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Sandra Pitcher

Sandra is a techno-geek who is generally excited by anything with buttons, touch screens or flashing lights. Currently, she is a contract lecturer at both the University of KwaZulu-Natal (Pietermaritzburg) and Varsity College, specialising in social media, journalism and ethics, while simultaneously trying to grapple with a PhD that deals with newspaper cartoons and a socially responsible press in South Africa. As a wannabe academic, she has presented research on social media at several communication conferences, both locally and internationally, and published two academic journal articles and a book chapter in the past three years. She is also in the process of converting her Masters dissertation, which dealt with YouTube and copyright issues in the South African context, into a book.

RECENT POSTS

• How the Arab Spring and social media have changed the face of student protest

  In the wake of the Arab spring, and the fall of a number of government regimes, many writers and social commentators have highlighted the power that social media gives the ordinary citizen.This sentiment seems true if we consider that students from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa used Facebook to help unpaid staff members to finally be heard and renumerated. The Facebook group ‘UKZN Student Action’, rallied together recently in protest, after it was reported that ...

• 5 Reasons Facebook Timeline’s time is limited

  By now, most Facebook users have made the transition to the new Timeline profile page, and it’s only inevitable that the resistant few will be forced to follow, as Facebook make the changes permanent in the next week or so. The change has been advertised as a way in which to “rediscover the things you shared”, but more importantly, as a way to map personal milestones that occurred in the days pre-social media. As with all Facebook updates, user response ...

• How to achieve social media maturity in 5 simple steps

  There is no doubt that social media has changed the way in which people interact with organisational brands, and yet many companies still lag behind when it comes to developing a coherent strategy in regard to social technologies. In a recent report, Forrester, an independent research company, highlighted that one in five businesses do not use social technologies at all, and a third of all companies are still getting off the ground.Organisations can, however, change this trend and reach ...

• 5 Things you should know about Google’s new terms and conditions

  We all know that Google recently updated its terms, conditions and privacy policies. The company argued that the change would ensure that all Google services would be consolidated under one, simple to understand, universal set of conditions, rather than expecting users to navigate a multitude of separate policies for each of their services.Few analysts have been convinced, with many citing that Google is more concerned with turning a profit than protecting user privacy; either way, Google has gone ahead with ...

• 10 Weirdly useful things you can learn from YouTube

  YouTube abounds with information, some useful, some completely useless, and some that defies all reason to exist. You can find videos on how to pour beer, shower and tie your shoes in the correct way. Who knew that you’d been doing it wrong all this time? There are also hints on how to take apart an ATM, cheat on a test and stalk your ex-girlfriend. None of which is advisable, but you can still learn how to do ...

• Sky News, trust your journalists with Twitter

  Sky News has come under immense criticism after it was reported that it had banned all employees re-tweeting information provided by rival journalists and the general public. In an email issued to all employees on Tuesday, the news organisation stated that in order to maintain its credibility, new social media guidelines had been put into place.In the policy, journalists are no longer permitted to re-tweet stories which originate outside the organisation, nor are they allowed to comment ...

• A woman’s world: How social media has changed gaming

  When one mentions gaming, your mind is generally flooded with images of washed-out nerdy white guys, sitting in a darkened room, hunched over their computers for days on end. But if recent research is anything to go by, the stereotype is changing, as more and more female gamers enter the fray.A recent study conducted by PopCap Games (most famous for Plants vs Zombies and Bejeweled) found that women were the most active gamers on social networking sites, making ...

• How free should free speech be on Twitter?

  The Washington Post recently reported that Twitter had again come under criticism for its free speech policies. The story outlined the plight of Shurat HaDin, an Israeli law group, which has threatened to sue Twitter unless the site agreed to shut down the account of a Hezbollah-affiliated television news station. Operating as @almanarnews, the account posts in Arabic, English and French, and as with most news feeds, reports on a number of global stories. Shurat HaDin claims however, that ...

• Memeburn’s top viral videos of 2011

  It’s that time of year again when we feel the need to look back and consider everything that has happened and been achieved over the last twelve months. YouTube recently published its official list, which contained few surprises. Our list is a little different and contains some our favourite viral videos of 2011. They may not have had the most hits, but they did have a tonne of awesome!10. T-Mobile Angry Birds Live -- 9.3-million+ views It may be the ...

• Are social networks really killing privacy?

  It was recently reported that Facebook co-founder, Mark Zuckerberg, had his private Facebook account hacked. The hackers were able to download a number of private photographs from Zuckerberg’s account and share them throughout the Web. They claimed that they were attempting to highlight the flaws in Facebook’s new privacy settings which were installed in late November. Interestingly, Facebook has refused to comment on the matter, but has subsequently repaired the "hole" which allowed the hackers entry to Zuckerberg's private account.This ...

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