Posts Tagged ‘Web 2.0’
Posted on May 21, 2009 - by Justin Hartman
GivenGain: Hidden South African Giants
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Today I stumbled across an amazing initiative called GivenGain which is run by a bunch of South Africans. Here’s a quick excerpt from their About page.
We call our service GivenGain because we believe that we are rich only through what we give, and poor only through what we refuse and keep.
GivenGain has an established reputation as a service provider to the non-profit sector. We provide a web-based platform to non-profit and support-based organizations with a complete electronic payment, donor management, online publishing, and communication solution.
We have offices in London (UK), Stellenbosch (South Africa), and further represented by partners across the world.
Why this site has interested me considerably is largely due to the fact that fund-raising online is a model that doesn’t really generate that much cash for the organisations in question. Well not in South Africa that is. Unlike other initiatives GivenGain is a model that appears to be working very successfully.
According to the site they’ve generated a total of $37,5 million donated by more than 32,000 individuals and this has directly benefited 1,626 projects. This is stagerring if you think about. It means that on average each individual donates $1,143 and each non-profit project receives $23,118. Granted this is an average and others have donated more/less while other projects have benefited more than others but it’s a massive average at that.
The team behind this initiative deserve to be commended. More often than not people in this industry only ever focus on the players who make the most noise but these giants in the online space are not only doing a whole lot more but making a success of it at the same time.
Posted on August 14, 2008 - by Justin Hartman
My presentation at the Advancing Web 2.0 conference
As you read this I am busy delivering the following Avusa case study at the Advancing Web 2.0 for traditional media conference. Hope you enjoy it.
Posted on April 8, 2008 - by Justin Hartman
The Ultimate Web 2.0 Tag Cloud
Posted on March 6, 2008 - by Justin Hartman
Twitter in Plain English
I love the Common Craft website because they simplify a lot of Web 2.0 services for the layman in an easy to understand format. Today’s video is on Twitter and seeing as my post yesterday was all about the new Twitter application I found, Twhirl, I thought it would be good to post this short 2 minute video. Enjoy.
Posted on March 5, 2008 - by Justin Hartman
Impressive Twitter, Jaiku and Pownce application
Yesterday Scott posted a link on Twitter to a website called HelloTxt. I had seen the service before but I decided, on visiting the site again, to register an account and try the service out.
HelloTxt is a simple service that allows you to post a message directly to Twitter, Pownce, Jaiku, Facebook and Plaxo at the same time. Now one has to ask why anyone would need this functionality but I find myself in a situation where I have an account with all of these sites and posting messages to each one individually is not only a mission but also not happening.
Over time Twitter has become my medium of choice simply because it has the highest adoption rate in South Africa for micro-blogging platforms. Personally I prefer Pownce over all these services but there are almost no people using the service that I know.
The HelloTxt service works brilliantly and does what it claims to however the down side to it is that you can only post messages from the HelloTxt website. This is a major issue for me as I prefer to post messages via Instant Messaging and after doing some research I found that there is no way to integrate this service into an IM client.
In a random set of events I stumbled upon Twhirl, the micro-blogging application to rule them all. Twhirl is primarily a Twitter application that allows you to post to the site and the latest version also includes integration with Jaiku and Pownce.
The Twhirl desktop application uses Adobe’s Integrated Runtime (AIR) that enables a cross-platform experience that is gaining big traction with developers and users. One AIR application I use religiously is the Google Analytics Reporting Suite and I’m sure there are many more cool applications out there.
Twhirl features multiple Twitter accounts and once you’ve added one you’re presented with a super-cool interface with full Twitter functionality including; replies, direct messages, favourites and re-tweeting.
By clicking on the settings icon on your Twitter window you can change various settings including adding your usernames for Jaiku and Pownce.
What is really smart about this integration is that replies to Twitter users (i.e. @username) are not posted to either Pownce or Jaiku. As a user of all three services I quickly became aware that replying to someone with the @ symbol is a unique Twitter way of doing things and Pownce evangelists hate it when you try and reply to them in this fashion. This is sure to keep your Pownce buddies happy.
I’m loving Twhirl and I’ve finally found a micro-blogging application that works the way I want it to.
Posted on November 22, 2007 - by Justin Hartman
African Web 2.0 map
Hash (aka Erik Hersman) has done an amazing map of Web 2.0 sites through Africa. Lots of people have commented and seen it already however it really is worth a mention here. Well done Hash, looking forward to using it soon!
Posted on November 19, 2007 - by Justin Hartman
RedCube presentation on Multimedia and Social Media
Gregor and I have just finished delivering a presentation to RedCube, the PR agency behind Visa, on Multimedia and Social Media. Gregor took the first part of the presentation where he highlights what The Times is doing on a Multimedia level and also analyzes current global and local trends within in the Multimedia industry.
I took an in depth look at Social Media, Web 2.0 and the impact this has on PR agencies globally. There is an interesting case study I did on the Frito-Lay PR department and how they utilised the Social Media sphere to promote the Doritos chips brand among their core target market of 16-24 year olds. I also tried to look at what South African PR companies can do to further promote their clients’ brands in the Social Media sphere.
The presentation, without the sexy Keynote effects and video we included, is embedded below.
Posted on September 19, 2007 - by Justin Hartman
Pownce will kill Twitter
Pownce is similar Twitter, only better. I’ve been using it now for a couple days and I’m far more impressed with the the user experience and reliability than I am with Twitter. Some experts will swear Jaiku is the one to watch but there are a couple things which make Pownce a winner in my opinion. The big one is the ability to send links, files and calendar events which both Twitter and Jaiku lack.
While Pownce has a very similar profile page to Twitter the overall structure seems more intuitive to me. There is a bio of who I am, better structured friends listing plus the added column of other social networking profiles that I belong to.
Posted on September 18, 2007 - by Justin Hartman
Yahoo! Mash is a complete mesh
Over the weekend I got an invite to Yahoo!’s new social networking site called Mash. At first glance it’s a little difficult to understand what it’s all about but through some playing I’ve come to the conclusion that despite some obvious social networking tools the only additional feature it offers is the ability to allow friends, contacts and the general public to mash up your profile with various applications and custom CSS styles.
While trying to combine MySpace (the individual page styling), Facebook (the simplicity of design and functionality) and Flickr (nifty AJAX effects) into one application I can see how it will provide some value for certain people however mashing up other people’s profiles might irritate a few discerning souls – me included.
One of the key elements missing from Mash is the ability to search for friends. The only way to find a friend is to either import your Gmail or Yahoo! contact list or invite individual friends to Mash and hope that they have a profile.
At the moment Mash invites happen by having one of your friends create a profile for you. Your friend can then add various items to your profile and when you accept the invitation your profile goes live in the Mash network and you get the following page.
Posted on August 29, 2007 - by Justin Hartman
Is Social Media dead?
In today’s Blogumist column in The Times Paul Jacobson has written a piece titled Social Media is dead. Paul is a friend and a colleague but I have to say this article spurred some very negative reactions in me and I just think that this article is so far from the truth it’s scary.
Paul argues that
“Although Social Media is only just picking up steam here in South Africa, if you read the feeds on blogs and news sites in the United States and Europe it is fairly obvious that the whole thing is running out of steam.”
Now I’m not sure what news sites Paul is subscribed to but the ones I read tell the exact opposite but don’t take my word on it, let the evidence talk.
Robert Scoble, A-List blogger and Vice President of Media Development at PodTech.net, recently argued that social media sites Mahalo, TechMeme, and Facebook are going to kick Google’s butt in four years.
Michael Arrington, another A-Lister and owner of the popular Techcrunch blog, also linked to Scoble’s article and points out that
Scoble argues that the search results from sites such as Mahalo will appeal to more people due to their ability to be socially constructed as opposed to Google’s computer generated results.
While Arrington doesn’t necessarily agree with Scoble he’s also not disagreeing with Scoble’s thinking.
I’m pretty sure that while these are some good examples that Social Media is here to stay many will say that this only relates to the ever changing face of search and doesn’t really equate to any level of social networking or social media.
Silicon Valley start-up investor Esther Dyson appeared on the Charlie Rose show where she discussed her current projects in the technology space. During this interview she was asked if Facebook is the new Google and to that Dyson replied
“[It is] if you think Google is the next Microsoft.†So, is Google the new Microsoft? Dyson said, “It could well be.â€
From my perspective I have to say that Social Media is changing the way we communicate on a global level. Search is becoming more relevant because of social media and will continue to do so for many years and social media sites are giving us a platform to communicate, share and evolve.
Paul goes on to claim that
All the new launches are reinventions of Social Media companies that have been around for years now or are simply new applications of existing tools. There is no real innovation in this space. Social Media has climaxed. It is all downhill from here.
Facebook’s recent emailing capabilities allow users to now replace traditional email communication and their Book Swap feature highlights how social media can relate to real-world practical uses so I’m just not sure about this statement either.
Is Social Media dead? I think not.
I am the MD and co-founder of 