The Rise of the Bureaucratic State Essay Example for Free

The Rise of the Bureaucratic State Essay The bureaucracy has been constantly growing since its beginning. At the end of the Federalist period, only 3,000 civilian officials were appointed; then in 1925 about half a million were employees in the bureaucracy. However, the size of the bureaucracy is completely insignificant. What matters is the amount of power that can be exercised by the members of the bureaucratic agencies. The author, James Q. Wilson, provides an example that in 1971, the federal government provided fifty four million dollars to various social security programs, however, the Social Security Administration only employed 73,000 people at the time. The increases in the size of the bureaucratic agencies affect the executive branch of the government. For example, from 1816 to 1861, the employment in the executive branch increased from 4,837 to 36,672. However, eighty six percent of this growth was the result of additions to the postal service. After 1861, many new departments were formed relating to agriculture, labor and commerce, which have led to a clientelisitc (client oriented) bureaucracy. In addition, the government began to formally give bureaucratic recognition to the many peculiar interests in the economy. The author concludes that the bureaucratic clentelism becomes self-perpetuating in the absence of some crisis or scandal. In addition, the separation of powers makes it difficult to permit the enactment of a new program or the creation of a new agency. After reading this article, I was surprised that some agencies associated with agriculture control the flow of billions of dollars in expenditures and loans. Furthermore, local committees of farmers, private farm organizations dominate policy making in some areas.

Implementation of a Risk Communication Plan

Implementation of a Risk Communication Plan Following the reported deaths of hundreds of birds in Esperance in Western Australian between December 2006 and March 2007, it was discovered that lead being transported through the towns port were responsible for their deaths. However, much of the community was unaware of this until it became public as part of the investigation into bird deaths in the local environment. Esperance saw itself as an idyllic rural community, with a sound economic basis, but removed from the problems associated with cities, such as pollution. Once the lead problem was identified, residents became very concerned about their childrens health and demanded immediate action. In order to address the concerns of the affected parties, a risk communication plan is essential so as the risk assessment team is able to improve risk understanding among target groups, disclose information about hazards to people whom might be exposed, legitimise risk-related decisions in favor of acceptance or rejection of specific risk sources. It also has the role to breakdown the risk management process to the target audience so that assessors can build up trust in the risk fairness of the management process while at the same ensuring that there is enough individual risk reduction information to improve public protection. Finally the risk communication plan promotes support towards the communicating agency as it provides guidelines for emergency situations and educates decision-makers about public concerns and perceptions. (Sue Lang, Lorna Fewtrell and Jamie Bartram, 2001, p.320) There are multiple stakeholders involved in this crisis, starting with the residents of the community, governmental departments such as the department of water, environment and planning, local businesses, the companies exporting the metals, the port authorities and media. A risk communication (RC) needs assessment was run prior in order to identify the major stakeholders involved in the in this crisis and to identify the issues of concerns of for each group, the goals from the interaction with each group and be able to choose and adequate technique of approach to each type of stakeholder. The RC needs assessment had led to understand that various stakeholders had different issues of interests and concerns and that whether their concerns were, the techniques of approach to them may overlap. The key stakeholders were identified to be the residents of Esperence, health department, water department, port authorities, tourism operators, business owners, the media, local authorities and department of environment, local government and department of planning. The key issues noted during the assessment were the risk to the health of the residents, risks to local businesses such as tourism, relocation of locals, and panic within the community due to health hazards. The table below identifies the issues that meant to be addressed in a risk communication plan and how they are link to the plans goal together with the activities needed to be carried out so as to reach the goals. It should also be noted that descending order of the issues representative of the priority given to each individual issue. (R Brian Pickard, Risk Communication Plan Guidance,   2013 p.24) ISSUES TO BE ADDRESSED PLANS GOALS ACTIVITIES Local residents concerns regarding the hazards Provide the residents necessary   and adequate information to address their concerns Provide information to the residents by activities such as distributing information on physical or electrical mediums. Develop and maintain relationships and supports two-way communication with public community groups, and the news media. Concerns of the health department regarding crisis Provide them with the outreach of the crisis; how many people are affected and to which extent. Maintain direct communication for health persons via phone, email or in person. So that they received necessary data as they require it. Level of information between assessors and Department of water Share findings obtain through research to concerned department so it knows where they stand and how they can mitigate the situation Ensure that they receive   tangible information in terms of documents and findings which they can consult and base action plan upon Concerns about treat to local businesses. Assess impact of contamination on local businesses. Hold meeting with the concerned stakeholders and discuss ways by which they are being affected and try find solutions. Department of planning Provide the department expected outcomes in case of an imminent crisis Ensure that they receive   tangible information in terms of documents and findings which they can consult and base action plan upon Nature and types of information being released by the media Audit the quality of information being released to the press. Monitoring of information released through various media outlets; websites, newspapers, television and radio by appointing media trackers Threat to port activities and jobs at stake Assess situation and find possible links between issues and port. Minimize potential risk of activities shutdown. Meet with responsible of activities and discuss Communication at all stages of the program is important. People need to be informed about key developments so they will be able to make the most of the program. Information should be disclosed to community members throughout the program, especially before starting key activities, before making changes to the program and upon encountering delays. The order/timing in which information is disclosed to the various stakeholders depends upon who they represent in the community and the value of their feedback so that when a wider public is informed, the risk assessment plan has already been revised to that it understood by the majority of the stakeholders. The resources to be deployed for the risk communication plan relies greatly on the budget allocated to the assessment. While a great part of the resources remain man power which favors easier communication, builds up trust among the community, provides for skills for data collection and analysis depending upon the budget communication methods such as mass media and dedicated can employed, else inexpensive methods inexpensive, such as sharing information at community meetings, working with community and committees creating simple posters can be used., There are various challenges that might hinder the implementation of this; unwillingness for stakeholders to cooperate, coordinate risk communication messages among multiple communicators who are communicating about the same issue or time constraints. (Cabinet Implementation Unit Toolkit, 2013, p.3). The roles and responsibilities in order to implement the risk communication plan correctly are as listed below. ROLE RESPONSIBILITIES Public Information Officer Implement risk communication plan and directs information disclosure Provide information to stakeholder through various mediums Create and uphold two conversation between all stakeholders .Maintains current information summaries and/or displays on the incident. Responsible to communicate information to   pertinent staff Develop presentations for utility executives Prepare responses to constituent inquiries. Content and Message Coordinator Develops pathways to receive information rapidly from various institutes regarding public health emergencies and works with available subject matter experts to create situation-specific fact sheets and updates. Media Coordinator . Assesses media needs (e.g., briefings, statements) and bridges the gap between the public and sources Direct Public Outreach Coordinator Responsible for public service announcement and initiates telephone information line Partner/Stakeholder Coordinator Sets up communication protocols based on agreements with identified partners and stakeholders. Media Tracker Monitors available internally and externally identifies misinformation, provides, assess the quality of communication, takes action to amend wrong information, tracks press releases, monitors news outlets and web sites, and drives away (stories that may or may not be true)

Transformational leadership style of influence

Transformational leadership style of influence ABSTRACT This piece of work will critically evaluate the approaches of transformational leadership, which enhance employee well being. It will delve into the meaning of transformational leadership and the necessary leadership approach or style that can influence employee well- being positively at work, and areas of employee well- being the leadership approach will improve. Also the overall implication that employee well-being has on performance and why it should be a core value in any organisation will be analyzed. INTRODUCTION One of the current approaches to leadership that has been the focus of much research is the transformational approach. Transformational leadership is part of the new leadership paradigm, which gives more attention to the charismatic and effective elements of leadership. The transformational leadership involves an exceptional style of influence that makes employees to perform beyond expectation. And its approach usually incorporates the charismatic and visionary leadership.(Mullins 2007). The leadership approach is the best suitable for campaigning a strategic vision of change or a new work routines. It facilitates feedbacks learning because the leadership is an effective communicator, who can inspire commitment in the employees towards realisation of the firms vision. The employees under this leadership feels secured, a sense of trust is established and feels valued, respected and important hence they are ready to be committed to the organisations goal. The leadership motivates employees to overcome resistance to change since they trust the leadership; all fears of uncertainty are easily eroded. It is obvious that the leadership of where an employee served will go along a way to give value, emotionally to the employee or the reverse maybe the case. The leadership on focus here is one which will affect employee emotions positively and build trust within the relationship because, It is a leadership that value the employee and is mostly concerned in ensuring that the employee succeed in the task or organisation goal set. All businesses seek to be in a good state of well-being, since employee in a perfect emotional, psychological, intellectual and mental state of well-being will successfully perform at a high level and the company will remain efficient and profitable. We will consider some factors or approaches of the transformational leadership that gave it achievement in improving employee well-being. TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP In recent years increasing business competitiveness and the need for the most effective use of human resources has resulted in writers on management focusing attention on how leaders revitalise or transform organisations (Laurie Mullins 2007). The transformational leadership uses strategic influences and techniques that empower employees and enhance their self-efficacy and change their values, norms and attitudes, consistent with the vision developed by the leadership which will positively enhance psychological well-being. On the other hand transactional leadership influences employees with the use of power, sanctions, rewards and formal authority to induce followers compliance behaviour (Bass 1985; CongerKanungo 1998) According to (Burns 1978) transformational leadership was defined as a process where leadership (employers) and followers (employees)engage in a mutual process of raising one another to higher levels of morality and motivation. Burns M. J was the first to bring about the concept of transformational leadership to prominence in his extensive research into leadership theories. Effective transformational leaders are those who inspires and According to Whitehead (Mullins,L. 2007) â€Å"the big word now associated with leadership is vision. The ability to see the bigger picture, to take the long-term view. What the ultimate objectives of the organisation are and how people can work together to achieve them..perhaps the most important attribute is that a good leadership inspires people by creating a climate where it is OK for people to make mistakes and learn from them, rather than what happened in the past which was to blame and punish them. Leading from this position, they gain higher level of commitment from their people than mere compliance†. As its name implies transformational leadership is a process that changes and transforms individuals. It is concerned with trust, emotions, values, standards and long term goals and includes assessing followers motives, satisfying their needs and treating them as full human beings. EMPLOYEE WELLBEING There has been many definitions of employee well-being by scholars and related professional bodies. The Chartered Institute of personnel development has defined well-being at work to be â€Å"creating an environment to promote a state of contentment which allows an employee to flourish and achieve at their full potential for the benefit of themselves and their organisation†. (CIPD 2006). The well-being in focus is more than that of physical health of avoiding falling ill or sick. This is as to do with achievement of personal well being that revolves round a number of positive decisions regarding life style, which is different from stress avoidance and not being able to cope. It represents a wider bio-pyscho-social spectrum that includes physical, emotional, mental, and social well-being. It is an initiative to help employee be more proactive at work in order to attain their full potentials-intellectually, mentally and psychologically. Well-being requires the organisation to actively enhance employees to maximise their psychological , intellectual and emotional state of health. The necessary leadership approaches are also of advantage to people at all level both inside and outside the working environment. It modifies the working environment to be highly productive, attractive and corporately responsible place to work. One being an employee will enthusiastically long to always be at work since its an environment that improves one state of mind for productivity, instead of the strictly transactional approach. Every employee prefers that leadership that cares and is ready to help develop you than the type that publicly criticise your flaws. According to Felce and Perry (1995), well-being;â€Å"comprises objective descriptors and subjective evaluations of physical, material, social and emotional well-being together with the extent of personal development and purposeful activity, all weighted by a personal set of values.† This is important because the definition extends the meaning of well-being to a range of different dimensions beyond the conventional health issues which can be stretched further to workplace. Employee wellbeing is an important factor in determining an organisations long term profitability. Many studies show a direct relation between productivity levels and the employee well-being. A happy and healthy employee will be of benefits to the employer since performance will be good, reduction in absenteeism and organisation can achieve the set goals or target. However employer does not necessarily have to focus only on the physical health conditions but more on the mental, psychological and emotional health conditions of employees.(CIPD 2006). To be organisationally effective, employee well-being needs to be part of a regular business dialogue and to be deeply embedded into an organisational leadership culture. And the leadership that has embedded employee well-being in its culture, style and approach is the transformational leadership. Organisational wellbeing involves many things but the most important of it is employees having meaningful and challenging work and having the opportunity to apply their skills and knowledge in effective working relationships (CIPD 2006). TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP APPROACH ENHANCING EMPLOYEE WELLBEING. Researchers have critically measured the approaches of transformational leadership through different ways, by interviews, questionnaires with employees in various organisations and it has been observed from the findings that the leadership has employ the following instruments in enhancing employee well-being at work. According to (Bass1998),the transformational leadership motivates employees/followers to do more than is originally expected and the extent of this transformation is measured by the effectiveness on employees performance. EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE The ability to perceive, observe, and manage employee emotions will enhance a foundation for social, emotional, and intellectual competencies of well-being, which is necessary for high performance on the job. It is ability that transformational leadership can use to improve productivity and psychological well-being in employees. This could be described as a type of social intelligence that involves a sensitive approach of monitoring and observing employees feelings and emotions, in order to use the observation to assist the employees thinking (mental) and action; that is working pattern for good job performance (Salovey Meyer 1990). According to (Fleishman Harris 1962) leadership with the ability to establish mutual trust, respect and good relationship among employees will achieve great productivity. TRUST Every relationship requires trust to survive, if the employees can trust the leadership under which they work, employees will turn out to be proactive on the job and winning the hearts of employees to any new change, lies in the ability of the leadership to influence which will be easier when there exist trust between the two parties. This is an approach a transformational leadership possessed that allays all fears and any form of suspicion from the employees towards their leadership. Building a good relationship like that of a transformational leadership is what makes it easy for trust to and loyalty to grow and employees embrace any new policy set by management and work without any form of threats or unknown anticipated fear. This invariably gives an employee a stable emotional state of mind to perform better. CHARISMATIC APPROACH Transformational leadership behave in ways that allowed them to serve as role models for employees. (Bass,1985) . The leadership is admired, respected, and trusted. Employees are proud to identify with the leadership and desire to imitate them. The leadership is viewed to be possessing extraordinary abilities, persistence and determination. This style is often a natural behaviour of transformational leadership, whose idealised influence emphasizes on having a collective vision by reassuring employees of the fact that , obstacles can be overcame. This leadership can be trusted to do the right thing and to demonstrate high standards of ethical and moral conduct. Invariably employees have confidence in their leadership. INSPIRATIONAL/ MOTIVATIONAL Transformational leadership behaves in a manner that motivate, inspire and encourage the people working with them by providing meaning and challenge to the employees work. This leadership gets work going by being enthusiastic and optimistic and get employees involved in envisioning attractive future states, by creating clearly communicated expectations that employee needs to meet and also show commitment to goals and shared visions.(Bass. B and Riggio E. 2006). According to (Mullins 2007) its been observed by researchers that, for the past30 years there has been increasing amounts of data to suggest that leadership has a lot more to do with inspiration and visions than with straight forward technical competence. INDIVIDUALISED CONSIDERATION This is a leadership approach that listens, and value an employee, in order to give them a sense of belonging in that the employee feels like an integral part of the organisation (Boorstin 2004) from Bernard Bass . Transformational leadership is leadership felt throughout the organisation. It is obvious that employees perform better when they are respected and valued by the leadership. Obviously this leadership style or approach goes a long way to enhance the psychological well being of employees positively and result to greater excellent performance. Every individual loves to be given consideration, which gives them sense of value, and when given a fair hearing puts the employee in a good shape of mind psychologically and emotionally to obtain an excellent performance on the job. A two- way communication is encouraged where management is near to the employee, (the leadership remembers previous discussions, is aware of individual concerns and sees the individual as a whole person rather than just an employee), Bass Riggio. This type of leadership listens effectively and gives special concern to the emotional developmental needs of their employees. INTELLECTUAL STIMULATION Transformational leadership work on the intellectual strength of the employees by encouraging them to be creative and innovative. Soliciting new approaches for the performance of work and attending to task creatively are encouraged by the leadership. The leadership stimulate employees to view problems as challenge and not as obstacle. This leadership does not openly criticise or embarrass individual employees errors or shortfalls. Employees are encouraged to proactively come up with new ideas to solving problems and are not castigated in anyway, simply because their own ideas may differ from the management ideas. Undoubtedly speaking this approach goes along a way in positively stimulating, energising and productively improving the intellectual wellbeing of any employee. When the mind is at its peak or highest level of productivity, the performance will be unspeakably incredibly excellent and organisations image and reputation is improved, services also will be good and more patronage from customers, leading to more profit. However for the employee an environment where one can be productive enhances intellectual growth and a stable and balance mental well being is achieved. This approach mentally empowers an employee to be self dependent, self reliable, accountable and general self development to becoming an expertise is obtained. COACHING This is an essential style of transformational leadership, one leadership beyond the traditional supervisor or manager that tells someone what to do instead showing them how to do it. Coaching by extension is mentoring someone, influencing people by providing new knowledge and skills required for the task. Work activities dont put smile on peoples face, what brings the smile is leadership that mentored, taught and coached employees to be better persons. Transformational leadership pays special attention to each individual employees needs for achievement and self development by acting as a coach or mentor. Employee individual differences in terms of needs and desires are recognised and are therefore developed to successively higher levels of potential. This approach is more realisable in a supportive environment with new learning opportunities. Bass describes this approach further as a type where the leadership behaviour demonstrates good understanding of individual differences for in stance in a situation where the leadership give some employees more encouragement, some are more empowered, some more firm standards, and others possible more task structure. The leadership coach by task delegation and proper monitoring of it to develop the employee and give direction and assistance where necessary and assess the progress without employee feeling being overly controlled rather appreciate the leadership style of taking time to coach and mentor. EFFECTS OF TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP ON EMPLOYEE WELL-BEING TO HIGH PERFORMANCE. Transformational leadership in its leadership style has effectively built trust between employees and management and this usually lead to a smooth and pleasant working relationship that does not give room to suspicion in case of any change in policy or organisational change. Employees trust the leadership and they in turn are committed and loyal to the organisation. The employee is in a perfect emotional state of mind, since there is no fear of unknown or any need to panic. However, the trust sometimes could lead to exploitation since leadership knows that employees so rely on every of their judgement this but its been argued that the integrity of the transformational is to ensure the individual development of the employees. This leadership cares and is concerned about the employees and also inputs the companys value in the minds of employee and constantly reminds them of the vision and goal to the realisation of a high performance. The leadership that gives attention to individual consideration is able to identify each individual strength and weakness and of course will be able to train and develop them without compares but handle them based on each persons capacity (the leadership give some employees more encouragement, some are more empowered, some more firm standards, and others possible more task structure according to their capability and needs). This leadership style improves the employee well-being psychologically since the employee is treated uniquely and not measured by the others standard or ability, it gives an employee sense of acceptance and is uniquely assessed and assisted where necessary. Employee is psychologically, emotionally and intellectually motivated to perform without fear of others is better, here employees are treated as ends and not just means.(Bass and Steidlmeier 1999). The more capable that leadership is able to recognise the personal interests and concerns of individual employee, the very likely leadership will be able to create a team where employee well-being is an integral part of getting the job done.(CIPD 2006 Journal). In a scenario where an employee under performs an emotional intelligent leadership like the transformational leadership is quick to observe that something could be wrong instead of criticising ,that leadership initiate a good relationship by communicating with the employee to know what the problem is. By so doing the employee is mentally, socially and psychologically restored, and of course performance will improve, resulting to organisational profitability. Thus, it is of necessity to reiterate that the well-being of employee goes a great way in affecting performance and in turn the organisations as a whole. The effect of intellectual stimulation on employee well-being cannot be overly emphasized. Employee is allowed to think independently, given room to be creative and allowed to do things in their own unique way which improves employee mental state of well-being. Generally speaking when there are strong relationships like that of a transformational leadership, between employees and line managers to the top managers and management as a whole, levels of well-being are enhanced. The level of performance will also be immeasurably excellent and the organisational goal is realised. One major effect of transformational leadership style is that it perfectly erodes power distance via the leadership style of delegation which gives employee a measure of autonomy to take decisions on the task delegated to be implemented. The leadership style encourages low power distance and create room for accountability and in over all gives opportunity for employees to be self efficient and of course an avenue to learn. Employees are to an extent empowered under this leadership and of course will feel valued and important, this feeling improve employees intellectual and psychological state, a feeling of empowerment and importance is essential for a positive psychological well-being. The leadership foster team work allowing every employee to participate and enhancing good relationship to the realisation of self efficacy and high performance. CONCLUSION The leadership approach has a great effect on employee well-being, because how one is been treated goes a long way in affecting the individual thinking and hence the behaviour. In order words, it is argued that transformational leadership should be a core value for organisations that will embed employee well-being in its culture and style of leadership.(Bass 1998). RECOMMENDATION I strongly recommend the transformational leadership style to be a core value to organisations in the embedding of employee well-being, based on my findings that it is the type of leadership that motivate, inspire, stimulate, and mentor employee to a mental, emotional balance and good psychological state of well-being, which will ultimately lead to a high excellent performance of employee productivity and to the organisations profitability advantage. I perfectly support the transformational leadership style in the embedding of employee well-being and recommend it to the Nigerian banking industry as particularly. However, my judgement is also based on my personal experience with my manager who has no single traits of transformational leadership in her approach, my manager was the type that does not have any relationship with the team, i was in the marketing team in the bank at that time, she does not listen to individual needs or concern, she announces and criticise the team errors, even individual weak point and it was always a sad moment at work because of her attitude, she was seen has a bully. When I changed job and joined stanbic bank, it was a different ball game altogether because the stanbic leadership style was very different, since the transformational leadership approach was a core value being an international bank. The transformational leadership style positively affected my intellectual, psychological, and emotional well-being, to the fact that i performed better and even got promoted. I will at anytime vote and argue in support of this leadership style because have been through it has an employee and i know how a good leadership can enhance employee well-being.

Nikes Plan for China Essay -- Nike Sales Retail Business Marketing Es

Nike's Plan for China Nike is already a global power house, however the potential to increase sales in China was the topic of the most recent annual investor meeting. One may question Nike’s preoccupation with China. After all, Nike China is dominant. They are currently the number one brand with the number one market share while competitors Reebok and Adidas are in 4th and 5th places respectively. They have tripled revenue in the last two years. With 2000 points of sale, 400 stores in the top three cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou) and 50 cities with 3 or more stores, Nike is primed to begin pushing into the second tier cities. Let’s examine â€Å"why China? â€Å" Socially, China presents a portrait of change. The attitudes and preferences of today's generation of "twenty-something" consumers diverges markedly from those of their parents' generation. In fact, in the economically churning coastal cities, this gap is as wide as ever and growing, leading to comparisons between China toda y and the 1960s in Europe and the United States. Nike sees a large and growing market for its products in China. China has: †¢ 20% of the world’s population. †¢ 50 million middle class households. †¢ 430 million youth under the age of 20 (5X the number of youth in the US). †¢ 50 million middle class households –- which will grow to 150 million in next 10 years. †¢ 65% of its youth involved in sports. †¢ A consumer market that embraces brands -- particularly Western brands. †¢ 300 million people expected to move from rural areas to the cities in the next 10 years. With this information in mind, Nike has created a strategic marketing plan to strengthen their position in the China market. The Global supply chain is in place, now they just need a strategy. But, before Nike can execute their well laid plans, they must first do a little damage control. In 2004, Nike advertisements featuring basketball star LeBron James slaying a Chinese dragon and a kung fu master were banned in China and met with a flurry of criticism. The TV commercial offended government regulators because it showed an American sports icon defeating the dragon, a symbol of Chinese culture, and the martial arts master, a symbol of national pride. Nike clearly disrespected the Chinese culture, and was forced to pull the ads and apologize. Nike spokeswoman Shelley Peng said th... ...arket. However, Nike's estimates suggest it will maintain its lead in China after the merger. Nike said it has 30 percent of the Chinese athletic market, trailed by Adidas's 19 percent. The inclusion of Reebok will catapult Adidas's share to 27 percent. How is Nike’s strategy working? A survey asked Chinese which brands were the coolest. The results came in: Nike 52%; Adidas 38%; Reebok 15%; Li-Ning 13%; and New Balance 10%. Bibliography Nike China (NKE) growing fast (4Q05 conf call) The China Stock Blog Brands in Transition: Making it Work in China 2005/04/12 by Christopher Millward, Beijing This Month Nike China (NKE) growing fast (4Q05 conf call) The China Stock Blog 2005 Business Report & Independent Online, www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=2337753 2005 Business Report & Independent Online, www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=2337753 Nike China (NKE) growing fast (4Q05 conf call) The China Stock Blog CSRwire, http://www.csrwire.com/article.cgi/2411.html Beijing This Month, featured in Business Beijing, July 2005 China Daily Online. Adidas, Reebok vie against Nike for China market(Bloomberg) 2005-08-09 10:31 JUNE 29, 2005 -- Nike Investor Day Recap

Ethics of Cookies Essay -- Technology Computers Internet Essays

Ethics of Cookies eth ·ic 1 plural but singular or plural in construction : the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation 2 a : a set of moral principles or values b : a theory or system of moral values <the present-day materialistic ethic> c plural but singular or plural in construction : the principles of conduct governing an individual or a group <professional ethics> d : a guiding philosophy HTTP cookie <World-Wide Web> A packet of information sent by an HTTP server to a World-Wide Web browser and then sent back by the browser each time it accesses that server. Cookies can contain any arbitrary information the server chooses and are used to maintain state between otherwise stateless HTTP transactions. Typically this is used to authenticate or identify a registered user of a web site without requiring them to sign in again every time they access that site. Other uses are, e.g. maintaining a "shopping basket" of goods you have selected to purchase during a session at a site, site personalisation (presenting different pages to different users), tracking a particular user's access to a site. This day and age, it is undisputed that computers are one of the greatest tools for a person to have, and a not having a connection to the internet is a dreadful; thought for others. The programs that are used by internet servers are a technology that advance so quickly, that it is difficult for a user to know with what he or she is exactly interacting. For example, if a user were to be browsing through a web site to buy a product, the web site (the server) could build a cookie for the user. The information that a cookie collects is claimed to be harmless by the w... ...may be one answer to this fear of privacy protection but, ultimately it is the responsibility of the internet users and servers to stay informed of the many different risks of the internet. Bibliography Glassberg, Richy. "Don't Fear the Cookie Monster." Mediaweek. 2 Oct. 2000: IQ38. Santa Clara University Expanded Academic Index. The Gale Group. 15 Nov. 2000. <http://w.../purl=rcl_EAIM_0_A66014940&dyn=5!xrn_4_0_A66014940?sw_aep=scuweb_cn> "How Web Servers' Cookies Threaten Your Privacy." Junk Busters. 14 Nov. 2000 <http://www.junkbusters.com/ht/en/cookies.html> Lawler, Barbera. "Hot button: online privacy." Silicon Valley News. 5 Nov. 2000. San Jose Mercury News. 15 Nov 2000 <http://www.mercuryce...news/viewpoints/docs/Soapbox05.htm> "Persistent Cookie FAQ." Cookie Central. 14 Nov 2000. <http://www.cookiecentral.com/faq.htm>

Advertising in Social Media

Over the past several years our economy has been struggling, to say the least. The economies struggles reflect on everyone. Most people had to change and somewhat scale down their lifestyles in order to cope with the struggling economy. The people began to realize that things were going to be tough for a while and began to prioritize their income. This effected how companies chose to advertise their products. Social media was seen as the most effective and appealing outlet to advertise to the new money conscious consumer base.The economic downturn over the last few years has hurt print advertising. Consumers prefer to get free product information on social media sites, opposed to going out to the store to purchase a newspaper or magazine. All though it is more expensive to advertise on social media sites than it is to advertise using other media outlets, companies get a much greater return on their investment from social media. The vastly growing consumer base and the high return on investment make social media outlets very effective advertising platforms, despite the struggling economy.Twitter and Facebook are among the top social media outlets that companies use for advertising their brand. Twitter advertises through â€Å"tweets† these are short messages describing what the company is trying to offer. Tweets are effective because consumers are more likely to read them because of their short length. These tweets can also be linked to the companies website or other social media accounts, allowing for greater consumer interaction. Twitter generates excellent return on investment because consumers have to seek out a company in order to follow their tweets.After a consumer is following a company, the company’s tweets show up on the consumer’s home page. This allows a product to be promoted in real time, keeping it fresh in the consumers mind. Facebook offers a more detailed advertising platform compared to Twitter. Companies can create a Face book page that allows them to post videos, links, photos, and more detailed descriptions of the product. This is effective because it allows the consumer to see and interact with what they are getting. Facebook also allows for consumers to give their personal feedback about the product in the form of wall posts.This generates talk and conversation between different facebook users and also between consumers and the company itself. Feedback like this helps the company create more effective advertisements or improve on their products. Companies can also create facebook event pages about upcoming sales, events, drink specials, food specials, fundraisers, or anything else. Social Media networks allow companies to advertise their product on an individual level. This is exciting because it gives the consumer an opportunity to interact directly with a particular company, via tweets, blog posts, or facebook posts.Direct interaction instills a sense of loyalty to the consumer, which generates good word of mouth reviews. This word of mouth advertising from social media sites comes in the form of â€Å"reposts† and â€Å"retweets† of comments and posts made by the company. By repeating these messages, more people are able to see what the company has to offer which brings more traffic to the product and company. This creates a larger following and brings in potential customers. The availability of social media apps on cell phones brings great excitement to the advertising world.Cell phones keep consumers linked to social media at all times. This is great for both the consumer and the product. The consumer can be instantly updated with information about a product or events that a company is hosting with real time information. With this technology, advertisements are always in sight. This is a key component to making sure the consumer always knows about products availability, relevance, usefulness, and its capabilities. It is also very useful in reminding consu mers about brand events or sales.All though social media is a great and effective tool for advertising, it does have some drawbacks that can be very costly. Social Media accounts for millions of dollars in company damages every year. By the way things go viral on the Internet, the smallest mishaps can blow up to be a big controversy. For example, there was a viral video on YouTube that portrayed a Domino’s employee doing very inappropriate things with pizza ingredients. This obviously did not sit well with the public and really hurt Domino’s consumer base.

Facebook Addiction Disorder

Article 1 Title : Online Social Networking and Addiction Writer(s) : Daria J. Kuss and Mark D. Griffiths Source : www. mdpi. com/journal/ijerph Social Networking Sites (SNS) or in this case Facebook has been causing serious addiction amongst individuals these days. This situation is no longer seen as an addiction but as a serious mental health issue. People these days spend majority of their time online by surfing Facebook in their virtual community. Psychologists describe this scenario as ‘Facebook Addiction Disorder’ (FAD).This disorder is seen as an addiction because the individual who is said to be addicted to Facebook actually confronts similar criteria as other addictive activities. One is said to be having FAD due to the increase in time spent on Facebook. Besides that, FAD also increases individualistic culture among its users. Moreover, egocentrism is another factor that contributes to this problem since it may induce addictive characteristics within the particu lar individual. This is mainly down to attraction which is the key factor to Facebook Addiction Disorder.Furthermore, like any other addiction, this issue has its symptoms as well. The author has addressed several symptoms that can be used to classify a person as a Facebook addict. Negligence of personal life, mental preoccupation, escapism, mood modifying experiences, tolerance, and concealing the addictive behavior are among the symptoms that can be seen in a Facebook addict. These symptoms are detrimental to one’s mental health and well being because the person spends too much of time and energy in a virtual world.The effects of Facebook addiction or behavioral-related addiction and substance-related addiction is suggested to be the same as both have negative consequences on the addict as time goes by. (259 words) Article 2 Title : Facebook Addiction Disorder – The 6 Symptoms of F. A. D. Writer : Amy Summers Source : www. socialtimes. com This article touches on the issue of Facebook Addiction Disorder, amongst teenagers and its effect on their surroundings. This occurrence is the latest obsession and a virtual object of craze amongst teenagers.This is mainly due to Facebook being the current big thing everywhere that even family members of the teenagers till educated professionals are going mad over the social networking site. These teenagers tend to go overboard when they participate in this phenomenon as it is a trend that is considered uber- cool and they become obsessive about it. â€Å"Facebook Addiction Disorder† (FAD) is a condition which is defined by hours spent on Facebook by a person. The time spent is said to be affecting the balance of an individual’s life.There are six key symptoms mentioned by the author for this disorder. Firstly, a person with FAD will be spending so much time on the site which leads to a stage where they need it in order to obtain satisfaction. Besides, reducing normal social or recreational ac tivities, they will also plan virtual dates as instead of meeting their partner somewhere, they will ask their partner to be online at a certain time. Other than that, the friends list of an addict will mostly have strangers rather than the ones they know in real life.Finally, the sign of complete addiction is when they introduce themselves to someone and promise to see them on Facebook. Parents who try to help their children out of this problem, turn out to be more addicted than their teenage kids. (257 words) REFLECTION Facebook. Something that started off within the walls of Harvard University in 2004 has been ruling the world for the past half decade. Newborn babies to near death grannies and even animals these days have a profile on this social networking site. This site has been so major that these days the first word that type into the World Wide Web is Facebook. 45 million users in just 8 years is a quite a record for any social networking site in the world. It has been so h yped up that to have a Facebook profile has become a basic need for certain group of people. A tool that is supposed to be used prudently has been used extensively by some individuals so much so that they have become addicted to it. In fact, psychologists in the United States of America came up with the term ‘Facebook Addiction Disorder’ (FAD) back in 2009 as they predicted this syndrome will take the world faster than it took for the site to become global.Well, their prediction has become true. This condition is considered to a serious mental illness these days, even worse since it’s caused by addiction that could be compared to the likes of drugs and cigarettes. Who would’ve thought that a social networking site could spell so much trouble? Based on the two articles, the key point to this disorder is due to the amount of time spent on this site. People tend to spend too much time on this site than actually do something about their lives.Those days when a working man gets his off day, he would be either having a good sleep or spend some quality time with his family, but nowadays the working man would rather spend his off day by enduring a sleepless night just to spend his time on Facebook. This sounds totally ridiculous. In the context of students, they would be glad to chat with their friends online, upload pictures and update their status but they would not bother to even flip through their textbooks or homeworks given by the teacher. This proves that Facebook is affecting people regardless of age limit.The amount of time spent on Facebook shows the level of addiction of the person to the site. Thus, the hypothesis would be that, the more the time taken to use Facebook, the higher the addiction level. A person who is possessed with this global demon is also very dangerous as it may make you oblivious to your surroundings. Facebook addicts do not care about what’s happening around them. However, they would ‘likeâ€℠¢ a certain post about Earth Hour during the hour when all electric appliances should be shut down.This shows how a person can be an environmentalist in the virtual world, but a person with no social awareness in reality. This means that Facebook addicts have another problem, Multiple Personality Disorder because they have two avatars, each in two different worlds, Facebook and reality. This disorder also causes people to be very aggressive. They would be very sad if a friend did not respond to their request to be friends on Facebook. Some of them would even compete with each other to increase their list of friends.This situation could not be considered as something that tickles our funny bones, but it is something that should be thought rationally and seriously since the issue is getting worse day to day. What is the point of adding a thousand people into your profile and chat with them happily online, when you turn your back towards them in reality? Besides that, the majority of g roup that is most affected by this phenomenon are teenagers. Being born in this era of online madness is not a sin, but they are being led into fake world that is given a fancy name of globalization!They think that being on Facebook is the coolest thing to do as a teenager. What a misconception? Students these days do not prefer face to face interaction where as they prefer to virtual communication. Do not be surprised if in the future two people, who won’t even smile at each other, could be best friends on Facebook. If the number of Facebook addicts increase continuously, sooner or later we would be witnessing the growth of an unhealthy generation of youth with no social skills because all this while they never knew how to make friends, socialize or even take part in recreational activities.The major factor to this crisis is because their conceptualization of social life is Facebook. This so called social networking site also happens to social crime networking site lately. O n 18th April 2012, in Pune, India, a 16 year old girl was kidnapped by her Facebook friend whom she had known through the website. After kidnapping her, the accused initially demanded a ransom of Rs 100,000 from her mother. But later fearing police action, he got the girl admitted to a private hospital telling the hospital authorities that he found her ‘wandering' on the road after she was thrown out of a van by some people.What could have happened to the girl if the kidnapper was a psychopath? The consequence would have been unfathomable. This is what happens to certain Facebook addicts who reveal too much of details online. What is the worth of an individual who is deemed as a very private person in reality, where as in the virtual world they reveal everything to everyone? In the working world, those days’ workers were scolded by their employers for talking during their work time; nowadays they are sacked for using Facebook at work.In certain scenarios, the employees are sacked because they update their Facebook status at work, capture pictures while working and also to have the guts to upload it at work. Where is the discipline of the working world going? Why are they being so irresponsible? In a book titled ‘Facebook Addiction’, the author who is an addict himself says that once when he was trying to pack up his laptop, a client called and asked him to work on a website. The moment he opened the internet browser, the first thing he did was, type in â€Å"www. acebook. com† and logged in, he promised to himself to spend only five minutes, he couldn’t resist himself and spent eight hours on the website. On top of that, in terms of relationships, Facebook addicts do not have a proper life there either; there have been reported cases in America, of young married couples who file for divorce. In a survey conducted by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML), researchers found that Facebook was mentioned in 1 out of every 5 divorces in the United States.Some of the cases were due to lack communication between couples because one of the partners was always busy updating his Facebook status rather than actually communicating with his wife. Before marriage, messaging through the site could be fun or romantic, however post marital relationship requires commitment and real communication. These cases have proved that Facebook Addiction Disorder has been the major cause of many serious problems from school to the confinements of our home. If this scenario continues, this disorder could get into the line along serious mental illnesses.We as educators will be facing great dilemmas as the students would be more passive socially in reality, to overcome it we have to teach them in a condition where there is no active interaction between teacher and a student. However, if we stand with our hands folded, one day we might see the portrait of our society in the obituary column in the newspapers. APPENDIX A rticle 1 Title : Online Social Networking and Addiction Writer(s) : Daria J. Kuss and Mark D. Griffiths Source : www. mdpi. com/journal/ijerph â€Å"I’m an addict.I just get lost in Facebook† replies a young mother when asked why she does not see herself able to help her daughter with her homework. Instead of supporting her child, she spends her time chatting and browsing the social networking site . This case, while extreme, is suggestive of a potential new mental health problem that emerges as Internet social networks proliferate. Newspaper stories have also reported similar cases, suggesting that the popular press was early to discern the potentially addictive qualities of social networking sites.Such media coverage has alleged that women are at greater risk than men for developing addictions to SNSs . The mass appeal of social networks on the Internet could potentially be a cause for concern, particularly when attending to the gradually increasing amounts of time p eople spend online . On the Internet, people engage in a variety of activities some of which may be potentially to be addictive. Rather than becoming addicted to the medium per se, some users may develop an addiction to specific activities they carry out online.Specifically, Young argues that there are five different types of internet addiction, namely computer addiction (i. e. , computer game addiction), information overload (i. e. , web surfing addiction), net compulsions (i. e. , online gambling or online shopping addiction), cybersexual addiction (i. e. , online pornography or online sex addiction), and cyber-relationship addiction (i. e. , an addiction to online relationships). SNS addiction appears to fall in the last category since the purpose and main motivation to use SNSs is to establish and maintain both on- and offline relationships.From a clinical psychologist’s perspective, it may be plausible to speak specifically of ‘Facebook Addiction Disorder’ ( or more generally ‘SNS Addiction Disorder’) because addiction criteria, such as neglect of personal life, mental preoccupation, escapism, mood modifying experiences, tolerance, and concealing the addictive behavior, appear to be present in some people who use SNSs excessively. Social Networking Sites are virtual communities where users can create individual public profiles, interact with real-life friends, and meet other people based on shared interests.SNSs are web-based services that allow individuals to: construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system†. The focus is placed on established networks, rather than on networking, which implies the construction of new networks. SNSs offer individuals the possibilities of networking and sharing media content, therefore embracing the main Web 2. attributes, against the framework of their respective structural characteristics. In terms of SNS history, the first social networking site (SixDegrees) was launched in 1997, based on the idea that everybody is linked with everybody else via six degrees of separation, and initially referred to as the â€Å"small world problem†. In 2004, the most successful current SNS, Facebook, was established as a closed virtual community for Harvard students. The site expanded very quickly and Facebook currently has more than 500 million users, of whom fifty percent log on to it every day.Furthermore, the overall time spent on Facebook increased by 56% from 2007 to 2008. This statistic alone indicates the exponential appeal of SNSs and also suggests a reason for a rise in potential SNS addiction. Hypothetically, the appeal of SNSs may be traced back to its reflection of today’s individualist culture. Unlike traditional virtual communities that emerged during the 1990s based on shar ed interests of their members, social networking sites are egocentric sites. It is the individual rather than the community that is the focus of attention. Egocentrism has been linked to Internet addiction.Supposedly, the egocentric construction of SNSs may facilitate the engagement in addictive behaviors and may thus serve as a factor that attracts people to using it in a potentially excessive way. This hypothesis is in line with the PACE Framework for the etiology of addiction specificity. Attraction is one of the four key components that may predispose individuals to becoming addicted to specific behaviors or substances rather than specific others. Accordingly, due to their egocentric construction, SNSs allow individuals to present themselves positively that may â€Å"raise their spirits† (i. . , enhance their mood state) because it is experienced as pleasurable. This may lead to positive experiences that can potentially cultivate and facilitate learning experiences that d rive the development of SNS addiction. A behavioral addiction such as SNS addiction may thus be seen from a biopsychosocial perspective . Just like substance-related addictions, SNS addiction incorporates the experience of the ‘classic’ addiction symptoms, namely mood modification (i. e. , engagement in SNSs leads to a favourable change in emotional states), salience (i. e. behavioral, cognitive, and emotional preoccupation with the SNS usage), tolerance (i. e. , ever increasing use of SNSs over time), withdrawal symptoms (i. e. , experiencing unpleasant physical and emotional symptoms when SNS use is restricted or stopped), conflict (i. e. , interpersonal and intrapsychic problems ensue because of SNS usage), and relapse (i. e. , addicts quickly revert back in their excessive SNS usage after an abstinence period). Moreover, scholars have suggested that a combination of biological, psychological and social factors contributes to the etiology of addictions, that may also hold true for SNS addiction.From this it follows that SNS addiction shares a common underlying etiological framework with other substance-related and behavioral addictions. However, due to the fact that the engagement in SNSs is different in terms of the actual expression of (Internet) addiction (i. e. , pathological use of social networking sites rather than other Internet applications), the phenomenon appears worthy of individual consideration, particularly when considering the potentially detrimental effects of both substance-related and behavioral addictions on individuals who experience a variety of negative consequences because of their addiction.Article 2 Title : Facebook Addiction Disorder – The 6 Symptoms of F. A. D. Writer : Amy Summers Source : www. socialtimes. com â€Å"Okay, I admit it. I am truly addicted to Facebook,† said teenage blogger Heidi Barry-Rodriquez in 2007. In 2009, teen Neeka Salmasi described the social networking giant as being â€Å"li ke an addiction†. This year, a casino site mentioned that â€Å"Facebook provides the atmosphere where it is tough to walk away† in a direct comparison to gambling addiction. A quick web search and it becomes appallingly evident that we have a problem.Text messaging is no longer the biggest teenage obsession, and long gone are the days where the biggest worries for parents were celebrity crushes, massive phone bills from ridiculously long phone calls and chocolate overloads. These teenage obsessions still exist, but in today’s day and age, and in comparison to the Facebook craze, they seem rather insignificant. Facebook is taking over the world, and that’s no exaggeration. Everyone from eager-to-fit-in teens to educated business people to intrigued grandparents has joined the phenomenon, and unsurprisingly many teenagers have also caught Facebook fever.And like with many of the latest attention-grabbing trends, some teenagers can go a little overboard when participating in them. Perhaps we join Facebook because everyone has an account and, as teenagers, the need to fit in is just too great, or perhaps there’s just a special something that has helped the social networking site attract so many million people. Teenagers have a tendency to become obsessive with the ‘in’ thing and Facebook, the trend of the decade, is no exception; the question is, have we overdone in? And is there really such thing as Facebook addiction?An American psychologist believes so. In fact, he’s even introduced a new term to describe such an addiction. FAD, or Facebook Addiction Disorder, is a condition that is defined by hours spent on Facebook, so much time in fact that the healthy balance of the individual’s life is affected. It has been said that approximately 350 million people are suffering from the disorder that is detected through a simple set of six-criteria. People who are victims of the condition must have at least 2- 3 of the following criteria during a 6-8 month time period. . Tolerance: This term is used to describe the desperate behavior of a Facebook addict. They spend an increasing amount of time on the site, coming to a stage where they need it in order to obtain satisfaction or on the other extreme, it is having a detrimental effect on them as a person and their life. For the family members and friends who think they are dealing with an addict, a sign to look out for are multiple Facebook windows open. Three or more confirms that they are indeed suffering from this condition. 2.Withdrawal symptoms: These become obvious when one is restricted from using Facebook because they have to participate in normal everyday activities. Common signs are anxiety, distress and the need to talk about Facebook and what might have been posted on their wall in their absence. 3. Reduction of normal social/recreational activities: Someone suffering from FAD will reduce the time spent catching up with friends, playing sport or whatever it is they used to enjoy doing, to simply spend time on Facebook. Instead of catching up with a friend for coffee, they will send a Facebook message.A dinner date will be substituted with a messenger chat. In extreme cases, the person will even stop answering their parent’s phone calls, instead insisting that they use Facebook to contact them. 4. Virtual dates: It is obvious that things are extreme when real dates are replaced with virtual dates. Instead of going to the movies or out to dinner, they tell their partner to be online at a certain time. 5. Fake friends: If 8 out of 10 people shown on their Facebook page are complete strangers, it is undeniable: they have a serious case of FAD. 6.Complete addiction: When they meet new people, they say their name, followed by â€Å"I’ll talk to you on Facebook†, or for those who are extremely bad, â€Å"I’ll see you in Facebook†. Their pets have Facebook pages, and any notifica tions, wall posts, inboxes or friend requests that they receive give them a high, one which can be compared to that gambling addicts get from the pokies or roulette table. So someone believes that addiction to the net is a real condition that needs to be treated just like any other addiction, with care and caution, but is an obsession with Facebook a real condition, or is FAD really just the latest fad?Either way, Facebook obsessions are definitely present in today’s society and whether it is a disorder or not, something needs to be done to fix it. Forget the fancy name and look at the facts. Many people, teenagers in particular, are spending too much time online. People’s lives are being affected because of the hours spent looking at profiles and pictures. Facebook, very beneficial in some ways, is having a detrimental effect on the everyday behaviors of people around the world. Having seen the affects of too much time online firsthand, I know this to be true.Nobody c an possibly disagree when the facts speak for themselves and when an individual’s online ‘life’ becomes more important than their real one; we know that there is a serious problem that needs to be addressed. But, what to do about it? How can we possibly fix a problem that has affected more than a third of the world’s population? That is a question I can’t answer, but I do know that our parents can play an important role, well, that is if the addicted is still young enough to be influenced by their parents. There are two kinds of parents in my area, both from different ends of the spectrum.On one side we have the Facebook haters; the parents who don’t have Facebook, don’t understand Facebook and never want to understand Facebook. On the other side, we have the Facebook lovers, those who act more like their teenage children than their parents. They’ve befriended their kids online, participate in their online conversations, comment on their photos and send messages from the lounge room to the bedroom instead of just walking up the hallway and keeping matters that should be kept private, well, private. Don’t believe me? I completely understand.It definitely sounds strange. But the truth is I actually know people like this and well I can only conclude one thing: that these parents, in an attempt to be their teen’s friend rather than their parent, have also been swept up in the Facebook craze and are now suffering from a similar sort of addiction. The apple really does never land far from the tree. REFERENCES 1. http://www. healthism. com/articles/facebook-addiction 2. http://deaddictioncentres. in/news/facebook-de-addiction-social-dysfunction/ 3. http://columbianewsservice. om/2011/02/the-facebook-relapse-trying-to-defriend-facebook/ 4. http://www. sakaaltimes. com/20120418/5754739842191348023. htm 5. http://socialtimes. com/facebook-addiction-disorder-the-6-symptoms-of-f-a-d_b60403 6. http://www. tomsguide. com/us/facebook-twitter-myspace,news-10312. html 7. http://www. netaddiction. com/index. php? option=com_blog&view= 8. American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders—Text Revision, Fourth Edition; American Psychiatric Association: Washington, DC, USA, 2000 9. Lenhart, A. Social Networking Facebook Addiction Disorder Article 1 Title : Online Social Networking and Addiction Writer(s) : Daria J. Kuss and Mark D. Griffiths Source : www. mdpi. com/journal/ijerph Social Networking Sites (SNS) or in this case Facebook has been causing serious addiction amongst individuals these days. This situation is no longer seen as an addiction but as a serious mental health issue. People these days spend majority of their time online by surfing Facebook in their virtual community. Psychologists describe this scenario as ‘Facebook Addiction Disorder’ (FAD).This disorder is seen as an addiction because the individual who is said to be addicted to Facebook actually confronts similar criteria as other addictive activities. One is said to be having FAD due to the increase in time spent on Facebook. Besides that, FAD also increases individualistic culture among its users. Moreover, egocentrism is another factor that contributes to this problem since it may induce addictive characteristics within the particu lar individual. This is mainly down to attraction which is the key factor to Facebook Addiction Disorder.Furthermore, like any other addiction, this issue has its symptoms as well. The author has addressed several symptoms that can be used to classify a person as a Facebook addict. Negligence of personal life, mental preoccupation, escapism, mood modifying experiences, tolerance, and concealing the addictive behavior are among the symptoms that can be seen in a Facebook addict. These symptoms are detrimental to one’s mental health and well being because the person spends too much of time and energy in a virtual world.The effects of Facebook addiction or behavioral-related addiction and substance-related addiction is suggested to be the same as both have negative consequences on the addict as time goes by. (259 words) Article 2 Title : Facebook Addiction Disorder – The 6 Symptoms of F. A. D. Writer : Amy Summers Source : www. socialtimes. com This article touches on the issue of Facebook Addiction Disorder, amongst teenagers and its effect on their surroundings. This occurrence is the latest obsession and a virtual object of craze amongst teenagers.This is mainly due to Facebook being the current big thing everywhere that even family members of the teenagers till educated professionals are going mad over the social networking site. These teenagers tend to go overboard when they participate in this phenomenon as it is a trend that is considered uber- cool and they become obsessive about it. â€Å"Facebook Addiction Disorder† (FAD) is a condition which is defined by hours spent on Facebook by a person. The time spent is said to be affecting the balance of an individual’s life.There are six key symptoms mentioned by the author for this disorder. Firstly, a person with FAD will be spending so much time on the site which leads to a stage where they need it in order to obtain satisfaction. Besides, reducing normal social or recreational ac tivities, they will also plan virtual dates as instead of meeting their partner somewhere, they will ask their partner to be online at a certain time. Other than that, the friends list of an addict will mostly have strangers rather than the ones they know in real life.Finally, the sign of complete addiction is when they introduce themselves to someone and promise to see them on Facebook. Parents who try to help their children out of this problem, turn out to be more addicted than their teenage kids. (257 words) REFLECTION Facebook. Something that started off within the walls of Harvard University in 2004 has been ruling the world for the past half decade. Newborn babies to near death grannies and even animals these days have a profile on this social networking site. This site has been so major that these days the first word that type into the World Wide Web is Facebook. 45 million users in just 8 years is a quite a record for any social networking site in the world. It has been so h yped up that to have a Facebook profile has become a basic need for certain group of people. A tool that is supposed to be used prudently has been used extensively by some individuals so much so that they have become addicted to it. In fact, psychologists in the United States of America came up with the term ‘Facebook Addiction Disorder’ (FAD) back in 2009 as they predicted this syndrome will take the world faster than it took for the site to become global.Well, their prediction has become true. This condition is considered to a serious mental illness these days, even worse since it’s caused by addiction that could be compared to the likes of drugs and cigarettes. Who would’ve thought that a social networking site could spell so much trouble? Based on the two articles, the key point to this disorder is due to the amount of time spent on this site. People tend to spend too much time on this site than actually do something about their lives.Those days when a working man gets his off day, he would be either having a good sleep or spend some quality time with his family, but nowadays the working man would rather spend his off day by enduring a sleepless night just to spend his time on Facebook. This sounds totally ridiculous. In the context of students, they would be glad to chat with their friends online, upload pictures and update their status but they would not bother to even flip through their textbooks or homeworks given by the teacher. This proves that Facebook is affecting people regardless of age limit.The amount of time spent on Facebook shows the level of addiction of the person to the site. Thus, the hypothesis would be that, the more the time taken to use Facebook, the higher the addiction level. A person who is possessed with this global demon is also very dangerous as it may make you oblivious to your surroundings. Facebook addicts do not care about what’s happening around them. However, they would ‘likeâ€℠¢ a certain post about Earth Hour during the hour when all electric appliances should be shut down.This shows how a person can be an environmentalist in the virtual world, but a person with no social awareness in reality. This means that Facebook addicts have another problem, Multiple Personality Disorder because they have two avatars, each in two different worlds, Facebook and reality. This disorder also causes people to be very aggressive. They would be very sad if a friend did not respond to their request to be friends on Facebook. Some of them would even compete with each other to increase their list of friends.This situation could not be considered as something that tickles our funny bones, but it is something that should be thought rationally and seriously since the issue is getting worse day to day. What is the point of adding a thousand people into your profile and chat with them happily online, when you turn your back towards them in reality? Besides that, the majority of g roup that is most affected by this phenomenon are teenagers. Being born in this era of online madness is not a sin, but they are being led into fake world that is given a fancy name of globalization!They think that being on Facebook is the coolest thing to do as a teenager. What a misconception? Students these days do not prefer face to face interaction where as they prefer to virtual communication. Do not be surprised if in the future two people, who won’t even smile at each other, could be best friends on Facebook. If the number of Facebook addicts increase continuously, sooner or later we would be witnessing the growth of an unhealthy generation of youth with no social skills because all this while they never knew how to make friends, socialize or even take part in recreational activities.The major factor to this crisis is because their conceptualization of social life is Facebook. This so called social networking site also happens to social crime networking site lately. O n 18th April 2012, in Pune, India, a 16 year old girl was kidnapped by her Facebook friend whom she had known through the website. After kidnapping her, the accused initially demanded a ransom of Rs 100,000 from her mother. But later fearing police action, he got the girl admitted to a private hospital telling the hospital authorities that he found her ‘wandering' on the road after she was thrown out of a van by some people.What could have happened to the girl if the kidnapper was a psychopath? The consequence would have been unfathomable. This is what happens to certain Facebook addicts who reveal too much of details online. What is the worth of an individual who is deemed as a very private person in reality, where as in the virtual world they reveal everything to everyone? In the working world, those days’ workers were scolded by their employers for talking during their work time; nowadays they are sacked for using Facebook at work.In certain scenarios, the employees are sacked because they update their Facebook status at work, capture pictures while working and also to have the guts to upload it at work. Where is the discipline of the working world going? Why are they being so irresponsible? In a book titled ‘Facebook Addiction’, the author who is an addict himself says that once when he was trying to pack up his laptop, a client called and asked him to work on a website. The moment he opened the internet browser, the first thing he did was, type in â€Å"www. acebook. com† and logged in, he promised to himself to spend only five minutes, he couldn’t resist himself and spent eight hours on the website. On top of that, in terms of relationships, Facebook addicts do not have a proper life there either; there have been reported cases in America, of young married couples who file for divorce. In a survey conducted by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML), researchers found that Facebook was mentioned in 1 out of every 5 divorces in the United States.Some of the cases were due to lack communication between couples because one of the partners was always busy updating his Facebook status rather than actually communicating with his wife. Before marriage, messaging through the site could be fun or romantic, however post marital relationship requires commitment and real communication. These cases have proved that Facebook Addiction Disorder has been the major cause of many serious problems from school to the confinements of our home. If this scenario continues, this disorder could get into the line along serious mental illnesses.We as educators will be facing great dilemmas as the students would be more passive socially in reality, to overcome it we have to teach them in a condition where there is no active interaction between teacher and a student. However, if we stand with our hands folded, one day we might see the portrait of our society in the obituary column in the newspapers. APPENDIX A rticle 1 Title : Online Social Networking and Addiction Writer(s) : Daria J. Kuss and Mark D. Griffiths Source : www. mdpi. com/journal/ijerph â€Å"I’m an addict.I just get lost in Facebook† replies a young mother when asked why she does not see herself able to help her daughter with her homework. Instead of supporting her child, she spends her time chatting and browsing the social networking site . This case, while extreme, is suggestive of a potential new mental health problem that emerges as Internet social networks proliferate. Newspaper stories have also reported similar cases, suggesting that the popular press was early to discern the potentially addictive qualities of social networking sites.Such media coverage has alleged that women are at greater risk than men for developing addictions to SNSs . The mass appeal of social networks on the Internet could potentially be a cause for concern, particularly when attending to the gradually increasing amounts of time p eople spend online . On the Internet, people engage in a variety of activities some of which may be potentially to be addictive. Rather than becoming addicted to the medium per se, some users may develop an addiction to specific activities they carry out online.Specifically, Young argues that there are five different types of internet addiction, namely computer addiction (i. e. , computer game addiction), information overload (i. e. , web surfing addiction), net compulsions (i. e. , online gambling or online shopping addiction), cybersexual addiction (i. e. , online pornography or online sex addiction), and cyber-relationship addiction (i. e. , an addiction to online relationships). SNS addiction appears to fall in the last category since the purpose and main motivation to use SNSs is to establish and maintain both on- and offline relationships.From a clinical psychologist’s perspective, it may be plausible to speak specifically of ‘Facebook Addiction Disorder’ ( or more generally ‘SNS Addiction Disorder’) because addiction criteria, such as neglect of personal life, mental preoccupation, escapism, mood modifying experiences, tolerance, and concealing the addictive behavior, appear to be present in some people who use SNSs excessively. Social Networking Sites are virtual communities where users can create individual public profiles, interact with real-life friends, and meet other people based on shared interests.SNSs are web-based services that allow individuals to: construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system†. The focus is placed on established networks, rather than on networking, which implies the construction of new networks. SNSs offer individuals the possibilities of networking and sharing media content, therefore embracing the main Web 2. attributes, against the framework of their respective structural characteristics. In terms of SNS history, the first social networking site (SixDegrees) was launched in 1997, based on the idea that everybody is linked with everybody else via six degrees of separation, and initially referred to as the â€Å"small world problem†. In 2004, the most successful current SNS, Facebook, was established as a closed virtual community for Harvard students. The site expanded very quickly and Facebook currently has more than 500 million users, of whom fifty percent log on to it every day.Furthermore, the overall time spent on Facebook increased by 56% from 2007 to 2008. This statistic alone indicates the exponential appeal of SNSs and also suggests a reason for a rise in potential SNS addiction. Hypothetically, the appeal of SNSs may be traced back to its reflection of today’s individualist culture. Unlike traditional virtual communities that emerged during the 1990s based on shar ed interests of their members, social networking sites are egocentric sites. It is the individual rather than the community that is the focus of attention. Egocentrism has been linked to Internet addiction.Supposedly, the egocentric construction of SNSs may facilitate the engagement in addictive behaviors and may thus serve as a factor that attracts people to using it in a potentially excessive way. This hypothesis is in line with the PACE Framework for the etiology of addiction specificity. Attraction is one of the four key components that may predispose individuals to becoming addicted to specific behaviors or substances rather than specific others. Accordingly, due to their egocentric construction, SNSs allow individuals to present themselves positively that may â€Å"raise their spirits† (i. . , enhance their mood state) because it is experienced as pleasurable. This may lead to positive experiences that can potentially cultivate and facilitate learning experiences that d rive the development of SNS addiction. A behavioral addiction such as SNS addiction may thus be seen from a biopsychosocial perspective . Just like substance-related addictions, SNS addiction incorporates the experience of the ‘classic’ addiction symptoms, namely mood modification (i. e. , engagement in SNSs leads to a favourable change in emotional states), salience (i. e. behavioral, cognitive, and emotional preoccupation with the SNS usage), tolerance (i. e. , ever increasing use of SNSs over time), withdrawal symptoms (i. e. , experiencing unpleasant physical and emotional symptoms when SNS use is restricted or stopped), conflict (i. e. , interpersonal and intrapsychic problems ensue because of SNS usage), and relapse (i. e. , addicts quickly revert back in their excessive SNS usage after an abstinence period). Moreover, scholars have suggested that a combination of biological, psychological and social factors contributes to the etiology of addictions, that may also hold true for SNS addiction.From this it follows that SNS addiction shares a common underlying etiological framework with other substance-related and behavioral addictions. However, due to the fact that the engagement in SNSs is different in terms of the actual expression of (Internet) addiction (i. e. , pathological use of social networking sites rather than other Internet applications), the phenomenon appears worthy of individual consideration, particularly when considering the potentially detrimental effects of both substance-related and behavioral addictions on individuals who experience a variety of negative consequences because of their addiction.Article 2 Title : Facebook Addiction Disorder – The 6 Symptoms of F. A. D. Writer : Amy Summers Source : www. socialtimes. com â€Å"Okay, I admit it. I am truly addicted to Facebook,† said teenage blogger Heidi Barry-Rodriquez in 2007. In 2009, teen Neeka Salmasi described the social networking giant as being â€Å"li ke an addiction†. This year, a casino site mentioned that â€Å"Facebook provides the atmosphere where it is tough to walk away† in a direct comparison to gambling addiction. A quick web search and it becomes appallingly evident that we have a problem.Text messaging is no longer the biggest teenage obsession, and long gone are the days where the biggest worries for parents were celebrity crushes, massive phone bills from ridiculously long phone calls and chocolate overloads. These teenage obsessions still exist, but in today’s day and age, and in comparison to the Facebook craze, they seem rather insignificant. Facebook is taking over the world, and that’s no exaggeration. Everyone from eager-to-fit-in teens to educated business people to intrigued grandparents has joined the phenomenon, and unsurprisingly many teenagers have also caught Facebook fever.And like with many of the latest attention-grabbing trends, some teenagers can go a little overboard when participating in them. Perhaps we join Facebook because everyone has an account and, as teenagers, the need to fit in is just too great, or perhaps there’s just a special something that has helped the social networking site attract so many million people. Teenagers have a tendency to become obsessive with the ‘in’ thing and Facebook, the trend of the decade, is no exception; the question is, have we overdone in? And is there really such thing as Facebook addiction?An American psychologist believes so. In fact, he’s even introduced a new term to describe such an addiction. FAD, or Facebook Addiction Disorder, is a condition that is defined by hours spent on Facebook, so much time in fact that the healthy balance of the individual’s life is affected. It has been said that approximately 350 million people are suffering from the disorder that is detected through a simple set of six-criteria. People who are victims of the condition must have at least 2- 3 of the following criteria during a 6-8 month time period. . Tolerance: This term is used to describe the desperate behavior of a Facebook addict. They spend an increasing amount of time on the site, coming to a stage where they need it in order to obtain satisfaction or on the other extreme, it is having a detrimental effect on them as a person and their life. For the family members and friends who think they are dealing with an addict, a sign to look out for are multiple Facebook windows open. Three or more confirms that they are indeed suffering from this condition. 2.Withdrawal symptoms: These become obvious when one is restricted from using Facebook because they have to participate in normal everyday activities. Common signs are anxiety, distress and the need to talk about Facebook and what might have been posted on their wall in their absence. 3. Reduction of normal social/recreational activities: Someone suffering from FAD will reduce the time spent catching up with friends, playing sport or whatever it is they used to enjoy doing, to simply spend time on Facebook. Instead of catching up with a friend for coffee, they will send a Facebook message.A dinner date will be substituted with a messenger chat. In extreme cases, the person will even stop answering their parent’s phone calls, instead insisting that they use Facebook to contact them. 4. Virtual dates: It is obvious that things are extreme when real dates are replaced with virtual dates. Instead of going to the movies or out to dinner, they tell their partner to be online at a certain time. 5. Fake friends: If 8 out of 10 people shown on their Facebook page are complete strangers, it is undeniable: they have a serious case of FAD. 6.Complete addiction: When they meet new people, they say their name, followed by â€Å"I’ll talk to you on Facebook†, or for those who are extremely bad, â€Å"I’ll see you in Facebook†. Their pets have Facebook pages, and any notifica tions, wall posts, inboxes or friend requests that they receive give them a high, one which can be compared to that gambling addicts get from the pokies or roulette table. So someone believes that addiction to the net is a real condition that needs to be treated just like any other addiction, with care and caution, but is an obsession with Facebook a real condition, or is FAD really just the latest fad?Either way, Facebook obsessions are definitely present in today’s society and whether it is a disorder or not, something needs to be done to fix it. Forget the fancy name and look at the facts. Many people, teenagers in particular, are spending too much time online. People’s lives are being affected because of the hours spent looking at profiles and pictures. Facebook, very beneficial in some ways, is having a detrimental effect on the everyday behaviors of people around the world. Having seen the affects of too much time online firsthand, I know this to be true.Nobody c an possibly disagree when the facts speak for themselves and when an individual’s online ‘life’ becomes more important than their real one; we know that there is a serious problem that needs to be addressed. But, what to do about it? How can we possibly fix a problem that has affected more than a third of the world’s population? That is a question I can’t answer, but I do know that our parents can play an important role, well, that is if the addicted is still young enough to be influenced by their parents. There are two kinds of parents in my area, both from different ends of the spectrum.On one side we have the Facebook haters; the parents who don’t have Facebook, don’t understand Facebook and never want to understand Facebook. On the other side, we have the Facebook lovers, those who act more like their teenage children than their parents. They’ve befriended their kids online, participate in their online conversations, comment on their photos and send messages from the lounge room to the bedroom instead of just walking up the hallway and keeping matters that should be kept private, well, private. Don’t believe me? I completely understand.It definitely sounds strange. But the truth is I actually know people like this and well I can only conclude one thing: that these parents, in an attempt to be their teen’s friend rather than their parent, have also been swept up in the Facebook craze and are now suffering from a similar sort of addiction. The apple really does never land far from the tree. 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