Media 2.0

How much media content should I produce? As a professional journalist this has been a question that I've struggled with over the past five years since leaving the Financial Times.I can produce a lot of media content, and hopefully, it is all quality media content. But my concern is that if I produce too much it will cause my readers and subscribers to switch off because there is too much from one source.I know that if some of my sources ...

What happens when a government moves to clamp down on media freedom? It might simply force journalists in that country to adopt the WikiLeaks model when it comes to publishing sensitive information.  Here's an example: The South African government recently announced a triple play to clamp down on media freedom in that country, a move which may force journalists to a model akin to WikiLeaks. Concern is mounting over the country's proposed apartheid-inspired Protection of Information Bill, which will give government ...

Major drum roll from the guys at Amazon.com for their announcement that "Amazon.com customers now purchase more Kindle books (eBooks) than hardcover books." The group went on to claim that for every 100 hardcover books sold, it has sold 143 Kindle books, and also announced that Stieg Larsson, author of the Millenium Trilogy, has sold one million Kindle books. The statistics given out by the giant online retailer don't look quite so amazing when put in proper context. In fact, quite ...

Twitter's value to breaking news quickly and efficiently is beyond doubt, but the accuracy of the news being reported is far from perfect. This weekend, Twitter was abuzz with the news that South Africa’s former national police commissioner, Jackie Selebi, was found guilty of both charges he was facing. But the initial buzz on Twitter was wrong, or at least not 100% accurate. At first it was reported on Twitter that he was found guilty on charges of corruption and obstruction of justice. What happened ...

Google has been quietly testing a new paywall system for publishers it is calling “Newspass”. According to Italian newspaper La Repubblica, Google has been piloting the service with publishers in Italy. The search giant will apparently launch "an integrated payment system" allowing users to buy news content with just "one click". Newspass would allow publishers to use a single infrastructure for Web, mobile and tablet computers to monetise their content. Importantly, La Repubblica reports that consumers will have a single log-in across ...

Western Cape Premier and Democratic Alliance Leader Helen Zille has taken charge of all the web has to offer; including a Facebook Page, Twitter Account and even a Flickr Pro Account for her photos. The busy politician recently made time to answer a few questions about social media as a tool for engagement, how she uses Twitter, and why she wouldn't follow ANC Youth League President Julius Malema. Memeburn: You’re one of the few politicians in South Africa that has embraced the ...

With the current surge in popularity of smartphones and web-capable phones, increased focus has been put on designing for mobile. There are however some marked differences between designing for the web and designing for mobile. Here are some must-have tips which cut through the mystery of designing for mobile phones. Before You Start. The mobile screen is small, and instead of planning around this, many designers use that fact as an excuse to take shortcuts. You wouldn’t want a website that only ...

Most analysis about social networking tends to focus on the phenomenon's utopian qualities, but rarely take the dystopian view which focuses on its negative side effects on society. A more critical view holds that social media in fact works more against democracy rather than for it. The idealists tell us that social media is “democracy in action”, giving voice to millions and breaking down traditional information distribution channels and power structures. At the Fortune-Time-CNN Global Forum in Cape Town on Sunday, we ...

Burt Herman organised a fascinating event a few weeks ago, bringing together journalists and software engineers to produce news apps for the iPad. The first ever Hacks/Hackers event produced 12 apps in just 30 hours, and a panel of judges picked the two best apps: "An iPad application to make news exciting for kids and a location-aware web application where users react to news stories about their legislators." Burt Herman is the founder of Hacks/Hackers -- a group that meets every month ...

The phrase "User Generated Content" (UGC) has always been a troubled notion. At its heart it emphasises a divide between the user and the professional, with the implication that users have their place, and the professionals have theirs. Perhaps the aversion to this phrase stems from the fact that it is so simplistic. It doesn't really capture the diversity of a site's readership or community. The simple fact is: Not all readers are equal. Not all readers want to write or ...