Google Buzzoff (Entry 6)

That was Google's video introducing their (then) latest combatant to the social networking wars, Google Buzz. This was Google's answer to Facebook, and was slated to take over and revolutionize the social networking scene, as most Google apps and tools so often do in their respective fields. February 2010 was to be the beginning of the end of every other social network. Facebook was to be finally reduced to a social network pariah, or as it's commonly known in the industry, Freindster.

Notice that I used a lot of the past tense in that paragraph. For obvious reasons.

Buzz ran into a brick wall of assorted issues as soon as it started up. The main legal debacle was how people were angry over the privacy issues and that resulted in a lot of lawsuits. Apparently, most people can only stand at the most one social network site that infringes on their privacy without their knowledge, and Facebook was doing that pretty well already. Also, there was the sad fact that people were so into Facebook (or MySpace, if you were a crappy band) that they never knew that Buzz existed in the first place.

That was such wasted potential, though. It wouldn't seem that way now, what with Google+ and all, but I'll get to that in a minute. The thing that Buzz was going for was that it wasn't a dedicated, separate social networking site per se, but it was more of an app that was seamlessly integrated into the rest of the Google universe. Kind of like learning to whistle loudly with your fingers, as opposed to bringing a giant police whistle around with you in your pocket everywhere you go. It would eventually feel like second nature to the masses of Googlites (or Googlers... whatever), and turn Google into more than just a social networking website. It would be a complete online interface, through which ALL our inline interactions would take place.

Sadly, because of all the hiccups that Google walked into and/or didn't foresee, this didn't happen. Buzz would continue to lie in our pile of cool but unfortunately flawed and eventually disused stuff, along with the MD player, the Sega Dreamcast and the Zune (I can never say the word 'Zune' without at least laughing out loud in my head). And now, with this announcement by Google four days ago, it turns out that Google is finally pulling the plug on Buzz. I like it when the latest news coincides with my assignments.

Well, at least the death of Buzz wasn't in vain. For those of you who (like me) never bothered with Buzz until now, and are seeing the intro view for the first time, you would notice how similar Buzz is to Google+. Google managed to use basis of Buzz and the lessons they learned from it to create Google+, and with 40 million users in Google+ and rising, it looks like they learned quick and learned well. However, there's still the thing about interest in Google+ waning, and that Google+ only served to shake Facebook up enough that they improved themselves.

So, do you think that Buzz would've survived if they had not run into all those legal issues, or was it destined to flop anyway?


Let me know in the comments section down below!

Meet my classmates: Ling, Alex, Keisuke, Yuri and Mahmoud (Entry 5)

The chapter on learning and e-learning got me thinking about a reading that I did a project on when I did Intercultural Communication under Prof. Armstrong back in Summer. The article was about this concept called the Global Classroom, and in a nutshell, it was an initiative to use technology to break down the physical barriers that prevent true intercultural communication.

It started in 2003 with Dr. Rosina Chia and Dr. Elmer Poe from East Carolina University, who started the Global Classroom project. They utilized a webcam chat over a H.323 connection, which required very little bandwidth, to set up video conferences with classes from different countries. The images on both sides were projected on walls and adjusted accordingly such that the image of each class would appear life-sized to the other, to further simulate the reality. Their first partnership was with Voronezh State Agricultural University, located 400 kilometers south of Moscow. Despite certain technological limitations, such as lag time, and cultural barriers, within time, both sides grew accustomed to each other, and grew closer as friends despite the incredible physical distance between them.

This got me really interested in the concept, especially since the premise of the article alone allowed my group mate Tracey and I to come up with a presentation that was far more interesting than the usual stand-there-and-read-off-your-slides drab. We managed to set up a webchat meeting Tobias Reynolds-Tylus, who was a former UB student and spent a year here in Singapore. We chatted in between lags in the connection (I had to tether my iPhone to my MacBook and use my 3G connection, because that would still be faster than using the infernally laggy WiFi connection provided by our dear school). It was rather interesting, and considering the time we had to prepare, I felt that it was a good effort. Certainly better than people who just plain read off their slides.

That demonstration was to show just how technology has not only permeated the classroom, but has now enabled us to do things that we were never able to do before. Sure, there's always a chance to "interculturally communicate" in multicultural Singapore, but is that really intercultural communication? Not to me, because to me, we all come from the same culture (Singaporean). Even if we spoke to foreigners here, we would be speaking to foreigners who were socialized to our ways to some degree. Real intercultural communication would involve regular face-to-face correspondence from someone who was from an entirely different culture, and who was just as immersed in their culture as we were in ours. Of course, Toby spent a year here, so he's quite familiar with Singapore, but this demonstration was meant to illustrate the concept that technology can now be used to bridge such wide gaps, which is truly amazing.

This, to me, is certainly one of the best innovations to the classroom yet, but some of you may disagree. So what do you think is the best innovation to help improve the way students learn? Let me know in the comments section down below!

How to succeed in business without really getting out of your study chair (Entry 4)

I'll be honest from the get go: I know nuts about e-commerce. The only things I purchase online on a regular basis are my Norton updates and the occasional extra mission packs for a few games I play. Beyond that, I only observe when my female friends borrow my MacBook to "online window shop". However, after surveying a few blog sites about e-commerce strategies and considering what my friends look for when online window shopping, basic marketing strategies and common sense, I believe that I've isolated a few key tips to note when creating a successful e-commerce business.

1. Friendly user interface

This is a given, I think. You need an interface that is easy to access and navigate to what you want. Search bars help here, as to command bars at the top or the side that help navigate. These bars should have as few categories as possible and use dropdown subcategories when you mouseover the button, like:

this.
Personally, I like clean looking sites that grab your attention at the beginning, and then show you where you want to go, like the Prada website (which I know isn't technically a dedicated e-commerce website, but still the look of the site is clean.

I didn't really like Blogshopcity's look. It clutters too much in the front page. People get annoyed and confused especially first time users who don't really know their way around.

2. Don't make website memberships compulsory for purchases

Most sites will have you register or log in first before you can purchase anything. It may seem like it's for security of identity or whatnot, but frankly a PayPal account or a functional credit card can do that. Besides, the risk in the transaction is mainly on the consumer because s/he's the one ponying up the dough. Memberships are meant to get people to return to the site because they already have a membership. Kind of like inducing brand loyalty. However, most one-time shoppers are put off by this and turn away from sites that demand a membership. "I just want to buy a damn dress, and now I have to key in my address and the name of my first pet?!"

One-off shoppers do make up a significant portion of the online consumer demographic, so it wouldn't be good business ignoring them. What should be done is to make sign-ups optional and have the site recognize when purchases have been made from a particular IP address multiple times. That indicates that someone is actively returning to your site. Then ask those people to sign up.

3. Socially moderated user reviews

Saying a product is good because the seller says it is good is just silly. Of course, they're gonna say their product is good, even if it isn't entirely! That's just business. People now recognize that, and now buyers are more likely to listen to people who aren't obligated to say nice things about a product, like previous buyers. Thus, people (or at least members) should be allowed to comment about products, and site administrators only need filter out obscenities and spam messages.

Of course, having a product reviewed by only one very disgruntled consumer might not be the best business. That's why these comments should be socially reviewable, in a "xx users found this comment helpful" and like and dislike buttons.

4. Know the Web

Running an e-commerce business is different from running any other business in that you are in a different environment. In the same way that a shop owner should know the environment that his shop is in (what demographic shops in the area and such), e-commerce business owners should know the environment that their business is in (the Internet). E-commerce business owners should be able to gather info like hits, stickiness, internal site traffic and such. This will give them knowledge about who goes to their site (which could be anyone), especially since you can't judge them by looking at them. Y'know, because you can't see them.

There are, of course, more factors to consider, but this post is quite lengthy as it is, to be honest. If you're still reading, I am touched. So what other factors can contribute to the success of an e-commerce business?


Let me know in the comments section down below!

Google+ hit the ground running (Entry 3)

A screenshot of my Google+ profile. Which I admittedly haven't been using much. It's such a hassle to maintain more than one social networking account. I don't even bother much nowadays. It would make sense to maintain a Facebook and a LinkedIn account, and have your LinkedIn handle all your work contacts and Facebook your social contacts, or in that sense have different social networking accounts handle different aspects of your life. If you can maintain that for a considerable amount of time, then you either have a lot of discipline or a lot of time on your hands.

Anyways, one of the things that surprised me about Google+ was how fast it got up and running as compared to other social networking sites. Facebook, for example, took years and slow expansion from Harvard, to other Ivy League schools, Oxford, and finally to the public. Google+, within days of opening, exploded with memberships. Even though initial membership and beta testing was on an invite-only basis (which I got, and it feels so exclusive :D), there was a point during beta testing when unlimited inviting was open during this period and Google was so swamped with requests that they had to shut that service down within a day.

Another thing that surprised me was how, as Google+ started to grow in popularity, that Facebook was starting to copy it. I noticed it when the updated Facebook included setting who sees your individual posts, which was something that Google+ did first. Another thing was how Facebook was changing the way we organized our friends such that it resembled Google+'s Circles.And here I was thinking that Google+ was just a white, ad-free, Farmville-free version of Facebook.

It only goes to show how threatened Facebook is by Google+. The thing is, how long can either survive? They both seem rather popular, but in the end, they might wind up being stuck in a stalemate of popularity with loyalists on both sides. Like Coke and Pepsi, or Windows and Mac, or the iPhone and the Blackberry.

Oh wait, I think the iPhone is winning that one. Epicly winning. I don't hear of iPhone users converting to the BB.

Anyway, in the end, I think my Google+ account is just going to end up collecting dust while I continue to update my Facebook account. Unless Anonymous really does shut down Facebook.

So which is going to win? Or rather, which are you rooting for?


Let me know in the comments section down below!