New Facebook Page

Following up on yesterday’s post HERE, and based on the fact that WordPress now allows for superb – yet quite complex and time-consuming -  integration possibilities with Facebook, all participants of this past weekend’s Ycademy Seminar November 2011 developed a new Facebook Page – also called “Fanpage”.

New Facebook Page

It’s a personal choice as to whether the access to one’s new Facebook Page goes via a so-called ‘reveal page’ – as explained yesterday – or visitors don’t have to go the extra ‘like’ route and can have a quick look without that at what the owner of the Facebook Fanpage has to offer.

While I setup the “like-us” page for the time being as part of the exercise – and I quite like it as I love my owl :) – I would probably prefer to offer the straight route.

For the time being, I integrated an elegant SlideDeck with a number of slides inviting the visitor to click on what interests them – be it to connect and meet me on a more persoanl level – which would obviously be on my Author Blog -, or if they share my passion for photography to go to my Photo Blog… or, if they have a professional interest in what I’m doing and might need a website, then they can go to my Showcase 2010 to check out my work and style and see if that’s what appeals to them. As simple as that.

Facebook Trends

Everybody talks about “original quality content” – yet how many deliver it? And how does it compare to the masses of cyberwaste out there?

From what I hear, the Like-Me button may lose its importance and the new Facebook Trend will be a focus on quality content.

More on this later… at the moment I was just suprised by an impressive snake who snuggled up next to me in the wastebin and refused to move out back into the garden… she preferred a cooler place under my sofa. A bit of a weird feeling to have THIS visitor right next to me… I got her on a photo… but then I had to jump LOL

More later!

Facebook Fanpage

Creating a Facebook Fanpage from our WordPress has become possible and, accordingly, this month’s (current) Ycademy Seminar November 2011 focuses on setting up the Best WP based Facebook Fanpage based on our purpose and online media marketing requirements.

Facebook Fanpage

The question to ask ourselves is: “Who would we like to attract… where… how… and why?” and definitely, we would only want to ‘talk’ to serious people who have an interest in what we are doing, offering or showing them and from where we can expect some interesting ‘conversation’. I am still amazed how this form of terminology is being translated and adapted to a modern online format – but since this is fast becoming the norm, we’ve got to learn the language and be … ‘cool’. LOL

How do we do this – especially if we don’t have the time nor the interest of hanging out on Social Networks all day long as we are busy doing our real business – in my case Web Design and Media related stuff that needs absolute focus, concentration and trips in the ‘real’ world without even a smartphone or any other form of line to attach me … duuuh, which Aquarius likes that anyway???

Talking Facebook Fanpage right now, this is what we are elaborating right now. . . and what you see above is my so-called “Reveal Page”.

What does this mean?

It simply means that only people who have clicked on “Like” get the Inside Story! To others this remains hidden… So while online marketing remains a numbers game at the end of the day, this kind of approach definitely puts quality (meaning the quality of an online relationship…) above quantity.

Having spent some time on Social Networks over the past 2 months or so, and having built some contact of value… I can say, this is what I ‘like’.

Web Design with Passion

My Author Blog Bianca Gubalke stands for “Web Design with Passion” which obviously encompasses many areas of interest… be it Web Development, Web Design, Media Design, Photography, Graphic Design, Editing and Publishing to name the main categories. Once the Facebook Fanpage has been ‘liked’, these categories can be directly accessed and conversation can begin.

The technical setup and implementation will be subject of today’s second day at the Ycademy Seminar. I will be back soon!

Social Commerce

In my research into Infographics and Social Media I was directed towards a great piece of Infographics by “Useful Social Media” on Empire Avenue who have created a Social Commerce timeline infographic with important statistics and decisive moments  within the short chronology of the merger between Social Media and eCommerce.

From what I read, Social Commerce is  “…one of the hottest social trends in 2011, and [...] many brands, such as beverage company Big Train, along with major players like Coca Cola, Starbucks and Disney, have embraced this opportunity to make it easy for social media fans to purchase products directly from social networks.”

Social Commerce

Building contacts in Social Networks genre Facebook or Empire Avenue and others may not be everybody’s cup of tea; many may see it as a waste of time and cyberwaste  given the fact that it remains mostly on the surface, meaning there’s no real depth of conversation, no real content, a start without a future.

It must not be so! And besides, it’s a numbers game: with some you will ‘click’, with others you won’t – next! It’s just as in real life!

Getting over the initial efforts and adding some consistency to our activities and – perhaps most importantly – reaching out ourselves, we may well find great people and professionals hiding behind the ‘shareholder’ and ‘like’ facade! As I just did!

As always: if it’s to be it’s up to me!

Have a great week!

About the Social Community

When looking at the amount of Social Networks sprouting everywhere – Empire Avenue, Facebook, Twitter to start with – it all seems to be about the Social Community and its interaction, so-called ‘conversation’ and communication. We are talking strictly online here.

The question is: how social is a ‘Like’, how social is a ‘blurb’…. how social is all this on the surface forced and in most cases minimal and totally superficial exchange for some virtual benefit in one way or another really?

And then we have to ask ourselves what we actually understand by ‘social’? Sure, we all seem to know what it means, but what’s the definition?

About the Social Community

Before going into the more scientific approach, I found a quote by Rudolf Steiner that encompasses within just one sentence what I think says it all – and I am monitoring in my own activities on especially Empire Avenue whether or not we actually – virtually speaking – live it… whether it’s at all possible… :

“A healthy social life is found only, when in the mirror of each soul the whole community finds its reflection, and when in the whole community the virtue of each one is living.”

The photo of a flamingo looking at his own reflection in the water I shot a few months back in Hout Bay, South Africa illustrates the thought and leaves room for meditation. Imagine the whole flamingo community around… which it was, just not captured on this photo, but on many others. He was part of it, totally… sort of floating on their distinctive ‘blabla’ while certainly more interested in anything eatable he could grab in the muddy waters under his stamping feet…

Social Meaning

So now let’s look into the social meaning via Wikipedia – I quote their definition:

“The term Social refers to a characteristic of living organisms (humans in particular, though biologists also apply the term to populations of other animals). It always refers to the interaction of organisms with other organisms and to their collective co-existence, irrespective of whether they are aware of it or not, and irrespective of whether the interaction is voluntary or involuntary.”
What I find interesting is the statement: “… irrespective of whether they are aware of it or not, and irrespective of whether the interaction is voluntary or involuntary”.

I continue:

“In the absence of agreement about its meaning, the term ‘social’ is used in many different senses and regarded as a fuzzy concept, referring among other things to:

Attitudes, orientations, or behaviors which take the interests, intentions, or needs of other people into account (in contrast to anti-social behaviour) has played some role in defining the idea or the principle. For instance terms like social realism, social justice, social constructivism, social psychology and social capital imply that there is some social process involved or considered, a process that is not there in regular, “non-social” realism, justice, constructivism, psychology, or capital.

The adjective ‘social’ is also used often in political discourse, although its meaning in a context depends heavily on who is using it. In left-wing circles it is often used to imply a positive characteristic, while in right-wing circles it is generally used to imply a negative characteristic. It should also be noted that, overall, this adjective is used much more often by those on the political left than by those on the political right. For these reasons, those seeking to avoid association with the left-right political debates often seek to label their work with phrases that do not include the word ‘social’. An example is quasi-empiricism in mathematics which is sometimes labelled social constructivism by those who see it as an unwarranted intrusion of social considerations in mathematical practice.

In contemporary society, ‘social’ often refers to the redistributive policies of the government which aim to apply resources in the public interest, for example, social security. Policy concerns then include the problems of social exclusion and social cohesion. Here, ‘social’ contrasts with ‘private’ and to the distinction between the public and the private (or privatised) spheres, where ownership relations define access to resources and attention. [...]”

We often take expressions and terms for granted without questioning them or going into more depth; I think here’s lots of room for thought as concerns ‘Social Networks’ on the Internet… the online soclial community so to speak… and its influence on Social Network Publishing.

Your thoughts are welcome…

Africa and the Mobile Web

As the 14th AfricaCom – Africa’s largest Communications Conference – is about to open its doors tomorrow, 9th November 2011, in Cape Town, South Africa… and this with some 150+ speakers who will share their vision of Africa’s future communications landscape, it’s worth getting a fact-based idea of Africa and the Mobile Web.

Please take note of my earlier posts on Media Marketing Africa HERE and Will AfricaCom be the Turning Point for Digital Africa HERE.

Africa and the Mobile Web

As part of Symbiotic Media (African Mirror), I was invited to have a look at the inside story. This allows me to give some profound feedback on Africa and the Mobile Web based on the latest press release.

So let me share some staggering data in terms of the really trail-blazing way Africans communicate over vast distances without any of the modern infra-structure first-world countries are accustomed to.

World-leading by Mobile Subscriptions

The first fact is already mind-blowing: Africa is the world’s second-most connected region … in other words: almost world-leading by mobile subscriptions! Who would have thought that? I didn’t!

The number of mobile subscriptions in Africa are set to reach one billion in 2016!

In fact, Africa has become the second most connected region in the world in terms of mobile subscription count, up from a 4th place at the end of 2010, according to new research by Informa Telecoms & Media. There were over 616 million mobile subscriptions in Africa at the end of September. This means that the mobile market on the continent is second only to Asia-Pacific in terms of mobile subscription numbers.

Africa’s mobile-subscription count overtook that of Western Europe during 2Q11 and then overtook the Americas in 3Q11. At end-2010, less than a year ago, Africa was only the fourth largest regional mobile market by subscriptions, coming after Asia-Pacific, Western Europe and the Americas.

Incredible!

“The combination in Africa of a still relatively immature telecoms market with factors including population growth, strong competition among providers and the increasing affordability of mobile devices, explains Africa’s move up the regional mobile-market rankings as well as its strong growth forecast,” said Matthew Reed, head of mobile research for the Middle East and Africa at Informa Telecoms & Media. “Africa’s mobile market is heading towards a major landmark: the number of mobile subscriptions on the continent will cross the one billion mark in 2016 according to our latest forecast.”

Africa will retain its position as the second biggest regional mobile market by subscriptions, according to Informa’s forecasts for the coming five years. However, there is a strong trend for Africa mobile subscribers to have multiple SIM cards and consequently the number of unique users of mobile services on the continent is smaller than the number of subscriptions. The number of unique users in Africa at end-2016 is forecasted to be 572.35 million.

Nigeria biggest mobile market

Nigeria will continue to be Africa’s biggest mobile market by subscriptions, with a forecasted 152.09 million subscriptions at end-2016.

Egypt will hold onto its position as Africa’s second-biggest mobile market, with a forecasted 118.03 million subscriptions at end-2016.

South Africa, the continent’s third largest mobile market, will have 80.56 million mobile subscriptions at end-2016.

Mobile Penetration Rate

Africa is forecasted to have a mobile penetration rate of 86.92% at end-2016, still lower than in other regions.

3G (WCDMA) subscriptions and market share in Africa will grow strongly over the coming years. The mobile-market-share held by WCDMA is forecasted to rise from 6.6% at end-2011 to 46% at end-2016, almost equalling GSM’s market-share of 47.5% at end-2016.

About Customer Retention

As the African market matures, the retention of existing customers is becoming increasingly important.

A recent survey by Informa Telecoms & Media into the views of African operators on customer loyalty found that 21.8% of respondents ranked customer retention as their main priority while 18.2% said it was customer acquisition, and 60% said that customer retention and customer acquisition were equally important.

Informa’s Analysts will be discussing this and other hot topics at the Africa Com event in Cape Town next week. For more information please visit: AfricaCom HERE.

I will be back with more…

African Mirror

African Mirror – A Reflection of the Times – will soon be out with its latest and absolutely smashing offline edition! The pink cactus photo taken outside their offices in Cape Town, South Africa, yesterday… signals something spectacular to look forward to and definitely: there is a sense of excitement and promise in the air down here in the forgotten corner of the Southern Hemisphere! Perhaps the reason why the royals are all visiting …?

African Mirror

As it states in its introduction, African Mirror “…reflects on important issues relevant to the growth of our people and our economic well-being. Its uniqueness is in its portrayal of South Africa within an African context within a global context, employing cutting edge design, layout and exclusive and erudite editorial.”

African Mirror is an exquisite offline business-to-business publication with an indefinite shelf-life and a huge pass-on readership. This attractive publication is the premier marketing tool for major endorser organisations, and the only South African – if not African – magazine of its kind that is distributed to 125 embassies and trade missions around the world.

Look forward to be astonished… and there’s much more in store that we will be revealing at a later stage :)

Happy Weekend

Just wishing everybody a relaxed and happy weekend right from my webcam!

Happy Weekend

Also thinking of all our European friends who are going through some rough moments…
May the right solutions be found with Vision, Wisdom and Peace; may People discover themselves in other People and realize that there is only ONE way: together… with mutual respect and understanding!
In South Africa we say “Ubuntu”: “I am because you are. ”

Tough times are for our Growth – Happy Weekend!

KIVA South Africa on Google

While understanding and integrating Social Networks into our Internet Marketing strategy is essential in today’s online environment, the fact remains that Google still holds the reigns quite tightly when it comes to capturing the main traffic – meaning when people look for something specific on the net, punching in a keyword string – eg. ‘KIVA South Africa’ – be it for research, mere interest or to buy, with the credit card between their teeth :)

KIVA South Africa on Google

Designing exclusively on our own sophisticated WordPress based Semiomantics Scripts includes regular monitoring of our results, meaning the visibility and performance of our articles and posts – yes even mere images – on Google Top 10.

Two days ago I wrote a little post about my new venture into a Social Network with a twist that makes sense in that it supports less advantaged people in poor countries (well… not only…) to build and sustain their business by means of loans, especially when times are tough or an accident or natural desaster has brought them to the verge of collapse. The name is KIVA and you are welcome to find out more by clicking on the link here.

However, my main issue here is: How did my article on KIVA South Africa perform on Google?

Well, a picture – or in this case a quick screenshot – talks more than many words.  It did exactly one shot with no help in terms of relating domain names … I had just started this whole journey – and what you see is that even today, 2 days later, my article is still on position 6 on Google Top 10 ahead of 939,000 search returns! Not a big number in Semiomantics terms, but just another proof in terms of efficiency and reliability:

Semiomantics – what else

Get your websites and blogs to Google Top 10 with  Semiomantics – what else?

Kiva South Africa

Did you ever ask yourself how you could make a positive difference in the lives of those who work hard yet just cannot make it for one reason or another – drought, sudden loss of family members or work animals, illness, floods… you name it – and who have little or no access to what is the norm in industrialized countries in terms of banking, loans and credit?

Well, I’ve found a solution I like, a solution that doesn’t distribute fish for a day but rather helps people to fish or to continue fishing – brief: I have signed up with KIVA!  Click on the picture here for more information!

While noone is obliged to take this step, I decided to become a “KIVA Lender”. It means that I made my first small investment of only $25 in a loan that will definitely change lives! What I like is that the funds go directly from my PayPal to KIVA and from there 100% to the microfinance client, in my case three business women in Benin – as I found nothing on KIVA South Africa – but I love to help empower Africa’s strong and compassionate women, never mind where they are!

Kiva South Africa

After some research on Google, I found that KIVA South Africa is already pretty active – which doesn’t come as a surprise to me as micro-loans have been popular here since quite a while.

I don’t want to explain here what is beautifully presented on the website itself; therefore I invite you to check KIVA out by clicking right HERE! You will find it highly professional, serious and inspiring! What a great initiative – and so easy to support!

Why not stand together and make a difference? Yes! We CAN!

Good Morning from Noordhoek

Good Morning from Noordhoek… with the first rays of a glorious sun gently touching Chapman’s Peak and gliding down the slopes of the majestic mountain… my garden still enveloped in shadows and awakening! May this be the promise of yet another day filled with joy and laughter for you!

Good Morning from Noordhoek

This very early “Good Morning from Noordhoek” greeting was taken when I did some sound recordings in my garden capturing the spectacular concerto of birds, hadidas, Egyptian geese, a crow, guinea fowel, jubilant roosters, even a wild peacock and more… besides a very loud surf reverberating all the way up the mountain from the Atlantic Ocean.

Yet the sea was calm… and it still is as I write these lines.

Here’s to a splendid Saturday … and wishing our Canadian friends “Happy Thanksgiving”! In a way, my daily little cheer message is jsut that: a daily Thanksgiving!

Good morning from Noordhoek

Good morning from Noordhoek is meant for you… to bring a smile to your lips and inviting you to look up at the sky!

Good morning from Noordhoek

Wishing you all a wonderful “Good Morning from Noordhoek” – right from my garden… where this stunning emerald sunbird keeps following me from the moment I open my Studio door – just too beautiful.

Don’t forget to go out and smell the roses… refuel and observe the beauty of the world… it may be in something tiny or within a serene view – be grateful for the gift of another day filled with promise and wonder!

The Future of Travel Information

I don’t know about you, but before I book a trip I talk to people I know who may have been there, I try to find out a maximum about my targeted holiday spot on the Internet and yes! I would also check what’s on the shelves at Exclusive Books here in Cape Town, South Africa. There’s nothing like sitting in the garden or on the beach and paging through a real book… then lifting one’s view to the distant horizon and do what I call “… just dream it”.

While the dream may be so spectacular that you never buy that flight ticket… chances are that all the accumulated information gets you excited and you get on that plane to dreamland!

The fact today is, however, that most people search on Google, get to Travel and Tourism related websites and blogs to read reviews and be inspired by other tourists … and then simply book online. It’s just a few mouse-clicks and you’re on the plane.

Therefore, and especially with the explosion of Social Media Marketing through social networks like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc, it seems the Future of Travel Information is obvious… and this has an impact on the future destiny of Travel Guides… cherished by many, but not by the masses.

The Future of Travel Information

The fact is, that the most relevant and pretty genuine information about places and trips is easily found in form of ‘user-generated content’ on Social Networks. Who needs to ask a Travel expert if there is a possibility to talk to someone living exactly where one wants to go, and this since generations and with a joyful willingness to share and answer questions?

Add to this the speed of the Mobile Web!

Listen to Richard Trillo, author of several African Guide Books, at the eTourism Africa Summit 2011 in Cape Town, South Africa, how he sees the Future of Travel Information and, of course, the traditional travel guide.

ENJOY!

I just discovered a slideshow of his presentation that you can find by clicking on  the top photo here.

Good Morning from Noordhoek

Good Morning from Noordhoek… wishing you a joyful and fulfilled day!

Good Morning from Noordhoek

Losing Internet connections again at around 8 am this morning… just after posting my article regarding the passing of visionary Apple legend Steve Jobs… I got out into the rising sunshine to quietly follow my inner guidance and shoot today’s “Good Morning from Noordhoek” picture. It was good to connect with Nature, fuel up on its abundant energy and see how life goes on in perfect rhythm celebrating the cycle of life and death.

I knew I wanted a white picture… something pure, something light – so here it is in all its splendour with no other reason than wanting to make you smile :)

Have a wonderful day!

Good bye Steve Jobs

Opening my Safari browser a few minutes ago just made my heart stop for a few moments: there he was, one of the true visionaries and movers of our digital era, a man who has transformed the way we communicate on the mobile web and this with incredible style, efficiency, functionality…and financial success: Steve Jobs, looking straight at me through his fine-rimmed glasses in clean, elegant black and white Apple-style. Even before I saw the dates: 1955 to 2011… I knew the Apple legend had passed to the next level:
Good bye Steve Jobs.

Good bye Steve Jobs

Once again, Steve Jobs grabbed our attention and all the world is watching!

In my case here in Noordhoek at the tip of South Africa – full-screen on the highest valued real estate in the world! Again he demonstrated that with being on the Internet and having joined the virtual reality there is no escape; here we are all one. At least here it becomes blatantly visible… which all has both sides, good and bad and it certainly accelerates our evolution at an incredible pace. It often made me ponder as to how all this connected to our spiralling and accelerating path towards a higher consciousness… as I have no doubt that we too are on a transformational journey. Comparing the terminology both environments are using – the spiritual and the digital – is revelatory alone…

Is this too a look into the future?

Strangely enough – this picture has no finality to me…

There’s much more to come – but for the moment and leaving the real laudatio to the big boyz, I just say “Thank you” as I too have learned a lot…and : Good bye Steve Jobs!

New Facebook Timeline Profile

With the Social Media Marketing buzz reaching peak levels in the virtual world… and the fierce competition – Google + – having come up with a social media platform I personally really like – Facebook is releasing its new Timeline and I’ve just got my head around setting up the new Facebook Timeline Profile – here’s a screenshot:

New Facebook Timeline Profile

The New Facebook Timeline Profile features a bigger picture at the top with a very smooth and simple upload facility. The little icon to the left sits basically on top of it. As I did not want the face again, I added an icon first… see screenshot below – however, this little icon accompanies each post and, as this face is sort of known already and basically my brand, I gave it a slightly different shape and uploaded it. That it would come up large in 1 : 1 format on the resulting action was quite a surpise, but one will get used to this! In any case, everything is much better integrated as far as I can see.

To the far right, top, you see the timeline… and depending on when your online autobiography starts, that’s as far as it goes down. You can now go back in time and add comments, pictures, documents – whatever. We are writing our life story here – well, if that was my intention I would have to sit here for quite a while – but those who have been active on Facebook for a while will love this feature. It’s much more organized for sure and certainly a brilliant move – for Facebook.

The new Family Tree – let’s face it :)

Web Design with Passion

This Facebook page gives us a nice opportunity on a privileged spot to present who we are, show whatever we wish to be seen as or to simply give people an idea as to what our business is about.

In my case it’s Web Design with Passion – that’s what I stand for with all that’s connected to it: the Discussion and Research with the Customer, the entire Project Management, some Code, the entire Web Design including Media, Editing and SEO efficient Online Publishing… and all this on WP based Semiomantics Scripts of course. This means Google Top 10 positions and exposure on Social Networks.

Tip: make sure you go through your settings on Facebook to control who and what you allow.

Good Morning from Noordhoek

Good Morning from Noordhoek right from the top – wishing you all a splendid day and the perfect joy of being!

Good Morning from Noordhoek

Skies are blue and the vision is perfect! The garden exploding in spectacular colors – an absolute joy of living and sharing all over!

Wishing everybody an extraordinary day – Good Morning from Noordhoek!

How to get 64 Million Views on YouTube

Every Marketing effort on the Internet is aimed at getting more traffic, more views, more visitors, more readers and… more potential customers and clients. Enormous daily, weekly, monthly and annual advertising budgets are spent on getting products and services in front of customers before anyone else and in a way that’s more attractive, more persuasive – brief: getting peoples’ attention and buying power before the competition does.

The eternal fight.

And then there’s a normal human being like you and me who spends some fun time on an African safari and manages to teach us all how to get 64 Million views on YouTube at a snap ! He has fun, the viewers have fun and everybody is happy!

How did this happen?

How to get 64 Million Views on YouTube

In September 2004, two tourists from America visited Kruger National Park in South Africa. They were lucky enough to be at the right spot at the right time with a small sheap camcorder in hand when a pride of lions stalked and attacked a herd of buffalo who were coming to the dam to drink. I won’t tell you the story as it’s really worth watching – just click on the picture above as it will lead you to the YouTube video. You will be holding your breath for a few moments though, so be prepared… but besides some unbelievable animal interaction, there’s a happy ending to this daily drama in the bush. So have a look at “Battle of Kruger” unless you’ve seen it already – perhaps following my earlier post on the topic.

Of course, putting this video on YouTube got the ball rolling and viral marketing take over as more and more people watched and referred it to their friends, emailed the link or simply posted the video on their Facebook pages. Social Media marketing today is really easy, costs nothing and is simply a way to communicate interesting stuff to those we know and talk to. And we know that everyone knows everyone around just 6 corners. In other words – the entire marketing was done with no dime spent: by users.

It’s User Marketing… though I haven’t heard this word being used yet…

That’s how to get 64 million views on YouTube! Just grab your camera and start :)

Good Morning from Noordhoek

Finally, here’s today’s joyful  greeting for you: “Good Morning from Noordhoek!”

Good Morning from Noordhoek

After losing Internet connections completely last night at 8 pm and only getting them back early this morning, there was no early going out as it was raining. Once the clouds lifted, I went out with my digital camera to capture a special moment – which is what you see here! Meanwhile, the sun  is out reflecting in millions of little glittering droplets on bushes, branches and flowers.

This little baby sunbird left its nest on our terrace just a few days ago, when I documented its first flight, its first nibbling at something other than mummy’s beak and looking at the new world with big wondrous eyes.

She seems to remember me… whenever I go out, she comes flying along from flower to flower, watching with her little inquisitve eyes. I may be wrong but I think it’s a little female… we will see! The next nest on the terrace is already being built, this time with a view of Chapman’s peak and a sunshine terrace in the strelitzia nicolai – excuse me!

Have a lovely day!

How Social Media can Raise Awareness

Coming back to my feedback regarding the eTourism Africa Summit in Cape Town, South Africa, here’s a short snippet to show how Social Media can raise Awareness. This can be of tremendous help for many worthy causes. Here a brief example concerning Nature Conservation, where we can help protect one of our most precious resources right here in Africa.

How Social Media can Raise Awareness

Presenter Damian Cook from Kenya demonstrates with the example of Africa’s almost extinct Northern White Rhinoceros how we – the ‘users’ of the Internet… the ‘producers’ of so-called ‘content’ that continuously floods Social Networks like Facebook and Twitter – and obviously YouTube (watch my next post !) …with all the new stories, comments, thoughts and recommendations… can make everybody aware of things that matter, that are of concern to all of us and where it’s worth to stand together for a real cause. Please watch this brief snippet on YouTube for more information.

Keep the Pressure On

As long as we “… keep the pressure on…” we have good chances to have a positive and powerful impact – here for a truly worthy cause: saving one of our most precious resources.

This example shows the mind-boggling power to influence and determine that Social Networks have – meaning: the users, to be exact: YOU! So no more hiding; we can all make a difference: yes! we CAN!

Listening to Silence

Earlier today, I was asked as to whether the Internet was good or bad – and all I could answer was that it was a matter of perspective and our clear decision as to whether we would use a rather neutral tool in a positive or negative way. Meaning for a good or a bad purpose.

Not always the choice is that easy – and that may cause inner conflict.

Within the loudness of the virtual world … of Social Networks like Twitter, Facebook and so many others with their distinctive Social Media Marketing glitz and glamour… an environment where so much is spoken with so little being said… it’s essential to stop spinning from time to time, realign, anchor oneself and find that inner space where we are still.

Whether we go out into Nature… practise yoga or meditate… we want to reach that level where everything ebbs away… where we start flowing… where we are listening to silence.

Listening to Silence

Ironically, it is this loud and dizzying virtual world that offers us incredible opportunities, bringing us into contact – almost direct contact – with some of the most evolved minds, allowing us to listen, learn and expand our horizon.

Here is one of those rare pearls that gives me something more each time I listen… with so much being expressed between the words. I’m talking of J. Krishnamurti, one of the world’s most influential thinkers and teachers.

The below memorable Interview by famous controversial British journalist and broadcaster – Bernard Levin – took place in Brockwood, UK, on 20th June 1981 – about 30 years ago. Thanks to the Internet, we have the privilege of listening to it today – and nothing has been lost in terms of meaningfulness and quality… it’s incredibly direct, it’s loving and encompassing. In our world today – filled with conflict and going through dramatic change -, Krishnamurti addresses fundamental values, our thoughts and our thinking, the importance of being light and … without conflict.

Love to share it with you.

I will add the next part of the series as time permit. The direct link to YouTube is HERE.