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social media – The Tech4Africa Blog http://blog.tech4africa.com Musings, announcements, and collateral damage from Tech4Africa. Thoughts our own. We're looking for contributors from across Africa. Email hello At tech4africa DOT com. Mon, 26 Oct 2015 12:30:48 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.5.32 Watch Josh Spear talk about social media at Tech4Africa 2011 http://blog.tech4africa.com/watch-josh-spear-talk-about-social-media-at-t4a-2011/ Thu, 03 May 2012 09:23:08 +0000 http://t4a.feedmybeta.com/?p=4332 Continue reading ]]> Global nomad and digital strategist Josh Spear will explore what inspires him, some of his work and projects, and social media trends from across the globe and Africa.

More about Josh:

As one of the youngest and most influential marketing strategists in the world, Josh is sought out for his intelligent, no-holds-barred insight on everything from design to authenticity and ‘word-of-mouth.’ His own blog, joshspear.com, uses a network of writers across the globe to unearth trends in art, design, mobile and the future of digital media itself.

Josh’s New York-based consultancy applies a digital worldview to the challenges and ambitions of complex corporate organisations. It creates strategies for deeper, lasting online relationships – including new models to measure performance in emerging environments. As well as advising some of the world’s biggest brands, it also works as a think-tank on the influence of technology on all aspects of human behaviour.

A hugely engaging conference speaker, Josh’s presentations set out new ways for organisations to harness the internet. He analyses what it is that makes certain things catch on, and explains how to position products and services to capitalise on fast-moving trends. And with a billion people online at any one moment, he shows how to get the attention of the digital generation.

Josh is frequently featured in Time Magazine and The New York Times. For several years he has been an active participant and keynote speaker at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he was formally nominated a Young Global Leader.

]]> Social media goes mainstream in SA http://blog.tech4africa.com/social-media-goes-mainstream-in-sa/ Thu, 27 Oct 2011 10:47:48 +0000 http://t4a.feedmybeta.com?p=1311 Continue reading ]]> By: Michal Wronski and Arthur Goldstuck

South Africans have embraced social media as a core pillar of Internet activity in this country, along with e-mail, news and banking. MXit and Facebook lead the way in user numbers, while Twitter has seen the most dramatic growth in social networking in the past year, and BlackBerry Messenger is the fastest growing network in the second half of 2011.

These are among the key findings of a new study released today by Fuseware and World Wide Worx, entitled South African Social Media Landscape 2011.

“The question of how many South Africans use each of the major social networks comes up so often, it became a priority for us to pin down the numbers,” says Michal Wronski, Managing Director of information analysts Fuseware and co-author of the report. “The data was collected through a combination of Fuseware’s analysis of social network databases, information provided directly by social networks, and World Wide Worx’s consumer market research.”

An analysis of Fuseware’s extensive database of Twitter usage, in conjunction with World Wide Worx’s consumer market research, shows that there were 1,1-million Twitter users in South Africa in mid-2011. This is a 20-fold increase in a little more than a year.

“One of the drivers of growth of Twitter is the media obsession with the network,” says report co-author Arthur Goldstuck, managing director of World Wide Worx. “Most radio and TV personalities with large audiences are engaged in intensive campaigns to drive their listeners and viewers to both Twitter and Facebook. The former, coming off a very low base, is therefore seeing the greatest growth.”

As in the global environment, not all Twitter users are active users, with only 40% tweeting, but probably as many simply watching, following and using it as a breaking news service.

MXit remains the most popular social network in South Africa, with approximately 10-million active users. Its demographic mix runs counter to the popular media image of MXit as a teen-dominated environment. No less than 76% of the male user base of MXit and 73% of female users are aged 18 or over.

A surprising finding emerged from analysis of Facebook data. Of approximately 4.2-million Facebook users in South Africa by August 2011, only 3.2 million had visited the site in the year-to-date.

“This is partly a factor of many users moving on once the novelty of the site had worn off, as well as a result of the fickle nature of the youth market,” says Wronski. “Once BBM picked up significant traction in private schools, for example, many teenagers who had previously flocked to Facebook, opted for BBM’s greater immediacy.”

While LinkedIn, aimed at professional users, also reached the 1,1-million mark, it came off a far higher base – but still saw 83% growth of South African users from 2010 to 2011. Of these, 112 000 or 10% are business owners.

Consumer research analysed in the report revealed that future intention of usage of most social networks is strongly related to age. The younger the user, the greater the intention of usage.

“This is only one of many micro-trends shaping social networking,” says Goldstuck. “MXit, Facebook and BBM statistics illustrate, for example, that as social networks become more mainstream, their penetration within all age ranges deepens. This, in turn, will result in the continual flattening of the age curve as social networks mature.”

]]> The Tech4Africa PR campaign: a resounding success http://blog.tech4africa.com/the-t4a-pr-campaign-a-resounding-success/ Wed, 06 Oct 2010 12:19:28 +0000 http://t4a.feedmybeta.com?p=960 Continue reading ]]>

Good news still coming from our great event! Emerging Media, the team behind Tech4Africa’s PR strategy and implementation, has just released amazing results obtained for the conference.

The Tech4Africa media campaign has been a huge success, becoming a PR and social media case in its own right.

More than 11 million people exposed to the conference through the press, online and social media.
Campaign exposure valued at US$621,123
Over 4400 online mentions.

Find more juicy bits of information in this fascinating infographic created by BrandsEye, the company that tracked Tech4Africa’s online mentions for Emerging Media. The PR guys had something to add too and they shared their experience in their post “Tech4Africa PR campaign sets up conference for longevity and sustainability”.

The successful PR and social media campaign developed for Tech4Africa was ground-breaking, as it had no reliance on traditional advertising but nevertheless managed to secure full attendance.

The high levels of online media coverage reached are due to the great job of our PR partners and the support we received from the press. But it was also possible because speakers, delegates and people interested in the event actively participated in online conversations and discussions before, during and after the conference. To all of them, thank you for helping to spread the word and making Tech4Africa the inspiring event it became!

]]> Embracing social media and the state of traditional media http://blog.tech4africa.com/embracing-social-media-and-the-state-of-traditional-media/ Mon, 16 Aug 2010 12:16:13 +0000 http://t4a.feedmybeta.com?p=511 Continue reading ]]> News from the conference room: this is a series of blog posts in which blogging experts briefly review key Tech4Africa 2010 talks and panels from Day 1 and 2.

Day 2

There were 2 panel discussions that in my mind are related and the speakers are thought leaders, both online and offline. The first discussion was about social media and how beneficial it would be for large companies to embrace it for their growth. The second was: ‘Traditional Media Is Dead. Long Live Traditional Media’.
In essence the highly influential panelists answered some of the questions many of us have in mind about social and traditional media. For me, the relationship between traditional and social media in South Africa should be seen as one where the one supports the other.

Mike Stopforth (who was on the Social Media panel) rightly said “Perhaps social media is broader than a set of platforms we use on the web and how generally relate to each other.” In my mind there tends to be some unspoken, but very real, conflict between traditional media houses and content producers on the web. Whereas, there seems to be a place for both to exist, with quality content produced for either platform as a means to enable communication.

On the other hand Matthew Buckland quoted loosely said “A clear distinction has to be made between what traditional and new media, we have to look at what traditional media are and what they are not. There are different markets – developed and emerging – and space to thrive in different ways.”

Bringing it all together

The rise of social media – place great content – also means the business models behind traditional media have to be examined. In my opinion, the way we consume media and why I read a lot of blogs (interchangeable with great custom content) is because the content appeals to me.
There might be a great story on the Mail & Guardian, one that’s written to my appeal on Times LIVE but never a whole newspaper. Therefore, not enough for me to buy a newspaper when there is sufficient good content for me. Without tilting the scales unjustly in favor of the social web, I will say – as consumers – we are in search of custom products. People are looking for more of what interests them, not mass produced news or products.
Social media and blogs on the other hand, though they by no way replace good journalism, they need to be seen as a way that can sharpen journalists and advance traditional media. But instead of the same type of content that targets everyone being produced more, there has to be a way of approaching it in a way that appeals and targets a niche. After all, smaller players online are finding ways to do that they are constantly improving – though there is a lot of junk on the web as well.

Nutshells just got bigger

In a nutshell – with this post being that nutshell – I agree that there is space for traditional content and great quality journalism produced by traditional media houses. The “high and mighty” social media is only an enabler, not a replacement of traditional media.

Mongezi Mtati
http://www.mongezimtati.co.za/
@Mongezi

]]> Clay Shirky on civic value and cognitive surplus http://blog.tech4africa.com/clay-shirky-on-civic-value-and-cognitive-surplus/ Fri, 13 Aug 2010 13:06:56 +0000 http://t4a.feedmybeta.com?p=496 Continue reading ]]> News from the conference room: this is a series of blog posts in which blogging experts briefly review key Tech4Africa 2010 talks and panels from Day 1 and 2.

Day 2

A few weeks ago when I signed up to Tech4Africa and started to feel the hype of Clay Shirky, I asked my bookshop for a copy of his latest book, Cognitive Surplus. Fortuitously, the day before the conference, they phoned and said it had arrived. I’m a bit of an avid reader and always have a pile of books next to my bed, but I generally go for novels and non-fiction. My work reading is mostly done online. Nevertheless, I thought I’d give this one a try – video’s of Clay Shirky seemed interesting enough.

Flipping through the pages after a rather hasty purchase, I got sucked in with his opening pages about the gin craze of London in the 1700’s. I had to drag myself away to answer my phone and get back to work. I was itching to get back to it. Shirky’s story of how “the sitcom” is our modern day “gin” is fascinating and makes you feel pretty sick about how much TV time you’ve wasted over the years. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not much of a couch potato myself, but there have been times where “the decision to watch TV often preceded what might be on at any given moment”.
Not sure about the African stats, but apparently Americans watch approximately 200 billion hours of TV a year. We’ve given up a lot of (previously social) free time to get sucked into passive, lonely, self absorbed behaviour.

Shirky’s ideas about “cognitive surplus” started when talking to a TV producer about Wikipedia and she asked him “where do people find the time?”. A pretty ludicrous question giving how much time people spend vegging on the couch in front of the TV. This got him thinking… “imagine treating the free time of the world’s educated citizenry as… a kind of cognitive surplus. How big would that surplus be?”.

Well, that’s the big question really. Instead of plopping down in front of the television every spare moment of the day, imagine if we started being more social (instead of surrogately social – read his book if you want to know what I’m talking about). Imagine if we spent more time chatting to friends and talking to our neighbors… ultimately building social capital. Just imagine what we could creatively achieve. The possibilities are limitless.

Clay Shirky began his keynote talk at Tech4Africa with an example of solving collective action dilemmas with collective solutions. He used the example of the pink chaddi campaign – a fabulous association of “loose, forward and pub-going women” (otherwise known as the pink chaddi campaign) who were responding to threats of violence against women in India by using online co-ordination to organise real world co-ordination and catalyse community action.

Shirky has gained notoriety about his concept of “cognitive surplus” which is based on two things – 1) cumulative free time and talents of connected world; plus 2) the ability to co-ordinate those talents. Here he linked up with what I’ve read in his book – highlighting the frightening amount of time we spend consuming media, especially TV, as opposed to engaging in useful projects such as creating Wikipedia projects.

His interest in “cognitive surplus” is in the potential social change that’s brought about by problems that we can take on in a coordinated way, that we simply would not have been able to do as unconnected individuals.

New forms of technology have changed the way we engage with media and each other. We used to spend all our time consuming. But now we have access to places where we don’t just consume, but we have devices that allow us to produce and to share. As technology become more broadly available, and as we get better at using it, the opportunities to use technology to organise for social purposes starts to increase. The pink chaddi campaign used humour (a social emotion) to bring people together and support social change.

The future question is not about technology. It’s about the social application of technology. What are we going to make of the technology?
There will always be the fun stuff like “lolcatz”… but what if we think about using the technology to solve some real life problems, to create civic value from cognitive surplus.

Shirky advises that in order to create successful “next big ideas” you need to start by allowing yourself to fail, learning from the failure and building on that to create success. Try, learn, and try again… “Lather, rinse, repeat”.

Samantha Fleming
http://afrosocialmedia.wordpress.com/
@afrosocialmedia

]]> Day 2 opinions – Clarity seems key http://blog.tech4africa.com/day-2-opinions-clarity-seems-key/ http://blog.tech4africa.com/day-2-opinions-clarity-seems-key/#comments Fri, 13 Aug 2010 11:41:55 +0000 http://t4a.feedmybeta.com?p=492 Continue reading ]]> News from the conference room: this is a series of blog posts in which blogging experts briefly review key Tech4Africa 2010 talks and panels from Day 1 and 2.

Day 2

Day 2 of the Tech4Africa conference showed a much more relaxed atmosphere shown very evidently in the casual attire of the attendees. It was started off with a great introduction by Marcel Klaasen re-iterating FNB’s commitment to startups and a couple of his view on the state of entrepreneurship in SA.

Soon to follow was a very informal and highly interactive session on Social Media. With the panel all dispising the title of Social Media Guru’s I could help but notice that they all are about as close as you could get… maybe their definition was skewed, but they all seemed to fit the mould of being able to effectively use Social Media to enhance a companies brand – IMHO I don’t know what else would constitute a guru. The topic tended to sit quite heavily in the philosophical side of the media and less on the local case studies. This could this be to the distinct lack of local case studies (Outside of Cell C) but an interesting angle would have been what types of Social Media wold work for different companies? There definitely seemed to be a heavy focus on Twitter and Facebook, but what of Youtube of Flickr?

At the end of the day, the “success” of your social media campaign depends more on the quality of your product and how honest you are with your customers. Apple was highlighted for various reasons, but I think that the case highlights a very interesting point on how to maximise on social media by not interacting. I would have loved to see this discussion between the panel and the audience continue for about 3 hours, just to see what path it would follow and where it would polarize. This method my produce more concrete outcomes and more clearly highlight the relevant points.

The second talk was very different but just as interesting as the panel had taken a well known site and redesigned it. They led us through the very interesting process resulting in a much more effective site layout and flow. Although it was a great concept and they will give the content generated to Payfine.co.za to use as they will, it could have been taken a little further. Possibly with a bidding process by companies and the final product being sold to the company of choice with some of the funds going into sponsorship for the event. it could add a whole new level of hype.

Find here the slides of the presentation “How we redesigned PayFine.co.za, and why you need to know”.

Traditional media as a hotly contested topic was an interesting talk. Mostly due to the lack of continuity in definitions for the terms, with few points that they did agree on Bing that journalism is not only writing. It is all the background research and reporting that goes on. The Traditional Media model of finding a way to make revenue from any means possible and use that revenue to fund the journalism side. Apparently tablets will save Traditional Media by providing a more sexy, appealing way for us to receive verified news.

With a keynote by Clay Shirky to follow and then the afternoon session on entrepreneurship, startups and funding I’m really looking forward to what the last quarter of T4A 2010 has to offer.

Roger Norton
www.rogernorton.net
@rogernort

]]> http://blog.tech4africa.com/day-2-opinions-clarity-seems-key/feed/ 2 Content, conversation, community – Social media is about people http://blog.tech4africa.com/content-conversation-community-social-media-is-about-people-2/ http://blog.tech4africa.com/content-conversation-community-social-media-is-about-people-2/#comments Fri, 13 Aug 2010 09:35:17 +0000 http://t4a.feedmybeta.com?p=460 Continue reading ]]> News from the conference room: this is a series of blog posts in which blogging experts briefly review key Tech4Africa 2010 talks and panels from Day 1 and 2.

Day 2

Social media is about being genuine. The buzz of “social media” has created a pool of people calling themselves social media gurus, experts, mavens, you name it. This frenzy and popularity, still largely in the IT bubble (and where it spills over) creates a layered conversation of buzz words that ultimately alienates people. Since social media is all about relationship and human connectivity, you need to be genuine so that people have something to connect with. Otherwise, you won’t attract many new clients or retain old ones.

Vibrant discussion in the Tech4Africa session crowdsourced the following best practices for companies wanting to be in the social media space (with thanks to Andy Hadfield on stage):

1) Listen first.
2) Don’t have shit products.
3) Focus on – Content. Collaboration. Community.
4) You can’t win every battle. Shake off the failures and learn from them.
5) Understand content, conversations, campaigns.
6) Understand your customers. Some want to buy. Some want to complain.
Some want to engage.

People have, rather obviously, been communicating since the beginning of time. We have given it a new name because we’ve gotten excited about how technology crosses old boundaries and allows us to talk to anyone, anywhere, anytime (provided they’re in the same online community that is).
The only new thing about communication is the technology involved.

Social media is about relationship, about people, about community. Online communities using social media to engage are just doing what humans have been doing for years – forming bonds with one another. The technology itself is almost irrelevant. It’s about how we talk to each other. “Social media just allows people to do what they would have done in the stone age if they had the Internet” (@afairweather).

For brands trying to work in this space they need to constantly remind themselves that social media is about people and about building relationship. That means portraying themselves as a human, not as a marketing brand.

Tips for how to behave online that came from the discussions:

* Be who you are.
* You don’t need to invent conversations – make a good product, put it out there and the buzz will happen if people like it.
* Live your brand.
* Don’t make the mistake of using marketing concepts to think about issues that are actually about people.

Rather than feeling forced onto platforms like Twitter and Facebook because “we should be there”, brands should be focusing on good quality content that creates conversation, and that results in a shared sense of community.

Samantha Fleming
http://afrosocialmedia.wordpress.com/
@afrosocialmedia

]]> http://blog.tech4africa.com/content-conversation-community-social-media-is-about-people-2/feed/ 1 The Red Flag is Up, Stop the Race http://blog.tech4africa.com/the-red-flag-is-up-stop-the-race/ Fri, 13 Aug 2010 08:51:54 +0000 http://t4a.feedmybeta.com?p=453 Continue reading ]]> News from the conference room: this is a series of blog posts in which blogging experts briefly review key Tech4Africa 2010 talks and panels from Day 1 and 2.

Day 2

Many, if not most, large brands, especially non-consumer brands, should stay the hell away from Twitter and Facebook. In fact, says corporate digital guru Andy Hadfield, even commodity consumer brands like banks and cellphone companies should consider _not_ ‘joining the conversation’ on Facebook or Twitter. Because it’s not really a conversation. Conversations are between a person and a person, not between a person and an abstract organisational construct.

We’re clearly in a trough of disillusionment, those many of us in the social media industry who spent the past few years being very excited about the immense possibilities and unknowable future impact. We’re now stepping back, aghast at the monster we have created that is racing off in lots of directions: many pointless, some actively harmful to the online community we have a loyalty to.

Today, World+Dog is doing social media. It’s not that hard to set up social media sites, and the business of providing ‘social media solutions’ has exploded. R15k to set up a Facebook page for some sucker^h^h^h^h innovative and authentic company.

Those who’ve been doing it for a long time are putting up red flags. How about NOT doing it, they say?

Having a Facebook page is a panacea for nothing, commented Alistair Fairweather from M&G.

The bottom line is that people don’t love brands. They may love the product that a brand produces. They may simply use a brand’s product because the brand hasn’t pissed them off enough yet to move to a competitor.

The nub of the matter for the panel, after half an hour of fairly intense discussion and even argumentative tub-thumping, is that there is a fundamental contradiction that cannot be resolved as long as the marketing department is the start and the end of corporates involvement in social media. Mostly, so-called conversations online have little bearing on the product, on the customer support, on the supply chain, on the real world.

Basically, most of the top social media people in SA are honest, realistic, and well-intentioned. They are struggling to look a customer in the eye, knowing that the company makes a crap product and delivers half-baked service, but that wants to be ‘authentic and engaged’ online.

Social media is about conversations that people honestly care about. No care, no conversation. No honesty, no conversation.

Is this the SA social media industry putting the brakes on the hype, looking to inject some realism before too many brands do too many ill-considered, expensive and futile online campaigns? Before brand managers get so burned that it wreaks major damage the industry that is trying to sell them the snake oil?

Let’s hope so.

Roger Hislop
www.sentientbeing.co.za
@d0dja

]]> Ushahidi: packing a powerful (and honest) punch http://blog.tech4africa.com/ushahidi-packing-a-powerful-and-honest-punch/ Fri, 13 Aug 2010 06:47:54 +0000 http://t4a.feedmybeta.com?p=439 Continue reading ]]> News from the conference room: this is a series of blog posts in which blogging experts briefly review key Tech4Africa 2010 talks and panels from Day 1 and 2.

Day 1

Who hasn’t heard about Ushahidi? That was the first question posed by Erik Hersman today. Astoundingly, about 30% of the crowd raised their hands. My first thought was sheer disbelief – They don’t know about Ushahidi? Where have they been?

I raised my eyebrows at Steve Vosloo who said – perhaps they’re mostly commercial companies; that’s why they don’t know anything about this small nonprofit that packs a powerful punch. The great thing is that after today’s session, a whole lot more people now know about Ushahidi – which, when you do learn more about it, is truly an incredible application.

Ushahidi defines itself as a small organization that dislikes hierarchy and being told what they can’t do, they question everything, embrace innovative thinking and take risks boldly. Their guiding values are openness, innovation, community.

When Ushahidi started, it went from concept to launch in a week. After the Kenyan elections on 27th December 2007, violence broke out in Kenyan communities unhappy about election results. A Kenyan blogger wrote “For the reconciliation process to occur at the local level, the truth of what
happened will first have to come out”. And that began a creative process among friends and colleagues that saw the launch of Ushahidi on the 9th January 2008. The Ushahidi Platform allows anyone to gather distributed data via SMS, email or web and visualize it on a map or timeline.

From their successes, Erik shared some of what they learned in the process of setting it up:

* Keep focused (make ruthless, brutal decisions if you have to)
* Release early
* Do it yourself
* Community = success (if you can’t harness the community you won’t have success)
* Don’t wait for money, just do it

Erik hastened to add – remember that technology is only a tool. Some of Ushahidi’s biggest learning has come from failures – and they are open and willing to share this learning. Often we learn more from other
people’s mistakes than their achievements.

They learned that there’s a difference between building technology, and deploying technology. Experience taught them that building the technology itself is only about 10% of the issue – the other 90% is about building the community and messaging around the technology.

From their failures, they learned the following lessons:
* Own your failures
* Listen
* Fix your mistakes – and quickly
* Think differently but stay true to the spirit of your organization or community.

Erik’s overarching message was to remember these three things:

Technology does help in overcoming inefficiencies, but it takes people to make it happen.
More people need to ask the hard questions that challenge the status quo.
Africans can build world class software and we should expect nothing less.

Ushahidi – if you haven’t heard about it yet, check it out. And watch this space, this is just the beginning of what crowdsourcing information can do in Africa.

Samantha Fleming
http://tech4africa.com/speakers/#erikhersman
@afrosocialmedia

]]> Traditional media is dead. Long live traditional media http://blog.tech4africa.com/traditional-media-is-dead-long-live-traditional-media/ Mon, 26 Jul 2010 09:30:28 +0000 http://t4a.feedmybeta.com?p=171 Continue reading ]]> In a world where we see, on a daily basis, traditional print publications shutting down, media houses are seeing the value of Internet based news sites. In today’s day & age, we live in such a fast paced world, that all too often traditional print publications are only reporting on the stories all too late.

Enter the panel at Tech4Africa, aptly entitled “Traditional media is dead. Long live traditional media”. The panel will be looking at how Africa is following the rest of the world, and how African media is affected by the declining worldwide trend of traditional media.

The panel consists of some of the most respected online news editors & publishers in Africa. Matthew Buckland, who recently left 24.com to start up an African Internet news site: Memeburn, will share his views on how the industry is fast-changing. Also adding his knowledge & experience to the panel is Chris Roper. Chris, who has worked for numerous print & online publications throughout his career, now heads up the Mail & Guardian news site, will give us insight into how the African online landscape is fast playing catch-up with the rest of the world.
Joining the panel, also from Mail & Guardian, is the current head of technology, Jason Norwood-Young. Jason has been an IT Journalist & Editor for the last 10 years and has been published in numerous publications around South Africa. Finally, Head of Digital for AVUSA Media group Elan Lohmann, will also share his extensive experience of the Digital media world having worked in the online industry for numerous years and companies. Having recently launched the Sowentan live news site, Elan will undoubtedly share his wealth of knowledge with the rest of the panel.

With only 3 weeks left before Tech4Africa kicks off at the Forum in Johannesburg, time is running out to get registered. Our Early Bird tickets have sold out, but don’t let that stop you from securing your seat. You can register & pay for your spot on the Tech4Africa site.

]]> Have your say in the technology community, Expose Tech4Africa http://blog.tech4africa.com/have-your-say-in-the-technology-community-expose-t4a/ Thu, 01 Jul 2010 17:17:30 +0000 http://t4a.feedmybeta.com?p=37 Continue reading ]]> One of our goals for Tech4Africa is to make it an open community for sharing, discussing and promoting the Web, mobile and emerging technologies in Africa.

Although all of us want to listen to the enriching insights and experiences Clay Shirky and other thinkers and entrepreneurs like Erik Hersman have to offer, we know that there are many others out there who are thinking or doing, and which should be highlighted.

So, when looking at the ways we can make Tech4Africa a space for interaction way beyond the conference itself, we decided to give the opportunity to any person in the technology industry in Africa to speak for themselves and show what they think or do to their peers.

We call it Expose Tech4Africa, which is going to start off as a section in the conference’s website, and it will work like this:

Who can participate:

Anyone building a product using web, mobile or emerging technology, in Africa – profile your product.
Anyone offering services, in web, mobile or emerging technologies, in Africa – profile your company.
Anyone looking for funding for their product – tell people why they should fund you.
Anyone with something to say about tech in Africa – everyone has an opinion, make yours heard.
Anyone that wants to profile themselves, their skills, their passions, and what they’re working on – find collaborators, get hired, find new projects, meet new people.

How to participate:

Record a 5 minute max video or podcast showcasing your product, service, start-up, or your thoughts on any Tech4Africa related topic of your expertise.
Send us an email to “hello@t4a” with a little intro about yourself, and what your post is about. Also, include your contact details.
We’ll either send you FTP details to upload, or ask you for the file location to download.
We will then post the video in the Tech4Africa community page on our website, in a post on our blog, and in the Tech4Africa channel in Zoopy.
We’ll then Tweet and Blog about it for you.
We’ll leave the rest to the magic of social interaction.

Helpful tips:

Have an opinion, be provocative, say something worth listening to.
Keep your points succinct, to the point, and try not to waffle.
Do it somewhere quiet, so background noise doesn’t get in the way. Try not to shake the video either.
Audacity is great for recording audio, and is free.
Record video with your phone, Skype or any other default video recorder, then upload. Your video does not need to be studio quality.
Get some friends to have a look / listen before you send.

We encourage you to take this opportunity to make yourself be heard and share your knowledge or experiences. We’re excited about this idea and we hope it can trigger more conversation among all those working in the African tech industry.

Over to you

]]> Web 2.0 at Tech4Africa http://blog.tech4africa.com/web-2-0-at-t4a/ Wed, 23 Jun 2010 12:45:29 +0000 http://t4a.feedmybeta.com?p=24 Continue reading ]]> Are you interested in the Web 2.0 and its applications in Africa?

One of the key subjects of Tech4Africa is the social web, on which recognized international and local thinkers will share their knowledge and experiences. The focus will be on the state and potential of Web 2.0 in Africa.

Clay Shirky, one of Tech4Africa’s keynote speakers, talks about the social and economic effects of Internet technologies, while our other keynote speaker, Matt Mullenweg, founding developer of WordPress, certainly has something to say about collaborative platforms and publishing on the Web.

Moreover, leading African thinkers and practitioners will talk on “There’s an elephant in the room. Embracing the new, social web“, “6 Secrets to becoming a jQuery ninja”, “How we redesigned a well known site, and why you need to know“ and “Unobtrusive interfaces with Javascript“. They will take attendees through what Web 2.0 and Social Media means for business and consumers, and what to do about it in Africa. More on them on the Speakers’ list.

Apart from Social Media and Web 2.0, many other relevant areas will be covered at Tech4Africa, like emerging technologies; mobile, wireless and cloud computing; entrepreneurship; search and marketing. Attendees will get a global perspective on the present and future of the technology in Africa. Check out our schedule to find talks interesting to you.

To complete the event, Tech4Africa offers two full days of workshops and will be hosting Seedcamp, a micro seed fund to invest in startup companies, for the first time in Africa.

You can take advantage of a few options to sign up, from discounted tickets for early birds, to participating in draws for free tickets.

Hurry up and register now!

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