“Starcomms…..Listening to ur soul”

For some reason, I’ve always appreciated something about Starcomms, one of the major fixed wireless network operators in Nigeria. They seem to understand business in their region and they are relentless in making their mark.

For a long time, their campaign, ‘we speak your language’ and “roll out the drums” were very successful especially as some saw it as a way of identifying with their environment.

I’ve been feeling quite low today but I must say, I just saw a new campaign of theirs in Businessday , page 7,
I am quite impressed and my spirits have been lifted(anything creative lifts me up!). The caption says: “Listening to ur soul” while the pay off says ‘“hear” for you’.

Really creative if you ask me because the work looked like a strong effort by both the copywriter and the artist. The image of a pretty lady listening to headphones worked and kind of gave the soulful look (I think that was the idea). This was also impressive because it seems network operators never have interesting ideas for ads.

The pay off ‘”hear” for you’ really excited me because it talked about “listening”. In that case it’s like “here” as well as “hear”. Gottit?

My only challenge was the use of “ur” which I think is inappropriate as the correct word will not kill the message anyway.

IMO: Nice one Starcomms ( I will discuss their use of social media one of these days)

Follow Nigerian police on twitter

Nigerian police on twitter!

The digital divide is slowing melting away! The Nigerian police is on twitter. Just days ago, the United States military released a social media handbook, (to the surprise of many) and even tweeted about it. Now in Nigeria, we have the privilege of reaching our protectors at the speed of “twitter”. Really good move if you ask me and it just shows how big social media is. It also reminds me of how social media seems to represent the way we live life in communities. Yes,Naija o ni baje! lai lai!

You can follow the Nigerian police @NG_Police

Mobile West Africa!

Mobile Web West Africa is taking place at the Eko Hotel & Suites in Lagos on Wednesday 2nd & Thursday 3rd February 2011.

All the signs are there that it is going to be another standout conference following on from its 2 sister events Mobile Web Africa and Mobile Web East Africa.

A fantastic Speaker Faculty is being put together for the conference, which is going to feature a superb Interactive Roundtable Seating Format and the packed agenda is tackling arguably the single most important area of technological development on the continent that is happening right now – the explosion in mobile data usage and services.

The only downside of the seating format is that it limits the capacity at the venue and in this instanse there is only  space for 150. Early booking is definitely recommended especially as their last 2 events in South Africa  sold out.

The Mobile Web and Mobile Applications represents a superb opportunity for everyone in the mobile sector. Revenue generation, capacity development, creating a new generation of entrenpreneurs and the expansion of the mobile ecosystem in the region are all key facets of grasping this opportunity.

This event will tackle all of the fundamental elements of this vital topic area – right from monetising mobile to harnessing its potential for social change. all amber is excited about bringing the event to Africa’s biggest mobile market . The organisers hope that it will be the most innovative and progressive event to be held in West Africa in 2011.

I believe so!

What is your “digital net worth”?

In totally secular terms, one’s net worth is very important and can determine various opportunities one is like to meet. Most of us are more comfortable and confident with a higher net worth and people labor daily to protect their net worth and increase it.

The digital space seems to be a world which exists in a virtual space and these days it feels even as real as the real world. Many more activities go on in the digital space than we can visualize and so a few days ago, I asked myself, if the world was reset, everything was formatted, erased and the digital space served as the backup, will I still exist? If I exist, how relevant will I be; more relevant than I am or less? What will I be known as? What will be my profession? who will be my friends? Which company will still be in existence, which companies will be stable? And most of all, what will be my net worth?

I thought of various online entrepreneurs and tried to position them in various offices.

Of course Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Google will be UN presidents, Seun Osewa of “Nairaland” will be Nigeria’s president, and “BellaNaija” will be the new “Silverbird” and so on.

Of course the world is not restarting this way. But many things are changing and the measures of effectiveness in various endeavours use different ways and techniques now. If the world restarts as hypothesized here, what happens to the scientist, teacher, professor, tailor, market woman, researcher, bus driver etc who does not have an email address? They might just seize to exist. What happens to that big conglomerate who just managed to have a webpage? They would probably be operating from the roadside. The corporate communication executive who doesn’t read and write his own emails? He will probably exist but not know his own home address. The Governor who calls Facebook a joke? He will watch as his office is being taken by someone else. ..The scenarios continue.

There are various possibilities that technology can bring and many times, it seems as if there is no use trying to keep abreast of various developments and how they might affect us. Of course, in Nigeria, there are many factors such as the absence of basic infrastructure that would determine the adoption of these technologies. However, it will not make sense if in the next century we cease to have any relevance just because we ignored developmental factors, which could have given us a chance at ruling the world. Reading the book “The world is flat” by Thomas Friedman opened my eyes to the possibility of moving forward by technology. China did it. India is doing it.

We may have no electricity, no good roads, no good water, health care, but we have GSM, we have some internet (although faulty) and we can start from there. Do not deny the usefulness of the new media; internet, social media, etc. They have changed our lives.

The new media and crisis management: lesson from Aero contractors

I have enjoyed flying Aero contractors for a while now. Besides the initial comfort of booking online at a fair price (atimes), most of their flights, from my experience have been quite smooth and fast.

Recently, however, I have found that I reduced taking their flights for reasons such as delay and unavailable flights; but I did not really think it was a big deal until I heard similar stories from friends and family members.

About two months back, there was news of a near-mishap as their aircraft developed a fault mid-air. The first place I saw the news was a blog, I cannot actually remember seeing so much about it in print. Not so much was heard from the airline officials about the incident and what was done to prevent further occurrences. If much was said, it had little or no effect as a few days later, I got numerous text messages and blackberry messages of the poor condition of Aero aircrafts and how they are liable to accidents. The spread of these messages was so viral that even Aero knew they were up against a difficult situation. Immediately, several full-page, centre spread announcements were published, denying those claims. But the damage was done. People had lost their faith in Aero.

Blackberry owners will testify to how fast information is spread these days. When you can be in Victoria Island and be informed of a robbery on Third Mainland Bridge. One can actually view traffic from your mobile phone and even hold meetings millions of miles away. Information is transferred at the speed of light and does not allow for mistakes anymore. After the experiences of BP and many top firms online, businesses need to be careful how they manage their communications especially now that opinions are spread like wildfire. Remember Bellview?

When many people think of new media, they seem to think it just has to do with young ones and how they spend their time. However, communication has never been tested and twisted like it is today and corporations are one of the worst hit.

While trying to send a press release to the newspaper house, a popular blogger whose auntie just survived the crash already drops the news as it’s fresh off the stove! It seems almost impossible to beat the speed at which people send messages via the digital space.

What then, can brands such as airlines do to retain their customer’s loyalty even as these new technologies seem to compound(or over-simplify )communication processes?

Some suggestions:

-Know your current audience: Yes, your audience might not change, but their habits might have changed. While they would have waited for you to release a statement in the newspapers some years ago, they might be discussing you on Facebook right now. Know them, their reading habits, their preferences and how best to reach them

-Maintain accounts in popular social media platforms: As cliché as this may sound, it is real. Airplanes are flown by even babies and so it is important to allow a space which helps you communicate with your customers whose lives are usually in your care for a period of time.

– Update status frequently and allow people to ask questions; to which there should be prompt , truthful and effective responses. No rudeness is permitted on your side whatsoever.

-Allow a dedicated account/phone number/blackberry PIN/email/profile/page etc for crisis communication. People always feel comfortable and well respected when there is a sure line of communication in times of crisis. It’s like having that friend or family member who will always listen to your rants.

-Be proactive: update your website with news, official statements of occurrences before people begin to ask. Send releases to popular bloggers, websites, news portals, gossip sites, etc before they begin a discussion on you.

– Be mindful of relations and friends: in extreme cases, where there have been losses of lives or property, make sure you the family and friends are properly communicated to before others spread out the information.

-Be in control: if possible, make sure that every news item on the incident has a solid input from you, rather than speculation or from “unknown sources”.

– While dealing with any crisis, work to produce a better recovery plan which involves the new media.

Brand Building and Social Media Strategies: 2011 Nigerian Presidential Elections Candidates.

Social media was a major “buzz word” in 2008 in many parts of the world. Nigeria was not much left out as Facebook alone records at least 1,718,000 Nigerian members. Nigerians definitely love to talk, express opinions and live the community life anywhere they go, and this is very obvious in the various conversations carried out online by Nigerians across various nations. Social media marketing has even become another important term in marketing and it seems this strategy is present in every marketing campaign.

Based on recent research carried out by myself and researchers in other countries, social media is mostly used for socializing and communicating with already existing relationships or with people based of similar interests or occupations. It is therefore not uncommon for someone who likes to watch CNN but has no time to watch as before to “like” CNN on Facebook and subscribe to updates from CNN. It is in this same way that one would become a fan of The Simpsons on Facebook, “like” my friend’s well written note or comment on a beautiful picture.

The countdown towards the 2011 presidential elections was quite sudden with aspirants springing up from everywhere with very eventful declarations. Most sudden were the various images, profiles and “conversations carried out by these aspirants on various social media platforms. Funny enough, until now, only one or two candidates had ever been known with a profile on any social media platform. Their presence on these media might be a strategy to reach the youthful demographic. This is not a bad suggestion in 2010. But it raises many questions.

The average Nigerian youth is on the streets looking for jobs or trying to put his/her ideas together to start a small business. These youths make out time and money to use these forms of technology amidst various challenges such as erratic power supply, hunger, job search, ASUU strikes and difficulties which they have come to accept as basic. Some have even gone ahead to create innovative applications through these technologies. While these young men and women have been struggling to be at par with their counterparts in other countries, how many of these candidates have carried out any conversations with them? How many of these young people have been supported, appreciated or even encouraged by these candidates? It takes the same young people to support themselves with programs such as the future awards.

Any young person in their twenties can identify with Milo, coca-cola, and many products that were available for us as we grew up. We are likely to “like” these brands on Facebook or even carry out conversations with them because we recognize their roles in our growth. Many of us cannot even name one project that many of these candidates have carried out and how it affects us. We do not have an idea of what they plan to do to create more job opportunities, better business environment, better health care or even basic education. We would really love to listen to them. But they have let us down too many times and the social media platforms are not going to make the messages and promises come true. Every social media campaign (like any marketing campaign requires consistency).

The lesson for brand builders: build your brand’s quality before attempting to sell. Do not take your audience for granted. The conversation between you and your audience starts before you speak. Most people have “googled” you before actually meeting you. There are no more passive audiences. Walk the talk, because people are watching and the next review might come out before you even release your product.

"Netiquette" daily

by Virginia Shea           

What is Netiquette? Simply stated, it’s network etiquette — that is, the etiquette of cyberspace. And “etiquette” means “the forms required by good breeding or prescribed by authority to be required in social or official life.” In other words, Netiquette is a set of rules for behaving properly online.

When you enter any new culture — and cyberspace has its own culture — you’re liable to commit a few social blunders. You might offend people without meaning to. Or you might misunderstand what others say and take offense when it’s not intended. To make matters worse, something about cyberspace makes it easy to forget that you’re interacting with other real people — not just ASCII characters on a screen, but live human characters.

So, partly as a result of forgetting that people online are still real, and partly because they don’t know the conventions, well-meaning cybernauts, especially new ones, make all kinds of mistakes.

The book Netiquette has a dual purpose: to help net newbies minimize their mistakes, and to help experienced cyberspace travelers help the newbies. The premise of the book is that most people would rather make friends than enemies, and that if you follow a few basic rules, you’re less likely to make the kind of mistakes that will prevent you from making friends.

The list of core rules which will be added daily, and the explanations that follow, are excerpted from the book. They are offered here as a set of general guidelines for cyberspace behavior. They won’t answer all your Netiquette questions. But they should give you some basic principles to use in solving your own Netiquette dilemmas.

Facebook Introduces "groups" as new feature to soothe privacy concerns

Social networking website Facebook has responded to widely voiced privacy concerns with new tools that give users more control over which of their friends see their information.

The new features also allow users to download all their Facebook information to their own computers

The new groups feature allows Facebook’s 500-million-plus members to group friends according to different categories, such as family, neighbours, work, sports teams and college. They can then easily specify which group to post information to – making it much easier to share information with some people and not others.

Facebook’s previous method for classifying friends into different groups was achieved through the use of cumbersome lists and were utilized by only about 5 per cent of members.
“We’re not being hyperbolic when we say (groups) is going to be a fundamental shift in how people use Facebook,” company chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said. “No one wants to make lists.”

The new features were unveiled at Facebook’s Silicon Valley headquarters just days after the release of the movie The Social Network, which paints an unflattering picture of an arrogant Zuckerberg and depicts his disrespect for other people’s information when he founded Facebook.

The new downloading feature will enable users to save copies of photos, documents and other information on their own computer.

Zuckerberg appeared unconcerned that it would also make it easier for people to leave the world’s largest social network.

“It’s our core belief that people should own and be able to control their information in Facebook,” Zuckerberg said. “We view this as a philosophical thing.”

Culled from hindustantimes.com

How to make a good public presentation

Projectors and Microsoft Office Powerpoint appeared to have made public speaking easier, but the wrong usage can make people forget you ever said anything. So here are a few tips to help you make interesting and effective presentations, hope it helps:

Tips for public presentations

• Keep the background simple to enhance readability

• Always include at least one slide on your research methodology, i.e., quantitative or qualitative, sample size, error ratio, etc.

• Be clear about your sample and whether or not the results are able to be generalized

• Clearly title slides on methodology, sample, findings and conclusion

General purpose

• Slides should not serve as note cards you read

• Slides should show highlights of your presentation with you filling in the rest

Bullets and numbers

• Keep bullets simple and avoid too many on one slide

• Do not use more than one additional set of indented bullets

• When conveying rank or order, use numbers instead of bullets

Fonts, colors and graphics

• Use easy-to-read and professional fonts like Helvetica or Times New Roman

• Do not use all caps or all bold

• Using italics or underlining may cut off letters or be hard to read

• Use a strong contrast between slide background and font color
• Individual words can be emphasized in a contrasting color

• Try to limit your color palette to two to three colors

Final tips

• Use a variety of figures, charts, photographs throughout your presentation

• Try to have a visual break with a change in format at least every sixth slide

• Limit your graphics to one per slide whenever possible

Culled fromSocial media biz.com

SUPER MARIO IS 25!!!! How about Luigi?

Just found out Mario is 25 today….I am old..Check out the celebration on this link…http://videogames.yahoo.com/events/plugged-in/groundbreaking-hit-super-mario-bros-celebrates-25th-birthday/1410955