP II), and Electronic Procurement (EP). Click here: Malaysia Information and Commication Technology

Until now, the implementation of E- Government has always focused on effectively and efficiently delivering public services to the citizens. In a related survey, Malaysia’s ranking is 25th out of 32 countries in terms of E– Government usage growth, in year 2007. However, implementing a successful e-government project is not without any barriers.

The four main barriers affecting Malaysia’s E- Government implementation is Budgetary Framework, Legislative and Regulatory Barriers, Lagging Behind Technological Changes, and the Digital Divide which impedes the benefits of E- Government.

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Citizen's adoption strategies
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The great speed of technology advancement has always forced the government to be particularly thoughtful and mindful about time, in particular to shorten the transaction periods, which have traditionally delayed the implementation of projects and official procedures in a transaction.

Besides that, the government should manage and focus on the conversion of government procedures and transactions into e-government, rather than emphasising on the introduction of ICT. At the same time, through the ICT the government can gather the participation of businesses and citizens in a public decision.

Apart from that, one of the citizens’ considerations to accept E-Government is the capability of the application. Thus, the government should carry out strategies to make sure that the citizens are adopting or accepting the implementation of E-Government. The strategies that raise the citizens’ confidence towards the capability of E-Government is through providing more convenience for citizens when they use government services; providing a single shared platform just for the delivery of government news and information; and providing a single entry point to search for the information and online services.

On the other hand, in a transaction involving government online services , the government should  facilitate  the easy downloading of forms and information on their usage, for the public’s convenience.

In this way, government agencies and the public can easily communicate via community based services through a single shared platform, and the citizens are educated on the process and procedures when using the various services issued by government agencies.

Reference(s):

Malaysia Information and commication Technology. Retrieved  Feb 22,2011 from http://www.american.edu/initeb/ym6974a/egovernment.htm#E-Government

E- Government. (n.d.). Retrieved Feb 22, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-Government

E- Government in Malaysia. (May, 2008). Retrieved Feb 22, 2011, from http://www.mait.com/admin/enews_images/MAIT%20Country%20Intelligence%20eNews96_37.pdf

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Review a local, transactional e-commerce site

About Flowers.com.my

Flowers.com.my is a specialized store because it is specialized in selling flowers and related gifts. It is a regional store because it serves only customers within Malaysia and the delivery service is restricted to the places within Malaysia. Flowers.com.my is a Pure-play e-tailer because their business model is only for online retailing.
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Flowers.com.my is a fully owned subsidy of CARI Internet Sdn Bhd and began active operations in the year 1999. The founder’s goal is “to provide the most convenient way for people to purchase flowers and gifts, especially the rapidly growing online community”. Flowers.com.my has been growing steadily and now they have successfully established a network of over 60 florists throughout Malaysia.

Electronic cart

They allows customers to accumulate items they wish to buy by adding the items into the online shopping cart
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Customer Service

They provide FAQ, Help, Contact Us, special guide, reminder service and buying tips to serve customers better.

Search engine

There is no search engine provided in Flowers.com.my.

Electronic catalog

Flowers.com.my uses static catalog display to list the flowers along with picture preview and prices.

Payment gateway

Customers can choose to pay for their orders using Credit Cards (VISA or Mastercard), deposit to bank accounts, Maybank2U, Paypal or Pospay. Besides that, customers can now pay through innovative mobile payment system - Mobile Money, as well.

Shipment charge

There is a flat rate of RM10

How to order?

1. Click “Order Online” and Create an Account for 1^st timer.
2. Click "Click on Picture or Description" to select item.
3. Click "Add to Cart" button.
4. Repeat Step 2 & 3 to continue shopping.
5. Amend your shopping cart with "Delete" button.
6. Click "Check Out" Button to proceed to order details.
7. Select payment mode and fill in your order details.
8. Furnish complete address, telephone contact and message.
9. They have 3 modes of payment Credit Card (Visa or Master), deposit to bank accounts (MBB,BCB,SBB,HLB) and Maybank2u.

Is the online payment system secure?
Flowers.com.my accepts Mastercard and Visa credit card payments through their partner payment gateway provider "Commerce Payment Sdn Bhd". Their site is supported by the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology. All customers’ information during the shopping process is encrypted to protect customers. Information provided is treated as confidential.

Reference(s)

Flowers.com.my. Retrieved Feb 20, 2011 from http://www.flowers.com.my/catalog/index.php

Internet banking: threats and opportunities

According to Wikipedia, internet banking or online banking allows customers to conduct financial transactions on a secure website operated by their retail or virtual bank, credit union or building society. If you have a computer and internet access, you can perform your transactions via internet banking services. The internet banking services include an account to account transfer, paying a bill, wire transfer, apply for a loan, new account, online statements, viewing images of paid cheques, and repayment of loan.

Internet banking services started to operate in Malaysia since 2001. The advancement of technology and communication has lead to the introducing of a new delivery channel which is internet banking.

Opportunities

“The internet improves accessibility to banking products and services, and can be harnessed not just as mere delivery channels but as new business venture through the setting up of virtual banks by banking institutions.” For financial institutions, Internet banking has the ability to obtain a larger customer base and will become extremely popular in the future since everyone can go online and do most of their bank transactions with just a few clicks at whatever time.

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Threats

Due to continuous changes in technology, the banking sector has to keep track with the latest technology in order to provide better services. They also have to face competition from their peers in the banking industry because all the banks are providing internet banking services.

Sometimes online banking are not the best choice. Online banking may not be a perfect substitution for a bank branch because some functions such as depositing cash might still require physical branches.

Since all the transactions are made online, internet banking also face security threats such as phishing, fraudulent activities of on-line hackers, and Trojan horse viruses. In case of people do become victims of the fraudulent activity, most banks use either a token or a TAN code, which provides a temporary access to the accounts.

Reference(s):

Wikipedia. (Feb 17, 2011). Online banking. Retrieved Feb 15, 2011 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_banking

Banking sector. Retrieved Feb 15, 2011 from http://www.bnm.gov.my/view.php?dbIndex=0&website_id=1&id=14

JanWillem Vanmeneer. (Sept 21, 2010). Internet Banking Has the Future. Retrieved Feb 15, 2011 from http://ezinearticles.com/?Internet-Banking-Has-the-Future&id=5072135

The application of pre-paid cash card for consumers

A cash card is a prepaid debit card or reloadable debit card,  and allows the holders to make payments and have them deducted from the card’s available balance.

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Pre-paid Debit Cards  are the following: 

• Branded (or Signature or full-function) Pre-paid Debit Cards – it is used for transactions at every respective Point of Sale terminal carrying the Visa or the MasterCard logo (with or without PIN pad) and used for on-line purchases or to pay bills.

• ATM Cards – it requires the secured entry of a PIN at both the Point of Sale or ATM for payment transactions.

Several applications of pre-paid cash card for consumers are the following: General Spending Debit Card - Purchase at POS, ATM cash withdrawals, for funds security. MC branded Prepaid Debit card or Full-function Visa can be used for online purchases, bill payments, and ‘signature-based’ purchases. Payroll and commission payout Card, Gift Card, Travel Card, Affinity Group Card, Student Card, Remittance – Funds Transfer within and across borders.Click here: Prepaid Debit Cards Presentation

For example, they are issued to “Bankable People” and “Un-bankable People” with no bank account needed， no credit check， no banking history needed，no employment verification needed; and just about everybody can be approved, with no one being declined. This is due to valid government issued verifiable addresses and IDs so that the debit cards can be issued to everybody.

Advantage for using Pre – paid Debit Cards:

Click here: Prepaid Debit Cards Presentation

• Not similar with a credit card, which charges higher annual interest fees when making payment. A debit card is free of interest charges and used to obtain money from a PIN-based transaction or an ATM. Pre-paid Debit Cards such as Touch n Go, it can save your valuable time to pay the tolls or parking fees instead of using cash. Click here:  Debit card

• Funds Transfer allow consumers more to transfer funds to distant family, relative or friend, inexpensively and conveniently. In addition, it is much more secure than cash, so a lot of consumers prefer Prepaid Cash Cards

• Personal identification numbers (PINs)  protect consumers against fraud and prevent thefts. These are two of the security features

• Non – bank consumers are able to go online to purchase goods and services and pay bills through Pre – paid Debit Cards. For example, UTARians can pay their study fees by using the PB Debit card in UTAR campus with the payment of a  RM1 service charge fee because UTAR already has a working service contract agreement with Public Bank.

Reference(s):

Prepaid Debit Cards Presentation. (Jan 2007) Retrieved Feb12, 2011 from http://www.onedebit.com/PrepaidDebitCardsOD.pdf

Debit card. (April2010). Retrieved Feb12, 2011 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debit_card

Credit Card debts: Causes and Prevention

Credit Card debts

The Credit card is issued by banks, retail stores, and other business merchants like savings and loans. It may be used to purchase goods and services or to borrow money. Unfortunately, a lot of people are ignorant of its proper usage and consequences from financial and non-financial perspectives when they get a new credit card. Here are some causes and prevention for the credit card debts.

Causes of credit card debts Click here: Top 10 causes of debt

Poor money management

A lot of people  do not actually know where their money is going without a proper expenditure plan. For example, they are always spending on the items that do not have any corresponding value in monetary terms. 

Unemployment

Nowadays, credit cards are  commonly being used by householders for the purchase of utilities, groceries and some even for expenses to maintain their current lifestyle when   had quit their job. The credit card debt keeps increasing day by day if the daily expenses are not cut down in line with the reduction in income.

Banking on a windfall and Financial illiteracy
A lot of people like spending tomorrow’s money today, which is very tempting. Apart from that, they also don’t understand why they must balance their checkbook, how to save and invest  for a rainy day, and how money grows and works.

Excessive Medical Expenses
Credit cards are very useful especially for emergencies such as to pay off the medical expenses.  This occurs when the health insurance is not adequate to cover the medical bills whenever your family members suffers serious illnesses. 

Gambling
Gambling has become a part of popular lifestyle for some people. The addictive gambler  succumbs to borrowing money for gambling through credit card that will surely lead to financial disaster. 

Prevention

Making an budget
Control and plan your expenditure by creating a clear budget that includes monthly utilities, groceries, entertainment and miscellaneous expenses. It will prevent overspending and  reduce the debt load.

Self control and discipline
Self control and discipline to keep these cards in the wallet and not to overspend. Thus, you will start to spend less in order to  remain in a good financial situation. For example, people  should not go  gambling  but instead should  engage themselves in  healthy hobbies.  Click here: Credit Card Debt- Prevention Is Better Than Cure

Choose the best credit card
Pick the one with the lowest interest rates and cut up the other credit cards. Click here: Credit Card Debt Prevention

Pay on time
Never make a late payment  on instalments especially for house and motor-vehicles' payments because, according to the universal default clause in the credit cards' conditions and terms, credit card companies can increase your interest rate if you make a late payment to any creditor.

Move your debts
Transfer your  debts from a credit card  with higher annual interest rate to one with lower annual interest rate. This will allow you to buy more goods and pay a lesser amount of interest.

Reference(s):

Avoiding Credit Card Debt Preventive Medicine Is Best. (June 25, 2009).Retrieved Feb12, 2011 from http://www.cardratings.com › Credit Card News

Joannertollman. Credit Card Debt Prevention. Retrieved Feb12, 2011 from http://www.mozdex.com/prevent-credit-card-debt/

A.C. West. Understanding Credit Card Debt Problems. Retrieved Feb12, 2011 from http://ezinearticles.com/?Understanding-Credit-Card-Debt-Problems&id=1225936)

Steve Bucci. Top 10 causes of debt. Retrieved Feb12, 2011 from http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/debt/debt_manage_2004/top-10-causes.asp

Joseph Kenny. Credit Card Debt- Prevention Is Better Than Cure. Retrieved Feb12, 2011 from http://ezinearticles.com/?Credit-Card-Debt---Prevention-Is-Better-Than-Cure&id=226244

Electronic Currency

Electronic Currency/E-currency is also known as E-money, E-cash, digital money, digital cash, digital currency refers to money exchanged electronically from one party to another. It normally involves the use of computer networks, the internet and digitally stored value systems. The examples of electronic money include Electronic Funds Transfers (EFT), direct deposit and virtual currency.

Generally, E-currency can be divided into 2 categories. First one is the money balance recorded electronically on a “stored-value” card which has a microprocessor embedded; and the Second one is the network money exchange through the Internet. Click here on Electronic Money

Some successfully implemented “stored-value” card include Hong Kong’s Octopus card system, London Transport’s Oyster Card and Singapore’s electronic money program which focuses on its public transportation system.

As for the network money which is exchanged through the Internet, it enables us to send and receive money easily worldwide. For instance, everyone can now make online payment 24 hours from anywhere as long as there is internet access.  In addition, other benefits to users include mass payments can be done with one click, collection of real-time online payment from sale of goods and services, and others. Click here for Benefits to users

Overall, although E-currency provides lots of benefits for us such as convenience and efficiency of transactions, lower transaction fees as mentioned before, etc., however, several potential issues still remain with the use of E-currency.

The potential issues can have macro-economic effects such as shortage of money supplies (total amount of e-currency VS total amount of real currency available). Another issue is computer crime due to lack of security, in which on-line criminals may steal e-currency or reduce an account’s amount of e-currency. Well, in order to prevent potential fraud issues to arise, the implementation of cyberspace laws and regulations is strongly needed to regulate such transactions.

Reference(s):

Electronic Money (Feb 7, 2011). Retrieved Feb 15, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_money

Benefits to users (n.d.). Retrieved Feb 15, 2011, from http://www.e-currency-directory.net/definition_e_currency.htm

Susan M. Sullivan. (n.d.). Electronic Money and Its Impact on Central Banking and Monetary Policy. Retrieved Feb 15, 2011, from http://econc10.bu.edu/Ec341_money/Papers/Sullivan_paper.htm