Corporate Blogging: A new marketing communication tool for companies

A corporate weblog is published and used by an organization to reach its organizational goals. The blog that was posted and commented is easy to reach and follow due to centralized hosting and generally structured conversation threads. There are two types of blog, which are internal blogs and external blogs. An internal blog generally accessed through the corporation’s intranet. It is a weblog that allows any employees to view. The internal blog may encourage employees’ participation, free discussion of issues, collective intelligence, direct communication between various levels of an organization and a sense of community. It is mainly used as a tool for collaboration and knowledge management. An external blog is publicly available weblog where company employees, teams, or spokespersons can share their views. It is often used to announce new products and services, to explain and clarify policies, or to react on public criticism on certain issues. Consumers can know the latest product of the company through the corporate blog. Besides, the consumer also can get know of the information about the company product or services from the blog.

As the technology continually grows broader and wider, many companies started to have their corporate blogs, either internal blog or external blog. For example, PayPal Company created a blog with the title of “The PayPal Blog” as a forum for PayPal employees know the consumers better. It allows us to connect with the leaders of their company and most importantly, they want to hear our thoughts. PayPal Company has adopted Charlene Li's blogger code of ethics for their blog. For instance, they will acknowledge any mistakes and correct them promptly. Besides, they will reply some chosen and appropriate comments from the users as prompt as possible. The information posted on the blog is link directly to the original source of online references and materials. It can increase the efficiency of PayPal Company and make the consumers have better knowledge about the company. In addition, company can solve the problem and conflict between the company and consumers more efficiently.


Corporate blogs not only bring the advantages for consumers, but for the corporate as well. The blog creates new opportunities for the company to meet other new customers. It is flexible enough to allow a dialogs, a conversation and sharing idea of the company products. Company can build a community with people who are interested in their products or services through the corporate blog. Furthermore, corporate blogging gives the company a competitive advantage that cannot be ignored. According to the research, corporate blogs are giving corporations the ability to connect with their audiences in a personal level, to build trust, collect valuable feedback and foster strengthen relationship between the consumers and company. In today economy, corporate blogging can have an incredible marketing for the company for free rather than spending an enormous marketing budget. However, not everyone is in favor of corporate blogging. Some employees are worry that they will be warned or fired if the blog they wrote is found inappropriate. The senior managers are worry that their staffs will disclose the company’s commercial secrets even though some guidelines are given for the employees in writing the blog. This is especially true for the public listed companies due to the stock market disclosure rules that they need to comply with.

As a conclusion, corporate blogging is useful for company. They can expand their business over the entire world through blogging. However, there are some disadvantages that the company need to aware of. They have to make sure that their corporate blogging is running in a proper way and complies with the legal requirements stated in the corporate law.

A review on a post on Legal from My E-Commerce blog ~> UK to get tough with illegal downloader

On the internet, copyright infringement is quite common and a lot of disputes arise. From the post, people who like to download illegal music and movies online may have to take notes because UK government is working on a new law to have this illegal downloader’s internet connection to be cut off.

There are 6 million people are estimated to download files illegally every year in UK in a practice that music and film companies claim is costing them millions of pounds in lost revenue annually. A lot of people download illegally is because they don't realize the harm of their action and they only think about themselves. When people illegally download music and movies online, they are taking money away from the artist who rightfully earned it.

Unfortunately, nowadays technology comes quicker than we are prepared for; too quickly to decide what’s right and wrong and how to deal with it. People should realize that downloading copyrighted music and movies off the internet is illegal. Some people say that music and firm companies get enough money out of CDs and DVDs they sell in the stores, but the day is almost here where more people get their music and movies online than from a physical store.

Under the new proposed new law, Internet Service Providers (ISP) will be required to adopt a three-strike system. An email warning will be sent the first time a user illegally download copyrighted media files, while the second infringement will result in a suspension. For a third offence, the ISP will terminate the user’s contract. ISP who failed to enforce the rules could be prosecuted and details of customers suspected in illegal downloading can be made available to the courts.

Therefore, it is hope that people will stop downloading music and movies illegally after they know the new law. The copyright laws protect music and visual art materials. So, it is our responsibility to honor those laws and respect the artists and the music.

link-http://ecommerze.blogspot.com/search/label/Legal

Things to take note to prevent E-Auction Fraud when a consumer participating in an e-auction

Auctions are a market mechanism by which a seller places an offer to sell a product and buyers make bids sequentially and competitively until a final price is reached. Electronic auctions (e-auctions) are auctions conducted online.

Among all e-commerce activities conducted over the internet, fraud is most serious in e-auctions. The largest internet auctioneer, eBay, has introduces several measures in an effort to reduce fraud.
The following are some of eBay’s antifraud measures:

~User identity verification

eBay uses the services of Equifax to verify user identities for a $5 fee. Verified eBay User, a voluntary program, encourages users to supply eBay with information for online verification.

~Authentication services

Product authentication is a way of determining whether an items is genuine and described appropriately.

~Grading services

Grading is a way of determining the physical condition of an item, such as “poor quality” or “mint condition”. The actual grading system depends on the type of item being graded. Different items have different grading systems.

~Feedback forum

The eBay feedback forum allows registered buyers and sellers to build up their online trading reputations. It provides users with the ability to comment on their experiences with other individuals.

~Insurance policy

eBay offers insurance underwritten by Lloyd’s of London. Users are covered up to $200, with a $25 deductible.

~Escrow services

For items valued at more than $200 or when either a buyer or seller feels the need for additional security, eBay recommends escrow services. With an easy-to-access link to a third-party escrow service, both partners in a deal are protected.

~Nonpayment punishment

eBay implemented a policy against those who do not honor their winning bids. To help protect sellers, a first-time nonpayment results in a friendly warning. A sterner warning is issued for a second-time offense, a 30-day suspension for a third offense, and indefinite suspension for a fourth offense.

~Appraisal services

Appraisers use a variety of methods to appraise items, including expert assessment of authenticity and condition and reviewing what comparable items have sold for in the marketplace in recent months.

~Verification

One way of confirming the identity and evaluating the condition of an item is through verification. With verification, neutral third parties will evaluate and identify an item through a variety of means.

Review a Local E-Commerce Site

E-commerce is being defined as the buying and selling of products or services over the world wide net. With the advanced changes in technology, the transactions conducted electronically over the internet are getting common as day pass. One of the e-commerce sites in Malaysia is Lelong.com.my.

Lelong.com.my is established by Interbase Resources Sdn. Bhd. which is a fully internet based company that provides web services to the public. It is one of the largest e-commerce companies in Malaysia with business in B2C (Business-to-Consumer), C2C (Consumer-to-Consumer) and Online Community Building with more than 8 years in the internet e-commerce industry.

Lelong.com.my provides products and services to the public over the net. Users can buy and sell products or services via Lelong.com.my. It uses an international comparison that everyone is familiar with. The style and function of Lelong.com.my is similar to the international site, eBay.com. It powers a healthy and secure way for trading in Malaysia.

The idea of Lelong.com.my in Malaysia has taken off with great response. Users feel a sense of belonging with a local flavor and constantly keep in contact with the site to give feedback which either in positive or in negative. Starting based on C2C transactions, Lelong.com.my is now moving to become a channel for B2C relationships. Many distributors have realized the power of Lelong.com.my and are now using it to trade and grow their business.

The major factor that has brought many users to Lelong.com.my is it allows users to dispose of the items that are not currently in use which are either second hand or new items. The track record for selling items through Lelong.com.my is good, which is approximately 70% of all items posted on the site are sold. Therefore, users stand a good chance in obtaining a successful transaction. In addition, there is a variety of products and services that offered in Lelong.com.my. The interface is very user-friendly and easy to use. Therefore, user feels comfortable while trading with other members.

Lelong.com.my is suitable for different type of people. The members of Lelong.com.my come from all walks of life; with different races, age groups, jobs, salary structures, location and interests. Besides, Lelong.com.my provides a safe and neutral environment to complete user online transactions. Users can safeguard their online trading from as little as RM 2.00 per trade which can then manage every aspects of the settlement process and remove risk from their online transaction.

The site design and layout of Lelong.com.my are attractive, clear and user-friendly. The font and color of product title used are nice-looking and tidy. The products that offered in Lelong.com.my are classified accordingly in different type of categories and appear on the site according to the alphabet. This is convenient for user to search for the items that they need in short time. Besides, the download speed and the accessibility of search engines of Lelong.com.my are fast and efficiency. It allows user to search items or products in a short time to avoid user from feeling annoying and irritating while waiting the processing of the web. In addition, Lelong.com.my has offered one link that particularly in favor of female user, “Ladies”. The products provided include cloths, accessories, shoes, jewelry, cosmetic, personal care and etc. This idea attracts more female users to visit Lelong.com.my.

The existence of Lelong.com.my brings lots of advantages and convenience to the public. With the mission statement of Lelong.com.my, "Serving the community and bringing a high standard of quality into homes and businesses by providing an avenue for on-line trading at a low cost", people can enjoy a secure online shopping at home anytime at a low cost that can fulfill their needs and wants always.

E-Government in Malaysia: Its Implementation so far and Citizen's Adoption Strategies

What is E-Government? Does Malaysia implement this technology around the states? What are the citizen’s adoption strategies? Most of the people are still in doubt of what E-Government is, well, let me explain what actually it is.

E-Government actually refers to the use of internet technology as a platform for switching over the information, offering services and transacting with citizens, businesses, and other arms of government. It may be applied by legislature, judiciary, or administration, in the sense to improve the delivery of public services, the internal efficiency, or processes of democratic governance.

The E-Government systems that have been implemented in Malaysia so far include electronic engagement, and electronic consultation. E- Engagement is winning the public in the policy process by the use of electronic networks whereas E-Consultation refers to communication between public servants and the citizenry and interest groups. Besides, E-Controllership which consists of the potential to manage the cost, performance and services of an organization electronically is included in the E-Government systems too.

The Malaysian citizens can renew their driving license as well as road tax through the E-Government site. In addition, E-Government provides information of education, employment, travel and transport, legal matters, social welfare and community, health and other services for the Malaysian citizens. They can gather the information of what they wish to know anytime, anywhere from the E-Government site.

Although the implementations of E-Government services do bring a lot of convenience to the citizens, there are some barriers toward the adoption of these services, for example, technology and security barrier. In order to gain the confidence of the citizens on the services provided, the Government should implement a stable and better technical infrastructure to reduce the technology and security risks expose to the citizens.