Recently, I read Parmy Olson’s new post “Here’s Where Teens Are Going Instead Of Facebook” on Forbes. She point out a statement that a growing number of teenagers are less likely to become active on Facebook. Meanwhile, mobile chat services like WeChat and WhatsApp, and photo-sharing apps like Instagram and Snapchat have become more and more popular among the youth. As far as I am concerned, I am in favour of  her views.

According to Parmy’s survey, she found the number of teenagers in 30 countires who are active on Facebook had dropped to 56% in the third quarter from 76% in the first quarter in 2013. And the biggest decline in active usage (by 52%) was in the Netherlands while there was a 16% decrease among American teenagers.

So where are teens going instead of Facebook? Parmy mentioned  mobile chat services like WeChat and WhatsApp, and photo or video-sharing apps like Instagram, Snapchat and Vine.

Despite of  the incredible growth in active users of WeChat, I think most teens in the western countries even never heard  it before. Because it is a popular mobile app among the youth based in Chinese communities, which is owned by the Chinese Internet giant Tencent. WeChat allows people for instant messaging, which works like Facebook  and WhatsApp in the same way.What’s more, there seems a trend that teenagers rely more on mobile messaging through platforms like WhatsApp or Wechat, instead of Facebook. Therefore, Facebook needs to pay attention to this big concern.

Reference:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2013/11/12/heres-where-teens-are-going-instead-of-facebook/

Recently, I read Ha Neul (Hannah) Chung’s new post “L’Oreal and Management Information System”. She thought L’Oreal was a great example for using MIS. It let me think of what we discussed in Class 17, the Management Information System( MIS). We know that MIS provides managers with available access to information that can be used to make decisions efficiently and effectively. As a result, companies use MIS to more conveniently collect data, analyze and facilitate their strategies and activities.

According to Hannah’s example, besides L’Oreal, I also found  YouTube was an excellent example of using MIS flexibly. Since people create a online account on YouTube, they are able to subscribe channels, upload and like videos. Meanwhile, YouTube will track and record what people watched, and according to what they liked and subscribed before, it will send emails about latest updates of those subscribed videos and make related suggestions on people’s home pages as well. With the information gathered by YouTube online, it  provides a more convenient and efficient way for people to easily find videos they enjoy. Meanwhile, it is also beneficial for YouTube to keep an attraction among individuals.

However, I still have the same question with Hannah, that if the information provided by MIS is always reliable and accurate. Furthermore, with the society changing so rapidly, if a company changes its core value proposition and customer segments, will the given information still available and outdated for itself? Therefore, I believe we need more further study about MIS in order to make sure it is accurate even the society is always changing.

Link:

07.L’Oreal and Management Information System

In Debbie Pai’s blog “L’Oreal Pulled All These Ads Because They Used Too Much Photoshop”, she holds a statement that  nowadays a growing number of companies use a plenty of editing mechanisms such as Photoshop to exaggerate the effects of their products, thereby advertising  products; and L’Oreal is a typical example. She believes that businesses should not use any Photoshop or editing mechanism in their advertisements, because it would be a fraud to individuals. I agree with her view for several reasons.

Firstly, the development of technology has advanced so rapidly and editing mechanisms update so fast as well, which makes advertisements more perfect. We can  perceive more and more visual media in daily life, and it is so hard for us to tell if the product is good as it is shown in the commercials. What’s more, businesses who use Photoshop or other editing mechanisms seem that they fake perfect qualities of products which actually they may not have, thereby  maximizing profits. Finally, it is also business unethical which we discussed in Class 3. Companies should not deceive customers, because it will generate bad influence to their  reputations and people will not chose to believe them any more.

Reference:

https://blogs.ubc.ca/wishcometrue/

Today, we learned the innovation and entrepreneurship in the lecture. Then I read an article about a new mobile healthcare company named Curatio. More exactly, it creates a mobile healthcare app called ThaliMe which is also a  tracking tool designed especially for people with thalassemia. This app enables patients to take a track of their health condition. Furthermore, it is helpful and convenient for clienteles to have a personalized virtual support group and get access to direct connection with healthcare professionals. Currently, Curatio wins $100,000 in the Novartis’ Global Health 2.0 Competition. Obviously it is a good news for  its co-founder, a recent UBC graduate Alireza Davoodi. These two main founders Brown-Ganzert and Alireza Davoodi are really young entrepreneurs, describing the company as ”a collective of like minded individuals, focused on creating beautiful and functional products for the health industry.” ¹

After searching this company,I found that Curatio provides autonomy and entrepreneurship for its employees. In my view, it helps employees fulfill their potential while working for Curatio. And people would hold a responsibility in their careers and emphasize their actions which will influence the business. Besides, this also  helps to cultivate a culture of entrepreneurship which is the spirit of innovation and creativity. Curatio encourages employees who like to take risks. All of these features make Curatio more successful.

Citation:

1. “Vancouver’s Curatio Wins $100,000 for Mobile Healthcare App.” EUBC Inspire Create Impact. N.p., 31 Oct. 2013. Web. 12 Nov. 2013. <http://entrepreneurship.ubc.ca/vancouvers-curatio-wins-100000-for-mobile-healthcare-app/>.

Reference:

http://entrepreneurship.ubc.ca/vancouvers-curatio-wins-100000-for-mobile-healthcare-app/

http://www.curatiohealthcare.com/

To people’s surprise, the top Chinese e-commerce service Taobao.com reported  the first hour of turnover reached 6.7 billion yuan and more than 25 million transactions in a single day, November 11th. November 11 might be Veteran’s Day in the U.S. and Remembrance Day in Canada, nevertheless it is “double sticks” day in China.

Firstly, let me introduce Taobao, since you may be unfamiliar with the top Chinese e-commerce service. Taobao is a famous Chinese website for online shopping. It is established in 2003 by alibaba group. On the website,  Sellers can post goods on the Taobao marketplace with fair price. What’s more, Taobao is a convenient platform for business and individuals to open online stores.  It is very similar to eBay, but less known in western countries. Because Taobao relies on the huge Chinese market deeply. In china, thousands of  investors regard Taobao as their new opportunities of success. In my view, it’s incredible that Taobao made a giant break through on today,  November 11th. It also shows a huge potential in Chinese e-commerce market, and undoubtedly, it plays an important role as a catalyst to Chinese economy.

Reference:

http://venturebeat.com/2012/11/13/chinese-online-mall-taobao-reports-3b-yes-billion-in-sales-in-one-day-infographic-in-chinese/

Due to the economic depression, the food stamps in America began to be cut by the government. For many common people, hardly will they care about a little cut in food stamps, because without these food stamps, they still can have sufficient good, and won’t suffer from hunger. However in America, for hundreds of the poor who rely on food stamps, decrease in food stamps undoubtedly makes them worse off. It means there are no more enough food for the whole families before the month is over and more poor people begin to beg for food.

“I don’t need a whole lot to eat,” said Leon Simmons, 63, who spends more than half of his monthly $832 Social Security income to rent a room in an East Charleston house. “But this month I know I’m not going to buy any meats.”¹

From the old poor Leon’s experience, we know that for a person who barely wants to utilize a couple hundred dollars to afford  house rent and  enough food to eat, the cut in foods tamps plays an important role in his life. Instead, not only are the food stamps decreased, but also the prices in groceries keep sky-high to those who are unable to afford the loss in food stamps. In my view, it’s high time that government should  make a correct measure to help those poor people.

Citation:

1. Severson, KIM , and WINNIE Hu. “Cut in Food Stamps Forces Hard Choices on Poor.” the new york times. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Nov. 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/08/us/cut-in-food-stamps-forces-hard-choices-on-poor.html?pagewanted=2&hp>.

Reference: