The headline on this story in WSJ caught my attention immediately: "Young Urban India Ditches Social Media."
So often, I find that social media trends in Asia seem to be leagues ahead of the US because they largely jumped the personal computer era and landed straight into the mobile world.
According to the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India, "urban Indian students (aged 12 to 25 years) are experiencing 'social-media fatigue' as they no longer consider social networking to be 'a fad.' "
"Of 2,000 Internet users surveyed across 14 cities, 55% recorded that they had 'consciously reduced' time spent on social media, while nearly 30% had already 'deactivated or deleted their accounts' from popular websites like Facebook, Twitter, Orkut and LinkedIn. The remaining preferred to maintain 'a low profile' as they claimed their privacy was “being breached” via social networking."
You know how I love demo data! Check out the full piece here.
Not so interested in the gender data right now, but the info on countries using LinkedIn is the most interesting part of this set to me. There are several top ten countries on Facebook that do not appear on the LinkedIn list (ex. Mexico, Germany). Does this mean that these countries use social media less for business and more for play? Or are there regional or in country rivals that serve a similar purpose?
I'm excited to share with you an interview with Simon Kemp of BBH in Singapore. Those who know me well understand that I have a bit of a fascination with data, specifically cultural data. In addition to being uber interesting, cultural data gives us a quick peek into the world of those around us. With this data, we can begin to assess actions, preferences, problems, solutions...anything really (<<-- Like I said, fascination).
Given my Caribbean heritage, I have traveled quite a bit through that region, but my global travel has been limited. In late 2010, I traveled to China and it opened my eyes to several new cultures. Ultimately, the trip sparked an interest in exploring more of Asia to experience the variety of cultures and to observe the role social media in society.
I was delighted to see a new report on Mobile and Digital Media Trends in India and had to reach out to the author to get his perspectives on use in the region. Here we go!
Adopted Culture: Oooh, that's a tricky one - I'm a culture chameloen. I try to adopt any culture that surrounds me, mostly because I get a lot of satisfaction in doing so.
How did you first begin using social media (Blogs, Social Networks, etc)?
I started using basic Internet forums when I was at university back in 1996, but I got more into the current form of social media when I discovered sites like Friendster in 2005. I was working in marketing strategy at that time, and realised that these communities offered quite an interesting opportunity, but I only really started to develop serious social media entities for clients in 2008.
What currently drives your interest in the social media space?
I'm lucky, in the sense that social media plays a central part of my role at BBH (an advertising agency). I also have a few social media 'properties' of my own, most of which relate to music marketing and promotion. The biggest of these are my own DJ page - http://www.facebook.com/eskipresents - and a facebook-based playlist service called The Cartel - http://www.facebook.com/jointhecartel
I also love the opportunities that social media offer for social serendipity; I've met some of my best friends through social media, and every day I meet someone new and inspiring through services like Twitter and Facebook.
Social Media in the US really hit a tipping point in 2007-2008 when major election debates were taking place online and news networks began reporting on conversations occurring within social spaces. What are some of the major drivers of conversation in India? Is it politics, sports, entertainment?
The adoption of social media in India has followed an interesting path. It started out with considerable, organic adoption of Orkut, and India still accounts for a sizeable chunk of that network's global traffic, even if much of the Indian people's interest has now shifted to Facebook.
However, it's only been in the past few months that we've seen steeper adoption curves of the Internet in general in India, and with it the stunning growth of social networks. My sense is that, rather than big events like elections or major sporting occasions, the tipping point in South Asia has more to do with simplified access - mobile devices are driving growth across many sectors of the Indian web, while ever-increasing access to computers is helping to fuel that trend. Having said that, the Internet played a significant role in coverage of the recent ICC Cricket World Cup, and given the sport's popularity across all strands of Indian society, it's likely that cricket will be a major driver of heightened social interactivity in the future.
Business is also playing a significant role in the adoption of social media across India, with sites like LinkedIn proving popular. Reliable, recent figures for Twitter usage in the country are difficult to come by, but it seems that Twitter adoption rates amongst India's huge professional population is exploding too.
Nearly 800 million people in India (67% of the population) are mobile users, and the penetration of mobile phones was found to be higher than television.
What is the relationship between mobile platforms and traditional media channels? Are the two interconnected or is mobile dominating on its own when it comes to consuming news and other information?
Interestingly, I haven't seen any studies that examine this phenomenon in any detail in India, but there is anecdotal evidence to suggest that mobile phones are a primary source of entertainment in their own right, especially when it comes to music. We are in the process of exploring how people in India use mobile devices in parallel with other media (particularly TV), but we don't have any findings to share on that yet.
Our understanding is that dual use exists, but certainly not on the scale we've seen in the US around big TV events like the Superbowl or American Idol. Based on my experience of Indian culture and the way Indians love to analyse and discuss things though, my personal sense is that this phenomenon will become a major part of media consumption across the subcontinent, and I wouldn't be surprised if India pioneered some major new platforms to facilitate this sort of 'mass conversation'.
Blogs, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are clear frontrunners in terms of social engagement in the US. However, within the last two years, location based social networks like Foursquare, Gowalla and SCVNGR have come onto the scene, and brands have encouraged consumer engagement by incentivizing users to check in at various locations. Have you seen this type of activity in India? How about the larger region?
Yes - again, reliable numbers are hard to come by, but we have seen considerable interest in location-based services like Foursquare in large cities, especially Mumbai (although it's worth stressing that penetration levels for such platforms are still low considering the sheer size of the Indian population). We are even seeing a few local brands getting in on the Foursquare action, but I haven't seen any 'official' results as yet.
As you move from India into South-East Asia, use of these platforms becomes even more widespread, with countries like Indonesia showing impressive adoption rates of services like Foursquare (a trend which is most likely correlated to that country's large-scale adoption of Twitter). Use of such services is also considerable in Singapore, and still growing at an impressive rate.
From my time in China, it was easy to see that social media has a real place in Chinese society and culture. Nearly every major, western social network has a Chinese counterpart. Have you observed the same or similar trends in India?
Social media are definitely becoming an important part of the digital scene in India, but that scene is evolving in a different way to the one in China. Generally speaking, Indian society is more welcoming of Western culture and business than China's, so many of the sites we see dominating across the rest of the world are also the market leaders in India. There are certainly notable local players too, but the pattern of re-creating platforms that we've witnessed in China is far less evident in India.
Stories coming out of India and some parts of Africa have led me to believe that the US is behind when it comes to engaging in mobile use with a purpose – mobile function dedicated to enhancing everyday life (work, leisure, social concerns, health, etc). Do you find this to be the case? What are some examples?
Yes, that would be my take on the situation too. Mobile plays a much more important role in developing nations, partly due to faltering fixed infrastructure, and partly due to the practicality and multi-use functionality of mobile devices. Mobiles in India have become a vital part of life, even in rural areas - farmers in remote villages can now take advantage of a wide variety of simple text-based services, from tracking weather patterns to performing simple financial transactions.
Perhaps the most impressive role mobile plays in India is when it comes to health though - mobiles keep health workers across the country informed of the latest developments, whether they relate to new outbreaks of communicable diseases, or to information on how to treat less common illnesses. We've even heard a number of stories of surgeons in remote parts of the country being guided through complex operations by peers hundreds of miles away via mobile phone. In that light, it's easy to see why access to a mobile phone can literally mean the difference between life and death.
Given the mobile phone's importance, it has become a financial priority for many people too, and I've heard many anecdotes of people making quite significant sacrifices in other areas to ensure their phone has sufficient credit. Indeed, this is true across much of Asia - we've witnessed similar trends in the Philippines and Indonesia too.
On a lighter note, mobile phones often serve as boomboxes for groups of friends in India, and it's common to see friends huddling round a basic feature phone that's blasting out the latest Bollywood hit.
Despite all of these great statistics, one point in your presentation stood out. You stated that “31 percent of India’s rural population is unaware of the internet.” Could you please expand on this point. How is this possible? What does this mean on a greater level?
Yes - I think it's worth starting by noting that this finding is from a piece of research conducted by the IAMAI, a well-respected industry body in India. It might seem quite shocking to people in the West that people in rural India have never even heard of the Internet, but it's worth putting this in context. Rural communities in India often struggle to gain access to even the most basic forms of education, and although the government is addressing this with schooling programs for children, older people do not enjoy that same privilege. Even fundamental health education programs in these communities have to start from the very basics - the importance of washing hands after going to the toilet or before handling foods - so it's perhaps easy to see why people might not have heard of the Internet. Moreover, many of these communities do not have widespread access to electricity, so many people may never have even seen a computer, let alone used one.
Lastly, you are well linked in to the social scene. Share a few sites or blogs that you would recommend if we wanted to follow the latest developments in India and/or in the South East Asian region.
I depend heavily on twitter to stay up to date on trends across the region, but I often refer to penn-olson.com and the local / regional sections within thenextweb.com. Beyond these, it can be difficult to find consistently reliable info on 'developing' countries, mainly because things change so fast. That was actually the main reason I started to put together the BBH Data Snapshot series - clients and partners regularly spoke of similar challenges, so I thought it made sense for someone to do something about that, and I set about collating anything I could find. In doing that, I've realised the value of a well-connected twitter community, and in that regard, I'd like to highlight @askaaronlee, @williswee and @ladyxtel who have all provided a wealth of information and inspiration in the reports so far.
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Many thanks for checking out this interview. If you would like to follow Simon's latest, you can follow him on Twitter: @eskimon. To see the full presentation, check out the slideshare deck below.
As I mentioned in my last post here, I had a great time at the Social Learning Summit 2011. At the event, I was joined by a great group of folks on a panel titled "Social Bill of Rights: Civil Rights and Social Media."
Following the panel, I sat down with Josh Feldman of American University's Tech Tauk to discuss Civil Rights, Social Media, Culture...oh and of course Malcolm Gladwell. Take a look, and if the spirit (or the keys) move you, let me know what you think!
I'm still on a high from the Social Learning Summit (#sls11), and I thought this was the perfect time to do a quick recap on my panel and share a great upcoming event with you. Here goes...
A small group of very passionate and talented students from the American University Social Media Club worked diligently for months to host an on-campus conference called the Social Learning Summit (#sls11). At the event, I was joined by a great group of folks on a panel titled "Social Bill of Rights: Civil Rights and Social Media."
To open up the session, the moderator asked us to speak to one of the challenges associated with causes and advocacy work once social media is in play. I noted that one of the challenges/opportunities with social media and advocacy projects is the ability to learn about others in the space doing what you do or something similar. This causes you to assess your efforts and that of your organization to see if you are really adding value by bringing a new perspectives and/or moving the cause forward.
It was a Google alert on "social media" and "diversity" that first led me to Ajay Puri and a fantastic event called: #NetCulture: Stories of Culture and Diversity in Social Media. After speaking about this event and the work being done via Coop Culture, I just knew that with the right amount of time and the right bank account that I would be right there with them in Vancouver for the event (today, April 5th)!!
Ray Hsu, Asian‐Canadian Creative Writing professor at UBC and Zi‐Ann Lum of “Way Too Azn”, will discuss how they used social media to respond to recent portrayals of Asians in the media, including Maclean’s ‘Too Asian?’ article—helping to spark a national debate about multiculturalism and inclusiveness.
Ashok Puri (aka Papa Puri) is a retiree and a fan of world travelling through couchsurfing.org; an online social group that unites those who prefer to engage in cultural exchange, friendship and learning during their travels. Papa Puri has shared his Indian recipes and spices with his hosts while connecting to his hosts’ cultures in China, Mexico, Nepal and many more countries. He also shares his recipes and experiences on his own blog, traditionally, not something we expect of a 67 year old South Asian. Although he still types with one finger on both hands, Papa Puri realizes the immense power he has to connect in the online space.
There is a great line up of speakers, and I encourage you to get to know all the people connected to the project with their own stories of culture and diversity!
The Socially Diverse project was first conceived because of discussions about diversity (or the perceived lack thereof) in social media. The focus here has always been exploring the internet to discover truly diverse, unique conversations and the people leading them - regardless of race or any other category. Given that it is Black History Month, I have to highlight a really great project that profiles rising people of color in the tech and social space.
This is the second year that Sutton has taken on this daily initiative during the month of February. This year, in addition to profiling these individuals, he asks each of them one critical question: How can we use technology to close the digital divide?
If you have not already, I strongly encourage you to visit SocialWayne.com and follow 28 Days of Diversity through the rest of February!
Following the mission of the Socially Diverse Project, I regularly venture out into the unknown online hoping to find interesting discussions that prompt us all to see how diverse the web truly is in terms of race and culture.
Occasionally, I come across not only a great conversation but a truly inspirational leader using the internet to bring people together to advance a cause and make real change.
Today, I have to pleasure of introducing one of those leaders to you - Yawa Hansen-Quao. This interview will be a two part series. I hope that you enjoy reading part 1. Make sure to return later this week for part 2. It will really show the power of the internet and how people can connect in ways that change lives forever!
Adopted Culture (The one you are most connected to): Ghanaian
1. When I saw your tweet and looked at your profile my first thought was: "Someone is following me in Ghana? Who is this? How did she find me?" That said, I must ask, how did you discover the Socially Diverse Project?
I made the decision in January of 2010 to resign my full-time job as a travel services professional and focus entirely on building The Leading Ladies’ Network; a women’s leadership development organization I founded in April 2009.
I began this organization with no real source of funding besides myself and I wanted my organization to stand out as much as possible. I did a lot of reading and talking to people about the best ways to promote my organization and its vision—particularly to tertiary-level women (our main target group) and the answer was almost unanimous—“Yawa, use social media tools like Twitter, Facebook & Blogs to spread your message and strengthen you and the organization as a brand.” So, I took the advice, created Twitter, Facebook and Wordpress accounts for Leading Ladies’ Network.
And because I also wanted to know more about social media and how to make the best uses of it so I regularly research and follow individuals and organizations
in this area—which is how I came to follow YOU on Twitter!
2. You are involved with a variety of activities that overlap between personal and professional interests, including travel. At the center of all of this lies the Leading Ladies Network. Please tell us about the network, its mission, a what inspired you to get started here.
My vision for LLN is really to develop and nurture a network of socially conscious women leaders who will help bring positive transformation to Africa and the rest of the world. Over the next five years, we seek to fulfill this vision by equipping tertiary-level women with the tools necessary for them to become effective leaders and agents of social change. Since our inception last year, we’ve
conducted numerous skill-building workshops for tertiary-level women including a 4-week public speaking & oral communication summer course for university women.
Now, most of our energies are towards development and implementation the “Female Leadership Advancement, Mentoring and Empowerment Series (F.LA.M.E.S.), which will become our organization’s signature leadership development program for tertiary-level women. And through F.L.A.M.E.S. we plan to expand our outreach to ALL regions of Ghana, not just women in tertiary-institutions in Accra.
This initiative will have a special emphasis on public institutions, particularly those that are not well-resourced, and are also in areas where there are high numbers of women in vulnerable situations and where the impact of emerging female leaders women would be most felt. FLAMES will include a community service component that will require participants to develop and implement a social change project that will positively impact other vulnerable groups in the society.
Once F.L.A.M.E.S. is successfully developed and implemented over the 5-year pilot period, LLN will have 500 women, from 10 regions of Ghana transformed into social change agents and brand ambassadors. Additionally, F.L.A.M.E.S. alumni will be engaged in the creation of a local and national network for peer mentoring, networking and resource sharing. This project truly excites me!
So, what inspired me to start the Leading Ladies’ Network? Well, since college, I’ve always been involved in causes for women, but it was after I made history in Ghana by becoming the first female to become president of a university-level student government organization that my interests began to shift towards the issues surrounding women’s leadership.
In Ghana, tradition still strongly determines the path that most women’s lives should take. For me, establishing LLN was necessary to fulfill the need for a formalized network dedicated to supporting the personal growth and professional development of aspiring women leaders in Ghana. My belief is that the more women leaders emerge, the more they can inspire other women and the more they can leverage their own success to improve circumstances for others.
3. You make good use of online technology and have several web properties dedicated to your organization, including a website, a blog, a Facebook Fan page and a Twitter account. What role does social media and online technology, in general, play in your day to day communication with the women who are a part of the network and potential supporters?
Our Leading Ladies’ Network Facebook Page is our most active source of dialogue with members and fans of our organization. We post regular tips, advice and links to useful information and of course, publish information about upcoming events. Our members post comments on our discussion boards and regularly share their comments on topical social issues. We also have a Wordpress blog.
We actively promote women’s usage of social media. Although socio-economic demands on women such as early marriage, child bearing also affect women’s ability to become visible leaders.
It appears that new technologies and social media tools open up a new world of opportunity for women to be able to continue to participate in global discussions and access knowledge from anywhere.
4. What prompted you to get involved with social media? Do you manage the accounts yourself or do you have help communicating with people on those platforms?
We manage our social media accounts with the help of some volunteers.
I also often participate and update our pages myself. Admittedly, we are still relatively new at using these tools so there is still a lot of trial and error. However, we have enthusiastically embracing social media and continue to learn the best ways to use it to our advantage.
5. What type of diversity do you see among the women in your network? What percent of the participants are from Ghana? What other countries are represented?
We see a lot of diversity. We have women from all over the world following our efforts. The majority of women are from Ghana. Within the African continent, participants are mostly from Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa. Other countries represented include the USA and the UK.
6. I know that you incorporate the idea of travel into the work that you do as a way to open minds and inspire. Does your work require you to travel? If so, where?
Travel will play an important role in our future activities. Our activities have centered in Accra-the capital city of Ghana and we’re determined to reach out into new regions of the country. Luckily, with our FLAMEs project, we will be doing just that! In the coming weeks, we will be traveling across the ten regions of Ghana to facilitate consultations, implement questionnaires and solicit input from tertiary institutions (Students, faculty and administrators), corporate Ghana (hiring managers who will tell us what they observe and they expect from female professionals) and other stakeholders etc. towards the development of the Female Leadership Advancement, Mentorship & Empowerment Series (FLAMES.); our flagship women’s leadership development curriculum for tertiary-level women.
7. Based on your experiences, share with us one place that we all should visit in our lifetime. Tell us why you've chosen this place.
If you could only visit two places in your lifetime, visit Ghana….twice!
I choose Ghana for various reasons. Of course, our country has numerous developmental challenges—some of which my organization is working to ameliorate. However, I don’t think there’s a better place on earth that represents an intersection between tradition and modernity. The hospitality of the people, the beauty of the terrain, the richness of natural resources, the music, excellent weather, organic food and abundance of economic opportunities make Ghana my top recommendation.
8. Please share with us one thing that you have been able to accomplish because you created the Leading Ladies Network.
I think my biggest accomplishment is simply as being the initiator of this vision. Undoubtedly, the most accomplished are the women who benefit from our programs.
I am particularly proud of those who participated in our rigorous 4-week Public Speaking and Oral Communications training program. It was very gratifying to see women who were once shy and fraught with stagefright transform right before your eyes.
9. If there was one thing that you could get from the greater online community to enhance your network, what would that be?
We are a young organization and yet have emerged as though-leaders in the arena of African women’s leadership. Through the greater online community, we would like to garner more attention to what we are doing and identify international partners that can help us take our efforts into new territories.
Profession: I guess you could still call me a student. I’ve recently completed my Bachelor of Communication majoring in public relations and journalism from the University of Newcastle (Australia). That said, I am presently freelancing for a number of football (soccer) magazines and websites while I conquer my indecision about whether to return to University for an Honours year, or step out of my comfort zone and look for a public relations role in one of Australia’s major cities, or even abroad. Although my current plans are to freelance in Asia and Europe later in 2011, I’m eager to network and connect with all potential employers – particularly those with a football or agency PR focus – and keen and willing to explore every possibility put to me at this stage in my life.
Location: Newcastle, Australia
Place of Origin: Newcastle, Australia
Adopted Culture: I’m proudly Australian and will always call Australia home. However, I’ve often joked with people that know me that I should have been born in Europe. My love for soccer was nurtured by a television station here in Australia called SBS (Special Broadcasting Service), who have remained profoundly devoted to covering soccer for as long as I can remember. Their coverage of European football and the passion the people of Europe have for the game led me, in part, to four months living in Germany when I was 18. Experiencing the German culture opened my eyes further to the passion people in Europe have for life and also made me many great friends. Therefore, I feel a strong affinity to Germany and the nuances of their culture, and have certainly adopted small aspects of their lifestyle into mine.
1. How did you first become engaged with social media (Blogs, Social Networks, etc)? At what point did social media become a part of your professional role as a writer?
My first experience using social media was in high school when I first signed up for a MySpace account. While I don’t use it anymore, this was definitely a founding factor for me in realising the power of social mediums to connect with people at home and abroad, and be exposed to experiences and ideas I otherwise wouldn’t be. Like a large proportion of people, I actively use Facebook to converse with friends, but it’s only been of late that I’ve latched on to Twitter for professional use. I doubt I have ten people on my Twitter account who are Facebook friends.
Pure and simple, I use Twitter as a tool to express myself to people and organisations I’d be interested in working with on a professional basis, and likewise listen to people who provide insight beyond what I know. Social mediums can open so many doors and this is why I’ve become increasingly intrigued by them.
2. In the FourFourTwo article “A-League’s Twit or Miss,” you wrote that that the Australian public is “completely, utterly, obsessed with – social mediums including Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and blogs. Tell us a bit more about what you mean. What are some interesting examples of how Australians are using social platforms?
FourFourTwo certainly provided me a great platform to have that particular article read by the masses, and the generally positive response I received from people in Australia and abroad, such as yourself, was both justifying and hugely appreciated. The particular sentence, or part thereof, to which you refer was made after extensive research into some of the statistics surrounding Australia’s social media use.
People probably don’t realise that on a per capita basis, Australians are the most prolific social media users in the world. When I found that out I started thinking about the way professional soccer clubs in Australia are utilising social media, and decided to explore the concept a bit more thoroughly. Generally, I found that they’re not really doing enough to interact socially with their existing fans, or engage with their ‘could be’ fans. For teams that struggle with their finances, I deemed it had to be questioned why they aren’t increasingly looking to expose mediums which are largely available to them free of charge.
To the second part of your question, every day I log on to my Twitter account and see someone has uploaded a ‘Twitpic’ that details some unique part of their life. It astounds me that A-League clubs aren’t doing similar things. It would take very little effort for them to share some small aspects from their players and organisations which definitely won’t garner back page coverage, but of which fans find enthralling. Why not snap a few pictures of players celebrating the team song following a win and shoot them direct to fans heading home on the train? It’s too easy! For me, this kind of concept is the crux of why I wrote “A-League Twit or Miss”, and is why I’m monitoring each A-League clubs social media outputs increasingly closely.
3. Social Media in the US really hit a tipping point in 2007-2008 when major election debates were taking place online and news networks began reporting on conversations occurring within social spaces. What are some of the major drivers of conversation in Australia? Is it politics, sports, entertainment? All of the above?
Social media in Australia certainly seems to be following a similar trend to the US. A few years ago it would have been extremely unlikely for a top politician to share their daily schedule with the wider world via a medium such as Twitter, but these days it’s almost a necessity. They’ve worked out that Australians love to be online and love to use social mediums, so platforms such as Twitter have become a key way for politicians and celebrities to reach out to their audiences to engage, and, they hope, influence.
It’s impossible not to realise that an increasing number of television shows are integrating audience contributions via social mediums into their programming in Australia too. Generally, this extends from asking a question on the established political program “Q & A” on the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) network, to sending thoughts about an event from the weekend’s soccer action on The World Game on SBS, which then scroll across the bottom of the screen. In addition, one talent show similar to American Idol I saw recently had people voting for their favourite performer via Twitter, while social mediums have also been used by Government departments as a way to share information quickly.
Only recently Australia experienced catastrophic flooding, and organisations such as the State Emergency Services utilised several platforms to send localised warnings and instructions to people cut off by the floods, or who may be in imminent danger. Social media’s prevalence in Australia is certainly highlighted by the simple fact Twitter comments and conversations are forming the basis, or sparking, news stories for the daily newspaper or news bulletin.
4.Blogs, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are clear frontrunners in terms of social engagement in the US. However, within the last two years, location based social networks like Foursquare, Gowalla and SCVNGR have come onto the scene, and brands have encouraged consumer engagement by incentivizing users to check in at various locations.
I’ve noticed an increasing amount of my friends on Facebook utilising Foursquare to “check in” at various locations, however I haven’t yet seen organisations grasping the potential of platforms such as Foursquare, Gowalla and SCVNGR.
Indeed, this was one of the major criticisms of A-League clubs I noted in “A-League Twit or Miss”. During my research for the article, one of my interviewees told me that professional Australian sporting organisations should always look to the US for great examples of digital activations and brand building. This led me to an interview I found online with the Executive Vice President of the New York Jets, Mr Matthew Higgins, who spoke about his clubs intentions to utilise the aforementioned geolocations tools at home games, in order to push out promotions, increase the clubs sense of community, and so on.
From my knowledge of American sports, I understand NFL, NBA and MLB clubs are some of the best supported and most lucrative organisations in the world. So, I questioned, if the utilisation of platforms such as Foursquare is good enough for the hugely supported, money making sports giant that is the New York Jets, why aren’t the relatively poorly supported A-League club who financially finish in the red year on year seeking to exploit them? Generally, I feel the connection between Australia’s established and growing social media usage and the intent for A-League soccer clubs to exploit these lines of engagement isn’t where it should, and needs to be.
5.Lastly, you are well linked in to the sports scene; share a few sites or blogs that you would recommend if we wanted to follow sports in Australia.
If you’re avid about soccer the best places to go are The World Game (http://www.theworldgame.com.au) and FourFourTwo (au.fourfourtwo.com). Both these sites offer news, opinion, user forums and blogging communities, and both are active with social media such as Facebook and Twitter. More generally, Sportal (www.sportal.com.au) cover a host of sports including those popular namely in Australia – Rugby League, Rugby Union, and Australia Rules Football. The Sydney Morning Herald newspapers site (www.smh.com.au) also offers a quality mix of reports and analysis on a wide variety of Australian and international sports.
Several people have mentioned this TED talk by Ethan Zuckerman (Global Voices) to me over the last few months, but I just made the time to really watch it. So many points made during his presentation resonate with me and are in line with what I'd like to accomplish with Socially Diverse.
