online

Vodacom now lets customers self-RICA their SIM cards

Vodacom has introduced a self-RICA feature, letting you register your new SIM card from the comfort of your home. You can access the feature…

Yep!: New app helps you find local services and businesses

Telkom has launched a new app called Yep! that helps you find services and small businesses near you — from building contractors to childcare…

Google promises to train one million Africans in digital skills

There’s no doubting that internet penetration, digital skills and economic growth are closely entwined. So it comes as no surprise to hear that Google has…

The biggest mistakes you are making with online advertising (and how they’re costing your business)

Digital has become such a pervasive layer in our lives, it’s hard to extract ourselves from it – much harder than television advertising (thanks…

Gearburn’s pick — top 16 multiplayer iPad games

The iPad is custom-made for full-screen, HD multiplayer titles. Casual titles work exceedingly well on the world’s most popular tablet and, given the lack…

Should digital strategists say goodbye to their jobs?

Okay, so maybe we’re not there yet. But what will all these “Social media”, “Digital”, “Mobile” and “Online” strategists do when online and conventional…

It’s about branding, stupid

Online advertising is not only about clicks, leads and acquisitions… branding is important too. There are a number of competing online advertising models on the net. By far the most dominant one used by online publishers is the Cost-per-Thousand (CPM) model. CPM is the closest online advertising gets to advertising in traditional media. The advertiser pays in advance to place an advert that will be displayed to the website’s readership base, which should generate return on investment. Through the campaign there will be branding for the advertiser, click-throughs on the advert, leads and hopefully acquisition of the product. Everyone’s happy?

Why can’t we all just get along?

The media world is undergoing profound change. We know the great catalyst for these changes has been the onward march of the digital age and the arrival of the internet.

This changing mediascape is often incorrectly portrayed as a battlefield, with two main skirmishes on the go. In the first “battle”, the soldiers have grown weary or just rather bored. This battle involves traditional media (newspapers, radio, TV) versus online media. The second “battle” is a much more interesting to look at. This skirmish involves mainstream media (which in this instance includes online publishers as they mostly practise traditional journalism) versus citizen media, which includes bloggers, vloggers and podcasters….

Battle of the business sites

Websites that report on financial news and information were always going to crack it online. The web is the perfect medium for delivering up-to-the-minute financial news and data. Moreover, the LSM of the average business news reader matches that of the online reader: Both are high. The five biggest consumer-focused business sites, reporting on general financial news in South Africa, are engaged in a tussle to capture a bigger share of this lucrative reader and advertising market….

Sunday Times revamps website

Sunday Times has relaunch their site. The redesign looks great. Following the latest trend in creating wide-format sites, their website really hits the spot…

The Google plan: sell advertising everywhere

Those clever guys at Google… they’re planning to “organise the world’s information”, but also they should add that after organising that information, they’re going…

Is Google a monster?

On Poynter emedia tidbits on which I am a fellow contributor, the big question is asked of the dot.com mega success story, Google: “Can…

We Media

Journalism on the internet is becoming a “conversation” rather than a “sermon”. Mainstream media should take note. What’s going on with the internet these…

Online media – growing pains

I did a PDF of my powerpoint presentation (3mbs) at the recent Captivate Student Media conference that I popped down to Grahamstown for on…

Bloggers show online publishers how to use the net

It’s no surprise that the blogosphere has grown so big, so quickly. Not only is it easier and cheaper to publish than ever before via blogs,…

50m bloggers, 6bn people — but who gets to speak?

Ethan Zuckerman, the founder of Tripod and activist site Global Voices Online, emphasised just how difficult it is to get news about Africa, especially…

Online is no ‘threat’

It’s time to leave the dark ages. The traditional advertising and media industry needs to see the potential of online or get left behind….

The people have written

Now South Africa has its own citizen journalism website in Johnnic’s commendable reporter.co.za The relentless pace of technology is turning everyone into citizen reporters….

The future of online advertising

Here’s a prediction: Expect online advertising to increasingly resemble television commercials. Soon there won’t be too much difference between an advert you see on…

Cool newsblog by Bush radio

Thanks to Bush Radio for alerting me to their cool blog project by their trainees. It’s not quite opinion and comment, which is what we…

Roll on broadband

from my column in the media, called net savvy If a survey by search engine Google is to be believed, the British apparently now…

Print vs Online: Interview with Marketing Mix

Just did this interview with Marketing Mix on the (yawn) print vs online debate…

What is your opinion on the general attitude of the newspaper industry towards the merging of online and print?

How far is SA behind (in general) when it comes to combining online and print?

What ‘cool’ things do you have on the M&G site that no one else does, and how are the ‘cool’ things working out – are people using RSS feeds etc, for example?

What are the problems/challenges facing publishers that actually want to embrace online?

Should SA publishers be worried about online? Is it a threat?

What is hampering the real growth of online at the moment?

How long do you think we have until online starts eating into circulation/ad revenue the way it has in the US and UK?

What are the next steps in terms of technology and integrating print and online that publishers need to embrace and use?

How can an online presence be using for success brand-building both for the newspaper itself as well as advertising clients?

Has online revenue started to make a positive impact on the overall bottom line?

Are clients and ad agencies geared for an online presence? If no, what needs to be done (by all parties) to ensure online ad revenue success?

What are the differences between having a print publication and an online site – ie what do publishers/journalists need to learn and understand about online in order to meet consumer expectations?

What is your opinion on citizen journalism and its part?

What do you do about premium news (subscribing mostly?) as most people won’t pay for the privilege esp as they can normally find the stories elsewhere on the internet? But how viable is free content?

Is there a threat yet to classifieds (print and online) from sites such as craigslist, and how do you combat this?

Answers over the page…..

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