They both grew up in small towns. Both had a burning vision. Both achieved acclaim on the stages of the world. But the manner of Lucky Dube‘s and Patrick Mynhardt‘s deaths told two very different stories about the South African reality. Patrick, who grew up in a small town half-an-hour’s drive from my home town […]
Arthur Goldstuck
Arthur Goldstuck is a South African journalist, media analyst and commentator on information and communications technology (ICT), internet and mobile communications and technologies. Goldstuck heads the World Wide Worx research organisation, and has led research into ICT issues such as the effects of IT on small business, the role of mobile technologies in business and government, and the technology challenges of the financial services sector. He regularly provides strategic insights and guidance on trends at conferences and corporate events across Africa.
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Lucky Dube: A complete human being
“South Africa needs a lot of love at the moment…” It is easy to react to Lucky Dube’s murder with outrage and grief. It is right to do so. I would also wish to celebrate the life of a friend. It is appropriate to do so in this blog, because Lucky Dube was an unheralded […]
Posted inLifestyle, Sport, Tech
All Blacks and France plan Facebook revenge
France and New Zealand may be out of the Rugby World Cup, but they have come up with a desperate new attempt to prove they remain a force on the international stage. In just three weeks, France has doubled the size of its regional network on Facebook, from 141 000 to 284 000. The New Zealand network […]
Posted inLifestyle, Tech
Blogging Player of the Week: What a schmuck!
The first blogger I knew didn’t call himself a blogger, because the word hadn’t yet been invented. Once, in the dawn of internet time, Roy Blumenthal was at the helm of “a hare-brained art prank” called Dirty Laundry, in which he created a web page asking people to send their dirty laundry to him for […]
Posted inNews/Politics, Tech
Web 2.0 has voted: Zuma for president
An analysis of the names on the lips of the chattering elite who inhabit Web 2.0, or at least the world of blogs, Facebook and user-generated content, shows that it is really a one-horse race: Jacob Zuma versus not Jacob Zuma. Tokyo Sexwale and Cyril Ramaphosa barely feature in the succession debate in blog content. […]
Posted inBusiness, Media, Tech
Beware the business blog: Seven ground rules
These guidelines for business blogs were written in early 2006, but still apply: 1. Blogs are forever — or at least their content can be captured and stored elsewhere, even after you change or update it, so don’t write anything you may wish you’d never said. South Africa has already had a few blog lawsuits […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media, Tech
Blogging Player of the Week: One more, with feeling
You may not have heard of this week’s choice for blogging Player of the Week, but you have probably come across her writing, reporting and commentary — probably in isolation of the bigger picture of the amazing work she does in her blogs. Damaria Senne makes her living from covering technology issues for ITWeb, but […]
Posted inTech
Blogging Player of the Week: John Cherry
Hands up (okay, blogs up) anyone who can tell me in one sentence what Cherryflava is all about. I thought so. “Trends and innovation”. You mean like Sasol’s human resources strategy or the new Merc? “Seriously passionate about fresh thinking.” You mean, like new ways of using sex to sell groceries? Or how about, “a […]
Posted inTech
South African Facebook at 300 000
The Facebook phenomenon is still with us. The South African regional network on Facebook reached the 300 000 mark on September 25, and is still growing at close to 3 000 members a day. In Australia and Sweden the picture is even more intense: 12 000 new members a day in Australia (now at 556 000 in the regional […]
Posted inTech
Calamity! SA and Egypt slip in Facebook race
Calamity struck South Africa in the Facebook regional race on Tuesday (September 18): Sweden came from way behind to push the southern-hemisphere upstarts from sixth to seventh place in the rankings of the biggest regional networks on Facebook. On Wednesday, the South African network stood at 286 000 users — a nice leap from the 250 000 […]
Posted inMedia, Tech
The blogging Player of the Week
After four weeks of excuses masquerading as blogs on “related topics”, the first blogging Player of the Week can be announced. The choice will not be a popular one among the blogging elite, but then this exercise is about recognition, not affirmation. First a recap: the original idea behind the Amablogoblogo is to recognise special […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media, Tech
Social networking: a matter of geography
Two major shifts have occurred in the Facebook regional rankings that may point to the shape of things to come in social networking. Canada leaped ahead of the United Kingdom in the past two weeks, while Australia finally stormed past Norway. South Africa, meanwhile, achieved the quarter-million mark on September 8, but is warily eyeing […]