Broadband is Holding Back Web 2.0 Use in Southern Africa

Broadband is Holding Back Web 2.0 Use in Southern Africa
Forward thinking agencies and corporates attend Web PR +

We had 70 attendees in Cape Town and 60 in Johannesburg at the Web PR + conference.

The Cape Town audience was more independents and bloggers and techie types, while the Joburg crowd was more agency and PR related.  As one blogger who attended both sessions remarked the difference in the audience led to a very different conference - as it was a very interactive event.

Louise Marsland, editor of Biz Community, told me that it was one of the most emjoyable conferences she had attended -not just a platform to push services or products, but a genuine sharing of information and ideas.

The biggest drawback to adoption of Web 2.0 and Web PR in South Africa is the lack of connectivity and the cost of broadband.  But when they finally get the second network operator and broadband becomes affordable, it will arrive in a rush.

Good to see both innovators like BMW and the staid old financial institutions attending.

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Citizen Journalism Takes a Leap Forward
Collaborative Experiment Based on Wiki Method Aims to Enable Consumers to Contribute Directly to News Stories

A new experiment in citizen journalism plans to some crowdsourcing and include readers and their sources in the network that journalists can tap into for stories.

Assignment Zero, a collaboration between Wired magazine and NewAssignment.Net, the experimental journalism site established by Jay Rosen, a professor of journalism at New York University, intends to use not only the wisdom of the crowd, but their combined reporting efforts—an approach that has come to be called "crowdsourcing," reports The NY Times

Citizens with a variety of expertise—the "people formerly known as the audience," as Professor Rosen describes them—will produce work to be iterated and edited by experienced journalists.

This is an experiment to watch. It could turn out to be a place where your experts can contribute content.  Some of the content might even make it into Wired, says Chris Anderson, the editor. .    

Telcos Fail to Capitalize on Mobile Web 2.0
Telecoms companies are failing to make the most of the growing popularity of the online information-sharing services of "Web 2.0", according to new research 'Web re-loaded: Driving convergence in the real world.' by global consultancy Arthur D. Little.

This new report places users and user generated content in the spotlight yet again.  Yet it seems US Telcos have not yet got the Web 2.0 message.

"In order to harness and monetize Web 2.0 the Telcos will have to rapidly address the needs of this community" says Martyn Roetter, Director of Arthur D. Little's US TIME. "Younger Europeans are already showing their readiness to interact on the move, with 38% of them accessing email from mobile devices, while Google launched Gmail for mobile in November last year. Telecommunications businesses now need to offer access to the established web 2.0 services, for both communication and for the fulfillment of their wider social needs while on the move."

The dilemma Telcos face is whether they should build their own Web 2.0 platforms or engage with established sites such as flickr etc, says the report.

One good example of collaboraiton is the Pontiac Underground site that partnered with Yahoo! and now offers access to all the Yahoo social media sites in one branded place.

Whatever they do, they should do it soon. the race goes to the swift and The Cluetrain is not waiting for the laggers.

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links for 2007-04-09
Creating My ToDo List Through Jott And Gmail (tags: GTD Mobile lifehacks voice Notetaking jott Gmail) BlogMailr - Publish from your email straight to your blog (tags: Blogs Email lifehacks) » Thoughts on the online/offiine apps controversy | Office Evolution...

News vs Entertainment : a PR crisis?
Desperate days for traditional media are dangerous days for corporate and organizational reputations.

Gerald Baron, Founder and CEO, PIER System/AudienceCentral; Author, "Now Is Too Late: Survival in an Era of Instant News" made some pithy comments about the 'news as entertainment' trend and its effect on PR in today's Daily Dog.

What's wrong with this trend?

• Too little money is available for good reporting.
• Wall Street expectations destroying news organizations.
• Audiences switching rapidly to new media for which there is insufficient revenue to support real journalism.
• The line between amateurs and professional journalists is blurred and it is likely the public largely doesn't care.
• News is entertainment and needs to compete on the basis of what the audience wants—not what is good journalism or what should be covered.

"Public relations professionals need to understand that these desperate days for traditional media are dangerous days for corporate and organizational reputations," says Bacon. "They need to be able to respond fast, to be aggressive in attacking misinformation and bad reporting and most importantly, they need to grab onto the incredible opportunities they have to talk directly to the people whose opinion about the organization matters most to their future. Talk quick, talk with complete honestly and talk directly."

How does a web content strategy figure in all this?

"Today's Internet tools including virtual communication centers, blogs, and communicator-controlled websites all make that possible. The desperate media environment makes it essential," advises Bacon.  And he is 100% correct..

How do you do it?

If you do not yet have a section of your website that can be controlled by the communication department this should be a priority.  The tools available today make this a no-brainer.

RSS enable this section of the site, so that your content can be syndicated across the Net.  Feeds also allow you to reach subcribers fast...

Use RSS feeds and other tools to monitor the blogs and conversations so you have your finger on the pulse and can pick up and respond to any comments or issues right away.

links for 2007-04-07
Google Voice Local Search Google Voice Local Search (1-800-GOOG-411) is Google’s experimental service to make local-business search accessible over the phone. (tags: Google local locationbasedservices Mobile voice Search) It's the Conversation Economy, Stupid "As consumer markets fragment, marketers and designers...

links for 2007-04-08
NYTimes.com Most Popular Newspaper Site -- Here Is Top 30 List of the top newspaper sites with page views and, more importantly, time spent. (tags: Journalism newspapers Stats) Google Guide Quick Reference: Google Advanced Operators (Cheat Sheet) (tags: Google Search...

Disney's Content Strategy to Reach Moms Online
Entertainment Behemoth takes the needs of their online audience to heart.

Moms are increasingly turning to the Internet for answers to everything from problems with teething babies to financing college. Based on research into their online audience Disney is launching a new website aimed at providing these answers the AP reports. 

Web-savvy and 32-million strong, U.S. mothers spend almost as much time online as women as a group, according to eMarketer's new report, "Moms Online: Parenting With Web 2.0."

And they're not just on children and parenting sites. The biggest opportunity for marketers targeting moms online is social networking sites, says the report.

Disney has plunged right in to this space with their new website Family.com

Family intends to be a one-stop site for parents, especially mothers, providing everything from Internet search to user-generated articles on key topics such as education and food, and, eventually, a 'ParentPedia,' a compilation of information on 1,000 topics that can be expanded by users.

Parents have become a larger part of Disney's online audience, accounting for nearly half of the 25 million unique visits per month to the Disney.com site, the company said. Most of those are moms. 

Disney surveyed 30,000 mothers over the past year to find out what they are looking for online. The openness of the new site along with trusted content vouched for by Disney is what moms say they want..

The site will be in beta till the summer.

Two New Ways to Mine for Twitter Gold
Two new tools have launched that make it easy to search and mine Twitter for conversation data. The first, called Twittermittent, pulls geo-tagged data and charts from the last few days. You can also compare terms. Here's a chart I...

Video Success Online Depends on Content Strategy
Looking for viral online buzz? It's all about the content

Andrew Foote of Peppercom has some sage advoce for firms looking to success with viral video and social media as part of their internet marketing strategy.:

Content is king in this game. More often than not, the quality of viral content takes a backseat to the marketing mandate.

Foote gives examples of how to get it right and how to get it very wrong. Dove's Evolution video was a winner, but their recent Super Bowl Commercial effort sank like a stone under a deluge of negative comments.

The bottom line is that the message has to be exceptional, says Foote. I'd also add the importance of originality, authenticity and relevance. Don't force a viral marketing idea because it sounds cool—make sure it jives with the demographic you're trying to reach

For some reason when we are faced with a new medium we tend to throw all the PR basics out with the bathwater.  Social media is very much like live communication - it's not a one-way, top down 'push' medium. You have to understand your sudience and deliver content that works for them. 

Yes, it was much less threatening to deiver content in the 'old' ways - no-one was talking back.  Social media tools make it possible for your audience to give you instant feedback - they'll let you (and the rest of the world) know, in no uncertain terms, if you get it wrong.

Here are Foote's tips for successul viral video online:

Don't force viral marketing concepts if they don't fit the brand essence.

Do your homework on what flies and what dies. Live the video sharing space.

Content is everything. Bring on producers who can push the buttons of buzz.

Take risks. Beware of corporate filters that will dilute the quality of the content.

Test it. If eight out of 10 people aren't cracking up, memorized or amazed, head back to the drawing board.

Cast a wide net. YouTube is center stage, but don't forget the other sites: Revver, iFilm, Myspace, etc.

It's stll about content strategy and delivering the right message to the right audience, via the right channels.

How to Use Gmail as a Business Diary and More Tips
A few weeks back I wrote two posts (Part I, Part II) on how to transform Gmail into your personal nerve center (PNC). These and other similar how-to posts are consistently among your favorites, so I plan to keep at...

How to Launch Your Career as an Author, Get Your Book Published and Get Book Publicity: MP3 Audio
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