Why I Think The Alder Social Media Report Weighs More Than The Africa Practice Landscape by @biddy_09

I decided to comment on a document i received recently which is the Africa Practice Social Media Landscape - a document that attempts to identify the top social media users whether they be brands or individuals -and the Alder report for brands. This came about because i received the request via an email from my boss. I thought it would be interesting so i've decided to share my thoughts.

Enjoy!

The Alder Social Media Report (Top Rated Social Media Brands) ranks social media users across all platforms without homing in on a single platform. The report attempts to give a concise round-off of an entity's social media endeavours through providing a top-three ranking based on several criteria. That is, social media professionals and savvy internet users - who made up the panel of judges - presented their top
candidates based on the candidate's influence on his/her chosen social media platform.

In contrast, the Africa Practice Social Media Landscape presents top influencers on a specific social media platform - Twitter - and then presents a ranking of blogging sites by using Alexa - a web analytics company - data.
Also, it provides a comparison between a traditional journalist, twitteratis, bloggers and social commentators

The Africa Practice Social Media Report provides other important data such as
1. A table showing the top most visited sites in Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Egypt.
   interestingly, all ten of the sites are social media sites. Nairaland.com made number 7.
2. A brief internet usage report which highlighted that 72% of internet users in Nigeria visited social networking sites in 2013, 55% email and 46% entertainment

3. A comparison between Facebook and mobile chat apps (Eskimi, 2go and Whatsapp). This section showed that the chat apps all have more active users than Facebook in Nigeria. It mentioned that the
apps perform well because they are cheaper alternatives to SMS and use less bandwidth and data.

4. A brief discussion on the Impact of Social Media in driving accountability, civic engagement, branding and its use as a source for journalists and audiences.

Its twitter ranking was obtained based on: original tweets, replies, retweets and mentions.

The Alder report did not feature or mention a category in which any of the stations i work for were included despite their huge online following where as the Africa Practice Social Media Report listed Cool FM for Synchronizing the radio and social media effortlessly along with Beat FM. The Alder report didn't include a category on which radio stations whether online or terrestrial were represented.

In my opinion, both reports provide different data but have convergence points.
1. The Alder report provides rankings in a number of categories which are missing from the Africa
Practice report such as:Banking, Consumer, Faith, Insurance, Non-profit, Sports and Telecoms

2. The Alder report also provides expert rankings for Brands, Individuals and Foundations based on
specific parameters such as customer service, consumer engagement, Relevant Information, Speed of
Response, Up-to-date information, Visual Delight

3. The Alder report for top brands also further provided a ranking for individuals synonymous with certain categories.

4. SocialMedia giants such as GTB, Etisalat, who are very active on Facebook as well as Twitter were
however nowhere to be found in the Africa Practice report. Single focus on Twitter should still  have produced such entities as outstanding but that wasn't the case.

In conclusion i think the Alder report is more conclusive and more reaching and encompassing and provides a greater sense and knowledge of the who-is-who in the Nigerian social media space. Its findings spread from individuals to governments to brands to faith-based organisations across Twitter, Facebook, Blogger, Wordpress etc and ranks them not just in terms of followership numbers but such things as customer service, up-to-date information and other hard-to-define parameters. The selected brands, organisations and individuals stood out regardless of their preferred social media.
In addition, the Alder report includes four more  volumes that break down categories further. See here.
The documents provide greater detail and more insight.

The Africa Practice report enlightens by providing numbers and tables and charts that inform about where Nigeria is in terms of mobile application users versus Facebook active users, a comparison between traditional journalism and the more modern forms like blogging, an Alexa ranking of top blogs and forums in Nigeria and other social media discussions. Its ranking efforts in my view are less reaching than the Alder report and also is limited to only Twitter and Blogs.

-By Bidemi Akinade
Bidemi is the social media specialist for Cool FM, Wazobia FM and Nigeria Info FM
He is also a tech enthusiast, a blogger and a graphic designer. 

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New leaked Apple iPhone 6 photos reveal production blueprints displaying 4.7 inch screen

They're not photo realistic images promising detailed insights into the look and feel of the heavily anticipated iPhone 6, but blueprints believed to be part of the creation process for Apple's newest flagship smartphone have surfaced online.

The pictures of the plans and moulds were posted on the Chinese networking site Weibo, and appear to detail the production methods and dimensions of a phablet sized iPhone.

Illustrating a device measuring 4.7in, the Telegraph reports that the images were sourced from a Foxconn factory in China. Critically, Foxconn has been confirmed as one of the companies employed by Apple to manufacture its iPhone range.

Taking a closer look at the plans, they reveal a device design remarkably similar to Apple's existing smartphone lineup. The chassis with its curved edge seems virtually identical to older models and includes the home button embedded with a fingerprint sensor.

The only crucial difference is the size itself. If Apple is indeed manufacturing a smartphone that's 0.7in larger than the current iPhone 5S, it would confirm months of rumour and speculation of a supersized offering. A recent report by Nikkei even claimed that the iPhone 6 will come not only in a 4.7in model, but a gargantuan 5.5in guise as well.

Customers who enjoy substituting their tea trays with smartphones will be pleased at the news, but for us 5.5in sounds a little unwieldly for a manufacturer famed for sleek, elegant designs (what do you think? Take our poll below and let us know.) Regardless, a larger display would encroach upon a space that has previously been dominated by Samsung's Galaxy range of phablet handsets.

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Fresh War as Apple sues Samsung for $2 billion

The Apple vs. Samsung war doesn’t seem likely to end very soon as the former has again taken the latter to court over copyright infringement.

Apple has alleged in a new $2 billion suit that the South Korean company stole its designs and features for use in its most recent phones.

This latest matter is coming up less than 2 years after Samsung was ordered to pay $900 million in damages to Apple for infringing on its patents.

The Guardian reports:

The most attention grabbing claim in the case is Apple’s demand that market leader Samsung, which sold one in three of all smartphones last year, pay a $40 royalty for each device running software allegedly conceived by Apple.

That is more than five times more than the amount sought in the previous trial and well above other precedents between smartphone companies. If Apple prevails, the costs to Samsung could reach $2 billion. Apple’s costs, if it lost, are expected to be about $6 million.

The other new twist in the case is that Samsung hope to draw Google into the battle by calling the engineers who designed the search giant’s Android system – which is used by Samsung’s phones – to give evidence explaining how they built it independently of Apple .

The latest case, which begins on Monday in San Jose with jury selection, will be tried less than two years after a federal jury found the South Korean firm was infringing on Apple patents.

Samsung was ordered to pay about $900m but is appealing and has been allowed to continue selling products using the technology. Apple this time accuses Samsung of infringing on five patents on newer devices, including Galaxy smartphones and tablets.

In a counterclaim, Samsung says Apple stole two of its ideas to use on iPhones and iPads.

“Apple revolutionised the market in personal computing devices,” Apple claims in court filings. “Samsung, in contrast, has systematically copied Apple’s innovative technology and products, features and designs, and has deluged markets with infringing devices.“

Samsung countered that it has broken technological barriers with its own ultra-slim, lightweight phones. “Samsung has been a pioneer in the mobile device business sector since the inception of the mobile device industry,” Samsung said. “Apple has copied many of Samsung’s innovations in its Apple iPhone, iPod, and iPad products.”

The case underscores a much larger concern about what is allowed to be patented with experts questioning whether Apple should be allowed to make its case. 

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Scent enabled bacon alarm clock

If your alarm clock just isn’t doing the trick to wake you up anymore, perhaps you’ll need to tap into another of your five senses: smell. And what’s the absolute, indisputable best smell in the world? Bacon, obviously.

Oscar Mayer, the American meat company famous for its wieners, created a device that turns your smartphone into a kitchen with a bacon-scented alarm clock. A small device is simply plugged into the headphone jack of an iPhone and connected to an app that allows users to emit the sounds and smells of fresh-cooked bacon.

The Kraft-owned company said “Wake Up & Smell The Bacon” will be available on the site from March 3 until April 4, 2014. However, it’s not for sale; those who desire a bacon-scented alarm clock must fill out an application and will only receive the device if they are chosen. Anyone could download the iPhone alarm app, though, which emits the sound of cooking bacon.

"With nearly two million mentions of #bacon on Instagram, it seems people never get tired of bacon. That’s why our team decided to develop a device to give folks what they long for most," Tom Bick, senior director of integrated marketing and advertising at Oscar Mayer, said in a statement. “As the category leader, Oscar Mayer is thrilled to bring the first-ever bacon-scented mobile device to market, giving bacon aficionados a new reason to welcome their morning alarm clocks."

Oscar Mayer also released an epic video advertisement to promote the bacon alarm clock, with a nymph-like woman roaming a forest with the “finest” aroma discharging from bacon flowers. 

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Samsung's ad-free music service 'Milk Music' to take on Apple's iTunes

Samsung is taking on Apple's iTunes Radio, as well as Pandora, Spotify, and a host of other companies in the competitive streaming music business, but it picked an innocuous name to do it.

Milk Music, launched Friday and available now in the Google Play store, is Samsung's latest foray into a music service, this time a streaming radio offering.

It's free to download and free to listen to, and importantly, unlike iTunes Radio, it doesn't have ads.

It will have 200 genre-based and curated stations and some 13 million songs, and like other service will allow six song skips per hour per station. 

The South Korean Electronics giant, which is the world's biggest smartphone maker and is challenging Apple in the US market, said the service will be offered with no log-in required and no need to browse for a specific artist or song. 

Milk, at least for now, is only for Samsung Galaxy customers and for now it's only available in the US, which was how Apple rolled out itunes radio "Knowing Samsung, the chances are very high" it will be expanded internationally, said Daren Tsui, vice president of music for Samsung's Media Solutions Center America. 

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Instagram Went Down, And It Might Have Been Justin Bieber’s Fault

Interesting development from TechCrunch

Instagram’s app has been down or suffering extremely long loading times for some over the last 50 minutes. Many suspect the reason is that Justin Bieber posted a photo of his ex-girlfriend Selena Gomez at an Oscars party (seen above) to his 14 million followers. The post sent his fandom into a frenzy of rumors that they might get back together, which may have caused an outage-inducing traffic spike. [Update: But Instagram denies this.]

When I say the downtime could be Bieber’s “fault”, what I really mean is that his fans are so loyal and engaged, they create unpredictable floods of attention that can cripple web services. In that way, it’s kind of a compliment. Note that Bieber contributing to the Instagram issues is still unconfirmed speculation.

[Update 9:35am PST: Instagram confirms the outage affected some users, but said it didn't appear that Bieber was responsible. No other reason was given, though, and I suspect the company wouldn't want to publicly blame the pop star.

In a statement to TechCrunch, an Instagram spokesperson said "As much as we hope for a blissful reunion between two of America's sweethearts, we have no reason to believe that Justin Bieber's recent Instagram post caused the site to slow down this morning. However, a small number of people were affected and we apologize for the inconvenience."]

The outage comes just a week after Facebook’s other big acquisition WhatsApp experienced multiple hours of downtime caused by “server issues”. There’s been no official announcement posted by Instagram’s blog, Facebook, or Twitter today, though.

 If Bieber was in part responsible (though Instagram says he wasn’t), it would highlight just how much sway big public figures have over web traffic. Once upon a time, it was record labels and movie studios that could say “Hey kid, want to be famous?” But now, social platforms can allow anyone with powerful content, even if it only appeals to a certain demographic, to gain tens of millions of followers and impact the Internet landscape.

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Facebook purchases Whatsapp for $19 Billion

Facebook has bought messaging application WhatsApp in a deal worth a total of 19 billion dollars in cash and shares.Facebook is buying huge messaging app WhatsApp for $12 billion in stock and $4 billion in cash.

Facebook set aside another $3 billion in restricted stock units to be granted to WhatsApp’s founders and employees that will vest over the next four years.

WhatsApp calls itself "a personal real-time messaging network allowing millions of people around the world to stay connected with their friends and family."

Basically, it's a text-messaging replacement.

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Yay! Facebook Turns 10 Years Old Today!

Facebook will celebrate its 10th anniversary on Tuesday after a roller coaster first decade that has seen it impact the tech, business and cultural landscape in numerous ways.

The site now boasts more than a billion monthly active users, but continues to grapple with legal issues across the world, as it poses questions around privacy and the use of user data for advertising purposes.

Initially launching as a site just for US college students on 4 February 2004, Thefacebook.com, as it was first called, quickly grew to be a go-to destination for non-students as it opened its doors to the general public in 2006.

The site's chief executive and founder Mark Zuckerberg said last week during the company's earnings conference call: "We're looking forward to our next decade and to helping connect the rest of the world."

The anniversary comes amid a period of huge success for the firm after it announced profits of $1.5bn for 2013 with more than half of its advertising revenue coming from users on mobile devices. Revenue generated from mobile advertising had previously been a stumbling block for the firm, with investors worrying it was not properly monetising its widely used mobile apps.

In its 10 years, Facebook has broken new legal ground, with many of its money-making schemes and their associated user data policies angering privacy watchdogs, national governments and the EU.

Facebook has also attempted to fend off multiple lawsuits from disgruntled users who were unhappy about the ways in which their data has been used. In a particularly costly case last year, Facebook paid $20m in a class action lawsuit relating to users' images being used in advertising content.

The firm has already revealed how it intends to connect the developing world to the internet and – indirectly – to Facebook. Its Internet.org campaign looks to connect users in poorer countries in partnership with firms such as Samsung, Nokia and Qualcomm.

Facebook also recently announced plans for a new standalone Paper mobile, which is dedicated to news consumption, as it looks to rival Twitter in terms of content discovery.

The story of Facebook has even been given the Hollywood treatment, with the movie The Social Network hitting the screens in 2010.

source: v3.co.uk

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NSA Spying Tech: Beware!

I came across this brief article which tries to explain NSA spying techniques on personal computers. please take a look. You'll be astounded

1. Tiny transceivers are built into USB plugs and inserted into target computers. Small circuit boards may be placed in the computers themselves.

2. The transceivers communicate with a briefcase- size N.S.A. field station, or hidden relay station, up to eight miles away.

3. The field station communicates back to the N.S.A.’s Remote Operations Center.

4. It can also transmit malware, including the kind used in attacks against Iran’s nuclear facilities.

WASHINGTON — The National Security Agency has implanted software in nearly 100,000 computers around the world that allows the United States to conduct surveillance on those machines and can also create a digital highway for launching cyberattacks.
While most of the software is inserted by gaining access to computer networks, the N.S.A. has increasingly made use of a secret technology that enables it to enter and alter data in computers even if they are not connected to the Internet, according to N.S.A. documents, computer experts and American officials.
The technology, which the agency has used since at least 2008, relies on a covert channel of radio waves that can be transmitted from tiny circuit boards and USB cards inserted surreptitiously into the computers.
In some cases, they are sent to a briefcase-size relay station that intelligence agencies can set up miles away from the target.

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