Category: Social Media
Twitter is down – its website and mobile app aren’t accessible
Twitter, the microblogging social network is down. Users around the world haven’t been able to access the social media platform through the mobile application and through its website.
WhatsApp drops $1 annual subscription, promises to also stay away from adverts
An accompanying blog post from WhatsApp also announced the end of the subscription model, pointing out how some subscribers to the service have been excluded from making payments because they do not have the necessary credit and debit card numbers. This sort of challenge is more prevalent in emerging markets where WhatsApp has the majority of its 900 million subscribers.
Why Zimbabwean brands should explore the Instagram opportunity
Instagram is one platform that exemplifies that. Its use of imagery and video to capture moments has helped it create its own separate avenue for expression. As is the case with other social media platforms advertisers and brand specialist have exploited that.
Twitter set to expand its tweet character limit from 140 to 10,000
Thanks to a new feature called “Beyond 140” that Twitter is reportedly building, tweets will be longer, something that appears to be following the route the social media platform took last year to extend the character limit for its Direct Messages.
Here’s how the internet is being used to help fix Harare’s burst pipes & potholes
He is one of the drivers behind an initiative called SMART Harare (SMART stands for Service Monitoring and Report Tracking) which has, through a platform called Harare Municipality Services, dedicated itself to raising awareness on issues to do with city service delivery.
It’s 1 million views & counting for Taps Mugadza’s Hello cover
The cover version of Hello done by Zimbabwean artist taps Mugadza has attracted over 1 million views in two weeks, setting a record for him and every other Zimbabwean artist.
Facebook delivers notifications, goes after Twitter with new app Notify
Facebook, the world’s most popular social network recently launched a notifications app called Notify, which delivers notifications to your phone based on your interests. It bears a resemblance to Twitter. How will this affect the news and media industry?
As Adele’s Hello inspires artists, it highlights strategy for creating a global brand
While the whole world shares Hello, a portion of those listeners and viewers will also tune into artists like Taps. With their talent and the right online presence, this attention can turn into opportunities for even bigger things.
Pinterest more popular than Twitter in Zimbabwe
According to the latest figures from Statcounter Global Stats, as at October 2015, for Zimbabwean internet use, Facebook commands 90.75% of internet traffic directed at social media and Pinterest is the second most popular social media platform with 3.26%, getting a slight lead over Twitter with a 2.82% share of traffic.
Why are programmers going online to watch someone else code?
The concept of live programming is slowly starting to gain traction thanks to a platform called Livecoding.tv . This is where people log in to watch or stream themselves programming in different languages. There’s a lot of value behind this, but will it survive or die as another geek sensation?
How the internet eviscerated Walter Palmer
A lot of people seem to all of a sudden know who Walter Palmer is thanks to the internet. People the world over from Zimbabwe to Hollywood celebrities and now even real life knights have been hurling the choicest abuse that people can muster at Palmer for the past day and a half ever since the Telegraph outed him as the man who killed Cecil the Lion.
Facebook is now in Africa, is Zimbabwe part of its plans?
Facebook announced that it will be setting up an office in Africa, something that has displayed its keen interest in the opportunity that Africa presents for the company in the future. What sort of opportunity does this create for Zimbabwe, seeing that it wasn’t listed as one of the countries that are being supported immediately.
Facebook set to open offices in Africa
The world’s largest social network, Facebook, is set to open offices in South Africa. The office will be focused on the network’s advertising business. This is another deliberate focus on Africa following its investment through initiatives like internet.org and the launch of the Facebook Lite App.
The Top 10 Facebook Personalities In Zimbabwe
Here’s a list of the top 10 Zimbabwean personalities on Facebook. The list considers the numbers of followers for each personality and also looks at how some of these personalities are developing a following on this platform and using this digital presence for brand management.
Zimbabwe’s Zombie Generation Raised On FaceBook, WhatsApp
The impact of social media seems to be extending to the next generation as children develop stronger relationships digitally and abandon traditional human interaction. Aren’t we creating a generation of Facebook and WhatsApp zombies?
So the ZRP Twitter account is fake.Can’t the cops handle their own social media?
The ZRP Twitter account you have been seeing for the past couple of days is fake.
WhatsApp hoax messages give organisations reason to invest in digital
WhatsApp is being used for recruitment scams that falsely call for applications for jobs at organisations. The Air Force of Zimbabwe is the most recent organisation sucked into this. All this shows the areas that need improvement for these organisations, with social media communication being one of them.
Telecel says it’s met its end of the licence payment deal, starts social media campaign
There’s more than one side to any story, and the Telecel story hasn’t been any different. Everyone is trying to set the record straight and Telecel Zimbabwe has released a statement today explaining how it kept its end of the licence payment arrangement. The details are consistent with what the government, through the Minister of […]
Understanding brand building through digital and social media in Africa
Can any brand and any type of product grow with a digital-first approach? It’s a fair question now that more and more people are trying to work with lean budgets and relying on social media and digital promotion to do so. The answer to that is situational at best. No single brand building strategy has […]
How Doctors are using WhatsApp for Telemedicine in Zimbabwe
If something is all the rage, you’re likely to see everyone falling over themselves to get their hands on it. Just look at the Scramble for Africa as an example. Fast forward to 2015 and it’s now the Scramble for Telemedicine. In Zimbabwe, several imperial corporate entities are competing against each other for a piece […]
Comexposed 2015, Zimbabwe’s first comic book expo is happening right now
Ever heard of Sergeant Porice, Ganyamuto, Arcadia Knight or Black Zeus? Don’t worry you aren’t the only one drawing a blank stare. These are names of Zimbabwean animation and comic book characters. I hadn’t heard of them either until this morning when I got to Comexposed. This is Zimbabwe’s first Comic Expo, sort of our own […]
IAD Summit, Fibre in Vic Falls, NetOne, the latest POTRAZ Report: Weekly Podcast
What’s the latest on porn in Zimbabwe? Do we have the right legislation for social media? What is being done regarding a tech startup culture and are the right efforts being made by the right people, after all has been said? That’s just some of the content we went through in this week’s edition of […]
DogTV, a channel for dogs, proves that there’s no limit to content creativity
Just when I thought I’d heard every sort of idea for content creation and what is worth the effort, I just found out about a channel for dogs called, aptly, DogTV. Yes, a channel that shows content for dogs. Someone came up with the idea of a channel that flights content that dogs watch, sometimes with […]
The realities of porn in a digital world: What should be done in Zim?
Yesterday,the news coming out of the United Kingdom was that revenge porn had been officially classified as a crime with legislation passed that can see offenders who break this new law face up to 2 years in prison. Revenge porn is when an ex lover shares any sexually explicit content with your image (pictures, videos) […]
Sharing YouTube & Facebook videos in Zim? You could be breaking the law
Just so we are clear, that headline isn’t meant to scare anyone who’s busy sharing the latest P.O BOX, ZviriKufaya or Zimdancehall video. It’s a legally sound fact that fortunately for all of us isn’t taken seriously. We can call the law a lot of things; blind, fair, cold or just but when it comes to […]
As Facebook starts integrating with WhatsApp, what can we look forward to?
Facebook and WhatsApp. That doesn’t sum up Zimbabwean smartphone access patterns, but it sure as hell comes close to telling a big part of it. It’s not the mobile operators’ faults either, the three of them only introduced the Over The Top Services of WhatsApp and Facebook bundles to cash in on the popularity of […]
Challenges of print media highlighted as Gemazo, Southern Eye & Zim Mail close
Death is in the air. That’s what I think of every time I look at a news stand, or at an extensive ad campaign in print publications that can’t possibly bring its value’s worth for the company sinking money into this medium. Anyone in media will tell you how challenging it is to run a […]
F8 2015 – The Facebook Developer Conference: What can we expect?
Another tech giant has a huge event lined up, this time its Facebook Developer Conference. The livestream is moments away (you can catch it here) and be sucked into the excitement. But why the excitement though? Isn’t Facebook turning into an afterthought in social media? The reality is that The Social Network has turned into something more […]
WhatsApp, Facebook & the streets: the new markets for Zim content creators
Paraffin, Mukadota, Gringo, Mutirowafanza, Neria, More Time, Jit, Yellow Card, Flame. Seemingly random names, but all these titles register some significance with Zimbos that lived in a bygone era. It’s just a handful of productions that represent the great local content that we used to consume from the good old TV. Then technology started changing things like it […]
The power of social media in enforcing our rights
To those of us who, as a result of the sacrifices made by others, are blissfully unaware, Saturday 21 March 2015, yes this past Saturday, was the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. It is a puzzling paradox that today’s generation, especially blacks, despite having all the information a mere Google search away […]