X factor

X factor is the most popular television programme on the TV at the moment and its the talk of the nation. I am completely addicted to xFactor and I love nothing more than sitting in on a Saturday night watching my favourite show. Even last year when I was living in France and had no television I still watched the show on utube religiously every Sunday night. This year my favourite to win was Danyl Johnson and I was gutted when the public voted him out last Saturday. My new favourite to win is Joe as I think he has an incredible voice and always delivers outstanding performances week after week, so Joe to win X factor 2009

4th year of collage

4th year
This is my final year of studying my bachelor in Marketing at DkIT. I think at the end of the year I will look back and think I loved it and hated but definitely glad I did it. We have had a least 10 projects to hand in and present on since September which is a lot compared to any of our other years. The projects are longer and more challenging than before and we sometimes end up having to hand in and present 3 or 4 projects a week. Stress . I’m not really complaining though as we knew 4th year would be challenging and DkIt are not going to give us a degree for doing nothing. We need to earn it. Despite the hard work I am enjoying my final year of college and will miss it very much when I leave. I suspect when I’m out working I will probably look back and think god we had it easy in Collage. 

Is there a place for religion in modern society?

I definitely do think there is a place for religion in modern society. Religion has been round for thousands of years and it has constantly been developing, for example the Old Testament versus the New Testament. People have always needed to believe that there is a higher superior power that is going to guide us and take care of us. There are many different kinds of religions including Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam. All these religions have had a huge impact on people’s moral standards and have taught people how to behave themselves and it also gives many people hope and comfort & a sense of belonging that nothing else can compare to. For these reasons alone religion should and always will have a place in modern society. Religion of course has caused a lot of hatred between people and initiated wars. Religion in Northern Ireland definitely impacts the society as there is a lot of discrimination and a huge divide between Protestants and Catholics. Religion will always be a topic of controversy as people will never agree on one universal religion and I do think it does and will continue to have a impact on modern society and will always have its place.

Online adult industry

Online adult industry
When we picked our subject choices for e-business all the boys immediately wanted to learn about the online adult industry. I was a bit apprehensive about this subject as I didn’t wish to view such explicit material. Luckily I didn’t have to and instead I learned some really interesting statistics about the online adult industry. In the United States the online adult industry makes $1 billion dollars per year in revenue. This figure is also expected to grow somewhere between $5 billion and $7 billion in the next few years. 12 % of all websites are pornographic. 25% of all search engine requests are pornographic. Every second $89 dollars is spent on the industry. 266 new porn websites are created every day. This is crazy to me as I never expected these statistics in a million years. Different people have different opinions toward the online porn industry as some people believe it’s immoral. My own opinion is that people should be free to watch what they like as long as all members involved are willing and over the age of 18. My only concern would be children accessing these sexually explicit materials on the internet and also people becoming obsessed or dependant on the online adult industry.

social network/ social media

A social network is a social structure made from individuals who want to communicate with each other. They communicate through social media which is a media designed to be spread through social interaction. Social media uses the internet and web-based technologies to change 1 to 1 media monologues into 1 to many media dialogues. Social media can be defined as “a group of Internet based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of web 2.0, and that allows the creation and exchange of user generated content” Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein. Social networks are very popular and examples include Facebook, bebo, and my space. I know in addicted to social networks as they are great way of communicating with other. I use them more regularly since my year abroad in France. I can keep in contact with all the people I studied with in France from all over the world very easily on Facebook. I can easily say Im addicted.

Erasmas year abroad

3RD YEAR ABROAD
I spent my 3rd year of collage in France Lyon. Lyon is the 2nd largest city in France and is a beautiful city. My collage was called The Catholic University of Lyon, Esdes. I loved the collage and all the classes. The collage was situated in the middle of the city which was really cool because I was constantly exposed to the French city culture which was people sitting in cafes sipping their espressos and smoking cigarettes and people walking their midget dogs. No it wasn’t quite like this really.  I got the chance to study with people from all over the world which was an incredible experience. I studied geopolitics while in France and thinking back how often do you get the chance to study geopolitics with people from all over the world. I learned a lot from the other Erasmus students and have met many friends for life. It is great having a network of people from all over the world from Singapore to Russia to Canada. I really think it was the best year of my life to date and I would strongly recommend it to anyone.

NAMA

The government is implementing a new initiative in October 2009 called NAMA (National asset management agency) which is similar to a debt collection agency. This new initiative involves the banks giving €80- 90 billion of development loan debts to the National Asset Management Agency with the agencies objective being to collect as much money from those loans as possible in terms of interest and capital over the next number of years. NAMA is putting some companies at serious risk if they are not able to pay as NAMA will seize their land and assets and probably force the company into bankruptcy. NAMA could also have a positive impact on companies if they decide to let the interest build up until our economy becomes more stable. Debt collectors are usually thought of with poor regard just like Ebenezer scrooge was in Christmas carol. It will be interesting to see NAMA’s strategies and the positive or negative effect it has on companies.

Mobile commerce

Mobile commerce
Mobile commerce is simply conducting commerce over the mobile. It’s all in the name really. A detailed definition of it which I got of the web is “Mobile commerce is any transaction, involving the transfer of ownership or rights to use goods and services, which is initiated and/or completed by using mobile access to computer- mediated networks with the help of an electronic device”. Mobile commerce initiated in Finland Helsinki in 1997 when the first coca cola mobile phone vending machines were installed. Also in 1997 Merita bank of Finland using SMS started using mobile phone based banking service. Then again in 1998 Finland again was innovative and ahead of everyone else when the 1st digital content sales was made possible through downloading commercial ringing tones to mobile phones. Mobile commerce only came about in 1997 yet it is now active in many people’s daily lives. Finland must be praised as they were the innovators of mobile commerce

Search Engine Optimisation

Serach engine optimisation is the designing and updating of a website that is likely to show up in organic listings for relevent user queries. Advantages include listings is guarateed and instant, flexible as it allows for trial error, search engine provides reporting and context geo targeting. Disadvantages include high start up costs and also ongoing charges, users are also less likely to click, requires daily management, and competition with deeper pockets can outbid you.

E-Business

Im in my E-business practical class at the moment. E-business is a very important part of my marketing degree as marketing has and is increasingly moving online. I find it quite an interesting class as long as it doesn't get too techy. It should be enjoyable though and Mr Cooney did say its our most important class. :)

Silence tonight

Collage has begun this week!!! Yeeahh!!! Heading out tonight, prob to Silence which will be crazy because everyone from collage will be out!!! Im very excited!! x