As a copywriter at MediaVision’s South African office I often find myself contemplating the implications of being in the online industry in a third world country. Of course the beauty of the globalised internet age is that it doesn’t matter too much where in the world you are, as long as you have the right clients, and a working computer and functional internet connection, which I sometimes take for granted.

In a country where less than ten percent of the population has access to the internet it is crucial for businesses to analyse their market and its internet usage trends, if indeed they are online. Since social media and micro blogging are increasingly becoming indicators of a business’s online activity, the most recent statistics for Twitter use in South Africa provide some interesting insight into the subject.

Years ago online activity was static and simple. People visited websites and then emailed the address at the bottom of the page for further interaction.
How we use the internet now is very different and dynamic, with online interaction increasingly transferring to social network sites.

In the era of social media businesses are constantly advised on how best to establish a presence on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and other networks. Experts insist that in this day and age no business can afford to neglect their social media strategy because of the nearly limitless possibilities for reaching consumers and liaising with other businesses.

Of course this is correct. But be wary of losing yourself in a frenzy of company blogging and company twitter feed updating at the expense of maintaining what is still the most stable and important part of your business’s web presence – your own website. Vibrantly engaging with consumers, participating in online conversations, and convincing people to click on your links are worthless pursuits if there’s nothing exciting waiting at your website.

Today I read this post about Access Agency, a cool company with cool ideas; and this post which is an analysis of a recent Twitter campaign by upmarket South African retailer Woolworths.

I’m sorry if I am so two thousand and late right now but I have finally started to understand social media! I had an epiphany, the penny dropped, the switch went on. And I didn’t even know it was off in the first place! So while I am well aware that this is probably old news, I’m writing this post for anyone else who may still be in the dark.

Of course I started using MySpace, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and others as soon as they became popular. And of course I told anyone I knew who owned a business or managed a project that they needed to get involved and use the channels to promote their brand.

With 400 million users worldwide, Facebook are clearly the leaders of social networking amongst the online community. Twitter are in a not-so-close second place with a comparatively small “following” (pun intended) of 18 million users. With this many people subscribing to online social networking, it was only a matter of time before online giant, Google, came to the party in anticipation of getting a nice fat slice of the social networking cake. The secret weapon that they’ve been teasing us about for the last couple of months was revealed yesterday and goes by the name of Google Buzz. The question that everyone is asking after day one is: “Will it stay? Or will it go?” I played around with Google buzz yesterday, chatted to friends (online of course) and did a little bit of research into the general online public’s reaction to Google Buzz. This is what I found:

Reasons it should stay:

Some rumours have it that the recession is nearing an end, other rumours say that the end is not yet in sight, but no matter which rumours you believe, finding a job is still damn difficult. Jobs are still being cut at an alarming rate and any vacancies that arise are snapped up more quickly than you can say “curriculum vitae”. But we’re living in a world dominated by social media and that, experts say, is where the battles for employment are now being fought.

Newspaper classifieds are going the way of the dodo, recruitment agencies and even online jobs boards have seen the light and are doing a lot of their investigating through social networks such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and yes, Twitter. And if you, as a job hopeful, aren’t active on these sites, you can bet your briefcase that you’re losing out.

How long does it take before you consider someone a friend, the kind with whom you would share personal information and private details about your life? A day, a week, a month? Would you share details with a friend sight unseen? Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? But according to a recent study in Australia by IT security firm Sophos, Facebook users are not only extremely friendly, they are also extremely trusting.

In 2007, Sophos conducted a study in the UK to determine how willing Facebook users were to give out personal information. The result, 43% of UK Facebookers become friends with a complete stranger, a fake Facebook profile setup by Sophos. This year the study was moved to Australia, and given that two years had passed and that much has been made of privacy and the dangers of revealing too much information online, Sophos expected Facebook users to be much more cautious than before. They were wrong.

In a time when many companies are drafting carefully thought out social media policies to try and find a balance between employee censorship and freedom of speech, several departments in the UK police force are actually encouraging police officers to use Twitter and Facebook during shifts. Rather than treating is as a time-waster and drain on company resources, not to mention an open door for bad publicity, social media is being embraced as a modern day crime fighting tool.

In an interview with the BBC, the web officer for the New Yorkshire Police Department, Tom Stirling, says that social media allow officers to communicate directly with the public. Facebook pages, for instance, allow people to relate their experience of police services – good and bad – so that departments know what they need to change or do more of.

First off, I love words, which is natural considering I am a writer. But more importantly, I respect words. Not for nothing is the pen deemed mightier than the sword. Words have untold power and when used carelessly often have far reaching consequences that you could never have imagined. Now that I have given you some context, perhaps you will understand my dismay at the New Oxford American Dictionary’s choice of Word of the Year: Unfriend.

I don’t deny that it given today’s increasingly online social society it’s a relevant word. And I think that it’s placement in the dictionary has been legitimately earned, but is it really The Word of the Year? I don’t think so.

Viral marketing is tricky because it is by nature unpredictable. You can create the most expensive viral ad in the world ever complete with A-list celebs and a rocking soundtrack, promote it in all the right channels and still have it flop. Or, you can slap something together with no resources, send it to a friend and have an international phenomenon on your hands. Going unnoticed is bad but a badly misjudged campaign that results in plethora of hate is worse.

Just ask Motrin, pain management specialists. In 2008, Motrin launched a print and video viral campaign that, I assume, was supposed to be a tongue-in-cheek solution for the headaches and back pain that plagues many mothers. Unfortunately, the ad was in incredibly bad taste, it alleged that babies are fashion accessories, and claimed that carrying babies may be bonding but that while babies cried less, mom’s cried more. In my opinion, the most damage was done at the end, when the mommy narrator said that carrying her baby was bearable because it was a ‘good’ pain and that it made her look like an official mom, and that when she looks tired and crazy ‘people will understand why’. (see the video here)

Twitter activated their new list feature about two weeks ago, but many people are still in the dark about how Twitter lists can enhance their social media experience and even help them promote themselves online. Sara Evans at Mashable offers you ten possible ways you can use Twitter lists and we’ll give you some of our own suggestions later on, but first let’s run you through the basics.

Getting started

If you go onto your Twitter home page, you’ll see the List option on the right sidebar, near the middle. Click on ‘New list’.

A pop up box appears and you can add your list’s name and opt to make it public or keep it private. Public lists are ideal if you want to promote your own Twitter profile with a cleverly compiled list. Private lists, on the other hand, are great for simply organising your Twitter followers, for example colleagues, family member etc. As Mashable points out, they are also perfect for creating a list of competitors and keeping tabs on them without their knowledge.