Cyber System In The Digital Age

CYBER SYSTEMS IN THE DIGITAL AGE  

The bad news is that the cyber systems that have become the underpinning of virtually all of aspects of life in the digital age are becoming increasing less secure. There are multiple reasons for this distressing trend. First, the system is getting technologically weaker. Virtually no one writes code or develops “apps” from scratch. We are still relying on many of the core protocols designed in the 1970s and 80s. These protocols were designed to be “open,” not secure. Now the attacking community is going back through these core elements of the Internet and discovering still new vulnerabilities.

So as new functionalities come online, their own vulnerabilities are simply added to the existing and expanding vulnerabilities they are built upon. The reality is that the fabric of the Internet is riddled with holes, and as we continue to stretch that fabric, it is becoming increasingly less secure. Additionally, vulnerabilities in many open source codes, widely in use for years, are becoming increasingly apparent and being exploited by modern “zero-day”

The bad guys are getting better. Just after the turn of the century, the NSA coined a new term, the “APT,” which stood for the advanced persistent threat. The APT referred to ultra-sophisticated cyberattack methods being practiced by advanced nation-state actors. These attacks were characterized by their targeted nature, often focused on specific people instead of networks, their continued and evolving nature, and their clever social engineering tactics. These were not “hackers” and “script kiddies.” These were pros for whom cyberattacks were their day job. They were also characterized by their ability to compromise virtually any target they selected. APTs routinely compromised all anti-virus intrusion detection and best practices. They made perimeter defense obsolete. Now these same attack methods, once practiced only by sophisticated nation-states, are widely in use by common criminals. The increasing professionalism and sophistication of the attack community is fueled by the enormous profits cyberattacks attacks, and the patching system we have relied on to remediate the system can’t keep pace. In 2015 Symantec estimates there are now more than a million malicious apps in existence. In fast-moving, early stage industry, developers have a strong incentive to offer new functionality and features, but data protection and privacy policies tend to be a lesser priority. The risks created by the core of the system becoming intrinsically weaker is being further magnified by the explosion of access points to the system, many with little or no security built into their development.

Conclusively: Some analysts are already asserting that there are more mobile devices than there are people on the earth. If that is not yet literally true, it will shortly be. It is now common for individuals to have multiple mobile devices and use them interchangeably for work and leisure often without substantial security settings. Although this certainly poses a risk of data being stolen directly from smartphones, the greater concern is that mobile devices are increasingly conduits to the cloud, which holds increasing amounts of valuable data.

By:  KIYABO NELLY

      BAPRM 42587

Effective Security Program

ENSURING AN EFFECTIVE SECURITY PROGRAM IN THE ORGANISATION

There are several elements that we have found to be critical to ensuring an effective security program in the organizations.

• Be open and honest about the effectiveness of your security program and regularly share an honest assessment of your security posture with the executive team and board.

We use a data-driven approach that scores our program across the categories: risk intelligence, malware prevention, vulnerability management, identity and access management, and detection and response. Scores move up and down not only as our defenses improve or new vulnerabilities are discovered but also as threats change. The capabilities of the adversaries are growing, and you need a dynamic approach to measurement.

• Invest in security before investing elsewhere. A well-controlled environment gives you the license to do other things. Great and innovative products and services will only help you win if you have a well-protected business.
• Don’t leave the details to others. Active, hands-on engagement by the executive team and the board is required. The risk is existential. Nothing is more important. Your involvement will produce better results as well as make sure the whole organization understands just how important the issue is.
• Never think you’ve done enough. The bad guys are smart and getting smarter. They aren’t resting, and they have more resources than ever. Assume they will attack.

Defending against cyber threats is not something that we can solve for our company in a vacuum. At Visa, we must protect not only our own network but the whole payments ecosystem. At the heart of Visa’s security strategy is the concept of “cyber fusion,” which is centered on the principle of shared intelligence—a framework to collect, analyze, and leverage cyber threat intelligence, internally and externally, to build a better defense for the whole ecosystem.

Championing security is one of Visa’s six strategic goals. This is an area where there are no grades—it is pass or fail, and pass is the only option. Cybersecurity needs to be part of the fabric of every company and every industry, integrated into every business process and every employee action. And it begins and ends at the top. It is job number one.

accounts had been compromised—a pivotal moment for our industry. The losses experienced by our clients, combined with the impact on consumer confidence, galvanized our industry to take actions that, we believe, will have a meaningful and lasting effect on how the world manages sensitive consumer data—not just payments. We are taking action as an ecosystem, to collaborate and share information across industries and with law enforcement and governments and to develop new technologies that will allow us to prevent attacks and respond to threats in the future.

Consumer purchases online and with mobile devices are growing at a significant rate. In order to prevent cyberattacks and fraudulent use of consumer accounts online, Visa and the global payments industry adopted a new payment standard for online payments. The new standard replaces the 16-digit account number with a digital token that is used to process online payments without exposing consumer account information.

By:  ULAYA SIJALI A. (BAPRM 42681)

Challenges of Digital World

CHALLENGES OF THE DIGITAL WORLD

DIGITAL WORLD.

The digital world is the world where the best possible use is made up of digital technologies. It means the daily work which takes a lot of time to be completed is done with the help of digital devices (computer internet) in a shorter period of time with productivity and creativity. In today’s world most of the businesses are done in the websites, internet or trough social media compared to the traditional kind of business which was a face to face kind of a business. Even the office tasks such as meetings are done through the aid of internet.

The digital technology has brought about changes in the work place not only offices can be entirely virtual but also there is an emergence of different applications from the remote and mobile emails to video conferencing and tele working which brought about flexibility and efficiency in working places. In today’s world it is not necessary for a person to attend somewhere so that things can get done, or he can give supervision for a certain work but rather he or she can communicate through his or her digital device and give instructions from where he or she is.

Challenges:

Difficult to use the technologies: normally there is a learning process in every inverted technology.  Nowadays devices are becoming more complex as they offer a wide range of function. There is a risky of corresponding loss in terms of easy to use. Certain important parts of the user base particularly sensitive to easy of use, especially the older users or user with limited digital literacy. In the digital world there is a need of focusing attention on ensuring that a maximum number of people can use technology with a minimum amount of training.

Different regulations: the regulators must adopt quickly the changes on a certain technology and they must also remain conscious for the original rationale for regulation, such as the traditional definition of the tele-communication, computing and broadcasting. The regulators and policy makers have a special role in shaping the digital world of tomorrow. So new product converged in the market will blur the traditional tele-communication definitions but need to be classified, like are they tele-communication traditions? Do they qualify for broadcasting?  Not only such classification have an impact on how services are marketed and priced, but it will also affect how the regulators examine the level of marketing competition in a particular sector.

Creating, accessing and sharing:  the aim of having a digital world is to have a society where everyone will be able to create, utilize and share different information and knowledge. But there is an argument that not only should everyone have the ability to utilize and access information and knowledge but also to create and share that information and knowledge. This marke the shift from one way kind of communication where by societies used radios and television to get information to an interactive society. In which customers or consumers become content creators in their own right.

The security and privacy balance: the other challenge of living in the digital world is to strike the right balance between security and privacy. Through the inversion of digital technology people are able to access different kind of information that were meant to be of privacy. And other were not meant to be public matters because of security reasons.

KIYABO NELLY

BAPRM 42487

Digital Channels In Businesses

THE USE OF DIGITAL CHANNELS IN BUSINESSES

With the introduction of the first commonly used commercial websites in the 1990s, digital technology brought a new level of convenience to customers. However, digital convenience came at the expense of meaningful engagement as digital transactions substituted physical interactions. In addition, digital channels develop in isolation, resulting in inconsistency and dislocation between digital and physical channels.

The legacy is one of frustration for today’s customers, when for example they find they cannot complete an interaction they began online when they walk into the store. The frustration is particularly felt by digital natives who have grown up used to immediacy and convenience and expect to be ‘known’ at every interaction with a company, regardless of the channel in which they choose to engage. Now, however, new technologies exist that make it easier than ever before for companies to bring channels together, and to deliver a consistent engagement model whether customers choose to ‘tweet’ or to take their feet to the street.

 Innovative companies are taking the elements of each channel that their customers value most, and combining them to deliver a more valuable experience overall. For example, fashion retailer All Saints has integrated the convenience of web browsing in their physical stores by adding internet enabled kiosks on-site, so customers can browse and check availability on-line, and then try the item on in-store and get the best of both worlds. Apple stores use mobile Point of Sale terminals to add the convenience of ‘click to pay’ to their physical shopping experience and provide customers with an email receipt from the POS terminal.

Organizations must focus on delivering a seamless and meaningful cross-channel engagement model for their stakeholders. shows how the engagement model has changed to date, and how it may evolve in the future. To get this right will require an agile strategy that means incorporating the latest technology as it is released, and adopting a test and learn approach.

In conclusion of that, companies should adopt a continuous improvement strategy, launching new digital channels early and iterating based on customer feedback.

By:  ULAYA SIJALI A. (BAPRM 42681)

E-GOVERNMENT

E-government (short for electronic government - is also known as e-gov, Internet government, digital government, online government, connected government). As of 2014 the OECD still uses the term digital government, and distinguishes it from e-government in the recommendation produced there for the Network on E-Government of the Public Governance Committee. According to Jeong, 2007 the term consists of the digital interactions between a citizen and their government (C2G), between governments and government agencies (G2G), between government and  citizens (G2C), between government and employees (G2E), and between government and businesses/commerce (G2B). Essentially, e-government delivery models can be broken down into the following categories:

• G2G (government to governments)
• G2C (government to citizens)
• G2E (government to employees)
• G2B (government to businesses)

This digital interaction consists of e-citizen at all levels of government (city, state/province, national, and international), governance, information communication and technology (ICT), and business process re-engineering.

The advantages of e-government

·         Democratization

One goal of e-government will be greater citizen participation. Through the internet, people from all over the country can interact with politicians or public servants and make their voices heard. Blogging and interactive surveys will allow politicians or public servants to see the views of the people they represent on any given issue. Chat rooms can place citizens in real-time contact with elected officials, their offices or provide them with the means to replace them by interacting directly with public servants, allowing voters to have a direct impact and influence in their government. These technologies can create a more transparent government, allowing voters to immediately see how and why their representation in the capital is voting the way they are. This helps voters better decide who to vote for in the future or how to help the public servants become more productive. A government could theoretically move more towards a true democracy with the proper application of e-government. Government transparency will give insight to the public on how decisions are made and hold elected officials or public servants accountable for their actions. The public could become a direct and prominent influence in government legislature to some degree.

·         Environmental bonuses

Proponents of e-government argue that online government services would lessen the need for hard copy forms. Due to recent pressures from environmentalist groups, the media, and the public, some governments and organizations have turned to the Internet to reduce this paper use. The United States government utilizes the website to provide “internal government forms for federal employees” and thus “produce significant savings in paper.

·         Speed, efficiency and convenience

E-government allows citizens to interact with computers to achieve objectives at any time and any location, and eliminates the necessity for physical travel to government agents sitting behind desks and windows. Improved accounting and record keeping can be noted through computerization, and information and forms can be easily accessed, equaling quicker processing time. On the administrative side, access to help find or retrieve files and linked information can now be stored in databases versus hardcopies stored in various locations. Individuals with disabilities or conditions no longer have to be mobile to be active in government and can be in the comfort of their own homes.

·         Public approval

Recent trials of e-government have been met with acceptance and eagerness from the public. Citizens participate in online discussions of political issues with increasing frequency, and young people, who traditionally display minimal interest in government affairs, are drawn to electronic voting procedures.

Although internet-based governmental programs have been criticized for lack of reliable privacy policies, studies have shown that people value prosecution of offenders over personal confidentiality. Ninety percent of United States adults approve of Internet tracking systems of criminals, and 57% are willing to forgo some of their personal internet privacy if it leads to the prosecution of criminals or terrorists.

BY FUMBUKA  SEIF   S

42554 BAPRM III

Start Your Own Business

Start your own business

1. Start with an idea

If you’re thinking of starting a business, you first need to come up with a realistic idea you can turn into a product or service.

Find local support, including help with developing business ideas:

Protect your intellectual property

You might already have an idea for a business, or have invented something you think people will want to buy. Find out how to protect your intellectual property to make sure nobody copies it without your permission.

ü  Turn your idea into a business                                 
1.Research your market - identify potential customers. Talk to them and find out if your idea is meeting a real need.

    2. Develop and plan - test your product or service with real customers, make changes, and test it again. Keep doing this until you’re sure there’s a demand for it.

     3. Find partners and suppliers - think about who you’re going to work with to develop and sell your idea.

       4.Set up your business - work out which legal structure is right for you, and register for tax.

  ü  Get funding

When you start a business, there’ll usually be a period when you’re investing lots of time, effort and money before you start making a profit. Before you do this, it’s important to research your market to make sure your customers will really pay for your product or service.

Once you’re confident they will, explore sources of funding to help with the costs of starting up your business.

ü  Government schemes

You might be able to get help from a government-backed support scheme if you need some initial funding to test and develop your business idea.

Search for business finance using the finance finder tool to see which schemes you may be eligible for.

ü  Get a bank loan

Once you can show that there’s a market for your idea, one option for funding your start-up costs is getting a bank loan. You’ll need to be able to:

       ·  give the bank realistic cash flow forecasts

        ·  prove that you’ll be able to pay back the loan with interest

Watch a video on forecasting business finances, including sales, profit and loss, and cash flow.

The bank might require you to provide security against your loan, like your house or car, in case you don’t repay. You should think carefully about how much risk you’re willing to take on before you get a loan or give any personal guarantees.

Find business finance in your area using the British Bankers’ Association’s finance finder tool, including business angels (individuals who invest in start-up businesses), regional funds, government schemes and banks.

Selling shares

If you need more investment, you might be able to raise money to fund your growth plan by selling shares in your business. You can do this by getting friends and family to invest. However, if this isn’t enough you can look for sources of ‘equity funding’, including:

      ·‘business angels’ (wealthy individuals who invest in start-up businesses)

         · ‘venture capital’ from companies who invest large sums of money in businesses that they think will grow quickly (known as ‘private equity’ companies).You should get legal advice before selling shares in your business.

BY NYANGE LINDA
BAPRM 42653

New Media

NEW MEDIA

New media is a 21^st century catchall term used to define all that is related to the internet and the interplay between technology, image and sound. In fact, the definition of new media changes daily and will continues to do so. New media evolves and morphs continuously. What it will be tomorrow is virtually unpredictable for most of us, but we do know that it will continue to evolve in fast and furious ways. However, in order to understand an extremely complex and amorphous concept we need a base line.

A defining characteristic of new media is dialogue. New media transmit content through connection and conversation. It enables people around the world to share, comment on and discuss a wide variety of topics. Unlike any past technologies, new media is grounded on interactive community. Most technologies described as new media are digital often having characteristics of being manipulated, networkable, compressible, dense and interactive. This includes the internet, websites, computer multimedia etc. The rise of nee media has increased communication between people all over the world and the internet. It has allowed people to express themselves through blogs, websites, videos, pictures and other user-generated media.

New media is used to describe content made available using different forms of electronic communication made possible through the use of computer technology. Generally new media describes content available on-demand through the internet. This content can be viewed in any device and provide way for people to interact with the content in real-time with the inclusion of user comments and making it easy for people to share the content online and in social with friends and co-workers. New media includes websites and blogs, streaming audio and video, chat rooms, email, on line communities and web advertising.

New media is a way of organizing cloud of technology, skills, and processes that change so quickly. New media can be characterized by the variegated use of images, words and sounds. These internet of image, words, and sounds are different from old media formats. New media holds out a possibility of on-demand access to content anytime, anywhere on any digital device as well as interactive use feedback, creative participation and community and formation around the media content.

New media has a profound effect on three of the most essential categories of society in the 21^st century that is economics, politics and the exchange of ideas. The most interesting part of new media has to do with restructuring of research, global economics, social interaction and the currents of writing and dissemination o all information that has accompanied its emergence.

Another importance of new media is democratization of the creation, publishing, distribution and consumption of media content. What distinguishes new media from traditional media is the digitizing of content into bits.

BY: KIYABO NELLY

BAPRM 42587

The Network Society

THE NETWORK SOCIETY
According to Emmanuel Kant, network society defines as kind of society that formed by emergence of electronics based communication technology. The internet brought a new kind of society "global village". As the network society growing brought the "new economy"

Characteristics of new economy

• Global
• Network
• Information 

Benefits of Network society

1. It cuts out limit of business and market
2.  It facilitates discussion on different issues through media
3. It gives new looking and thinking of the economy

New Network Information
Information leads to effective performance, planning and uses. It is the bases of good things. However the following happen in the new economy

• Timeless time; there is no limit to time with the way you will do your things.
• Space flow; there is no need of doing work in office, you can do on your way home and other places due to supportive devices. The more you wait, the more you are not going to capture challenges of new network society
• Inclusion and Exclusion; If you are not tune to know, you do not want to know the new economy as the power of information. You will exclude yourself towards network society and fail to communicate in corporate digital age.When you decide better to be in network society. if you lack information in network society you will likely to fail. thinking of productions depends on very well you attached yourself with network society.

The following are the applications and usefulness of Network society;

1. It changes customer behavior
2. It increase sales
3. It predicts in production
4. It facilitates the consumption of product
5. It brings new experience of doing things 

DAHAYE THERESIA 42544

Digital Divide

                                                              DIGITAL DIVIDE

Digital divide is the term refers to the gap between demographics and regions that have access to modern information and communications technology, those that do not or have restricted access. This technology can include the telephone, personal computers and the internet. In other words digital divide refers to the gap between individuals, households, businesses and geographic area at different socio-economic levels with regard both to their opportunities to access information and communication technologies (ICT) and to their use of the internet for wide variety of activities. The digital divide reflects various differences among and within countries. Before late 20^th century, digital divide referred chiefly to the division between those with and  without telephone access; after the late 1990s the term began to be used mainly to describe the split between those with and without internet access, particularly broadband.

Digital divide as the gap between those who can connect to the internet and those who cannot. It is not just about the lack of an affordable connection; it also involves the lack of computer equipment and training necessary to use effectively. We believe digital inclusion is one of the most important social justice issues of our day.

The digital divide typically exists between those in cities and those in rural areas; between the educated and the uneducated; between socioeconomic groups and globally between the more and less industrially developed nations. Even among populations with some access to technology, the digital divide can be evident in the form of lower-performance computers, lower-priced connections such as dial-up and limited access to subscription-based content.

The reality of a separate-access marketplace is problematic because of the rise of services such as video on demand, video conferencing and virtual classrooms which require the access to high-speed. High- quality connections that those on the less-served side of the digital divide cannot access and/or afford. While adoption of smart phones is growing, even among lower-income and minority groups, the rising costs of data plans and the difficulty of performing tasks and transactions on Smartphone continue to inhibit the closing of the gap.

Social factor that contribute to the digital divide include;

Age, young people feel more comfortable with the new technology and are able to benefit from more than older people. Older people are less likely to have a computer and are less likely to be interested in using the internet.

Gender, boys use computers and the internet more than girls

Family structure, families with children have more computers and internet access than families without

Education, in order to benefit from the digital technology people must know how to use it .Information communication technology has become a major subject taught in most schools but many adults did not have the opportunity to learn how to use computers when they were in school.

Literacy, skills are important for people to read web pages. Those unable to read well will not benefit from information on the internet-they may only use computers to play games.

Ethnicity, different ethnic groups have different attitudes to technology. Many deprived areas of large cities have high numbers of people in differing ethnic groups. This may have an effect on wealth and education .And if English is not a first language, this may cause problems.

BY: TAMBA PHILIP

      BAPRM-42679

Role of Communication in Crisis Managements

ROLES OF COMMUNICATION IN CRISIS MANAGEMENT

Within the contemporary era, human and social entities are more and more confronted with difficulties when trying to maintain control over their own lives. Changes occur at such a rapid pace, with so profound consequences, that, in order to determine an advantageous future for the self, the individual, or the entire society has to estimate the current situation and make decisions almost instantly. An analysis of the crises evolution implies the analysis of the risks that led to the crisis appearance, which means that their management has to be accomplished within an integrated environment. As far as organizations are concerned, preventing and managing risks may only be done in case the crisis management is based on a coherent communication strategy in crisis situations. An efficient management of crises is that of an interactive type, and the communication policy belonging to it presupposes the existence of an integrated structure of public relations.

CRISIS,  When belonging to the social, the term ‘crisis’ is one of the most frequently used words, it being tightly connected with situations of incertitude and/or discontinuity. The origin of the word traces back to the Greek ‘crisis’, based on the verb used in Old Greek, ‘krinein’, meaning, among others, ‘to judge, separate, discriminate’ but also ‘to decide’. The fact that, etymologically, the term crisis refers to decision is interpreted, in its current use in the given context, as the role of decision in preventing indecision and incapacity of re- evaluation and re-interpretation of problems and which would jeopardize cohesion and functioning of a system or of an organization. Yet, the mere decision does not imply the crisis management; the optimal management of crises constitutes an endeavor for the decision making factors of a system/ organization and includes complex issues and abilities such as the capacity of foreseeing crises, the anticipation of scenarios for the foreseen situation, the prompt answer in case of their appearance but also the following of strictly designed steps in solving the crisis.

The term crisis can convert its meaning according to the field in which it is used, each of the areas of use conferring different significations. Thus, from the perspective of psychology, the crisis refers to the assembly of tensional phenomena that lead to a sudden and significant change; from the psychopathological point of view the crisis refers to situations of acute functional perturbation, due to the above mentioned significant psychological change; from the sociological perspective it reaches the issue of difficulties accumulation, of conflicting tensions release, presupposing the appearance of some pressure toward the change, while from the organizational approach, the crisis describes an unexpected situation, which brings to discussion the organization’s responsibility toward its public and which threatens the organization’s capacity of continuing its normal activity.

Conclusively: All these perspectives regarding crisis attempt to include the events that affect various entities (from people to organizations), while the unanimously accepted term refers to their abnormality status. From this perspective, correlated with the etymological meaning, the crisis may be understood as a factor able of inducing incapacity of decision, meanwhile, the functioning of the organization being either questioned or compromised.

By:  ULAYA SIJALI A. (BAPRM 42681)

Globalized World

The globalized world

We now communicate and share each others culture through travel, trade, transporting products around the world in hours or days. We are in a huge global economy where something that happens in one area can have knock on effects worldwide. This process is called globalization.

Globalization is the process by which the world is becoming increasingly interconnected as a result of massively increased trade and cultural exchange. Globalization has increased the production of goods and services. The biggest Companies are no longer national firm but multinational corporations with subsidiaries in many countries.

Globalization has been taking place for hundreds of years, but has speed up enormously over the last half century, Globalization has resulted in:

Ø  Increased international trade: there has been an increase of trade internationally. Companies export and import products very fast and reaches the customer easily.

Ø  A Company operating in more than one country: due to the increase of communication and technologies and increase of customers worldwide Companies decide to build other branches in other countries where they can operate the Companies activities and reach their customers and satisfy their needs and reach Companies goals.

Ø  Greater dependence on the global economy since the great nations are the one holding the currency and the world economy they are already powerful making the third world countries depending on them always. They create some terms and conditions at a very high interest living other nations poor and dependent always.

Ø  Freer movement of capital, goods and services there has been importation and exportation of goods and services around the world in hours or days and reaches to the customers. This increases the interconnectedness among countries and results to exchange of ideas among people in different nations. Through the technologies that is internet the buyer can easily communicate and bargain on the product or services he or she will transport.

Ø  Recognition of Companies such as Vodacom Company through the internet these companies can make a meeting. That is they can form a television on the internet were only the employees can understand the communication and motivate each other to do their responsibility.

The main reason for globalisation is:

 Improve communications:

That is the internet and mobile technology has allowed greater communication between people in different countries. The Company can communicate with the customers exchange ideas and thought on how they operate the activities in the Company in order to create a networking community.

Freedom of trade:

Organisation like the World Trade Organization (WTO) promotes free trade between countries, which helps to remove barriers between countries. People are free to buy products from other countries at any time they needed.

Improvements of transportation

Large cargo ships mean that the cost of transporting goods and services between countries has decreased. Economies of scale mean the cost per item can reduce when operating on a large scale. Transport improvement also mean that goods and people an travel more quickly.

Through the social works and internet organization have built new ways on how they can communicate to their stake holders and reach to them easily.

BY ANGEL MWORIA

BAPRM 42642

Public Relations and the Internet

The Internet has caused a revolution in communication by giving a voice to those that previously could not have been heard. This has opened a whole new world of opportunities for both businesses and individuals that were unimagined in the era of the traditional media. These still play an important role in shaping the public opinion but with the entire globe moving to the online world to search for information and buy products/services, a PR that does not effectively communicate with the online community can no longer effectively shape and maintain the desired public image.

Challenges of the Internet for PR

Although the Internet is one of the greatest inventions in human history, it has dramatically changed the world and above all, the communication. The world wide web has opened a number of opportunities but it has also opened a number of challenges, especially for the PR sector that has mastered communication with and through the traditional media. While PR specialists virtually had no competition in the era of the traditional media, the democracy of the Internet has forced them to compete with the entire world.
The Internet has given just about everyone the ability to share their opinion just about everything with the entire world in a matter of seconds. The ability to reach thousands or millions of people in virtually no time gave PR specialists a powerful tool but it also made their jobs more difficult, especially in case of an attack on integrity of their clients. Just imagine restoring the client’s reputation if the first page of search engine results contains mainly compromising or damaging content.

The Importance of Internet PR

Why businesses and individuals who want to succeed in the modern world cannot afford not to utilise the Internet PR is clearly evident from the example of “anti-campaigns”. These can either be an unfortunate incident or a carefully devised plan of unethical competition. But regardless of who stands behind and why, negative campaigning can have a devastating effect on public reputation of a company or an individual. The risk of negative publicity, however, is not the only reason why the Internet PR is increasingly gaining in importance.
The Internet has a major influence on people’s opinion and the decisions they make, especially when they are uncertain. For example, let’s say Joe has difficulties deciding which anti-acne cream to choose. He will open his search engine and look for information about the creams he is considering buying. He will most likely take into account a variety of factors including the price and other people’s opinions but his decision will also be influenced greatly by the information he will be able to receive about a particular product. And if he finds little information about how the product is supposed to work, how soon he will be able to see the results, etc. there is a great chance that he will not buy that product.

Dahaye Theresia 42544

Online Community and New Economy

  ONLINE COMMUNITY AND NEW ECONOMY

Online society is a kind of society which is formed by the emergency of the electronic based way of communicating. The system of communicating now days have changed due to the development of science and technology and due to this now days emerged the network society or online society.

Network society led to the emergence of new economy in the world and the characteristics of new economy are;

It is global,

 means that new economy is all over the world. The world now create its economy through the internet or online this is due to the reason that things have changed now days, most of the things are done online, for example most of the advertisements are through online and there fore many publics or customers are found through online.

It is network

New economy is network, means that it is operating through networking all over the world and without this network it will be hard for countries or organizations to create economy through the internet and in order to win more it must be more connections with different and many people around the global.

It is information

New economy is full of information of everything, it tells the positive and negative of life. Due to the large connection around the global, new economy must contain a lot of information in different aspects of life like political, social, economy as well as economy around the world.

New economy is also characterized by the inclusion and exclusion

Starts with inclusion

This means that in new economy there are those who want to dance with new economy and technology and work with it, therefore you don’t ignore the emergence and presence of it and therefore you play with it in order to get advantage of it.

Exclusion

This means that if you don’t want to know the concept of new economy
and and technology and therefore you ignore it and it means that you cant get the advantage of it due to the fact that you don’t like to have an awareness of new media technology and new economy so it is just useless to you. If you don’t want to be in network society you will loose the experience of the network society and this will cause you not be able to manage information.

It is very important to be in inclusion in network society especially the corporate communication professionals and they need to use it as a tool to make their professionals in a better position.

Lastly, with new economy there is space flow, means you don’t need to have space to do things, even when walking you can do things, with new economy there is not limited to space. For example you can walk while working with your laptop or other devices like the cellphones.

By Tamba Philip 42679

IMPORTANCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

 "The elevator pitch about these "intangible" or long term benefits of social media is very simple"(Hollier, 2009). Engaging in social media will help strengthen the brand experience which will support brand building. A company becomes more attractive to the customers, and to current and potential employees, if it has a well-built brand name. As a result, social media will help in building a good reputation for a business organization. A couple of words can describe a brand whether in the consumer or in the business space. By building a brand, it helps to reinforce the brand in the minds of the consumers. Through social media, the company can repeatedly reinforce the brand name. Customers experience a brand privilege while using a product or service and also when interacting with a company (Carraher, Parnell, Carraher, Carraher, & Sullivan, 2006). Brand awareness starts with the experiences of the employees of a company. If a company is approachable, people-friendly, then the company must make itself visible by inclusion on the web (Carraher, Parnell, & Spillan, 2009). Social media forum acts as a powerful way to communicate the brand value and brand attribute as they facilitate open forms of communication. Social media is best for the following situations: 

• Promote open communication between employees and management.  
• Enable employees to share project ideas and work in teams effectively, which helps in sharing knowledge and experiences.
• Social media also promotes better content, such as webcast and videos, than just simple text. 
• Helps to communicate collaboratively between current and potential customers, in receiving feedback, product definition, product development, or any forms of customer service and support. 
• Encourage members, or part of the company‟s employees, to become members of a wellrecognized community.  
• Social media becomes a good venue for discussions and becomes a classic goal of marketing and communications, but the companies must ensure that the employees are adhering to the rules and etiquettes of social media. 
  
  
  Another way to create brand awareness for businesses is by becoming a part of an existing forum and opening a new forum for stakeholders (Kukulska-Hulme, 2010). If this can be carried out properly, it can result in good reputation and build advocacy which means that people are tended to speak positively about the company in a practical and sensitive way (Carraher, 2011). The major challenge for a social media is to be a reliable source for communication as it is not for damage control. Social media can be used to be realistic, transparent, and for being able to communicate issues on time; thereby reducing rumors, negative talk, and motivating people to speak for the company (Hollier, 2009). 
  
  
  There are several paid services available for monitoring conversations on the web. They carry out a qualitative and quantitative analysis of how discussions are carried out and how much the information is spread over the internet.
  
  
  It can be concluded that; social media such as Facebook, blogs, YouTube have become major sources of hiring. LinkedIn is another similar source used by recruiters, and about 80 percent of companies use it for the recruiting process. Social media has also become one of the easiest ways to improve productivity and to generate a natural interest in the work carried out by the employees. Using these media, companies can track employee‟s creativity and enthusiasm. 

BY MWINYIJUMA REHEMA

BAPRM III - 42686

E-LEARNING

E-LEARNING

THE CONCEPT OF E- LEARNING
Anyone in the world deserves to acquire education regardless how she or he acquire that education. E- learning is the use of computer technology in delivering education, most of the time in higher learning education. It is quietly means electronic learning, and typically this means the use of computer to deliver part or all of the course whether it is in a school or part of your mandatory business training or a full distance learning course. E-learning is simple because it is simply understanding and utilizing of electronic technologies to access the educational curriculum out of the traditional classroom. Most of the time it refer to the degree delivered though computer technology.
Others can say e- learning is the kind of learning that is facilitated and supported by the use of information and communication technology. E-learning can cover a wide range of activities from the use of technology to support learning as a part of a blended approach (traditional ways of learning and online learning). E-learning is sometimes known as the distance learning whereby people do not attend physical classes but rather they learn through their computer technologies. Sometimes it can be a blended approach whereby it can be a face to face kind of teaching mixed with inline kind of teaching. It can also be known as the use of technology to support the wide range of educational activities.
After seeing the concept of e-learning let us see the advantages of e-learning which are such as, Less cost full: it helps a person to reduce the costs of learning by reducing the travelling costs from one place to another place, that person will be away from printed materials, and it also help you to save money and increase the work force productivity.
Space flow; through e-learning a person will be able to learn from anywhere he or she is and also he or she can use any time that he or she wishes to learn. Many face to face studies normally takes place during office hours whereby through e-learning people will be able to reduce the disruption to the busy working schedules and they will be minimized. In working places workers will be happy with e-learning because there will be no need of travelling to the training centres. If they have important work to catch on they will be able to perform their duties and later catch up on their mandatory training.
It improve progress to learners: the most advantageous thing in using computer for training is, it will help learners to improve their learning management system and improve their learning progress. This can be essential for the most popular courses where proof of mandatory is required.
It can be private: in the world not everybody feels comfortable learning or studying in a group 0f people or in a large group of people especially if they find something hard to understand that fellow students have no problem with. E-learning allow students to tackle problems at their own pace, with interactive tasks being set on place to ensure a thorough understanding throughout each module.
Conclusively: e-learning has led to the mastication of high learning education and the problem is the quality of education that students get.
BY MWORIA ANGEL
BAPRM 42642