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- Even on the best ADSL connection you can buy for home use, I still cannot watch a streaming video on Youtube without a break to buffer every 2 minutes, like a fat guy at the gym.
- Of the measly 6 or 7 million people in South Africa using the Internet only about 35 of them actually know what Web 2.0 is about, which makes blogging about it from a South African point of view pretty pointless.
- Too many of those 35 people 'who are in the know' think they are in some sort of special members only club and ignore people they don't know (I've heard of quite a few incidents lately) which is very ironic as some of the core principals of Web 2.0 philosophy is about sharing, engaging and being generous with your time. Worldwide web 2.0 practitioners like Neville Hobson, Anna Farmery and Vinny Lingham are great examples of being open and helpful and set an example that we should all follow..
- There is life beyond Facebook on the new Internet. Try explaining that to 90% of the South Africans using the Internet.
- Try explaining the benefits of Twitter to this lot.
- While CEOs like Bill Marriott and companies such as Dell and Coca Cola are actively involved in blogging, I'm still explaining to my peers what a blog is. Not a single other person I have asked at my company knows what a blog is and why it is different to a website. How many years has it been now since the first blog?
- Try getting a budget approved for bringing the ol' corporate website into Web 2.0 arena to this lot.
- Laaikit.com sends decent traffic my way but it is so damn manual. Why can't I just click on a button like every other book marking type site?
- In order to promote your South African blog, you have to focus on all the usual suspects: Digg, Delicious, Stumble but then also Laaikit, Afrigator, Amatomu and now I hear there are more in the pipeline. Eish!
- You have major online retail sites such as Incredible Connection that 'should dispatch (DISPATCH, not even receive!) your Laptop order within 6 (SIX!) working days' yet an amateur businessman on Ebay UK will have the laptop same laptop at your door the next day at half the price. So we haven't even perfected Web 1.0, but we want to try and move forward with the rest of the world.
29 comments:
Brilliant post. Thanks! Although the whole web2.0 thing is all a bit bogus for me, I understand where you're coming from.
Hey Jansie. I agree Web 2.0 is a bit over-rated but it is the name given to the direction the Internet is going in so we need to be aware of it and keep up! Glad you like the post, if you dig it, Digg it!
I absolutely agree with you about the bloody tight-knit circle of friends thing...
Those guys (I can name a couple of names...) aren't interested in meeting new people.
Don't be shy to name and shame, youmeher
Anyone with a "I know Vincent Maher" badge on his blog is part of that dreaded "bloody tight-knit (Web 2.0) circle";-)
HA HA! Yes, fair point Jeewiz. I thought the arrogance contest he was having with his peers was an interesting contest so I decided to help because of his pure honesty. Mind you he didn't reply to my email when I told him I had added his badge. That's my whole point I spose.
Point 3. Yeah, there are a few, but the majority isn't like that.
Point 9. I don't agree, I think good quality content will get you in, obviously some link love in that content will help people notice it.
Good points Tyler but I have noticed that I actively bookmark my posts, the traffic increases as a direct result. Is it wrong to bookmark your own posts? I mean I do like them cause they were born out of my own imagination
Hi Jon. Very interesting, and many of the points are good. I would also love to see SA really move into the social media sphere in a big way. I guess that first we need to make progress with getting poorer people homes, food and education - and then online to participate.
On point 3, would disagree. As someone who only started blogging last year, I've found almost everyone I've come in contact with to be very open, friendly and willing to listen and even stop by my blog. [Among those are many of the people I imagine you are referring to as 'in the know'.]
Point 9 - you forgot to mention muti [where I picked up the link to this article, coincidentally]
Had a big grin when I read your point 4 and 5! Tough one that, I say see the humour in it and embrace the challenge. Great post!
Hey Darren, yeah food on the table and a roof over the table are much more serious than sharing online content, but we still need to try and keep up with the rest of world on the other end of our economic spectrum else we'll be left too far behind to recover like many struggling countries.
Hey darren, yeah I left out Muti which turned out to be the third biggest referrer for this post (which generated massive traffic) after stumble and Laaikit
An excellent article. Man, I know exactly where you are coming from. Last year I was in Botswana and there were some American students which tried to watch something on Youtube. I was pretty astounded at how irritated they got with the slow connection and could simply not handle the stop-start thing.
As far as point # 3 goes, I think you should really name and shame. Who the heck are you talking about? I find that extremely hard to believe as my perception has never been that there is a "tight-knit" group. There is a "tight-knit" group of blogs in my RSS reader. 295 and growing blogs from every corner of the earth. Now there is 296 :-)
Nice post, I emphathised completely with nearly every point! South Africa unfortunately has really dragged its heals in coming to terms with what web 2.0 is (it's amazing how many people in the digital industry don't actually know what it means - it's more than just version 2 of the web!) , although I'm seeing signs of improvement slowly but surely. Hopefully we'll get it together just in time for web 3.0...
Eish don't get me started on Web 3.0! Just confuse the issue even more!
LOL! I think many are going through a learning curve, it will take time but if a margarine tv ad a can be centered around blogging... On points 8 and 9, I came across another bookmarking site this week ( goguide.co.za). They have a wordpress plugin for the top 5 bookmarking sites including themselves :O thought it was a nice touch for a local site, makes things a little easier than laaik and some others.
Good post. The buffering thing on the videos is a pain, especially when you're listening to music.
As for corporate SA - I'm still working hard to convince them that it is not in their best interest to put their annual report and their brochure copy on the WWW - blogs and other Web2.0 goodies are lost to them.
Actively bookmarking posts is a big schlep, but it does actually work, especially with Google - and I know Google picks up blogs post quicker than websites.
As for the "in-crowd" - I also found everyone really friendly and helpful when I was seriously into blogging - I've slacked off a bit because of other pressures.
thanks for the Goguide tip. I will check it out!
Well it seems there is a bit of a split in opinions about the blogging 'in-crowd' in SA. Maybe it is the way you approach them, like a Chihauhau, slowly and carefully so as not to make them jump out of their basket!
By the way, I see Google's CEO stepped up to the plate and pitched Web 3.0... Oh hell, here we go again...
http://technomadicmarkets.com/?p=72
Who am I to argue with the Google CEO?! Maybe I'll write an article about why i dsagree with 3.0. Thanks for the idea Stii!
Nice post dude. I'm sorry I haven't seen your blog before / met you - looking forward to touching base at the IQPC thingamajig.
I'm quite sad that there seems to be an ongoing sentiment that there is an inaccessible eliteist A-list of bloggers in South Africa, regardless of whether it's perception or reality.
If it's reality, I find it a little funny too, seeing as most hard core bloggers where the guys who got wedgies at school :) (I refer to myself here).
If I were to be considered an influential blogger, and ever came across as arrogant, I'd certainly want to know. My experience is that most of these dudes are decent folk who are interested in sharing and learning.
But please name and shame, you simply got to after a post like this...
Thanks Mike. My opinion on the in crowd seems to be split so I'm not sure it's fair to list them as I may have had isloated bad experiences. I also want to maintain my professional integrity by not being too sensationalist. I think this post has gone a long way to making the potential culprits sit up and think and adjust their attitudes accordingly. If this is the case, then I have done my job!
Great blog BTW, love the design and colours
Here's a short list then:
Mike Stopforth
Dave Duarte
Vincent Maher
Collin Daniels
Justin Hartman
Tyler Reed
Mathew Buckland
Rafiq Phillips
Max Kaizen
Charl Norman
Is that a short list of A-listers or a short list of ones you feel don't engage with you? Cause I must say, I don't agree with your list. Plus if you're going to have the guts to name and shame, at least provide your own name
I agree with anonymous. Good list. Oh, and twitter is an example of something that's bad about Web 2.0
Terrible list, I hope it's not the so-called elite bloggers that are inaccessible, because that is simply rubbish.
How funny, anonymous agrees with anonymous.
I believe Anonymous might be one of the people referred to in point #5.
Great post, although I was shocked about your adsl speed comment. My youtube vids open instantly and stream perfectly. I slingbox live hockey games in full-screen with a 10 second delay, but zero lag time. Oh and my MTN HSDPS modem streams perfectly too...!
Hey Rich!
You're like the luckiest Internet user in South Africa!
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