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Sarah Britten

Sarah Britten is the strategic planning director at Y&R Johannesburg. Her relationship status is hidden.

RECENT POSTS

• What are the limits of free speech on Twitter?

  Caution: not for sensitive readers. What are the limits to free speech on Twitter? Is the “report spam” function enough? Should trolls be censured?In the UK, racist trolling will get you arrested and jailed, as student Liam Stacey discovered recently after tweeting racist comments about footballer Fabrice Muamba and then referring to people who complained as “wogs”. Stacey was jailed for 56 days after being prosecuted under the Racially Aggravated s4A Public order Act 1986.He initially claimed his account had been ...

• 4 Reasons someone should get Helen Zille away from Twitter

  Last year I wrote a piece for Memeburn about ways I felt Helen Zille was using Twitter well. She was controversial even back then, but I liked her for four reasons:She was responsive She was unscripted She was active and She had a sense of humourOverall, I loved the fact that she was both accessible and real. No PR gloss: you got Helen pretty much undiluted. I didn’t mind the sarcasm; somehow it lent her a certain appealing authenticity. A ...

• Can a mobile game help change the world?

  Can a game on a mobile phone help solve some of our most pressing social problems? The team behind the development of MoRaba believes it can. Recently launched, MoRaba is a mobile game that aims to educate South Africa’s township youth on gender-based violence. Multiple choice questions like "A girl will claim she has been raped because..." are designed to help youths navigate the tricky situations they face every day, in a relevant and entertaining way. MoRaba was commissioned by ...

• Top apps for planning your holiday trip

  Going on holiday is usually supposed to meaning switching off and tuning out. But being connected can be really useful. Your phone can book a hotel room at the best rate, find you restaurants that only locals know about, or send a postcard -- not to mention sorting out your itinerary and even helping you to pack. And there are those apps that help you not say "I want to caress your bananas" when you actually mean "Where is the ...

• A tweet from a kill: Should we stay connected when we’re away from it all?

  One morning last December, I tweeted from a lion kill. While the sounds of cracking bone and the reek of dead giraffe rose up through the swampy Lowveld air, I was hunched over my iPhone, tweeting about what I was watching. In my defense, I was so excited that I had to share the experience -- and the most obvious place to do that was on Twitter. Some of my followers were appalled (to tweet from the bush was to ...

• Is Nando’s ‘Last Dictator Standing’ the new ‘Old Spice Guy’?

  I've been watching the Nando’s Meal for 6 campaign with interest ever since it broke. The wickedly funny ad featuring Robert Mugabe and his happy memories of good times with fellow dictators (including PW Botha) is racking up the kind of international attention unheard of for South African ad campaigns. Already it appears to enjoy the kind of cult appeal typically associated with the Old Spice campaigns of this world.This is one of the best examples I've seen yet ...

• Are banks and social media a good fit? Take a look at FNB

  We love to hate things. Taxi drivers, for example. Cellphone providers. But mostly we like to hate our banks. Bank hatred is a national sport, especially on a platform that lends itself to venting so well: Social media. So when a bank starts to come across as likeable, you pay attention. First National Bank (FNB) is one such bank, gaining considerable kudos for its social media policies.So, what is FNB doing right in social media -- and what can others ...

• 10 rules for managing ‘brand me’ online

  Former South African television presenter Nonhle Thema was revelling the apparent freedom her current state of unemployment gave her on Twitter the other night. "i can tweet whatever i want," she said "NO 1 will FIRE ME or make me say sorry......LOL..FREEDOM....im FREE".Sadly, most of us aren't free, and we can't say what we like. In the era of the personal brand, how do we manage our online activities when a tweet could be a seriously career-limiting move? ...

• How not to lose yourself when the internet is down

  When I was in Berlin recently, I spotted a T-shirt in a shop window. The slogan on it read: "I don't do Facebook or Twitter I have a life". Please, that's so 2009.The truth is that we live online and in so-called real life, at the same time, and this is the way it is going to be from now on. We have a digital self that we project out into the world via social media, and that self ...

• Journalists, get yourself a geek

  "Get a geek, or geekify yourself." That was the message to journalists from storyful's Gavin Sheridan. He was conducting a workshop on crowdsourcing news content at the 2011 FoME symposium. FoME is a German network of institutions and individuals who promote media development cooperation. The subject of the symposium was "Hype or Hope: The impact of digital media on journalism and development", and I was there to speak about everything from the iconic image of a defeated Gaddafi filmed on ...

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