This blog reflects on life at work at comments on the latest news that shapes my 9-5 working day in a Corporate Communications consultancy.

About Me

I am a born and bred South African who has always loved to read and write. As a child my mother used to read to me and my siblings, from classics like the “Lord of the Rings” but later also from her own stories. She would write children’s stories and then use us as her test audience, but I loved to hear what she had written long after my siblings had tired of it. So I grew up in an environment of reading and writing, which inspired my love of these things. I hope to write a great book some day, and have learnt first hand the determination and will that it takes. My love of English inspired me to continue my study of it at university. I majored in Law and English in a BA degree at UCT where I found that I took to English much more than law. I enjoyed learning about South Africa’s history and the development of our liberal Constitution, which increasingly made me committed to the hope this country has for the future. Ideally, I’d like to find myself in a job where I am able to write; that allows a good mix of time spent with people and being able to work on my own.

Tuesday, 03 July 2007

The digital citizen will take over the world.... (insert evil laugh here)

A post that is an off shoot of the blog research I'm doing.. full report will come later

AS bloggers, all of the WOW group are at the cutting edge of a digital revolution that is sweeping the world... The power of the blog is in the power of the social network - the buzz that can be created in a community that talks to each other.

On Monday, the Business Day Exporter supplement published an article on the success of Stormhoek wine. It was a little known brand until Hugh Macleod, author of Gaping Void (one of Britain's most read blogs), came on board and used his site to tap into this community and promote the wine. Graham Knox was quoted in the article as saying that they're spending very little on marketing, achieving success, and having a ball at the same time.

Blogging is still relatively new in South Africa, but it's starting to take off. Recently, there has been a spate of articles on the subject in the press. We even have SA blog awards for different categories, including business blogs.

Well known publications are starting to link into the blog trend. The Mail and Guardian has blog sites linked in to it. The News 24 home page hosts various reader's blogs. A new daily publication, The Times, launched last month - an iniative of Johnnic Communications - and is looking to revolutionase the media scene. It sets out to be an interactive publication, hosting youtube videos on its site as well as asking a number of its columnists, or 'blogumists', to write blogs. At The Times, they believe that the future of media lies in its interactivity.

On Anton Harber's blog recently, hosted by the Wits Journalism website, he discussed the yearly readership statistics for publications. It was clear that well established media, with the exception of the Daily Sun, were loosing readership. It seems clear that for traditional print and broadcast media to survive, they need to look at ways to change to acommodate the growing trend toward harnessing the power of the digital citizen.

Vincent Maher, a well known South African blogger, wrote about how last week's snow had prompted over 2000 people to send in their pictures to the Mail and Guardian's site. His editor was really excited as it was the first time the public had really interacted with the publication. So it may take extrodinary events to prompt South Africans, a little slow off the mark in terms of the rest of the world, to enter into the digital revolution on a big scale.

In the digital citizen lies the future.... and as bloggers we are all part of it. Go team WOW.... together, we have power!

2 comments:

Ijeoma Uche-Okeke said...

Well done Susan!! I enjoyed this excerpt immensely. It's vibey, informative and an interesting read. Could you please send me the link to Anton Harber's blog?

Thomas Michael Blaser said...

Ja, my enthusiasm for blogging goes throug loops and hoops. But funny enough, people I lost track contacted me as they had come across my blog.