Transnational Organised Crime Flow: Diagram

I found this diagram on the main global transnational organised crime flow.

It is from the paper The Globalisation of Crime: A Transnational Organised Crime Threat Assessment 2010.

I found this diagram of particular interest due to the recent video uploaded about Globalisation and Crime. I wanted to see just how much crime took place around the world with the help of globalisation and our increased communication.

This diagram focuses on the following types of crime committed: The importation of Heroin, Cocaine, Firearms, Counterfeit Goods and Counterfeit medicine. The Smuggling of Migrants and Female Trafficking Victims. The offshore crime of Piracy. The smuggling of animals, timber, gold and tin oxide (Cassiterite).

I was surprised to learn that, in Europe, 7 out of 12 of these come over and affected us. However, only 2 out of 12 of these crimes affect the UK solely. This is of course mainly focused on the wider areas as opposed to just particular countries, so we are affected, realistically, by all 7 of the crimes that come across into Europe.

I was not really expecting illegal Timber importation or Cassiterite to be a crime that we would see.  The idea of counterfeit goods being sold in the UK is kinda expected, all you have to do is walk down the high street and there will be someone with a fake branded item. Same with illicit drugs such as Heroin and Cocaine. I find that these markets are too big for Europe to not want to get involved in the trade, from a business standpoint, but regardless there has always and will always be someone who uses these types of drugs, no matter where abouts in the world you are, so I would be more surprised if Cocaine and Heroin wasn't on the crime list for Europe.

Diagram from: http://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/tocta/TOCTA_Report_2010_low_res.pdf

Tayto Crisps

The charm of Tayto crisps used to be that they were never sold outside of Northern Ireland and the Republic. They were a tourist attraction with the Tayto castle in Armagh, which is open to the general public. I was surprised to see that in B&M bargains, they now sell tayto crisps and you can purchase them on amazon. Very little has been written about the exclusivity of Tayto crisps and I could only find an article about Eva Longoria praising the crisps. Is anyone else aware of these crisps and their popularity or has it all been kept a secret so to speak?

Globalisation of food in the UK

Reading through Jessica's post about globalisation and diet and how the overall consumption of foods has shifted from healthy eating to processed foods, intrigued me to research the ever changing UK food market and street food. This article mentions the increase of world street food and restaurants around the UK.

Just a few weeks ago I travelled to Leeds and went to Trinity shopping centre, on the very top floor was a massive food hall but it wasn't just any food it was street food from around the world e.g. Vietnamese pho, Mexican burritos, Indian etc. and it was heaving with people. Reading this article made me realise that there is a demand for specialist cuisine and it's growing. 

This quote talks about the diversification and demand for world cuisine. Living in Carlisle my entire life I have seen so many street vendors and world cuisine restaurants come and go, in my opinion the most diverse trait of Carlisle is the continental market and over the years I have watched more and more people attend.

I do believe there is a difference in quality from street vendor food and restaurant and surprisingly its usually the vendor food thats better. Jess talked about how the global marketing of food has resulted in people suffering with life long illnesses I do think that the more available food becomes especially world cuisine could be a danger to peoples diets. 

What do you think about street food as opposed to restaurants? Personally the grimier the place the better the food (but maybe that applies to foreign countries only) 

http://www.bighospitality.co.uk/Trends-Reports/Globalisation-of-UK-food-scene-drives-chain-operator-growth

Tourism in Northern Ireland

Globalization has strong effects on how Northern Ireland is becoming more assimilated into the rest of the western world.  For example, the government of Northern Ireland is now operating on a global agenda.  Northern Ireland has made a deliberate move towards tourism – the government seeks to increase revenue by attracting tourists who may wish to come see the area where the Troubles took place.  To this end, Belfast has received quite a lot of upgrading.

The inner city used to be run down and somewhat abandoned, since it was not a very good place to live because of danger.  Now, however, the lower floors of those buildings have been converted into high end shops, and the upper floors into classy apartment buildings that are popular because they are close to all the new things to do in the city.  The two clearest examples of how Northern Ireland has sought to improve Belfast to attract tourists/customers is the completed Victoria Square, a bustling mall filled with many attractive shops, and the Titanic Quarter, which plans to turn old docklands into hotels, high class business centers, and shops – all this within range of the RMS Titanic exhibit showcasing the history of the Titanic when it was built in Belfast before its tragic accident in 1912 (O’Dowd). 

http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~patte20j/classweb/ni/globalization.html

This is a strange wee website but outlines the basic impact on tourism in Northern Ireland. They are really striving to make a tourist spot in Belfast based on the titanic and the troubles. 

The Titanic Quarter was built in 2012 and since then has become a widely known tourist spot and is constantly creating new jobs, especially for young people as it continues to grow. It is aiming to fix the unemployment issue that many people think globalisation has created. 

Survey Results: Facebook Customers

To follow up from my last post, here are the results from my second survey, aimed at people who buy or have bought from Facebook in the past. I sent the survey out to 30 people and within a week got 25 back and so my results are based on those 25 people. The age ranged from 16 - 52 with a mixture of both males and females. The aim of the survey was to see how happy people are happy with the fact that Facebook is now being used to buy and sell a lot of different products. I wanted to see if they found it to be a good thing, or if they think it could be improved. I also wanted to see how customers reacted to businesses attempts to get their custom. 

The results were as follows:

How often do you buy items through Facebook?

40% of participants bought items through Facebook often and 60% bought items occasionally.

Do you find purchasing items through Facebook easier than other online sites?

48% of participants found Facebook easier than other platforms, 20% sometimes found it easier, others not, and 32% found purchasing from other platforms much easier.

How often do you make use of special offers on Facebook?

60% of participants often make use of special offers advertised on Facebook, 32% occasionally make use of them and 8% never make use of special offers on the network. 

Do you ever buy items after seeing advertisements on Facebook?

32% of participants often buy items after seeing advertisements, 48% occasionally do and 20% don't take any notice of Facebook advertisements at all.

How is your trust with sellers on Facebook?

8% of these Facebook users find sellers to be very trustworthy, 32% say it depends on the page in which they are selling on and 60% are cautious. 

Have you ever been scammed?

32% of participants have been scammed whereas 68% have not.

Do you know what actions you can take if you do get scammed?

20% of participants know what actions to take if they are scammed, 32% know a little, but could know more and 48% don't know what to do in that situation at all. 

Do you think that Facebook should allow selling/buying?

72% of participants think that people should be allowed to buy and sell on Facebook, 28% think that buying and selling should be allowed, but there should be more monitoring involved.

To summarise, the survey has shown that most participants buy items on Facebook occasionally and find the network much easier than other online sites. Most people often make use of any special offers they see and occasionally buy items after seeing advertisements on there. The majority of people are cautious when it comes to trusting sellers and most have never been scammed, although 32% have which means scamming is still an issue. Most people do not know what actions to take if they are scammed and the ones who do know, could know more. The majority think that people should be allowed to buy and sell on Facebook and the rest think that it should be allowed, but should be monitored more. 

Again, this survey further backs up my previous research with the fact that scamming is an issue on Facebook, but not enough of an issue to put people off using it. People are cautious when it comes to buying which is a good thing because this may cut the chances of people being scammed so easily. Overall, though, the majority of people seem to be happy with the fact that you can buy so easily off Facebook and it seems as though people like the idea more than they dislike it or they wouldn't use it so often. There seems to be an amount of people who think that it could be improved slightly, as with the previous survey. I tend to agree and although I think Facebook is a really good way to buy and sell, I also think that it could definitely be improved in order for more trustworthy people to be seen above the scammers. 

Employment in Northern Ireland

https://www.goconqr.com/p/1324748-Impact-of-Globalisation-on-Employment-in-Northern-Ireland-mind_maps 

I thought I would have a look at what effects globalisation has had on Northern Ireland to try and see if this would help me understand it more and I came across this spider diagram that outlines the positives an negatives of globalisation in employment in Northern Ireland. It had helped me understand a wee bit more about what it is about because I can relate and know the businesses they are talking about.

Survey Results: Businesses on Facebook

Last week, I put out two surveys to both small business owners who have a Facebook page and people who use/have used Facebook to buy from. The purpose of these surveys is to see how people feel about buying and selling on Facebook and whether they are happy with the way it is or would like it improved in any way. Also, to find out just how good/bad Facebook is for businesses to back up my previous research. I sent the survey out to 30 small businesses and 30 normal Facebook accounts and within a week I got back 18 business and 25 customer surveys. My results will be based upon these surveys.

First of all, I would like to focus on the Business survey. In the 18 surveys I got back, the businesses ranged from a Make up Artist all the way to an Electrician, I tried to send it out to a wide range of business types, age and gender ranges in order to gather a general opinion on Facebook and not just one specific age range's opinion. The age of participants ranged from 17 - 56. 

The results were as follows:

How often do you log into your business page?

55.56% of participants log into their business page every day, 27.78% log in a couple of times per week, 11.11% a few times per month and 5.56% even less than that.

What percentage of your work would you say you gain through Facebook?

27.78% of participants get 75-100% of their work from Facebook, 50% get 50-75% of work through the network, 11.11% get 25-50% and again 11.11% get less than 25% of work from it. 

How often do you advertise?

11.11% of participants advertise every day, 27.78% advertise a couple of times per week, 27.78% just a few times per month and 33.33% advertise even less than that.

Do you find it useful for gaining customers?

72.22% of participants found Facebook has gained their customer base, 16.67% found that they had gained some, but not all were reliable or serious and 11.11% found that they don't gain many customers at all through the network.

How easy do you find Facebook to use for your business?

83.33% of participants found Facebook very easy to use, 16.67% found it to be easy at times and quite difficult at others an no participants found it to be extremely hard.

Do you find Facebook more useful than a website?

 50% of participants found they have gained more work from Facebook than their website, 27.78% found the work load from each equal and 22.22% find their Website brings them more work than Facebook.

Are you happy with how easy it is for people to start a business on Facebook?

38.89% of participants think Facebook is fine the way it is, 16.67% think it could be improved slightly to get rid of bad businesses and 44.44% think it should be harder to make a business page and only genuine businesses should be allowed to do so.

All in all, the survey has shown that most people involved use their Facebook pages daily or at least a couple of times per week. People tend to gain 50-75% of their work through the network and advertise less than a few times per month. The majority of people find it useful for gaining customers and find it easy to use. Most participants found Facebook even more useful than their own websites but think it should be harder to people to make business pages and therefore procedures should be put in place so that only genuine businesses can create a page.

I think this survey has covered a lot of the points i've gone over in my previous posts and has helped me gain other peoples opinions as well as my own. Obviously there could have been a lot more participants and this is only a small amount of business owners but it has definitely helped me gain a good idea of how people feel about it. There are still people who feel that Facebook isn't the best field to network on, but it seems those people also see the advantages as they do still use their page. To summarise, I think generally, people feel that Facebook is a really useful way to gain customers and advertise their business but there are still a few flaws that could be fixed. The bigger picture, though, is that it's a free and easy way to put your business to the world and you can't really lose by creating a page, the worst that can happen is you just don't get work from it. 

The Persistence of Memory

 

Post Modernism and globalisation stretches even more than just a couple of pieces of art. The  Spanish surrealist painter, Salvador Dali, has been referenced many times in popular culture but it is this piece that is probably most famous. People around the world will be aware of "the persistence of memory" from one of it's various international parodies/homages/tributes.

Globalisation and Racialisation

 

V. George and R. Page (2004) Global Social Problems, Polity, page 160

This is a quite large segment but is quite informative over the concept of globalisation and racism, i find the topics of identity very interesting and with the effect of globalisation even more interesting this has even started me think of the other areas of identity like gender and sexuality, what do you all think? Do you think these areas are interesting?

Globalisation affecting the poor

P.Collier and D.Dollar (2002) Globalization, Growth, and Poverty: Building an Inclusive World Economy, World Bank Publications, page 157

I strongly believe that the idea of equality has not yet been corrected in all situations, race, class and even gender there are still many factors which need changing, class is a major one which i have focused on in the last few posts. This one talks about the fact of being poor preventing them from easily accessing social services and especially in extreme circumstances this should not just be left globalization should help all classes and no one should be excluded and there is no need for the globalizing developing countries helping others out, we are all equal and should share the wealth's of all countries.

Globalization II - Good or Bad?: Crash Course World History

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_iwrt7D5OA

Here is the second video I promised. This is another interesting video where explains that not all things that have happened around the globe are good but are also sometimes have done some good. Overall a very good watch so hope you enjoy :) 

Crime and Deviance: Globalisation

I came across this YouTube video that explains how Globalisation has impacted crime. The video mentions how globalisation has made old crimes easier to commit and has even influenced new methods of crime such as cybercrime.

The video talks about the types of crime globalisation has influenced and how. Mentioning crimes such as Drug Trafficking, Money Laundering, Human Trafficking and Cybercrime.

Even though the video doesn’t mention the sources in which it got its information, deeming it unreliable, it does mention some good routes for future research.

Globalization I - The Upside: Crash Course World History

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SnR-e0S6Ic&feature=iv&src_vid=s_iwrt7D5OA&annotation_id=annotation_682072

I found this guy on youtube and this video, I found it very interesting to watch as he explained globalisation in such a way it was easy to understand and follow but also not too easy to bore you whilst watching. Also the graphics are pretty too. :) 

Globalisation of the Poor

 

W. Driscoll and J. Clark (2003) Globalization and the Poor: Exploitation Or Equalizer?, IDEA, page 70

This is a twist on the 'rich get richer and the poor get poorer' because with this little snippet I found states that the poor have more to gain as they have less to lose. What do all of you think? I feel this is a slightly incorrect statement as even though they have less to lose it does not support the fact that just because they have little that what ever they make, makes it bigger.

Globalisation and Diet

I came across an article today which caught my attention as it mentioned how globalisation has had a major effect on peoples diets.

The World Health Organisation published a report in 2003 which described how there has been a global shift in diet resulting from different factors such as industrialisation and market globalisation. 

I had never really thought about this before now, but it really interested me as the article also talks about how certain foods have been proven to reduce certain types of pain, and to know that through globalisation people have started eating less of said foods is something that should definitely be looked at! Apparently our diet has changed from being predominantly plant-based to more high energy density and processed foods, including a substantial increase in saturated fats and sugars. 

It’s very important for people with chronic pain to maintain a healthy, balanced diet. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, the nervous system has the capacity to dampen pain. Most people have heard of the body’s own morphine-like substances called endorphins. In order to be able to function optimally the nervous system requires specific nutrients such as essential amino acids. One example is tryptophan, which is a building block in the synthesis of the neurotransmitter serotonin that is very important in the body’s own pain-dampening systems. Tryptophan is found in many foodstuffs including fish, milk, yoghurt seafood, turkey, avocado and bananas.

On the most basic level, the nervous system needs nutrients. Certain vitamin deficiencies can cause pain problems. For example, vitamin B12 deficiency can cause very unpleasant peripheral polyneuropathy, which is nerve pain in both feet and also sometimes in the hands. Vitamin D deficiency can cause diffuse musculoskeletal pain.

This point caught my attention as it mentions vitamin deficiencies, in particular vitamin B12 deficiencies. I have this condition and I know there can be several causes (in my case my body just doesn't absorb the vitamin), one of those being diet. The article goes on to talk about how different foods contain certain nutrients which reduce pain and have anti-inflamitary effects. It also talks about the opposite and how some foods can actually cause certain conditions. 

Another article I found talks about how older people are at risk of getting a vitamin B12 deficiency as their food intake reduces as they get older.

As sensory perception is altered when we grow older and often the food intake decreases, there is the need for foods with adjusted sensorial properties and particularly high in micronutrients. For instance a deficiency in vitamin B12 is likely to occur as the haematologic signs of the deficiency are reported to be masked by food supplementation with folic acid.

The thought that globalisation has caused a knock on effect of our typical diets and possibly caused people to suffer with conditions because of this is actually quite shocking. Symptoms of a Vitamin B12 deficiency include:

• Extreme  tiredness or  fatigue
• A lack of energy or lethargy
• Being out of breath
• Feeling  faint
• Headache
• Ringing in the ears (tinnitus)
• Lack of appetite

More specific symptoms linked to a lack of  vitamin B12 include:

• Yellowing of the  skin
• Sore, red  tongue
• Mouth ulcers
• Changes or loss of some sense of touch
• Feeling less  pain
• Walking problems
• Vision problems
• Mood changes, irritability,  depression or psychosis
• Symptoms of dementia

 Although it's not always caused by diet, and sometimes people can't control it, there has been evidence to prove that a lot of people do get the condition because of their diets. Vitamin deficiencies are just one, there are many more conditions said to be caused by diet. If awareness was raised about this kind of thing, then people wouldn't be suffering as much.

Vitamin B12 is important for the way the body works, and people who don't have enough of it may feel tired or have a lack of energy

Vitamin B12 helps in the production of healthy red blood cells that carry oxygen around the body.

Not having enough vitamin B12 is called vitamin B12 deficiency anaemia. This condition makes the body produce larger than normal red blood cells, described as megaloblastic or macrocytic, which don't do their job as well.

Overall, I find it quite awful that there could be people out there suffering with ill health due to the kinds of foods they've become accustomed to, all because of global marketing. Although there are a lot of schemes in place to make people eat healthier, they don't necessarily use the scare tactics that may well be needed in order to get people to listen. Telling somebody not to eat something because it might make you 'fat' or unfit isn't really as likely to get somebody to cut back on it than it would be if you told them the knock on effect it may have with their health. I know myself how difficult it can be living with my condition and I really wish mine could be cured with diet, but to know there's people out there who could be going through the same as me, and far worse, and it could all be improved by the foods they eat, is quite shocking. I think there definitely needs to be more awareness raised! 

References used:

http://www.webmd.boots.com/healthy-eating/guide/vitamin-b12-deficiency

http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnut.2015.00011/full

http://painconcern.org.uk/diet-and-pain/ 

THE POST-BERLIN AFTERMATH

http://www.imd.org/research/challenges/TC085-09.cfm

Here is a link to an article I found on the aftermath of the Berlin wall. The construction and destruction of the Berlin wall was a massive jolt in globalisation. It affected a lot of people and has brought a lot of pain and suffering but also freedom. When they brought down the wall it shows people coming together to fight for whats right and end all the pointless suffering. It shows unison and a mutual connection.

Negatives of Globalisation : Spread of Diseases

http://www.who.int/tdr/publications/documents/seb_topic3.pdf

Urbanization can affect infectious diseases positively or negatively. Compared to rural areas, health care, education and social services are in general more accessible in cities, and unemployment tends to be lower. In the developing world, average urban population health frequently contrasts favourably with that seen in rural communities; rates of common childhood infections are often considerably lower in urban compared to rural populations (Sastry, 1997). However, average indicators tend to mask the huge health inequalities found in urban populations, and rates of infectious and other diseases are higher among the urban than the rural poor. It is this deprived metropolitan population which is expanding enormously on account of the massive and unregulated urbanization taking place in many developing countries.
Rapid and unplanned population growth places huge strains on a city’s infrastructure. Often designed to protect the public health of a small urban elite, this infrastructure is difficult to expand to meet the needs of a much larger population, especially those living in shanty towns and slums at urban periph- eries. In many developing countries, the technical difficulties are compounded by lack of political will (Chaplin, 1999) and available resources. The latter may have been accentuated by structural adjustment programmes, whereby urban workers often lose out more than rural smallholders (Loewenson, 2000).
Overcrowding, poor housing, inadequate sanitation and solid waste removal, and unsafe drinking water are, therefore, common in rapidly urbanizing areas. Estimates suggest that 50% of the world’s urban population lives at the level of “extreme deprivation”, and 70% in some cities (Stephens, 1995). At least one quarter of people living in urban areas in developing countries do not have access to adequate safe water, and 30-50% of solid wastes generated in developing world urban centres are left uncollected (WHO/UNICEF, 2000). Air pollution in Delhi exceeds anything found in the cities of the developed world (World Resources Institute, 1999). Socioeconomic inequalities are rife; in poorer countries, urban health care services are typically grossly over-stretched, and their provision may be distorted to cater for the needs of the rich urban elite. While rural migrants may bring new infectious diseases to the city, they are themselves at higher risk of developing infections to which they have not previously been exposed. And as metropolitan areas mushroom and encroach on new biological environments, they increase the chances of the inhabitants becoming exposed to non-urban infections. Compared to rural societies, urban life is associated with greater mobility, inter-mixing and risk-taking behaviour, all of which increase the potential for transmission of infectious diseases, while urban areas both contribute, and are especially vulnerable, to the effects of global climate change. In summary, residents of urban envi- ronments face multiple threats from new and established diseases, and may themselves be the creators and amplifiers of epidemics that, in time, could affect non-urban populations.

I found this interesting because I didn't even consider that the spread of disease could be considered helpful in the sense that it creates more work for nurses etc. Obviously overall the spread of diseases by Globalisation and Urbanisation is a negative, like the extract explains, with the fact that many in urban areas do not have access to safe water. 

Globalisation of Small Businesses

I found the following paper titled 'Bed and Breakfasts, Small Inns, and the Internet: The Impact of Technology on the Globalization of Small Businesses'. I found the paper to be relevant to what I've been researching as it is a study of 'Small Businesses' and how the internet can help them grow and become global. (It is an exploratory study that examines how the Internet can help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) attain a global market.)

Journal of International Marketing. 2000, Vol. 8 Issue 2, p86-97. 12p. 3 Charts.

Here are some key points from the paper:

Small inns and B&Bs are considered small businesses, which generally do not have strategies for internationalizing or dealing with foreign customers, and consequently, businesses theories of internationalization do not apply to them (Basu 1998). 

Although small businesses that use the Internet may have existed before the development of Web sites, they can nevertheless be considered global start-ups. 

The Internet, particularly the World Wide Web, is growing at a staggering rate. In 1994, the Web grew 1758% and continues to double in size every two to three months (Hoffman, Novak, and Chatterjee 1995).

A user survey of the World Wide Web conducted in 1997 among 10,000 Web users showed that the Internet is becoming increasingly important, as 84% of the respondents stated that e-mail and the Web have become "indispensable technologies" (Graphic, Visualization, and Usability Center 1997). In fact, 85% of the respondents reported that they use the Web on a daily basis. Many use the Web for personal shopping because of its convenience, the availability of vendor information, the absence of pressure sales, and its time-saving benefits. Finally, 49% reported that they found what they were looking for most of the time, whereas 22% did only half of the time.

The technology offers great possibilities. According to Berthon, Leyland, and Watson (1996), the Web enables firms to provide detailed product information, establish a presence in new markets, enhance their corporate image, encourage consumer involvement in developing their products, estab- lish interactivity with the consumer, and handle customer complaints and queries.

Some research has found that by using the Web, businesses can give customers more personalized service (Malhotra et al. 1994) and increased quality (Watson, Pitt, and Berthon 1996), whereas others believe it has led to the depersonalization of service and the failvue to deliver good-quality service.

Technological advancements can be a useful tool for the internationalization of small businesses without the costs associated with other media. Many researchers agree that the Internet is an efficient marketing and advertising medium (Alba et al. 1997; Hoffman and Novak 1996; Hoffrnan, Novak, and Chatterjee 1995).


Sarah McCue (1998) and her research team from the Michigan Small Business Development Center conducted a study of Internet marketing from the perspective of small businesses. Their study recruited 15 firms, helped them develop Web sites, and monitored their progress over the period of one year.

I find it interesting that at the start of the study, the firms which were new to the internet weren't convinced that it was going to work. They had a decrease in sales and were struggling to keep up the interest and maintain the site. Once the project was well on the way, many participants expressed their lack of time to maintain/market the site and many were finding it hard to link their websites up and get their visitor level up as well as getting their sites up on the search engines. They also found it hard to stand out from the large number of competition out there offering the same services as them.

When asked about the advantages and disadvantages of using the Internet in their business, many respondents (27.1%) reported that fewer costs in the long run were a definite advantage (n = 26). One respondent noticed many cost-related advantages: "no costly brochures, postage costs way down, new products or services advertised immediately, [and] clients like the home page flexibility in offering specials."

The respondents from small inns and B&Bs in our study liked the Web, because it is a relatively inexpensive form of marketing that can reach potential clients from around the world. However, as more and more firms start using the Internet, just having a Web page will no longer be a competitive advantage. Furthermore, Hapgood (1997) demonstrates that the Internet also makes it difficult for small, local firms to make their mark, because they must compete with businesses all over the world. 


I think that although this study shows some valid points, a small amount of time invested in learning the ins and outs of having an internet presence and the businesses would all benefit a huge amount in the long run. I think that the only reason businesses struggle online, whether it be with competition or just not knowing how their website is working, is because of lack of knowledge. People may argue they don't have the time to learn how to market themselves and get their visitor rate up but it would only take a small amount of time when you think about how beneficial it can be in the long run. It can save money, time and effort! Although larger businesses are always going to come first, smaller firms have to find a way to make their business shine through. I know that from a personal level, choosing a large business is sometimes easier because you know they are reliable and easier to access, but if a small business puts this across and makes themselves easily accessible online then I would be more likely to give them my business over a large company. I just think that being online can only be a good thing for people and can't see how it could possibly be a bad thing, especially using free websites/social networks. 

Why 'Facebook' may not work for certain businesses

After reading a lot about businesses using social media to get themselves out there, I wanted to find out if there were any downfalls or reasons why some people chose to stay away. I've used Facebook for the last 4 years for my business and it's always been a good tool for me, without it I wouldn't have got around 80% of my work and so I'm interested to learn about what I might be doing wrong/could be doing better. I know myself that I could easily do a lot more to get more work but at the moment I get just enough without even having to try very much anymore so I find that in some cases, if you put enough effort in at the start then Facebook almost does the rest for you (depending on several factors, of course).

I found this article which goes over someones personal opinion as to why Facebook might not be the best tool for every business out there. 

http://janetfouts.com/facebook-not-for-business/#axzz3Y7b1W1Hw

Facebook is great for touching base with your long lost school friends, posting your family pictures or participating in one of the many groups on a personal level, but therein lies the problem with Facebook. It’s entirely too personal. You can create a profile on Facebook and post only your professional information. You can create a group for your business and a fan club for your products. What you can’t really do is effectively control where it goes from there.

If people “friend” you or join your group, you’re opening the door to their profiles and their friends’ profiles and you’d be amazed what people post out there. Before you know it, you and your market can be knee deep in invitations to hook up, embarrassing videos and pictures of friends and loved ones or people you don’t even know, and a host of invitations to time-sucking games and vampire battles. Employers have used the network to do background checks on potential employees.

Virgin Atlantic fired a group of service attendants for their discussions on their Facebook group even though Virgin has their own Facebook page for the company. The employees were not following company policy and they paid for it.

I’m not saying there isn’t a place for Facebook in your social media plan. I’ve got a profile and I have thrown a sheep and had a werewolf fight or two myself. What I AM saying is that Facebook is not where I go to connect or collaborate professionally.

In addition, with the advent of Facebook Connect, the new web-wide sign-in system, pretty much anything you or your friends do online becomes shareable data.

So, bottom line?

I know there are those who say Facebook is the be-all end-all for business. The fact is, it’s not for all businesses at all. The people who tell you it’s a necessity may mean it’s a necessity for them. They’d love to build you a Facebook page. It’s one of the easiet things you can do on a network yet people make a living doing it for you.

Before you decide to go there, take a good long look at what you want to accomplish and what your options are. If Facebook is a good fit for you great, but if it’s not? Don’t lose any sleep over it.

I also found this article talking about the 'dark side' to Facebook and it goes over 10 key points as to why it's 'bad'.

http://www.brighthub.com/internet/web-development/articles/92499.aspx

1) Privacy: "Good Privacy" is not really a term associated with social networking, especially with a giant like Facebook that is considered to be the backbone of social networking. Be careful about what you post as a status update or on another person's wall. Double check your privacy settings to see what information is available. Applications and other users can take advantage of you if you are not cautious enough.

2) Addictive: With tons of applications available out there, Facebook is one of the most addictive sites on the Internet. People get hooked on applications and games like Farmville, Mafia Wars, etc. Many schools report that the average grade of students has gone down and the main cause is social networking sites. People may end up losing jobs if they are caught socializing during work hours, when instead they should have been working.

3) Unwanted Information: You would like to keep your Facebook use to a minimum but your friends are constantly sending you requests to join them in social games, or sharing information that is really better kept a secret. There are options to hide or block applications or users, but new applications are always popping up to take their place.

4) Impact on Career Life and Personal Life: People add their colleagues, family and friends to their friends' list. Make a negative comment about anyone, and it is extremely easy to find. This can be especially detrimental at your workplace. Don't think about telling friends you're looking for a new job or complaining about your boss when you have them as a Facebook friend! Depending on your job, you may also be in trouble if a friend posts pictures of you with a drink in your hand or at a party. If you work with young children or in certain professional roles, this could be grounds enough to get you fired.

5) Facebook Places: The last straw of your privacy. Facebook places lets your friends know where you are and what you are doing. What's more, you will be spammed by others' updates too, on their whereabouts which can be very disturbing. So if you want to have your coffee in peace, make sure that your Facebook privacy settings are as per your requirements.

6) Scams: With so much of your private information available in your Facebook account, it's easy for scam artists and hackers to use this information to target your other accounts—such as, email, banking, and PayPal.

7) Virus Attacks: No matter how secure a website is, hackers always find a way around so they can try to spread worms and viruses via the website. Since news spreads very fast on Facebook, a click on an unknown link is all that is needed to spread the virus to your friends, their friends and so on. It is always good to be careful before clicking links and following them.

8) Trouble Deleting Your Facebook Account: Until 2007 Facebook never completely deleted a user's information even when they deleted their account. It was more like suspending an account, which meant, one can get their account and all the information back anytime if they decided to join Facebook again. In 2008, Facebook introduced an option to permanently delete the account. Even today, one has to be sure not to just deactivate their account but also check other preferences to make sure that your account is completely deleted.

9) Monopoly: Facebook is the center of all business advertisements, thanks to its huge fan base. This is affecting many other small companies and startups that have no other choice but to link themselves to Facebook to market their products. Even startups force themselves to join Facebook to promote their products.

10) Health Concerns: In the year of 2009, Facebook was the most visited site on the Internet. People spend a lot of time interacting with others and checking on what other people are doing, and you can forget to take care of yourself. Prolonged time online can lead to various health issues like headaches, back aches, eye strain and a long list of other maladies.

Protect yourself by using proper privacy settings, and don't use the same Facebook password that you use for other online accounts. There are real gifts, real games, and real people out there. Interact with them in real life and use Facebook as a tool to keep in touch with people, but not the only means of doing so.

In my opinion, privacy isn't really an issue as you can quite easily control and check over your privacy settings and control who see's what. In terms of businesses, most would want people to see all their information anyway (it's not like your bank details are posted on there!). There is, I guess, always going to be a problem with it being a distraction. Even business pages see posts from others and can quite easily start to read other posts and before you know it your miles away! In terms of mixing your personal life with work, I suppose it can be hard at times if you see a post from a family member or friend and want to comment on it but you just have to draw a line and be careful to make sure your on your personal account, rather than business. I do think that scamming could definitely be clamped down on! If somebody was to hack your business account, this could cause a lot of damage which may not be repairable. There definitely needs to be more in place to stop this, especially as it's extremely easy to copy somebody's account and steal all their images and information, pose as them and you would never even know as they can block you from seeing it all. There are always virus' going around but if you've been using it for a while (or do your research) it's really easy to spot them and therefore avoid them. Yes, Facebook may be the 'centre of all business advertisements', but there's no reason why small business can't advertise there also. Although a Facebook account may be free, and you can do so much free advertising off your own back, you can pay for advertisements just like the big companies do. You may not get as many advertisements due to money invested but it still puts you out there and I don't believe that it's any better for big businesses as it is for small. It's inevitable that big businesses are going to be out there more as they have more money to throw away on advertising, that has nothing to do with Facebook itself. 

I think this article does make some valid points, but most of them can easily be overcome and I don't think that they outweigh the positives.

Can 'Social Media' help businesses?

I have found an article online which explains how people may use Facebooks 'Fan Pages' for business use. It goes over all of the different features and explains how to use each one to reach its full potential and get yourself out there and customers rolling in!

http://www.networksolutions.com/education/how-can-facebook-help-my-business/

Here are just a few points the article highlights:

A Facebook Fan Pages' audience consists of "Fans." These are the Facebook users who have elected to ‘Become A Fan' of your business in order to receive updates about your business. The updates show up on that Facebook user's "wall" (a wall is a Facebook user's profile page) as they are added to the Fan Page. Many popular business Fan pages, including Victoria's Secret®, Toyota®, and Starbucks®, have thousands or tens of thousands of users who display Fan page updates on their walls.

Determining exactly how you might want to use Facebook for your business is the first step to take. A plan should be in place before you even set up an account.

Should I Use Facebook for My Business?
There is no hard and fast answer as to whether a business should be on Facebook. Consider the following and then decide whether this tool is right for you:

1. Upkeep: Setting up a Facebook account "just to be on it" is not useful. Social media is a continuous process that requires regular attention. Think of it as starting a conversation with your customers and "friends" of your customers. You don't want to just "go quiet" mid conversation. You will not attract new visitors or keep your current Fans coming back if you don't keep your Facebook Fan Page updated on a regular basis.

2. Time: Once you decide to use Facebook as a marketing platform, another consideration is how much time you should spend making the most of this marketing tool. Though it can be a useful tool, generating fresh content and keeping the page updated can be time consuming.

3. Fresh Content: Keeping your page updated with fresh, original content will keep your current Fans coming back and can also attract new Fans: Your updates will be visible to their friends and family on your Fan's wall and may entice them to visit your site and also become a Fan.

4. Monitoring the Discussion: You will also need to be able to monitor your wall and discussion boards to address and feedback your Fans are posting to your Facebook Page. Unaddressed or unnoticed issues can create more of a headache and is something you will need monitor consistently and be able to respond quickly.

5. Fan = Customer? Businesses should also be aware that a Fan doesn't equal an active customer. Many people who become Fans of a page are simply saying, "I like this." Facebook Fans don't necessarily interact with the company more or increase their level of spend.

6. Strategy: For Facebook to make sense for your business, you should target a specific goal that's relatable to your business strategy. Such a goal might be, "I want to increase revenue by 15% in 25-34 year olds." Then you could decide whether Facebook is one of the right platforms to reach your business demographic or if you should be spending your marketing efforts elsewhere.

There is no doubt that Facebook has become a really popular way to network, for big businesses as well as small. I have noticed even large companies such as Dominos, for example, putting up competitions on their Facebook page to win free food which obviously attracts lots of attention and therefore gets more people looking on their page (and wanting pizza!). It's clearly working for a lot of people, hence everyone jumping on the bandwagon. With articles like this (and there are lots of them out there), it makes it even easier for those who aren't even very computer literate to set up a page and let their business grow in just a few steps. The way it comes across online makes you wonder why anybody wouldn't want to get their business online, it's free, easy to navigate and if used correctly is a really useful tool to have. You can contact people instantly, whether they are in the same room or on the other side of the world, there's no waiting on hold why you get an answer as you can wonder off and have a look at something else whilst you wait, what do you have to lose? At the moment, I can't see any downfalls as to why someone would want to stay away and so I want to try and find some research that highlights any potential problems. 

Post Modernism and globalisation

In a very similar vain to my previous post. Post modernism plays a big part in globalisation as well as design and art. Everyone who has observed culture has seen the piece by Andy Warhol entitled Marilyn which look like this in case you guy's don't know.

Hello I am Marilyn in case you don't know that.

In a post modern world, people parody and do homages of things that they like. I feel that this (above) is probably one of the pieces that is the, dare I say victim, of these tributes. These tributes are global. Making the influence of art clearly felt on a global scale.

American

Australian

American

Russian