If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
With the recent video's by Mama Hope and Africa for Norway it seems like there is a new genre of ironic videos being produced for International Development.
Facebook and twitter came at a pivotal time in history. The chicken or the egg theory can be applied here in asking: Did twitter and facebook help revolutions grow, or did they help track people involved in uprisings? (In both the case of the Arab uprisings and the Occupy movement.) I would say both.
The use of social media in the healthcare industry has taken an interesting turn this week with a patient tweeting about his experience with a local GP clinic. The disgruntled man tweeted that the staff were a bunch of 'incompetent tw*ts' and was subsequently removed from the clinic's list of patients.
While new technology is benefiting companies, the explosion of social media is proving a double edged sword for many. Suddenly everyone you do business with is just like a journalist with access to an audience of millions.
Social media suffers from a similar perception. Run a blog, create a Facebook page, do something on Pintrest, have a LinkedIn company page, submit a comment in a forum - it's all free stuff. No online advertising budget required. Write something, click a button.
The close down of Posterous was a sad moment for me. In as much as it seemed to officially mark the end of what had felt like a brave new approach - I'm not sure to what but certainly new - in an instant world of publishing to large audiences that seemed to hold powerful potential in the right hands.
Mama Hope only have a small fan base on social media, Twitter (1,556 followers) and Facebook (3,969 likes). It will be hard to seed this film via their social media channels alone. So what made the last video so successful?
With International Women's Day upon us, there's absolutely no reason for you not to get involved. You've literally got no excuse not to join in the movement. Except that, of course, there's no 'movement' involved of any kind.
Today, there is no 'Chip Paper', unlike old print media, with the Internet, everything you put on the Internet is there, potentially, forever, affecting your future educational, career and even relationship prospects. Which is quite a burden for the average pre-teen.
So some PR firms ring fence their social media gurus and build dedicated teams around them. This protects them and fosters excellent work. These teams however don't scale well inside an agency. There's too much demand, and the skills don't permeate to other teams easily-enough.
With the ever-present network of social media sites used widely by students, along with nominees who know to capitalise on the purchasing power of offering free anything as part of their manifesto, many students are becoming disillusioned with union elections as being nothing more than a popularity contest for better known students.
The population has been empowered. Our thoughts and ideas are no longer restricted to telling a few friends and colleagues. Many of us have a voice and want to use it. Moreover, there is now a whole generation entering the workforce who have grown up always having a voice.
Welcome to the world of Click Here politics. It's a world in which to win, you need first to gather your supporters online, then analyse who they are and what makes them tick, and -- most crucially -- tailor a message that fits their profile.
Problems can be resolved before they even begin. By monitoring key words and conversations you may also be able to spot sales opportunities. If someone is looking to buy something that you sell, get in there before your competitor does.
Using a social identity to access web sites, life could be made easier for individuals. They could browse the internet, purchasing goods and using services very quickly without having to find passwords, or request resets constantly.
There have been some positive changes in Indonesia: the government now stresses that babies should be left with their mothers after birth and that breast-feeding should be encouraged as soon as possible. But, there's still a huge way to go.
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