New Media revolution
27 Jul 2009 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: africa, facebook, Ghana, moon walk, new media, Obama, Social media, Twitter
The 20th of April witnessed a worldwide 40th anniversary celebration of what is up to date considered one of mankind’s greatest escapades, the moon walk. This “small step for man, and giant leap for mankind,” has proved to be a great step indeed. 40 years down the line effects of the moon landing and exploration into orbit has begun to elucidate immense results. The establishment of space satellites has greatly boosted and enhanced the communication systems of mankind since the first satellite was launched into space in 1957.
The over 500 satellites in earth’s orbit today have facilitated the establishment of the internet and in turn Twitter and Facebook. Social media sites such as these have taken advantage of the technological advancements in the global communication sector. A move from mere peer to peer communication to one of mass communication has been realised by most of these social networking and media sites.
On the 11th of July US president Barack Obama made use of the social media and networking sites Facebook and Twitter to broadcast his message of good governance and economic progress in Ghana. The speech was streamed live on the Whitehouse website, Facebook and Twitter accounts. South African based mobile social network and instant messenger service Mxit also got into the action as users sent messages and comments to President Obama.
In an effort to better understand the mindset of the African youth, President Obama asked young people across the African continent to engage with him on MXit. Users of the service were asked to send a message to Obama and he would respond to the messages within 24hours.
Growth and Importance of New Media
This endeavour by the US president has illustrated the growth and importance of new media in modern day society. Issues of instant communication between distant parties have become the sort out objective of modern day communication. Although main stream media through television and radio can achieve this form of communication, social media and networking sites go a step further by providing a two way communication platform.
Having received the live Obama stream on Facebook and Twitter, viewers could post comments and engage in debates with other people distant to them. Even if the questions are not personally answered by the president himself direct communication between the president’s office and the ordinary citizen has been achieved, something that was perceived as being near to impossible 10 years ago.
Revolution around the corner
So, as the world celebrates the 40th anniversary of what could have been seen as impossible 100 years ago people should not ignore the communication advancements that are being made in the new media sector. The evolution of social media sites into major mass communication channels can potentially be the doorway to effective communication and information distribution within the next 10 years.
After all, contrary to popular belief, Africa, one of the most under developed continents in the world is not completely absent from the Internet. In fact, the continent at large is undergoing a connectivity revolution. Although many people might not have access to computers, many are accessing the internet via their mobile phones. The average is 30.4% and there are 280 million subscribers in total, making Africa the fastest growing mobile market in the world. So as long as internet accessibility is becoming global, the growth and dominance of new media technologies is inevitable.
Corporations go Social Media route
26 May 2009 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: advertising, corporations, facebook, investment, marketing, Social media, Vitamin water
Not long ago having a dotcom was the absolute key to building brand awareness. Big corporations aimed to have one and once they got it, it was the URL they pointed everyone to in all of their marketing and brand promotions. But with the evolution of Web 2.0 and the rise of the social web, corporations have realised the numerous advertising and marketing opportunities that are presented by social media platforms. Access to clients and potential customers has been made easier by social media platforms such as Loopd, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. These interactive social media sites enable interaction between the different corporation marketers and potential and existing customers.
Instead of directing traffic to the official company website it has become common for most businesses to promote their social media pages. Business cards containing Twitter usernames as opposed to domain names have become the norm for big companies such as HP and Intel. Because of the great client and customer response presented by the social media, companies are opting to create ad campaigns that actually direct people to interact with their social media accounts rather than visit their branded website. Vitamin Water is one of the big companies which is using this form of product promotion. Vitamin Water is using this advertising mode through a multi-channel campaign featuring NBA superstars LeBron James and Kobe Bryant. Although the ad campaign is mainly designed for ESPN, a sport channel, the ad requires viewers to visit facebook.com/vitaminwater which is their social media page.
Why the move to social media?
With more than 500 million active members, social media platforms are clearly the biggest platform for companies like Vitamin Water to use for their product outreach. Social media users are becoming marketers as friends make each other aware of certain brands via the networking platforms. The ability to engage in debate with fellow users enables corporations to pinch ideas from their customers on how to make their product better. Wall posts on company’s Facebook profiles enables marketers to know what their customers think about their product without them having to spend a lot of money on the process. Because joining the social media platforms is free, companies are realising the cost benefits of marketing their product for free. Vitamin Water uses different social media to promote their product. They direct people to their Facebook profile and whilst on their profile they also link customers to their YouTube page where they show their video ad campaigns. So instead of spending millions of dollars on advertising on ESPN, the company airs minimal ads on Tv.
Growth of social media
Although the business models for making amicable profit from social media sites is still debatable, some major investors recognise the potential in the growth of these sites in the media and advertising industry. Recently Facebook received a $200 million investment from a Russian Internet investment firm that values the social networking site at $10 billion. The firms also plans to buy at least $100 million of Facebook common stock from existing stockholders to provide liquidity for current and former employees with vested shares of Facebook.
The sudden interest in marketing products on social media sites has been a revelation to marketers who deem the advertising world as saturated. However, not all companies use the social media for advertising; some firms use the sites to create product interest. For example Johnson & Johnson uses a blog to show another side of the company, with frequent video posts and interviews. Nike started a social community on Loopd to connect athletes interested in surfing, BMX bike racing and similar activities with the brand.
What started as a means of communicating and producing armature media has evolved into a platform for exploitation by different corporations and organisations. The concept of social media and networking is slowing changing because of the grave interest in the platform’s ability to communicate to masses faster and to transgress cultural and political boundaries.
Stalker on the network
19 May 2009 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: Boxxy, cyberstalking, internet safety, Social media, social networking, stalking
Anyone who uses the Internet can be subjected to Cyberstalking. The use of information technology, particularly the Internet, to harass another person has become common especially with the growth of social media and networking sites. People protect themselves on the street and they are always aware of strangers, but they hardly think about how easy it is for people to come into their homes through the Internet. Although, some people may think it is fun to post photos and information and status updates on sites such Facebook, Twitter, or MySpace they often forget about the hundreds or thousands of people who see or could potentially see that information.
Imagine it’s late on a Saturday night and you cannot fall asleep so you decide to sit down at your computer and check your Facebook messages. “Papa,” your new friend, wants to know if you can chat. You log onto the AIM facility on Facebook, and talk about everything from politics to which foods you like. You think you’ve made a new friend but you know nothing about “Papa,” but he knows a lot about you.
Cyberstalkers may use networking websites to contact their victims, or simply identify targets and plan the best way to stalk them. Cyberstalking can cross-over to physical stalking and in extreme cases be a prelude to more serious behaviour, including physical violence.
The stalking may begin online and then move into the physical realms where the cyberstalker will use the person’s information to follow them around. Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter encourage their users to keep updated information about their daily activities on the sites. In the mist of all this information sharing, social media and networking users tend to forget that one of their contacts or friend’s friend can stalk them. With the ability of creating a false identity and personality presented by the internet, one can never know who they are really communicating with on these networking sites. There are over a million social networking accounts on the web and it is really difficult to determine who is really genuinely socialising with you without any hidden agendas unless if you physically know the person.
There are various forms of cyberstalking and these involve the spreading of false accusations in order to damage reputations over the internet, encouraging harassment of other social networking users and false victimization. A good example of a non common mode of cyberstalking was when “Boxxy” a teenage girl with a webcam, a YouTube account and a tendency to spout hyperactive nonsense at an astonishing rate was victimised and harassed by other online users.
Boxxy created a YouTube video which managed to make its way to another social networking site where members of that site began anti Boxxy factions because of the content of the video. She began to get threatened and harassed over the web and she was ordered not to produce anymore online videos.
WiredSafety.org, a website dedicated to online safety, lists some characteristics that predators look for when searching for their next online victim and these include emotional instability and weakness. People who are new or unfamiliar with the internet or a specific social site are more likely to be victims of cyberstalking. According to the website about 83 percent of cyberstalking victims are women. So the question is, how then can one protect themselves from being cyberstalked?
Tips against cyberstalking
* Don’t exchange emails and photographs of yourself with people you’ve never met
* Don’t assume that the person you meet online is who they say they are, digital identities are malleable
* Never open unknown attachments from strangers, and use up-to-date anti-virus software
* And if you want to meet someone you know from online, take a friend along.
Doing business via social media
12 May 2009 1 Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: Blu-ray disc, business via social media, facebook, Social media, social media business, social media marketing, social networking, twitter business, Warner Bros, ways to improve business
Imagine phoning Telkom customer service and they put you on hold for 30 minutes, you eventually get impatient and you drop the phone and log onto to Twitter. You send a Twit about how long you have been placed on hold and how inefficient you think Telkom customer service is. Within a space of an hour, over 50 people respond to your Twit and also express the same sentiments about Telkom.
Before the end of the day, the Telkom public relations team meets to discuss their reputation and public perception and decide to give a public apology about their customer service department. This might sound fictional and farfetched but this is not far from reality at all. Social media platforms are both negatively and positively affecting the way companies operate. On the one hand social media is helping companies trace consumer traits and behaviour whilst on the other hand consumers are using the social media platforms to express their dissatisfaction with most company’s service delivery.
Until a handful of years ago, businesses reached customers and the world with advertising, press releases and letters. Consumers, meanwhile, would take their gripes, questions and compliments to the coffee shop or perhaps the customer hotline.
Social media as marketing tools
All this has been changed by the World Wide Web’s ability to enable customers to research products and services, and then through the explosion of social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter which can enable them to voice their opinions about products. Most businesses appreciate customer feedback, and social media has proved that it has the potential to transmit information at a fast rate thus making the feedback loop so much efficient because the company will get information in time to react upon it.
Even though this can be seen as a much better two-way communication channel, companies are also taking advantage of the ability to monitor their customer’s social media dialogue. Because of the increased consumer-to-consumer communication going on the social media platforms it is important for brands to be always be at their pick and to know what their customers are thinking about.
Platform convergence
In an industry first Warner Bros Home Video announced a plan to sync up “friend” networks on Facebook with the interactive community-screening features of Warners’ Blu-ray Disc releases, starting with the release of “Watchmen Director’s Cut.” This convergence venture between Facebook and Warner will add to BD-Live’s current community based features that allow users to discuss a movie while viewing it through an online buddy list. This deal however, goes a step further and allows the users to watch a movie in High Definition and in the comfort of their lounges whilst chatting to distant friends.
“We want to do this partnership with Facebook because research has shown that consumers want to have social networking capabilities with BD-Live. Previously, those possibilities had been limited to one’s friends within BD-Live and the general BD-Live community,” said a Warner Bros spokesman.
Such advancements in the corporate world have shown that organisations are taking a keen interest in the behaviour of their customers who are on social networks. If a business can tap into the discussions about their products then they can be at a great advantage because that way they can always meet the ever changing customer needs.
How to use social media to enhance business performance
- Create informational podcasts about a product’s overall space, not just the product.
- Build community platforms around real communities of shared interest.
- Encourage customers to participate in existing social networks, and build relationships on their turf.
- Build sentiment measurements, and listen to the larger web for how people are talking about your customer.
- Build conversation maps for your customers using Technorati.com , Google Blogsearch, Summize, and FriendFeed.
- Experiment with Flickr or YouTube groups to build media for specific events.
- Map out an integrated project that incorporates a blog, use of commercial social networks, and a face-to-face event to build leads and drive awareness of a product.
- Start a community group on Facebook or Ning or MySpace or LinkedIn around the space where your customer does business.
- Help customers and prospects connect with you simply on your various networks. Consider a Lijit Wijit or other aggregator widget.
10. Recommend that your staff start personal blogs on their personal interests, and learn firsthand what it feels like,including managing comments, wanting promotion, etc.
News via Twitter…
05 May 2009 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: how does twitter work, information dissemination, Jack Dorsey, mainstream media, Social media, Swine flu, Twitter, twitter as a media tool, twitter iran, twitter news, what is twitter
Twitter was created by Jack Dorsey and became an incorporated company in May of 2007. The concept of Twitter relies on messaging services, whether through the use of cell phones, instant messengers, such as Yahoo Messenger or MSN Messenger. It allows users to send messages to friends and family quickly and easily. Twitter only asks “What are u doing?” and as long as one’s answer is 140 characters or less, it is possible for thousands of people to see the answer immediately.
A user can follow other users as well. It’s easy to have conversations with other people and before long; many people will be reading updates from many different people. Twitter is a really unique social media tool that helps individuals to engage with effective:
- Article marketing
- Social networking
- Promotion of traffic to specific websites
- Staying in touch with people
Once a Tweet is posted on the webpage, people are able to easily see what other people are doing. Users can in turn let others know what is going on with them as well as commenting on their posts.
Twitter as a media tool
This ability to mass communicate is revolutionising the speed at which information can be disseminated. Social media tools such as Twitter make it easier for breaking news to be disseminated to distant places within a short space of time. With Twitter a person in China and one in Zambia can simultaneously get information about an event that just happened in Mexico with having to wait for news bulletins to aggregate the information for them.
The 140 character limitation that Twitter has enables users to post “Headline” like tweets which give the reader enough information about what has happened. Most news agencies and organisations are also using Twitter to promote their content on their tv channels and online news portals. The CNN for example uses Twitter to distribute headlines of top and current events and then people who get these twitter feeds then log onto the CNN website to read the full articles.
Over the last eight days, Twitter has managed to raise eyebrows and debate over the way people are exchanging information about the Swine Flu virus via the website. The site reported that over 10 000 posts concerning the swine flu virus were being posted every hour during the last two days. People are educating and informing each other about the virus via the website. Although this is a good thing there are questions of the reliability and validity of the information being passed around. Some twits have links to reputable sites whilst other twits just give advice on how to deal with virus.
Citizen Journalism via Twitter
However, Twitter, has also been an effective tool for citizen journalism. People from all over the world have realised the mass communication potential that Twitter has and have began to use it as a channel for voicing their marginalised voices. In Iran, citizens used twitter to update the world on what exactly was happening on the ground. Mainstream media outlets were viewed by many of the protestors in Iran as giving out biased news coverage on the intensity of the problems in Iran. So through the use of Twitter and other social media platforms which are not regulated by the government ordinary Iranians managed to voice their opinions to the world.
Twitting alongside blogging has caused eyebrows to be raised especially in the journalism industry. These social media tools have managed to equip ordinary citizens into news mediators who are not restricted or monitored by any governing body. This can be a good thing in the sense that gatekeeping can at times limit freedom of expression but on the other hand the absence of watchdogs leaves the media audience at the mercy of flawed information.
Can we trust Twitter?
So having realised the potential and effectiveness that Twitter has, the question that one can ask is how beneficial is this media tool in relation to its free for all use by ordinary citizens. Twitter has its pros and cons and it has proved to be a fast way of disseminating and raising debates but is this tool ready to be used as a major source of information alongside well established news sources?
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