"Are companies wasting their time with social media profiles?"

The impact of social media cannot be ignored. It’s already changing how businesses conduct marketing, sales, and customer support. Social Media provides virtually instant access to information throughout the world, thus giving businesses the ability to share news about their products and services with people that were once out of reach. Social media is easily one of the fastest growing (free) benefits of technology today.  Companies are definitely not wasting their time with social media profiles.

In just a few years, Facebook, Twitter and other social media have changed the way we communicate about everything from the brands we like (or dislike) to the way we shop and how we manage projects. With the technology still maturing – along with some of its more colourful users – social media is a powerful tool for connecting with customers because the cost of reach is low and the number of people it reaches is potentially very high.

“Currently, social media tools like Facebook and Twitter are primarily a PR tool, and are prone to comments and trends. And things that are trending carry more weight in the media than in reality, so companies tend to give them a lot of credence,” Mittelmark says.

Embracing social media for business offers huge potential for generating discussion about your products and services and, eventually, winning new customers. It’s free and carries very little downside.  

Heaven Sent

Recently, I've been thinking about how beautiful a real friendship can be and how important it really is. Friends are extremely important and friendship is major part of our lives.

Friendship is one of the most beautiful relations of all. Without any fuss, confusion, tangles and commitment. It is a divine blessing of God. Don't you agree? If not, then tell me, how is it possible that in population of more than a million you somehow stuck with someone who is just like you?

Whenever I need company they are the one who come to me and make me laugh leaving behind other things. Even if it is about convincing parents for a night out or going to a friend’s birthday party, they are the people with whom everything can be discussed without a thought that it is personal. Whenever you look back in your life, you’ll realize they are the one with whom you have shared the best and the worst.

With so much dire need of friends in our life how can we think of existing without them? Though we have many people around us, but there are only close friends who make all the difference. If they are present nothing else matter.  Friends are a family outside home where the responsibility of each person is shared equally by everyone else. Like a family, they guide you to a right path and never let you divert from your target. They are good to be relied on and there is a sense of security whenever you are with them.

Friendship is like an investment, the more you invest the more you reap. An investment in terms of trust and faith which is the root of any strong relationship. No matter how much you spend together on your vodkas or how many nights out you have enjoyed together, if there is no seed of trust and faith in friendship it cannot stand long.

Life with friends becomes an easy going journey that you would never like to get over with. 

The Castle of Good Hope

One of South Africa’s acclaimed Castles; the Castle of Good Hope in the beautiful city of Cape Town has been the oldest building in South Africa. 

The Castle serves as an important purpose of past accomplishments. When it was constructed, they showcased the technology and methods used in that the era. It is a matter of national pride, that the castle forge helps citizens maintain a sense of cultural identity through these past accomplishments. Nearly every country in the world has old buildings, and they show what happened in the past and need to be preserved. The castle Forge does exactly that.

The Castle of Good Hope serves as a tool for showing the history of Cape Town in our country. Walking in the Forge room, visitors can learn about the history of the country. With such an amount of historical significance, this building needs to be preserved so that future generations will be able to learn some of their history first-hand. Therefore the Forge is preserved to teach people about history.

Buildings such as the Castle of Good Hope not only teach us about history but also serve to teach us about past accomplishments. Come and experience the ancient Castle as it is one of the oldest surviving colonial buildings in South Africa. It features various museums with that you will find interesting. The castle features one of the most impressive sword collections in South Africa. The key ceremony is also worth a watch, as this includes the firing of Signal Cannon, and the ceremonies of handing over the keys to the Governor. It is a mixture of wonderful bare-brick arches, and 70s additions smoked glass, modern window frames.

Celebrating our Heritage

Knowing ones history and where they come from is very important. It is where we find and understand our sense of belonging. A wise man once said in order to know where you are going, you need to know where you come from. You can’t really be someone if you don’t know history. In the fast pace world of technology and intermingling of language and culture, it is easy to lose our heritage.

As we travel down life’s path we forget our heritage. This is not good, as we’re forgetting history of our country and of the forefathers. So many of our great grandfathers who fought for our independence on these grounds on which we are now standing, of the suffering and sacrifice their families went through.

South Africans today don’t know the meaning of Heritage Day. Various events are staged throughout the country to commemorate this day. Braai Day annually falls on heritage day. Across race, language, region and religion, we all share one common heritage. It is called many things: Chisa Nyama, Braai and Ukosa to name few. Although the ingredients may differ, the one thing that never changes is that when we have something to celebrate we light fires, and prepare great feasts.

Heritage day is a day where South Africans are encouraged to celebrate their cultural diversity of their beliefs and traditions. The public holiday is also to commemorate the past and struggles during the apartheid. So on Heritage Day, we look at ways in which can preserve our histories, cultures and family traditions. I encourage everyone to learn more about where they come from, in order to have a better understanding in knowing where they are heading in life!

TweetDeck vs. HootSuite.... Which is Better?

So our Media studies lecturer gave us the excruciating task of writing an article about social media dashboards, “TweetDeck” and “HootSuite”. His instructions were to write about the similarities and differences between the two.  Now when the lecturer was busy briefing us about this task, the first thing that came to mind was, “what the hell? What do I know about this?”  But then, I remembered, had I used one of these services before.

 Last year when I was doing my internship at Iziko Museums of South Africa, I worked on HootSuite. Shelley Finch, who was the content Online content coordinator at the time had taught me how to use the service. For three months I was given the responsibility of handling the social media of the company. My responsibility was to come up with relevant content, schedule it on HootSuite so that it would come up on the company’s Facebook and twitter page.  So I at least had some knowledge of one of these services, the only problem that I was facing was that I didn’t have the slightest idea of what TweetDeck was. This meant that I had some researching to do, Great! In doing my research I found a few interesting facts about how similar and yet different these services are to one another.

This is what I had found:  Both of these are available for free. Both services allow you to view your Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn accounts simultaneously in one place and check for updates.  Both allow you to easily update your social media accounts and to schedule tweets ahead of time.

The single biggest difference between HootSuite and TweetDeck is that TweetDeck is an application that the user downloads and installs, while HootSuite is web-based.  Because of this, HootSuite runs “lighter” resource-wise on the user’s computer, and can be used on any computer without having to install software, which ideal for a shared computer. Also, scheduling future tweets is easier on HootSuite.

Many of the posts I’ve read about the differences between HootSuite and TweetDeck have argued that TweetDeck is better from a following perspective. I think it’s pretty much even, but I can certainly see how people who are comfortable with the TweetDeck service and would want to stick with it.

To TweetDeck’s advantage, it is slightly easier to search and can post tweets faster than HootSuite.  TweetDeck also has instant updates, while HootSuite updates every two minutes at most.  In addition, TweetDeck allows unlimited accounts, while only HootSuite’s pro version offers unlimited accounts.

HootSuite and TweetDeck are both very good at managing social networks, and your preference may depend most on look and feel, and not the features, which are relatively similar and always changing. Try them out to see, which social media service you would prefer.