Worries and problems of smartphones

This short video shows the influence of social media in the life of smartphone users:

 Discussion about Social media by dana.knieriem on GoAnimate

Social Media and its application and integration in companies

To explain how companies use social media today and to identify the opportunities and risks, it is important to understand what social media is and how it developed. Therefore, this essay begins with a definition of social media before providing a brief history. It will then illustrate how a company (in this case Deutsche Telekom AG, the biggest German telecommunication company) is able to use social media to its advantage in two parts. First it will look at the importance of a company’s online presentation. Then it will explore how companies can use their social networks for internal communication and as a working environment. The conclusion will discuss whether or not companies will have to deal with social media in the future and if so, to what extent.

 Social Media can be defined as ‘websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking’ (Oxford Dictionaries 2013). Its main focus is social interaction. Many people think that the development of social media began with Myspace and Facebook. In fact, CompuServe, which was launched in 1969, is seen as the first commercial online service and the beginning of social media. Within a few years the popularity of emails began to grow and more and more people began to interact via the Internet. In 1978 some hobbyists developed the first online platform that would keep friends informed via computers and make announcements. In the 80s the development of today’s Internet, the World Wide Web begun. Public access to the World Wide Web began in 1993. A few short years later, in 1997, social interaction started becoming a driving force of the Internet. The first blogging websites were launched, AOL enabled it’s users to chat online and Blackboard, an online system to support education, was invented – three functionalities which are still popular today. The first famous social network was created in 1999 in the UK and was coined ‘Friends Reunited’, but was subsequently dwarfed by ‘Friendster’ from the US a mere 3 years later whose users reached upwards of 3 million. The success of Friendster was followed by Myspace in 2003 and Facebook in 2004. Facebook is currently the most popular social network and the first name most people think of when the term ‘social media’ is mentioned. It started as a social network at Harvard University to enable students to interact with each other. In 2006 it became accessible to the general public and since then the number of users have skyrocketed (Curtis, 2013). People are relying on Facebook to stay in touch with friends and to share content. The timeline on the personal profile of every user makes it easy for friends to access the information they want and to comment on it. Globalization fuels social media networks like Facebook even more because people become better connected all over the world. However, it is not only used for private interaction. Facebook is used in universities and schools to make announcements and it improves the collaboration between students who can ask questions and discuss current topics in Facebook groups. All in all, social media is an integral component in today’s society and it has changed communication behavior – for better or worse, but that aspect that will not be discussed here.

The average Facebook user spends 8.3 hours a month on the site and 76% of all users log in on to Facebook daily (Craig 2013). Smartphone users use Facebook even more frequently, on average they check their Facebook account 14 times a day and within 15 minutes after they wake up in the morning (Keating 2013). Therefore, the presence of Facebook in the daily life of more than 1 billion users is a good incentive for companies to advertise their products online to reach new potential customers. Brand awareness can be increased when people ‘like’ a Facebook page, a new form of viral marketing. Customers share their experiences and give feedback, while special offers make brands even more popular. Some companies also offer customer service over Facebook to increase their customer intimacy. For example Deutsche Telekom AG as a company uses multiple Social Media accounts. It has divided its social media presence into four segments: corporate communications (for general announcements), marketing (for acquiring new customers), customer service (for raising customer satisfaction), and human resources (for potential employees) (Vollmar 2012, p. 5). Thus, they want to focus on specific target groups to meet different needs. The main social media networks they are using are Facebook, Twitter and YouTube (Deutsche Telekom AG 2013), using even smaller networks would probably cause too much effort in relation to the expected results. In total, the management of Deutsche Telekom AG is convinced that the use of social media has already helped in improving communication to customers. However, there can be negative aspects to a brand having a Facebook page. It is important to interact with the users constantly and to anticipate their needs. The users on Facebook may be a different target group to the average TV viewer. The page has to fit to the corporate design and must be up to date. If users can get the latest information on a site they will view it more often and can recommend it. A good example is Adidas, they just announced their new collection including a link to the online shop (Adidas, 2013). Another important aspect that companies have to deal with are so called ‘flame wars’. Here, a critical post of a user is commented and shared by many thousands of people who want to express their anger at something, for example, the customer service of a company. It is important to avoid these flame wars and if they appear, an immediate reaction is necessary. Just deleting the post will often cause even more anger. In these situations it is important to satisfy the customer and to illustrate how the occurrence was an anomaly (Wikipedia 2013). On one hand, social media can increase brand awareness and customer satisfaction. On the other hand it can also harm the company. Hence, it is very important to be present on every popular social media network and to ensure activity alignment. (Kaplan, Heanlein 2010).

Social media can do more than raise brand awareness and improve customer connectivity. It can be used within companies as a working environment. An internal social network for all employees can merge many functions of the intranet, which may be on different platforms. Employees can give status updates about their current project, they can chat, make appointments for lunch or follow the activities of colleagues or of the management. The management can use social networks to communicate directly with their employees. They can make announcements about specific events and report on them as well as commenting on current press. Criticism, both positive and negative, can be communicated directly and all colleagues can contribute their opinion. To this end, employee satisfaction and loyalty increase, which is reflected in the quality of their work. A social network can become the main working environment for projects. Files can be stored and edited online and a forum can help handle discussions. Important announcements can be published and if everyone is using this social network, E-Mails will be redundant. At Deutsche Telekom, 44,000 from more than 200,000 employees are already using the internal social network called ‘Telekom Social Network’ or ‘TSN’, which was launched in 2012 (Mesmer 2013). Training for the proper use of the TSN is offered to ensure that this network has the desired effects.

To summarize, social media is growing in importance every year. Internet users expect companies to ‘opt in’ to social media networks. Companies without an online presence are seen as less trustworthy and obsolete. It is important to manage this online presence well because it has become the main point of access for many customers in the past years. The management of companies should not underestimate the importance of social media and the bigger the company the more important it is to devote funds to this platform and to have a department which focuses solely on the company’s social media presence and it’s interaction with online customers. However, the fact that not everyone is online or using social media must not be neglected, not everyone can be reached by social media.

Sources:

Oxford Dictionaries, Social Media, viewed 06 September 2013, <http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/social-media>

Curtis, Anthony 2013, The Brief History of Social Media, viewed 06 September 2013, <http://www.uncp.edu/home/acurtis/NewMedia/SocialMedia/SocialMediaHistory.html>

Smith, Craig 2013, By the numbers: 50 Amazing Facebook Stats, viewed 06 September 2013, <http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/by-the-numbers-17-amazing-facebook-stats/>

Keating, Fiona 2013, Got a smartphone? You probably check Facebook fourteen times a day, media release, 28 March, viewed 06 September 2013, <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2300466/Smartphone-users-check-Facebook-14-times-day-admit-lookingmovies.html>

Vollmar, Lusia 2012, Kommunikation statt Kommerz -  wie Konzerne Facebook und Twitter nutzen (Telekom), media release, 29 March, viewed 06 September 2013,

<http://www.focus.de/digital/internet/netzoekonomie-blog/tid-25387/social-mediakommunikation-statt-commerce-wie-konzerne-facebook-und-twitter-nutzen-deutschetelekom_aid_729563.html>

Deutsche Telekom AG, Telekom Social Media News, viewed 06 September 2013, <http://erleben.telekom.de/>

Adidas, Facebook, viewed 06 September 2013, <https://www.facebook.com/adidas>

Wikipedia 2013, Shitstorm viewed 06 September 2013,  <http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shitstorm>

Kaplan, A. & Heanlein, M. 2010, Business Horizons Volume 53, Issue 1: Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media, viewed 06 September 2013, <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0007681309001232>

Mesmer, Alexander 2013, Social Media, media release, 16 March, viewed 06 September 2013, <http://www.computerwoche.de/a/social-media-hier-spricht-nicht-nur-der-chef,2534046>

Music and the political attitudes

I just read a very interesting article ‘How well does music predict your politics?’. My first thought was that people listening to Punk are more or less left-wing, which becomes obvious in particular a few songs which deal with the topic of anarchism. In this article, analyzing data has shown that correlations between voters of either the Republican or Democratic Party and the music they prefer can be found  in the United States. For example Republicans like the music of Elvis Presley and Kelly Clarkson more and Democrats favor Madonna and Bob Marley (Whitman, 2013). It is easier to find a correlation between the political attitudes in a two party system like  America, either you are left- or right-wing. In other countries it will be more difficult to find a correlation between specific artists and the party which will be elected when there are for example five different main parties which will need to have a coalition. For example, if someone has left-wing ideologies it is harder to find which party they support  if there is more than one left-wing party. 

To sum up I think the article is quiet interesting but generally no one can make any suggestions about the results of an election depending on the music that is heard or bought mostly in one country.

Sources:
Whitman, Brian: How well does music predict your politics?, viewed 27/08/2013 <http://notes.variogr.am/post/26869688460/how-well-does-music-predict-your-politics>

Social Media - an online survey

Related to my last post and our discussion about social media in the last lecture, I started a small online survey to find out how people use social media, how often they do so, what they do online, and what they like/dislike about it. The survey can be found here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2BBDFHC

To sum up the results, most people are using 2 social media networks, and they are using them at least daily, mostly several times a day. Everyone who participated in the survey says that they use social media to stay in contact with friends, the second most popular reason is for university/school/work. Despite my initial expectations only a minority use social media for job searching. When I asked about the best aspect of social media, the opinions were all the same: to stay in contact. On the other hand, the most negative aspect seems to be the collection of user data. Although, people use Facebook daily, they are concerned about what happens to their data and do not want them to become public. I am convinced that the public debate about private settings will continue in the future. 

In total the results are not surprising at all and fits perfectly to my own opinion. 

Social Media in companies

In our last lecture of New Communication Technologies we had a discussion on Social Media and how it has changed our lives. For me as an international student it has the same function like Skype. I can stay in contact with my friends and family and feel closer to home. Because I wrote about it a few weeks ago I want to emphasize another aspect of social media - social media in companies.

Social Media is not only becoming popular in private life (e.g. Facebook), or to find a job (e.g. LinkedIn), it is also used within big companies. The company I work for at home, Deutsche Telekom AG (a telecommunication company with more than 200,000 employees) has its own social media network called ‘TSN’ (Telekom Social Network) (Telekom Social Network, 2013). It was launched about one year ago and so far not all employees have joined, especially the older generation which is not familiar with Facebook etc. TSN has many functions within the company, I want to mention a few: first of all, you can ‘follow’ the activities of your colleagues. I guess, most interesting is to follow the management, everyone has his or her own TSN-Account, where they inform all employees about new activities or plans for the future or to comment on the press. Thus, it is easier as an employee to understand why the company behaves like it behaves, in particular related to negative critique. Another aspect is that employees can stay in touch with each other. They can see what their actual and former colleagues are doing and they can text each other. Even though this sounds like they would be disturbed from work, the opposite is happening. Most people cannot concentrate all day, with TSN they can escape their daily businesses for a few minutes. To think about something totally different helps to focus more on your task. While they are taking a break they are still dealing with topics about the enterprise. Moreover, TSN is also used for communciation within projects and some people believe that TSN will detach most e-mail communication in the future. In total, Deutsche Telekom sees Social Media within the company as an important aspect of social responsibility and wants to be a modern company.

All in all, I am convinced that not only my company, but many others, will use intern social media networks to connect to the whole enterprise and it will promote the identification with your work – at least it is doing it for me because working becomes more fun!

Sources:

Telekom Social Network, viewed on 26/08/2013 <http://www.cr-report.telekom.com/site13/telekom-social-network>

The three ages of the internet

Like mentioned before the development of personal computers and the internet was faster than anyone expected the last 30 years. These development of the internet can be divided in three different stages. Before the first age of the internet like we know it arose, a computer network allowed people in a specific group the work together by using CSCW (Computer Supported Cooperative Work) programs. Out of this CSCW the first internet evolved. It enabled to communicate even beyond the closed applications and was the main focus until 1998. Around this year not only the governments noticed the impact the internet would have. This is why they started to document the behavior of every user. Google started its search engine and improved its results by integrating the former searches and IP addresses in its famous algorithm. Many people know, but are not aware of the fact, that in the actual third age of the internet data is not only collected but even analyzed to manipulate everyone’s desires, like I have mentioned in my blog a few weeks ago (Wellman, Berry: Studying Internet Studies Through the Ages 2013). All in all, this segmentation of the internet gives a good and short overview about how we got to the internet like we all know it today.

Sources:

Wellman, Berry: Studying Internet Studies Through the Ages, viewed  20/08/2013, <http://homes.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman/publications/internet-10-5-0/4-ages.htm>

Hunger Games as Cyberpunk?

The past developments in technology lead to different ideas about technology in the future. Cyberpunk as ‘science fiction dealing with future urban societies dominated by computer technology’ (Cyberpunk, Merriam-Webster dictionary 2013) tries to show a dystopian future. During our discussion about this topic the question arose if the novel ‘The Hunger Games’ by Suzanne Collins fits into the genre of Cyberpunk. As I just finished reading this trilogy a few month ago I tried to consider which aspects fit into these genre. The story is ‘written in the voice of 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives in the post-apocalyptic nation of Panem in North America. The Capitol, a highly advanced metropolis, exercises political control over the rest of the nation. The Hunger Games are an annual event in which one boy and one girl aged 12–18 from each of the twelve districts surrounding the Capitol are selected by lottery to compete in a televised battle to the death.’(The Hunger Games, Wikipedia 2013). This battle takes place in an arena, where everything, for example the landscape and the weather, is controlled by the technology of the Capitol. Regarding to my first impression ‘The Hunger Games’ totally fits into the genre of Cyberpunk as a dystopian future of the United States where the powerful government can control everything with their technology. At second glance I could also understand why it is not fitting in at all. The main focus of the story is how the rebellion tries to fight against the capitol, including topics like friendship, love and death. In the end the leader of the Capitol is defeated and the so called good characters win the war. Thus, not everything is about a dystopian future which is unavoidable. The happy end emphasize that ‘The Hunger Games’ are more science fiction than Cyberpunk in it’s originally form.

Sources:

The Hunger Games, Wikipedia, viewed 20/08/2013, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hunger_Games>

Cyberpunk, Merriam-Webster dictionary, viewed 20/08/2013, < http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cyberpunk>

History of Cyberpunk

Mind control in the future

Regarding the rapid development of computer technology in the last 20 years, it is obvious that things will continue to change. Though it is not popular today, many technologies have proven that our brains can be connected to a computer (Halpern, 2013, p. 1). Imagine if you could upload all knowledge to your head, no one would have to learn again. Imagine this would imply that every thought could be downloaded as well. Like we all know, the communication and our behavior on the internet is affected and recorded by big companies like Google. These companies try to gather as much information about everyone as possible. Moreover, they try to find the best algorithm to combine all this collected knowledge. Their overall aim is to predict our needs and our interests, perhaps even before we become aware of them. Thus, they can personalise the adverts we see on our homepage and influence our demand behavior. If we have a desire in our subconscious mind, a fitting ad could manipulate these feelings. 

If computers could be able even to read our minds, companies like Google could control every decision we make. They could not only personalize the advertisement in a most effective way, they could upload desires directly into our heads and we would not be able to distinguish what we really want and what desire the company has created to maximize their profit. 

This very conceptional thought could be one option about how, not the society, but a company will control our lives in the future – an option that hopefully will never become true.

Sources:

Halpern, Sue (2011) 'Mind Control & the Internet', New York Review of Books, viewed 10/08/2013 < http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/jun/23/mind-control-and-internet/>

New Communication Technologies and their impact on my life

When I think about new communication technologies, the first thing that comes to my mind is Skype. I started using Skype many years ago to stay in touch with a good friend that moved away. It was the easiest, and at least cheapest way to see each other. But since I have become an exchange student at Griffith University one month ago, it has become even more important for me. Even though Australia is a great country, you have so many things to do and have nearly no time to get homesick, sometimes it is not avoidable – especially in the first days. With Skype you are not only able to chat with your friends and family, you can even call them – with audio and video call. Skype makes me feel closer to my home. And it helps my family and friends to get a better impression about my life on the other end of the world.

Facebook is another important part of new communication technologies for me as well. Its main focus on socializing makes it easy to tell everyone at once what I am doing and what experiences I make, and to show photos of all the places I have been to and of the people I have met. For me it is important that Facebook is private and neither my lecturer nor my employer can see it. Facebook’s privacy settings are often discussed but as long as nothing goes public it is acceptable for me. Facebook uses all its data to place advertisements in a very efficient way on its website (Research and Markets: Facebook 2013). That is how this company earns money and as long as this advertising is not disturbing, and I am not putting private contact details online, the opportunity that Facebook offers is great, although you have to pay with your data.


Sources:
Research and Markets: Facebook: The Future of its Ad-Supported Business Model, viewed 04 August 2013,
<://finance.yahoo.com/news/research-markets-facebook-future-ad-162500648.html>

WebRTC - Web Real Time Communication

Dealing with the topic of new communication technologies, one new innovation, which is not fully developed, is WebRTC - Web Real Time Communication. WebRTC allows users to make video and audio calls, and even to send text messages, in the browser. No plug in or application needs to be installed, it uses JavaScript and HTML5. The new versions of most browsers are already supporting WebRTC (WebRTC 2013). It will be interesting to observe if WebRTC will have the predicted impact on communication in the future.

I can highly recommend the following video if you want to have a comprehensive idea about what WebRTC is and what it might be able to do.

The first time I heard about WebRTC, and that is the reason why I have chosen this topic, was in the telecommunication company in Germany I am working in - Deutsche Telekom AG. The project 'WebRTC' and a correlated master thesis wanted to help developing and improving WebRTC, at least to integrate it in other applications and products from the company. 

Sources:

WebRTC, viewed 03 August 2013

<https://sites.google.com/site/webrtc/>

In today's world everyone is used to the presence of computers. Most people could not imagine working, learning or even communicating without computers. The article 'Questions about the usefulness of microcomputers in 1980s Australia' describes the doubts about microcomputers from over 30 years ago, and how a small group of people tried to find more application areas for computers. In the beginning playing games on computer was one of the most popular activities (Swalwell 2012, p. 2). Nevertheless, in the following years these hobbyists developed more and more programs that can be used by everyone. Consumers do not even need to know why a program is working, they have just to find out how to use it (Swalwell 2012, p. 7).

Sources: 


Swalwell 2013, Questions about the usefulness of microcomputers in 1980s Australia, viewed 28 July 2013, 
<https://bblearn.griffith.edu.au/bbcswebdav/pid-502011-dt-content-rid-896290_1/courses/1501HUM_3135/Swalwell%2080s%20Oz%20Computers.pdf>