Archive for the ‘Social media’ Category

I’m adding this post rather tentatively in response to a video that I’ve just seen at a seminar on the future of e-government by Mike Pearson from the State Services Commission. The video was created in 2004 by the Museum of Media History. It charts the history and future of media through to 2014. You can view it here (it’s eight minutes long and thought provoking).

In the year 2014, the video predicts that internet users will be provided with news stories customised to their individual needs and interests. Thanks to the information we’ve provided to search engines and social networking sites, data about our personal social networks, demographics, interests and consumer habits are used by the likes of Google and Microsoft to filter the information and messages that we receive.

The widespread availability of tools for preparing and publishing content online has made it easier than ever before to create and consume media. As users everywhere create their own news and access the news of their trusted networks, The Fourth Estate goes into freefall - no longer having sole authority over the news or the ability to regulate news channels.

(more…)

I’ve been reading about peer-to-peer marketing strategies. Although I’ve struggled to find a definition, I think that peer-to-peer marketing is about capitalising on your audience’s willingness (or rather, a segment of your audience) to market your product on your behalf. 

Methods for influencing people’s decisions have changed radically. If we can provide the tools (largely web-based) that help our audiences organise and socialise, they will influence the decisions of others, ultimately helping to build audiences at events. 

Strategies might include posting reviews or testimonials or pictures on your website from people attending your events, allowing visitors to email events information from your website to friends, through to creating quirky ‘viral advertising’ that gets posted on YouTube or other content-sharing sites or passed from one person to another via email. 

(more…)

by Sarah Hughes, Whitireia Publishing student 

Puke Ariki, Taranaki cultural centre, has got a wiki! That’s right, as part of Puke Ariki’s digital strategy, 1 December 2006 saw the launch of what we believe is New Zealand’s only regional ‘wiki.’

‘But what is a wiki?’ I hear you ask. According to techweb, a wiki is ‘A Web site that can be quickly edited by its visitors with simple formatting rules.’ A wiki is used as an informal encyclopedia, and it’s a place where anybody can go online and add or subtract information.

In my discussion with Kate Roberts, Manager of Service Delivery for Puke Ariki, she stated that the purpose of the Taranaki Wiki was to ‘increase community engagement,’ both within the community and with Puke Ariki as a resource. As the site itself states, ‘This Wiki has been set up to allow the people of Taranaki, and elsewhere, to share their knowledge of all things Taranaki.’

(more…)

Here’s something that might answer this question.

[If you have trouble viewing this video, see it here at YouTube.] If that video doesn’t make much sense, here’s another (which actually provoked the making of the first) that cogently explains the genesis of and philosophy behind web 2.0.

(more…)

Arts marketer Jerry Yoshitomi has pointed me in the direction of an invaluable resource: TechSoup - the technology place for non-profits. I signed up for their weekly newsletter ‘By the cup’ (see the top left corner of the TechSoup home page to subscribe), and I’ve just received my first edition, which has prompted me to check out their website in more detail.

Turns out TechSoup is an essential service for helping us to get to grips with technologies - new and established - and how they can be applied to our kinds of businesses. Here’s a few things to get you started:

• an article on analysising website statistics - what you should measure and tools to help you do this
• suggestions in the Technology for Fundraising forum on database tools for managing reservations, donors and sales
• a review of seven blogging tools
• useful, relevant posts from community members on which blogging platform is best.

Topics cover emerging techologies, technologies for fundraising, databases, hardware, web building and such - all from the context of what works for non-profits.