Corporate blogging: A new marketing communication tool for companies.

Corporate blogging is quickly coming into its own. The Internet is an awesome medium because it’s so good at putting people directly in touch with one another. Solid corporate blogging strategy takes advantage of this ability, but if not executed well, the results can be disappointing at best, and disastrous at worst.

Corporate blogging is just one part of a broader strategy to find, understand and serve consumers who visit the corporate Web site, or use the corporation’s products. It’s value in soliciting and collecting feedback is inestimable. If used correctly, corporate blogging can propel a company to the forefront, and position it well ahead of the competition, simply by delivering the content and the connection that consumers want.

Some corporate blogs are written by a single person, or are put together by the corporate media group. Other companies put their executives out on the front line to connect with and field feedback from the consumer public. Each approach has its advantages and disadvantages, but consistency in terms of message, value in terms of content, and the ability to include your consumers in the conversation will enable your corporate blogging strategy to deliver its highest potential..

The advantages of corporate blogging are:
1. The technology allows businesses to expand their audience without having to rely on traditional, and often inefficient, means of communicating with their customers. Setting up a simple blog requires a minimum of effort or involvement from the IT Department, and can be done for a modest cost. Once set up, blogs can be very effective in promoting products and services, which can help to reduce advertising and marketing costs.
2. Blogs help an organization better understand the needs and wants of their customers, obtain feedback on products and services immediately, and in effect have customized and personalized market research.
3. Blogs also provide organizations an opportunity to respond to criticism from the media and others who might be posting negative comments on other blogs.
4. Blogging allows for greater Web visibility and can gain search engine prominence, helping to direct Web traffic to the company Web site. Often times blogs are ranked higher by search engines because the information is updated more frequently.

The disadvantages of corporate blogging are:
1. Even if senior managers trust staff not to give away the company's commercial secrets - and many don't - there are still enough worries about libel and (for publicly listed companies) stock market disclosure rules to have the legal department waking in sweats for months to come.
2. There is a risk that an ill-judged comment could be seized upon by the media or disgruntled investors.
3. Like practically everything else on the Web, blogs are easy to start and hard to maintain. Writing coherently is one of the most difficult and time-consuming tasks for a human being to undertake. So, far from blogs being a cheap strategy, they are a very expensive one, in that they eat up time. As a result, many blogs are not updated, thus damaging rather than enhancing the reputation of the organization.
4. Organizations also need to be aware of their legal liabilities for unmoderated content presented on a blog. Blogs may put a company’s assets, reputation and future at risk. Without strategic blog-related policies, rules and procedures, organizations face the potential for workplace lawsuits
5. If the blog is to be an official record of the organization, then the organization must provide workable access, indexing tools, preservation, scheduling, storage and access for as long as needed for administrative, legal, research and other purposes. Businesses need to be able to separate hype from reality in order to maintain some credibility with customers. People will not continue to read a blog if they determine it to be light on facts and heavy on marketing and advertising.

Review a local e-commerce site

The local e-commerce site that I choose to review is http://www.ebay.com/.
eBay Inc. is an American Internet company that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping Web site in which people and businesses buy and sell goods and services worldwide. In addition to its original U.S. Web site, eBay has established localized Web sites in thirty other countries. eBay Inc. also owns PayPal, Skype, StubHub, and other businesses.
Millions of collectibles, decor, appliances, computers, furniture, equipment, vehicles, and other miscellaneous items are listed, bought, and sold daily. In 2005, eBay launched its Business & Industrial category, breaking into the industrial surplus business. Some items are rare and valuable, while many others are dusty gizmos that would have been discarded if not for the thousands of eager bidders worldwide. Anything can be sold as long as it is not illegal and does not violate the eBay Prohibited and Restricted Items policy. Services and intangibles can be sold, too. Large international companies, such as IBM, sell their newest products and offer services on eBay using competitive auctions and fixed-priced storefronts. Regional searches of the database make shipping slightly faster and cheaper.
In June 2006, eBay added an eBay Community Wiki and eBay Blogs to its Community Content which also includes the Discussion Boards, Groups, Answer Center, Chat Rooms, and Reviews & Guides. eBay has a robust mobile offering, including SMS alerts, a WAP site, and J2ME clients, available in certain markets.
Best of eBay is a new specialty site for finding the most-unusual items on the eBay site. Users can also vote on and nominate listings that they find.
eBay Pulse provides information about popular search terms, trends, and most-watched items.

Credit Card debts: Causes and Prevention

A credit card is a system of payment named after the small plastic card issued to users of the system. In the case of credit cards, the issuer lends money to the consumer or the user to be paid later to the merchant. Credit cards, if used unwisely, can lead to a mountain of debt. If you charge more than you can afford, make low monthly payments, or pay late, you may be headed for trouble.

Listed below are the top five causes of debt:

Spending Above Your Means: Many debt-burdened consumers hold more credit card debt than their annual income. Spending more than you make is the No. 1 cause of debt.

Job Loss: After losing your job, it is important to modify your spending habits and adjust to the depletion of incoming funds.

Medical Expenses: Most people who face debt problems from medical bills failed to save money for an emergency.

Gambling: Gambling is an addictive habit that leads to financial ruin for many Americans.
Poor Budgeting: Whether it is not saving or spending too much, bad budgeting techniques create debt for oblivious spenders.

Credit card prevention:

1) Manage your finances
Starting with a strategy will help keep you on track before you ever even pull out the credit card. You need to determine your monthly income and needed expenses. As part of these monthly expenses, figure in 5-10% of your income to set aside for emergencies, long range savings such as a retirement account, and short term savings. If you have some savings then you avoid having to put large amounts of debt on a credit card in times of a crisis.

2) Create a Budget
If you cannot keep your credit card spending in check, create a budget. Make each credit card purchase only within the framework of your budget. If you cannot stick to your budget, then don't carry your credit card with you (you may want to keep one in the house for emergency use only).

3) Charge Only What You Can Afford
If you do not have enough cash to purchase the item or service, don't charge it. Instead, save your money (preferably in an interest-earning savings account) until you can afford the purchase.

4) Pay the Balance in Full
This is important in keeping control of your credit cards. Before using a credit card for a purchase, ask yourself, “Do I have the funds to pay for this?” In cases of emergencies where your emergency fund won’t cover the whole amount you need to charge, experts say at least pay more than the required minimum payment.

Things to take note to prevent e-auction fraud when a consumer paticipating in an e-auction

Auction are define as market mechanism by which buyers make bids and sellers place offers. It is characterized by the competitive and dynamic nature by which the final price is reached. Seller intended to sell something within a quick timeframe and those example of auction such as traditional auctions, electronic auctions, dynamic pricing, English auctions, Yankee auctions, Dutch auctions, free-fall auctions, sealed-bid first-price auction and sealed-bid second-price auction.

Electronic auctions (e-auctions) are auctions conducted online and most popular nowadays. Sellers are selling the item that sometimes had been using for some while or new things. The most famous e-auction website that familiar by all of us is E-Bay. This site selling the items that sometimes limited edition and the price will be bids by the consumers. Whoever offer the higher price will get to purchase the item.

In order to prevent fraud happen whenever performing auction transaction online, here is the following actions to be effective minimize the fraud.

a)Only purchases from the trustworthiness sites- This is because most of the internet auction fraud cases involve straightforward scams where consumers allegedly win merchandise by being the highest bidder. Everything are going so well until they send the payment and never receive the merchandise that they bid.

b) Refer to the site forum discussion-In order to prevent fraud, users may refer to the site forum regarding their customer perception involving in dealing with particular e-auction site. This is to enhance the details and credibility of the site.

c) Identity verification- User need to key in strong password validation in order to prevent theft by intended personnel. The e-auction site need to provided user ID and password verification so to identify the correct person with their particular information.

d) Always maximize the number of payment options you will accept- Do not making payment of merchandise using the same bank account to prevent easy hacking by other personnel. Users are advice to use several bank payments infrequently.

e)Ranking system are important to check the particular item- Due to the nature of the goods that we can’t see it physically, users have the right to know whether the merchandise are in a good condition and affordable or not. Hence ranking system allow customer to identify the usage of items and the condition whether it is worth to buy. Ranking with the highest one represent the most better and quality goods.

f)Appraisal and evaluate column- This allow customer get to know the respond of particular merchandise in the market. This system provides types of appraisal system and expertise that use to compare the items with the similar one in the recent marketplace.


Better prevention reduced the risk of consumers get threat by unknown e-auction owner. Therefore users need to be smart when dealing online transaction because we are not particular with who we are dealing with.

@----Electronic Currency-----@

Electronic currency (also known as e-money, electronic cash, electronic currency, digital money, digital cash or digital currency) is a trading method that involves converting base currency to a foreign currency at the market exchange rates through an online brokerage account When people dealing transaction online with other country, it provide this system to automatic translate the rate of foreign rate before making exactly amount.

This system had benefits the online users in assist them but however, the widely use of electronic currency only begin when the automated clearinghouse was set up by the US Federal Reserve in 1972 in order to provide the US Treasury and commercial banks with an electronic alternative to check processing. While at the same time, similar systems also emerged in Europe. Hence, electronic currency has been widely used throughout the world on an institutional level for more than two decades.

Nowadays, nearly all of the deposit currencies in the world's banking systems are handled electronically by a series of interbank computer networks. The Clearing House Interbank Payments System (CHIPS), owned and operated by the New York Clearing House, is the largest financial computer networks in the world.

Even the electronic currency had been introduced long time ago, but it is only effective recently due to the increasing power and decreasing cost of computers. Combine with advancements in communication technology that had made global interaction available at vastly reduced costs. Hence, these factors make the digital transfer of funds a reality for millions of individuals around the world. Besides that, usesage of internet and E-commerce have become an increasingly commercial area, where daily payments are rendered for goods, information and services. As a result, electronic payments are becoming the important role to perform online business between customer and seller.

There is some problem exists when using electronic currency whereby some merchants are not accept the credit card transaction. Additionally, consumers have become concerned with "hackers" who intended to intercepting and obtaining their credit card number stored on the Internet, not only that they affair to become a victim of fraud on the Internet since the customer and the merchant never physically meet. Furthermore, as the data collection industry continues to grow, credit card companies are invading consumer's privacy by collecting their spending habits and reselling the data to third parties and cause unsafe to consumers.

In overall, electronic currency is important system that allows a person to pay for goods or services by transmitting a number from one computer to another. These transactions are carried out electronically whether transferring funds from one party to another, and by either a debit or credit. These funds still can safe and secured by using strong encryption, and thus it will eliminating the payment risk to the consumer. In conclusion, electronic currency is the digital representation of money, or more accurately, the digital representation of currency.

Reference: http://www.murdoch.edu.au/elaw/issues/v6n3/ishman63.html
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/forex/e/electronic-currency-trading.asp
http://www.businesspme.com/uk/articles/trade/90/Electronic-money---advantages-and-disadvantages.html

Corporate blogging: A new marketing communication tool for companies

A corporate blog is published and used by an organization to reach its organizational goals,and it also used for internal and external communication.

For internal communication, They promote the sharing of information of work-related matters. Since blogs can be easily updated, they are used as a part of newsletters or company Intranets. This helps employees to keep themselves informed on all the current happenings in the organization. Blogs also allow employees to display their expertise on a particular topic, thereby becoming a recognized industry or subject "expert".

For external communication, company employees, teams, or spokespersons allow to share their views. It is often used to announce new products and services (or the end of old products), to explain and clarify policies, or to react on public criticism on certain issues. It also allows a window to the company culture and is often treated more informally than traditional press releases, though a corporate blog often tries to accomplish similar goals as press releases do.

Pros of corporate blog :

• Leaders can communicate directly with customers, suppliers and investors, as well as employees, helping disseminate and explain strategy.
• Blogs give the writer an opportunity to answer critics in a controlled forum.
• Compared with conference or printed memos to all staff, blogs are highly cost effective.
• A well written blog can give a human face to an otherwise anonymous corporation.

Cons of coporate blog :

• The best non-corporate blogs are spontaneous and genuine. Poorly written corporate blogs can look fake -- or perhaps worse, they reveal incompetence on he part of the writer
• It is difficult for executives to write freely, particularly at listed companies where they are legally required to publish significant information to all investors at the same time.
• There is a risk that an ill-judged comment could be seized upon by the media or disgruntled investors.
• The writing can be difficult unless the CEO loves to write (in which case this becomes a positive)

The application of pre-paid cash card for consumers

Electronic cash cards are often confused with credit cards and debit cards. However, they are some very key differences between the two primary types of financial transaction card. Credit cards are the least like prepaid cash cards because with a credit card the fund are essentially borrowed from the lender, and then you pay the funds back. If the balance of the credit card is not paid back in full by the next statement, the remaining balance is charged interest. Basically, with a credit card you borrow the money and then pay it back later. Debit cards and prepaid cash cards are similar because they both use your existing money, rather than borrowing. Both debit cards and prepaid cash cards draw funds from your bank account, usually a checking account. The difference is that debit cards can be used without a personal identification number to make purchases where the card is not present. This is the case for online purchases where you enter your debit card information into an online form or Email it to the merchant. Debit card transactions usually need a personal identification number to be keyed into a terminal in order for the transaction to be authorized, but not always. This is why online merchants do not need your personal identification number and why you may come across a terminal or point of sale merchant that allows you to use your debit card with a simple swipe and no personal identification number entry.

Since prepaid cash cards always need a personal identification number to be keyed in for the transaction to be authorized, unless you tell someone your personal identification number, no one else can ever use your card. This means that if someone steals your card information, or your physical prepaid cash cards, you do not need to worry about them using your money. This is why prepaid cash cards are considered the most secure and safe financial transaction cards. The downside of prepaid cash cards is that you cannot use them to make "card not present" purchases, such as by buying something online. You can also not use prepaid cash cards in "quick pay" terminals that have a card reader but no keypad to enter a personal identification number.

The great thing about prepaid cash cards is that they are like a portable access point to your checking account. Automated teller machines are everywhere now, and you can use prepaid cash cards at automated teller machines to withdrawal funds from your checking account in cash, deposit funds into your checking account, and even make an account balance inquiry. You don't have to go to the bank anymore to get money out of your checking account, and you don't need to have a personal computer handy to check your balance. While you are "on the go" at the mall or running errands you can use your prepaid cash cards to see how much money you have left in your account, and get that money out as cash. This helps keep you from overspending and overdrawing your account. While automated teller machines usually charge your account a convenience fee, this fee is much smaller than the fee your bank charges you if you spend more money than you have in your account.

Mobile payment systems in Malaysia: Its potentials and consumers’ adoption strategies.

Can you even imagine just a few years ago that so soon will come a time when people like us can use our hand phone as wallet to pay whoever and whatever we want in the comfort of wherever we are using only a mobile phone coupled with a 6-digit security PIN (Personal Identification Number) via SMS (Short Messaging Service)? It’s just so fantastic because just the other day I paid my utility bills like Astro, TNB, Telecom and water bill from the chair in the front of my TV. I was also being able to reload my hand phone at a discounted rate and settle my credit card loans, car loans and house loans via my personal hand phone.

Although not tangible, I am for sure going to save hundreds of Ringgit Malaysia in terms of fuel, waiting time, parking fees and tolls in a year. Not forgetting the anxiety and helplessness I have suffered because of banks operating time and Public Holidays.

Mobile Payment is a point-of-sale (POS) payment made through a mobile device, such as a cellular telephone, a smart phone, or a personal digital assistant (PDA). Using mobile payment method, a person with a wireless device could pay for items in a store or settle a restaurant bill without interacting with any staff member. Mobile payments are used to pay no only for merchandise purchased via mobile channel but also transactions in the physical world such as vending machines, passport photo machines and car wash machines.

One of the example of Mobile Payment Systems that are available in Malaysia such as MMWallet. It is designed by Mobile Money International Sdn Bhd. It is to solve the problem created by cash, credit cards and cheques. Now, users are free to purchase products online and made payment without being physically present at the store. This will definitely boom our e-commerce industry in Malaysia since it encouraged consumers to shop online.

To use Mobile Money, he/she must have a savings, current or credit card account with participating banks. It is like a Credit Card if he/she applies for a "Pay by Mobile Phone" credit card account or be billed by the bank accordingly every month. Besides, it also functions as a Debit Card if it is tied to shopper's savings or current account. The amount will be deducted directly once the transaction is successful from their account.

To encourage consumer to adopt this payment system, super low transaction fee must be introduce compared to what typically being charged by credit card (acquiring banks) at 2.5 to 3%. For e-commerce website integrated with Mobile Money WebLink, the transaction rate is 2.5%, one of the lowest online transaction rate compared to other typically charges such as 3.5% for MOTO transaction and 4.5% for Internet Payment Gateway.

Besides, consumers must be told that it is safe and secure. With Mobile Money, they do not have to be concern of cash /cheque/credit card handling problems or fraud. The Mobile Money Payment System conforms to the stringent requirements set by Bank Negara Malaysia and the participating banks.

Phishing: Examples and its prevention methods.

Phishing is the act of sending an e-mail to a user falsely claiming to be an established legitimate enterprise in an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft. The e-mail directs the user to visit a Web site where they are asked to update personal information, such as passwords and credit card, social security, and bank account numbers, that the legitimate organization already has. The Web site, however, is bogus and set up only to steal the user’s information.

For example, 2003 saw the proliferation of a phishing scam in which users received e-mails supposedly from eBay claiming that the user’s account was about to be suspended unless he clicked on the provided link and updated the credit card information that the genuine eBay already had. Because it is relatively simple to make a Web site look like a legitimate organizations site by mimicking the HTML code, the scam counted on people being tricked into thinking they were actually being contacted by eBay and were subsequently going to eBay’s site to update their account information. By spamming large groups of people, the “phisher” counted on the e-mail being read by a percentage of people who actually had listed credit card numbers with eBay legitimately.

Phishing, also referred to as brand spoofing or carding, is a variation on "fishing," the idea being that bait is thrown out with the hopes that while most will ignore the bait, some will be tempted into biting.

Here are some examples of phishing ;

1) This is a sample of phishing by Citibank regarding the user as a citbank checking account holder, must become acquainted with our new terms and condition and agree to it.

1) Phishing scam, As scam artists become more sophisticated, so do their phishing e-mail messages and pop-up windows. They often include official-looking logos from real organizations and other identifying information taken directly from legitimate Web sites.The following is an example of what a phishing scam e-mail message might look like.

3) This genuine looking email is a masquerade. As soon as you clicked on "respond", you were directed to an exact clone of eBay and your personal information was stolen. These messages come in different styles and writings. Go manually to ebay.com and check your private messages there and you will see if it’s real or not.

Prevention method for phishing

1. Always be wary of any email requesting personal information. You can never be too cautious. Don't reply to any suspicious looking emails or click on any links that you're unsure of. For example, if you receive an email from Ebay requesting personal information such as your user name or password, visit Ebay directly by typing http://www.ebay.com into your browser to check on your account status. Many times, phishers will include a link leading to a fake website, possibly with a similar name like ebayauctions.com, that gives them full access to your sensitive information.

2. Always ensure that you are on a secure connection to a web server when submitting personal information across the Internet. It can be determined by seeing an https:// appear in URL instead of http:// or seeing a picture of a locked padlock in the lower right-hand corner of the BROWSER WINDOW, not the page itself.

3. Do not use your email address on online forms that may appear to be suspicious. Doing so may cause you to be the recipient of hundreds of other phishing scams. Often, people like to set up websites to collect email addresses (titled "email address harvesters") for the sole purpose of selling them to spammers who are willing to pay for a fresh set of target addresses.

4. Avoid emails with urgent requests for financial, account, or email information. :.

5. If you receive spam or an email you suspect is phishing-related, forward it to spam@uce.gov. The email address spam@uce.gov is maintained by the FTC and they regularly investigate emails that they receive. Also, make sure to email the company that the phisher was trying to spoof or mimic.

6. Use antivirus and firewall software and keep them up to date using their Update features. If you are unsure of what an antivirus program is, it is a program that prevents and removes viruses. A firewall is used to prevent unauthorized access from a remote computer system. Antivirus and firewall software are very important because there are millions of existing viruses and new ones created everyday. Some of them have the potential to spread identity stealing programs.

7. Install Spyware removal software such as AdAware.

8. Make sure to carefully review your bank statements to check for unauthorized transactions. Many credit card companies have identity protection features that will reimburse you for charges made by an attacker, so long as they are promptly identified.