Patients are using WeChat to pay medical fees.

In the last October, in China, three doctors at the No.1 People's hospital in Wenling were stabbed to death by a patient, Lian Enqing; because of the frustration in waiting to see the doctors. Jason Lim believes that there is lack of effective channels for patients to raise up their voice, and the doctors were over prescribe medicine to earn money instead of taking care of the patient (Sources form http://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1505691/china-must-heed-anger-over-health-care-standards-curb-hospital-violence ).



 WeChat has decided to step in and resolve this issues in China. WeChat has become a pervasive part of people's daily lives. It is important to improve the efficeincy in China's hospital system especially when a hospital is dealing with 10000 patiens everyday.



Now patients can follow the official WeChat, or by scanning the QR code which posted by the hospital, this could help the patients view the information about specialist doctors to make an appointment. WeChat also provide payment system for the patients to pay their registration fee and medicine costs through the app. Besides, patients get to monitor where they are in the que too. After seeing the doctors, patients can bind their medical card with official acount, they can check the dates and time for return visit. It has became very convenient for patients and admins could save more time and energy in having one-to-one register.

With all these abilities, WeChat has become an effective tool to solve social problems in this society.

Sources: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jlim/2014/06/16/wechat-is-being-trialed-to-make-hospitals-more-efficient-in-china/

http://medbridge.cn/News_id_detail.aspx?id=135

WeChat: A new platform to advertise.

Now, WeChat is looking for new ways to expand its
organization: through providing platform for company to advertise their product or services. Organization will not have the chance to launch their product or services until they have 100,000 followers. The reasons why WeChat is doing this is to ensure to get feedback about the service so that it can help them to improve. "Ads will show up as text links at the bottom of each official account page". If users are interested on the product or services, they can click in and search for more details about it.


According to WeChat, official account owners can target their customers based on their age, gender and region. Through these, account owners can target various segments in the market through providing their adv accordingly. And this could help the owner to attract more consumers form different markets.


A handy dashboards is also provided to these owners, so that they could monitor the performances of the ads which they recently put them up on WeChat, and the owners are also allowed to make adjustments accordingly.

Facebook manipulates 700k users newsfeed in secret?!

Bad move, Facebook!

For one week in 2012 - and without the explicit consent or knowledge of users - Facebook tampered with the algorithm used to place posts into their news feeds to study how this affected their mood.
The researchers wanted to see if the number of positive or negative words in messages they read affected whether users then posted positive or negative content in their status updates.
Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-30/backlash-over-facebooks-unethical-secret-study/5558560



Recently, this issue have come under fire, causing Facebook to received backlash from the public.
On 30 June 2014,Twitter user @Chris_yapp expressed his disappointment on twitter.
'I will not post on #FacebookExperiment till they agree not to conduct further research without explicit consent'
And he is only one of many who are angered at Facebook's manipulation of users' emotions.

Facebook, looks like you've gone overboard this time!

Too much Facebook?

Are we spending too much time on Facebook? Are we letting it take over our lives?

Referring to my previous post on the article of Facebook trying to be a TV channel with new mobile video player, while many users have been praising this innovation is and how convenient it is for them, I would like to raise some light on the negative effects as well.
Kids nowadays as young as 7-8 years old or even younger have a Facebook account. This social networking giant has gotten many people all around the globe whether young or old hooked onto it. Whereby we get the issue : Facebook addiction.
As of today, we already have so many people addicted to Facebook. This new feature of Facebook will only increase the time spent on Facebook. Thus, causing the problem of Facebook addiction to worsen.
Easier videos viewing let Facebook soak up more of users’ time. This attention makes Facebook more powerful by entrenching it in people’s lives, denying competitors the engagement, and generating data on what content and friends people like best.
Would you be more hooked unto Facebook now with this new feature offered? More positive or negative effect? You'd have to weigh them and decide for yourself  ;)
 
 

Source:http://www.techaddiction.ca/facebook-addiction-statistics.html

But First, Let Me Take A Snelfie

Have we had just about enough of people taking pictures of themselves which resulted in a worldwide craze and led to the popularisation of the incredibly annoying electronic song, #Selfie? Apparently Instagrammers are still so much into it that the selfie has evolved to the new fad of taking what people have been calling ‘snelfies’ - pictures taken when one is in the middle of a sneeze. The question of why these snelfie-takers are so intent on documenting their sneezes for everyone else to see is almost too mind-boggling to comprehend, so we’re asking another question instead - how? How is it possible that a person can snap their split-second scrunched up faces? We can’t deny that even if they seem slightly loony, these radicals have got skill. 

 

 

 

[Source: http://www.refinery29.com/2014/06/69476/snelfie-trend]

Tapping into New Markets

Small businesses have been getting a huge boost in advertising and marketing their goods on Instagram - all at zero fixed cost. Because the social media app is completely free and already has such an expansive user database, vendors of goods like clothes, baked items and other physical merchandise have been able to use the service to reach a larger audience.

 

 

[Source: https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/small-businesses-sales-off-instagram-040110649.html]

Twitter the New Killer Relationship Machine

Twitter May Kill your Relationship             

      Your next Twitter war may cost you your relationship, researchers say.People who actively use Twitter and argue with their romantic partners over Twitter use are more likely to have relationship problems with their significant others, which can result in cheating, break-up or divorce, according to a study published in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking.
     When one uses any social media in hazardous way, it will surely lead to these negative outcomes or conflicts. The best solution towards this is not to stop using social media but limit yourself towards act you only do behind the computer screen.

Resource by: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/07/09/twitter-romance-relationship-breakup-divorce-cheating/12377979/

Girl Got Raped by A Man She Met Through A Social Media App Badoo

COLUMBUS (Lisa Rantala) -- Police say a man accused of child rape used a social networking app to find his victim.

Mathias Petty, 23, faced a judge Wednesday morning after police say he drove to a 12-year-old girl’s home Saturday night, and ordered her to perform sex acts on him on her front porch.
Police say the two met on the social site called Badoo. The site is free, doesn’t ask for proof of age, and allows members to post pictures and chat with one another through private message.
The girl’s mother called 911 when she looked out and said she saw her daughter being sexually assaulted.
ABC 6/FOX 28 obtained the call in which the mother says, “I asked him what they were doing. I asked him to give me his ID and give me his name. He told me he didn't want any problems or anything and he hopped over the fence and he ran."

Petty just posted a $200,000 three weeks ago as he awaits trial on a series of violent crimes including burglary, robbery, kidnapping, theft, and intimidating a witness.

The judge set a $1,000,000 bond on the new rape charge Wednesday.


In my opinion, parents should take the responsibility towards this case. They should be monitoring their children' online activity. They should not giving their young children smart phones with access to social networks for like 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. If parents are going to provide such access to their children, they must be held accountable for their online activities.




Source: http://www.abc6onyourside.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/police-man-raped-girl-he-met-through-social-media-app-badoo-33104.shtml#.U72ZU_lT6YF

Syrian Hackers Hijack IDF Twitter Sparking Fears of Nuclear Leak

Syrian Hackers Hijack IDF Twitter Sparking Fears of Nuclear Leak.

On 8th July 2014, A Syrian hacker group hijacked a Twitter account for the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) on Thursday night to broadcast false news about a rocket attack and leak at a nuclear facility.

For the second time in less than a week, the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) attacked IDF social media by hacking their spokesperson's Twitter account and wrote: "Possible nuclear leak in the region after 2 rockets hit Dimona nuclear facility."

While the IDF promptly deleted the tweet, the SEA reposted a screenshot for its followers.

The false news given by Syrian Hackers can cause people to go nuts because their life are threaten. Israel Defence Force should make sure their twitter account are not easily hack my Syrian Hackers because they play an important role of delivering message towards their people. Syrian Hackers won't be able to influence the people that much when IDF manage to secure their access towards social media.

Resource by : https://news.vice.com/article/syrian-hackers-hijack-idf-twitter-sparking-fears-of-nuclear-leak

Brazil Riot Photos On Twitter Are Not From Today

These “Brazil Riot” Photos On Twitter Are Not From Today

This photo posted on social media purports to be Brazilian fans rioting during Germany’s 7-1 victory over Brazil.

But it’s actually from June 26, 2013, when riot police clashed with demonstrators during a protest near the Mineirao Stadium in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

The irresponsible of some user of twitter who posted stuff which are not true cause some people to believe that this is really going on in Brazil. This action will destroy the image of Brazil from being a tourist attraction area and cause economy lost. User of twitter should be more cautions of their action and try not to cause unnecessary fake news.

Resource by : http://www.buzzfeed.com/austinhunt/these-brazil-riot-photos-on-twitter-are-not-from-today

CIA JOKES ABOUT TUPAC'S DEATH

CIA's Twitter reaches early nadir with JOKE about Tupac's DEATH.

      Recently the CIA took some time off from tweeting unclassified nuggets about U-2 bombers ad miniature camera to answer some pressing questions in order to celebrate their first month on the social networking site. The CIA has acted like any brand or government body trying to shake off a stuffy reputation would and blasted its feed with dad jokes and hashtags.A new low was reached last night though when it announced it would answer "5 of the top questions" from Twitter users using the annoying hashtag #twitterversary.

      By "top questions" they obviously meant flippant, pop culture-related ones, a serious answer about an A-12 OXCART reconnaissance aircraft sitting uncomfortably amongst ones about Ellen DeGeneres, selfies and, bizarelly, Tupac Shakur.

      "No, we don’t know where Tupac is," the CIA tweeted, which some took offence to, given that the rapper is very clearly dead. This is an example of a misconduct of social media, people should not joke sensitive item through twitter because it may cause a misunderstanding among people. 

Resource by: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/cias-twitter-reaches-early-nadir-with-joke-about-tupacs-death-9591343.html

An Awesome New Feature is Coming!

Just three days after announcing that WhatsApp had been purchased by Facebook, Koum advanced that they were working to introduce voice calls in the coming months. The WhatsApp voice calling service would “focus on simplicity,” said the company’s chief executive Jan Koum, at the Mobile World Congress conference in Barcelona, Spain. The service would first be released for the iPhone and the Android, followed by Microsoft’s Windows Phone, and some Blackberry and Nokia phones, reports the Wall Street Journal. 

“We’re adding voice to WhatsApp so people can stay in touch with friends and loved ones no matter where they are in the world”, explained Koum. Trying to outdo rivals like Viber and Skype, Whatsapp’s aim is to make voice calling just as speedy and efficient as their text messaging service.

Source: http://thefusejoplin.com/2014/07/whatsapp-feature-free-calls-update/

WeChat: To Make More Money

WeChat is known to be free and public for everyone. But WeChat organization still need income to maintain their services that they provide to ensure the users feel satisfied by using their app. So, where does their income come from? WeChat, Line and Kakao have all integrated mobile games into their services already (Osawa, 2014). Those games 'seems' to be free but is not. WeChat not only providing games to attract the users, but also with fancy features like stickers which users can use to express their though in a more animated style.

With the new mobile banking system, WeChat makes people to pay for these virtual items. What users have to do is link an online banking account to Weixin to pay for these items. A sticker store is provided so that the users can browse through various type of stickers, an keep on track with new stickers.Some of them may cost a bit too much for the users, like premium but still, there are people who are fascinated with these animations will likely to purchase them in a higher price.


 


 Sources from: http://thenextweb.com/asia/2013/08/05/tencents-wechat-mobile-messaging-app-gets-payments-game-center-and-stickers-in-long-awaited-update/

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/07/09/can-wechat-become-a-major-advertising-platform/

Facebook New Mobile Video Player : A TV channel on its own?

Can Facebook become the next popular TV channel?

Great news for those of you out there wanting to upload short videos but dread going through all the long detailed process YouTube puts you through! Or if you love watching videos through your mobile devices but find it such a nuisance opening new video players each time you want to load a video.
Facebook has now come out with a new mobile video player offering features such as auto playing of videos in the feed, and tapping on one enlarges it to full screen.
Facebook confirmed the existence of the updated mobile player, saying “this is a new feature we are testing on mobile to help people find more videos they might be interested in.
Source: http://techcrunch.com/2014/07/07/facebook-mobile-video/

If you watch one of a friend’s videos, Facebook will now try to get you to watch more with a new carousel of suggested videos that appears after you view one in the mobile News Feed.
It lets you quickly watch a series of videos before jumping back to the feed. All in a breeze.

This could be a great way for Facebook to break into smart TVs.
It also seems like a strategy by Facebook to encourage users to switch from the usual video consumption sites such as YouTube and Vine to spend more time on Facebook.

So, what say you?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY !!!!!

Happy Birthday Line!! It had just surpassed its 3^rd birthday 3 weeks ago. 

In fact, the authority proudly announce that the Line family had break through 1 billion downloads. The line family consists of their games, stickers and other Line application. Line family are famous for their stickers, however the fact is that their games are the once who gave them 60% of the company revenue. Line had created a platform of people where we all can communicate and play games with our friends, family and love ones. Go effort and once again Happy Birthday.

Sources : 

Hong, K.

Line and Family of Apps Pass 1B Downloads

In-text: (Hong, 2014)

Bibliography: Hong, K. (2014). Line and Family of Apps Pass 1B Downloads. [online] The Next Web. Available at: http://thenextweb.com/ [Accessed 9 Jul. 2014].

Picture credit to : 
Jon Russell

Abstract from :https://www.flickr.com/photos/jonrussell/12339909164/in/photolist-jNrg5y-S6Woh-6KnRE-d32Lyb-cWsW25-7emrfT-cWsVQd-9wPxHd-7HfSiA-8Qq4ux-h8WN15-cWsV9J-cWsXC5-cWsXKA-7HfRUY-aid5CB-8Qt9T5-8Qq3QZ-kVtev8-7HfRLU-7HbXY4-jYEcqU-7HfRR7-kUGSHU-kUF8Yt-kUH2Th-kUFFNZ-kUGGmG-kUG7Da-kUH7L3-7HbXgT-cHJjVU-awURfs-52GoBM-7HbXv6-7HbXmg-kUFRtv-aRx7Tp-aBZd14-j2z4QU-cWsWVq-ug1qf-cWsWu5-axVXHr-cWsXao-cWsXkj-cWsWf1-8Qt9SL-cWsYvA-aFQCKB

1.5 Million in just ONE month

In April, Line had opened a market place to allow users to design, create and sell their own sticker to other users. It had drawn over 80,000 creators and 12,000 stickers sets since it opened up to users. Besides that, a total of 1,200 stickers set are set on sale. This could increase their application downloading volume. In additions, I think it is a good way to drawn users attention towards the app and allow them to use their creativity to sell their product and help Line to earn more profit.

Source:

Hong, K.

Line Creators Market Generates $1.5M Sales in One Month

In-text: (Hong, 2014)

Bibliography: Hong, K. (2014). Line Creators Market Generates $1.5M Sales in One Month. [online] The Next Web. Available at: http://thenextweb.com [Accessed 9 Jul. 2014].

Picture credit to: 
Jon Russell
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jonrussell/13067283364/in/photolist-kUHf63-7LWjpa-egbo2R-jYEcqU-gkN4Mh-8aQJbW-d4g7kC-d4g7EQ-7tKSnw-7BGD8S
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jonrussell/13067012183/in/photolist-jNrg5y-S6Woh-6KnRE-d32Lyb-cWsW25-7emrfT-cWsVQd-9wPxHd-7HfSiA-8Qq4ux-h8WN15-cWsV9J-cWsXC5-cWsXKA-7HfRUY-aid5CB-8Qt9T5-8Qq3QZ-kVtev8-7HfRLU-7HbXY4-jYEcqU-7HfRR7-kUGSHU-kUF8Yt-kUH2Th-kUFFNZ-kUGGmG-kUG7Da-kUH7L3-7HbXgT-cHJjVU-awURfs-52GoBM-7HbXv6-7HbXmg-kUFRtv-aRx7Tp-aBZd14-j2z4QU-cWsWVq-ug1qf-cWsWu5-axVXHr-cWsXao-cWsXkj-cWsWf1-8Qt9SL-cWsYvA-aFQCKB/

Privacy features updated! - How To Hide Last Seen on Whatsapp?

WhatsApp has been long criticized for the lack of privacy features and it is good to see the company taking the right steps following the acquisition by Facebook. Personally, I do love this app. It is an incredibly useful app, it is perfect for me for chatting with my family and friends, but it has its drawbacks too. Drawbacks like the barrage of messages from people you're never going to respond to, and the dreaded giveaway that leaves nothing secret - "Last Seen" notification, so everyone knows exactly when you were online, and when their messages reached you. There are some workarounds to preserve your privacy on WhatsApp though.

So what exactly is hide Last Seen in WhatsApp?

The timestamp in WhatsApp which tells whether the user is Online or was Last Seen at a particular date and time can now be hidden from all users or from all unknown users. This option to hide the last seen time by the instant messaging service provider has been categorised in three types so you can show information to:

Everyone

Your last seen, profile photo and/or status will be available to all WhatsApp users.

My Contacts

Your last seen, profile photo and/or status will be available to your contacts from your address book only.

Nobody

Your last seen, profile photo and/or status will not be available to anyone.

*By default, WhatsApp will automatically set your Privacy Settings to allow any WhatsApp user to view your last seen, profile photo and status. If you don't share your last seen, you won't be able to see other people's last seen. Please note there is no way to hide your online status.

First decide what you want to set the option to, then use the following steps to change the setting, depending upon your platform.

For Android users.

For iPhone users.

For Blackberry users.

Source: http://www.whatsapp.com/faq/en/iphone/28041111

Line was HACKED !!!!!

Japanese police are investigating on the hacking attack by Line. More than 300 users in Japan had suffered the attack while using Line. The authority believes that all breach only happen in Japan as other nation is not affected. However they emphasized that Line server are not hack as the system is operating as usual. In my point of view, Line should increase the awareness of their user regarding the safety in the social media. Besides that, I would strongly believe they will set up a stronger firewall to prevent the hackers.

Source:http://www.radioaustralia.net.au

Radioaustralia.net.au

Hacking attack on accounts connected with popular messenger app | ABC Radio Australia

Mobile app LINE to be BLOCK in China

Recently, China had taken their action to BLOCK several messaging application such as Kakaotalk and Line. A Line spokesman claims that users in China are not able to connect to the app since the 1^st of July. So happen that the day itself was the anniversary of Hong Kong's handover to China mainland. This matter is not affected in Chinese country like Taiwan and Hong Kong. According to Line, there are 400 million users worldwide and majority of them are Asians. However it is told that Line will try to fix the current problem.

BBC News

Chat apps hit by China disruption

In-text: (BBC News, 2014)

Bibliography: BBC News, (2014). Chat apps hit by China disruption. [online] Available at: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-28156725 [Accessed 9 Jul. 2014].

Simple. Personal. Real Time Messaging.

WhatsApp Messenger is a cross-platform mobile messaging app which allows you to exchange messages without having to pay for SMS. WhatsApp Messenger is available for iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Windows Phone and Nokia and yes, those phones can all message each other! Because WhatsApp Messenger uses the same internet data plan that you use for email and web browsing, there is no cost to message and stay in touch with your friends.

In addition to basic messaging WhatsApp users can create groups, send each other unlimited images, video and audio media messages. WhatsApp Inc. was founded in 2009 by US citizens Brian Acton and Jan Koum (also the CEO), both former employees of Yahoo!. On February 19, 2014, Facebook announced it would be acquiring WhatsApp for US$19 billion, in what will be its largest acquisition to date.

Create groups, send each other unlimited images, video, audio messages,
share location and contact.

WhatsApp has crossed half-a-billion user mark. In a 22 April 2014 blog post, WhatsApp had over 500 million monthly active users, 700 million photos and 100 million videos are shared each day, and the messaging system handles more than 10 billion messages each day.

Extraordinary growth in Whatsapp users compare to the other social networking apps users.

Source: http://www.whatsapp.com/

Facebook's AppLinks

Facebook’s AppLinks : Hit More Than 1 Billion Deep Links & Adds Back Button For Previous App

This year at F8, Facebook’s developer event, the company announced an initiative called App Links. It’s a free and open-source solution for developers to enable deep linking between apps, which will mimic linking on the PC web.

 It’s also cross-platform between mobile and web content, as well as between mobile operating systems.

 

App Links is a solution for linking app-to-app easily. This essentially give marketers and developers a way around the browser, instead going straight from one app to another. Today, Facebook has announced that developers have enabled more than one billion unique deep links with App Links.

This means that users can now deep link to more than one billion locations from their apps, a feature that many prominent apps have taken advantage of.

Additionally, Facebook has created a new app back button that allows apps like Redfin to help people go back and forth from one app to another.

 

Source: http://marketingland.com/facebooks-applinks-hit-1-billion-deep-links-adds-back-button-previous-app-88751

 

 

 

The New Way To Connect

Technology and innovation have been the order of the day and many people have responded towards this changes. By having the mission statement: " The new way to connect", WeChat has been offering various type of platforms for the public to connect constantly and more interesting.

Features 

Voice Chat:
Users can save their time usage in typing messages words by words.Now, by "Holding" their phone, users can enjoy in saying whatever they like and "Release" their finger when they are ready to send the message to their friend. 

Besides, users can move their finger up to the X button to discard their speech and not to send the voice message that they are recording.

Group Chat:

WeChat provide a platform where a group consist of more than 3 people could have discussion about issues from politics, development to social issues in life. Interacting with your friends is a way to voice out your opinions or suggestions towards some issues, for example, students in University can share their information that they have searched for their assignment anytime. With WeChat installed in your phone, you now can connect with your friends anywhere at anytime (Sources fromhttp://thefusejoplin.com/2014/06/features-wechat-social-app/). You can also add new friends into your existing group by pressing the add button. What a world of opportunities!

  

Walkie Talkie:
 
Another voice message features, BUT, now you can voice chat in a group of 3-5 people. This has bring a big chance for a group of students who have information to share with more than 1 person. User no longer to send the same messages to each of his or her members.  It is available in the latest versions of WeChat for iOS and Android devices. For the steps in using it, you could search for WeChat website : http://www.wechat.com/en/features.html#live_chat 
   

Moment:

Now, users can share their "moments" with their friends and family. Users can post any photos that they wish to share with their friends on moments anytime and anywhere. Comments and "like" are also available in this feature. (For me, is just the same as Instgram, just that you do not have any tools to edit your photo before you upload them) 
 


 


Sources from:  http://www.wechat.com/en/features.html#friendradar

                         http://thefusejoplin.com/2014/06/features-wechat-social-app/