Nicisms

I can’t see why anyone would want to stop me to be honest.

My Tumblr, nicharry, has revived my ability to post content online without too much thought, reactively and instinctively in a short space of time.

I am besotted with Tumblr.

Let me explain what the service is, in my opinion, for me. It’s a lifestream sort of a blogging platform. A stream of consciousness I think sums it up relatively well.

Tumblr has legs in the market right now for one simple reason. It’s simple to use. I have a “Share on tumblr” widget added to my browser. I click it and automatically a popup appears and allows me to share video, audio, photo, links, quotes and other types of media. The little widget handles the linkback to the source and posts to your Tumblr immediately.

I’ve also installed the Tumblr desktop app for Mac OSX which allows me to tumbl from my desktop. Simple, easy and effective.

Furthermore the type of content that I’ve come across on Tumblr is incredible. It’s alternative, different, cutting edge, pushes all the boundaries and seems to not abide by the regular rules and regulations of producing content. It’s a place where anyone and everyone can find a home.

It subscribes to a very similar model to that of Twitter. You can follow people’s Tumbles and they, in turn, follow yours. You can see everyone who you follow in your Dashboard and follow their content as it is published.

The person who got me on to Tumblr is Wes over at BlackNotes. If you have some time, head over there and read Wes’s Tumblr, you’ll be occupied for hours.

But for the moment head over to Tumblr, register, choose a theme and tumbl-on.

I need to say this out loud and as bluntly as I can. It’s cool that the DA are trying to get social with social media and a newly launched website but are we “social media experts” all so far up our own arses that we can’t see that in the big picture of the 2009 elections the DA’s social media campaign is relatively insignificant.

What the DA is trying to do is actually COMPETE IN THE 2009 ELECTIONS. I am extremely curious to figure out how the DA’s social media campaign fits in to the bigger picture of their general election campaign.

I’m not convinced that social media is going to make much of a difference in the numbers that the DA is looking for as the official opposition for the 2009 elections. I think that it’s essential that they are in the space of social networks, mobile activity and engaging with an online community. But let us get real here for a second, when we say “engaging with an online community”, who do you think we are talking about? Is it 500 000 South Africans with broadband access? I don’t think so. My 20 or so friends who aren’t particularly active online have never seen or engaged with DA online. So what’s the point? When we talk about engaging with social media we are probably, effectively talking about 20 000 or so people at an absolute push. I stand to be corrected here, these numbers are thumbsucked so please correct me if you know the figures.

Why should we be criticising the DA, analysing their every move and be excruciatingly anal about the things they do and the way they do it online? It’s actually ridiculous.

I asked Helen Zille a question online a few days back on twitter. I was wondering what her stance is on Cope integrating politics and religion. I didn’t receive a reply. But let’s be honest Helen Zille is competing in one of the most important elections since our democracy came in to existence, what the hell difference does it make if she answers my question? I want her to do the best job she can do in POLITICS not in social media to be perfectly frank.

And don’t try and pull the Obama card here. We are not the USA, we cannot claim to be and we should try to be. This would lead us in to all sorts of confusion and trouble. We are, majority of the SA population, without Internet and in need of some very distinct things, one of which is not social media let me tell you. The important things right now, in the build-up to election day 2009 (22 April) is to keep the focus of this election on the people, the rights, the voting, elections, masses and not on social media unfortunately.

Many people have covered, blogged and written about the DA and what they are doing online. It’s quite interesting to me that there isn’t much hype, noise or talk around the other political parties. Yet the DA is getting it in the neck. It’s like we, the online community, are berating one of the few political parties who bothered to actually make an effort. Why are we not giving the other parties hell as openly as the DA? Why does it matter? Surely our countries democracy is more important than proper use of Facebook, social tools and multimedia?

I am interested to know how much money has been put in to the DA’s social media campaign and what sort of return of investment they have and will receive? I wonder if in our country that money could not be better used somewhere else? Marketing the DA differently to a wider audience? Because let me tell you, if we all praise and hail the DA as the online guru’s in politics but they get trumped in the election then I will feel betrayed by social media and so will they.

Walter wrote that the DA’s response has him puzzled well my response is simple, in South African politics I would be more concerned if the DA was spending more time answering the social media folk than concentrating on their political campaign. We, as social media people, need to get over ourselves and look at all of this in context.

I want democracy, I want a viable opposition and I want leaders who can engage without being sidetracked from what is important. I also want politics and religion to be separate but that’s another story that shall be told at another time.

I am a massive fan of two services at the moment. I have been using both for a relatively long time (for an online service) and am extremely glad that someone has put the two together.

Tweekly.fm joins twitter and Last.fm. Twitter is a micro blogging service that allows you to communicate with followers in 140 characters or less (160 for direct messages). While Last.fm is a music sharing network. I use Last.fm’s desktop application so I rarely visit the actual Last.fm website but nevertheless, everytime I play a song through iTunes my Last.fm App “Scrobbles” the song to my Last.fm profile.

Tweekly.fm is a service that takes your weekly played artist data from last.fm and sends it as a tweet. Fantastic. Now I am giving my Last.fm profile more exposure and letting my twitter followers know what music I am listening to. I am also fond of the fact that Tweekly.fm doesn’t go overboard and send out one tweet every nanosecond.

Very nice. Head over to Tweekly.fm now and sign up.

It seems to be my repentance week. And repent I shall.

In 2007 I wrote a blog post about Vinny Lingham abondoning South Africa in a tough time, taking his money and running. I was shot down, defended and received 40 comments in total on that post which turned in to a very up-and-down debate.

I was immature, I didn’t understand the market I was in and I jumped to some unfair conclusions about Vinny and Synthasite. I stand corrected and gladly so.

Vinny needed to move to where he moved for relatively obvious reasons. Yet he maintained offices in Cape Town and fed those offices through with some of the brightest talent he could find. He did not abandon SA but did what he needed to do to make his business work. And work it did.

I received this in my inbox this morning:

Dear Nic,

Today, I’m proud to announce that Reinet Fund has just invested $20 million into SynthaSite, securing our future and enabling us to continue to build our business model and product offering. This is a massive vote of confidence in SynthaSite, and we owe it to each and every one of you. Our future is bright and, with your support, we will continue to make a difference in the world!

When we began building SynthaSite, we sought to create a company whose product would change the lives of millions of people by giving them a voice online. We wanted to provide the opportunity for anyone anywhere to build a website that would achieve their unique goals, from starting a small business to showcasing their achievements.

In 2007, we raised $5 million in venture capital and moved our headquarters to San Francisco, keeping a good portion of our technical team in Cape Town, South Africa. Since then, SynthaSite has grown from just a handful of people to more than 40 individuals in both offices, supporting over one million users. Our support forum is one of the most active on GetSatisfaction’s network, and our recent “Best of SynthaSite” contest attracted more than 1,000 entrants. This level of success could only be achieved thanks to the dedication of both our user community and our staff.

I’m unbelievably excited about the future of SynthaSite and look forward to building on our success in helping you and many others reach their potential online. These past 15 months have just been the beginning…

Thank you for all your support.

Vinny Lingham
Founder and CEO

To Vinny and his team I cannot congratulate you enough. You deserve the success (and the money) and I hope sincerely that the investment you’ve received in this downturn proves well worth it in the long run.

If you haven’t seen the video on youtube that was posted by two mentally unstable (surely?) teens in the USA then best you watch the news report below.

I am not mad about pets, they just aren’t my cup of tea, however i am well aware of animal abuse and it sickens me. I don’t understand how the abuse of an animal aids or assists the assailants in any way, shape or form. It’s ridiculous and uncalled for.

But the thing about the video above that absolutely intrigues me is how anti-animal-abuse people online who saw the video banded together and figured out exactly who was behind the mask in the video.

Watch the video again and notice how people jumped online, searched for the youtube users name and aliases online, gather images from the web relating to the user and pieced them together to factually define who the person was and where they were in the country.

Now this is a chicken and egg situation. Sure if there was no YouTube then the video wouldn’t have been online and one could argue that the act of abuse wouldn’t have taken place. But let’s assume that these unstable cowards are just that, unstable. Chances are they would be abusing animals with or without a platform to display their barbarous behaviour. So without the internet these animals (not the cat) would still be abusive. With the internet they were caught thanks to the dedication and keen eye of a few social media users and the tools at their disposal.

The future of social media is endless, the applications of the technology are endless and the potential to use these tools effectively is endless.