growing up

rain and charcoal

Blogging for Poverty

15 October 2008 is Blog Action Day, an annual event in the blogosphere that’s aimed at getting bloggers around the world to discuss one topic of global concern. This year’s topic is poverty.

“We invite bloggers to examine poverty from their own blog topics and perspectives, to look at it from the macro and micro, as a global condition and a local issue, and to bring their own ideas, views and opinions on the subject.” – The Blog Action Day Blog

Seeing as how 45-55% of South Africans live in poverty, here’s our chance to do some digital good and raise awareness and discussion around poverty through blog posts, podcasts and videos. 

To participate in this event, you can do one or all of these 3 things:
– Register to participate on the Blog Action Day site.  You’ll be given a bit of HTML code to add to your blog post so that it can be tracked on October 15.
– If you earn income from your blog through ads or product sales, you can also donate a day of your earnings to a poverty-related charity in your area or one supported by B.A.D.
– Promote the event by spreading the word or adding a promotional banner or video to your site.

Mass support

Since its inception in 2007, Blog Action Day has received huge support in the blogosphere and from organisations like the United Nations, Opera, Change.org and BlogTV Inc.  This year, there are currently 4770 sites participating in the event, with more than 9.5 million RSS readers.  

To follow the latest developments, you can check out the Blog Action Day Twitter feed, or Flickr, Facebook  and MySpace groups.

Conversation

It would, ofcourse, be silly to believe that Blog Action Day is going to decrease or put an end to poverty.  What it will do though, is get us thinking and talking about an issue of global importance that doesn’t get enough attention in the blogosphere.  I think this event is also crucial in changing the narrow mindset that social change and awareness is only possible by “real” activists or organisations in “real life”.

We all – activists, bloggers, geeks, social media addicts – should play a part.

And just for a day, it will be interesting to see if we bloggers can resist our narcissism for a bit of altruism. If we can talk about real issues instead of the iPhone 3G or the parties we went to on the weekend. Just for a day. And then, maybe another, and another.

Big Brother 2.0

Whenever I receive a Google Alert in my inbox for a search conducted on me, I get a little concerned. Who wants to know more about me? Why? And did they find anything incriminating?

This may seem rather silly or vain, but I bet I’m not the only social media user who’s wondered about their online privacy – if such a thing exists.

We’re the so-called Google Generation that lives a large portion of our social lives online.  Thanks to web 2.0 technology, we’re part of an infinite social web through which we construct our digital identities and connect with friends and family via blogging, facebooking, plurking or instant messaging. 

This type of communication is immediate, cheap and convenient.  It enables us to be users and producers, and share information on an unprecedented scale.  It satisfies the exhibitionists and voyeurs in us all. Our past and present is digitally archived for the world to find, ogle, admire or exploit. But along with this blurring of the traditional private/public boundary comes a barrage of threats to our privacy.

Watch out
IT Security Strategist Herbert Thompson has demonstrated just how easy it is to break into a person’s online banking account using the information they provide about themselves on the Net, via their blog or online CV.  Even little nuggets of your personal information make you vulnerable to exploitation.  His advice is to “think first, post later”, as most of the data we put online cannot be deleted.

Privacy
Danah Boyd of Harvard University aptly points out that the current generation of social media users – i.e us – embrace a new conception of privacy.  Instead of regarding it as a secret to be concealed, we consider it more an issue of accessibility to information. 

Hence the mass protests and petitions against Facebook’s Beacon and Social Ads systems which were introduced last year. With the Beacon application, Facebook struck data-sharing deals with various e-commerce sites.  If, for example, a user bought a product online, that information would appear on the user’s Facebook profile.

Facebook’s social ads system went a step further – or too far.  If a user posted a positive comment about a movie or book, Facebook would include his/her name and photo in an advertisement for that product, and display it to his/her friends.

Following protests and petitions from users, Zuckerburg and co. have reformed their privacy settings but not enough to leave the privacy-phobes satisfied.

Wake up!
Privacy is not a privilege online. We should quit playing Victim and start taking responsibility for our digital identities in this networked world. These are my three simple rules of thumb:

1. Value your personal information. Most social networks require only your name, email address and birth date on registration. Everything else you provide is voluntary (and can come back to bite you in the rear end).
2. By using a social networking site like Facebook, you agree to its Terms and Conditions. Read it!
3. Do not share information that you don’t want others to know about you.  It’s that clear cut.

For the odd narcissists who demand their online privacy while still posting sordid details and images of their sex lives, I suggest you revert to web 0.0 and keep a journal. Unless the current legislation on privacy is amended, our online identities will continue to be fair game for companies, governments, employers, journalists and stalkers alike.

We’ve got to live with it. Responsibly.

Making money with $ocial media

A local company is a case in point of the potential power of social media for businesses.  Stormhoek, a Western Cape winery, has been making waves on the web since 2005, when it turned to the blogosphere to promote its brand.  Stormhoek’s first campaign was simply to hand out 100 free bottles of wine to bloggers in the UK, France and Ireland, who were not obligated to promote the product.

Nevertheless, the campaign paid off and yielded exposure for Stormhoek. More importantly, it helped bring in the bucks:  in less than two years, the company’s UK branch was enjoying a five-fold increase in sales – a feat that it attributes to blogging.

Web 2.0 to the rescue

In February this year, Stormhoek found itself faced with a crisis when its UK partner, Orbital declared bankruptcy.  But instead of asking FNB for a loan, the company asked its customers.  (Yes, you read right.)

For a loan of R2000, a Stormhoek supporter would be allocated a vine in the company’s vineyards with his/her name and location on it.  The supporter would also receive a photograph of the vine and a bottle of wine sourced from that vineyard’s crop. 

Stormhoek would pay back the loan with interest, by allotting 5% of its production costs to a loan-repayment fund.

The Own-a-Vine-Save-a-Job campaign quickly went viral once it was posted on the company’s blog. To date, Stormhoek has received R572 000 from the campaign and is on track with loan repayments. 

I’m impressed by Graham Knox’s creative thinking, but even more amazed that it worked.  Perhaps I shouldn’t be though, because their social media strategy is simple, effective and based on trust.  Stormhoek’s success story is due to the honest and transparent relationship it maintains with its supporters through the Stormhoek blog, Facebook group, Twitter feed and Zoopy video channel. 

The lesson from this for other South African businesses is this: social media can help you meet your goals if it’s used consistently and creatively.

Frome one newbie to the other, here are some interesting resources that further explain how social media can benefit businesses:

Next Generation Social Marketing

Fundamental Truths about Social Media Marketing

Using Social Media in the Workplace

The customer could be King again

I recently lost my Edgars Cash Card and trudged to the local store to get a new one.  The cashier, however, could not track my old card on the system and said it was impossible to transfer my accumulated purchase points to my new card. (Apparently, the card registration form I filled in years ago was not properly captured on their system).

But hell hath no fury like a shopaholic who doesn’t get her money’s worth.

I drove home, logged on to HelloPeter.com, and made this not-so-polite complaint.

Within 12 minutes, Vanessa from their Customer Services Centre responded to it, assuring me that the local store manager would contact me to resolve the problem.  She did, the very next day. We met, talked briefly, she apologised for her staff’s blunder, and I received a R150 voucher for the “inconvenience” caused to me.

Don’t you just love how empowering social media can be? Now we don’t have to grumble quietly about inefficient customer service.  Tell it to millions of people around the world instead, and see how quickly companies sit up and take notice.

Impressive Influence

Research conducted in April 2008 by a US social media think tank reveals how influential social media is on customers’ decisions and perceptions.  Here are some of the stats, taken from local marketing strategist Walter Pike’s article:

• 59.1% of respondents use social media to “vent” about a customer care experience
• 72.2% of respondents research companies’ customer care online prior to purchasing products and services at least sometimes
• 84% of respondents consider the quality of customer care at least sometimes in their decision to do business with a company
• 74% choose companies/brands based on others’ customer care experiences shared online
• 81% believe that blogs, online rating systems and discussion forums can give consumers a greater voice regarding customer care, but less than 33% believe that businesses take customers’ opinions seriously.

I’m not an online marketing guru, but I do know that web users have a greater degree of influence as producers and co-creators of information.  It’s common knowledge that this has changed media-audience relationships, but it has also altered the company-customer dynamic.  

Customers now have a more powerful platform from which to voice their complaints and hold businesses accountable for shoddy service.  Consequently, companies’ PR staffs have their jobs cut out for them with regard to brand and image management, since all it takes is a Google search to find dirt on these ‘corportate culprits’.

However, social media does not only benefit customers.  It is also proving to be incredibly useful to local and global businesses, who are increasingly adopting it for advertising and marketing purposes.  More on this in my next post.

Hiatus

I’ll resume blogging in July, after my exams, the National Arts Fest and a much-needed vacation.

What digital revolution?

Last year, while a few New Media lecturers (read digital evangelists) in the Rhodes Journalism department were sporting cool t-shirts that said “Print is dead”, my Writing & Editing lecturers (read print loyalists) were citing figures about increased newspaper circulation and proclaiming that online news will never replace the print medium.

Since changing from writing to a new media specialisation this year, I’ve been on the hunt for one of these t-shirts. Not to wear right now though, but just to keep in my closet and pull on when the time is right.

Let’s face it: South Africa is nowhere near a digital media revolution at present. Not when only about 11% of all South Africans have Internet access. Not when the majority of the people in this country are struggling to afford the basic necessities, let alone an ADSL line or 3G modem. Not even when 83 out of 100 South Africans have mobile phones, but not necessarily the airtime or the technology to surf the Net. And not when more people are reading newspapers.

Still going strong
The Audit Bureau of Circulation’s figures show that South African newspaper circulation has increased by a small margin between 2006 – 2007. The circulation of daily newspapers has grown by 2.7%, weekly papers by 5.4% and weekend newspapers by 4%. The latest All Media and Products Survey results are also impressive: there are 14 572 million newspaper readers in the country, and 46.8% of South Africans over the age of 16 read a newspaper.

It seems print is not dead;it’s alive and well.

However, one must consider the bigger picture of Living Standard Measures (LSMs) and demographics when thinking about South Africa’s print newspapers and their digital editions. SA’s leading daily, The Daily Sun has almost five million readers, whose monthly household income is around R4 541. Compare this with the 467 000 Mail & Guardian readers, whose monthly income is about R14 598 – or Business Day readers, who have R18 953 a month in household income. I’m not saying that a print newspaper’s readers are also its only digital newspaper’s readers, but the point is that those who have disposable income to spend on an Internet connection are mostly middle-class, educated, employed citizens who prefer a particular type or quality of media. This explains why the Mail & Guardian and Business Day have online websites, and The Daily Sun doesn’t… yet.

Internet boom
According to the AMPS and Online Publishers Association (OPA) reports, Internet usage is on the increase too, but what’s most interesting is that South Africans are using it to consume media, not just Facebook.

News24.com is South Africa’s most popular website on the OPA’s Top 10 list, with more than 1.1 million unique browsers since March this year. That’s a growth of a whopping 44% since March 2007!

The other online news website to make the list is Independent Online (IOL), with 585 000 unique browsers, up 15% since March last year.

Local news websites dominate the list of the fastest growing websites in South Africa. The Engineering News, Mining Weekly, Carte Blanche, Sowetan, and SundayWorld websites have registered a user increase of 100% or more during March 07 – March 08.

These impressive figures are great news for SA’s digital media, because it means more people are consuming and interacting with their content.

Social media and access
The increased popularity of local online media is due to the fact that they’ve realised the importance of Web 2.0 and social media for traditional journalism. It’s simple: in order to attract more web users, news sites have to offer them more than inverted-pyramid style stories… and even more than multimedia news.

So they’ve brought on the blogs ( M&G’s Thought Leader and Tech Leader, News24’s blogging portal), bookmarking (Laaikit, Digg, Del.icio.us), a bit of citizen journalism (readers can submit pics and stories), q-&a services (Answerit) and of course, the inclusion of a comments box for readers to have their say.

Both M&G and News24 have jumped on the social networking bandwagon and created Facebook applications so users can read the latest headlines on their profiles. They’ve gone mobile too, by delivering breaking news alerts, weather reports, and even the lotto numbers to users via sms.

Die Burger has gone a step further by instituting a web-first policy, which sees them break their news stories online instead of in their print edition.

All these strategies are working well, but, at the risk of sounding like a tape on rewind, they’re only available to the five million of us who have the option of accessing them.

That’s a digital divide, not a digital revolution. And definitely not a digital democracy.

When South Africa’s internet access statistics begin to rise as high as its fuel and food prices, then I’ll throw on my “Print is dead” t-shirt and not feel like a pretentious idiot for wearing it.

Twittering your breakfast – and the earthquake in China

Since setting up my Twitter account a month ago, I haven’t been bothered to update my status or follow other friends because I could do just that – and much more – on Facebook. I’ve struggled to think of how Twitter, a micro blogging service which provides bite-sized messages, could be useful to me or anyone else, beyond letting each other know what we had for breakfast.

Until now.

The blogosphere is currently abuzz with debate over whether micro blogging is an effective tool for providing and reporting the latest news. This follows proof that users on Twitter beat the news wires and journalists in reporting the earthquake that hit China on May 12 .

According to a timeline of tweets, the first message on the earthquake was posted by Twitter user scribeoflight at 2:35:33pm Beijing local time, and said simply: “earthquake. not sure how big. maybe four”.

The earthquake occurred at 2:28pm.

Minutes later, news agencies like Bloomberg News, Reuters and Dow Jones broke the story of the earthquake hitting Beijing, and later, Sichuan province.

In this blog post, Robert Scoble, famous for having 24000+ followers on Twitter and receiving a tweet every second of the day, says several Twitter users in China reported the quake to him while it was actually happening. He then used Twitter to provide news and updates about the quake to other users. Scoble also claims that Twitter had news of the earthquake even before the United States Geological Survey, which monitors seismic events.

Since then, users like inwalkedbud have been providing regular tweets on the earthquake and its effects, making Twitter one of the main sources of news on the quake. Users on Fanfou, Taotao and Jiwai.de, Chinese social messaging services, are doing the same. Photos and videos of the quake and its devastation have also been posted on Flickr, YouTube, and Chinese video-sharing sites like Tudou and Youku, providing eye-witness accounts that mainstream media have struggled to get. Global Voices Online and the BBC provide a roundup of social media coverage of the quake.

Social media in emergencies

A recent study at the University of California claims that social media tools like Twitter, Facebook and Wikipedia are more effective than traditional media in providing information and warnings in an emergency/disaster situation.

During the Virginia Tech shootings in the US last April, the study found that emergency services and the media were slow in providing updates on the situation at the college and of the students who had been killed.

However, within 90 minutes of the shootings, a Wikipedia entry accurately describing the events had been posted and updated several times. Twenty minutes later, Facebook users had set up a group called “I’m OK at VT” for students and staff to reassure their friends and family that they were safe.

Researchers found that during the California fires last year, web users used Twitter to inform their friends of their condition, while traditional media struggled to provide updates on the fire. They also used Google Maps to track the fire’s route and indicate the areas where businesses and schools had been closed.

The study says the mass media were “unreliable” as they struggled to gain entry to remote areas from which users with Internet access could easily report.

It found that while traditional media focused on sensationalist news like the burning of celebrities’ homes, ordinary web users could provide important and accurate information as it unfolded.

Mainstream media

While the recent earthquake in China is enough proof for me that Twitter has greater utility beyond letting the world know what I had for breakfast, we should be careful about glorifying it as a rival news source.

Twitter and other social media tools may provide immediacy, global reach and first-hand information, but how accurate is it as a news source? Ofcourse, it’s hard to be wrong about an earthquake, but I wouldn’t write an article based solely on a tweet that says “Yay! Mugabe is dead” without verifying it first.

Nevertheless, it’s evident that the power and utility of social media has a huge impact on mainstream journalism. Unless journalists are arrogant and stupid enough to think that they’re the sole gatekeepers and producers of news, they need to join the online conversation.

In my next post, I’ll discuss how some South African news websites are doing just that, and how web 2.0 has changed conventional media-audience relationships.

The green web

While I’m typing and while you’re reading this, we’re indirectly contributing to global warming. Just by using a computer, which runs on electricity that is in turn is produced by fossil fuels, we emit 60 grams of CO2 per hour.

I’m loathe to preach about how we should conserve energy to save the world from exploding (and South Africa from intermittent darkness), especially when I’ve got my heater on, cell phone on charge, and a casserole in the oven. My “wrongdoings” probably warrant an entry on True Green Confessions, a website that’s the equivalent of a church’s confessional booth for “sins” against the earth. It’s strange, but addictive.

It may be too little too late, but the new web is making significant attempts to become environmentally friendly, just as food, fashion and business has. Here are some web 2.0 attempts at going green.

Save-the-earth Search Engines

Eco-friendly search engines were the brainchild of Mark Ontkush, who wrote this post on the amount of energy Google could save if it changed its home page from white to black. This is his basic argument:

“Take at look at Google, who gets about 200 million queries a day. Let’s assume each query is displayed for about 10 seconds; that means Google is running for about 550,000 hours every day on some desktop. Assuming that users run Google in full screen mode, the shift to a black background will save a total of 15 (74-59) watts. That turns into a global savings of 8.3 Megawatt-hours per day, or about 3000 Megawatt-hours a year. Now take into account that about 25 percent of the computers are CRTs, and at 10 cents a kilowatt-hour, that’s $75,000, a goodly amount of energy and dollars for changing a few color codes.”

Heap Media launched Blackle last year, a “black” search engine that uses Google search. Unfortunately, the site lacks many of its features like iGoogle, advanced search, and images. A better alternative is Earthle – known as the Black Google -, which is powered by Google, uses less energy and has the exact same features that you’d find on the original search engine. (It looks much sexier too!).

Then there’s the Yahoo! owned GreenBackSearch, which returns the same results as an original Yahoo! search, but the site gives back to the environment by using 50% of its revenue to purchase carbon offsets/credits. Yahoo! also powers a search engine called Ecocho, which grows 2 trees for every 1000 searches conducted on the site.

Eco-friendly social media

Care2Make a Difference is the biggest green social network on the web, with more than eight million users. The network provides a great connection and a wealth of information and services for eco-enthusiasts ranging from healthy living to saving a rainforest with a donation or a signature. Similar green social networks like RiverWired are also on the increase.

The green equivalent of YouTube is Empivot, which aggregates all green- related video content and allows users to upload their own. The site hosts a large amount of audio-visual content from both individuals and companies.

Hugg is the eco-friendly alternative to social bookmarking communities like Digg or del.icio.us. The site is popular and active, and is a useful source of information for anything green related.

Internet users in the US are using Gigoit to donate or get rid of unwanted items instead of dumping them in landfills. The site is like Craigslist, where other users can call dibs on – or as South Africans would say, shotgun – items that they want. The giver then chooses who he wants to donate his stuff to, and the two make arrangements for the exchange. It’s a philanthropic and eco-friendly way to get rid of old cellphones, kids’ toys and dad’s tools that have been collecting dust in our storage room since the 1960s.

Green online shopping has also taken off, with sites like Iallergy and Green Deals Daily offering a variety of environmentally-friendly products to consumers.

For environmental offenders (like me, you and let’s face it, everybody else), EcoGeek and Green Marketing 2.0 provide the latest news on technology and inventions that will help reduce our impact on the environment.

Making a difference

Eco-friendly web 2.0 strategies have taken a lot of flack for their perceived lack of effectiveness. Critics dismiss green social media as mere fluff, and snort in derision at the “black web”, seeing it as regressing towards the ancient MS DOS interface.

But these initiatives, however small their impact may be, are noble and a step in the right direction. Web users should realise that the Internet, for all its wonder and uses, does have a tangible and negative impact on the earth. Given the millions of users and hours spent online, and consequently the amount of CO2 emitted, attempts to create a greener web should be supported.

With that said, I’ve changed my home page to Earthle. Now that I’ve gone black – or should I say green? – there’s no going back.