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This is the presentation I will be delivering this morning at the African Media & Broadcasting Congress at the Sandton Convention Centre, South Africa
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social media and
technology challengessome lessons and approaches from personal experience
a good enough definition:
Any communications format where the users
publish the content- wikipedia
social media is one of the
defining characteristics of
web 2.0 behaviour
component parts original content, meta-
content
distribution, reading context
original content blogs, comments, video, photos
wordpress | zoopy | flickr | youtube
meta-content aggregators, social news,
analytics
amatomu | afrigator | muti | digg | del.icio.us
technology generally built on open-source
softwareWeb Server - Apache
Application - PHP / Python / Ruby on Rails
Database - MySQL / PostgreSQL
data challenges large volumes of loosely structured data,
folksonomies, very transactional and real-
time
application challenges complex logic, useability,
privacy
other challenges editorial and legal,
quality, abuse, spam
some ways to approach all of these
challenges things I learnt while paying my
dues
be multi-disciplinary you cannot approach these problems successfully from the extreme perspectives of either corporate IT or marketing - this is a social space and is necessarily complex and fluid
1
pay heed to Merton unintended consequences are caused by ignorance, error, immediate interest, prohibitive values and self-fulfilling prophecies
2
get proper information there is a lot of hype about Web 2 and its potential for businesses - there is also a lot of hype. If you have any doubts, do proper research first.
3
harmony with culture the successful social media services are those that get incorporated into people’s daily lives, so your product must resonate within their culture
4
lived environment harsh or one-dimensional environments do not sustain life. A careful proportion of the world must be hackable and support personal appropriation - without obscuring the common sense uses
5
avoid streisand the streisand effect is when, trying to hide something, you draw more attention to it. Honesty is the best policy when communicating with users
6
work iteratively everything is going to have to change when the users move in, so start basic and learn while you grow
7
be aware of power all social applications are effused with power. Heirarchies and elites form spontaneously and they can damage your product. Understand that power is fluid and can be displaced and redistributed lightly and subtly.
8
we already have the wheel use open-source software or buy products if your requirements allow it, spend your time making them unique rather than getting to the starting line.
9
let go of ownership make content re-use easy, build APIs where possible/logical and remember that people get claustrophobic when you lock them in
10
that’s right - people
suddenly, and sometimes unpleasantly, you have to
accept that your users will have a personal interest in what you
do
support is no longer the gulag, you will need to
be able to understand your users and communicate with
them as decision-makers
dependent on their good-will
staffing is important a few good people who put their heart and soul into it. If they
don’t have hearts or souls, put
them in you billing dept
thank you and questions