Obama communicates with Africans on MXit

MXit has once again broken barriers by giving its users the opportunity to send in questions that they would like to pose to US president, Barack Obama, according to an article on itweb. The South African social networking service collated and delivered the questions to Obama via the US embassy, during his first African trip as US president. His answers will be sent back to the MXit user base of 14-million people on 10 and 11 July, while he is in Ghana.

Obama’s use of new technologies, such as MXit, has already made him popular with young voters, and in this case, probably more in touch with young African citizens than their own leaders. He is also the first high profile politician to make use of technology in campaigning and is not afraid to try new technologies – paving the way and setting the standards for future politicians and campaign trails.

Social media platforms, such as MXit and Facebook, have the potential to develop close relationships between government and citizens, but few leaders have the know-how or courage to make use of them, or at least do so effectively. Obama’s Facebook page is an example of the effective use of social media to communicate with voters and supporters – there are constant updates even now that the election has been won and supporters really get the feeling that they are being kept in the loop about the actions and directions of the democratic party. An initiative like the one undertaken by MXit further supports this notion in an international sense – making Africans feel that Obama respects them, and is taking the trouble to better understand and engage with them.

Simultaneously, the use of social media platforms like MXit by high profile figures like Obama raises the profile of the service, giving it international credibility and making it more than simply a social networking service for teenagers.

This is a very exciting initiative, I look forward to hearing about its outcome – hopefully it’s put MXit on the global map and will be the start of worldwide initiatives of similar nature, as the trend continues to build trust and relationships, stemming from transparency and two-way communication, with consumers.

Getting your story out there – the changing face of journalism

Building on my post from yesterday, I’ve decided to look into the changing face of journalism, and the new opportunities (and sometimes threats) offered by ‘new’ social media. According to Gino Cosme of Cosmedia, social media refers to the: “collective intelligence of internet users, the communities and web real estates they frequent, and the content and relationships generated as a result”. A strong component of social media is therefore to connect with others who have similar interests, and share your resources online.

Social media is flapping its wings and creating a big buzz at the moment – even ‘tradition-focused’ journalists now use social media avenues such as Facebook and Twitter to generate interest in the stories they have put together using traditional methods – posting a link to your story on a well-read blog or site frequented by your friends or target audience is becoming exceedingly commonplace. This marks the rise of the platform-agnostic journalist, someone who is not limited to one form of media, but rather makes use of every ‘platform’ at their disposal – incorporating print, by putting together a hard copy, traditional version of the story; broadcast, by recording pod- and vodcast files to supplement the story; and making good use of the web, by posting links, comments, and side notes to their own blogs, websites and social networks.

Matthew Buckland, head of 20FourLabs agrees, stating that these days, traditional media plays in the social media space, and citizen media plays in the traditional media space. He says, “They’re complementary content types. A trained journalist is a useful filter, providing analysis, experience and balance to a report. But they can”t be everywhere at once, so they rely on the vast army of “citizen reporters” out there to augment their reports or tip them off on a story. Both forms work well together to enhance reportage.”

So, social media is a great ‘enhancer’or amplifier to traditional media, if you will, but should it be used in isolation? Is it still effective without having traditional journalistic content to back up your seemingly frivolous claims? Using Twitter as an example, Buckland feels that there”s always a danger that context and accuracy gets lost in the character limit. Also, as it’s done in‘real-time’, you often don’t have the time to verify your content – which links to my emphasis on curating all news accessed online. But Buckland says that this does not devalue Twitter. He says, “Like any news source, users must make a judgement call and view with a critical eye, asking questions like, ‘how credible is the source of the Tweet?’; ‘How many others are tweeting that same information?’; and ‘Are others concurring on other social media platforms? Like all news, even that in a newspaper, readers should decode and approach it with a critical eye.”

Local social media consultant, Melissa Attree, adds: “Social media is unique in that anyone can publish content; quickly and easily – this liberates the ‘average’ person and gives them a platform from which to report and comment. This also however, blurs the line that has traditionally stood between between media and consumer.” As a result, some consumers are now ‘prosumers’ (producers and consumers of content) and are viewed as having a ‘media’ role.

While the media was initially seen as a powerful body of people who held all the knowledge and were on the cutting edge of information, in today’s connected times, everyone has the power to add n their two cents’ worth and join and affect the flow of ‘the conversation’. However, Attree feels that the speed capabilities and pressures of networks like twitter, as well as the desire to break a story first, may be clouding the basic standards of reporting and story verification which in turn is challenging the respect and accuracy of citizen journalism.

I would personally feel a bit lost without a print base, if everything I wrote was instantly sent out to the airy web-space to float around, flitting from platform to platform, without a solid, reliable stand (such as a traditional print-friendly document) to be based on and built from. As for citizen journalism – I think it’s a fantastic development, but one should always curate facts that you stumble upon online. Citizen journalism itself is a topic for a whole new blogpost!

What do you think?

Warning: curate the news you source online!

Today’s Business Day featured an article by Anton Harber, the Caxton Professor of Journalism at Wits University. Titled ‘The story of citizen journalism, as it unfolds’, it provides a word of caution and emphasises the need to curate (love this term!) all news you access from websites and social media sources, such as Twitter; Facebook; and blogs.

Harber states that big news names, such as The Guardian; Agence France-Presse; The Telegraph; The Daily Mirror; The Times and The Evening Standard all reported on British Foreign Secretary David Miliband’s unexpected Twitter tribute to Michael Jackson – it supposedly read, “Never has one soared so high and yet dived so low. RIP Michael.”. This made a good headline story as it seemed like the British politician was more in touch with the popular online world – but unfortunately, the foreign office denied the minister had a Twitter account. Two university students later owned up to the parody, saying they wanted to show that ‘you have to verify what you learn on the internet’. A lesson well learnt, as there is a wealth of seemingly true information flitting across the invisible threads of the worldwide web – and once it’s out there, it’s hard to control.

There are a number of fake Twitter and Facebook accounts doing the rounds, supposedly set up by celebs – but in all honesty, do you really think a celeb would have the time to set up and check a social media account? The average person has around 200 friends on Facebook and 20 followers on Twitter – while semi-celebs such as our own Gareth Cliff, have over 13 000 Twitter followers; and American singer, John Mayer, has 1 634 717 followers. Cliff does seem to run his own social media accounts, contantly updating his own Twitter feed and Facebook page with ‘breaking news’, such as coverage of the Michael Jackson memorial tribute run on TV last night.

Pokerface singer, Lady Gaga frequently comments on her own her fan site on Facebook – even if she does run the account herself, I doubt she finds the time to read every single comment posted for each status update she makes. She has 3 301 146 fans on the social network. After a single status update yesterday, she had 1 478 comments, and 6 906 ‘likes’. People are without a doubt hooked on getting their news ‘straight from the source’ – but can we trust a webpage to tell the truth? Is this the source, or just an interesting spiel set up by her communications department minions? Or even worse, a fake site set up as an experiment by curious kids?

Social media has been used to great effect as a way for the ‘big names’ to connect with us ‘little people’. Take the Obama election campaign as an example – people felt closer to then presidential candidate Barack Obama as they could connect with him online by following his Tweets; joining his Facebook group; and commenting on whether they thought Michelle Obama`s inauguration dress was a good choice.

Harber also mentions that everyone has been raving about the role of Twitter in breaking news stories, such as the Chinese earthquake earlier this year and the Iranian protests. Citizen journalism is definitely on the rise, as nowadays, starting up your own blog is as easy is filling out a few details online, and Twitter tweets are no longer limited to just 140 characters. The face of user generated content is changing, and newsfeeds have become deceiving.

Trusted news sources such as CNN and the BBC now rely on citizen journalism for ‘breaking news’ based on Twitter feeds and citizens’ gritty YouTube videos, which offer a ‘’voice on the ground’ style and therefore project a sense of authenticity. It often looks true and sounds true – but then, so did the supposed Miliband Jackson Twitter tribute mentioned earlier. A word of caution then, to NOT believe everything you read – curate it first.

The 10 commandments of Twitter

A blogger on econsultancy has come up with the 10 Twitter commandments to ensure you use the service effectively for communicating with friends, family and associates; building an online profile; and promoting products and services.

1. Thou shalt not use DM (Direct Message) autoresponders: these are
   used to automatically send a direct message to new followers and are often used poorly. They should therefore be avoided unless you have a good reason to use them.
2. Thou shalt not beg for retweets: other Twitter users will retweet your content if it is good, asking “pls RT” makes you look desperate.
3. Thou shalt not autotweet: unless your followers expect to get automatic updates because they know your account is tied to a content feed, autotweeting is usually a bad idea as it often defeats the purpose of following you in the first place: to find out what you are personally doing, thinking and discussing.
4. Thou shalt not tweet in bunches: don’t send out dozens of tweets in quick succession as it’s annoying to your followers.
5. Thou shalt not take your followers on a trip to hashtag hell: hashtags can be extremely useful, as tagging helps to organise and share online information with others, but they’re often abused by spammers; marketers; and applications. Therefore, use your discretion when choosing your hashtags.
6. Thou shalt not sex up you avatar: a pretty face on your Twitter profile may attract followers, but make sure that pretty face is your own, and keep your clothes on!
7. Thou shalt not oversell: keep in mind that Twitter is social media – just as nobody likes someone who is constantly trying to sell vacuum cleaners at a cocktail party on a Friday night, nobody likes the person who is always selling via tweet. Even if your reason for using Twitter is business-related, providing value and creating relationships with your tweets will be more beneficial than 140 characters of hard pitch.
8. Thou shalt not overfollow or autofollow: you should only follow people who you find interesting; and view their profiles first, before following them. Also consider the ratio of your followers to those you are following – if you have 500 followers but are following 5 000 people, perhaps something is wrong, and may indicate desperation or that you are trying to sell something. It is also impossible to follow thousands of tweets and defeats the whole purpose of Twitter to facilitate valuable and beneficial connections.
9. Thou shalt not sell out: by tweeting marketing messages for compensation, or the chance thereof, you send the message that you’re easily bought and sold, which is not the message you want to send to your followers.
10. Thou shalt not tweet before thinking: You are what you tweet, so think about that tweet before clicking “update”. Consider the source of your information and who your followers are – you may gain popularity by being controversial but you may also offend the very people with whom you are trying to maintain a relationship, especially if your tweets are unnecessary or incorrect.

As has been discussed repeatedly, social media can be a useful platform for creating and maintaining positive relationships and brand image, but it takes work to do this. This list of commandments is just a reminder of all the little things we need to look out for to ensure we take advantage of the opportunity presented to us, and keep our followers, rather than chase them away!

Controversial Internet Explorer ad pulled

It’s been called ‘the blue screen of death of advertising’ by The Times website, and all the controversy piqued my interest, so I had to have a look and see what it’s all about.

The ad in question is from Microsoft, advertising Internet Explorer 8’s Privacy Browsing tool. It was online only, and titled O.M.G.I.G.P -“Oh My God I’m Going to Puke”.

The ad has since been pulled from Microsoft’s Better Browser website and its IE 8 channel on YouTube after outcry among users – starring former Superman actor, Dean Cain, it shows a woman vomiting after supposedly stumbling across porn on her husband’s computer.

You can still view the ad on this link. Be warned though, it IS offensive!

Calbert of the The Digital Point Forum was surprised to find the domain OMGIGP.com was still available – so he registered it. Interesting what people will do to make a name for themselves online!

Welcome the new Scorpions…the Hawks!

Not as much sting, but more flight!

 

Whether you support this or not, South Africa’s police super-unit, the Directorate for Priority Crimes Investigations, was launched yesterday and transferred to the South African Police Service after it replaced the former Directorate of Special Operations. The new unit will be called “the Hawks.”

Hawks Boss, Anwa Dramat, said that the hawk “appropriately embodies the modus operandi that the directorate will employ”. According to him, the three key areas of focus for the new directorate will be fighting organised crime; the illegal narcotics trade; and serious economic crime. The symbol of the new directorate is a one-eyed, orange and yellow bird in flight.

Meanwhile, Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa, said that among those being screened for positions within the new unit, 218 former Scorpions special investigators, out of 244, have joined the police and are undergoing selection procedures.

Dramat added that 1 700 candidates, drawn from the Commercial Crimes Unit; the Organised Crime Unit; and the Hi-tech Centre, have already undergone a screening selection process. In about 12 months, about 3 000 candidates will be screened as the structure is grown.

An integrated and multi- disciplinary approach; greater cooperation; and a much closer working relationship with the police and other key departments will be needed if the Hawks’ mandate is to succeed.

The new unit will aim to shift from the current approach of a lack of communication or common goals between departments.

The Hawks, who will report to the National Police Commissioner, have already been handed 288 cases previously under investigation by the Scorpions. In addition, a team of prosecutors appointed by the National Prosecuting Authority will be assigned to the new directorate.

Overall, it seems that the Directorate`s planning and restructuring is almost finalised. The tangible results, however, remain to be seen.

What do you think?

Elton and Jan get my support!

The actors from the latest Vodacom Player 23 ad, ‘Elton and Jan’ (Malcolm Ferreira from Going Nowhere Slowly and Merlon Balie, formerly of 7de Laan) are causing quite a stir and gaining recognition – the ad even features on the FHM website.

Vodacom’s support of the Bokke continues when ‘new’ fan, Elton, competes with original superfan, Jan, to show that HE is the ultimate Springbok supporter. The two meet up often, comparing the boerewors they purchase constantly attempt to ‘outdo’ each other – ultimately ending up as friends.

Directed by Alan Irvin of Picture Tree, the follow up ad has been dubbed ‘hilarious’ – what do you think? For me, it’s all in the typically South African accompanying song. Proudly South African and patriotic, I think it works well.

Click here to view the original and follow up Vodacom Player 23 ads, or watch the embedded ad below.

Media spotlight on Confederations Cup; IPL

The media has been abuzz with mentions of sports activities over the past two months. First, the Indian Premier League (IPL) arrived on our shores, and mustered nearly 24 000 media mentions from the beginning of March to the end of May, with an Advertising Value Equivalent (AVE) of R300-million. The Confederations Cup followed in June, generating 15 120 media mentions with a value of R220-million in just under a month.

These are the results obtained by Newsclip’s research division, which analyses media mentions across 1 400 print media; 55 radio and television stations; and hundreds of commercially-viable websites. The clips are then valued on an internationally accepted AVE model, that equates editorial space to advertising value as a base unit of measure.

Daniel Munslow, Executive Strategist at Newsclip, says: “to put these figures into perspective, the most mentioned sporting brand in 2008 was Bafana Bafana, tallying 25 000 media mentions worth R550-million. Second in terms of clip count was the Premier Soccer League, with 15 000 mentions worth R215-million. This year saw an interesting development, as two sporting events – over relatively short periods of time – surpassed 2008’s top brands!”

The media mentions of the Confederations Cup refer to editorial coverage only, and are broken down into 4 240 print; 4 209 broadcast; and 6 671 online mentions. The event enjoyed no fewer than 166 hours of airtime across all broadcast outlets. The cumulative audience of these mentions, measured in RAMS (radio listening figures) per station, amounts to just over 6-billion.

“With 2010 and its associated sporting events and activities just around the corner, there is no doubt that we can expect additional surprises and new highs in media exposure and measurement,” concludes Munslow.

About Newsclip

Newsclip Media Monitoring was established in 1983, and today monitors over 1 400 print media; hundreds of commercially-viable websites; and dozens of television and radio stations. Uniquely positioned in the marketplace, Newsclip provides a 360-degree monitoring solution with integrated research facilities; digital trend-based media analysis; publishing; mobile marketing; consulting; and training departments.

In a multi-faceted industry, the challenge has always been to incorporate all the different media sources into a single, totally integrated solution. Newsclip understands that its extensive client base has very different media monitoring requirements, and has therefore developed a range of products and services to meet these individual needs.

For more information please contact:
Daniel Munslow, Executive Strategist: Operational Development and Marketing, Newsclip. Email: daniel@newsclip.co.za; Tel: 011 288 6600.

Munslow will speak on this topic on SAfm’s Media@SAfm show soon.

Have you tried blerping yet?

Media Update has recently subscribed to Blerp – a social networking website that allows you to start discussions right on top of your favourite websites. Unlike typical web comments, you are in full control and you can post on any webpage you choose, regardless of whether it permits user feedback. In other words, Blerp transforms the entire web into one giant forum, allowing everyone to participate.

Getting started is as easy – just add a comment, video or photo to a webpage and you can start a discussion with anyone who’s interested. You can also share your blerps with your friends – making blerping a social experience, where you can track what your friends are saying all across the web, and your horizons can be broadened as you are exposed to websites your friends have visited and commented on.

Blerp’s motto is ‘layer the web’, and its goal is to give everyone a voice on every website. This adds a new dimension to the internet and social media, as layers are created by users on top of existing websites and these layers are controlled by users – determining their content, context and placement. In this way, user-generated content is taken to a new level.

The website borrows from several existing social networking sites as far as terminology, layout, and features, so it is familiar to new users, but it adds a new dimension that will be appealing to many people who already blog, tweet, and the like, because ‘blerping’ is like blogging and tweeting without being confined to your own homepage – the web becomes your notepad, or podium, with Blerp.

It will be interesting to see if Blerp catches on in the same way as Twitter or Facebook, or, indeed, blogging, or whether it is just a passing craze. In the meantime, try it out for yourself – and add Media Update as a friend while you’re at it J

Visit http://www.blerp.com to join and find Media Update by searching for newsclipupdates.

Oh, the online search blunders we make!

Inspired by the fact that South Africa is a new swine flu hot spot, I decided to look up the ‘hot topic’ out of personal interest, and stumbled across an interesting post on the Pop Hangover site.

Titled ‘Swan Flu? Susan Boil? Farrah Faucet?’, it is a shortened version of a Yahoo! Buzz list of the most commonly misspelled Yahoo search terms – some of these are forgivable, in the case of leaving out a letter, but most show simple carelessness and that folk are NOT streetsmart!.

•Swan Flu (for Swine Flu)
•Susan Boil (for “Britain’s Got Talent” contender, Susan Boyle)
•Brack Obama (for U.S. President, Barack Obama)
•Sonia Sotomeyer (for Supreme Court justice nominee, Sonia Sotomayor)
•Rachel Ray (for Food Network host, Rachael Ray)
•Paperview boxing (for cable programming pay-per-view boxing)
•Amtrack (for train system, Amtrak)
•Wallmart (for retailer, Wal-Mart)
•Farrah Faucet (for actress, Farrah Fawcett)
•Rod Steward (for singer, Rod Stewart)
•Arlene Specter (for Senator, Arlen Specter)
•“Dancing With the Starts” (for ABC reality competition, Dancing With the Stars)
•Bea Author” (for the late comedian, Bea Arthur)
•Brittany Spears (for singer, Britney Spears)
•Chris Allen (for “American Idol” winner, Kris Allen)
•Configure worm (for computer virus, Conficker worm)
•Mysapce (for MySpace)

This is just from the past month – and the terms are actually Googleable. Can you imagine all the mis-spelled online searches from the past few years? The mind boggles!