By Saadiyah Marks, 2nd year PR student
On Saturday, October 18, students and guests at the CPUT annual media conference were introduced to a new mobile social network service called ‘The Grid’. Vincent Maher, portfolio manager for social media at Vodacom, introduced the innovative service and demonstrated how you could use The Grid to stay connected with friends.
The Grid (Groups Radar Identity Dropzone) is, is similar to ever-popular mobile social network, MXIT but has location based advantages such as viewing on an actual map exactly where you are and what your friends found interested at that particular place. This service allows your cell phone to be located by triangulating its position between cell phone towers. It has been dubbed “Google Earth meets Mxit” and means that you could be at a party and send a picture, video, text or sound clipping to a contact and they would see your exact location as well as if the party is worth attending or not.
Video clips, photographs and comments you drop on The Grid is called ‘blips’ would be made available to your contacts to view. The Grid is that the usage is free although network data costs as charged by your service provider therefore you could minimise costs by making sure the file size of your data is small. The creators of The Grid has really upped the standard of social networking allowing users to stay connected with their friends by showing each other where they are and what they doing.
The Grid was initially launched in South Africa last year by invitation only through the country’s leading mobile network, Vodacom. The reason for the creation of The Grid is to buy into a share of the Mxit market, which as we know, is a huge population. Vodacom has incorporated social networking, differentiating The Grid from Mxit. The service is continuously improving as you can see on The Grid Blog and growing as it reaches more and more of its target market. By using the built-in radar function the user is able to find the content they are looking for as well as forward it to their friends, comment on it or rate it. In the pipeline for Vodacom and The Grid is an international launch so before we know it we would know more about the hotspots in other countries than in our very own.
The good news for public relations and marketing professionals is that The Grid is allowing small businesses the opportunity to advertise through the social network. The Grid allows people to share their experiences and stories, a perfect medium for creating an brand awareness.
For more information about visit http://www.thegrid.co.za/, The Grid on Facebook, The Grid Blog, or watch The Grid video on YouTube
To register for The Grid simply SMS “grid” to 33313 (Please not The Grid currently available to SA mobile phone users only)
Showing posts with label Conference 2008. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Conference 2008. Show all posts
November 10, 2008
October 28, 2008
Technology Media Conference hosted at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology
By Danelle Milward, 2nd year PR student
CPUT’s 10th annual media conference explored technology and the new media. Held on Saturday October 18, the conference attracted tech-savvy speakers on the cutting edge of new media.
“Technology impacts on our lives in all areas; sometimes changing things, sometimes keeping things the same, but improving speed or accessibility. It is important that we use the conference to explore the effectiveness of technology commercially and socially,” said Rifqah Abrahams, junior lecturer: media studies and supervising lecturer for the media conference.
“Keep it simple and don’t complicate things,’’ said Melissa Attree, guest speaker who specialises in social media, branding and educating as many people as possible about online communication. She focused on the importance of listening, collaborating and engaging with customers online in order to best present your brand.
Charl Norman, 24-year old internet entrepreneur and operations manager for Blueworld Communities, a leading social networking technology company, spoke about social networking – the trends and developments around the world and in South Africa.
“A recent study found that 58% of people trust people like themselves, not CEOs and marketing managers,” said Tim Shier, marketing manager at Africa’s largest full service online marketing agency.
Shier introduced the audience to the field of online reputation management and the free online eMarketing resource, eMarketing – the essential guide to online marketing. This textbook, developed by Quirk, will be updated every 6 months and can be downloaded from the Quirk eMarketing website, a great resource for students and professionals alike. For those that love the smell of a new book and the feel of turning the pages, you can find the print edition at Exclusive Books.
Vincent Maher, Jayne Morgan and Peter Greenwall were the three other guest speakers that blew us away with their presentations from citizen journalism to new broadcasting such as podcasts and innovation and new inspiring ways of thinking. During the recess guests enjoyed the interactive exhibition where they were able to get their hands on XBOX, Playstation 3 and the Nintendo Wii.
"The dynamic speakers had everyone on the edge of their seats with their cutting edge information! The enthusiasm was infectious and bounced from the first to the last speaker. I left totally inspired," said Prof. Johann van der Merwe. Head of Department: Public Relations Management.
“I learnt so much from the speakers at this year’s conference,” said Monique Boucher, Conference MC, Public Relations B Tech student and self-confessed online junkie.“In a time where lifestyle revolves around technology and with business centered on online accessibility, talking technology makes perfect sense.”
CPUT’s 10th annual media conference explored technology and the new media. Held on Saturday October 18, the conference attracted tech-savvy speakers on the cutting edge of new media.
“Technology impacts on our lives in all areas; sometimes changing things, sometimes keeping things the same, but improving speed or accessibility. It is important that we use the conference to explore the effectiveness of technology commercially and socially,” said Rifqah Abrahams, junior lecturer: media studies and supervising lecturer for the media conference.
“Keep it simple and don’t complicate things,’’ said Melissa Attree, guest speaker who specialises in social media, branding and educating as many people as possible about online communication. She focused on the importance of listening, collaborating and engaging with customers online in order to best present your brand.
Charl Norman, 24-year old internet entrepreneur and operations manager for Blueworld Communities, a leading social networking technology company, spoke about social networking – the trends and developments around the world and in South Africa.
“A recent study found that 58% of people trust people like themselves, not CEOs and marketing managers,” said Tim Shier, marketing manager at Africa’s largest full service online marketing agency.
Shier introduced the audience to the field of online reputation management and the free online eMarketing resource, eMarketing – the essential guide to online marketing. This textbook, developed by Quirk, will be updated every 6 months and can be downloaded from the Quirk eMarketing website, a great resource for students and professionals alike. For those that love the smell of a new book and the feel of turning the pages, you can find the print edition at Exclusive Books.
Vincent Maher, Jayne Morgan and Peter Greenwall were the three other guest speakers that blew us away with their presentations from citizen journalism to new broadcasting such as podcasts and innovation and new inspiring ways of thinking. During the recess guests enjoyed the interactive exhibition where they were able to get their hands on XBOX, Playstation 3 and the Nintendo Wii.
"The dynamic speakers had everyone on the edge of their seats with their cutting edge information! The enthusiasm was infectious and bounced from the first to the last speaker. I left totally inspired," said Prof. Johann van der Merwe. Head of Department: Public Relations Management.
“I learnt so much from the speakers at this year’s conference,” said Monique Boucher, Conference MC, Public Relations B Tech student and self-confessed online junkie.“In a time where lifestyle revolves around technology and with business centered on online accessibility, talking technology makes perfect sense.”
October 19, 2008
The CPUT Technology Media Conference Speakers
Charl Norman is the Operations Manager for Blueworld Communities, South Africa’s leading Internet Technology Company focused on building online communities. At only 24 years old he has been instrumental in creating four niche social networks and owns a blogging network including some of South Africa’s top ranking blog titles. This year he has been nominated as a finalist for the ICT Young Entrepreneur of Africa award.
Melissa Attree started a PR company after a successful career in marketing. She conceptualised the first online campaign for Big Blue via blog advertisings, utilising social media and WebPR. Melissa developed the first Social Media Press Release on behalf of Brandsh for the Standbank Pro20 Cricket Series. She spoke about social media and branding.
Tim Shier calls himself the head pirate at Quirk, Africa’s largest full service online marketing agency. As the Marketing Manager, Tim is involved with a number of cutting edge projects including the launch of the free online eMarketing text book eMarketing – the essential guide to online marketing. He is also the Marketing and Business Development manager for BrandsEye, Quirk’s online reputation management solution. Tim spoke about online reputation management and eMarketing.
Vincent Maher, Portfolio Manager for Social Media at Vodacom, and pervious strategist at the Mail & Guardian online, explained the concept and impact of citizen journalism. Co-founder of South African aggregator and analysis, amatomu.com, Maher won a Highway African New Media Innovation Award, 2007.
Jayne Morgan has been a producer of BBC Radio 4 (in the UK), SAfm and Talk 702 IN South Africa. She was the Head of Radio Training at the Institute for the Advancement of Journalism.
She launched PODCART in 2007 in order to create premium downloadable audio for South African brands. She explained podcasting and new broadcasting trends.
Peter Greenwall, composer, songwriter and author, inspired the audience with presentation (and fantastic songs)on the topic of his book, Logical Stupidity - Innovation by navigating through nonsense. The book takes the showbiz formula of turning problems into songs and humour in a way that deals with psychology, theory and practice of innovation.
September 29, 2008
CPUT to host Media Conference
The Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Public Relations Management department is to host its tenth annual Media Conference on Saturday, October 18, 2008 on its Cape Town campus starting at 08:30 am.
The focus for the conference this year is “TECHNOLOGY”, as technology has made a dramatic impact on our lives from the moment we wake up to the sound of the digital alarm clock, lifting our heads from our hi-tech allergy-free air-soft pillows to the way we do business.
Cost for attending the media conference is only R20, 00 and includes a delicious brunch and goodie bag. Tickets can be purchased at the door or delegates can reserve their tickets by contacting Rifqah Abrahams on 021 460 8348 or at AbrahamsRi@cput.ac.za
The focus for the conference this year is “TECHNOLOGY”, as technology has made a dramatic impact on our lives from the moment we wake up to the sound of the digital alarm clock, lifting our heads from our hi-tech allergy-free air-soft pillows to the way we do business.
Cost for attending the media conference is only R20, 00 and includes a delicious brunch and goodie bag. Tickets can be purchased at the door or delegates can reserve their tickets by contacting Rifqah Abrahams on 021 460 8348 or at AbrahamsRi@cput.ac.za
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