My Views on Social Medias , Bullet Theory and Viral Marketing (Aimst University )

Lets start from the basics, Advertiser of a product need Customers to sustain their products. The cycle goes like Advertiser Advertise on Media, Viewer acknowledge the advertisement, Potential Customers Comes to have a query about the product , and Buyer pays for the product and the advertising. The hallmark of this cycle is, the more the viewer , the more the potential customer, the more the buyer and the more the revenue which help to sustain the product in the market and motivate the company.

BULLET THEORY

By its name it can be targeted hit or non targeted hit. In Traditional warfare, when you shoot out a bullet from a nozzle of a gun, there is probability you will hit the targeted person, another probability is , it will hit another person other than the target , another probability, it will hit nothing, and another probability is , it wont fire at all. With such chances in warfare, it is a bad thing, when the target need to be hit no mater what. Sometimes one hit is fatal, and sometimes requires multiple hit to achieve the same effect. Hence evolve Mass Killing Machines like Machine Guns, Gatling Guns, Carpet Bombing and Nuclear Bombing etc… it will ensure that the chances of the target been hit will be high, of course, with a higher cost of spending in initial investment in weapons, and involvement of other innocent people as well.

In Marketing, however, similar technique been adopted. the advertiser knows who to target, what is their targeted population, and how to target them. However, For a message to reach them is tricky. Like pasting an poster at the streets, Sometimes it just hit and instant death (means once see the advertisement , straight become a buyer), Sometimes it just hit and go (means see the advertisement once and ignore it) and sometimes never hit at all (means don’t even bother to look a eye on the advertisement). And hence advertiser goes mass media. Everyone sure use mass media, somewhat or the other. Newspaper, TV, Broadcast, Radio, website …… Like releasing bullet rain to the public, someone will eventually gets hit. Each hit of the bullet leaves a scar. A scar that never heals. Some scar are deep (means you are attracted but not intend to buy yet) , and some scar are shallow (means you are acknowledging the advertisement, but not fully interest yet). Not to forget , these scar have addictive effect. Each time the scar builds up, the interest will be more, it creates a mind set in your brain, and your brain will start to associate things and integrated it to your lifestyle. First the colour , then the logo, then the product … Everytime you see something yellow …. you will think of DIGI …. Everytime you see Red pages in newspaper … you will think of AirAsia … Everytime you think of a light morning drink … you will think of Milo … 

These advertiser even go further , but not introducing a product, it also introduce a culture into our daily living through simple and yet powerful motto. In the era of globalisation , there is no longer “your culture” , “my culture” , the aim is to hit the world and become “Our Culture”. The cycle further enhance by branding and self image improvement. Who say Jeans is trendy and everyone must wear Jeans to be up to the trend, although is started to be a minority culture in the western desert. In the end become well known Global Brand and trademark, even the rugged ones with holes are sale at higher prices which at first seen as spoilt and old. Hence The bullet not only hit an individual , but along with it, the promoting of self image , which eventually everyone wants, to be stand out and be diffrent. However , most of the people unaware of how many scar they have on their body and in their minds.

SOCIAL MEDIAS

Social Medias is the mainstay of internet surfing. Social medias like Facebook, Twitter, Google Friends Connect, etc… have one similarity, To stay connect with your friends & family and share information with them at the more efficient way than just talk at the coffee shop and chat on the phone. Viewing at the world populations, although each individual is unique and not connected and appears to be a chaos and randomised product of re-population, but each chaos have their order pattern . It appears as multiple social-able groups and clouds of people either by work, school, neighbours, internet, etc… The internet have bring everyone closer, and hence more clouds and sub clouds have form. The culture of “always stay connect with your friends & family” and “Share good things with your friends and family” had been embed in our life long time ago. with emergence of social medias, social contact had never been easier. You can make new friends and recuirt old friends to join your group. You can just click “share” button and the information you interested is share among your groups instantly. At times when everyone is free, chatting as a group online is not a problem, and when chatting is impossible as not everyone free on the same time, comment and reply system been introduced to leave traces of your view and your opinion.

Social Medias had attract attention of younger generations. The fact is, at age of middle school, high school and University , you will be mingle around with many different friends from different background and different level of education. in span of 10 years time of these age, there is at least 3 groups of friends that is totally different. Some people will study in different places in different level of education. at middle school, you will know more of the locals, in high school, you will know more of people from different schools, in university, you will know more from different countries. It is different than the working group of age 30-60, where people you are meeting may just the same people everytime for 30 years of working. Compare to schooling and college age where a new friends may just means meeting at the same class for 3 months of short course, or same high school for 2 years and same university for 3 years, and there have high tendency to loose contact after that. Hence there is tendency for this age group to add everyone they know and create a huge group of accumulative friends. It is a drastic changes if compare to older generations where if you can stay close contact to at least 5 of the school friends and 10 of the college friends,till you retire, you are great.

Social Medias to stay social, further elements had been added to sustain the connection. Such features are like games, photo & video shares, Shout outs, News & Events , Notification & Alert, etc… Score board is infectious. People are encourage to compete each other in hitting higher score. Social Media use personal information such as name, sex, age to provoke more user to use. Who will not be tempted when ” (your close friend’s name) had beat you in this game” . By using personal information, the social medias become more personal than before. Your name and picture can appear in games and other applications. Social Medias like Forums , Chats and Blogs uses avatar or profile pictures to create your identity on the internet. With further integration of other social media with major social media like Facebook , Google , Yahoo, etc … the “one accounts all logins” concept had propagated and people no longer need to remember what service to login and what password to type. With social media intergration, you no longer need to think “what else i need to login to check for updates” and end up forget to login some of it and suddenly get a complaint from your friend, “I already post (something) in (some service) and you never reply me, have you not check it lately ?” . 

VIRAL MARKETING

Viral spreads on organism by contact, either direct or indirect, as long at there is portal of exit , transport medium, and portal of entry. One virus may just need to affect one cell, and then the cycle of propagation will continue without stop. to say it is a chain reaction, it is true, when one neutron with sufficient energy hitting an uranium, the uranium will break and release three neutrons that will effectively cause another 3 Uranium to break, and such chain reaction will only take a short while to produce the maximum reactions. This is what the advertiser wants.

Imagine that now every educated ones, have at least one social media account. Well, not to forget, one social media is enough to exert the viral effect. The advertiser need to only invest on those who actually interested in their advertisement, rather than multiple blank bullets that hopes to kill someone eventually. One people have friends, and have friends of friends and the list goes on. Hence advertiser nowadays aim social medias & network as their ultimate spread of information in a very short time. You can say it is a bullet smart targeting. Our consciousness will always tells that, good things is shared by close friends we trust, and thats how direct marketing works. One will spread ten, ten will spread hundreds. And obviously you know your friends well, better then the advertiser, hence the smart targeting is also achieved through social media. With share functions on social network, when you feels like liking the product, just click share and it will work automatically to the next cycle of friends and family. with attractive wording and packaging ” (your friends name) liked this, you may also like this, click this for more information”. 

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING IN MALAYSIA

There is allot of Social Media Marketing around in Malaysia, but here i will talk about Nuffnang and Churp Churp. 

Nuffnang is one of the Biggest Malaysian blog advertising company that target all Blog user, with motto “Asia Pacific’s First Blog Advertising Community”, enable blog user to post the advertisement link to their blog, and in return the blog user will get revenue from the placement of advertisement if it is clicked. The concept is that , reader comes to that blog will have some interest in that blog the blogger written, hence by targeted placement of advertisement based on the blog content and blogger interest (through survey). 

Churp Churp , however a diffrent concept of advertising. Churp Churp (sounds like another noisy bird of the bigger brother twitter) motto “A Community for social media influencers” , means the main mode of advertisement is through pay per unique click that user can post the unique links generated when you join a advertisement campaign. The pay outs can be quite attractive, about RM0.20 per unique clicks and Rm1.00 for each new user signup, and all you need to do is to post or share the unique links generated in any social media, from facebook , twitter to messenger and e-mails. The more power your group is the better the influence will be , and the more return you gain.

For all Nuffnang Users, there is a great news that Nuffnang Grapevine had been launched lately. Not only you can earn by people clicking your blog, but also clicking the link you shared in other social medias other than your blog. They had moved beyond blogs advertisement by incorporate both methods. And one more added advantage, the Grapevine will appear occasionally on skyscraper unit of the traditional Nuffnang Advertisement, grap the unique link and submit your e-mail and share the link on your social medias. And furthermore , the one who share the link need not need to be a Nuffnang member. Their concept, Share The Great Word With Your Friends and get rewarded for it with cash and prizes. Hence not only the bloggers may earn money from ad placement, blog readers can also earn by sharing the advertisement.

CVT Technology In New PROTON Cars

SUBANG JAYA, 4 JULY 2011 – PROTON Holdings Berhad announced today that it will be introducing Continuous Variable Transmission (CVT) technology to its upcoming range of cars. “We have been conducting comprehensive development and integration tests of the CVT with our CamPro engines and we are happy to be able to provide this option to future buyers soon,” said Dato' Sri Haji Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir, Group Managing Director of PROTON Holdings Berhad.

CVT technology has been growing in popularity amongst high-end auto manufacturers globally as it provides a smoother drive and more efficient performance to their cars. This technology, though not new, has only recently made its way into cars on a large scale with many major automotive companies successfully developing advanced CVT mechanisms that are able to take heavier drive loads compared to earlier variations. 

“In the near future, CVT will be mated to our CamPro engines as an option to our range of cars along with the conventional four speed automatic gear transmission that is currently being used,” Dato’ Sri Haji Syed Zainal said. “This feature will not only provide more than just a smoother drive but it will also contribute towards fuel efficiency and savings to the user,” he added. 

In comparison to traditional automatic gear transmissions, the utilization of CVT in an engine system reduces transmission weight by up to 20 percent without compromising output capabilities. It allows the car to change gear ratios seamlessly, eliminating transmission shock, facilitating greater responsiveness and smooth, consistent power delivery. CVT also offers various driving modes to suit the driver’s preference and feel. 

“In view of fuel price pressure on consumers, we know that the introduction of CVT will contribute significantly to improving their lives as it not only provides them with a smoother drive but also helps reduce fuel consumption.” 

Dato’ Sri Haji Syed Zainal highlighted that PROTON tests show that the utilization of CVT in a car can reduce fuel consumption by up to 4% with regards to urban driving and almost up to 10% for highway driving. 

“Lower fuel consumption also impacts the environment significantly by reducing CO2 emissions,” he said, elaborating that the efficiency of the CVT technology integrated into Proton engines has resulted in a 5% emissions improvement. 

“PROTON is consistently improving its cars; from build quality to the introduction of various technologies to enhance its engine and driving capabilities,” said Dato’ Sri Haji Syed Zainal. “The inclusion of CVT to our next generation of cars will not only keep us on a technological par with major automakers but will also contribute positively towards providing Malaysians with greater value for their money.”

What is ICT?

Information Communication Technology (ICT) is a constantly developing subject within society and the National Curriculum (NC). Areas within ICT are vital to our everyday lives, and sometimes we forget that we live in an Information age. By understanding and been able to use the tools that ICT provides, we are better able to solve problems and work more efficiently. ICT more specifically inside the classroom has developed immensely. Technology has become apart of our culture therefore it is very important that we are educated in how to use it, not only for the classroom but also for the workplace. I am going to investigate into some of the philosophical, educational and practical needs of learning ICT. I will include some of my own experiences of ICT in education, and how it has developed and evolved, and I will include my passions for the subject. Studies have shown that ICT is a popular subject among students, so I am going to investigate into some of the reasons why it is a popular choice of subject. After conducting some research and exploring my experiences with ICT I will be more able to understand some of the reasons why it is important teach ICT.

Changes within ICT have been rapid, and in the beginning "development of Logo and programming environment" and "Computer assisted learning (CAL)" (Willard. J, 2007, p. 26), took the scene in the 1960's and 70's. These qualifications were primitive to today's standards and focused on the commercial application of programs. During this stage there was little teaching about computers and more teaching through computers, due to the lack of resources and expertise. The 1990's saw the incorporation of internet, e-mail and communication thus the subject area begun to develop and grow. "Virtual learning environments & managed learning environments" (Willard. J, 2007, p. 26) have enabled the teaching of ICT to develop into a desirable and vital subject. More recently we have seen the developments in not only delivering ICT within its own subject area, but also cross curricular elements; demonstrating the effectiveness of ICT across different subject areas.

When I attended primary school ICT was very rare. The school had one machine per classroom and this machine had very limited programs and functions. At Key Stage two there was very little emphasis on ICT, and very little curriculum time was assigned to it. Although there was very high interest levels into ICT, during this period teaching ICT would have been extremely difficult with the lack of expertises and recourses at primary school level. With the lack of resources and development of the subject area it was just not feasible to allocate time to the subject.

When I left primary school I attended Harris City Technology College. This was where I was introduced to a networked environment. I had the opportunity to have a username and password for my specific area where I could save work with a limit amount of space and resources. During my first year the network was very unreliable and was constantly going down. Although the network was very unreliable it provided the school with the technology to start to incorporate Information Technology across new subject areas. Information technology at Key Stage 3 was much more organised, the school provided dedicated lessons to ICT with a qualified teacher to help and support us with our work. We used a combination of Microsoft packages to complete simple tasks. Towards the end of Key Stage 3 the computers and network technology had vastly improved. New network frameworks had been implemented and faster computers became available with the use of Windows NT improving the overall network performance. Microsoft office became a very popular software package and provided very powerful software tools that could be used to complete a number of tasks. At the start of my GCSE's I started to see the importance of ICT, and the role it could play in other subject areas.

The affect of ICT on all subject areas affected the curriculum, society and also interest levels of the vast majority of students. As ICT became a vital part of society the way it is taught has also changed due to the advances in technology and resources. ICT has now become a part of our culture and since I first begun to learn ICT it has changed dramatically. ICT can be learnt both practically and theoretically, during my degree it was compulsory that ICT skills where demonstrated not only theoretically through exams and written assignments, but also through coursework's and practical assessments. Although acquiring a qualification in ICT is still weighted towards theoretical work I feel that in the future this will change. This has already become evident in Edexcels DIDA (http://dida.edexcel.org.uk/home/ - 28/10/07) qualifications that are all coursework and assignment based.

Because ICT is a part of our society it is important that we understand fundamentally how ICT can be used to solve problems. The practical nature of the subject emphasis's the relevance, and this makes the subject very appealing to students. ICT plays a critical role within all companies; the majority of employers will expect ICT skills along with literacy and numeracy. With the increased interest by employers into the area of ICT it has become important for the majority of students to insure that they at least have a basic understanding how to use basic ICT packages.

I am passionate about ICT because reaching any particular goal is down to the author or team of people working on a project. That creative freedom and flexibility of the subject drives me to learn and develop new skills and workflows. Through learning new ideas, principles and techniques I seek to develop and replace old methods with new ones. I have discovered that through ICT and hard work anything is possible. I am passionate about teaching ICT because it really is the future.

When I have the opportunity to teach ICT within a classroom one of the areas I would like to teach is website development and web design. Web development can be a steep learning curve but incorporates many different techniques that are fundamentally important to ICT and presenting information. Students will have the opportunity to learn about elements of design and thinking about a target audience. Moving to the implementation phase or practically building the site. Finally using the design or user requirements as a specification to evaluate and test the work they have done. These skills not only apply to web design but apply generally to presenting information. The Nation Curriculum (NC) does currently provide work on web development and specifically on the Edexcel's Digital diploma course (DIDA) incorporates a lot of web development on Dreamweaver. Unit three is a graphics course on the Dida Syllabus it incorporates graphical design and web development in the form of an e-portfolio. This module incorporates a lot of the areas I would love to teach but I would insist that all web development code was written instead of using Dreamweaver.

In order to practically teach ICT a range of resources and learning activities can be incorporated into lessons. Firstly essential to the course are computers, the computers provide the interface for students to research and complete work. Computers are not fundamental to ICT, but provide the platform where students can practice and complete tasks practically. Electronic and interactive white boards are also a very common resources used within ICT. They are used to present information to student quickly and efficiently. The white board allows the teacher to dynamic create content for the class and incorporated different areas seamlessly. For example a teacher could use the whiteboard to display a DVD then a PowerPoint presentation followed by a live demonstration of a website. This provides teachers with a very flexible environment to teach student. This is a very positive aspect of becoming an ICT teacher.

Anther essential resource in ICT is computer software. These software packages sometimes require and subscription or site licence, and these can be very expensive to some institutions therefore funding by the government has increased and is valued at around �330 million for E-leaning credits (Elc's) ( http://www.curriculumonline.gov.uk/AboutELCs/WhatareeLCs.htm - 07/10/2007). This money is given to local authorities that distribute it amongst their schools. Schools have the opportunity to use this money to buy resources for ICT. The funding is aimed at providing schools with the money needed to buy essential tools for learning. Schools now have the opportunity to invest into a wide range of different software and incorporate them into lessons. This has two positive effects; firstly these e-learning aids help students to achieve there full potential. They also take very different approaches to learning, through games and different activities.

Within ICT it is important that particular learning activities are incorporated into lessons to insure that students are reaching their full potential. Question and answer sessions along with discussion can be good feedback to the teacher whether the students are meeting their learning objectives. Thought showers are a very good procession for explore problem situations and getting down ideas. Software has now been created to create thought showers. Presentations/ presenting work to class are important activities and skills. It gives children a chance to not only present their work but presenting in front of others. Evaluation and feedback sessions are important so students can begin to learn the techniques needed to analysis their work and others. Then once they have analysis and received feedback they can improve there work to suit new demands.

In conclusion ICT is a constantly developing subject, with new concepts and frameworks being developed all the time. Because ICT is now engrained into our culture it is important that students have the opportunity to learn these transferable skills as they will benefit from them in the workplace and life. ICT is a great subject to teach as more and more funding is being made available. The flexibility in which a syllabus can be presented is immense; student's levels of interest should be harnessed and the combination of a good use of resources and teaching would yield a society of ICT thinkers that can use technology to their advantage, and seek to solve problem areas fast and effectively.

References

Websites Used -

http://dida.edexcel.org.uk/home/ - Researched into courses currently available at key stage 4.

http://www.curriculumonline.gov.uk/AboutELCs/WhatareeLCs.htm - Research into funding that is provided by the government.

http://www.curriculumonline.gov.uk/WhyUseICTs/WhyteachwithICT.htm - The NC views on why teach ICT.

Books -

Willard. J, Learning and Teaching Using ICT in Secondary Schools. Great Britain: Learning Matters (2007) 

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Tad bit about me

Now that i pretty much can breath out a little on my own i guess i better start crank back the engine.It's way long overdue.Mind you,the last semester was H-E-C-T-I-C thus explain the long absence. I was too busy sorting out my messed up life.This is not my first blog tho'.I had one before which i started quite sometime ago.Deleted.Too much drama for my likings.But then i decided to start a new one. To mark my journey in this subject MGT 300 :) .I am no Zosat or any other bloggers who is in the 'fantasy' world nor i am a graduate of Harvard School of Language and Literature. Do they even have that?But anyway,I am me.Far from perfect.I have nothing but respect for them. For the effort they made to jot down itsy bitsy part of their interesting private life and inspired many people out there,i believe,including myself.I still call myself a Captain, no one know it. .I am not yet a scorer student at the moment,at least.I am still learning and undergoing my learning process. But hey,that doesn't mean that i can't share my two cents view in this subject.Everybody started from scratch don't they?

Enough with the gibbering. I am a student. I enrolled myself in a local university which are UiTM.I am now in semester 4 . I'm currently taking subject MGT300, hey that's why this blog is exist!!. Yes,there were few ups and downs moment for the past 3 semester.It was never a bed of roses and a smooth journey. The amount of workload,pressure,stress and drama you have to cope was unbearable. But then, that's what makes it worth it you know. Nothing comes easy in this life isn't it?

I can't possibly be writing start from the day i got here. Because that would be a lot of 'flash-back mind boggling' thinking to be done.Like A LOT.3 semester may seems like a short time but mind you,i feel like I've been here for years!  

I guess that much I can say.. 

Happy Reading earthling :)