Emma King: Bloggers, freebies and the readers' right to know
This week I was bemused to read the British papers up in arms over the revelation that BBC bosses accepted free tickets and hospitality to various Olympics event. The chattering classes and BBC critics were alarmed that their supposedly objective media may have been swayed by something akin to bribes. It seems almost laughable here in South Africa. We've become almost immune to stories of corruption and bribery, and our state owned media outlets have given up most pretence at objectivity.
This year, the number of mobile devices in circulation will reach 7 billion - more than the total number of humans on this planet. It is our "mobile moment" as a generation. Mobile has also become as big a disruptor to the way we communicate, as the dawning of the internet age. With mobile devices as powerful as desktop computers, itis being called the dawn of the second internet revolution.And for many on this planet, the mobile device has become their ‘first screen'..
All the hustlers who were selling us "the conversation" a few years ago and "social media marketing" for the past two years have suddenly all become "content" experts. The great thing about content is, it's anything you want it to be. If you can upload it to the web, it's content.
It may be "content" in the digital world. In the real world it's mostly garbage. 99% of it will go unnoticed and will live and die anonymously.
The boring BIC pen turns into a cover model
MarkLives.com runs a regular slot featuring the best local and international magazine covers every week. We recognise well thought out, powerful and interesting (and hopefully all three in one) magazine covers and celebrate the mix of pragmatism, creativity and personal taste that created each of them.
When a brand invests in the human spirit
In its own way the Absa ad, created by The Jupiter Drawing Room Johannesburg, is an inspiration for our times. It speaks to a magnificent quote by author, political activist, and lecturer Helen Keller - the first deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree who said: "No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit."
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