The author systematically examines one of the important issues of information — establishing the market price. He introduces the concept of «search» — where a buyer wanting to get a better price, is forced to question sellers. The article deals with various aspects of finding the necessary information.

Economics of Information

While the microblogging service Twitter is increasingly popular among educators and offers numerous affordances for learning, its relationship with formal education systems remains complicated by generally ambivalent educator attitudes and institutional policies. To better understand the role Twitter plays in education, we conducted a survey of 755 K–16 educators that yielded quantitative and qualitative data concerning how and why the medium is used. Respondents reported intense and multifaceted utilization of the service, with professional development (PD) uses more common than interactions with students or families. Educators valued Twitter's personalized, immediate nature, and the positive and collaborative community it facilitated. Many cited Twitter's role in combating various types of isolation and described it as superior to traditional professional development. We finish by discussing implications for educators, researchers, and educational institutions.

How and Why Educators Use Twitter: A Survey of the Field

This study critically analyzed the current body of published research on microblogging in education ( MIE) to build a deep and comprehensive understanding of this increasingly popular phenomenon. Twenty-one studies on MIE in 2008-2011 were selected based on the selection criteria and analyzed to answer the following questions: What types of research have been published on MIE? How was microblogging used for teaching and learning in these studies? What educational benefits did microblogging have on teaching and learning? What suggestions and implications did the current research have for future MIE research and practices? The analysis suggests that microblogging has a potential to encourage participation, engagement, reflective thinking as well as collaborative learning under different learning settings. The quality of research, however, varies greatly, suggesting a need for rigorous research on MIE. The analysis has implications for MIE practices as well as research and development efforts. Practitioner Notes What is already known about this topic Microblogging has a potential to facilitate learning., Research on microblogging has been conducted under different educational settings., What this paper adds What are the characteristics of the current research on microblogging in education., How educators and researchers integrated microblogging to achieve different educational goals as identified in these studies., What are the identified educational effects of using microblogging for teaching and learning., What are the challenges and suggestions of using microblogging in teaching and learning., Implications for practice and/or policy Future research on microblogging in education should go beyond formal higher education settings by considering learning occurring in other settings., Future research needs to observe and analyze how learners participate and learn in microblogging-based environments over time., Innovative data collection and analysis methods are needed to understand the interaction and learning that occur in such environments., Future research is needed to identify effective approaches of microblogging integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Tweeting for learning: A critical analysis of research on microblogging in education published in 2008–2011

Twitter, a popular microblogging social networking site, allows individuals to communicate by sending short messages of up to 140 characters. Although it enables people to be in constant contact, its value in educational context is less clear. This paper is the first to examine empirical studies of using Twitter in teaching and learning over 10 years from 2006 to 2015, with the aim of understanding whether its implementation would benefit students or not. We identified a total of 51 eligible publications, and reported the analysis in four major categories: (a) the profile of studies, (b) the specific ways in which Twitter was employed in education, (c) the impacts on interactions, and (d) the impacts on students' learning outcomes. The findings reveal that Twitter was most commonly used for communication and assessment purposes. Although Twitter shows promise in improving interactions among learners and teachers, causality between Twitter use and learning performance remains to be conclusively established. Currently, the most beneficial use of Twitter is probably that of a “push” technology – such as the instructor sending important course information, homework assignments and test deadlines to students, as well as that of a platform for peer interaction. Many challenges still exist in using Twitter for teaching and learning. Based on our review of the literature, we proposed five guidelines that could help promote the educational value of Twitter use. We also identified several limitations of previous studies, and offered suggestions for future work.

Using Twitter for education: Beneficial or simply a waste of time?

Can social media be used to enhance the process of learning by students in higher education? Social media have become widely adopted by students in their personal lives. However, the application of social media to teaching and learning remains to be fully explored. In this study, the use of the social media tool Twitter for teaching was considered. Undergraduate students in Business and Management (n=252) were encouraged to use Twitter for communicating with their tutor and each other during a 12-week course. Their involvement was evaluated using a survey considering amount of Twitter usage and students' attitudes and experiences. The data were analysed using factor analyses, which revealed a single usage construct and three attitudinal factors. Three findings emerged. Firstly, a positive correlation was found between amount of Twitter usage and student engagement in university-associated activities including organising their social lives and sharing information. Secondly, course-related tweeting was not related to interpersonal relationships between students and their tutor. Thirdly, Twitter usage did not impact class attendance. The results are salient for educational practitioners wishing to introduce social media into their teaching. © 2013 British Educational Research Association.

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Twitter for teaching: Can social media be used to enhance the process of learning?

Recent years have seen unprecedented possibilities for the use of different technologies to enhance learning in marketing courses Given the rapid and widespread diffusion of these technologies, particularly within the demographic of the student population, it is pertinent to explore and examine how such technologies can benefit student learning This article discusses and empirically evaluates students’ experiences of using Twitter as a tool to facilitate learning in marketing courses Although Twitter’s unique characteristics were used to enhance and facilitate the learning of marketing concepts, the use of Twitter also helped illustrate marketers’ use of innovative technologies and, therefore, added valuable contemporary curriculum content Using in-depth interviews, and a questionnaire to evaluate learning outcomes, this research concludes that students’ perceptions of using Twitter were largely positive, though some anticipated and unanticipated barriers emerged to incorporating Twitter into marketin

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Is Twitter for the Birds?: Using Twitter to Enhance Student Learning in a Marketing Course

Paid search: The innovation that changed the Web

With the proliferation in Web 2.0 technologies, many marketing educators are experimenting with new teaching and learning tools (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Second Life). The benefits of such technologies are often touted by scholars, and indeed, there is a good deal of evidence to support such a view. However, increasingly, educators are highlighting some of the limitations of technology in the learning environment. To draw parallels with other new product research in marketing, the adoption of new learning technologies is often not so widespread. The literature exhibits inconsistency about the willingness of students to adopt new technology in a learning environment, but no systematic research into the factors that affect technology acceptance yet exists. This research fills a gap in the literature by applying an augmented Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to understand students' future intentions to adopt Twitter, a Web 2.0 technology shown to offer students a variety of benefits. By using partial least squares, the research shows that the main proximal driver of student adoption of Twitter is a utilitarian attitude. Students need to be convinced about ‘what's in it for me’, rather than persuaded about the technology's hedonic benefits. Other affective variables such as an individual's affinity with computers and risk tolerance were also found to be important drivers of perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness, the TAM's key antecedents. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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The use of Web 2.0 technologies in marketing classes: Key drivers of student acceptance

The recent economic crisis has brought into focus how even open and highly interdependent economies in the European Union try to govern their economies according to territorially defined interests. The aim of this article is to examine an area, online gambling, with the technological and legal conditions that challenge approaches that favour economic patriotism. The article compares two cases, the United Kingdom and Italy, that represent two different models of economic governance to argue that they are similar in which interests they seek to protect and at which level.

Patriot games: the regulation of online gambling in the European Union

Comparison websites have become a fundamental part of UK retail financial services. These websites appeal to both buyers and sellers. They offer buyers the ability to enter their details once and then quickly compare a range of products, usually ordered by price. For sellers, they offer a supply of potential customers who have refined their needs through the comparison process, and are thus more likely to complete a purchase. This paper analyses the role of comparison websites, drawing on case studies from three major providers of UK financial services comparisons. The paper also analyses the criticisms made of comparison websites, draws out implications for practitioners and consumers and outlines areas for future research.

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1057%2Ffsm.2009.15.pdf

Des Laffey

Papers

Is Twitter for the Birds?: Using Twitter to Enhance Student Learning in a Marketing Course

Paid search: The innovation that changed the Web

The use of Web 2.0 technologies in marketing classes: Key drivers of student acceptance

Patriot games: the regulation of online gambling in the European Union

Comparison websites in UK retail financial services