• BURN MEDIA
    • Motorburn
      Because cars are gadgets
    • Gearburn
      Incisive reviews for the gadget obsessed
    • Ventureburn
      Startup news for emerging markets
    • Jobsburn
      Digital industry jobs for the anti 9 to 5!

  • 4 reasons why you should start taking a much closer look at Klout

    By on 21 August, 2012

    There has been a lot of speculation and debate concerning the merits of participating on Klout. Klout measures social influence and until now, most have not taken it seriously, citing that the Klout algorithm is not accurate and does not reflect true social influence. Following recent announcements from Klout, I believe that general sentiment around Klout is about to change. Here are the reasons. 1. Social signals increased to 400 Klout has increased the number of signals from 100 to 400 from seven social networks such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+ and Twitter. The signals include Twitter mentions, followers, replies and retweets,...

    6

  • You have only yourself to blame for bad SEO content

    By on 21 August, 2012

    There are two schools of thought surrounding SEO (Search Engine Optimised) copy. The first is that it can simply be generated with fridge poetry and a few keywords. It’s this belief that has given rise to the second notion: that soon these people and their fridge poetry will become redundant due the rise of “robot” generated copy as indicated by narrativescience.com. People who believe either of these notions are naïve. Some people would believe that Shakespeare is currently turning in his grave due to the current state of SEO copy. I class these people with the previous bunch, who...

  • The life wireless — are we ready to cut the cord?

    By on 21 August, 2012

    I hate wires. For every piece of technology I own, there seems to be at least three cables that come along with it. A work colleague often refers to the daily routine of plugging our laptops into the monitor, keyboard, power source, mouse etc. as putting it on life support. It feels as if wireless technology is still trying to catch up with all the cool gadgets that are created every year. Why isn't everything wireless yet? Read more on Gearburn. var vglnk={key:"cc324b6567a9637aa0ff15bc9564b2a5"};!function(e,a){var t=e.createElement(a);t.type="text/javascript",t.async=!0,t.src="//cdn.viglink.com/api/vglnk.js";var n=e.getElementsByTagName(a);n.parentNode.insertBefore(t,n)}(document,"script");

  • Facebook director Peter Thiel unloads shares in the social network

    By on 21 August, 2012

    This is big. Facebook director and early investor Peter Thiel has unloaded the majority his stock in the social network. According to CNBC, Thiel sold around 22-million of Facebook shares. Although he did so at the first possible opportunity, it was reportedly in keeping with a plan he had formulated prior to the company going public. That means Thiel's decision to unload so many shares was not in reaction to Facebook's stock market woes over the past few weeks. It's not exactly uncommon for angel investors to unload their shares as soon as possible either. An attorney told...

  • Did Facebook steal Timeline? This Chinese social network thinks so

    By on 21 August, 2012

    The Chinese online space is renowned for its clones of Western social media sites, but at least one company thinks copying goes the other way too. According to Beijing-based consulting company Marbridge, Chinese social network L99.com plans to sue Facebook for stealing the idea of Timeline. L99.com CEO Xiong Wanli claims that his company launched its Timeline feature back in February 2008, connecting all the functions and features on the site in a chronological history of each user's activity. Xiong says the L99 launch was a matter of public record and claims that he has video evidence of Mark Zuckerberg...

  • Is Apple really the most valuable company ever?

    By on 20 August, 2012

    Go to any tech aggregator right now and you'll see headlines loudly proclaiming Apple to be the most valuable publicly traded company ever. The Cupertino-based giant's stock today reached US$660.73, giving it a market capitalisation US$619.37-billion. That means it slunk past the US$618.89-billion capitalisation Microsoft hit in 1999, which many believe to be the previous record. That makes it the most valuable publicly listed company in history. Except it doesn't. Don't get me wrong, it's a compelling story. A once embattled personal computer maker turned global tech superpower, it sounds like something only Hollywood could dream up....

    3

  • Followergate: gaming the system to boost follower count

    By on 20 August, 2012

    Here we go again. Another storm has been brewing on the South African social media scene. This time, big digital agencies are accused of buying Twitter followers. The thing is, the issue of fake followers is actually been around since 2009 when the Telegraph wrote a piece exposing Maz Nadjm, then head of social media at Sky TV for artificially boosting his Twitter following. Nadjm claimed to be "responsible for social media at Sky TV" and was named by PR Week "the most influential communications professional on Twitter in the UK". Nadjm said his follower count grew organically though...

    6

  • SMS to drive mobile messaging ad revenue past $7.14bn by 2017

    By on 20 August, 2012

    Think mobile messaging services like Whatsapp are killing SMS? Think again. In fact, the use of location-based SMSes to deliver relevant ads will see mobile messaging ad revenue hit US$7.14-billion by 2017. According to UK-based tech analysis company Juniper Research, targeted SMSes have significant benefits for anyone looking to push their brand. While they may lack the rich media content of other advertising formats, they are very familiar to consumers and have a much higher chance of being opened, even if unsolicited. SMS ads are also a low-cost option for those seeking large reach; in the UK, for example,...

    2

  • Got a Whatsapp request on Facebook? Don’t open it

    By on 20 August, 2012

    If one of your friends sends you a Facebook request asking you to connect on Facebook don't open it. It's spam of the very worst kind. The request seems fairly legitimate in its design, but if you actually take a look at the URL it leads you to, there's absolutely no evidence that the product has any ties to the mobile messaging service. According to The Next Web, the goal of the scam is to get hold of your Facebook information. From there it will spread to all your friends. And just to make doubly sure you don't click on...

  • If content is king, can $1 buy you royalty?

    By on 20 August, 2012

    Content is King. There's no doubt that great content brings all the users to the proverbial yard, but at what cost? And to whom? 1DollarArticle is now offering 500 word articles for US$1 and, while it's safe to say that the internet has disrupted a few traditional businesses, surely the price of good quality content is much greater than that. If we take a closer look at some of the examples that 1DA has on-site, its clear to see the articles are shoddily written at best, perhaps even copied and pasted from other content snippets on the web. Mini publishing...

    2

  • Social’s great, but without search you’re up the creek

    By on 20 August, 2012

    This is not another social media article. This is however an article that talks about how and where search and social need to find a home within your online strategy. Ok, let’s take a step back. Before social media took off at a rate of knots; it was search marketing that captured the world's attention. There were certain methodologies that you could (and should have) employed to ensure to a large degree that your site would appear high up on Google (or any other search engine’s) results page. Yes, there were problems and no guarantees and very often there...

    1

  • Test driving Zeen: the new platform from YouTube’s founders

    By on 20 August, 2012

    I know what you’re thinking: oh no, another social platform guaranteed to eat my life. Zeen is the brand spanking new content curation platform from the creators of YouTube, Chad Hurley and Steve Chen. One look at Zeen’s homepage will tell you all you need to know: “discover and create beautiful magazines”. It sounds good in theory right, but what is Zeen like hands on? Zeen recently opened in beta, so I took the opportunity to test-drive it. I reserved my screen name ages ago, so after receiving my invite I hurriedly entered the URL and got cracking. Setup...

    2

  • OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion — worth falling in love with

    By on 20 August, 2012

    Over the years I have used and reviewed many operating systems, from Linux to Windows and sometimes MacOS. Well when the latest version of OS X was released I was interested in how Apple could have improved the usability for me, a permanent Windows user (and currently a Windows 8 fan). I've used several MacBooks over the years and found the OS rather unintuitive to say the least. Fast forward to 2012 and Mountain Lion. Read more on Gearbun. var vglnk={key:"cc324b6567a9637aa0ff15bc9564b2a5"};!function(e,a){var t=e.createElement(a);t.type="text/javascript",t.async=!0,t.src="//cdn.viglink.com/api/vglnk.js";var n=e.getElementsByTagName(a);n.parentNode.insertBefore(t,n)}(document,"script");

  • BitCoin set for real world credit card foray

    By on 20 August, 2012

    Hey, remember when BitCoin was slated as the next big thing? Well despite some ringing a death knell for the online currency, there are still believers. One such believer is BitInstant, a company looking to act as a bridge between the online currency and the real world. It plans to do so by introducing a Bit Coin credit card. The card will reportedly function in much the same way as a standard MasterCard, and according to Coding in my Sleep, is set to launch is six to eight weeks time. The site also calls the development is the "biggest...

  • FNB adds new phones and lower prices to its device lineup

    By on 20 August, 2012

    South African bank FNB, known for these radio ads and well, banking has added the Samsung Galaxy Pocket to its range of smartphones and tablets. And why should we care? Because until now, FNB's list of devices, which it sells on its online banking website, have never been this cheap. Sure, there's the Blackberry Curve 8520 for R70 monthly but it's not really a smartphone we would recommend. The Galaxy Pocket though is a damn decent smartphone which does what it needs to do without breaking the bank. You see what we did there? Read more on Gearburn.var vglnk={key:"cc324b6567a9637aa0ff15bc9564b2a5"};!function(e,a){var t=e.createElement(a);t.type="text/javascript",t.async=!0,t.src="//cdn.viglink.com/api/vglnk.js";var...