Month: October 2010

If you thought The Beatles were popular, think again (RIP John Lennon and happy 70th birthday). For the last few years the world has been experiencing rapid changes that were unheard of even 10 years ago. The impact of social media is changing the world we live and advancements are being made by the second.

What is happening?

Facebook and Twitter have taken over the world. They way we look at the world and the way the world is functioning revolves around the realm of social media. Ashton Kutcher and Ellen DeGeneres have more followers on Twitter than the combined population of Ireland, Norway, and Panama. Scary stuff. The fact that half the material we are learning in university will be outdated in a few years is a mind-bender of epic proportions. I am now posting one of the 200,000,000 plus blog posts existing in the world today, meaning all these posts are contributing their valuable/worthless opinions online about the world we live in. 

What does it mean?

How we  experience the world is changing and is moving in a direction that can be predicted by anyone at the moment. In fact, with the social media, we can say that the world is experiencing us. The information we are interested in is no longer needed to be pursued by the everyday consumer. Instead, it finds its way into our lives and we embrace it with open arms. And the way it finds us is through the computer, our laptops, smartphones, and who knows what device will be thought of in the near future.

It is safe to assume that at this rate we might surpass our social media capacity intake. Who knows what technology will come up with next. Will we be ready for it? We have been up to now. I guess we will all have to wait and see.

Social Media:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIFYPQjYhv8

Enbridge oil company plans to build a new pipeline off the US Gulf Coast after it recently had two oil spills, one in Michigan followed by one in Chicago. By doing this they will be able to generate 350,000 barrels of light oil per day, thus increasing the supply of oil and in turn bringing down its equilibrium price. Furthermore, the company is planning to invest into the Asian markets with its $5.5 billion Northern Gateway proposal, which will connect oilsands to tankers along the West Coast.

There are many issues surrounding the development of this new project. Environmentalists are protesting the proposed plan due to its health and environmental risks/hazards. On top of that, the First Nations tribes of BC are also very unenthusiastic, to say the least, about the Gateway proposal. They are argueing that these projects will be going into their native reserve and disturbing their rights; also, they are in agreeance with the environmentalists about the effects it will have on the environment.

It all comes back to the issue of ethics.

The oil companies aren’t much concerned with tribal policies but only with revenue and profit. Is it right to build another project on top of the many they already have and risk endangering many plant and wildlife species that are inhabiting the area? Is it also ethical to disregard the presence of the First Nations and devaluate and disrespect them? And to do this right after two major oil leak accidents.

This situation has the potential for a controversial confrontation between the two sides and it could end up very ugly for one if not both groups. If a compromise does not come into effect, the legal issues could damage everyone involved and neither side will be satisfied at the end.

Attached is the link to the article:

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/markets/headline_news/article.jsp?content=b4743269

Walmart along with Walmart Canada is establishing a new commercial campaign to promote a new slogan and at the same time staying consistent with their old values.
These new commercials portray how everyday people are using the money they have saved by shopping at Walmart in various “touching” scenarios. The purpose of this new campaign is to draw the attention of the consumers into making the connection of shopping at Walmart and having a better lifestyle; but, still staying with their original low prices advertisements.
Since Walmart has positioned themselves beautifully as probably the leading store for “Always Low Prices”, they have decided to expand their portfolio and incorporate another means of positioning with this new campaign.
Critics believe this is risky move from Walmart’s side since their old methods have been working very well and adjusting their point of difference with the added expansion of the “Save Money, Live Better” campaign might not be very successful.
I believe this could only increase Walmart’s revenue. This campaign seems very smart and they have come up with another clever tagline to go along with their existing one. This project has already been launched in the states with good reviews and I have no doubt once it will make its way shortly to the Canadian market that it will be received with high regard by the consumers.

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Attached is the link to the article:

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/markets/stocks/article.jsp?content=20090303_10004_10004