Campaigning on the Internet

This report from The Economist, 15 March 2007 (may need subscription):

Of slips and video clips
Candidates for 2008 are racing to master a new medium

DURING the presidential campaign of 1800, partisans harnessed high-speed technology to spread their message. Like today, that message was often scurrilous. Unlike today, the technology they harnessed needed real harnesses. When Thomas Jefferson’s enemies wanted to distribute pamphlets accusing him of atheism and adultery, or to spread a premature report of his death, they used horses, which could outrun even the most rapid rebuttal.

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Role of the Media

I heard a comment on the Daily Show a while back (I think they were reviewing ‘Time Magazine’s Person of the Year’). Something about main-stream media turning its back on its responsibility and hence the rise of citizen media in the form of blogs and podcasts, etc.

Here’s the Onion’s version of such a comment, based on the New York Time’s ‘Most e-mailed list‘. It’s a list of which articles are most e-mailed by readers.

The dog certainly has a larger grip on it’s tail. One wonders where this swing is going to turn again?

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Cancelling an event

I’ve been promoting something to my friends which I’ve been looking forward to for some time now – Graeme’s “Mind the Gap” presentation on Feb 8th at Kyalami. I’ve seen the presentation (about how the different generations behave and think) a few times, but what I’m really looking forward to this time around is the live actors playing each generation. This has huge potential for laughs and insights – which is why I’ve asked my parents to come along too – and almost have enough people to book out a table.

But late this afternoon I received a frantic sms from Graeme – “urgent website change: see email” – and to my disappointment I see that the event has been postponed until “some time in the next few months.” I’ve posted the cancellation notice online and now will have to contact all of the people I convinced to come and say, “Sorry guys…” It’s a little embarrassing, not only for me but also for TomorrowToday.biz. I suppose not as embarrassing as trying to pull together something which is essentially “live theatre” and failing to do so in front of a crowd (I’ve heard the venue holds 500 people). I don’t know who made the decision to can it, but I’m sure it wasn’t easy. Here’s the announcement: … Continue Reading

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How not to apply for a job

This is too good to be true… It was reported in London newspapers last week, and is just unbelievable. It’s an anti-talent story. The story of a young web designer looking for a job in Dubai. He applies by email, and gets a favourable response. And, then… well, its hard to describe, but the guy has a complete mental breakdown.

The reason I’m giving you this link is to show you how powerful blogging is, how important understanding the Connection Economy can be, and how NOT to get ahead in advertising. It’s worth reading the whole thing through. My best is the last line: Congratulations, you’re famous. Read this great story here.

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Be a Reporter for CNN (or not!)

Blogs were the front runners of a new phenomenon that has swept the world over the last 3 years or so. It now has a name: Web 2.0. Other words used to describe this new approach to online activity include: interactivity, citizen reporting, social networks, folksonomies, wikis, blogs, vlogs, and so on.Major news networks were wuick to jump onto the concept (if not making the most use of the software) and began inviting viewers to send in photos and videos in addition to comments and questions. Pictures of the Boxing Tsunami in Asia, and the London Underground bombings cemented “citizen reporting” as a mainstream phenomenon. But, I wonder if the future will see some further changes. Most people in the world know how valuable those images and videos are to the news media. How long will it be before people stop wanting to send in their reports for free?

I’d suggest that 2007 might see that change. News media will be overwhelmed this year by stupid reports, and underwhelmed by serious and usable ones. And they’ll have to do better than CNN’s iReport, which says that in exchange for sending in your reports, you will get… wait for it… the chance to tell your friends, “I report for CNN”. Wowwww!

Actually, I can’t say it better than Jon Stewart of the Daily Show did. This was originally available at YouTube, but has since been removed – so right click here to download an FLV file of the video (you need an FLV viewer to play it). 6.8Mb download.

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We keep asking, ‘how big is blogging?’

This question has been around about as long as blogging has. Is blogging just another fad, another fringe happening, and does it have the momentum to make it into the realm of main stream? Of course anecdotes abound to illustrate just how much gravitas it has. Perhaps it’ll be a case of ‘slowly slowly catch the monkey’ as these seemingly light-weight anecdotes band together to create the kind of splash blogging enthusiasts have always predicted?

Here’s another of those stories. This one isn’t as light weight as others, and one wonders if this is just Microsoft spin, or whether they really would re-consider their China policy over the persecution of bloggers?

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Traditional media using Citizens

 They breaking story around the 1 people arrested in London this morning had me all over BBC’s web site. What was interesting that i’ve not seen before was a bit at the end of the main article asking for people’s experiences around delayed flights and even for photos.

After 911 and the London Bombing last year there was publicity around the use of ‘Citizen Media‘, as people sent their stories and pics (their initiative) to ‘Traditional Media’. But here for my first time I see a formal request.

Have you been affected by the new security measures, seen disruption at an airport or witnessed any police raids? Please use the form below to tell us about your experiences

You can send your pictures to us by emailing them to yourpics@bbc.co.uk or by MMS: 07725 100 100

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A Delicious Fetish

Joshua Schachter once sent me an email. At the time, I had no idea who he was – his response had come from a request I’d sent to the del.icio.us ‘support team’. Del.icio.us is a social bookmarking site, I needed some help figuring out how to use it (being new to the concept) and support@del.icio.us seemed a good place to start.

His email was dated 11 October 2005. Not two months later, on 9 December, Joshua announced on his personal blog that Yahoo! had snatched up his fledgling Web 2.0 startup as part of their extreme 2.0 makeover. Nobody is really sure what was paid, but considering the bulk of the rumours estimated the price at USD30 million, give or take ten percent, Joshua did ok.

I’m not sure what it is about del.icio.us. It certainly isn’t pretty. In fact, it’s arguably one of the ugliest darn sites on the web. It might be the name – the name is downright smart, using the .us domain to complete a sublimely catchy Web 2.0-ish lilt. At least I got excited about that. Perhaps it’s all the extensions and plug-ins the del.icio.us community has created to integrate functionality into popular web browsers and blogging platforms. Then again, it might just be that I have found del.icio.us to be the least flashy, most functional, most valuable, most sustainable Web 2.0 application (and information resource) on the internet.

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Crime Doesn’t Pay. Or Does It?

Let me begin by saying that I have never been a victim of violent crime in 25 years of living in South Africa.

A Golf I once owned did get broken into overnight. My childhood home in Johannesburg was invaded and goods were stolen, once. My brother was held up at knifepoint on a sidewalk. I know people that have been hijacked at gunpoint. That said, I do not claim to identify with people who have been subjected to devastating acts of violence, assault, abuse and discrimination, and admit up front my bias towards a country and a nation I love, celebrate and feel privileged to be a part of.

There are many who wouldn’t agree. Neil Watson, a South African citizen, feels so strongly about what he believes is an understated and out-of-control crime reality in South Africa that he’s started up a website to rally support from like-minded compatriots. Crime Expo South Africa is a blog that, according to the site, “aim(s) to provide victims of violent crime, as well as friends and families of the slaughtered, with an opportunity to collectively register their anger and provide the world with a preview of violent South Africa…” and “provide(s) an opportunity to the murdered to raise from their graves and haunt those who let them down!”

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BMW: Blogging Meets Wheels

How lame is that title? You come up with a better one…

Exciting news in my inbox yesterday – Jonathan Cherry of Cherryflava.com and more recently, the Cherryflava Media Company, has secured a deal with BMW to support the launch of the new Z4 Coupe with a blogging campaign. Kudo’s to Jon!

The press release:

A first in South Africa – BMW have taken the leap into the world of blogs by advertising the launch of their new Z4 coupe on one.

The newly-formed Cherryflava Media Company, South Africa’s first blog media publisher, together with newly established brand activation company, Thirty Four, announced Friday that BMW South Africa has included Cherryflava’s flagship title, Cherryflava.com, in their online advertising campaign for the new BMW Z4 Coupe.

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Catch the moment – Thanks for the opportunity Vicky

Rumour has it that one of our BOOMER sales people enjoyed the opening music of our newest presentation, PRIME TIME.

Caught this moment in the middle of our sales team meeting this past week.

Watch this space. This presentation is going to have the BOOMERS ROCKING.

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Dutch Cabinet want to abolish the compulsory retirement age of 65 for civil servants

This article was shared with me today and was extracted from IPE.com, Investments and Pensions, Europe. The Dutch are always known for their progressive thinking on key issues relating to society. They must be feeling the pain and now have decided to address the issue. This could be the start of other governments addressing this issue that will have major impacts on society at large.

- The Dutch cabinet want to abolish the compulsory retirement age of 65 for civil servants, in order to encourage employees to working longer, it said. The decision is part of a package to stimulate all workers older than 55 to keep active as long as possible. The cabinet will actively inform employers, employees and companys personnel departments on the legal possibilities of carrying on working. At the moment, there are hardly any legal restrictions for non-civil servants to continuing a career beyond 65, if both the worker and his employer share this wish, the ministry of Social Affairs indicated. However, there are many cultural obstructions, e.g. a negative image, because many people think over 65s shouldnt work. The cabinet also said it will investigate if the compulsory salary pay-out during two years of illness for workers can be limited for over 65s. This is a response to the oft-cited objection to the obligation by employers. The announced information campaign will focus on the legal position of workers of over 65. Both employers and workers must think of different conditions, and a more tailor-made contract, the ministry explained. The governments efforts to increase labour participation should however prioritise the age group of 55 to 65, the cabinet stressed. This partly as a stimulus for over 65s to keep on working. For the next five years a growing labour participation of the age group of 60 to 64 is crucial, it added. The cabinet said there is no indication that increased numbers of over 65s will substantially compete with younger employees. It also stated that it is opposed to individuals deciding at which age their state pension AOW now at 65 will start. According to the cabinet, an increasing number of elderly wish to continue working after 65. In 2004, 83,000 over 65s mainly self-employed workers, migrants and women returners – were working beyond their official retirement age. The Netherlands is one of the EU countries with the highest labour participation of men under 60. The official retirement age is 65, but the effective retirement age is 61 on average.

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Scoble’s on the move

To be honest this post is all about beating my colleague Mike Stopforth to the punch : ) I see that one of his icons, Robert Scoble, rated as the world’s most famous corporate blogger, is leaving Microsoft to join a recently formed Internet Media Start-Up.

The world’s most famous corporate blogger, Robert Scoble, credited with helping to break down a siege mentality at his employer, Microsoft, confirmed on Sunday that he is leaving to join a recently formed Silicon Valley Internet media start-up.

For a full article click here

Posts on this Blog that include Scoble are – Microsoft, Mini-Microsoft and the Talent Exodus and The Feedster Top 500 – blogs of the month

Technorati Tags: Robert Scoble, Mike Stopforth, Microsoft

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The Bead4Need Race Against Time

I recently presented at an SABMiller Management Development Programme. One of the groups on the programme have taken the bull by the horns and are leveraging social software and viral marketing for maximum reach on a pretty exciting project. Their objective is to raise USD $10,000 before June 16th by auctioning off 3 unique beaded artworks.

This from their website:

The Bead4Need Team is a group of young dynamic business leaders in the corporate environment that want to make a difference in the lives of many Southern Africans. Ian, Navin, Fenias, Roger, AK and Gerrit are in a similar struggle, a race against the sun, against time.

The Bead4Need Race against Time has one simple objective, “To raise $10,000 before 16 June 2006�. Every last cent of this money will be channelled into The CIDA City Campus that aspires to making a sustainable difference in the lives of the disenfranchised people in Southern Africa.

What’s in it for the Bead4Need Team you may well ask? It’s simple, they are a team in an Apprentice Challenge as part of their Leadership Development Experience. The team wants to be the top of their class and realised that just making money is not what it’s all about. They have a golden opportunity to make a real difference in the lives of many less fortunate than themselves and they want to invite you to be part of this success.

Really great news is that SAB has agreed to double any funds that the group raise through this initiative. I think it’s a great idea, only because CIDA benefits (in other words, this is not about lining SAB’s pockets). So, check out the site, visit eBay and make a bid. Help us spread the word and lets watch this grow.

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Mark Cuban – Blogging vs Traditional (Mainstream) Media

Mark Cuban, charismatic owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team, is an extremely popular blogger and web personality.

Mark spends a lot of time commenting on the impact of emering social (or consumer-generated) media on mainstream media, and recently wrote an excellent entry on the relationship (or divide) between blogs and what we understand as ‘traditional media’.

Here are some of his key points:

In traditional media, you are first defined by your medium – “There is a cost vs time vs interest vs access series of constraints that determines who your audience is, how
you reach them and what they expect of you. Over time, that has evolved our media into very defined roles”, says Cuban. However, blogs cost nothing to create. Blogging is personal. It is a tonal factor that most distinctively divides the two media: “Traditional media
has become almost exclusively corporate while blogging remains almost exclusively personal”.

Another key factor to blogging is the varying roles one author can take – and the subsequent diverse audiences it attracts. I can identify with Mark on this one. I write very differently for my MoneyWeb blog, my Citizen Op-Ed and my other blogs, but all the content invariably gets posted here. So you as the reader are offered a pastiche of journalistic flavours from conversational-informal to print-formal.

One last great quote from the man:

“Traditional media goes to work, bloggers live their work.”

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Google’s Product Plethora

Ever clicked on the ‘more’ link just above and to the right of Google’s search box?

It’s got to be the Web’s best kept secret. Behind the discreet little hyperlink lies Google’s veritable goldmine of products, services and offerings. Some of them you’ll be familiar with – Adsense, Gmail and Google Earth are terms you may have stumbled across in recent times.

But did you know the mighty search machine also offers a Financial portal, web-based Calendar, Book search, Video directory, and that there’s even a Health portal on the horizon? Let me offer you a glimpse into some of the nifty tools Google has hidden behind the ‘more’ link.

Gmail – Google’s webmail service. Competitor to Hotmail and Yahoo! mail, Gmail offers over 2 GB of storage space, a smooth Ajax-powered interface, integrated IM and Talk (Instant Messaging) service, virus scanning, free POP access (unique to Gmail – allows you to receive Gmail in Outlook), mobile compatibility, an address book, spam filtering, and the list goes on. Signing up for a free Google account also opens up the option of a Google Personalized homepage – another great feature. Read more about Gmail here.

Calendar – Google’s calendar service. Recently launched and fully integrated with Gmail, Calendar offers the following features (taken from the overview page):

Calendar Sharing – set up a calendar for your company action cricket team, and share it with the whole roster. Or share with friends and family so you can view each other’s schedules side by side. Invitations – create event invitations, send them to friends, and keep track of people’s responses and comments, all in one place. Your friends can receive your invitation and post responses even if they don’t use Google Calendar themselves. Gmail Integration – add your friend’s Super 14 braai to your calendar without ever leaving your Gmail inbox. Gmail now recognizes events mentioned in emails. Search – find the exact date of the same braai (you knew it was sometime this summer) using Google powerful search technology. Or, search public calendars to discover new events you’re interested in and add them to your own calendar. Mobile Access – receive event reminders and notifications on your mobile phone. Read more about Google Calendar here.

If you hadn’t figured it out yet, Gmail + Calendar = Outlook online. And it’s free. And it’s web-based, so you access your personal information from any mobile, connected device, anywhere in the world, anytime. While we’re talking about an online office suite, it’s worth mentioning that Google purchased Writely earlier this year, a web-based word processor that rivals MS Word in functionality and performance.

As increased broadband connectivity, albeit slow in coming, improves our access to the Web, it is becoming more and more feasible to shift your entire personal desktop online. For free.

Moving on…

If you’re into tracking the online buzz to make sure you’re at the cutting edge of new developments in your industry, around your brand or even mentions of your own name, use the following powerful tools:

Alerts – once again free with a Google account, Alerts allows you to enter a search term once-off, and have updated results sent to you via email when they appear on the Web. I have alerts for my client’s company names, my favourite search topics (youth markets, as an example), and more. If you find you regularly check Google for the same or similar search terms, set up an Alert and have the results delivered to you instead. Nifty!

Blog Search – If you’re still in the dark with regards to blogs and blogging I’ve written muchos info here. Blog Search will help you keep track of what is being said in blogs worldwide.

Trends – still in Labs (development) phase, Google Trends allows you to compare search term results graphically. The search will highlight news results corresponding to the graph and normalise results by region and city, if necessary. As an experiment, try running a search for ‘Nedbank, ABSA’ and peruse the results. To quote Steve Rubel, PR expert and A-list blogger: “This tool is a must-bookmark for every PR person and marketer worldwide. Search is so important to how brands are perceived. As I noted earlier today, it’s critical to understand how people are searching for you and your competitors. The news volume tool is an awesome value add for PR measurement.” And it’s free.

There are stacks of other value-added services hidden behind Google’s discreetly placed ‘more’ link. My advice – take some time out to explore the possibilities and try out some of the products. You’ll soon be Googleized.

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Tracking the World Wide Buzz

Marketing, media and consumer behaviour redefined

Standard Bank recently had a few marketing and banking tongues wagging after forking out millions to change their well known and fairly acceptable ‘simpler. better. faster.’ pay-off line to the abstract, Triple-B: ‘inspired. motivated. involved.’

Sentiments echoed across the blogosphere were all somewhat scathing, which illustrates the power of blogging and the fact that consumers have found their voice and are not shy to use it. (A good example of what was and is being said can be found on the popular community blog about all things cherry – Cherryflava). One wonders what results Standard Bank would have enjoyed had they pocketed their marketing budget and instead implemented a direct mail campaign asking clients for recommendations on the new slogan. They could even have thrown in a sparkling new iPod as a prize for the best submission. Let’s face it, for the most part 50,000 heads can only be better than 50.

… Continue Reading

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My blog is my sword

My brother phoned me the other day. I was on leave with my family but what he had to say just couldn’t wait. In a rushed and high-pitched tone he told me he just ‘did’ his first blog. I’ve not seen that kind of excitement around a blog since… well ever. And the reason it’d been such a moment for him, wasn’t because of great writting, or interesting citizen-media. It was because he’d been phoned that afternoon to let him know he’d won a truck load of money. All he had to do, was drive 30 minutes out of town to go and pick up his prize. Clearly the common-sense part of his mind was completely over-ridden by his need to win a truck-load of cash, because he almost went.

What stopped him was Google.
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SA Blog Awards

Whoah, what a night. This was certainly (and hopefully) the fringe of blogging. Even as wierd as Mike is, he didn’t even look like he fully fitted in with the ‘interesting’ human beings in the room.

Winner of best new blog, went to ‘peas on toast’, Mushy Peas on Toast. Interesting story that goes with this blog. You’ll have to do some work on your own to dig it up, but well worth it.

Our best shot was in the category ‘group blog’ and we lost out to a blog called Chump Style They’re well known for their ‘boobs of the week’. And they won three awards for the evening. Maybe says plenty about the aparent fringe of blogging? Mike thinks not, but that’s because ‘boobs of the week’ is his home page : )

Best lifestyle blog went to ‘splattermail’ Splattermail These guys looked fairly normal and human. Maybe why they get to win that kind of award.

If you want to see all the winners and runners up and links to their site go to SA Blog Awards

… Continue Reading

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The bottom line on blogging

I’ve stumbled across an excellent article at KansasCity.com entitled The Bottom Line on Blogging which takes a look at some of the emerging stories from blogging and bloggers in the corporate world.

Our very own, extremely successful Stormhoek Winery blog gts a significant mention!

A snippet from the article:

“But blog watchers — and yes, there are blogs that track business bloggers — say 23 of the Fortune 500 companies now have formal blogs. The practice has been institutionalized at companies such as Microsoft and IBM.

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