The subscription boom, it's not RSS

The RSS/Feed/Email debate has been raging for a while, in pockets of enthusiasm and then pockets of nothingness. This is pretty much how RSS works and feels to me and many others.Have you ever tried to explain to anyone who is not tech-savvy what RSS means? Do you even know what it stands for (no Googling)? I have tried and it's certainly not easy.I read an extremely interesting post on how to boost your RSS readers. [From here on in this post I'm going to refer to RSS and e-mail readers as subscribers.] The post made me think about RSS and Subscriptions and an example that I have in my repertoire - SA Rocks.SA Rocks was never very strong in the subscriptions department. I kind of used my Feedburner account but kind of didn't. I never tracked it and never followed it. I also used to display full posts in my RSS. I don't anymore but more on that further down.

The User

There are certain types of users and readers that will inevitably visit your blog.The Googler will search for something, find your blog, read it and most likely leave. There is the off chance that they will like what they see and either return or add your blog to their subscription list. The Stumbler falls in to this category too. Both types of users fall under the blanket category of the "Digg Effect" or "Slashdot Effect".The Seeker will actively seek out content that your blog offers, either like and stay or read it and leave.The Regular Reader falls in to two categories and these are the readers that we all like to gather on our blogs. These readers will bookmark your site and religious visit your domain or they will subscribe via RSS or e-mail subscriptions.

RSS - Who it's targeted at

RSS is for savvy users. For Techies who make use of Bloglines, Google Reader and Desktop readers that pull content from a site and display it in conjunction with other blogs or websites that a user subscribes too. Locally that market is tiny, minute and often non-existent for many bloggers and website owners. For this simple reason I personally believe that RSS subscribers are a nice to have, not a means to success.Don't misunderstand me, I'm not saying that you should completely get rid of your RSS icon, it's a necessity that every blogger must have. The last thing that any blogger wants to do is piss off a potential subscriber by not allowing them the choice to subscribe. But placing all your eggs in the RSS basket is going to leave your subscriptions cracked and flalling.

E-mail subscriptions and why they are the way forward

In my opnion (and this is merely an opinion garnered from my experiences) SA Internet users like e-mail, it is a familiar means to receive information and it is something that many people check daily, if not hourly. This is why I believe that if you are targetting subscriptions, e-mail is the way forward. It is convenient for the user and not intrusive or extra work for them. All they need to do is check their email and read your content.The goal with subsctiptions must be to gain visits to your actual website or blog. In this vain e-mail is a great mechanism to make use of. If people like your content, the chance is they will want more and click through to your site. This is not hard to do. Enter Feedburner.A while back (about 5 months ago) I decided to activate my e-mail subscription option on my SA Rocks feedburner account. It really is as simple as activating the option and placing the code on your site. Users enter their email address and are immediately subscribed to your daily feed, in their inbox, for free. I immediately (±2 weeks) saw a marked increase in my subscribers.Free is a very important word for me to use. I specifically choose it because of the connotations. Free means it's a bonus, it's something that you, as a blogger or content provided, are giving your reader. You are invariably telling them that they come first. They don't even need to visit your site for your content. Your number one priority is having them read, wherever, whenever. You are not only after their clicks, eyes and visits. This is important.But tell me something, how do your readers know that your subscription option is actually free? They don't. Why? Because everything else that they subscribe to in their lives comes at a cost. Newspaper and magazine subscriptions are not free, high end content and extras are not free, not according to local users. Our market is not used to free subscriptions. This is what CopyBlogger says in the post that I've linked to above. You need to make it obvious. Change the wording of your subscription title from "Subscribe via email or RSS" to "Get free updates daily" or "Daily updates in your inbox". I think this might work, even if it is merely a subconscious activation, it will still make a difference to the Googlers and Regular Readers who want to grab your content simply, easily and... for free.The other important thing that I learned through SA Rocks is placement. Placement of your subscription options is integral to the success of your subscriptions. Make your e-mail subscription box a priority in your template or theme. Be sure to make it stand out. There are loads of different opinions on eye-track priority; left to right, top to bottom, colours, flashing text (never) boxes etc etc etc. SA Rocks goes against the common concept slightly. Mark Forrester placed the email subscription in the top right hand side of the SA Rocks design when he handles the SA Rocks redesign. If we wanted it as a top, top priority we would have placed it in the top left of the header, but that is reserved for advertising.The effects of this were immediate (one week). E-mail subscription began to boom on SA Rocks. Subsequently visits to the blog almost doubled. I'm not saying this reigns true for every blog or publisher, but it worked for SA Rocks.Below is a graphic illustration of SA Rocks subscriptions climbing from the Month of March 2008 to now. The increase is phenomenal.

Full Feeds vs Truncated Feeds

This is a debate that has gone on for a while and still has no conclusion. My conclusion is this: Who cares? Make your choice and stick by it. The complaints that you will receive will be from the Tech-Savvy group of users who are obsessive about feeds and RSS, not the average user who will visit your site or read your content via e-mail.E-mail subscription plays this debate out of the equation. What does it matter to a reader reading your content in their inbox, in full, if you have truncated your RSS feed or not? It doesn't. Furthermore I decided to truncate my RSS feed on SA Rocks (6 or so months ago). I had a couple, literally two, complaints about this but stuck it out and the visits to the blog were markedly increased.Again this might not prove to be true on all blogs, but for me, it worked. Test out your users, ask them in a blog post and figure out what they want, it's the beauty of blogging, you can ask and have people respond.

The Extras

Remind your audience that your content is available via subscriptions. Spell it out in a blog post once every six months or so, remind them that the option is there. They might have become vigilant RSS users in that time and you can catch them now. This also serves as a helpful tip for new users visiting your site, the Googlers and Stumble crowd.Finally, don't forget to try and reward your readers for visiting and subscribing. Find a prize and give it out to your longest standing RSS or e-mail subscriber as well as your newest one.Subscriptions are important to your blog's continued success and longevity. Be sure to priorities these readers and this option.

My first Mail & Guardian Online project: Sports Leader

I've been at Mail & Guardian Online now for just over two weeks. I'd love to say that the first two week have been quiet, tame and took the form of an introduction to the business, it hasn't. Not conventionally at least.On my first day working with Matt and Vince I was thrown in to the deep end and tasked with setting up Sports Leader. At that point I didn't know my arse from my elbow let alone how to call up top sports personalities, intellectuals and commentators and ask them to join a platform that hadn't even launched yet. It was tough. I got bat. The success rate is very low on cold calling the sporting elite let me tell you.I made many phone calls and sent out many emails. Eventually it started to pay off. I managed to get hold of some fantastic sports people and through the help of Mr Trapido we have some fantastic rugby names on the site. There are more to come, many of whom you will know, recognise and want to hear from but more on that in another post. We have tried to be as diverse as possible when it comes to the sports that are represented on Sports Leader, the big ones obviously being Soccer (Football), Rugby and Cricket. However we are proud to say that we have many alternative and extreme sports appearing on Sports Leader.Within two weeks (or just under) we managed to sign up close on 30 sporting personalities and fans.Speaking of fans I feel I need to mention that there are some fans contributing to Sports Leader. This was a very calculated move on our behalf. No one owns sports, not even the sports people and no one can ever claim to. The people who have the strongest opinions and often suffer and celebrate more than their teams are the fans. How can you have a sporting platform without having the fans on board? You can't and we don't. What we have done is create an interesting juxtaposition of fanatical opinion from armchair commentators and practical insight from industry players and professionals, an important balance when it comes to sport.

So with this blog post I mark the completion of my first project at Mail & Guardian Online.

Who's who in the racial online zoo?

I am a disappointed in some "online professionals". The reason I am using the term with my tongue poking and prodding at my cheek is because I believe there is a fair amount of professionalism being thrown down the toilet. Mandy de Waal wrote an article for ITWeb titled "Who's who in the Web 2.0 Zoo?".Some people seemingly took great offence that there where no people of colour in the article. Rafiq was invited to participate, he declined. The angle of the article was simply an interview and answer process. Certain people who are major players in the online market were asked to name three people who they would want to work with in the online arena. These people did so. Not based on racial innuendos as justifications. These were simply the people who each interviewee wished to work with on a professional level.Unfortunately someone needed to respond, someone always need to respond, and needed to emphatically make a racial statement. This is extremely sad. Ramon Thomas took up the cause and titled his article "Who’s who in the non-white Web 2.0 South African Zoo". The title alone immediately marginalises his audience and those involved in his article. He immediately boxes those in his article and ostracizes those who read it.The immediate feeling that I get is that this is like affirmative action in sports teams - the Springboks to be precise. The situation that rugby players of colour have faced in the past is a lose-lose, if they are chosen they question the reasons for their selection. If they are not chosen then they wonder if it was due to their race. Lose. Lose.If I was on Ramon's list I'd be pretty upset. The candidates on this list are no longer the best in their profession but only the best in their racial class. Mandy's article might have lacked some depth but she did not force the answers out of the participants, they chose out of their own free will. She also did not classify her article as black or white inspite of the black text and white background colour. Now there are more web professionals who have been dragged in to this to make a statement. They have become pawns in the game of race.Mandy made an error in undermining hew own article when she used a pull quote that included the words "White boys club". If this was the angle of the story then I think that this would have been an integral part of an article that would be able to ask some very important questions about the racial state of the online industry. The pull quote was irrelevant in the context of her story and in my opinion undermined the people who took part in the article.There is an important question to be asked: where are the black professionals in the online industry?Darren Ravens asks the question more appropriately. But I think that Darren Gorton got it right.Personally I would like to be considered a media professional for the work that I do, not for the work that I do as a white(ish), Greek (almost), South African male.

SA Blook goes live today

I am one of the authors who was invited to write a chapter in a book, on blogs, about South African and the various views the people have about this country.Head through to SA Rocks now and Darren's blog to read the blook and see what all the authors have to say!

Facebook issues and errors

Strange things happened today:click image for full sizeWonder what that's all about?

Identity theft in the blogosphere

Comments are an integral part of blogs and the entire "web 2.0" "movement" that is taking place. Yet I truly feel that the commenting system is flawed and leaves massive holes open for anyone wanting to abuse anyone else's reputation online.Think about it for a second. Many great bloggers tell beginners that it's imperative to talk to other bloggers by commenting on their posts. This is how I started to make a name for myself and this is how many other bloggers have done so too.But what if someone started commenting on blogs using your details. It's not hard. You simply enter the required fields with someone else's details.Name - Robert ScobleEmail - rscoble@fastcompany.comURL - http://scobleizer.com/Done.Now it looks like <a href="">Robert Scoble himself has visited this blog and left a comment. Have a look below...he actually has...You can even verify this with a bit of research. He has a valid email, posted on his blog, rscoble@fastcompany.com. The URL is correct and that is his name. So tell me, how do you prove that Scoble hasn't posted on my blog? You can't. There is actually no realy way (unless you contact that person directly) to determine the newsmakers from the fakers when it comes to comments.I think that if someone really wanted to they could destroy an unwitting person's reputation online. Especially someone in the "limelight".Watch out. It could be happening to you.I have a feeling that I will be blogging more about this particular topic in the very near future.

What would you tell the world?

Imagine you had an audience that consisted of the entire world.They could all hear you and were all listening.What would you tell them?Would you tell them about the state of Africa, the morals of the world, the christian values that you might or might not uphold? Would you talk to them about music, happiness, money, shame, fear, death, life, survival?In fact, could you even do it all? Apparently public speaking is the biggest fear in the world. I personally can't believe that because I love public speaking and presentations. But I know a few people who firstly wouldn't be able to speak to the ENTIRE WORLD and secondly would have nothing to say.What would your words of wisdom be? What would the thought be that you impart?

Spam is spam... yes you

Have you ever noticed how some folk will moan about spam but them send 10,000 people "something valuable". I have news for you, spam is spam. You are not above it all and your promotion is the same as everyone elses, shameless and spam.

Barriers to entry for media in the "mobile boom"

As many people know the mobile industry is big business, especially here in SA and in the broader African market.I've been making some inroads in to trying to undestand the mobile market as fully as possible recently.I am lookingt at the mobile market as someone heavily involved in the media industry and trying to find a place for the media in the mobile market. I am not considering the mobile market from the point of view of a startup, website, portal, communication idea or gaming company. I am looking at the mobile market from the perspective of an organisation that produces weekly content that goes in to a newspaper.There are some things that I have noticed and some problems that I have seen with the theory that mobile is going to be the next big thing very soon.Lets begin with three quick points:

1. Communication is actually THE mobile market
2. Social Networking is the up-and-commer
3. Gaming is already making a mark - a massive one - on the market
4. The service providers are the ones making the money

And now let us go through the barriers to entry that I feel exist for media in the mobile market.

1. Newspaper content is a push market
2. Mobile users want to own their content - pull it towards themselves
3. Understanding of extensive mobile web surfing is low in higher LSM's
4. Portals are non-exist, with the exception of service providers

The basic barriers that I have listed above make it extremely difficult for media organisations to make a valuable stand in the mobile market. Users are looking to interact with one another and content. This means they want to create the content, interact with it, send it to their friends, invite their friends to interact with eachother and their content. This is difficult as a media organisation when you are producing the content and pushing it to the market.I am interested to know if you agree with these barriers? Do you think that media is stuck in a "push" business model? Or are they making inroads in to the "pull" of content creation, distribution and user interaction?

How much Gmail space have you used?

I know that the space available to Gmail users continuously grows. But I am extremely interested to know how much space you have used on your gmail account right now?I took this screenshot at 11:05am on Sunday 25th May, 2008.

Bloggers like to be restricted, twitter is proof

I'm beginning to believe that I like to be restricted. And in fact I am begining to think that it's not just me but a lot of people online, tweeting, blogging, evangelising, guru-ing and the rest also like a bit of a restrictive challenge.I have a newfound theory that I actually like to get told what to do and how to do it within certain perameters. Yes you could say that I am actually searching for guidance to lead me to my expressive peak. But I could also argue that I like to be restricted.Bloggers like limits, like challenges and inherently might like to be restricted. It's a challenge and it's a limitation that we think we can try to exploit. Let's be honest, every twitterer loves the feeling of writing a full and comprehensive tweet in exactly 140 characters. I know I do. But what does that actually mean?The explosion of Twitter (What is twitter?) has really made me think about what I do, what I like to do and how I like to do it. I used to write very expansive posts, in depth analysis on a wide variety of topics. With the advent of Twitter and its subsequent success I've realised that keeping it short works. This, whether coincidental or directly relative, is restricting my post lengths, my thoughts and the angle of my approach.Maybe this movement towards tweets and restricted 140 character posts is a step back, a calm before the storm, the time where we all gain a little bit of restrictive perspective and realise that our verbose and pedantic ramblings aren't always what we think they are - effective.Maybe I need to go back to the basics and realise that most people in our country have never used the internet, let alone know what twitter is, 140 characters mean in the "bigger picture", what a blog is or who's poking who on which social network.What I am getting at (cause I am now rambling) is that maybe restrictions are good because they allow us to expirement within the constraints of a predermined rule. One that we are then able to work within and break out of.At some point we have all followed the Godins, Scobles, crunches, readwrites and the like. But they have no clue what our market is looking for. We are not restricting ourselves enough to one specific focus. This is just a fleeting thought, not a steadfast opinion that I have. But surely if we began to tailor-make our products, blog posts, startups, ideas, ideals and innovations to 140 characters (don't be literal) then maybe we would see more success.

Why is no one talking about mobile?

Mobile, for the last few years, has generally been accepted as the next big thing. But if that is the case why is there no hype, no blogging and why are many of the articles outdated? Is there no one out there who is willing to step in to the role of the punter?I have just read through 50+ Tech feeds that I subscribe to and out of those a single article from ReadWriteWeb focused on mobile.There is no media talk, no thoughts or opinions and no strategies emerging as a result of mobile being the next big thing and I just don't get it.It could be that I am looking in the wrong place, but it seems as though people are either plotting and keeping their secrets close to them or there is no one with a clue. I am interested to get in to this a but further. Let's see where it goes.

Reported Attack Site!

Can anyone tell me why this happens and what it means?I've been coming across this warning more and more frequently but have no clue what to do with the problem. Henre, this applies to you as the example I am using is your blog.

4 hours in the hot seat and my tattoo is done

What an incredibly long day. All admin aside (it's really not that much of a big deal to discuss) I was awake at 5:30 am yesterday. which meant a very, very long day for me.Had breakfast with a friend who is moving to Australia today. Big move. Then misjudged my timing and thought it was 9:45 but it was actually 8:45. An entire hour early. Anxious and waiting for the tattoo parlor to open.Eventually it opened and I was the first in. First come, first serve. And I was first.I'm not going to blab on too much. I must say though, this one hurt, alot. I had forgotten how much it could hurt. And I had underestimated the pain relative to the size of the actual tattoo. So before I bore you, here's the gallery.

Metro police breaking the law

I have a pet hate. It involves cars breaking the basic rules of the road. I am fairly rebellious when it comes to rules and regulations but when it comes to the road I think that rules are there for the protection of the masses.What breaks me even more is when the people who are meant to be upholding those laws break them. It gives me a sense of powerlessness. It makes me think that I am unable to do anything or turn anywhere when others break the rules of the road. I hate it.So when I was driving down Katherine Street the other day I decided to take a different course of action. It is possibly the worst part of my day, driving down Katherine and going under the Grayston Bridge. If you have ever done this trip in peak hour traffic you will know that two turning lanes (out of three) fast become three turning lanes with none to left to those wanting to carry on straight. This creates more congestion and frustration. And no, it is not just the taxis that do this.There are clearly drawn lines (literally) on the road that define the lanes, which goes where and what lane you need to be in. I need to go straight, not turn right. However many cars feel the need to get in to the straight lane to cut out their time waiting to turn. I get screwed, they get through.In front of me I found a metro police car who seemed to be going straight. I had a feeling he was turning right. He did. And in the process he crossed a solid white line and caused major congestion and a very dangerous situation for other drivers. As far as I know crossing a solid line is a R500 fine. Who's going to fine those who hand out the fines? There was no emergency and he didn't have his emergency lights on so I can only assume that he was blatantly breaking the law and thus allowing others to think that they can do the same.Here's the pic. Notice the indicator light on the right is on (at least he was courteous about it) just before he crosses the white line and goes through the red on top of it all.Some may say I am being petty but I don't think so. I think that if the metro police can't obey the law we are headed for some dangerous times on the road. Keep an eye out for this car, check the number plate and if you know anybody who can do some good with this photo then send on this blog post to them.

A new challenge at Mail&Guardian

Today is my last day working at Financial Mail and I can now announce that I am starting a new job at M&G Online on the 19th of May.My official job title is business manager: mobile and recruitment. But I am sure that more regarding my actual day to day activities will come out as soon as I move in and get involved in the team.Working with Matt and Vince is definitely going to be one of the great things about my new position. The job is innovative and in a market that is about to burst and is still fairly unconquered in the media sphere.Obviously moving in to a new market and media house is a big leap for me and one that I am cautiously approaching (with some level of excitement). There are some nerves which should be expected but overall I can't wait to sink my teeth in to the challenge.Financial Mail was a phenomenal place to work and to gain some extremely valuable knowledge and experience. The people were sterling and I learned more than I thought I could in a year. But for my career, my brand and the moves I'm trying to make in the industry this is definitely the right move for me at the perfect time.Things are hotting up in SA, the market is about to explode and I am itching to bury myself in it.

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.

28 years for rape, sodomy and attempted murder????

I'm sorry but what is that? This monster received a whopping 28 years in prison for the following:

In his plea and sentence agreement with the state, James admitted that he had raped the girl in bushes on November 5, 2006, and sodomised her before stabbing her in her side, bashing a rock over her head and throwing her into a fire.

Let me list those things for clarity:1. Rape2. Sodomy3. Stabbing (attempted murder)4. Bashing a rock over her head (attempted murder)5. Throwing her in to a fire (attempted murder)For the above Abraham James received a mere 28 years in prison. He is 30 now and will then get out close to his 60th birthday. That is if he doesn't get off earlier for "good behaviour".One thing I left out, is that the girl that this maniac attacked is 7 years old.The only solace I can find in his sentence is that even lowly prisoners can recognise that child rapists deserve death and often put the convicted through a living death in prison. Let's hope there are some fathers in that prison who have 7 year old daughters. Let's hope it's James' cell-mate and let's hope it hurts. Bastard.source: IOL

High Fidelity - Music and Movies

I absolutely love High Fidelity. If you haven't seen it, what the hell is wrong with you?Here's a clip:There are some definitive reasons that make me love this film. It integrates a few of my favourite things.1. John Cusack is a phenomenal actor.2. Quirky and fast conversation, dialogue and monologue. Brilliant.3. Music and opinion about music.4. Jack black as a supporting actor is incredible.5. Scepticism and slight insanity.6. The feeling of a cult hit, underground culture and subversive messages of disdain for society and pop norms.If you haven't seen this film, rent it. Now.

I got another confession to make

I hate birthdays. I thought I liked them at one point but I think the truth is I am a birthday grinch.It's not the usual things that I dislike about birthdays. I like the presents (ofcourse) and I like that I am getting older - I think that people are like wines, they get better with age. I think it's the expectation that gets me.I hate the expectation of having a party or getting involved or seeing people and trying to force contentment on yourself. I hate that.I am excessively happy that I am now 24 years old. It sounds better, people might start taking me more seriously and not looking down on me when I tell them my age. But then again, who knows?Basically I wont be having a birthday party for a very long time I don't think. I haven't had one since I was 19 and I know now why.May is a busy month, so if it is your birthday soon or it's already been and gone recently, have a happy day and see the people you love and who are close to you!Image: emma.c