Erring in the need for speedWorking for an online media publication can be ridiculously fast-paced since news moves in and out of your inbox quite regularly. The upside to this is that you're always in the know; the downside is that in the rush of the exchange, you could make a rather nasty mistake e.g. addressing an email to someone who works for a different (but similar) company to the one you've mentioned in the email. The most horrifying moment is the second right after you've hit the "send" button and no matter how hard or frantically you hit "cancel" the mail goes through anyway - this is sadly what happened to me recently. Next comes the task of composing a sincerely apologetic email and hoping the recipient has a forgiving nature. I'm sure we've all done this at some point or the other as multitasking becomes integrated into the digital lifestyle; I'm putting it down to human error. If you find yourself in such a nasty predicament, especially if you're in the email marketing field, you'll find our opinion piece, "Apology emails - when are they really necessary?" by Georgia Christian, very handy. Congratulations to South Africa's Luke "robotics junkie" Taylor for making it into the semi-finals in the inaugural Google Science Fair. You've done Africa proud! To vote for Luke in the People's Choice Award category, go to google.com/sciencefair. Cheers, Sindy Peters (@sindylp), Africa editor
Responses to this column welcomed in our online editor's column archive.
Send all your Africa marketing news africanews@bizcommunity.com and opinion pieces to contributors-africa@bizcommunity.com. Follow Bizcommunity on Twitter @Bizcommunity and join our Facebook page.
Today's top stories
Special focus on media freedom
[Gregory Gondwe] The Malawi Chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA-Malawi) condemned the beating of Blantyre Newspapers Limited (BNL) photojournalist Jacob Nankhonya on Saturday, 14 May 2011, at a memorial service for the late former president, Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda. Nankhonya was roughed up while he was trying to take a picture of a fracas that had erupted during the ceremony when family members were beating a man who claimed to be a son of the late president. Read more >> NEW YORK: Security and military personnel attacked local and foreign journalists and confiscated their equipment on Thursday, 12 May 2011, as they covered the return of opposition leader Kizza Besigye to Uganda. Besigye returned to Uganda on Thursday from Nairobi, where he was treated for injuries received when security forces assaulted him and his colleagues during demonstrations on 28 April in Kampala. Read more >>[Goodluck Musinguzi] NEW YORK: Investigators in Kabale must thoroughly investigate an arson attack on the home of Goodluck Musinguzi, contributor to the state-owned daily, New Vision, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Friday, 13 May 2011. Someone poured gasoline on the house and set it on fire while Musinguzi, his wife, and his newborn child were inside, he told CPJ. Read more >> Marketing
[Georgia Christian] Inevitably, somewhere along the course of your career, you have (or might still) hit the email send button and realise just a few seconds too late that there was an error in the campaign you have just blasted off to your entire subscriber list. It kind of gives you that sinking feeling in your stomach, doesn't it? Read more >> Digital
Google announced late last week the global semi-finalists in its inaugural Google Science Fair. Luke Taylor, a grade nine learner at the German International School of Cape Town, South Africa, was chosen from over 7 500 entrants from more than 90 countries, to become one of 60 semi-finalists. Read more >>Mobile
DUBAI / JOHANNESBURG: Nokia and the MTN Group have signed an agreement that will expand their strategic relationship to new markets within Middle East and Africa MTN affiliates. The framework agreement will see the integration of the MTN network with Nokia devices and solutions. Joint marketing and sales campaigns will be designed on a regional level. Read more >>The African mobile developer community should be smiling right now, what with being ideally placed to take advantage of a number of factors that currently make the region one of the most exciting digital spaces on the planet. Read more >>Retail
[Carole Kimutai] The Samsung Africa Regional Forum was held in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi last week, opening on Thursday, 12 May 2011. During the event, the electronic company announced its Africa business regional strategy. In what it dubbed as 'Built for Africa', Samsung aims to take the African market by storm through innovations in internet-connected television, consumer-inspired digital cameras, and mobile technology. Read more >> COTONOU: Underlining that seed security is a prerequisite for achieving food security, agricultural experts participating in the just-concluded Regional Workshop on Seed Policy in West Africa urged decision-makers to support the sustainable growth and development of the West African seed sector, particularly for food security crops, such as rice, millet, sorghum, cowpeas and maize. Read more >>The third annual East Africa Trade and Commodity Finance Conference (EATCF) will take place on Tuesday, 17 May 2011 at Fairmont, The Norfolk Hotel in Kenya. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), members of the East African Community (EAC) are among the fastest growing economies in sub-Saharan Africa, and more broadly in the developing world. Read more >>TV
Business news television channel, CNBC Africa late last week scooped the Audio-visual Award at the Sanlam for Excellence in Financial Journalism Awards. The channel's senior journalist Chris Bishop, was announced as a winner in the Audio-visual category at a ceremony in Johannesburg last night, 15 May 2011. He shared the prize with former CNBC Africa colleague Suzanne Beukes. Read more >>TOKYO: Japanese entertainment and technology giant Sony faces a battle to regain the trust of millions of consumers after online networks integral to its strategy were hacked, say analysts. Read more >>VIENNA: Austrian energy drink producer Red Bull will start publishing its monthly magazine Red Bulletin in the United States, according to Austrian media reports. Read more >> More International news...
[Johann Smith] We define our love in the sweetness we reserve for lovers. Whether they deserve it or not. Nobody understands this better than restaurants, hotels and guest houses. They're in the business of "magical moments". And annually these three want us to have our most romantic reservations in their establishments. Read more >> [Brian Berkman: contributing editor, travel] The new Consumer Protection Act has a number of regulations that will impact the practice of public relations and marketing - even in the hospitality and travel industries. Read more >> More Travel news...
[Corné Krige] I had the privilege of being invited to the MTN Supersport Shoot-out at Simola this past weekend. It is a golf tournament in which current and past Ministers, businessmen and sportsmen come together to raise funds for charity. This year the main beneficiaries were Gozololo Centre and The Jacob G Zuma Education Trust. President Zuma was present at the function on Saturday night and more than R5 million was raised for those two charities. Read more >> More Sport...
Click here to customise your jobs section
Click here to customise your events section
"After I die, they will look through my tweets and see that my life was, in fact, not wasted. (via Twitter)" - Steven Winterburn
Print - Print any item in this newsletter.
Email - Email any item in this newsletter.
Comment - Comment on any item in this newsletter.
Sponsors:
|
|
|