Nic’s blog
I write about building businesses, failing and building a life, not a legacy.
Moving in to mobile.
It has already been announced that I am leaving Zoopy at the end of May.I didn't really have anything solidified when I resigned from Zoopy so it is with great pleasure and pride that I can now say that I am moving to Vodacom as the Product Manager in the Social Networking Porfolio.My time at Zoopy was well spent, I learned alot regarding myself, what I want to do and what I am good at. I also figured out where I think the market is heading, what the industry is doing and where I should be positioning myself.Zoopy is doing fantastic things right now and are one of the online companies to watch this year.I am going to be working very closely with Vincent Maher, who is going to be my new boss. I've worked with Vincent before and feel that I can only learn more and get better at what I do working at Vodacom for Vince.If you haven't realised it yet, mobile is not the next big thing, it's the big thing.
Road trippin' to Grahamstown - DCI and Highway Africa
Tomorrow I'm leaving on a jet-plane and heading to Grahamstown. The reason for this is more than a bit of a nostalgic weekend away to my old University. I am in fact heading to Grahamstown to take part in the Digital Citizen Indaba and Highway Africa.I've wanted to take part in this event for a while now but never seemed to get around to it (or get invited). This year however, I have been invited to speak about the tools that can aid citizen journalists and the available services that one can use.This is an extremely interesting topic for me as I have made a slow and slight transition from mainstream journalism to a more citizen journalism role through my blogs and social media.I'll be posting the presentation online once I'm done with it but I doubt it will make too much sense as I enjoy the sound of my own voice and like to make this the focus of my presentations.Nonetheless the entire weekend (four days) will be great. Matthew Buckland and Vincent Maher will be there and apparently our first stop is the old faithful Rat & Parrot. B-E-A-UTIFUL!
Are podcasts useful?
Yes, I think podcasts are useful in fact, I think podcasting can be an extremely useful mechanism for relaying a message, point, story or event.I found a post on podcasting being dead or alive through one of Eve's blogs. I must say I immediately sprang to blog about it because I recently made use of podcasting as a citizen journalism media.Admittedly I focus much of my thought around social media and web 2.0 on how it affects the mass media on the whole and how the "little person" or Citizen Journalist can benefit from the trends emerging at the moment.
Early Adoption failed me
Podcasting really caught my attention and I tried my hand at it on SA Rocks and the RocksCast. Must like Dave and Mike with their Amplitude, SA RocksCast died.I think that I tried to jump on the bandwagon and appear to be an "early adopter" with my attempt at podcasting. I didn't really grasp the media platform itself nor fully understand how to market or create these podcasts effectively. So it died a quick death.Vincent Maher and I also tried our hand at a podcasting targeting the local sphere. Flamebait was short lived because we were a bit zealous in our approach to the content and it was shot down by editorial staff. Oh well. Needless to say the actual media itself still intrigues me.So are podcasts dead? No, I don't think so. Taly Weiss brings up a good point regarding the technology behind podcasting. If it is there then podcasting itself is not dead. In other words, if we have iPods and media players that are capable of storing and playing back podcasts then the media is not dead. But that isn't really always true. I still have a VHS player, that doesn't mean that VHS isn't dead, it is. And if you think it isn't, trust me it's on the way to the grave.
Podcasting and Citizen Journalism
While on a mission at the Million Man March this year I discovered that one doesn't need to consistently make use of a specific type of media for it to be effective.While making use of various platforms to update people about the event I was asked to do a podcast interview over the phone for The Times. What a great idea. One of their journalists called me and did a short (one or two minute) interview with me about the event.This proved to be a very effective means to get my message across. Yes it was for a big media organisation so that helped ofcourse. But the essence of that instance made sense to me. Why do we have to produce a podcast every week, month, day etc etc. When all that is really needed is an event or story to make a great podcast.Grassroots media or citizen journalists can really produce viable content for their websites over the phone with simple technology. Use a digital dictaphone, if fact, use the recorder on your cell phone, make sure you are succinct in your 3 minutes and publish it as is.Rally your media around events, don't make an event out of your media.
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.
Bring bloggers and editors together
My post about Charl Norman and Intelligence magazine seems to have raised some interesting issues.Bloggers vs journalists, ethics and standards and a broad lack of writing integrity.Vincent has come out and said that he is willing to organise a meeting between bloggers and mainstream media editors (or editor). What do you think?From Vincent:
If any bloggers are interested, I would be happy to organise a session between bloggers and our editor as an ethics and legal primer. Anyone interested? Email me vincent@vincentmaher.com
I think that this is a great idea and one that can benefit various people on various levels. Email Vince and let's get the ball rolling.
In honour of the Vincent/Bolton T-War
T-shirt illustrates front and back of the same shirt
Vincent Maher for IT personality of the year
I just noticed that ITWeb is holding their IT personality of the year awards. And you'll never guess who has made the shortlist of ten. That's right, the blogosphere's very own Vincent Maher.If you look closely you'll see a very, very cheesy photo of the man himself in the nominee's list.But in spite of this he could possibly be the stangest and most likeable character on that list.The ITWeb has classified the criteria for an IT personality as:
A person who has been successful in building a highly-respected IT organisation or business.A person who has made a major contribution to the IT profession over a number of years.A person who has made a significant technical or academic contribution to the IT industry.An IT professional who has aided the development needs of the community.
Now I know that many of us bloggers out there have felt the impact of Mr. Maher's developments in recent times. Sites like Amatomu, Amagama and Thoughtleader have been at the forefront of online development lately. Maher is behind them all.It looks to me that he is the only serious blogger on the list but the competition is tight. He is fighting CEOs, MDs, OpenSource pundits and others so he might just need our support.The complete list is:Hamilton Ratshefola, CEO of Cornastone ConsultingJames Grcic, MD, Computer Storage Services AfricaMelusi Zwane, MD of Melusi Training & DevelopmentMirriam Zwane, co-owner and director of Praxis ComputingDr Ntsika Msimang, head of the Meraka Institute's Open Source Centre, SowetoPhuthuma Nhleko, CEO, MTN GroupPfungwa Serima, MD of Microsoft South AfricaStephen Smith, founder of the Papillon FoundationVincent Maher, strategist, Mail & Guardian OnlineViola Manuel, executive director of the Cape IT Initiative (CITI)The entire process works as follows:
Out of dozens of nominations received from ITWeb readers and members of the Computer Society of SA, the judges have short-listed 10 candidates, all of whom have made outstanding achievements in their careers and significant contributions to the South African IT industry.Based on the criteria and public votes, the judges will now select five finalists. These five will be announced on ITWeb by Friday 5 October.
Eric Edelstein: The MasterBaiter
I recently produced This Podcast with Vince. Wherein we discussed a variety of things ranging from bloggers dying, facebook fakes and Mr. Eric Edelstein.In the Flamebaiting podcasting where Vince and I try to get as much hype around the podcast as possible (and shamelessly so) we discussed a recent post by Eric (I will not be linking to the masterbaiter as he doesn't need it). This post was unreadable, illogical and very confusing in general.In the podcast we complimented Eric to begin with. He did not make mention of this in his commentary of the podcast. He chose to pick at all and only the negative things that we said about him. Negative honesty that was there for all to see.There is more however. Vince and I know that people aren't going to be happy with us most of the time if they are mentioned on Flamebait. But Eric seems to think that he needed a rebuttle argument which was subsequently more confusticating than the original post that me Flamed.Since then Colin, Gregor (who Eric misinterpreted I feel), Vince, Wezzo and now I have responded. None of these comments were read by Eric apparently as he just keeps digging them holes.Eric, take a second to read the comments on your blog. This is a very important tip as most bloggers know that content is in fact king. Pictures of yourself and Robert Scoble will not make you more popular, they will not drive traffic and it often does not pay to be cool by association.Yes, I have just mentioned Robert Scoble, why I hear you ask? Well Eric has a pic from Wikipedia on his flickr photostream on his blog of Scoble. I thought flickr photostreams were meant to be of photos you have taken, or feature you? Nevermind plagiarism issues which are evident (a quick quote from Eric: "I am TOTALLY against anything illegal"), this is just a bit wierd. Compare THIS photo from Eric and THIS photo from Wikipedia.I have said it before on the podcast and will say it again here, Eric is doing some great things in SA for the online community. He just can't seem to maintain a safe balance on the blogosphere between good work and self obsessive blog posts. Listen to your readers, read your comments and let the good content on your site drive hits your way. Linkbaiting is cool to a point but do it openly. Don't facebook people behind smoke screens on your blog and then do the opposite of what you have blogged about.If you like David Bullards idea of crowdsourcing then tell us that, let him know and do it openly.In my opinion Eric has simply missed the point completely. Not everything is about SEO. Not everyone actually cares and not everyone is trying to make a gazillion bucks from a podcast/website/blog/idea/concept. In spite of Eric trying to drive the conversation towards topics he actually understands, we all still know what we are talking about and don't need lessons.Go enjoy your MOET Eric, and contact me if you want to talk sometime.Last point: To his credit, Eric is definitely a MASTERBAITER as I have now blogged about is post and many people have commented on his blog. He is good at baiting, flaming and linking and is most definitely a masterbaiter in my books.
27 Dinner - round two
Chatting to good ol' Mr. Stopforth today he slyly slipped in a request for me to speak at the upcoming 27 Dinner this month. I delayed, and "ummed" and "ahhed" and then hastily accepted the offer before Mike took it away!I am exceptionally excited to be speaking and a little bit overwhelmed (there are some serious online persona's that attend the dinner). I will be talking about my website SA Rocks. This is a great opportunity for me to give the site some exposure and get some much needed feedback about the site. In 7 minutes I have to try my absolute hardest not to make a tit out of myself in front of the genii attending.Vincent expressly asked me not to make myself look like a hero. I am not quite sure what this means but rest assured I will not be attending the dinner in a superman suite (I think).I hope to see you all there, places are limited and filling up fast.
This is swarm
Vincent Maher seems to have a new addiction (not smoking, that's an old one) and its name is Swarm. The MG swarm is a real time representation of what the viewers of mg.photos are looking at.Now at first glance to those who aren't really sure of the significance of this swarm it could seem like a bunch of pretty circles rolling around a black page. It's not. It is an incredible way to view the happenings of the site without staring at blank stats and words and numbers.So without further ado:
