Melon Corporate Blog

Golden slap on the wrist.

Dain Saxon (Digital Producer) - Feb 09, 2010

Are huge fines to legitimate companies fair, or are they just being made an example of?

On the 1st February, CommSec, the brokerage arm of the Commonwealth Bank, was handed down an AUD $55,000 fine for breaching the SpamAct compliance laws.

The erroneous emails failed to include an unsubscribe link.

There were three complaints from an estimated 6,000,000 emails sent over 12 months.
So a 0.0000005 complaint rate.

The ACMA investigated and then handed out the fine.

The question here is whether the amount was justified (CommSec has already agreed to a review of their internal mail practice) or whether it was an overly large sum to make an example of the bank because it is so difficult to catch and fine REAL spammers.

The SpamAct exists to prevent illegitimate, unrequested and unwanted mail from being delivered to us. Yes, the Commonwealth Bank failed to comply with the law by not including an unsubscribe function - but did it warrant such a slap on the wrist?

Original article: http://www.digital-media.net.au/article/CommSec-latest-to-fall-foul-of-SPAM-laws/510347.aspx

Read More (0 comments)

Twitter, Tools And Parties.

Dain Saxon (Digital Producer) - Jan 28, 2010

Twitter. You've heard of it. You know, vaguely, what it's about. You've grown tired of having people recommend you join the Tweeps and Tweet your Twavels.
 
You may even have created an account, sent out a few bursts of 140 character wit - and then wondered, "What's the point?"
 
If so, you make up about 44% (source: Burson-Marsteller) of the accounts on the social network microblog cosmos.
 
The question is, do you really know what Twitter is used for?
 
Don't feel ignorant if you haven't worked that out yet. The majority of new users expect Twitter to DO something straight out of the box. This expectation comes from experiences with Facebook, Friendster and other social networking sites that have an apparent purpose.
 
It is fair then to understand many peoples confusion when trying to comprehend why Twitter is useful and why so many journalists, celebrities, marketers, bands, stay-at-home mums, big corporations and small trades-people have joined the flock.
 
Isn't it just a status update? Well, yes. And no. To understand let's first look at Facebook. When you first sign up to Facebook, it directs you to connect with people you actually know. This is instantly familiar, even to users with no online experience other than internet banking and the occasional group email.
 
"Oh, Joe and Flo are on Facebook, it's recommending I be friends with them."
 
You have made a familiar connection that you know will be valuable to you - all as part of the introductory sign-up process. You are guided in how to use the site. It's easy. It has a very direct purpose - connect with friends, share photos.
 
Twitter has no apparent purpose other than to post 140 character snippets of (useful or useless) information.
That's because (and this is the epiphany) Twitter isn't a site - Twitter is a tool.
 
A tool is designed to be good at one thing, applied to many different situations...

Read More (0 comments)

Ubiquity

Dain Saxon (Digital Producer) - May 22, 2009

Anyone could be forgiven for thinking that the world that we know it is coming to an end… but not for the reasons apparent.

Yes, the economy is geting worse, planes are dropping out of the sky, mother nature is sending whatever she can throw at us and human nature is leaving a lot to be desired.

But my anticipation (or trepidation) stems from a change coming on the technological side of things, a change that will affect how we function as a society, a change that has been building for some time.

This change is ‘ubiquity’. It is everywhere. It is the turning point from where we view technology as a tool and instead view it as an integrated, invisible part of our lives.

It’s where we wonder how we ever survived without it in the first place.

Ubiquity is - in essence - being everywhere at once. A balanced harmonious correlation of many different aspects.

The first of which is communication.

Read More (0 comments)

Apple to buy Twitter?

Dain Saxon (Digital Producer) - May 07, 2009

I read an interesting intro this morning from ITWire:

“Twitter is the hottest Internet social networking property right now. Apple has a ton of spare cash. So are the rumours true, can Apple really be about to buy Twitter for US $700 million?”

I barely got past the heading.  This is ridiculous, right?  What would Apple have to gain from purchasing Twitter?  They just don’t fit together.

Somehow I didn’t think there was any credence to this rumour… but then I started to think about what exactly Apple could do with the 140 character social phenomenon.

Read More (1 comments)