Based on an interesting read in Oliver Zhang’s Re: The most famous copycat in China — Tencent, there was a dilemma that he questions that is, since China has banned social media network such as twitter and Facebook and has a company that creates such social media, would it still be unethical or is it acceptable since it is the only way the people in China to enjoy such facilities? I find that this question to be situated at the cliff-hanger of ethicality, one could question that without the piracy of these social media, the Chinese people in China would not be able to express themselves like the rest of the world but if it were to be allowed, should there be other companies in other county besides China to copy ideas and create goods that are similar to brands popular in other parts of the world which have patented and is supposedly against the law to do so.

I believe the reason that these companies are allowed to operate freely without any action from the government and companies where these brands originate from because of the lack of power they hold among the consumers in China and the power that the Chinese people are currently and increasingly holding in the global market.

At the end of the day, it is how one feels when committing piracy and not the law that can help slow down piracy in country because it cannot stop them unless they are willing to change themselves.

Chris C. Ducker “The Easy-to-Follow Guide to Building an Online Brand for You and Your Business” is a fool proof’s way of enabling oneself to build their personal brand and online brand. Building an online brand as he mentions is especially important if a person is dwelling in the realm of entrepreneurship and business as it helps to increase the credibility of oneself towards potential customers and garner their trust. Earning one’s trust will help to ease your transaction and business dealing with them and also will list you to their potential sellers the next time when they want to buy the same good or recommend you to their buddies when you managed to do a good job in selling them a good item.

Chris also points out 10 ways that will enable you to create the online branding and gives out the reasoning for doing so. He mentions that in today’s market after ensuring that your brand is recognizable, you have to make your consumer to like you and the best way to do so in the current market is connecting with them on a personal level. Throughout the blog post he regularly mentions that being trustable is the key that will help you to win the hearts and wallets of your potential consumers and being able to want them to connect with you is important. The last thing that I found interesting in his post is that, he says that one should always be themselves and not to forge something fake in order to attract customers and I find that to be something worth remembering because you don’t want yourself and your potential consumers to be pulled into something that is not true.

http://www.chrisducker.com/building-an-online-brand/

Social media has been one of the key striking feature in the past decade. Since its inception it has blown out of proportion and has users from all over the world. The two notable social media mediums or company currently on the virtual world or the world wide web are Facebook and Twitter. When it was in its introductory phase, Facebook or at that time known as The Facebook, was a small virtual space where friends can get connected and share ideas among them. Few years from the inception of Facebook, it currently has 500 million users and is growing every day with people around the world using it as a means of getting connected with their friends and family. With the huge amount of users Facebook has also indirectly become on of the largest marketable medium and has huge potential earning. This huge potential earning has caused its Initial Public Offering (IPO) to skyrocket and made it a very attractive to investors.

Companies could use Facebook as a mean of marketing their good and figuring out how their goods are perceived by the public. For example, an act as simple as press the thumbs up button if you like this new design of handbags by a known brand in its web page could save the company its resources, estimate a rough demand for the handbag, increase its efficiency and even receive valuable comments about the design of the handbag and how to improve it. The company could then redesign it or sell it in the market if it sees that there are  enough potential consumers for the handbag. In addition to that, people who share the design in their home page will allow their friends to see the design of the handbag and if it is to their liking they will like it as well. Small companies could save a lot money as they would not have to pay for marketers to survey the demographics through interview and scrap designs that are not attractive to the potential consumers.

The marketability of Social media sites have much more potential and since Facebook, Twitter and other sites are still in the growing phase its true potential is unknown and could be much more profitable for the social media sites, its investors, other companies and the consumers.