As a critical fourth industrial revolution has considerable influence on digital business, I realised that the digital business model knowledge might become common sense that should be understood. Therefore, I selected the BEMM129 module. I find that the digital business model has become a trend for the future.
What do I gain from it?
This module helped me obtain a more systematic and formal education as well as a more profound and professional understanding of the digital world. The online course in Lily at FutureLearn builds a network about the changing times and roles in our lifestyles. In the seminar, I exchanged attitudes and thinking with my classmates and teachers. A significant number of activities and discussions helped us exchange opinions of each other’s experiences and obtain diverse advantages in the digital business model. However, while it changes people’s lives, this kind of innovation has brought many ethical problems. For example, the current laws are relatively outdated, which leads to tax evasion, international trade and the disclosure of privacy. Ethical issues have caused unfair competition and affected the traditional business model, resulting in the closure of many physical stores and causing economic losses and rising unemployment.
BEMM129 helped me obtain not only an understanding of the transformation of different industries in the digital business model but also communication skills. This module provides a circle of friends with whom to communicate. When I started reading the blogs of other students, I realised that blogging was a comprehensive way to exchange our ideas in detail. My favourite blogs are about organisations. Enterprises from the other students’ hometowns were introduced, which offered me the chance to comprehend the development models and corporate cultures of different nations. Furthermore, I could improve my social skills by editing blog posts and adding videos or images. Commenting has a positive effect on the practise of critical thinking because readers have to summarise the blog through comments and reflect upon their ideas to communicate. Last but not least, Lisa’s feedback and comments were beneficial to my blogs and even my dissertation because a blog could be a miniature dissertation from my perspective, and this process allowed me to gain more objective evaluations.
In general, I am pleased I could attend this module. Sufficient information has generated more significant discussions; I also hope this module can help me with my future career, especially now that we need to maintain social distancing and blog-posting and commenting abilities are essential.
Facebook is a social networking site and an online advertisement (ad-supported) company. Facebook is in a competitive position as the market leader. Products under Facebook have covered most of the social applications, including such platforms as Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger. “More than 2 billion people around the world to share ideas, and 100 billion-plus messages shared every day by Facebook” (Facebook, 2019, para. 1).
(Facebook, 2019)
1. Complete product chains
Facebook has determined precise positions for products under it, which can well avoid the emergence of homogenous competition within the company. For instance, Instagram focuses on photo-social interaction, while WhatsApp is purely a communication tool and prioritises the purpose of user chat with a simpler design interface. Meanwhile, WhatsApp Business is also provided for working contact among users. Messenger focuses more on communication among Facebook friends by languages. Targeting different friends, users can use different social networking apps. A more apparent distinction between work and life can protect user privacy to a certain extent. Every product has its clear target customers.
2. Stable sources of advertisements revenue
Through the content uploaded by users, Facebook can browse user records and friend lists to determine their user preferences, thereby sending them individualised advertisements. Companies can precisely deliver their paid advertisements to target customers, thus making it possible to reduce the cost of publicity focused on non-target users. Meanwhile, Facebook possesses complete data methods to test advertisement data, guaranteeing that the advertisement’s influence on user experience can be controlled within a certain range.
Advertisement revenue has also created impressive financial data. A comparison can be drawn between Facebook and Google using profit. ‘The gross profit rate of Facebook in 2019 was as high as 81.94%, the net profit rate was 26.15%, and the rate of return on investment was 17.72%’ (SEC, 2019). ‘For Google, a similar ad-supported company, its gross profit rate in 2019 was 55.46%, the net profit rate was 21.28%, and the rate of return on investment was 17.78% (SEC, 2019). The profitability of Facebook is much better than ad-supported Google. Regarding operation risks, the quick ratio of Facebook is 4.4 (Facebook, 2019), while that of Google is 3.35 (SEC, 2019).’ Facebook has slightly higher short-term debt-paying capacity and lower operational risks than Google.
3. Sustained innovation business
Though Facebook is in excellent financial condition, it is still actively exploring new businesses. According to Facebook’s CEO Zuckerberg, as a social networking giant with so many product lines, Facebook must make comprehensive breakthroughs in multiple fields such as technology products and management models before adapting to the development direction of social networking in the future (Facebook, 2014, para. 2). In 2014, Facebook acquired Oculus VR (virtual reality), which is the leader in immersive virtual reality technology. Through the VR blindfold of Oculus, Facebook wishes to bring brand-new game experience to users so that they can create game roles in virtual scenes for social interaction and establish communities (Facebook, 2019, para. 1). Aside from VR blindfold, Facebook is also exploring a virtual helmet, hence further enhancing users’ sense of immersion (Facebook, 2019).
(Facebook, 2019)
Aside from that, mobile payment has also become an area of innovation for Facebook Pay (EY, 2019, para. 2). Facebook has also declared a virtual cryptocurrency named Libra. Libra is a cryptocurrency that does not pursue the stability of the USD (United States dollar) exchange rate but is inclined toward relatively stable purchase power (Libra, 2019).
Is it sustained?
Though Facebook is a successful company, some problems still exist. In 2018, Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica data scandal emerged. In March 2018, The New York Times reported a data mining company named Cambridge Analytica. “It was provided for election through the profiles up to 87 million Facebook users” (Natasha, S, 2018. para. 1). Based on users’ personalities and preferences, political advertisements were more effectively delivered in a more targeted manner when users knew nothing about it (Kevin, G., 2018, para. 8). Facebook’s lack of supervision over data security or the laissez-faire attitude became powerful tools in political campaigns. This led to great repulsion from users, and consequently, Facebook experienced a privacy crisis and newsfeed integrity issues. Perhaps more complete privacy policies and regulations on data security should be formulated inside companies. Before news media dig out relevant information, the operation rules of companies should be clarified. We may need to prevent the reoccurrence of such incidents through the relevant legislation.
(Facebook, 2019)
Besides, short videos have also become a new way of communicating with users, such as TikTok. From a social interaction perspective, exchanges through short videos may not affect the status of traditional social networking apps. For most users, they still identify with friends in real-life contact and interaction to find their value. The content and people in short videos may be far away from the life of users. On short video platforms, users may watch a great variety of content and advertisements in a short period. This is conducive to commerce, and perhaps in the future, short video apps will become competitors of Facebook in advertisement businesses.
Though some defects exist in Facebook, it still possesses complete product chains. Meanwhile, its way of interaction can satisfy the emotional needs of most users. Aside from that, it has also actively expanded its VR businesses so that the products of the company can experience diversified development. This may be a sustainable operation and development model.
Matthew, R. (2019, March 15). Academic Behind Cambridge Analytica Data Mining Sues Facebook for Defamation. The New York Times. Retrieved from 29 February, 2020
Natasha, S. (2018, April 11).What You Don’t Know About How Facebook Uses Your
With the increasing popularity of the Internet, mobile phones, laptops, and auxiliary devices, teachers can teach students outside the classroom. Distance education has also become more popular, so teachers have changed their teaching approach. Both teachers and students can communicate with one another through computers. Some students from developing countries can attend public classes at prestigious universities. A teacher teaches students from all over the world on the Internet. This development seems to promote the fairness of education to a certain extent (Moore, M. G. ,1991, p. 3).
Nevertheless, there are some problems with distance education. Some elderly teachers are not familiar with new digital software and facilities, making it difficult for them to offer distance education. Some teachers may feel strange and shy in front of cameras, while the other teachers who like to communicate face to face may lose the opportunity to interact with students. Teachers cannot observe students’ reaction in time to adjust their teaching plans. Will there be students blindly pursuing famous teachers and schools, and students gathering to attend classes offered by a few well-known teachers? Consequently, young and reputable teachers may lose a great number of opportunities. Will students select a course based on their first impression of the teacher? Will they judge a teacher’s teaching competence based on their appearance or style?
(UIS Database, 2019)
(UIS Database, 2019)
Distance education is based on numerous Internet and mobile Internet devices. In areas with underdeveloped Internet and a lack of computers, teachers are unable to adopt distance education. Students there may fall behind and the gaps among students may widen. Do teachers in remote areas have the skills to use devices such as the Internet, computers, and smartphones? “According to the data, we can see that the video experience progress is behind the average level, and network development is hysteretic in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, and Southeast Asia” (open signal, 2019). Only in few cases can the network speed meet the requirement for video playback in many developing regions. In other words, the speed of the Internet is quite slow there. Educators’ webpages are always loading, or videos would frequently buffer. In these situations, how can teachers in developing countries offer distance education? How can they ensure continuous learning? Will these problems worsen the unfairness of distance education?
Fortunately, with the spread of 5G technology, is it possible to test the efficiency of students’ listening in a live webcast classroom by observing their micro-expressions or eye movements? As a result, 5G network communication technology is applied in the transmission process, and the increase in the transmission speed will greatly shorten the time required for the transmission process, thus dramatically improving the video efficiency. Regarding teaching students according to their aptitude, will the system form personalised textbooks based on students’ online assessment results? It is possible for virtual reality (VR) to simulate teaching scenarios that resemble traditional classrooms. For teachers who teach a lot of students, artificial intelligence (AI) can be used. Artificial intelligence can be a teaching assistant in order to help more teachers reduce their workload. For the interaction between students and teachers, the role of teaching assistants should be greater. As a result, there is one lecturer per course and many teaching assistants. Teaching assistants answer students’ questions first, and then the system summarises and analyses the problems.
At the same time, tons of learning resources are mainly in English. More accurate translation software is more helpful for teachers who speak languages other than English in the future. Is it possible that, with the development of artificial intelligence, the accuracy of translation software can enable students speaking different languages in a classroom to share translated teaching voices in different languages? For developing regions, the popularity of 5G will decrease the cost of 4G technology, and 4G technology will be further popularised at a lower price (UNESCO, 2019). Moreover, for developing regions, there will be faster networks due to cost issues. The overall increase in Internet speed will enhance and improve the popularity of distance education, and more people will be able to sit in online classrooms. What is more, the digital technology will assist the teachers to deal with the present problems.
In a nutshell, a part of the solution seems to be shorten teachers’ working hours and the software cost of the broadcast platform. Besides, teachers have to change their teaching methods in the high frequency; all these issues can be improved and solved by developing digital technology. We expect more complex talents familiar with pedagogy and digital economy development to deal with these problems, which could help teachers adjust a fresher teaching method (Simonson, M., Zvacek, S. M., & Smaldino, S. ,2019, p. 15).
Miao, F, Mishra, S, Orr, D, Janssen, B, Kanwar, A. (2019). Guidelines on the development of open educational resources policies. Retrieved Retrieved Feburary 3, 2020 from: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000371129
UNESCO [51302]. (2019). Educational content up close: examining the learning dimensions of Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship Education. Retrieved Feburary 9, 2020 from: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000372327
Hi, I am Alex, and my major is Accounting and Taxation. It’s my pleasure to attend the BEMM129 class and this group, and the reason I chose this model is that it could help me acquire digital business knowledge and trend.
Alex 