Andy Hadfield

Go unplug people... You deserve it. Have a great christmas and may the Panado's grace you on New Year's morning.


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Don't forget to send your Christmas Cards - they show everyone that you care.

America does it, so why can't we. Leo Laporte and Kevin Rose became embroiled in a humorous and sometimes overly geeky race to 50,000 followers on Twitter. I think our local scene warrants a bit of attention. While estimates range from only 700 to 1500 South African Twitterers in total, the recent FNB Premier Banking campaign saw some really good results when using Twitter as a medium to engage a niche portion of SA's tech audience.

Once you're realised it's niche, and understand that you're looking at an influential audience in the 100's as opposed to a broad audience in the 10,000's - then you're well on your way.

I heard an interesting discussion on TWIT today about how Barack Obama could use Twitter to continue engaging the American public as he did throughout the campaign. Imagine the possibilities. It wouldn't be 100,000 followers like he has now. A presidential Tweeter could garner millions of followers.

Interesting times for a medium that app…

A bit of holiday fun...

Picking up some fantastic coverage in the media - extremely grateful to those involved. I think the reason such esteemed publications are giving this case study some airtime is that it presents a fascinating glimpse into methods companies are starting to engage and leverage Internet communities.

There's a world of value to be had. Just play nice, listen well and remember to talk back.

Great working with Quirk on this one.

The Business Day print coverage is below. Business Day Online, IT Web and Fin24 also covered it so far. Would be fascinated to see some blogger input as well :)

I've often commented on the vacuous nature of social media. Echo chambers and shallow content - it's like "small talk" on a volume never before experienced. Why just yesterday, a friend of mine and I did a little experiment to attract attention on FaceBook by commenting on a status update. Sure enough, 4 or 5 people got pulled into one of the biggest pieces of content drivel I've ever added to the Interweb. And those kind of interactions are happening more and more.

The world is finding its online voice and there's just too much noise.

So I'm glad to see that the top marketing geeks over in the US are predicting that quality and measurement of the Social Conversation are going to be paramount for 2009. I'm concerned to see that the clever chaps from ReadWriteWeb don't hold out much hope though! Full article from ReadWriteWeb here. Relevant excerpt below:

# Measuring the success of social networks

"Implement listening programs through social media…

Mons Guillaume Martin from fair Paris! Congratulations... Hopefully we can stay in touch as we try to roll the idea out next year.


His full interview on the IdeaBounty blog here. Interesting excerpts below:

--- snip ---

First and foremost, congratulations on winning our very first Bounty. Did you think you had the winning Idea?

I first submitted two ideas, that I wasn’t very happy with. Creatively they were ok, but both of them could have been potentially dangerous for the image of “real” bank offices. It’s only when I decided not to bother with the finalized creative execution that I came to a third, lastminute idea. An idea that was much too simple to win, I thought.

So I had already prepared some good excuses... You know, like, “anyway it wasn’t the right client for us”, or “we’re going to pitch a much bigger competitor soon”….

You are living in Paris at the moment. Do you have a few secret spots you go to find inspiration?

In Paris, just like in any other city, there’s nothing more insig…

Exciting times. We're almost ready to announce a winner for the IdeaBounty / FNB Premier Banking crowdsourcing brief. It's been quite a journey.

Our thoughts on the process here. Read the full pre-announcement to winner here.

Anyone too scared to blog? Seems like the rats are amongst the pigeons. I'd better comb those archives eh?