Nintento responsible for suicide attempts?

Nintento investigates suicides by Wii-factory..

Nintendo wants to research the working conditions by Foxconn, Foxconn is a factory where the welknown Wii-consoles are made. The reason for this is that recent months a strikingly large number of employees of the Chinese company has made suicide attempts.

The last months sixteen employees jumped off the roof from the Foxconn buildings in an attemp to end their lives. The motive for this would be the miserable working conditions that is against the human rights of working employees. Foxconn is the largest factory of electronics in the world, and not only Nintendo starts an independent investigation to the working condition inside the company. Wednesday the 26th of may also Apple, Hewlett-Packard en Dell announced that they will start an investigation in the company (Apple, Hewlet-Packard and Dell also lets a couple of their products produce in the Foxconn fabric). the wellknown playstation 3 and Microsofts' Xbox360 are produced in Foxconn.

Compensation

Foxconn pays the families of the died employees compensation. According to the Telegraph, this compensation involves an amount equal to ten year incomes. The high amount of compensation would be a reason for depressed workers to commit suicide. Recently, the company wanted all employees to sign a letter in which they promise that they would never hurt themselves. When an employee commits suicide then, Foxconn does not have to pay the amount of compensation. However, when the director of Foxconn knew that the media became known of these facts he didn't start handing out the letters.

It is not the first time Foxconn is in the news because of negative reasons. There was an earlier discussion about the bad working conditions, and earlier this month it was confirmed that twenty guards beated two employees in the month august.

Measures

Foxconn has taken several steps to prevent against more suicides. the company hired psychiatrists and hung nets to catch people who jump off the building. Foxconn also increases the salary of employees with 20%. According to a Foxconn representative they were already planning to increase loans and it is not a reaction to the recent suicide attempts.

A separated division for the best spanish football clubs?

Media and money seems to be responsible for a split in the highest football division in Spain. The reason is the partition of television incomes.

The rich and leading clubs as for instance FC Barcelona and Real Madrid want a seperation of the Primera Division as soon as possible. There are welknown examples of this kind of separations for example the Italian A Serieus or the Enligsh Premier League. The Spanish Professional league the LFP announced two weeks ago that they made an agreement about that they would start discussing the opportunities about how this new, much better and more interesting topcompetition can be achieved.

The first time that the work group will meet is in June... But how will they decide?



The smaller and poorer clubs in both the first and second division fear the worst. They just asked the Spanish government for negotiations on the collective decesion on broadcasting of football matches.

Contradictionary to the most other European competitions, in Spain the clubs make deals with televesion companies theirselve. FC Barcelona and Real Madrid each reach around 150 million euros which is half of the available television budget in the market. Poor and small clubs have to be content with the crumbs.

Cheating on your wife?

Oh oh... have you ever cheated on your wife?

tried to get away with your favourite imaginary excuse? Imagine a situation in which your wife wants you to come with her to one of her friends' parties. Have you ever said that you weren't feeling very well and felt a little bit sick?

The men in the video below did, meanwhile his wife went to the party the men spends his evening drinking in a bar. But, his wife seemed to catch this!

How would you get away with this?

The men in the video seems to have a proper solution, he uses two different kinds of media; a telephone and a television. Although, is it the television that safes him?

Check how this guy 'fakes' some kind of media in the video below.

Looking for a job? Be careful with Hyves!

With the big boom of social networks sites, for instance Hyves, LinkedLn and Facebook it is getting more and more easy to find information about somebody.

Now.. I hear you thinking.. 'what's new about that?... I already knew this'.

However,

Be very careful with your Hyves page, photo's and 'krabbels' that your friends or other relatives publish on your Hyves page. It can cause bad luck in your sollicitation process. Recruiters say that they do not use Hyves-profiles of candidates in order to select people who are applying for a job, however the truth is different.

A master student Communication at the University of Twente researched which information from Hyves was used by recruiters to get an impression of their candidates. The student found that recruiters lied about what they said about the information they use.

The information posted on Hyves, for instance photo's or 'krabbels' by friends or other relatives seem to play an important role in the first selection phase of candidates that are applying for a job. the student found the strongest effect when candidates try to apply for a representative function.

So do not only try to be careful with posting messages and photo's yourself, but you should really make sure that 'strangers' have no access to one of your personal social network pages.

Calling someone with your skin?!

It sounds unreal...

Nevertheless, it will probably become very normal. To call someone, you can use your wrist or the palm of your hand. In the Carnegie Mellon University in the United States they developed a device that is able to project a keyboard on your skin. In stead of pressing buttons on your mobile phone, it will become possible to press the right number on your wrist.

Microsoft has already shown interest in the invention and promised to sponsor the developments of a commercial prototype. The new type of device already got a name; 'Skinput'. it is said that within a few years the device will be available worldwide.

Check the picture below for the concept!

Do you want Trijntje in your MSN contact list?

Do you know Trijntje? She wants to chat with you!

But who is Trijntje? Trijntje is a chatbot that gives travelers actual travel information. Since wednesday the 14th of April she is active on Twitter, Hyves, MSN and iGoogle.

The Dutch national travel information number 9292 introduced the chatbot. 9292 found out that almost 80% of the visitors of 9292ov.nl uses social media such as Twitter or Hyves. Users of these social media can start conversations with Trijntje, Trijntje will provide users with a personal travel advice. She will also give answers to all kind of questions surrounding for instance the OV-chipkaart.

9292 Widget
9292 Widget is a kind of mini website, this internet application can be added with just one click on your mouse. People will be able to add the widget application on for example their Hyves-, Myspace-, iGoogle- and blog page.

MSN Messenger
Adding Trijntje to your personal contact list in your Windows Live Messenger is also possible. You can ask questions as well as you can plan your trip together with Trijntje. Do you like trijntje? Here is her address: chat@trijntjevan9292.nl.

Hyves
Adding a gadget to your Hyves page is also possible. however, you can also add Trijntje to your iGoogle page of you can just simply chat with here on the website of 9292.

Twitter
Just like 105 million other people you can also find Trijntje at Twitter. Follow Trijntje and she will be able to give you answere's considering all your travel issues. Public transport corrections and changes occur very frequently. If you follow 9292 on Twitter you will see every change in just one little moment.

As you can see, just like other companies also 9292OV uses social media nowadays. Would you use one of the just introduced applications? Or do you consider the 'old fashioned' website www.9292ov.nl as useful and handy enough?

Thnx for reading ;-)

Dutch Police on Hyves and YouTube

Since this week the Dutch Police uses Hyves, YouTube and Marokko.nl as a part of their employer-branding strategy. Their first purpose is to strengthen the reputation of the employer brand of the Dutch police. Secondly the police wants to make the target group feel that they want to belong to the police.

According to the recruitment and selection department of the police is social media a very useful channel to influence people's conception about what it is like to work for the police. The recruitment and selection department of the police is a part of the police that supports all police units with their labour market communication.

The recruitment and selection department of the police selected three types of social media that will be used the coming year. The choice for these media is based on the target group and the range. Hyves is with 9.7 million users the biggest social media platform in The Netherlands. A specific channel via YouTube which will be managed by the police is going to be used as a collect and distribution platform of video material about working for the police. Marokko.nl is chosen because of its biggest not-western immigrant community. The website has one million visitors a month and has 173 thousand members.

Another goal of the police is to create diversity in their police units. That is the reason why it is very important to reach not-western youth. According to the recruitment and selection department of the police Marokko.nl is an important channel to reach this goal.

Together with the operator Marokko Media the police created a special introduction page. In addition, the police developed a specific Hyves page, which is kombijdepolitie.hyves.nl. This pages offers you information about working for the police for instance: video's, photo's, downloads, a game, blogs, an event agenda and the latest vacancy's. In addition people can also chat and make use of the discussion forum which the police offers.

Should a government agency such as the Dutch police use these kind of social media for their recruitment purposes? Do you see any disadvantages or advantages?

What is your opinion? Feel free to react...

New Customers for Small Business because of Social Media Use

In this blog there will be presented several interesting facts about social media usage in Small Business. A study reported by 'The Center for Media Research' which was done by Network Solutions and the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business tells us that social media adoption by small businesses has doubled from 12% to 24% in the last year. Small businesses are investing in applications including blogs, Facebook and Linkedln profiles more and more.

Social media opportunities are very usefull for Small businesses. The following chart shows a few interesting fact:


Isn't it interesting to notice that 61% of the respondents use social media for identifying and attracting new customers. Dr. Alan Glazier reported (2010) that the biggest expectation that small business owners have from social media is expanding external marketing and engagement including identifying and attracting new customers, building brand awareness and staying engaged with customers.

In addition, 45% of the respondents expect social media to be profitable in the next twelve months.


Nevertheless, 50% of small business social media users tell that it takes more time than expected.




Small business also experience other positive effects:

• 72% have found different new ways to operate more efficiently.
• 47% have been led to find new products and services that benefit customers.
• 43% have become better teams as hard times force people to work together.

Maximizing productivity while keeping costs low seems possible with the use of social media.

Aren't you convinced yet? Take a look at websites such as marktplaats.nl, Twitter and EBay. more and more companies start promoting their products and services via these kind of websites.

However, what are the disadvantages of using social media in your company? Is it just something for Small Business, or do you see big companies using social media as well? Is it perhaps a little unprofessional?

Feel free to react...

Video About New Communication Technology

Research and development departments of many multinationals are engaged with new technologies every day. Nokia and Sony seem to have developed a new technique of which you have never heard.

The next video shows communication technologies of the future!

Calling with an implanted chip in your body, it sounds unbelievable! Or does it sound like shit? After watching the video you will know the answer.

I promise to you that my next blog will be more depth. So stay tuned at my blog!

Thank you for reading again ;-)

Hmm Blogging?

A completely new new experience for me, blogging. The course Media Use in Organisations brought me so far..

August 2009, I started studying Business Communication and Digital Media at the University of Tilburg. Business Communication and Digital Media is a specialisation of Communication and Information Science. This study would take two years of my life, consisting of a premaster and a master year. During my premaster I have to complete two semesters, each consisting of 5 different courses.
January 2010, I completed the first semester. A few weeks ago the second semester started, therefore we have met 5 new courses. One of them is called: 'Media Use in Organisations'. To complete this course I have to do a final exam and I had to set up a blog and a Twitter account.

I had never expected that my free choice whether starting a blog or not would become limited. Nevertheless, it seems no problem for me.

So far about how, when and why I started blogging. My next blog will enter the field of Media Use in Organisations, after all, that will be the blogging context.

Thnx for reading ;-)