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Discover the impact of social media in Africa, the evolution to new media, traditional vs. new communication forms, mobile telephony trends, and insights on social media usage for meaningful engagement. Explore key platforms and tools for effective communication strategies.
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Social Media for Radio Dinesh Balliah dinesh@dineshballiah.com www.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
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 ignoredin process of communication • Needs policies & strategiesfor 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 TOOLS • Google Search • Google Alerts • Google Trends