It just makes me wonder, even though not fully considered a form of mass media, is the Internet increasingly becoming a tool for manipulating and exploiting mass communication? If that is the case, how would the Internet ever be considered a form of mass media? And how do we differentiate between real news of a celebrity kicking the bucket and fake news that someone just gets a kick out of posting?

However, as quickly as a rumor can spread, the time taken to dispel it can be just as short. This evident in the video below, which is of Zach Braff proving that he is indeed alive and even pokes fun at the whole thing.

I think this illustrates so appropriately how the Internet is a double edged sword with it being a quick and efficient way to find and spread all kinds of information but at the same time having kinds of information that are not credible. Due to the anonymous nature of the Internet at times, people tend to feel as if they can do anything they want and get away with it. These celebrity death hoaxes are a testiment to that.

We the audience of the World Wide Web are relatively “invisible receivers” as it is a large, heterogenous and sometimes anonymous group that has little or no direct contact with the media sources making it hard to determine if the source is reliable or not. Our relationship with sources is voluntary as we can choose what we want to read and communication can be terminated at will with the click of a mouse on the little X at the top right hand corner of the box. Being exposed to all these news which are repeated in different websites may cause some people to believe it. As you can see from the video, Twitter does not help this at all. With people tweeting about the news they read over the Web, and people following them learning about it through their tweets and replying them, more and more people learn about the news and cause it to spread like wildfire.

So how do we tell if the news we read on the Net is real or not? Most people tend to rely on most credible sources such as official websites for the news channels we watch on tv as they are more likely to be accurate than some blog of a totally random person. However, as we saw in the video, even pranksters know how to up their game in making people believe their hoax. They used a credible news website to make their hoax more believable and it worked! So maybe it is just best to take whatever you read online with a pinch of salt next time and not believe every headline that reads “OBAMA SHOT DEAD DURING A HUNTING TRIP” just because the webpage looks “official”. Instead, wait for the news on tv or the papers to determine if the news is indeed accurate. Then again, who knows if the tv news and newspapers are always right?

Furthermore, it seems the tech industry is eager to integrate the Internet into every device these days. It’s the equivalent to adding a digital clock to a coffee maker. Why not? Adding a touch-screen to your fridge and other appliances might create new opportunities and challenges for interfacing. Content is king – no matter what. As seemingly redundant or over the top it might seem to have a screen built into the kitchen counter – if it doubles as a cutting board, all the better.

More widespread Internet delivery will mean reaching a wider audience – like the elusive “Mom” demographic. An issue keeping some users away is that the Internet can be a vast and scary place. These everyday devices married with technology don’t have to serve all of the web’s content though. They are niche items, and as such, they can deliver relevant niche content. The cutting board doesn’t need to be able to easily reach unrelated sites like LOLCats or Ebay, if it had a cooking oriented home screen complete with grocery list, meal suggestions, links and unit conversions, it would be less daunting and far more appealing to the target demographic of the product – even to those who don’t consider themselves to be Internet savvy.

By combining different products with Internet delivery, convenience will only be enhanced as there is an accessibility anywhere any time. By making the Internet available in more places and in more products, everyday activities will have so much more dynamic and information would be available to you with more ease. Like the video states, it will also cause everyone to be even more connected and this would translate into lower costs in communication.

However, being the double-edged sword that it is, the Internet will have its downsides even in the future. One of these downsides may be the fact that with so much connectivity, the Internet would be prone to a domino effect type predicament where if one small part of the system fails, everyone would be affected and incapable of carrying on with even the simplest of activities. This reliance on the Internet would probably be one of the biggest faults of mankind as we are already very dependent on technology.

There is also the fear that with the rise of the Internet, people will have less and less human contact. There is already cyber-dating and social networking, what if in the future that is all people will have for a social life? Some people’s closest friends are found over the Internet, who is to say that will be the only friends anyone has in the future? There is a need for people to retain human interaction in person as that is what makes us human in the first place! Hopefully it will not end up like the movie Surrogates, where we will all use robots in place of our physical bodies.

As you can see from the cartoon above, there is some debate about whether journalism on the Internet can be the same level traditional news media.There are two sides to every story and I would like to explore both of these sides in regard to this topic.

The web’s effect on news reporting is considered the most clear evidence that this is a revolutionary technology: news editors – and in some cases, the governments that they observe – are no longer the gatekeepers to information because costs of distribution have almost completely disappeared. If knowledge is power, the web is the greatest tool in the history of the world. The web has become the go-to point for the globe when it comes to getting information; it’s the same for reporters. Online, they find a multiplicity of perspectives and a library of available knowledge that provides the context for stories. Increasingly, the stories are coming from the web.

Emily Bell, director of the Tow Centre for Digital Journalism at Columbia University and former editor of Guardian.co.uk, identifies coverage of the attacks on the World Trade Centre on 11 September 2001 as the incident that foreshadowed how events are covered today. “Linear TV just could not deliver,” she says. “People used the web to connect to the experience by watching it in real time on TV and then posting on message boards and forums. They posted bits of information they knew themselves and aggregated it with links from elsewhere. For most, the delivery was crude, but the reporting, linking and sharing nature of news coverage emerged at that moment.”

More generally, technology has improved the processes of identifying stories that are newsworthy. Feeds from social networking services such as Facebook and Twitter provide a snapshot of events happening around the world from the viewpoint of first-hand witnesses, and blogs and citizen news sources offer analytical perspectives from the ground faster than print or television can provide. This shows how the Internet has also broken the barrier of time and space where news can be reported. With everyone possessing phones with Internet access these days, people are able to read about news happening around the world wherever they may be.

Despite some criticism, citizen journalists should not be discounted for their value. If they are bold and well-organised, they can change the course of news worldwide in a way that was completely unthinkable before the internet. Loose organisations such as Global Voices, a network of international citizen journalists reporting on a global platform about local stories, offer windows on events around the world that are increasingly ignored by local papers. The freedom of the Internet allows people to shed light on things they want to talk about and things that are important to them, instead of being dictated by governments and editors on what should or should not be written about.

There may be more and more budding “journalists” on the Web nowadays with their blogs and vlogs. The future of the Internet and journalism may be just that as more people feel the need to express themselves and being able to do so online. People will probably continue to question the credibility of these people but it is their choice whether to read their sites or go to a more credible source like the good ol’ fashioned newspaper. They just need to be able to discern for themselves what is reliable.

Ultimately, however, the fundamentals of news-gathering have not been transformed by the web. One needs to know how to write or take a photo and to be good at analysis in order to be a good journalist and learning how to use tools is different from saying everyone is a reporter. Anyone can make bread, but it’s lousy bread. You need to spend time like a true, professional baker to learn to make good bread.

FRIEND

In the 2008 US Presidential Election Race, where current president Barrack Obama forever changed politics with his use of the new medium. “Were it not for the Internet, Barack Obama would not be president. Were it not for the Internet, Barack Obama would not have been the nominee,” said Arianna Huffington, editor in chief of The Huffington Post. By using interactive Web 2.0 tools, Mr. Obama’s campaign changed the way politicians organize supporters, advertise to voters, defend against attacks and communicate with constituents. Voters can keep up to date with the candidate through channels like Facebook and with Twitter, that update can even be live! The use of these social networking sites greatly increases the connection a politician has with his/her supporters and being this engaging with the voters will make a candidate seem more approachable and relatable.

Mr. Trippi also predicted that this real-time Internet contact with constituents will also change the way the president of the United States governs. He recently proposed that Mr. Obama start a Web site called MyWhiteHouse.gov to talk with citizens. (Mr. Obama just started a different site, Change.gov, on Thursday to keep in touch with people during the transition.) “When Congress refuses to go with his agenda, it’s not going to be just the president” they oppose, Mr. Trippi said. It will be the president and his huge virtual network of citizens. “Just like Kennedy brought in the television presidency, I think we’re about to see the first wired, connected, networked presidency,” Mr. Trippi said.

Not to mention, for a richer medium there is always YouTube, which Mr. Obama also fully utilized.Mr. Obama’s campaign took advantage of YouTube for free advertising. It has been argued that those videos were more effective than television ads because viewers chose to watch them or received them from a friend instead of having their television shows interrupted. “The campaign’s official stuff they created for YouTube was watched for 14.5 million hours,” political consultant Joe Trippi, “To buy 14.5 million hours on broadcast TV is $47 million.” These millions saved in campaigning is extremely helpful in the debt that candidates usually incur from their extensive campaigns because unlike print, television and other advertising mediums, the Internet is FREE!

There is also the advantage of roping in the younger voters, who are a YouTube generation after all. The youth’s love for all things viral on the Internet has caused politicians to jump on this bandwagon of viral videos. By using this viral marketing technique, candidates are able to draw more attention and possibly turn this attention into support because netizens would be more inclined to find out more about a particular candidate after seeing a viral video of him/her. Like a celebrity, creating a “buzz” about a candidate aids in the overall campaign as more people recognize him/her and would thus, be more likely to support them. This is all especially so for the younger voters as they do not want to see traditional campaigns that have been done for decades. They want fresh new ideas that appeal to them and make them want to learn more. Mr. Obama has done that very successfully and hence, gained a great following of younger supporters as compared to his opponent then, John McCain who was very much backward in his campaign strategies.

FOE

Of course, like any marketing technique, the Internet has its downsides. The video below is a spoof of the viral marketing that politicians are using these days. It highlights how sometimes viral marketing can serve as a distraction from the politics and might sometimes make the whole campaign a circus act, rather than a legitimate call for support. It shows how some viral marketing techniques may backfire and make voters not able to take the candidate seriously. This is when the attention does NOT turn into support and instead leaves the voter with a bad impression of the candidate and in turn, causes the loss of that vote.

Due to the Internet allowing another level in freedom of expression, it can also turn on the politician and cause netizens to lash out on them in the form of words in blogs, videos or even photoshopped pictures. Sarah Palin would have the be the biggest victim of this backlash from the Internet during the time of the elections.

As if it was not bad enough that she was ridiculed on television, there have been countless criticisms and jokes about her on the Internet as well. This video below is a testament to that as a YouTube channel, The Young Turks, reports on how Ms. Palin has given one embarrassing interview after another. Which brings me to another point on how the Internet can be an enemy of politicians. With the rise of the Internet, there has been a sea change in fact-checking, with citizens using the Internet to find past speeches that prove a politician wrong and then using the Web to alert their fellow citizens. The McCain campaign, for example, originally said that Governor Sarah Palin opposed the so-called bridge to nowhere in Alaska, Ms. Huffington said. “Online there was an absolutely obsessive campaign to prove that wrong,” she said, and eventually the campaign stopped repeating it. However, this can also serve the candidate well because people can watch their speeches over and over, which is something you cannot do on television. The global reach of the Internet, in this case, is not something that will bode well for the candidate being ridiculed.

So from all this, we can see that like many things, the Internet is a double-edged sword when it comes to politics.

First there are the people who just do normal vlogs, where they talk about anything they want! Whether it is a bad day or something that annoys them or even showing people what they bought while shopping. I think that for these people, vlogging is a form of catharsis and it kind of gives them someone/something to talk to about their thoughts and feelings, especially if they are not comfortable with talking about these things face-to-face. It can also serve as a platform for them to voice opinions on matters that are important to them. Below is one such channel!

Then there are those who use YouTube to create shows where they play characters or have a news type format where they talk about topical things. Such YouTubers have actually become mini-celebrities on YouTube and some have up to a million subscribers. That speaks volumes of the reach of YouTube because I believe some television shows do not even have that many viewers. It also shows how influential YouTube can be as the people on it are becoming more and more famous through their own creations. I am aware that some have even gone on to become television actors or personalities. Below are two videos, one from a channel by this girl, Christine, who actually plays all the characters in each video and the other from a channel by this man, Michael Buckley, who has a gossip news type show which is writes and hosts.

Finally, there are those who display other talents through their YouTube channel, the most popular being singing! I think it is because there have been people like Justin Bieber and Charice, who were discovered through YouTube videos, that there has been a surge of singer-songwriters who post their works on the site. However, with this saturation of “talent”, is it really the way to go for aspiring singers? Perhaps it is because YouTube is free so this is currently the best they can do to put themselves out there and hope for someone like Usher to discover them. The video below is of a 10 year old girl singing a cover of ‘Born This Way’ by Lady Gaga. She has gone on to appear on the Ellen Degeneres show and even sang with Lady Gaga on stage at one of her concerts!

So you can see how YouTube is one of the biggest sites for people who want to express themselves through a medium that is low cost and high in richness!

Even though Singaporeans are extremely fond of complaining, they are keeping quiet on this issue, which, according to the author, has led to the term “silent digital epidemic”. In fact, the article states that one third felt highly responsible for cyber-criminal activities that resulted from their response to online scams phishing attacks. It is disconcerting that these crimes can make people feel like they are responsible for the crime happening to them. Although it is crucial to have some kind of personal online security such as having security software, along with using multiple passwords and updating these passwords more often, it is absurd to blame the victim for the crime happening to them. I think it is because this kind of crime causes people to feel like they were not “smart” enough to prevent it from happening to them but the fact is, it could happen to anyone! Cyber criminals are getting more and more sophisticated so it is difficult for a regular person to match their skills in regards to this issue.

I think it is very scary that the online world allows people to hide behind their screens and commit crimes that can go unpunished a lot of the time. This shows a growing need for some kind of legislation in regard to cyber crime as it is evident that more and more people are being affected. However, the reason why these crimes go unreported is because the amount stolen is small and the hassle of reporting it and having it investigated may cost more than the amount stolen from them to begin with. According to the article, it takes an average 24 days and an average cost of S$1,660 to come to a resolution. It is no wonder why victims do not want to report the crimes!

That said, the cyber world is becoming an increasingly essential part of the real world so how can we just stand idly by as hackers and other cyber criminals take advantage of the loopholes in the cyber world for personal gain? Even the smallest crimes in the real world, such as shop-lifting a candy bar that costs $1, are punishable by law, so why aren’t we doing more about crimes in the cyber world, which can result in up to millions being stolen? The video below is a news report on the rise of cyber crime and how it has affected some of the biggest companies in the world. Gone are the days where just having physical security for office buildings is enough. Now, online security is just as, if not more, important than having security guards and fences. It may be the case that it is easier to break into an online system than a building now…

This lack of legislation may be due to the fact that in the real world, authorities can set legislations according to geographical boundaries but in the cyber world, there are no clear boundaries so even if they were to catch the culprit (which in itself may be a more difficult task) which country’s court would they be sentenced by? Their own, or the victim’s, or the online vendor’s? The cyber world is so volatile that it is no easy feat to have a fixed legislative system for the entire world (wide web).

It does not make me feel any better that there are actually cyber crime toolkits out there these days, to help people commit crimes online! The video below shows how there has been a surge in “manuals for committing cyber crime”. It is appalling that there would be people out there who would help create more criminals online and provide the tools for it. This is another sign that shows the urgent need for a crackdown on cyber criminals.

As said in the article, Singapore is an affluent country so there is more cyber theft. Hence, the government should become more forward-looking and see that this is a digital age and there is a great need for digital security and law. No matter how small the start is, it would set a good example on how important it is to have some personal online security. Like the article says, consumer education is essential, so it would be great if there was an active movement to make this education possible.

Hopefully this issue is resolved slowly but surely, but till then, be cyber safe from cyber crime!

These days, students are getting increasingly tech-savvy at a younger and younger age. It is becoming crucial that teachers match their students’ skills and interest when it comes to the Internet. After all, why would I or any other student want to learn from someone who is not informed about something this prominent in the world today? The video below illustrates my point quite appropriately. In fact, it has been nominated for an Edublog Award for Best Educational Use of Video / Visual 2010.

The Edublog Awards is a community based incentive started in 2004 that aims to:
1. Promote and demonstrate the educational values of social media.
2. Create a fabulous resource for educators to use for ideas on how social media is used in different contexts, with a range of different learners.
3. Introduce us to new sites that we might not have found if not for the awards process.

Personally, I think this is a great way to encourage education sectors to be more proactive in bringing the Internet and Education together. On the site, there are many different categories that award different people in education, on different networks, using different mediums. It brings light to the importance of E-Learning as does the next video below, which has also been nominated by the Edublog Awards. It is an original song that shows how the youth these days need to be accommodated more in terms of the use of technology in the classroom because that is the world the have been raised in. Also, the world is constantly changing and if educators do not learn to use E-learning, they will be left in the dust by the 21st century world.

Now, if you are a teacher and are still not aware how the Internet can help in your teaching, the next video will help. It gives you ten tips on how to use the World Wide Web to enhance your educating process. It shows how education in the tech-world of today does not need to be so one-dimensional and dull. Educating in today’s world can be so much more creative and convenient with the use of so many tools on the Internet. From Facebook to Twitter, there is no telling how much education can change in the next ten years so why not start now?

However, I do not think learning should become completely digitized. As much as I would enjoy having classes from home and tweeting my professor to get participation points from time to time, I still value the good ol’ classroom experience. I think that it is important to have the human interaction the traditional classroom provides, that the digital classroom does not. At least, not really. It may give the illusion of having a “real classroom experience” but there are certain real-life lessons that having a class online will not provide. For example, interacting with classmates and teachers in a social setting and reading facial cues, experiencing a live demonstration of how to do a science experiment, having field trips and so on. I think that in the future, there will definitely be a rise in E-Learning but it will come with the evolution of the traditional classroom, not the eradication of it.

1. MAKE YOUR SITE FOOL-PROOF

Ensure your site has intuitive navigation and usable site architecture, not just an appealing look and feel. Visitors should be able to accurately guess what a button or link does before clicking on it. It is also very helpful to categorize your products.

The search function (of course you have to have one!) should appear in the navigation bar, preferably at the top right, where users expect to see it — and not as a button but as a type-in field, which saves the visitor from having to go to a search page to do their search. Upon a keyword search, automatically check spelling and, when appropriate, suggest corrections. If their search is too generic, suggest alternatives (for example,”You just searched for ‘cameras.’ If you’d like, you could try a more specific search like: ‘ canon eos cameras” ‘nikon digital cameras,’ … “).

If visitors cannot figure out where to go to buy or view a product, they will get frustrated and leave the site. I have heard that web-users take the first 20 seconds upon arrival at a site to decide whether they will stay on it or not. So make it attractive AND user-friendly!

2. LEAVE A TRAIL

Incorporate “breadcrumb navigation” into your online catalogue pages. This will show where in the site hierarchy the currently viewed web page is located and it will give the visitor shortcuts to instantly jump higher up the hierarchy (for example, “Online Catalogue > Home Furnishings > Lighting > Table Lamps”). It’s good practice for usability and for search engine optimisation.

3. CUT TO THE CHASE

Make maximum use of screen real estate to minimise scrolling. Put the most important stuff “above the fold.”

Minimise the number of steps required to locate products and make purchases. Amazon.com’s 1-Click ordering is the epitome of efficiency and it is probably why Amazon is one of the top web stores.

4. BE A LIGHTWEIGHT

Optimise images for small file sizes and fast downloads, strip out extraneous HTML and remove unnecessary graphics. Ideally, a page should load in less than 10 seconds.

5. BE OPEN TO ‘OPEN SOURCE’

Don’t waste budget on unnecessarily expensive software licences when an open-source solution exists. Open source offers a highly customisable, stable and low- or no-cost alternative to proprietary software.

6. STUDY YOUR CUSTOMER’S EVERY MOVE

Watch how your customers use your website and learn what frustrates them. Analyse your visitor’s traffic patterns (for example, what are the top exit pages, what are the most popular searches that return results), invite customers to complete a survey after they purchase and have informal brainstorming sessions with your most valuable customers.

It is essential that you keep upgrading your site so as to not fall behind. Have forums or use other platforms such as Twitter or Facebook to find out more about what your customers desire. Utilize all these different channels to engage with your customers. It will make them feel like they do have a relationship with you, the merchant, as opposed to just interacting with a site. Establishing this kind of connection will make the customer want to come back to the site to purchase more things in the future.

7. DELIGHT YOUR CUSTOMERS

Service your customers like your survival depends on it, because it probably does. Reply to email within hours. Keep your commitments to your customers; make “under-promise and over-deliver” your mantra. If your site promises delivery in three days, that doesn’t mean five or 10.

You’ll also need 24-hour server support to effectively manage traffic surges. Have a page for queries and FAQs to help out a customer in need as much as possible. It is better you provide answers rather than another site which may not have good reviews of yours.

8. BE SPIDER-FRIENDLY

Each product or category page has its own unique “song” and should be made to “sing” for its own set of keywords. Your home page can’t be everything to everybody; it can’t be ranked in the top 10 for every product your online shop carries. The numerous pages that make up your online catalogue can serve as a virtual sales force. However, there’s no point in making your pages sing if they aren’t being picked up by the search engine spiders. Some of America’s largest online cataloguers have problems getting their full catalogues fully indexed by the major search engines.

SmokeCDs.com has tens of thousands of product pages in Google, whereas major US music retailer SamGoody.com only has a few hundred. You can check how many pages your site has in the major search engines with the free tool at http://web.archive.org/web/20040708075116/.

The best results are achieved when spider-friendliness and search engine optimisation are built into the site from the ground up rather than added as an afterthought.

9. FLOG YOUR PRODUCTS

Merchandising on the web means making clever use of your virtual shelf space. Choose some products to feature on your home page and rotate through them. Consider having a “Top 10 List” of products (as in the top 10 products you most want to sell). People are like lemmings when it comes to top 10 lists.

Also offer related product recommendations and user-contributed reviews on each of your product pages. For each product the visitor views, show them 3 to 5 other products they might want to get as well or complementary products to the item they are viewing. Consider promoting limited-time, limited-use special offer codes as a way to stimulate sales.

10. PERSONALIZE

For starters, visitors should be able to add items to a “shopping cart.” Furthermore, they should be able to abandon their carts and and return days later and still have the cart intact. They should also be able to create user accounts for ease of repeat ordering and checking order status.If it’s a consumer site, they should be able to buy and redeem gift certificates.

Send newsletters or updates via email to customers who sign up for a user account. That way, they will always be updated on the latest products and want to go back to the site to check it out. By doing this, you do not let your customers forget about your site and keep them wanting more. Connection is key!

Here is actually a video of 10 tips on how to set up an e-commerce site. It is different from my 10 tips but are very useful as well!

TOP 10 SHOPPING SITES
1. Amazon
2. EBay
3. Netflix
4. Amazon.co.uk
5. Wal-Mart Online
6. IKEA
7. Best Buy Co., Inc.
8. Target Corporation
9. EBay Stores
10. NewEgg.com

Maybe you can check out these successful sites and learn a thing or two from them!

Everywhere you go now, people know the name Facebook, but does anyone remember one of the pioneers of social networking sites – Friendster? It was 9 years ago that Friendster was born which is 2 years before Facebook was. I remember using Friendster frequently in my secondary school days, but when Facebook came along I quickly abandoned ship. It was nothing personal, I just wanted to be part of the “new kid on the block” and I never looked back…

I could have returned to Friendster but I soon realised that it did not offer a lot of features that Facebook did. For example, unlike Facebook, Friendster did not have a chat function. I believe this is a reason why people prefer Facebook to Friendster. The Facebook Chat actually saves people time when they want to ask friends quick questions or catch up while on browsing Facbeook. The convenience is a major “pull” factor for Facebook as technology nowadays is about combining many different features and making one ultimate product that has it all.

There is also the function of tagging that has people flocking to Facebook. Due to the voyeuristic nature of these social networking sites, there is a growing need for people to know what is going on in other people’s lives. Tagging helps fulfil that need by labelling everyone whether it is in pictures or in status updates and allows for easy “stalking”. Furthermore, it does add a personal touch when you want to include people in your updates and let your Facebook friends know who you are socializing with. Although Friendster has some form of aid in the “stalking” of others through features like showing you how you are linked to a non-friend and the option of knowing who has viewed your profile, it does not have the tagging feature.

Lastly, Friendster does not have the connections that Facebook has. What I mean by this is that Facebook has affiliations with other sites such as YouTube and CNN.com which allows people to share videos and articles on Facebook straight from those sites. Twitter has also jumped on the bandwagon and allowed people to sync their Facebook accounts with Twitter such that people’s tweets will automatically be shared on Facebook as status updates which is like the Facebook version of a tweet. This feature makes Facebook so much more multi-faceted than Friendster because users are able to use so many different avenues to express themselves.

However, not all is lost for Friendster. There are certain features that Friendster has an advantage in, for example, customization of profile pages. Facebook has yet to provide that, making everyone’s profiles look almost exactly the same. Friendster is also very popular in Asia with 89% of its traffic coming from Asia. This may be because of the 11 languages that Friendster provides, most of them being Asian languages such as Japanese, Tagalog and Vietnamese.

Personally, I would give Facebook the victory in this face-off but to each his own, some may prefer Friendster and that is perfectly fine as well. What I think we can take away from this is that social networking has grown to become a very prominent part of our lives and there will probably be more and more functions in these sites for us to look forward to in the future.