Social networking and the future of political reporting in Zimbabwe and beyond

August 15, 2011 by admin
Filed under Lingerie Events

Mark Zuckerberg could arguably be a modern day Albeit Einstein because of his revolutionary project- Facebook. Over the years Facebook has become one of the most influential factors in grassroots socio-political mobilization worldwide, in fact the January 25 2011 Egyptian revolution could be credited to Facebook as it captured global attention. When the Egyptian revolution gained momentum the government tried without success to contain the social networking site by blocking it. Social media became a big player in politics. Bosmol- a social media marketing news website wrote: “Social media makes social organization easier and effective. Social media used by Egyptian protesters brought together individuals who shared common goals and ideas, but also offered a medium for planning. In the case of Egypt, social media forced the government to take accountability. Transnational social networks made it very difficult for governments to lie and hide from their citizens.” The Egyptian scenario is just one of many the world over that has social media networking sites such as Facebook playing an integral part in shaping history.

In Zimbabwe, Facebook is as popular and essential as water. People cannot imagine life before facebook. With mobile internet most people use it to log in to facebook to connect into a society that is free to speak its mind out without physical intimidation or confrontation. This “free” world is the best bet to get people’s uncensored views on socio-political issues. Because of the power Facebook holds in Zimbabwean communities, it has become necessary for politicians to also engage themselves getting connected to Zimbabweans all over the world. Naturally facebook has become a political constituency. The major players involved are the dreaded Central Intelligence Organisation, politicians, the masses and yes the journalists who now get leads for stories as well as exclusive chats with politicians.

Zimbabwean journalist, Nqaba Matshazi, wrote that politicians have taken to social networking in the hope of gaining an extra edge over their rivals. “With the growth of internet penetration and the advent of mobile internet access in Zimbabwe, observers maintain that social networking may one day define the next Zimbabwean leader,” he wrote in The Zimbabwe Standard. Zimbabwean politics is largely dominated by old school politicians who can be traced to more than 30 years back. However, the few new school politians’ have seen the importance of social networking sites. MDC politicians like David Coltart, Nelson Chamisa, Obert Gutu, Gorden Moyo, Welshman Ncube, Tendai Biti and Jameson Timba are among a host of politicians with Facebook pages, while Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai has a fan page.
From Zanu PF, Tourism and Hospitality Industry minister Walter Mzembi and Youth Development, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment minister Saviour Kasukuwere are the only ones who maintain regular presence on the world’s largest social networking site. Even political parties now have facebook pages.

Their regular interaction on facebook makes the work of journalists more efficient. The Deputy Prime Minister Professor Arthur Mutambara always answers questions from journalists whenever he is online- at times when he is busy he just replies by saying. “Busy lets chat later.” When he does that Facebook may become invaluable for a journalist. But the bigger picture is that facebook gives reporters an access to communities involved in newsmaking. In this way journalists find leads and develop sources. However, newspaper companies are still lagging behind in understanding what Facebook is all about. There was a time in the state controlled Herald and Chronicle when a move to block the use of Facebook during working hours was mooted. The argument brought forward although met with heavy resistance was that it diverted the attention of reporters. This is a lie because reporting is all about communicating and interacting with society.

Online news sites such as The Zimbabwe mail, Newzimbabwe.com have got regular posts on Facebook pages because they understand that for journalism to fulfill its mandate reporters and the publications they write for can connect on facebook to engage with their readership and sources to build their brands. Perhaps the most imperative skill for a journalist on facebook should be finding sources on the site and using them to full effect. Mxolisi Ncube a freelance journalist says he uses facebook with caution. “I am not that much into checking other people’s profiles because some of the prominent names are just fake identities, but I do get direct mail to my inbox that give me tips and others from organisations,” he said. The issue of facebook use in Zimbabwean media brings about the questions of basic ethics. Facebook can be a great source of news and ideas but no news story should be entirely sourced via social media. This is so because it is very easy to lie or misrepresent on a social networking site and no credible journalist wants to be taken for a hoax.

Zimbabwean journalism needs social networking just like any proggressive newsroom anywhere in the world. The use of social media tools like facebook cannot be ignored even though they are a sudden phenomenon. There is need to teach on ethics and use of social networking tools for practicing journalists. The popularity that facebook is getting in media circles has propelled the launch of “Journalists on Facebook” a page entirely dedicated to the used of the social networking site by journalists. The forum gives hints on how journalists can best use facebook to make their jobs easy and exciting.

© 2011, Vladimir Mzaca. All rights reserved. – Reproduction of Newstime Africa content on any other news medium without the prior consent or approval of the publishers is forbidden, and in direct contravention of International copyright laws. Violators will be pursued and prosecuted.

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Are Facebook Advertisers Wasting Millions of Dollars?

August 15, 2011 by admin
Filed under Lingerie Events

Benzinga

Facebook loves to brag about its success, even at the risk of putting us to sleep. There’s no denying that the site is popular; at 750 million users, the social networking entity has become an enormous enterprise. Even if 10% of those accounts were fakes and/or duplicates (many users have more than one), Facebook would still be the most popular social network in the world.

But after years of impressive growth, both in terms of users and its bottom line, Facebook has yet to show any significant proof that its silly advertising scheme works. Consequently, the cost per click and cost per thousand do not add up. While $0.75 might sound like a small price to pay for 1,000 impressions (especially when you consider that each individual impression amounts to no more than $0.00075), that money is wasted if none of those people click on the link. And if they do click on the link but fail to spend any money, the advertiser has just wasted another $1.74 – not for every 1,000 Facebook users but for every single click!

I personally have been a member of the site for more than three years and I have never clicked on a single ad, whether it says “sponsored” or not. Frankly, the “Recommended Pages” could be construed as advertising as well, even though Facebook does not openly charge for them.

This year, the sponsored ads seem to be more relevant (in relation to my “Likes,” at least). But I have yet to click on one. Am I the only user? In 2007, one study indicated that the click-through rate was as low as 0.04%. Today, that rate has dropped to 0.0005% (roughly one click for every 2,000 impressions).

There are, however, two areas of advertising that do pretty well on Facebook: Recommended Pages and wall postings. The latter is a no-brainer: if you like a company, product, service, or item enough to publicly “Like” it on Facebook, you are bound to visit that company’s page at least once. Even if you don’t, you are still going to see one or more of their wall posts in your feed, and may eventually be inspired to click on one of their links. Coupons are especially effective in this regard; I haven’t bothered to “Like” Dave Buster’s, but I’ve used its Facebook page to score a discount.

The interesting thing about the Recommended Pages feature is that, because they are less intrusive (no pop-ups, no commitments), and because they are partially influenced by what your friends “Like,” people are more eager to click on them.

Sponsored pages do not seem to do nearly as well. Just take a look at some of the sponsors and recommendations I’ve seen lately:

This image is a compilation of ads, not a single screen capture.

Image: Louise Bedigian / Facebook

See how many “Likes” the sponsored pages have? Each one has less than 100,000. But click on The Simpsons and you’ll see that the 20-year-old cartoon sitcom has more than 33 million supporters. Its weekly viewership is in the toilet, but that didn’t stop people from “Liking” it.

Next we have the TV series House, which is on its way out the door. With fewer viewers tuning in and lead actors leaving the show, House is no longer a top-rated drama. The coming season will be its final season. Still, 24 million people have “Liked” the series.

Is this a coincidence? Maybe. But even the page for the ill-fated Detroit 187 received more “Likes” than the aforementioned sponsors, indicating that maybe, just maybe, a recommended page gets more attention than one that Facebook is paid to promote.

– Louis Bedigian

Follow me @LouisBedigian