Episode 18: The Twepisode
Listen (23 min, 20 seconds)In this weeks episode we look at the phenomenon of Twitter, a microblogging service that is growing at the phenomenal rate of over 700% per year. With around 6 million users and rapidly growing, the service is the third biggest social network behind Facebook and Myspace, the giants of the social networking space.
Despite the numbers and despite the huge amount of celebrities that have flocked to using the service many are still unsure as to what Twitter is really about. Not even having Twitter featured on Oprah seems to have demystified the service and it still remains in the realm of the tech savvy or the socially challenged.
In order to cut through the clutter that surrounds Twitter we decided to look into what the service really can offer. We speak to some local Twitter users (or Tweeple as they like to be called) and get an idea of what they use Twitter for and why it's relevant to them. We'll also speak to some marketers using Twitter to see how they promote their product and what, if any, success they've had.
Our Agency of the Week in this episode is Aqua Online. We speak to MD Brent Shahim to hear more about the busienss of digital. As always we're joined by Kerry-Anne Gilowey in our news section and our top 10 this week is "Ten things progammers say when something is not working". Finally, Antonio Petra of Cambrient gives us his third tip for online measurement. This week he tells us about the nefariously titled "A-B Testing".
Guests:
Local Twitter users:
Vincent Hoffman: Blogger / Media & Market Researcher; Owner of the Moral Fibre Network.
Simon de la Rouviere: Studying Information Systems Management and Marketing. Aspiring web entrepreneur and musician. Creator of Tweekly.fm, a last.fm and twitter mashup.
Lantz Mattinson: Family guy, loves the online world, loves the challenge oh and I love fishing
Amod Munga: Copywriting Ninja/Social-Media Addict. Likes to poke things with a stick.
Ian Jepson: Ian is a professional coffee drinker at Vida e Caffe. He works as a graphics designer and in his free time run the @vidaecaffe Twitter account.
Tania Steenkamp: Tania is the Communications Manager for Nokia in South and Southern Africa. Since the launch of the new Nokia Music Store in South Africa she has been the voice behind the @NMS_ZA Twitter account.
Brent Shahim:
Brent is firmly a part of the Web 1.0 world, but really about as close to royalty in that environment as you can get. He has built up Aqua Online over the past twelve odd years into South Africa`s biggest new media agency. He sold the business to WPP, and is now the official digital arm of Y&R in South Africa. Brent is incredibly adept at growing new media businesses with a strong commercial slant.
Links:
Local Twitter Users:
Vincent Hofmann: http://twitter.com/vincenthofmann
Simon de la Rouviere: http://twitter.com/shotbeak
Lantz Mattinson: http://twitter.com/afromedia
Amod Munga: http://twitter.com/phr0ggi
Aqua Online: http://www.aquaonline.com/
Nokia Music Store: http://music.nokia.co.za
Vida e Caffe: http://www.caffe.co.za/
Cape Town Daily Photo: http://www.capetowndailyphoto.com/
Jarred Cinman: http://jarredcinman.com
Saul Kropman: http://saulk.co.za
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