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From the depths of classics libraries and American academia - Shawn Graaff is a South African based Digital Strategist that works in Digital Management, Information Architecture, Social Media and Search Marketing with a special interest in Mobile for Africa and a self-admitted details fanatic. At MiX Telematics International, Shawn's passion for mobile development and all things digital make her perfectly suited to be in the ICT community here in South Africa and abroad. Formally educated in Philosophy and Religious History with post-graduate work in Art History and Fine Arts & Archival Collections Management, Shawn brings unique experience to the African tech space and is regularly involved in local events for the South African online community and contributes to entrepreneurial growth for local start-ups. An avid environmentalist with involvement in local Renewable Energy, Shawn and her husband are often at their Nature Conservancy in the rural Western Cape where they are currently working to re-indigenize fynbos and to set a consumer friendly standard of sustainable living.

• How to reward the right behaviour in a mobile world [Net Prophet]

  Did you know that 95% of what we do is subconscious? The human mind decides not only which products and services to buy but also how to do so. It’s the key to consumerism. Although this fact is as obvious and predictable as the human mind is, examining the consumer process with the view of mobile tech illuminates the new grip of both hands of marketing and digital -- choice.According to according to Mobilitrix CEO Chris Rolfe, understanding the ...

• Engage: Google’s latest move to help small businesses help themselves

  This week the Google Africa team came to Cape Town with their Google Engage for Agencies program. Google Engage is designed to empower eMarketing agencies of all shapes and sizes that provide their clients Google AdWords with the support and further training to better utilize AdWords and other Google products.Although the program is officially titled Engage for Agencies, there were quite a few additional service providers present at the event. This is because Google is interested in equipping a multitude ...

• Josh Spear: ‘Collective Action’ and ‘New World Economies’

  "When I was old enough to talk, I told my parents I wanted to sell ideas," says Josh Spear. He must be a rich man because he has plenty of them, and they are revolutionising the way we think about the future of the world.Spending time with Spear will take you back to your days as a University student, talking about ideas and possibilities and how the world is going to evolve in the next 20 years.He is a ...

• UX: 5 Pearls of Wisdom from UX Designers [Tech4Africa]

  As far back as the days of ENIAC and old-school IBM punch-card computers, users have been trained to adapt their experience to the capabilities of the computing devices available to them. And, as we all know, there has been a 30-year evolution of usability and functionality that has been working towards the clear goal of making every aspect of the tech experience easier. Whether it be a device, an operating system, a web-site, or a dozen of the every-day amenities ...

• Non-profits: The seriously simple Twitter strategy (Part 2)

  We covered the core principles in Part 1 of how to have a rock-solid, easy to manage, and Seriously Simple Twitter strategy. It's all about identifying the right users to engage with and being as lightning fast as your feed. Building on the principles we covered already, here is the play-by-play of how to do it and to easily plan your days, weeks, and months to keep your Twitter time allocation to a manageable amount.Each DayStep 1: Check your Direct ...

• Non-profits: The Seriously Simple Twitter Strategy (Part 1)

  Historically non-profit organisations (NPOs), non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and many other acronym organisations that are up to all kinds of good are so often over-worked and under-paid.Sadly, each organisation's marketing team (realistically I'm speaking about one person here) is responsible for a whole lot more than just marketing. How on earth will they have time for one more task while keeping on top of a hundred others in a world of eMarketing that just doesn't seem to cater to the ...

• Klouted judgement: Do you make the Social Capital cut?

  Social Capital is becoming the new currency of online marketing and a hot new web-tool is putting a number on us all. Do these scores have any legitimacy and professional worth or do high-school politics still reign as the ruler, and standard, of social capital?Each day I start off with a hot cup of Eastern Cape coffee and my iPhone as I weed through about 40 emails. The subject lines range from general enquiries to specific questions, to Social Media ...

• Is your SEO company ethically sound or one big, fat conflict of interest?

  SEO companies and Conflicts of Interest are too often a carefully guarded secret from clients. Are they illogical, irrational, or just plain unethical?In the fast-paced and continually evolving world that is SEO, practitioners often don't pause for a moment of reflection on the implications of their actions and don't often see, or perhaps they do, the ethical dilemmas of their business practices.The problem that I'd specifically like to shed some light on is a how SEO companies handle what would ...

• 10 geek gifts for the whole family this festive season

  Are you, or someone you love, filling your "Dear Santa" letters with 3Gs, MB’s, and USB’s? Hoping that Santa's little helpers know their way around the information super-highway? Well, rest easy with our shopping guide for the geeks who made the "Nice list" this year that’s sure to make all the "Naughties" think twice!Beyond the obvious holiday purchases like a new computer, an external hard-drive, or an iPod, buying for techies can be really tough. I myself struggle with holiday ...

• 4 ways to still be effective during holiday leave

  Looking to log-off but stay connected this holiday season? Whether you’re going to be travelling locally or abroad, working from home, or having a "Staycation" we’ve got four ways for you to make your time out of the office seem as if you haven’t missed a beat.As much as we love to deny it, today’s generation of online professionals are workaholics. We wake up and check our emails over our morning coffee, we monitor our projects on our lunch break, ...

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