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Social Media for Radio. Dinesh Balliah dinesh@dineshballiah.com www.dineshballiah.com. What’s the big deal about social media?. THE BARE FACTS: Truth be told – it’s not that big in Africa! Broadband is still very expensive for most communities
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Social Media for Radio Dinesh Balliah dinesh@dineshballiah.com www.dineshballiah.com
What’s the big deal about social media? THE BARE FACTS: • Truth be told – it’s not that big in Africa! • Broadband is still very expensive for most communities • Each social media platform has fairly small subscriber base apart from Mxit BUT - • It continues to grow and slowly becomes part of normal communication practices • Use it to communicate with other parties that communicate directly with our constituencies e.g. community radio
FEATURES OF TRADITIONAL MEDIA • Intertexuality • Fixed types, e.g. newspapers, books, letters, magazines, posters etc. • List took hundreds of years to evolve • Narrative = linear • Fixed forms or genres • Scheduled news gathering and presenting • Filtering, gatekeeping and credibility established
WHAT IS NEW MEDIA? • Used to be called ICT’s • Problems with linking new media to technology only = IT • Rapidly evolving • New forms of ‘new media’ emerge daily • Applications provide an enhanced experience of new media itself.
FEATURES OF NEW MEDIA • Hypertextuality • Non-linear narratives • Ambient news & information • ‘Free’ content • Credibility or validity issues • Cheaper publication costs
FEATURES OF NEW MEDIA CONTINUED • Local vs Global • Content sharing • Dialogue – through comments • Engagement with authors • Multimedia • Convergence • Portability • Omnipresent
TRADITIONAL COMMUNICATION SENDER (ENCODING) MESSAGE RECEIVER (DECODING)
MASS COMMUNICATION MEDIA (ENCODING) MESSAGE MASS AUDIENCE (DECODING)
NEW MEDIA COMMUNICATION SENDER MESSAGE MASS AUDIENCE
MOBILE TELEPHONY IN AFRICA • Highest penetration and year on year growth • Represents a huge potential for development communication • Majority of mobiles NOT smart phones but basic operating systems which allow simply browsing • Online communications strategy should take note of these points.
WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA? • Online/web-based platforms/applications • Encourage social interaction • Are no longer exclusively ‘social’ • Used for the exchange of short bursts of information
IMPORTANT TO NOTE • Social media does not equal a platform for meaningful communication/engagement in itself • Not a habit in which an addiction can be formed • Cannot be ignoredin process of communication • Needs policies & strategiesfor use
WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA? “Social media are platforms for interaction and relationships, not content and ads.”
KEY TO SOCIAL MEDIA USE • ENGAGEMENT • CONSISTENCY • RELIABILITY
www.facebook.com • Difference between pages and posts • Security
www.twitter.com • Features • Uses: • Networking • Knowledge sharing • Information dissemination • Information gathering • Stakeholder engagement
GOOGLE TOOLS • Google Search • Google Alerts • Google Trends