Mail & Guardian have, for some reason, t...

Mail & Guardian have, for some reason, taken it upon themselves to create a list of 300 young South Africans you have to take for lunch.It is not an enviable task by any means. Someone is always going to point out that you missed some or other person out, it's the nature of a list! I think MG does a sterling job and I think Elan also composed himself a great little list of people who should be considered for the list next year.But this year I was fortunate enough to be added to the list of 300. Initially I paged through the Media section of the list and realised that I wasn't there. I found myself buried in the Technology section. I think this depicts the progress of my career and illustrates the choices I've made in a very accessible way. I am no longer a man working to be heard in the media.My insert read as follows:

Nic Haralambous; project manager; social media; VodacomFrom the get go, it's obvious that Nic Haralambous is deeply in love with multimedia. The 24-year old attributes his preference for online over print media to his view of the internet as the more "democratic communication" medium.Proactive is probably the best word to describe him. "Don't bitch and moan, give solutions," he says. It appears to be his mantra.After hearing a speech by Bob Geldof on television in 2005, he booked a ticket to Edinburgh for the next day, where he rocked up with his film camera to photograph the G8 summit and he was beaten by riot police.Haralambous has written and shot for the Sunday Times, designed websites for Financial Mail and managed blogspots for the Mail & Guardian. He also started up the website SA Rocks and recently moved from general manager of the social media website, Zoopy, to Vodacom. -- Ilham RawootLunch spot: Plaka, Illovo, Johannesburg

I am joined on the list by Saul, Vincent, Vinny, Jason, Mike, Charl and many more deserving people. The youth in this country are here to stay and make a difference.

Zoopy...it has begun

I have refrained from blogging about this for the past few weeks. Partly because I had a lot to do at M&G Online before I left and partly because there is still a lot that I had to find out about Zoopy.I managed to get much done with M&G and have the utmost confidence that they are on a path to absolutely fantastic things under new leadership. A new GM has taken on Matt's role, Jason Norwood-Young has taken on Vince's role and I can almost certainly say that M&G is heading down one helluva great path and we are all in for some interesting times.Moving on to Zoopy.I have taken up the position of Gauteng GM for Zoopy. The decision to move to Zoopy was a tough one because it meant that I was leaving a company and brand like Mail & Guardian Online. But Zoopy presented me with some very enticing ideas, goals and movements for the next 12 months or so. The plans are innovative, interesting and like nothing being done in the online market in SA at this point in time. I couldn't say no to a chance like this.Basically I am going to be setting up Zoopy in JHB for now. That means staff, offices, equipment and most importantly relationships with anyone who thinks they can offer something of value to our vision.That's all I'm going to say for now as it has been a long day and I have yet to step in to my first meeting here in Cape Town. Bring them on.For those of you attending the 27 Dinner in CT this week, I'll see you there and look forward to meeting many of you for the first time in real life, really!

Barriers to entry for media in the "mobile boom"

As many people know the mobile industry is big business, especially here in SA and in the broader African market.I've been making some inroads in to trying to undestand the mobile market as fully as possible recently.I am lookingt at the mobile market as someone heavily involved in the media industry and trying to find a place for the media in the mobile market. I am not considering the mobile market from the point of view of a startup, website, portal, communication idea or gaming company. I am looking at the mobile market from the perspective of an organisation that produces weekly content that goes in to a newspaper.There are some things that I have noticed and some problems that I have seen with the theory that mobile is going to be the next big thing very soon.Lets begin with three quick points:

1. Communication is actually THE mobile market
2. Social Networking is the up-and-commer
3. Gaming is already making a mark - a massive one - on the market
4. The service providers are the ones making the money

And now let us go through the barriers to entry that I feel exist for media in the mobile market.

1. Newspaper content is a push market
2. Mobile users want to own their content - pull it towards themselves
3. Understanding of extensive mobile web surfing is low in higher LSM's
4. Portals are non-exist, with the exception of service providers

The basic barriers that I have listed above make it extremely difficult for media organisations to make a valuable stand in the mobile market. Users are looking to interact with one another and content. This means they want to create the content, interact with it, send it to their friends, invite their friends to interact with eachother and their content. This is difficult as a media organisation when you are producing the content and pushing it to the market.I am interested to know if you agree with these barriers? Do you think that media is stuck in a "push" business model? Or are they making inroads in to the "pull" of content creation, distribution and user interaction?

A new challenge at Mail&Guardian

Today is my last day working at Financial Mail and I can now announce that I am starting a new job at M&G Online on the 19th of May.My official job title is business manager: mobile and recruitment. But I am sure that more regarding my actual day to day activities will come out as soon as I move in and get involved in the team.Working with Matt and Vince is definitely going to be one of the great things about my new position. The job is innovative and in a market that is about to burst and is still fairly unconquered in the media sphere.Obviously moving in to a new market and media house is a big leap for me and one that I am cautiously approaching (with some level of excitement). There are some nerves which should be expected but overall I can't wait to sink my teeth in to the challenge.Financial Mail was a phenomenal place to work and to gain some extremely valuable knowledge and experience. The people were sterling and I learned more than I thought I could in a year. But for my career, my brand and the moves I'm trying to make in the industry this is definitely the right move for me at the perfect time.Things are hotting up in SA, the market is about to explode and I am itching to bury myself in it.

ThoughtLeader Launches

In a very quiet and contained blog post today Vinny Lingham posted about M&G's new multi-user blogging platform for leaders of industry and thought; ThoughtLeader.I am a big fan of the work that M&G have been doing, that's no secret but I really like this initiative and have been waiting to blog about it for a while. The concept is a simple and effective one. I am looking forward to seeing who else M&G can get on board but for now here are some of the bloggers:Guy BergerHeather FordJarred CinmanMatthew BurbidgeMax KaizenMike StopforthVinny LinghamAnd many others.

Amagama Gets A Redesign

I wonder what sort of backlash Vincent and the MG team will receive for this little change?OK, so it isn't really a little change. There are some significant differences featured on the new Amagama homepage. For one thing, there are no recent comments appearing on the homepage and no recent blog posts. In the place of the recent blog posts there is a tag cloud that seems to be displaying all of the hot topics in the realm of Amagama.Previous complaints from old Blogmark users about the previous version of the Amagama homepage were that the community aspect had left the platform. This is definitely apparent now with the new updates.Amatomu, the other MG blog resource is now also featured on the site. While there are links to recent comments and the homepage does show who is online and a list of new blogs, I feel like there is a wave of Amabadmouthing coming the way of the Vincent. Sorry buddy, lets hope it pans out differently.It seems as though Vincent has attempted to make conversion from Blogmark blog to Amagama a lot easier on the new homepage and registration seems to be simpler.

Amatomu - Rate, rank and share

Amatomu is being heralded by many as the South African Technorati. This is not a bad description as far as I can see it. You get to post your blog in the list, it gets ranked, your feed gets posted, you get exposure, there is a tag cloud, there is a widget (a must have!) and a cool stat counter that show's you your blogs influence on the market!These are all great but for me the simplicity of the site is what sets it apart. Vincent Maher (online strategist from MG Online) has done a sterling job of making a complicated process and concept look and feel incredibly simple to the average blogger. The process is almost and just about idiot proof and this is an important and necessary feature. Not all bloggers are coding experts or IT freaks. Many, if not most, are simply trying to blog their thought.Amatomu is an incredible tool to get your thoughts out there. Join today, lets crash the MG server and show our support for innovation in the South African market.Some may argue that MG being behind the site is a problem. I say hell no to that. I think that media organisations taking the leap in to the burgeoning online market is refreshing and needed. Congratulations to the team for their efforts and result!P.S: What is that name about, Amatomu? Sounds cool but possibly a bit hard to remember.Tyler, screw you for beating me to this post!! For a detailed look at the features, read Tyler's post!

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