Know thy social mediaWith the rise of social media, companies are slowly but surely losing more and more control over the shape of their brands. Take for instance the recent GAP case in which the company's new logo was heavily criticised in the online domain by consumers. This led to GAP reverting to its old logo. Consumers have more of a say in brand-building and they sure can make a loud noise when they're not happy - the volume grows when it's on a public platform accessible to anyone at anytime - there's no hiding from an opposing group in today's digital world. A very similar case happened in South Africa last week with Woolworths when the company took a strategic business decision to remove some of the poor-performing religious magazines from its shelves. Some consumers took deep offence and ranted on the Woolies Facebook page calling for a boycott of all Woolworths products and stores. Within 24 hours the retailer released a statement saying it reconsidered its decision and the said magazines would remain on sale. I'm not sure if this was a good move - being swayed by emotional reasoning rather than rational business sense. It's clear though that companies need to now always take into consideration the active consumer who's armed with social media platforms that could make or break your reputation. Companies also need to think long and hard before reacting rather than just rolling over immediately after the outcry. Management at every level needs to attend a course on handling social media negativity if they're to survive a butting of heads with the online consumer. Cheers, Sindy Peters, Africa editor
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Today's top stories
Special focus on media freedom
NEW YORK: The Committee to Protect Journalists has expressed its alarm by a recent statement from Swaziland's Prime Minister, Barnabas Sibusiso Dlamini, announcing his intention to create a law requiring newspaper columnists to seek permission before they write critically about the government. Read more >>Advertisement:
NEW YORK: A popular Angolan radio commentator, whose satirical broadcasts have been critical of the government, was injured in a stabbing on Friday morning, 22 October 2010, in the capital city of Luanda, according to local journalists and news reports. Read more >>Digital
JOHANNESBURG: The 2010 World e-Parliament Conference officially opened at the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) in Midrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. The event ran from 21-22 October 2010 under the theme 'Mind the gap: the impact of the digital divide on parliament and democracy' with delegates from five continents attending. Read more >>[Tara Turkington] Who is Jabulani the Octopus? When did it last snow on Table Mountain? What does a kudu sound like when it is dying? Why should we care about Australopithecus sediba? What happens when a whale jumps on your boat? And what in the world does any of this have to do with online destination marketing? Read more >> [Staff reporter] Google has pledged to strengthen its privacy and security practices after its "Street View" mapping service gathered private wireless data, including emails and passwords, in dozens of countries. Read more >> Education and Training
PRETORIA: The development of African languages at South Africa's higher education institutions are critical for the future of the country's education system, Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande said on Friday (22 October 2010). Read more >>Mobile
[Dumisani Ndlela] Zimbabwe's smallest cellular network operator NetOne Cellular is wriggling to extricate itself from a financial crisis, with sources indicating the company had punched a financial black hole after being deserted by contract subscribers last year. Read more >> The African continent has a total population of a billion people and 500 000 of these are cellphone users, says Deon Liebenberg, regional director for sub-Sahara Africa at BlackBerry phone manufacturer Research in Motion (RIM). Read more >>Retail
Global brewing giant SABMiller Plc said Monday (18 October 2010) that it has recommenced reporting the results of its Zimbabwe associate, Delta Corporation with effect from 1 April 2010. The business contributed total beverage volumes in the six months to September 2010 of 1.0 million hectolitres, including lager volumes of 0.3 million hectolitres. Read more >>WASHINGTON: Coca-Cola's profits rose 8% in the third quarter versus the same period last year, amid growth in its still drinks and international businesses. Profits rose to $2.1 billion, up from 1.9 in the third quarter of 2009. Read more >>Ministers will meet at the Conference of African Ministers of Agriculture (CAMA), under the theme, 'Delivering on Africa's agriculture development agenda', from 26-29 October 2010 in Lilongwe, Malawi. The conference is organised by the Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture (REA) of the African Union Commission (AUC), together with the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA), in collaboration with the Government of Malawi. Read more >>The 2010 Cannes Report, providing the official rankings of agencies by category, regions, countries and even cities based on their performance at the prestigious Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival has just been published. As well as the most awarded Advertisers, new to this year's Cannes Report are rankings of creative directors, art directors, copywriters and directors based on the Lions won in 2010. Read more >>[Published by Verdict*] LONDON, UK: Analysts from Verdict Research* forecast that Christmas 2010 will be the best Christmas for retailers since before the recession, despite the prospect of spending cuts and job losses. Read more >> More International news...
[Henrie Geyser: motoring editor] Mercedes-Benz has dabbed some fresh make-up and applied the nip and tuck scalpel to freshen up the looks of its revamped, family-hauling R-Class station wagon and it has also added some new high tech goodies. Read more >> More Motoring news...
[Brian Berkman: contributing editor, travel] The Last Word is a group of premium luxury villas in the Mantis Collection. They all succeed in providing an intimate (typically with fewer than six suites) level of service but Sea Five, the newest addition to the collection with its beach-house meets Lake Como, feels like The Last Word on steroids. Read more >> More Travel news...
[Daphne Cooper] Let me confess straight away that this is just half a review - or more accurately, a review of only half the play (all 75 minutes of it). Maybe it was because I had a bit of a cold brewing, but whatever the reason I simply could not face another hour of the Ragged Trousered Philanthropists. Read more >> Spur's 2010 School Mountain bike league had more than 2100 participants, with over 115 riders from 18 schools across five provinces competing in the finals on Saturday, 16 October, 2010, during the annual Dirt Festival at the Rietvlei Farm, near Alberton. Read more >> More BizLounge news...
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