Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Brain Games Won't Make You Smarter, Study Says

Brain training games do not make you smarter - FACT

"Brain games" are certainly fun, but contrary to what many players hope, they're not likely to make you any smarter. From a six-week study paid for by the BBC and reported by Discovery News:
Photo by wetwebwork.

More than 8,600 people aged 18 to 60 were asked to play online brain games designed by the researchers to improve their memory, reasoning and other skills for at least 10 minutes a day, three times a week.
They were compared to more than 2,700 people who didn't play any brain games, but spent a similar amount of time surfing the Internet and answering general knowledge questions.
Researchers said the people who did the brain training didn't do any better on the test after six weeks than people who had simply been on the Internet. On some sections of the test, the people who surfed the Net scored higher than those playing the games.

Some brain-game manufacturers argued with the studies results, claiming that the findings didn't apply to their games. Whether or not the results of that study are on the money, professor of psychology from the University of Illinois Art Kramer points out: "There is precious little evidence to suggest the skills used in these games transfer to the real world."

It's not all bad news, though. For starters, regular mental exercise may increase your life expectancy. If you're really looking for some brain-boosting benefits, physical exercise is an extremely effective way to exercise your mind—and you're killing two birds with one stone.

Are you a big believer in the brain games? Share your experience in the comments.

Brain games may not make you smarter

LONDON: People playing computer games to train their brains might as well be playing Super Mario, new research suggests.

In a six-week study, experts found people who played online games designed to improve their cognitive skills didn’t get any smarter.

Researchers recruited participants from viewers of the BBC’s science show Bang Goes the Theory. More than 8,600 people aged 18 to 60 were asked to play online brain games designed by the researchers to improve their memory, reasoning and other skills for at least 10 minutes a day, three times a week.

They were compared to more than 2,700 people who didn’t play any brain games, but spent a similar amount of time surfing the Internet and answering general knowledge questions. All participants were given a sort of I.Q. test before and after the experiment.

Researchers said the people who did the brain training didn’t do any better on the test after six weeks than people who had simply been on the Internet. On some sections of the test, the people who surfed the Net scored higher than those playing the games.

The study was paid for by the BBC and published online yesterday by the journal Nature.
“If you’re (playing these games) because they’re fun, that’s absolutely fine,” said Adrian Owen, assistant director of the Cognition and Brain Sciences unit at Britain’s Medical Research Council, the study’s lead author.

“But if you’re expecting (these games) to improve your I.Q., our data suggests this isn’t the case,” he said during a press briefing.

One maker of brain games said the BBC study did not apply to its products. Steve Aldrich, CEO of Posit Science, said the company’s games, some of which were funded in part by the US National Institutes of Health, have been proven to boost brain power.

“Their conclusion would be like saying, ‘I cannot run a mile in under four minutes and therefore it is impossible to do so,” Aldrich said.

Posit Science has published research in journals including the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences showing their games improved memory in older people.

Small effects, Small difference

Computer games available online and marketed by companies like Nintendo that supposedly enhance memory, reasoning and other cognitive skills are played by millions of people worldwide, though few studies have examined if the games work.

“There is precious little evidence to suggest the skills used in these games transfer to the real world,” said Art Kramer, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Illinois. He was not linked to the study and has no ties to any companies that make brain training games.

Kramer had several reservations about the BBC study’s methodology and said some brain games had small effects in improving people’s cognitive skills.

“Learning is very specific,” he said. “Unless the component you are trained in actually exists in the real world, any transfer will be pretty minimal.”

Instead of playing brain games, Kramer said people would be better off getting some exercise. He said physical activity can spark new connections between neurons and produce new brain cells. “Fitness changes the building blocks of the brain’s structure,” he said.

Still, Kramer said some brain training games worked better than others. He said some games made by Posit Science had shown modest benefits, including improved memory in older people.

Difficulty levels matter

Other experts said brain games might be useful, but only if they weren’t fun.

“If you set the level for these games to a very high level where you don’t get the answers very often and it really annoys you, then it may be useful,” said Philip Adey, an emeritus professor of psychology and neuroscience at King’s College in London.

If people are enjoying the brain games, Adey said they probably aren’t being challenged and might as well be playing a regular videogame.

He said people should consider learning a new language or sport if they really wanted to improve their brain power. “To stimulate the intellect, you need a real challenge,” Adey said, adding computer games were not an easy shortcut. “Getting smart is hard work.” — AP
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www.nature.com/nature

Goldman profited during crisis

Wall Street titan Goldman Sachs made huge profits during the financial meltdown through subprime, or higher-risk, mortgage backed securities that have been linked to the origin of the crisis, Senator Carl Levin said on Saturday.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged Goldman Sachs with fraud earlier this month, sending the company's share price into a tailspin.

"These emails show that, in fact, Goldman made a lot of money by betting against the mortgage market," said Levin in a statement alongside the internal messages that were released ahead of a hearing next week focusing on the role of investment banks in contributing to the crisis.

The SEC accused the Wall Street investment giant of "defrauding investors by mis-stating and omitting key facts" about a product based on subprime securities.

© 2010 AFP
This story is sourced direct from an overseas news agency as an additional service to readers. Spelling follows North American usage, along with foreign currency and measurement units.

Monday, April 26, 2010

Time to redefine Malaysia’s work culture

THE world of work is changing. More people are working into their so-called retirement years.
Many wish to embark on new career paths. I know of people who have said good-bye to high-stress jobs to follow their passion.

For others who are less financially secure, work is a necessity. Perhaps they didn’t save enough for retirement or maybe their investments have soured.

Age matters

Unfortunately, older employees are not always valued in today’s fast-moving world.

In many instances, employees in their late 40’s or 50’s find it hard to find a company that understands how valuable they are.

Unless the person has special experience or credibility that is sought after for management, directorship or advisory positions, their employability value has decreased.

Age discrimination in the workplace still persists in many companies. All young employees will ultimately age and they will experience similar treatment if we do nothing to change the negative perception aged employees currently suffer. You could soon become a victim of that discrimination.

There is a need to promote ideas for employing older employees and extending the retirement age. Savvy employers must recognise that their success depends on their employees’ contributions. It is the result of team effort, with old and young employees contributing their best. Yesterday’s employer-of-choice concept needs to be refined because the shifts in age demographics that have characterised the early 21st century have brought new challenges to the workplace. For instance:

·Brain drain: Baby Boomers and Generation-X migrating to other countries contributes to the country’s lack of talented and experienced human resource;

·Responding to the marketplace: A salaried ageing workforce will lead to more consumers. Only if businesses create job opportunities – with necessary take-home pay – for aged consumers will there be sufficient cash and demand for the products and services that are designed for that demographic;

·Manpower shortages: Employers with high percentages of older employees have begun to feel the impact of lost talent as Baby Boomers near the retirement age of 55 and above. Their concerns are exacerbated by fewer employees from the younger generation who are keen to work in routine or mundane jobs with unattractive salary packages. Sometimes, it is no longer the “work hard” but the “work easy” attitude for the young ones; and

·Lack of interest: Employers in industry sectors like agriculture, manufacturing or labour-intensive industries are facing difficulties in attracting young people. They resort to hiring foreign workers instead of retirees, who are often fully trained and capable of productive work.

It takes both hands to clap

Stereotypes of older employees have made us believe ageing brings with it physical and attitude limitations (not to mention a lack of being technology savvy). Sometimes this can lead to disengagement at work with other colleagues.

But this may not be necessarily true. There are Baby Boomers with positive mental health and attitudes, superb technical and people skills that are not being given second opportunities to excel.

Unless employers accept that age is just a number and continue the employment relationship as long as the employee can make valuable contributions to the company, nothing much can be done.

While older employees can adopt new paradigm shifts in mindset to be more engaged with young colleagues, employers can consider aligning older employees’ competencies with specific business strategies that take advantage of their wealth of experience. Whether you call them “know-how”, “gut feel” or “instinct”, these attributes are often lacking in younger employees.

Multi-generational workforce

Companies in some western countries with ageing populations are now adopting a new work culture – a multi-generational workforce – and policies that provide alternatives for both young and old employees to improve their work-life balance.

These measures have proven to help overcome manpower shortages, retain employees who want to spend time with family and attract retirees to work.

These new approaches have led to a healthy work culture for employees of all ages with different life priorities and are non gender-biased.

Employers benefit from less staff turnover and salary costs, while work gets done with multi-generational engagement ideas such as:

·Flexible work options: Flexi-time or reduced-hour options like part-time positions, job shares and phased retirement (part-time work designed for older employees to ease the transition into retirement);

·Work on project or contract basis where an employee is “self-employed”;

·Jobs with different sets of responsibilities to develop new competencies, or less demanding jobs due to health or personal reasons; and

·Work from alternative locations or home to reduce commuting time and ecological footprint.

For the 21st century multi-generational work culture to be successful and rewarding for Malaysia’s business and work community, human resource managers must implement these new concepts as soon as possible.

Employment agencies or online job portals will need to specialise in flexible work option job matching.

These are small hurdles but the result is a healthy society with higher number of employed people including retirees, leading to improved economic growth for the country and consumption growth for individuals. It is at this point that we can all stand and give ourselves a self-congratulatory clap – with both hands!

BY CAROL YIP
·Yip is a personal financial coach and also founder and CEO of Abacus for Money.

Australia Tightens Foreign Property Ownership Rules

Temporary residents need approval o buy property

April 24 (Bloomberg) -- Australia will tighten rules on foreign investment in real estate, and introduce penalties to enforce the changes, to ensure pressure isn’t placed on housing availability for local residents.

Temporary residents will require approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board to buy property, and will have to sell when leaving the country, Assistant Treasurer Nick Sherry said. It ensures “working families are not being priced out of their own family homes,” Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said in Canberra today, a transcript from his office shows.

Treasurer Wayne Swan eased restrictions on non-residents in late 2008, making it easier for foreigners to buy property without government approval. Surging house prices, which advanced more than 10 percent last year, were among reasons the Reserve Bank of Australia boosted the benchmark interest rate this month for the fifth time in six meetings.

“Foreign purchasers can play an important role in supporting the development of new rental properties,” Aaron Gadiel, chief executive of Urban Taskforce Australia, said in an e-mailed statement. “Given that our national housing undersupply is reaching 200,000 homes, we should welcome any investment by foreign residents or businesses in boosting our supply of newly built homes.”

The lack of housing supply is the underlying issue for housing affordability, Gadiel said. Urban Taskforce Australia is an industry group representing property developers and equity financiers.

‘Foreign Speculators’

“We want to make sure that foreign speculators are not going to force up prices for Australians seeking to buy their own home, buy their first home, and we think this is the right course of action,” said Rudd, who faces an election within a year.

Australia will back up the changes with compliance, monitoring and enforcement measures including civil penalties, Assistant Treasurer Sherry said in a statement today. These include compulsory sales of property purchased in breach of the new investment regime, Sherry said.

Temporary residents will be required to start construction on undeveloped land within two years of purchase or be forced to sell, he said. The tighter rules will also apply to people on student visas, Sherry said.

Overseas Buyers

Overseas buying may have contributed to rising house prices, Sherry told reporters in Melbourne today. The measures are precautionary and won’t have a “major impact” on the housing market in Australia, Sherry said.

David Airey, president of the Real Estate Institute of Australia, is among those blaming gains in home prices on an increase in investment from overseas buyers, particularly Chinese. The institute today supported stricter rules. Prices jumped 12.7 percent in the year through February, a March 31 report by real-estate monitoring company RP Data-Rismark showed.

Overseas purchasers accounted for about 0.62 percent of transactions by LJ Hooker in 2009, David Maher, business analyst at the real estate agency, said in a telephone interview on April 15.

‘Ridiculous Claims’

“Claims that overseas buyers are pricing people out of the market are ridiculous,” Maher said. “There’d have to be a mammoth increase in the level of overseas investment to have any real effect on affordability in the Australian market. The numbers don’t show that.”

An increase in housing through the release of more land, and measures to reduce the amount of money and time it takes to develop new projects, are required to ease prices, Charles Tarbey, local chairman of Century21 Real Estate, said April 6.

The average sales price of houses and apartments its agents sold between Jan. 1 and March 29 this year was A$407,228 ($378,000), an 18 percent increase from the same period in 2009, according to Century21 data.

--With assistance from Nichola Saminather in Sydney. Editors: Jim McDonald, Ravil Shirodkar

By Ben Sharples
To contact the reporter on this story: Ben Sharples in Melbourne at bsharples@bloomberg.net

China's Global Approval Ratings Are In

For the first time since the BBC started tracking global views in 2005, the United States' influence in the world is now more positive than negative on average. Fine. So where does China stand in the grand scheme of things?

As you might expect, it depends on who's spinning the data as well as who you ask.

China Daily unequivocally says that "China's image has seen an upswing after hitting a low last year," with 41% of nations polled seeing China as having a positive influence on the world. The survey, conducted by GlobeScan/PIPA among more than 29,000 adults, asked respondents to say whether they considered the influence of different countries in the world to be mostly positive or mostly negative.

The fun starts when you look at the details, with significant year-on-year shifts in views of China within different countries.

For example, China's image improved considerably in such countries as the Philippines. While in 2009 a majority (52%) took a negative view, this has dropped 21 points. Now a majority (55%) has a positive view (up 16 points).

Japan's attitude witnessed a remarkable change, with those holding a negative view dropping from 59% to 38%, while those holding a positive view soared from 8 to 18%.

Europe continues to be the region that is the most negative toward China, but negative views have softened in Portugal (now 54%, down from 62%), and France (64%, down from 70%). In addition, positive views have increased among Germans (now 20%, up from 11%), although a large majority (71%) remains negative.

The U.S.'s attitude toward China remains roughly unchanged, with 51% holding a negative view. The report, curiously, did not give a figure for those holding a positive view.

All told, China ranks 11th in the 28 countries or regions mentioned in the poll, behind Germany, Canada, the European Union, Japan, the United Kingdom, France, Brazil, the United States, South Africa and India.
You can read about poll methodology here.

By Ray Kwong
Ray Kwong is a cross border business development geek and a Forbes contributing writer.

Source: http://newscri.be/link/1082961

Wealth of Britain's Richest Rises by 30%

Rich list reveals record rise in wealth

Collective wealth of Britain's 1,000 richest people rose 30%, the biggest annual increase in list's 22-year history

Lakshmi Mittal topped the rich list for the sixth straight year. Photograph: Sebastien Pirlet/Reuters

April 25 (Bloomberg) -- The fortunes of the richest people in the U.K. rose at a record pace last year, with the 1,000 wealthiest experiencing a 30 percent increase in their net worth, according to the annual Sunday Times Rich List.

Lakshmi Mittal, the 59-year-old chief executive officer of ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steelmaker, topped the list for the sixth straight year. His fortune doubled to 22.5 billion pounds ($34.6 billion) as the recovering economy bolstered orders from automakers and builders, according to the Rich List, published today.

Roman Abramovich, 43, the Russian-born billionaire, remained in second place after adding 400 million pounds to his net worth.

The cumulative wealth of the U.K.’s richest people rose to 333.5 billion pounds ($512.8 billion) during the year. The total fell short of the record 413 billion pounds reached in 2008, according to the rankings compiled each year by Philip Beresford. None of the top 10 lost money during the year, while the number of billionaires on the list rose 10 to 53.

The list has been compiled for the past 22 years and is based on identifiable wealth, including property, art, racehorses and shares in publicly-held companies. It excludes bank account balances.

The 30 percent increase in combined wealth in the last year is “easily the biggest annual rise” in the history of the list, Beresford said in an e-mailed statement.

The year before, the net worth of those on the list had plunged 37 percent, in the depths of the global financial crisis.

Joseph Lau, Duke of Westminster

The highest new entry was Joseph Lau, the 58-year-old chairman and CEO of Hong Kong-based Chinese Estates Holdings Ltd., who took the 12th spot. Lau, with a fortune calculated at 3.8 billion pounds, recently paid 33 million for a house in London’s Eaton Square.

The Duke of Westminster, the highest-placed British-born billionaire, remained in third place. His ancestral land holdings in central London are among the most expensive properties in the nation and helped boost his net worth by 4 percent.

It was the smallest gain seen among the wealthiest 10 people in the U.K. The Queen, 84, ranked 245 with a fortune of 290 million pounds.

New to the 10-top list were Alisher Usmanov, who made his money in steel and mines, Galen and George Weston, whose wealth from retailing was combined this year, and Indian-born Anil Agarwal, who had an increase of 583 percent in his fortune thanks to the skyrocketing price of his London-based mining group
Vedanta Resources Holdings Ltd.

ArcelorMittal
Falling from the top 10 were Hans Rausing and family, whose fortune is in packaging; Sammy and Eyal Ofer, and John Fredriksen in the shipping industry; Joe Lewis in investments; and Kirsten and Jorn Rausing in inheritance.

Mittal holds a 41 percent stake in Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal, which he formed through the takeover of Arcelor SA by Mittal Steel Co. in 2006. The stock surged 89 percent in 2009 as it boosted output of the metal as the world economy recovered and automakers and builders increased orders.

The steel industry is recovering faster and stronger than expected, the World Steel Association said April 20. The group, whose members include nineteen of the world’s 20 top steelmakers, forecast that steel consumption will increase 10.7 percent this year.

European hot-rolled coil, a benchmark product used in cars and appliances, increased 41 percent in the first quarter as raw material prices surged, according to Metal Bulletin data.

Abramovich
Abramovich, owner of the Chelsea football club, accrued his wealth after the fall of the Soviet Union by building up Russia’s fifth-largest oil producer. His oil business, OAO Sibneft, was bought by OAO Gazprom in 2005 as then-President Vladimir Putin moved to return the country’s oil wealth into state hands.

The billionaire, once Russia’s richest man according to Forbes, has since bought into metal producers. Millhouse LLC, which manages his assets, has stakes in Evraz Group SA, Russia’s second-largest steelmaker, and Highland Gold Mining Ltd.

Britain’s 10 Largest Fortunes (in billions of pounds)

1. Lakshmi Mittal and Family       Steel          22.5
2. Roman Abramovich                Oil             7.4
3. The Duke of Westminster         Property        6.8
4. Ernesto and Kitty Bertarelli    Pharma          6.0
5. David and Simon Reuben          Property        5.5
6. Alisher Usmanov                 Steel, Mines    4.7
7. Galen and George Weston         Retail          4.5
8. Charlene, Michel de Carvalho    Inheritance     4.4
9. Philip Green and wife           Retailing       4.1
10. Anil Agarwal                   Mining          4.1

By Michelle Fay Cortez in London at mcortez@bloomberg.net

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Job seekers lost in cyber world

Are social networking websites failing to help jobless graduates?

His resume is probably one of the most viewed in China - but instead of finding "Ma Wen" his dream job, it propelled the desperate graduate to Internet stardom.

When the 21-year-old multimedia designer uploaded a video showcasing his talents on a Chinese social networking site last year, the idea was to increase his chances in a tough job market.

But although the clip attracted millions of hits, very few of them were prospective employers.

"Most e-mails were from other students asking me how I made the video," Ma Wen told China Daily via MSN chat and e-mail (he refused to talk on the phone or use his real name).

Although video resumes are not a new concept, more graduates are now using them to improve their prospects in the chilly economic climate. However, analysts say most employers and online businesses in China are "stuck in the past" and are failing to exploit the recruitment opportunities offered by social media.

Ma Wen graduated with a degree in computer science from Xi'an University of Technology in the summer of 2008, shortly before the world entered the worst financial meltdown for decades. With most companies putting a freeze on hiring new staff, Ma Wen soon became exasperated by the lack of job opportunities..

Popular social media sites in China:
RENREN

Launched: 2005 (formally Xiaonei, it changed its name in 2008)

Typical users: Mostly students and recent graduates. The emphasis is on connecting with real-life friends online.

Interface: Almost identical to early versions of Facebook.

It has a few unique features, such as a “footprint”, and a “funware” platform for games.

Popular functions: Mostly games. It has more than 250 game applications, which are often copied by its competitors.

Estimated market share: 17 percent

Popularity ranking in China: 17

KAIXIN001

Launched: 2007

Typical users: Office workers. Its users spend twice as much time on the site, compared to users on other social networks

Interface: A simplifi ed version of Facebook with very little advertising.

Popular functions: It has about 50 applications, the majority of which are games (the site launched the social games craze in China but Renren has since stolen its thunder).

Post-forwarding of celebrity gossip, photos and funny stories is also extremely popular.

Estimated market share: 12 percent

Popularity ranking in China: 13

51.COM

Launched: 2005

Typical users: People from small cities

Interface: Simple. It is far more functional than elegant. Popular functions: Again, games. In all, it has 50 applications.

Estimated market share: 12 percent

Popularity ranking in China: 40

"I sent out my resumes to many companies but got no replies at all," he said. "And when I did get interviews, as soon as they found out I didn't go to a 211 project school (a national initiative that includes what are considered the top universities), they passed to the next person."

About 13 percent of the 6.1 million new graduates last year failed to find work, while another 6.3 million are expected to enter the job market across China this summer, according to figures from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

With such fierce competition, the Internet can be a vital tool for jobseekers, say analysts.

Use the word "resume" - jianli in Chinese - to search any Western or Chinese video-sharing website and you will see short films made by students to show their skills in design, production, animation, music and even teaching.

After months of fruitless searching, Ma Wen decided last April to join them by uploading his video resume to 56.com, a website similar to YouTube.

During his 1-minute 37-second clip, which is based on television advertisements for Hewlett Packard that feature only celebrities' hands, he uses various computer-aided design techniques to display the films and directors he likes. At the end, he introduces himself as a graduate and his e-mail address appears on the screen.

But the response he received was far from impressive and instead of attracting offers from movie companies and large Web firms, "all I got were e-mails from individuals or small groups", he said. "They were offering me work but they didn't provide suitable career directions."

Disappointed, he turned down all the offers and is now studying English at a college in Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang province. He is now working on setting up his own social networking site for netizens to share software.

"It will be more user-friendly and less commercial than the others," he added.

Although Ma Wen failed to land a job, other graduates told China Daily that they believe social networking sites had been instrumental in finding their jobs. One of them was Huang Dongyu, 28, who used a video resume to land a career in advertising.

Creative thinking

After graduating from Xi'an Fanyi University in 2005 with a degree in communication technology, Huang found the only option was to become a technician for a cell phone firm.

"I didn't want to do maintenance work for telecom companies," he said. "My passion was design, so I taught myself how to use graphic design software in my spare time. I made my video resume in 2009 as practice when I was learning to use Flash software."

After uploading the video online, as well as sending it to employers and recruitment agencies, he got a job as a web designer with Sheer Digital Technology based in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province.

"The human resources department (at Sheer) mentioned they saw my video resume," said Huang. "I did other things and I don't think the resume was the only reason they hired me - after all, a resume is only one part of the whole job hunting process - but it definitely helped."

Although some experts argue video resumes are unpopular with employers and job agencies, Jack Lee, a recruitment manager with the Beijing-based Apex Recruiter, encouraged graduates to exploit all avenues to improve their prospects.

"Companies that are hiring usually have too many resumes to deal with, so it is important not to wait for HR staff to come to you. Explore your contacts and find a way to contact them," he said.

Job search forums

However, uploading video resumes is just one of the ways jobseekers can target recruiting companies through social networking sites, as online businesses in the West have proved. Many websites now already set up job search forums and message boards.

The fact that Facebook, Twitter and YouTube - arguably the world's three biggest names in social media - are not available in China should open the door for domestic services to dominate. Yet few are even attempting to enter the recruitment market, say experts.

Renren.com, which is similar in style to Facebook and is among the country's four most popular social networking sites, is the only one that offers a job-searching platform for college students. Most of its rivals are still focusing on pushing entertainment services.

Since the platform was launched on March 9, about 200 companies have posted advertisements for more than 1,000 positions.

Most of its functions are similar to zhaopin.com and 51job.com, both online recruitment agencies, and to ensure security, recruiters must get permission before they can access members' profile pages.

"If companies are interested in any candidates, they can add them as friends and get that person's permission to view their information and network," said Song Tiantian, spokesman for Oak Pacific Interactive, the Beijing-based firm that owns renren.com and mop.com, an online forum also popular with students.

Although no other social networking sites have yet launched job services, Yu Yi, an analyst for Analysys International, a Beijing consultancy firm that specializes in telecommunication and media, is confident they will.

"These sites have attracted lots of users through various game applications. Now, to make a profit they are exploring new revenue streams," he said. "Developing a job-searching platform and other practical applications will attract specific demographic groups and will help websites expand their value."

Meanwhile, several online firms already offer video interview services, including production and distribution to domestic and international recruiters.

The first in China was cnvhr.com, which was launched in 2004, and now has 20,000 registered users and 2,000 affiliated companies. However, it is yet to make a profit and owner Guo Xu said he has stopped paying to promote the service.

"There are still companies and individuals using our video interviewing service every day since it's free of charge, but I don't manage it now," said Guo, whose site is hosted on a free server provided by Tianjin's education authorities and is used to organize job fairs in the city. "It doesn't cost much to maintain the site."

Killing time online?

In the United States and Britain, as well as in multinational corporations like IBM, executives now actively encourage workers to open accounts with Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin to not only advertise events and vacancies organized by the company, but to aid communication between staff.

Chinese companies, however, still rely on "old-fashioned" job fairs to find staff, and even continue to block access to many sites because they believe workers waste too much time playing online games.

"Most firms in China are being too slow in utilizing these new (social media) tools," said Hu Yong, an associate professor at Peking University's school of journalism and communication. "Bosses still think these websites are where office employees spend all day stealing vegetables."

The vegetables he referred to are on Happy Farm, one of several games that have attracted millions of users to kaixin001.com.

Are bosses wrong to think their staff would waste all day playing online games at work?

Not according to a recent survey by the China Internet Network Information Center. Of the 3,007 netizens polled, 42 percent admitted the main reason they log on to social networking sites is to "kill time".

However, if human resources and recruitment firms do not change their mindset and tap into the power of social media, they risk being left behind, Hu said.

"They need to learn how to use Web 2.0 (applications that aid global interaction and collaboration) and social networking. They need to be part of this new environment," he said.

Duan Yan
China Daily
Publication Date : 23-04-2010