According to Richard Waters in an FT.com article (subscription required), "Groups magnify chances of Google hits". The FT articles says: "Companies with a high page rank are in a strong position to move into new markets. By 'pointing' to this new information from their existing sites they can pass on some of their existing search engine aura, guaranteeing them more prominence." The article says that this helps companies such as AOL and Yahoo as they move into the low-cost content business as ...

Seedcamp, a European micro-seed fund that invests in early stage startup companies, has selected 11 South African technology startups to possibly attend the Seedcamp Week programme held in September in London, UK, where they will be in line for a potential €50 000 investment. Seedcamp, in conjunction with the Tech4Africa conference, put out a call for applications for funding and received more than 40 entries from technology startups across South Africa. The selected African entrepreneurs will have a rare opportunity to ...

We recently featured an article about the massively popular Old Spice social media campaign. In the article I sung the praises of this campaign like a 10-year-old, braces-sporting teenage girl commenting on the latest Justin Bieber music video. I was a fawning fanboy of the Wieden + Kennedy executed campaign. In the article I stated that I would "do a swan dive into a hot tub" if the campaign hadn't boosted sales. As with any popular campaign you'll immediately draw out ...

User Experience (UX) analysis and design is a rapidly growing field for good reason. Websites, apps and services are placing a lot of focus on UX to differentiate themselves from competitors. To get a quick taste of how design can be informed by clever UX analysis and thinking, just compare MWEB's ADSL options and sign-up page, with that of Telkom's product offering page. Even (especially, perhaps) if you are not well-versed in web development and design, it is probably clear ...

In an age of juggernaut smartphones such as Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android-powered devices, Research In Motion’s (RIM) relatively fledgling foray into the mainstream consumer market sees them still battling for consumer mindshare as a general purpose smartphone maker. With that said, RIM's long-time darling smartphone of the business world, the Blackberry, has come a long way since its conservative suit-and-tie beginnings. With consumer-oriented advertising, user interface improvements, touch screen - and budget devices, RIM are clearly making a push for the ...

If you’re using multiple social media platforms to promote your business, it makes sense to cross promote the media you generate through the various channels available, and try to play to the inherent strengths of each of the platforms. Doing this increases your content's exposure to a larger audience, which means you have more people engaging with your brand. For example, if you’ve already built up a healthy fan base on Facebook, but have only just started  to engage on Twitter or ...

Major drum roll from the guys at Amazon.com for their announcement that "Amazon.com customers now purchase more Kindle books (eBooks) than hardcover books." The group went on to claim that for every 100 hardcover books sold, it has sold 143 Kindle books, and also announced that Stieg Larsson, author of the Millenium Trilogy, has sold one million Kindle books. The statistics given out by the giant online retailer don't look quite so amazing when put in proper context. In fact, quite ...

The current tough economic climate has hit small and medium-sized businesses and start-ups hard, particularly in emerging markets where safety nets are few and far between. Consequently, organisations are looking for every possible way to cut costs and increase profit margins without risking efficiency. The use of open source software (OSS) as an alternative to proprietary software in the technical management of many business processes is an effective way of doing just that. What exactly is ‘open source software’? In summary, the definition ...

South African sports personalities have made their mark all over the world, but one of the downsides of being a global sports star is that you are away from your family and fans for long periods of time. What better way than staying in touch with them than embracing Twitter, the micro-blogging platform which has taken the world by storm. Here is a list of some of the most popular South African sports stars on Twitter at the time of writing ...

Do you like the idea of saving 25% on a floatation hydrotherapy session? Or what about a R100 saving on a meal at Gourmet Burger. If these deals appeal to you, then you might want to consider joining Twangoo.co.za, a new Cape Town-based startup which is harnessing the power of collective buying to make great deals available in cities around South Africa. Collective buying is one of the hottest trends on the web right now, and it's a timely introduction to ...