Jobs of the future are hard to predict. ...

Jobs of the future are hard to predict.

What will we all be doing in 5 years? Who can tell.I studied to be a journalist. No, I studied to be a print journalist. And now I work in and around mobile social networking strategy and development.Let's just quickly repeat that: Mobile social networking strategy and development. I am almost 100% certain that when I started studying at Rhodes University in 2003 that my current job didn't even exist.There is one job in particular that is going to need a lot more focus in the coming years:New media sales and advertising.The reason that I think this job is becoming increasingly important and increasingly neglected is because there is a marked lack of skilled and experienced people to fill this position.

What does this position entail?

Sales and advertising has traditionally (back in the old days) been about selling and advertising products. Getting people to buy in to your product or getting advertisers to place an advert in to your publication, on to your store walls or on your car and so on.Sales and advertising is becoming a much more complicated and intricate art. You cannot just sell banners, text links, full page adverts, splash screens, in-video sponsorships or product placements. Social networks and new media businesses need to have a salesperson who understands every aspect of the business. This person needs to be able to cross sell, integrate campaigns, work on new media, old media and media that might not exist yet.

What does this person need to succeed?

This person needs to understand CPC, CPA, CPM, CPSA and how to make these models work. This person needs to not only know what CRM stands for but what it actually is and how to make it relevant to the client.This person needs to know who the client is or should be and how that clients business or latest campaign fits in to the business of a new media business.Sales is shifting as fast as media is shifting and technology is growing and developing. The trick here is that technology, websites, mobile content and advancements can push forward as fast as they like but if there is no team able to monetize the products, there may as well not even be a product.It's time start thinking about integrated salespeople, sales teams, sales in relation to your core business and if sales actually might be your companies core business.

The DA, social media and the masses

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.

Google reader as a social network

This post has been sitting in my draft folder for a while. To be honest it really feels like an out there mish-mash of thoughts that have surrounding Google Reader (RSS reader by Google) and social networks.I am really becoming tired of the buzz around social networking. Don't get me wrong there is value in it and I am not saying it is dead or dying, I am just tired of reading TechCrunch daily and feeling like I'm reading the same post with a different startups name plugged in.Anyways back to my point. Google Reader (GR) is great, I love it and swear by it. It allows me to follow and read some of my favourite topics, streams, memes, bloggers, blogs and insights. I think that I make fairly good use of most of the services on offer at GR.Why do I think that Google Reader takes the form of a social network?Basically for me, in my little world social networking means networking with others. Whether it is friendly-friend sort of stuff or basic "this is what I am reading", I would consider it a social network.Thus, therefore and hence, I believe that for me Google reader can be and is a social network.There are two distinct features that I use in the process of connecting with others:1. The "Discover" feature that was recently added to the service.This feature allows you to discover feeds that GR thinks you might like. You can peruse them at your own pace and delete ones you aren't interested in. This allows me to discover things that I might like and really get rid of things that I don't. Therefore allowing me to spread my network of subscriptions and giving me more to share with my friends. Which brings me to point 2.2. Shared itemsThis is my favourite and most sociable feature. I have a wide network of Gmail chat friends that I interact with daily. I can never find enough tim to talk to them all about valuable things relating to the web. Instead I simply view their shared items. How is that possible? Easy, GR places their shared items in my GR homepage under the heading of "Friends' shared items". I can then see who shared what, when and why. I can then interact with them on an effective level targeting a specific topic with them that I know they are interested in.I can also share items. These items will also be sent to my friends GR pages as well as a specific url that the whole world can see if they want to.All you need to do to share an item in GR is click the little "Share" button at the bottom of any post in your reader. Simple, effective, networking on a targeted content basis. Too easy.

MIXXing it up a little

Could Mixx be the Digg Killer that many have been waiting for? Maybe.I think that Mixx has gotten something right because I immediately liked what I saw. The user interface is great, well laid out, clear and easy to navigate. Immediately I think that they have a leg up on Digg in this area.To be honest, I really couldn't have been bothered with yet another social, web 2.0, vote-up-vote-down site. So what I did was tell Mixx exactly what I was interested in and then subscribed to the RSS for things that interested me. Fantastic.The next thing that I must note is that the content on Mixx seems to be more relevant. Fair enough, I am only subscribing to a feed that I asked for, but on Digg, finding things that interest me and are relevant is a hit and miss sort of affair. Mixx again seems to have attracted users who are posting relevant and important info.If nothing else Mixx will become a great alternative to Digg. Have a look for yourself and tell me what you think.

Social Networks AKA dating sites and crap websites

I absolutely hate it when people talk about things without doing research or knowing what they are saying. I am sure I have done this on the odd occasion in the past but it still bugs me.I just read this post that talks about social network sites as commonly known as dating sites too. Since when? This post has such an air of "authority" about it that ignorant readers would actually believe this rubbish.Then the author proceeds to include god's plan for our lives including these "dating sites". The author then mixes things up by saying that one should join social networks (or dating sites) to network with people and make links to begin to build a network of people who can help you, over 3-5 years build the sort of life you want to lead. Uhu?What a load of hogwash. And this sort of revelation comes from a website that looks like this:It is very scary to me that there are actually people out there who are:1. Promoting this sort of crap site as something people can and should use2. Using these sites as their personal blogs.I have a feeling that this is a Guy Mclaren website. This guy (no pun intended) seems to be promoting the very worst of the web as the contemporary web styles. What is he thinking? Can he not see that his user system is rubbish and outdated? Why would anyone want to use this sort of platform when even the dreaded blogger is better than this platform?I am so shocked that anyone is registering for this service and this crap. Come on people. Wake up, make a stand. Don't use this rubbish.I will offer my somewhat inexperienced services to anyone who is thinking of using the rubbish service above. If you are thinking of starting a blog, email me and I will offer you some assistance on where to go and how to do it. Just as long as you aren't using the above services.