Week 5: E-Learning

How will learning be like in a year, even five years from now? Nobody can tell. Just a couple of months ago, a school in the US made iPads mandatory for all students. Now wouldn't you like to be a student there, renting an iPad for a small fee per month and having all your textbooks and materials in one device? No messy notes! No forgetting to bring assignments, because they are all in your iPad!

I'd like it better if I could have the option to stream my lectures directly from iTunes U though, especially if I couldn't wake up for class in time. Not only can I keep up with school, I can virtually crash any lectures I wish on subjects that I actually like and learn at my own pace, without having to take any exams at all!

If you've never heard of iTunes U before, check this out:

And notice these courses aren't from random, unknown universities. These are famous universities.

Unfortunately, exams and homework are still part and parcel of a student's life, and honestly we all wish for homework help once in awhile. That's where sites like Student of Fortune come in; it's a community-based e-learning system where students post their questions and learn concepts online, while the online tutors (anyone can sign up) get paid for the help they give.

Awesome, right? Now why wasn't this concept up when I was studying subjects like chemistry and physics?!

But let's not digress. With the power of videos, there's hardly anything you can't learn on the internet these days. Be it cooking, playing the guitar or web designing, just go to YouTube's How-To section for all the resources to get you going.

Week 4: The Future of E-Commerce

So every mother, son, father, daughter is already on the Internet. Time to get your business a slice of the e-commerce pie, right?

Before you dive head-first into e-commerce, make sure you understand the dynamics of the online culture first.

Let's cover the most basic form of e-marketing: Emails, Facebook and Twitter.

The big trio that every single company wants a part of certainly can't go wrong, right? Wrong. From personal experience, how many of you constantly delete junk emails and unsubscribe from mailing lists? "Unlike" a business because they were too annoying? Now think about why you did that. Mashable has a good idea how misusing these platforms turn people off.

Personally, these are my 4 most important criteria to decide if a company stays on my list or not:

1. Don't be annoying. Stop spamming our inboxes / walls too frequently
2. Make sure you have something of value to offer the customer
3. Don't be pushy and too promotional
4. Try to build brand loyalty, stop gunning for one-off sales

But understanding how it works now isn't enough. You don't want to be a laggard, do you? It is also important to monitor marketing trends and where businesses are heading to. And that future is in m-commerce: Mobile-commerce, that is. 

Here's are reasons why businesses need m-commerce and even more fascinatingly, how m-commerce will transform the traditional commerce experience. Read it and be enlightened. 

If all else fails, there's nothing like the old school method of using a novel way to catch the attention of potential customers and making them smile while offering them something extra in return. Here's how car rental company SIXT did it: 

Week 3: Twitter Hot Under Pursuit

Facebook and Google are now engaged in talks with Twitter, each of them hoping to buy over the service.

Not that it's anything new, actually. Facebook first tried to buy Twitter in 2008 for $500 million, then Google tried to buy Twitter in 2009. Both of them failed.

Google and Facebook both got Fail Whale-d! 

So even after being rebuffed once by Twitter, why are these two companies still clamoring over it and attempting to buy it at, *gasp*, $10 billion? 

Why Facebook Wants Twitter

It's simple. Facebook has over 120 million users. Twitter has 60 million. If they buy Twitter, Facebook will practically monopolize the social networking industry, since the union of the two biggest players in the market can almost guarantee the annihilation of the rest of the struggling social networking sites. 

That'll be the final nail in the coffin for sites like MySpace. Tom would be so sad. 

Imagine, Facebook and Twitter being completely integrated, with such a database of information given freely by the users all available for sale to market researchers and advertisers. Facebook will be rolling in wads of cash, and they'll give Google a run for their money. 

Which brings me to....

Why Google Desperately Needs Twitter

Google has absolutely zero presence in the social networking industry right now. Alright so they have Google Buzz. But who uses it? The closest thing they have to social networking is YouTube, and still it does not offer as much interaction and flexibility as Twitter.

Also, if they acquire Twitter, this would make their search engine business more comprehensive and diverse. Instant updates around the world, and people might even turn there for breaking news and other newsworthy issues!

And let's face it. Google's current main competitors are Facebook and Apple. Apple's trying to dabble in social networking too, even though their efforts remain lukewarm. How can Google be left out? They're trying to stay ahead of competition and since they can't grow a successful social networking site, they'll just have to buy one that's already doing well.

Plus, Google is filthy rich, and they can afford it anyway.