Social Media for Radio

Social Media for RadioDinesh Balliahdinesh@dineshballiah.comwww.dineshballiah.com

What’s the big deal about social media?THE BARE FACTS:• Truth be told – it’s not that big in Africa!• Broadband is still very expensive for most communities• Each social media platform has fairly small subscriber base

apart from Mxit

BUT -

• It continues to grow and slowly becomes part of normal communication practices

• Use it to communicate with other parties that communicate directly with our constituencies e.g. community radio

TRADITIONAL MEDIA

FEATURES OF TRADITIONAL MEDIA

• Intertexuality• Fixed types, e.g. newspapers, books, letters, magazines, posters

etc. • List took hundreds of years to evolve• Narrative = linear• Fixed forms or genres• Scheduled news gathering and presenting• Filtering, gatekeeping and credibility established

WHAT IS NEW MEDIA?• Used to be called ICT’s • Problems with linking new media to technology only = IT• Rapidly evolving• New forms of ‘new media’ emerge daily• Applications provide an enhanced experience of new media itself.

FEATURES OF NEW MEDIA• Hypertextuality• Non-linear narratives • Ambient news & information• ‘Free’ content• Credibility or validity issues• Cheaper publication costs

FEATURES OF NEW MEDIA CONTINUED• Local vs Global• Content sharing • Dialogue – through comments• Engagement with authors• Multimedia• Convergence• Portability• Omnipresent

TRADITIONAL COMMUNICATION

SENDER (ENCODING)

MESSAGE

RECEIVER (DECODING)

MASS COMMUNICATION

MEDIA (ENCODING)

MESSAGE

MASS AUDIENCE (DECODING)

NEW MEDIA COMMUNICATION

SENDER

MESSAGE

MASS AUDIENCE

MOBILE TELEPHONY IN AFRICA

• Highest penetration and year on year growth • Represents a huge potential for development communication• Majority of mobiles NOT smart phones but basic operating systems

which allow simply browsing • Online communications strategy should take note of these points.

WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA?• Online/web-based platforms/applications• Encourage social interaction• Are no longer exclusively ‘social’• Used for the exchange of short bursts of information

IMPORTANT TO NOTE• Social media does not equal a platform for meaningful

communication/engagement in itself• Not a habit in which an addiction can be formed• Cannot be ignored in process of communication• Needs policies & strategies

for use

WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA?

“Social media are platforms for interaction and relationships, not content and ads.”

KEY TO SOCIAL MEDIA USE

• ENGAGEMENT• CONSISTENCY• RELIABILITY

www.facebook.com

• Difference between pages and posts• Security

www.twitter.com• Features• Uses:• Networking• Knowledge sharing• Information dissemination• Information gathering• Stakeholder engagement

Google+

GOOGLE TOOLS• Google Search• Google Alerts• Google Trends