I just spent hours trying to de-infest a Joomla 1.0 or 1.5 site from spam. And I am ready to leave PHP behind me forever.

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Blogging isn’t dead (yet)

With all the fresh air rushing thru my system, I was in mindblogging mode. Reflecting on all the data I have been consuming here and there.

Yesterday afternoon I tried out new bicycles at a bicycle shop in downtown Basel. I am thinking of buying a new bicycle. My Univega will soon be 10 years old. And a lot has been happening in the bicycle space since then.

I read Scoble’s post on reducing noise on Facebook. Useful! I don’t really have the a signal to noise problem on FB, but they are offering more and more control. Which is good.

On Twitter: Did you see that you can now embed tweets?

yay! no chiperoni today! RT @wetterbasel: Heute: Klar bei max. 19 Grad, Morgen: Nebel bei max. 18 Grad, (Stand: 11:00 Uhr)

— san mangwana(@nchenga) March 24, 2012

How to find the embed code:

• Select a tweet.
• Click on Details.
• Click on Embed this Tweet.
• Copy the code to your webpage.

Although I am quite sure that I will keep my screenshot collection of fun tweets.

The effort to tweak all these corporate social media channels is getting higher than high. Don’t let the social media corporations take over.

Instead of just consuming content, I encourage you to create content. Write a blog, take photos, learn something new, write how-tos, write about your area of expertise, own your own data, participate, enter into dialog, have fun. Here are some ideas:

Top 10 Essential DIY Skills That Aren’t as Hard as You Think -lifehacker.com/5896102/top-10…

— san mangwana(@nchenga) March 24, 2012

I am planning to attend BarcampBodensee in June. Anybody else coming from the Basel area? It would be a great opportunity to present an updated version of my presentation on mobile internet usage in Malawi.

So much has happened in this space. And even in a downturn, TNM has managed to increase its subscriber base by 35% in 2011. Compare and contrast those kind of numbers with the saturated markets here in Europe.

The number of Facebook users from southern Africa is increasing despite the high internet access costs. Socialbaker lists 95 820 users from Malawi.

Leave a comment or contact me if you can provide further interesting data / anecdotes / user behaviour on internet usage patterns in the warm heart of Africa.

Thank you for reading and supporting chiperoni.ch. Alles wird gut.

P.S.: I missed a LOLCat photo opportunity today: a cat stretched out on the seat of Vespa. Unfortunately I didn’t have a cam with me.

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Sunny Sunday

This is my abstract:

Erst gab es Blogs und Flickr, dann kam Twitter und Facebook, und jetzt gibt es G+, Pinterest, Foursquare und Klout.

Immer mehr Web-Anwendungen drängen auf den Markt und buhlen um unsere Online-Aufmerksamkeit.

Wie nutze ich Social Media für mein Unternehmen?
Lohnt sich der Aufwand für mein KMU?
Wie manage ich private und berufliche Kontakte?

I have approximately 30 mins. Which means about 12 to 15 slides. I am planning 4 main sections:

1) What is social media?

2) Using new media tools for my company

3) Using new media tools for personal reasons – develop your micro-brand

4) How to get started – Chiperoni’s recommended checklist

Okay here we go! Details:

1) What is social media?

Social media is a misnomer for online apps, that use current web and mobile technologies to publish information (text, audio, video).

[...]social media isn’t a PR tool; it’s not a marketing tool ; it’s a communications tool and a media making/distribution tool set.

Social media is fast. It requires no techie skills such as FTP, HTML, CSS. Everyone is a publisher. Within 3 minutes I can set up an account on Facebook, WordPress.com, Twitter, or Tumblr and vent my anger or frustration or delight about a product or service or person. This is referred to as user-generated content.

Screens of examples: blogs, Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, Klout, Foursquare

Nobody can say what social media tools will prosper and what tools will peter out a la MySpace and co. But the principle of real-time will remain.

Social media has substantially changed the way organizations, communities, and individuals communicate.

News finds me.

It’s not about stats, no. of likes, or followers.

Note to Social Media Mar­ke­ting Dorks: The hard currency of the Inter­net is not Face­book “Likes” or Twit­ter “Ret­weets”, as flavor-of-the-month as they might be. By them­sel­ves, they’re worthless.
The hard currency of the Inter­net is “Social Objects”.
i.e. Social Objects for peo­ple to SHARE MEANINGFULLY with other people

2) Using new media tools for my company

I assume that a company wants to raise awareness and influence a buyer’s decision.

In the 90s we accessed the printed version of Zimpel to find out which journalist wrote about microengineering and sent out faxes. Today lots of journis are on Twitter. See Leumund’s list of Swiss journalists on Twitter

Very obviously, as a Marketing Communications specialist, I am going to adapt and move to Twitter. Especially if I am a small or medium-sized business.

Huge benefit: As an SME, I can circumvent the gatekeepers and get access to my stakeholders directamente. Press releases are no longer for the press only, but for everybody interested in your company’s products or services.

Huge benefit no. 2: SEO. More surface area for Google to find me. (Analogy: ocean of data – more islands pointing back to my company website)

Huge benefit no. 3: when a shit storm is raging against my company or an external communication crisis comes along, I already know how to use new media.
Example: SWISS during volcano crisis.

Huge benefit no. 4: costs are still lower than print, billboard or radio/TV advertising.

BUT, social media is not working for all companies. You need to find the right platform and the right strategy / tone of voice / mix of useful content vs pure advertising. Everyone needs their own tailor-fit strategy.

3) Using new media tools for personal reasons – develop your micro-brand

My personal benefits have been:

• Networking
• Learning
• Reflection
• Knowledge management
• Positioning myself as a specialist
• Fun

For every online comment you receive, there are about 200 visitors that didn’t say a thing about your post. Very few people comment online, but many people will read your entries and comment offline when you meet face-to-face. Or even e-mail you photos of Nutella alternatives from their last vacation to post in your collection.

4) How to get started – Chiperoni’s recommended checklist

Inspired by Su Franke, David Meerman Scott and Elise Bauer…

Before you dive in and set up your social media accounts, please consider the following checklist:

• Do some research beforehand – which new media platform is suitable for my topic? Is my potential audience using this web application? Can I add value to the existing online conversations?
• Look at the legalese – who owns my content? What limitations are there in the terms and conditions?
• What information about my company or my personal life, am I prepared to make public? Would I say the same kind of things in a real-life, face-to-face meeting or in front of an audience?
• How do I handle private contacts vs business contacts on my social application? Do I know enough about the privacy settings? What happens if I make a mistake and I set the wrong privacy for an entry?
• How important are online contacts / networks for me?
• Consider the effort – you will need to post at regular intervals to gain any kind of traction. Prepare a pipeline of topics / an editorial calendar. Set up Google Reader with a list of sources that write about your topic.
• Frequency is very important
• Be authentic
• Be a thought leader – develop useful content. Most of us have been overexposed to advertising. I am jaded. I am cynical. I will challenge and question any kind of advertising posted on the internetz. Instead follow Elise’s ideas on thought leadership.
• Find your social object.

See David Meerman Scott’s book on the new rules of PR and marketing. There’s an excellent free e-book to get you started.

I strongly recommend Su Franke’s talk on networking.

Especially Su’s last slide is important: once you start your social media home, don’t leave it uninhabited.

Last slide – further reading:
all of the above links and some more!

Your comments? Additions? Feedback?

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Preparing my next social media talk

While I was a kid, I wondered and dreamed about 2010 and where I would be. My life is very different from what I dreamed it would be. But it is good.

I achieved one of my long-standing goals.

I am venturing out to embrace new challenges.

Hello 2011.

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2010

Everybody is a foreigner, almost everywhere.

I didn’t select the family, city, country or continent I was born into.

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Everybody is a foreigner

Before long I was explaining how I was fascinated by the power of blogs and Twitter and the possibility they offer to bypass the gatekeepers who decide which media content you are supposed to consume. In my casem blogs and Twitter help me circumvent traditional Western euro-centric media with their pre-set opinions on Africa to learn about news in Blantyre.

The story of Nchenga at Chiperoni.ch is hidden in this blog:

My initial idea when I set out was to help cross the digital divide and point to content about my home country, Malawi.

Example of the power of blogging: During the last General Elections in Malawi, Alex at the Polytechnic helped to keep us informed by posting regular information and allowing Malawians to comment. In general, blogging has increased the amount of direct infos available on Malawi in the Internet.

Why use the nom de web Nchenga and why is my blog called Chiperoni?

No real reason except that I set up this blog shortly after a visit to Blantyre:

Chiperoni is a kind of drizzle rain in the Shire Highlands. Nchenga or mchenga means “sand” in Chichewa. Shortly before I set up my new blog, I heard a TV talk show in Blantyre, where people were complaining about bad TV reception. One lady called the show to say “All I can see is nchenga nchenga”. i.e. it means something like “blurry image”…

Somehow I felt “blurry image” describes my blogging adventure and cos it also means “sand” I was happy.

I am enthused by the sound of words.

Chiperoni describes the weather here in Europe. And it sounds like home.

Did you know? I am one of the admins of the largest Malawi photography group ever. And I maintain a list of Malawians on Twitter.

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Nom de web: Nchenga

But I am enjoying being outside. It was so beautifully warm today.

And. It is a good way to reflect.

Time for mind blogging.

I like being outdoors.

I really like living in Switzerland. I think it is great that people take such meticulous care of their houses and gardens.

This afternoon I went to see “Wien 1900 – Klimt, Schiele und ihre Zeit” at the Beyeler Museum. I liked the architecture and poster designs. And Klimt’s landscapes.

I didn’t like the additional shopping area they added for Wien 1900 merchandise. One shop is enough.

A couple of Wikipedia links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egon_Schiele
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Klimt

You’ve probably heard of poetry slams. But there are also science slams: 10 mins to present your research project. There is one in Freiburg im Br. on 29th November and 17th January. I would love to go and see one.

The incredibly influential a. of Handmade 2.0 invited me to a new web app called Pinterest. We have been blogging since January 2003. And it has been an incredible journey…. Thank you a. for the billions of emails, links and ideas. I am truly amazed at the amount of data we have collected.

I am still trying to figure out how to use Facebook as can be seen occasionally in my tweets. I worry that a platform like Facebook could replace the web. That would be the end of HTML pages, simplicity, transparency and diversity.

That’s why it’s important to support and use other platforms and tools. Try out WordPress and Drupal. Learn HTML. Write your own articles. Voice your opinion. Become involved. Think before you click re-tweet, like or comment.

It is my belief that after the fragmentation of the media scene and citizen journalism and the removal of the gatekeepers, we will see consolidation and the rise of new media giants with new gatekeepers.

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A Sunday evening in mid-November

Feedburner stats:

The Chiperoni feed is here.

If you would like to receive Chiperoni website updates via email, subscribe here:

Related quote via Dave Winer, the inventor of RSS feeds:

Anyway, RSS is doing fine. It forms the pipes through which news flows. Nowadays there are some new-fangled faucets called Twitter and Facebook. But behind the scenes, connecting it all together is RSS. Formats that are as deeply entrenched as RSS is stay deeply entrenched. It’s how technology works. It’s why we still use QWERTY typewriters and why pages are still 8.5 inches wide and 11 inches tall.

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Chiperoni via RSS reader and email

“A new study from Forrester Research has found a decline in the number of content creators across social networking sites, even while general use and participation on these sites has risen.”

High time to start blogging and creating content.

I personally feel that we are moving back into a media world where news is controlled by a handful. Simply ‘cos many of us (me included) have no time for citizen journalism.

Creating is more fun than echoing other folk’s content.

One of my fun projects is the boring flower snapshot set

Current projects:

• Website project manager – Adding features and landing pages to a Drupal website
• Testing a Powerpoint template for MS Office 2007 – I found out that PPT 2007 uses themes
• Planning vacation – Going south I think. Tas and/or Malawi?
• Learning about indoor photography – Asking Dive-angel how to take photos at an indoor event with my beloved DSLR

I am also planning to take a closer look at Open Atrium and Heart of Co.

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Get a blog!

(…) we should not be sacrificing our own personal ideals and our own internal moral compasses in a never-ending battle for position, for status, for scoops, or for access.

While 2010 is the year where many will find ways to monetize their online blogs, photos and apps (which is ok), don’t forget your personal voice.

Even if you have only 5 readers per day, you have influence.

There are enough echo chambers.

I spend a lot of time reading online. And there is a lot of repetition.

Don’t sell out to the latest SEO and social media marketing gimmicks. It’s a fact: google-bombing your way into Google’s top ten is getting more difficult by the day. Esp. for common terms. Even if you follow all the social media marketing advice out there. There is no silver bullet. Consider plain, old-fashioned offline marketing as well.

Remember why you started blogging and tweeting and have fun.

Stay independent.

I know why I am here. I enjoy writing. I like documenting my web world. The tools that I used. The feedback that I get.

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