News
It’s 2009 & We’re Still Against Same-Sex Marriage
There’s been a lot of controversy about anti-gay marriage statements and support by Carrie Prejean, a Miss USA contestant from California. As you may know, she declared her opposition to same-sex marriage and has subsequently unveiled an ad (below) called “No Offense” in which she stars in, which ultimately tries to scare the public by [...]
Europeans Trust Friends, Acquaintances and Colleagues Most
According to research conducted in Belgium, the Netherlands and the UK by InSites Consulting, people consider their friends, acquaintances and colleagues as the most reliable sources of information. Doctors and specialists come second, followed by academics, company employees and financial analysts. Unsurpisingly, celebrities and politicians scored the lowest.
The three most reliable sources of information were [...]
Social Media Marketing Up. Gen Y Usage Down. And UK & Spain Highest Social Networking Penetration.
Some interesting research to get your day started:
63% of companies plan to increase their social media marketing budgets this year, with social network advertising alone estimated to rise over 17% this year to $2.35 billion! However 39% of companies find it somewhat difficult and 20% find it very difficult to measure social media. It’s really [...]
Featured In ITWeb Brainstorm
I’m featured in the March edition of ITWeb Brainstorm magazine - you can get a copy at CNA, Exclusive Books or your favourite newsstand.
The feature article starts on page 84.
Update: You can also view the online version of the feature article here.
Rockstars Facebook & Twitter Dominate Top Social Networking Sites
A study by Compete.com (via) shows Facebook as the most visited social network, with nearly 1.2 billion visits in January 2009! That’s a 256% increase over twelve months. The biggest mover was Twitter; with nearly 55 million vists, the site has grown by 1,227% in 12 months and now ranks as the third most popular [...]
Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address
Together with millions of people across the globe I watched Barack Obama being sworn in as the forty-fourth president of the United States of America. The highlight was his historic inaugural address. The New York Times has published a transcript of Barack Obama’s inaugural address. This is how it starts off:
My fellow citizens:
I stand here [...]
The South African Political Debate Alive Online Too
Thanks to social media and user generated media, individuals like you and I are drawing attention beyond the media to important political insight and opinion that could shape our tomorrows. In America alone, more than 60 million people rely on the Internet for political news and electoral debate. And if a look at Amatomu has [...]
Blog Action Day - Let’s Change the Conversation
On 15 October 2008 it’s Blog Action Day, an annual nonprofit global event that aims to bring together the world’s social media community to post on the same day about an important issue for the sake of raising awareness and sparking a powerful global discussion.
This year the issue of focus will be poverty.
Living in Africa, this is [...]
Social Networking is a Global Phenomenon
May people think that social media is an international affair, predominantly the domain of the U.S. However, the reality is that social media is a global phenomenon occurring across all markets irrespective of wider economic, cultural or social development. And there’s proof.
According to ComScore, social networking sites grew only 9 percent from June 2007 in the [...]
I’m a Digital Nomad, Are You?
In July Steve Rubel wrote about the rise of the Digital Nomad, independent and corporate workers - myself included - who work from wherever they want, be it an airport, hotel, plane or coffee shop, thanks to digital- and web-based services, mostly laptops, mobile phones and wi-fi.
Mike Gunderoy, Chris Brogan, Hugh Macleod and John Jantsch each report on Dell’s [...]
(RED) to fight AIDS in Africa with Digital Music Service
(RED), the nonprofit organisation co-founded by Bono, is starting a new digital music service (via NYT) in September that will contribute a share of profits to fight AIDS in Africa. For a monthly fee of $5, “(RED) Music” will deliver three new pieces of content a week through bespoke music software . Half of the monthly fee will [...]
The Role of the Internet for Consumers in Germany, France and the UK
Fleishman-Hillard (via) together with Harris Interactive released a Digital Influence Index Study. The study was conducted in Europe (France, the United Kingdom and Germany) using 5000 people and examines the role that the Internet plays in the lives of European consumers (although the findings are probably accurate across the US, South Africa and Asia).
Some interesting findings include:
Proving the need for [...]
Top 10 Technologies That Will Enable Communications by 2012
I finally had a look at Gartner’s list of the top 10 technologies that is predicted to change the world over the next four years, and I am not surprised that Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 tools such as social networks, cloud computing, Web mashups, contextual computing and semantics dominate the list. However, I have [...]
The start of my new blog
I have decided to continue my blogging about social media and related online channels at ginocosme.com This blog and my related strategies are on a mission. Prepare for more focused topics (still related to social media and online marketing), a bunch of new ideas and collaborations, and a lot more global appeal.
Welcome to my new [...]
