London School of Commerce: CFPBUS006 Professional Skills Report

This report, prepared for the London School of Commerce's CFPBUS006 module, explores the evolution of professional skills in the digital age. It begins by highlighting the internet's global significance and its impact on individual and societal development, emphasizing its role in communication, information sharing, and service delivery. The report delves into the positive and negative aspects of social media, including improved communication, community building, advertising, and current updates, while also addressing negative impacts like cyberbullying, hacking, and privacy concerns. It examines the challenges and security and privacy measures related to online social media usage, such as botnets, hacking, viruses, and illegal material. The report also compares features and applications of communication providers, offering a comprehensive overview of the digital landscape and its implications for professional practice. The report references various academic sources to support its findings and offers insights into navigating the complexities of the digital environment.

Report on Professional
skills in digital age

INTRODUCTION
Internet is consider as global system which is important for all and it helps to improve the
development of individual as well as country. This is a global system which can be used to share
the information, increasing knowledge, providing services worldwide and improving the
communication. This is biggest world wide network of many computers system which facilitates
easy abstraction and increase the internet services (Kelentrić, Helland and Arstorp, 2018). This is
connected with large integer of domestic, government, academic and business networks which
contains high level of knowledge, experience and information. Digital age and information age
are started with introduction of personal computers and introduction of advanced technology
which helps to share the information quickly from one place to another. For people and others it
is necessary to integrate professional skills with latest technology which results in good way.
With the help of internet it become possible for customers to get products and services instantly
and feel comfortable. This report is based on different topics such as positive and negative
impacts of internet, security and privacy measures and comparison of features and applications
of communications providers.
Positive and negative aspects of social media
Introduction of Internet
Internet is the main part of people's life that has intruded globally in to everything than
people can imagine. In the world, there are hardly people who do not rely on internet in their day
to day life. This was initially introduced in 1960's by a researcher commissioned by federal
government of US. It is rapidly expended in Europe and Australia till mid 1980s. By using
internet people are getting many services like chats, sending messages, solution of problems,
online order and payment etc. which are useful for organisation and maintain the profits.
Presently, internet has become a serious part of human being which is used in every stage and
maintain them in organised form. Daily updates are easily available on internet which solves the
problems and defines effective ways to develop the people. The aspects of social media are
endless that are as stated with negative and positive aspects such as:
Aspects of social media on internet
In society and other places internet is consider as easy way and effective communication
channel which helps to build strong relations with people. In other words, this is the proper way
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to provide information and retain existing as well as new customers. The good and bad impacts
of social media on internet are as given:
Positive aspects of internet
Improved communication – Social media is uses to improve the communication of
society. With the help of internet communication between people become better and easy which
helps to develop the country. Video calls, mails, you tube, shopping and others are interesting
option of internet which can be used in daily life. This is also useful in corporate life where
people can meeting from different places and arrange their activities (Positive and negative
aspects of social media on internet, 2019).
Helps in building communities – In world, there are different religion's people and
beliefs in society where social media helps to develop and participate in society of their religion
and think to discourse and learn more.
Advertisement – Social media is helpful for organisation and people as it provide cheap
and easy methods to reach target audience around the world. By using internet companies give
advertisement which attracts people and encourage them to buy products. There are various
internet plat forms such as search engine optimisation (SEO) and social media and others which
helps to promote business and attracts big area as well as target customers.
Current updates – Social media make available daily updates and current happenings
instantly which helps to increase knowledge and ideas. In other words, it consider as real time
hub for all updates regarding entertainment, politics, business, science, sports and many fields.
Promotion – Promotion is another aspects of social media that helps society to promote
their business whether having online and offline. This helps to promote the business to largest
audience which makes profitable, less expensive and appropriate effectively.
Easy research work - Internet is used in business corporation which helps in growing by
conducting timely research about particular product and services. In business environment
people needs and wants are changing day by day which is important to know, is possible through
internet. This helps to get the information easily which is relevant to business such as changes in
prices, technology, google scholar, new trend etc. Therefore, it is only one way which make easy
and fast research (Ellaway and et. al., 2015).
E- businesses – With the help of social media a business can be started and accomplished
through internet which helps in business transaction and communication effectively. This gives
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many advantages to business as well as society such as reaching the customers easily, giving lot
of information and clearing the customer's query instantly. This also make payment process
easily and increase business activities (Reyna, Hanham and Meier, 2018).
Negative aspects of social media
Internet is important for people and make easy operation but there are some negative uses
of internet which has impacted negatively. The negative aspects of social media are as defined:
Cyber bullying – Mostly people and children are relying on social media which has
become victims of cyberbullying. For instance, any people can create fake account and can do
wrong with others which is becoming bully on internet.
Hacking – Social media is becoming critical for people as through it personal and
privacy data can be easily hacked on the internet. Hacking of personal data make financial,
Easy research work - Internet is used in business corporation which helps in growing by
conducting timely research about particular product and services. In business environment
people needs and wants are changing day by day which is important to know, is possible through
internet. This helps to get the information easily which is relevant to business such as changes in
prices, technology, google scholar, new trend etc. Therefore, it is only one way which make easy
and fast research (Ellaway and et. al., 2015).
E- businesses – With the help of social media a business can be started and accomplished
through internet which helps in business transaction and communication effectively. This gives
many advantages to business as well as society such as reaching the customers easily, giving lot
of information and clearing the customer's query instantly. This also make payment process
easily and increase business activities (Reyna, Hanham and Meier, 2018). mentally and
physically losses. For example, Twitter, Facebook and instagram are hacking by hackers and
they misuses such information.
Poor impersonality – Social media has become a reason of impersonality as people are
communicating through electronic devices and internet which has reduced the personal meeting
and face to face communication at the same time (Flewitt, Messer and Kucirkova, 2015). This is
time consuming but this is the effective way of convincing people and establishing long
relationship with customers. Due to lack of personal meeting it be difficult to convince people
and run business (Brauer, Ruhalahti and Hallikainen, 2018).
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Addiction – This means to use a thing continuously and become habitual of one thing.
This states addictive part of social media is bad which can disturbs social, personal and
professional life of people who are living in society. Teenagers are highly smitten by addition of
social media as they get involves across-the-board in social media sites. This is important to
aware the people and get indulge them in to other activities.
Worrying security – Internet has increased threat of hackers which impacts negatively
on business organisation and its activities. For instance, business information can be leak by a
person who have good knowledge about internet that can greatly damage any business.
Moreover, hacking skills and unauthorised person can hack people's bank account, personal
information, credit card details and passwords etc. This is negative effect which has impacted on
social lives and personal lives of people.
Reputation – This is another key point which has is reducing the reputation as people are
busy on social media and they do not interested to interact with other which reduces the
reputation of people. Social media can ruin people's reputation by creating wrong and false story
and spreading its across by social media. This can also harm businesses which creates heavy
losses.
Discussion of challenges and measures of security and privacy that are taken when Social
media services are used online.
Internet is the wider term to understand that builds more strong strategy by removing the
barriers of national border. Social media is one that brings together people who are living outside
the nation and in other country (Fraillon and et. al., 2014)). By using internet services people
keep in touch and maintain their relation in good manner. As internet has uses at the same time it
has misused also which done by some group and hackers which may be harmful for them.
Challenges of security and privacy that are taken when Social media services are used online-
In current environment there are many threats which are faced by organisation and society who
are living in society while making uses of internet or online. Some threats are as defined:
Botnet - Botnet is used to steal data, send spam and attack the whole network with
malicious effect.. It can easily be used for any illicit reason by terrorists or any other third party
without a user's knowledge, so it is a danger to both company and community as it has
contributed to increased criminal activity. It is essentially a logical set of internet connected
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devices such as computers and smartphones, the protection of which is violated and control is
ceded by any third party (Huda and et. al., 2017).
Hacking – It is a typical method which is used to find the vulnerabilities in computer
system through internet that is the misuse of internet and it make digressive use of information
by getting information. This can ruin the personal information of any people which impacted on
their life badly. A person who has good knowledge about internet and hacking can misuse the
other's information which impacted harmfulness. It provide a ease asses to hacker which steal
any sensitive or important information from individual to organisation. Cracking of password is
the example of hacking through which unauthorised access in network become harmful for
people and it disclose the malicious activity or confidential information.
Virus- This is a critical software programme which is used to get information through
downloaded without knowledge of user. This make slows down machines and speed programme
that leads to device freezing and causes the tremendous threats and danger for business that can
hinder the use of online websites and security.
Robotic society creation – Robotics means to work faster and speedly which is run by
effective system and internet facility. Internet has introduced a robotic society where hybrid
skills are going to comments on Facebook, twitter and others social sites. People trusts in
robotics work which results negatively (Hracs, 2015).
Illegal material's availability – Social media is creating challenge of receiving illegal
and inappropriate material. For instance society uses web that can be effortlessly used by fear-
based oppressors or other illicit gangs to influence society, which can lead to an increase in the
rate of wrong doing (Adnan, 2018).
Malware attacks and hacking – The hackers of social media are becoming more
sophisticated. As they have gained access to big name Twitter accounts and other which can be
hacked easily.
Privacy setting – People who are living in society seems to be well aware of the
prospective privacy risks by using social media. Internet is also giving a facility to create private
setting and save from the irrelevant activity that can helps to feel good and comfortable. But in
current environment, people are don't believing in such privacy and not uses protection due to
which they faces problems. For example, People haven't trust in social network when they comes
to privacy protection that is becoming a serious challenge for society.
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From the above mentioned information it has been defined that there re different
challenges and measures of security and privacy which can be taken in the case of having online
social media services. The main issue is hacking as person can steal personal and professional
information easily through hacking their accounts which harm them. Social media has provided
numerous facilities and services but, at the same time, has increased the possibility of cybercrime
and other problems such as hacking personal information. There are some security measures that
an organization or individual can introduce to protect their personal information from theft and
eliminate other internal threats.
Measures of security and privacy which helps to save from risks
Encryption - A mechanism used to encrypt a message or information in a code language
that can only be interpreted by an approved party in such a way as to secure data from third party
manipulation and also to reduce the risk of other risks. So this technique is used to safeguard
botnet and hacking data and information
Antivirus- It is essentially a program that is used to search and delete viruses from your
device or network machine.. Antivirus defends a computer system from ransomware, phishing
viruses and also prevents other threats. For examples of best antivirus are Avast, Avira, Norton,
etc.
Use of strong password – A business organisation must use a strong password and other
facility which helps to reduce the hacking opportunities . This can be a combination of alphabets,
numbers and symbols that can hardly be predicted by other party An organization or individual
must use a strong password to lower hacking opportunities.
Comparison of features and applications of communication providers
Communication is the services which is used by all to share the knowledge and ideas
through various sources such as telephone, mail, websites, chats, electronic media and many
more. This is important for organisation to maintain the good communication with people and
increase the profitability (Tømte and et. al., 2015). A unified communication provider is useful
for an association as it provides cheap and effective promotion through the provision of
assessment to different websites and web browsers. In environment there are many applications
of social media which is used to share the information and suitable for businesses that are as
defined:
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Face Book – This is largest social media network on the internet which came in to
existence on February 4, 2004. Present time, it has more than 1.59 billion active users. This is
best medium for connecting people from the world with business. This is useful for small,
medium as well as large size business to advertise their business.
Instagram – This is visual online networking stage which has more than 400 million
dynamic clients who are using this site to share information by posting data, spending precious
time, sharing information and chatting with friends.
Similarities between both the organisation :
 Facebook and Instagram are networking sites which are easy and fun to use. With this,
people can share mobile photo, video sharing and other social networking services.
 It is a platform of setting business and promoting that effectively.
 Both are using best technology which attracts customers and reduces traffic problem in
network (Arnold and Boggs, 2019).
Comparison of features and application
Following are the features and applications of social media example :
Basis Facebook Instagram
Features  Facebook provides good
administrators with the ability
to route and control the traffic
intelligently by the use of
various global network
software.
 This provides a cloud storage
facility which secure and store
customer information and data
for long period.
 Facebook uses strong data
encryption that protects
information while in transit.
 This also uses firewall
protection, packet filtering and
 Instagram is the application that
has all aspects of communication
and make uses of updated and
modernized contact centre to
stay with callers at customer
base.
 This also provides many
features, like as high call
volumes, tack callers,
interactions and others which
customers wants.
 This is image editing, private
messaging, location tagging,
push notification, filters,
Hashtags and grouping messages
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secure fibre to provide
telecommunication services to
customers.
which helps in business in keep
it growing.
Applications  This is first party application
which includes photos, group,
videos, market place, gifts and
events that helps to share the
information.
 This provides gift application
which is applied by people by
sending virtual gifts in the
form of small icon. It allows
people to upload in almost
every format that helps in
business and personal touch
with people.
 The application of Instagram is
sharing information, promoting
business, uploading videos and
many more which make happy to
their customers and maintain the
business at growing position
(Arnold and Boggs, 2019).
Suitability
for business
 This is suitable as Facebook
Pages are used to build online
business at home by
connecting the people with
business.
 Advertisement helps
businesses to reach new
customers proactively.
 The fashion and other sector is
becoming more competitive
through Instagram social site
which helps to drive online store
and convince the customers to
purchase .
 This create a web page which
inspire and motivate people to
run their business effectively.
Efficient connectivity is essential for every business organization to grow and run
smoothly. From the above discussion it has defined that social media sites are effective tool of
communication which helps to share the information and run business. An appropriate
communication provider will provide an efficient channel through which an organization can
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easily deliver or communicate messages to its employees, business partners and customers
(Twining and et. al., 2013).
Justification
People are mainly focus on their business and promotional activity where social sites like
Facebook and Instagram are becoming effective tool which helps helps to share the information
and running their business effectively. This is time saving and cost saving tool which attracts
people to buy products. Business concern are using different types of social sites and uploads
their essential information on social media that set their mind and helps to run business.
CONCLUSION
It can be terminated from this report that the internet and social media is playing an
important role for society in today's world which is digital as people are demanding different
types of services which can help them to save the time and become independent. People are
depending on digital services which can help to save time and cost in effective manner. The
social media makes it easy for businesses to reach out to their customers and to develop better
human activity between people and social media. This provides better facilities for education and
integration across borders between different societies. The Internet also has a negative impact,
such as hacking and steeling sensitive data from individuals. There are also different threats,
such as botnet, viruses, etc., created by the internet. Security measures such as antivirus,
encryption, etc. are used to reduce the threat posed by the society.
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