While these various celebrities were gallivanting around, the world of technology began to change. At the beginning of 2007 most laymen would not be able to answer questions such as: What is a social network? Did you know blogs are a main source of information and that an e-reading device will dominate talk in the industry?

The changes that occurred this year can be attributed to various forerunner companies that showed the world that these things were no longer stuff of science fiction but rather a new reality.

The electronics industry appealed to the DVD market and convinced them that movies were far better to watch on HD and Blu-ray. Microsoft brought out Windows Vista, which most people hated. About 100 million copies of Windows Vista were sold in 2007, the numbers are staggering because 90 percent of the PCs for sale were already contaminated with it.

In 2007 politics hit the Social Media world with politicians using this as a means to gain popularity. CNN went ahead and launched YouTube debates. It was a string of questions chosen from YouTube videos that each presidential candidate would have to answer. Did this aid in their campaigns? Absolutely not, because those watching were least likely to move away from their computer screens to go and vote!

In 2007 Google took a leap forward in its expansion. 
It introduced the open Android mobile phone development platform and opened its seldom-used Google Talk instant-messaging platform to other chat clients. This was also the year that Facebook took off and was opened to the masses. 
Facebook offered users something that MySpace failed to do and that was allowing users a logical interface and unlimited tools for connecting with one another. This was supposedly less complicated than what MySpace had to offer.

Google took another leap and with Google Maps Street View put on the dynamic 360-degree panoramas of New York City, San Francisco, Chicago and a whole bunch of other cities. We all know now what that entails so no explanation needed. If you don’t, then I have no comment.

But probably most importantly, most impactful and most memorable event was the invention and launch of the iPhone and iPod touch. In just 6 months Apple managed to transform two separate markets and get their competitors running back to the drawing board. Ironically enough Apple invented no new technology for these two products but simply had access to it and created a product that incorporated the best use of the technology.

Jumping to 2011 I’m almost speechless or rather wordless with regards to what technology means today. One can’t even begin to compare or describe the changes that have taken place in the last 5 years. Yes more celebrities have cottoned onto the fact that going to rehab creates huge publicity for them.

But maybe this has always been the case but now with the technology we have today nothing you do is private.  We now use words like social, touch computing, mobile, geo, networking, hash tag, and cloud when we arrange play dates, download music, watch TV and eat breakfast. Not only is the way the world is changing but the English language has had to keep up too.

For 2011 the major showstopper was none other than the iPad. You can always count on Apple on making an impact. It’s no surprise considering the impact its founder Steve Jobs had on the world. At the consumer electronics show this year at least 75 new tablets were introduced. But the one to steel the limelight was the new Motorola Mobility’s Xoom. It’s the first of its kind to run Google’s Android 3.0 Honeycomb operating system.

The Samsung SUR40 was also showcased and considered the next generation of giant tabletop computers. It could also be viewed as simply a giant iPad but it is still impressive with its huge touch screen and PixelSense technology that allows LCD panels to see without the use of cameras. Don’t forget the iPhone 4S was launched that now allows isolated and shy individuals have a deep and meaningful conversation with “someone” electronic that won’t judge them. It also happens to be able to answer many questions, set up tasks, reminders, read out text messages and all round anything that can be done using voice recognition, assuming you have an American accent.

This year has also seen Facebook under go a few facelifts and Google launching Google+ as, lets not beat about the bush, a direct competitor. These two giants have been playing tag for most of the year seeing who can outdo who and as quickly as possible.

In the mean time users are running around trying to keep up with all the changes and getting frustrated. It is often in cases like this that industries loose their consumers because they forget about how they service them and instead focus on how to pummel the competition.

I could go on and on with regards to breakthroughs, breakdowns and breakups that have happened this year but as far as I’m concerned with all the communication that is available now if you don’t know these then once again I have no comment. Essentially you only need to be a user of one Social Media Platform or communication device and you should and would know what happens in this world every minute of everyday.

The way I’m seeing it, that might just be the problem in the future. A complete and utter information overload, privacy destroyer and cloud buster that will leave homo-sapiens running for the caves again begging for clubs, animal skin and two sticks to make a fire!

The Bookmark Awards took place at Pigalle in Cape Town and celebrated the best of South Africa’s digital creativities, and recognized leading individuals in the digital media and marketing sphere. With over 500 attendees including well-known individuals within the digital and online world, winning an award at this prestigious event is something we are extremely proud of. To be not only a finalist but also a multiple award winner is a testament of hard work, dedication and agency excellence, which we pride ourselves with.

In 2011 there were 52 categories broken down into clusters that were open to everyone. These category breakdowns saw 453 entries with agencies and publishers a like being able to enter a vast range of work and not being limited to the particular category that they would normally not fall under.

In 2008 the Bookmarks received only 120 entries, this is a marked increase and shows the changes in the digital world in terms the range of work done and the level of excellence achievable.

In total, 95 awards were handed out and although some categories saw no awards being presented a total of eight agencies were awarded Gold. The Bookmarks 2010 saw no Gold’s awarded to agencies and this year highlights the improved worked and recognition from an agency perspective.

With two international judges leading the judging panel entries could be benchmarked against global quality and the results clearly show that South African agencies are able to create work that is comparable to the best internationally.

For Social Code this was a very gratifying moment and although we are a relatively new agency we were able to compete against those far more established than us. Clearly the digital industry is growing year on year and it is likely to see many more gold awards at the Bookmarks in 2012.

It was a hugely successfully evening for the Social Code team who continue to strive for excellence and providing great work in this industry. Our primary focus is to ensure that every client and every campaign becomes worthy of a Bookmark entry.

All in all the Social Code team had a fantastic evening celebrating the acknowledgement of our hard work and enjoyed a very well organized party!

This report covered a very important and now often spoken about topic which is the change in the marketing landscape with regards to the effectiveness of traditional media against the online marketing space and where budget is now likely to be allocated.

Some interesting numbers to note first which some will argue shows a negative inclination towards online ad spend while others may argue otherwise. In South Africa for the 2010/2011 period 2% of ad spend was allocated to online marketing. Although this is very small in the bigger scheme of things it was still a huge amount of money that was spent on such advertising. This was estimated at R600 million while TV accounted for 46% of media spend at R13 795 million.

There are however a number of factors that should be considered before making the “obvious” assumption that traditional media is still the way to go simply by looking at numbers. First the growth of online ad spend over the last 4 years has increased substantially.

To be realistic here traditional media has been around for far longer and honestly speaking costs a lot more money to use. Could this explain the large sum of money indicated by the ad spend by media type? So lets run with this: I pay R10 000 to run an ad on TV in one day and pay R1000 to run an ad online on the same day. Take that over a period of a year, obviously I have spent more money on traditional media for that year because it cost me so much more.

This is a very simplistic way of justifying the difference in numbers but a cause that cannot be ignored. Furthermore can one honestly make a comparison between the use of traditional and online in terms of spend considering that there is huge opportunity online to advertise that costs nothing at all. Look at various Social Media Platforms; cost to company may include paying the person that monitors these networks and designs that may need to be implemented for various campaigns. But overall these can be overlooked when budgets for ad spend per annum can have well over 6 digits.

What this comes down to then is the cost differentiation between Traditional and online marketing. But more importantly what you get from these costs as a brand and ones perceptions of what matters most when it comes to selling and gaining customers. Some of the industries looked at in the report include telecom, financial services, automotive, FMCG, healthcare, entertainment and retail. The level of agreement when it came to deciding which method of advertising is more effective, reaches company goals, creates better customer relationships and is easiest to measure, online had the upper hand albeit by a small margin.

However logically speaking no matter what the industry the goals are relatively the same; sell as much as you can, make profits and keep the customers coming back. This in my books is the definition of capitalism, which industries are trying to mask behind the notion of developing customer relationships.

So what am I trying to say? Same goals, new and improved methods of achieving them, cost savings and genuine customer relationship development. So no matter what the level of agreement was, across the industries the consensus was that going forward a significant emphasis will be placed on online marketing, paid for or not.

Why is this? Here are some insights into some of the reasons why:

• Distributions costs are the same regardless of how big or small your target market is
• Niche advertising is possible, which can result in better use of budget and less hit and miss
• Online provides a creative method of advertising in terms of mixed channels which offers something beyond billboards and TV ads that consumers make a concerted effort to ignore
• Online delivers more of an interactive and personal experience between brands and customers
• Online offers trackable marketing and sales and ROI are easily measurable
• Online marketing keeps consumers engaged for a longer period of time ensuring more meaningful customer relationships (it’s not just driving past a bill board but rather engaging in a conversation)
• There are ample tools and systems provided for post-campaign reporting
• It allows brands to reach new markets

Bottom line Online offers what traditional has and much more but on a wider scale, longer term and at significantly reduced costs. What’s more it has turned marketing into a dialogue as apposed to a monologue, which is what it has always been. Before online there was no conversation, only what the company wanted you to know and what you could buy. Now consumers have a say and have begun to shape consumerism in their own way. Some might say this is negative; on the other hand it is ultimately better to give the consumer what they want and not what you think they want.

Put in the simplest way possible the benefit of online lies in the effectuality, ease and cost effectiveness of its implementation. Furthermore the far reaching aspect of it and the increase in impact is making online more appealing to advertisers.

In the near future we might very well see some of these points being discussed in the boardroom when talks about budget allocation are going on.  But how long will it take, if ever for online ad spend to take over traditional? It may never, but it’s a good start for any company in any industry to begin to acknowledge the power of online in a consumer driven world.

Social Code is an innovative Cape Town based digital agency that offers a range of digital services including Social Media, Web and Mobile Design and Web and Mobile Development.

Social Code offers a stimulating and fast paced environment matched with a relaxed and funky working space, complete with amazing coffee, cupcakes and great rewards.

About the internship:

Social Code is currently looking for a design intern who is keen to learn and wanting to build a familiarity in the online industry. We’re looking for a student who has completed at least 2 years of study in Graphic/Web design.

The intern will learn the day-to-day running of a small business and will be working closely with our senior designer. The internship is unpaid and will be structured on a month-to-month basis.

The following attributes are required:

• The intern needs to be responsible, friendly and have good communication skills (over the phone, e-mail, and in person).
• Excellent attention to detail
• Passionate and motivated
• A team player
• Resourceful
• A good sense of humour

Requirements:

• Basic knowledge of HTML, CSS and cross browser compatibility
• Experience in Adobe Photoshop, Dreamweaver, or Flash
• Understanding wireframes and concept design
• Assisting in artwork designs
• Research and writing skills

What to expect:

• Shadow the designer to gain insight into and participate in projects from Brief to Deployment
• Gain relevant industry experience
• Add value to your CV
• Meet and work with interesting people
• Work with some big local and international brands

Practical Experience:

• You will learn how to design user interfaces for websites, graphics and banner design.
• You will learn how to use wire frames to improve the usability and functionality of websites.
• You will also learn how to produce website banners and animation.
• Perform Website analysis and prepare proposals

To apply please send us your CV and a cover letter and examples of your work to team@socialcode.biz

Social Code is an innovative Cape Town based digital agency that offers a range of digital services including Social Media, Web and Mobile Design and Web and Mobile Development.

Social Code offers a stimulating and fast paced environment matched with a relaxed and funky working space, complete with amazing coffee, cupcakes and great rewards.

ABOUT THE POSITION

• Social Code requires the skills of a Mid-Level PHP Developer who will have the following duties:
• Building of PHP / MySQL based applications both front and back-end.
• Maintenance of core PHP-based applications on the commercial platforms.
• Support of applications and environment on new and legacy applications.
• Report to the CTO.

REQUIREMENTS

• Minimum 2 Years PHP Development experience
• HTML, CSS, JavaScript experience
• Open Source CMS experience (WordPress / Joomla / Drupal)
• MVC experience a significant advantage.
• SQL databases. MySQL required.
• Able to demonstrate an excellent understanding of Object Oriented development methodologies and UML.
• Experience with the following technologies will be to your advantage: SOAP, XML / RPC, WAP, MMS, SMS.
• Experience with other web languages (ColdFusion / ASP / Perl) will be to your advantage.

PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES

• Team player.
• Enthusiastic and communicative team member with a positive attitude.
• Strong communication skills.
• Self starter.
• Dedication and willingness to work individually or in a team, unsupervised.
• Excellent organisational skills.
• Problem solver.
• Highly energetic and motivated.
• Assertive nature.
• Logical thinker.
• Work well under pressure and to meet deadlines.
• Desire to grow and develop and be the best in the industry.

APPLY
To apply for this amazing job simply send us a cover letter stating why we should chose you along with a copy of your CV to team@socialcode.biz.

Jenn Huang, whom I have been in contact with during this process along with two other interns at BBH Barn, were challenged to make something famous while also changing public perception.

According to the interns and I think most of us out there people tend to care about a world crisis for just a short while. But Jenn and crew figured the world’s issues deserve more than just a moment of empathy.

So they came up with The Social Tattoo Project, which in essence would help make empathy permanent. Upon my reading of this article the Social Tattoo Project had already gotten five volunteers to get inked with tattoos that represent world issues.

At this point however the volunteers were going into this blindly. They had no idea what their tattoos would be and were allowing the project creators and voters to choose the cause as well as the design.

The project would ask its Twitter and Facebook followers to vote between four trending Twitter topics that pertained to one or another current world crisis. After a week of voting the volunteer would get a tattoo that depicted the followers favourite or most sympathized cause. Thus making the chosen cause a permanent part of his or her life!

The first five tattoos were #humantrafficking, #Haiti, #Norway, #poverty and #Japan — hashtags had to be included.

After reading this article I decided I would like to become the next volunteer. I however chickened out of the current decision making process and was afforded the opportunity to pick four causes of my own that I feel strongly about and once the final cause was selected I would get my tattoo artist to design something for me.

At the end of the day I was willing and very much wanting to not only support this project but also a cause that I felt needed and deserved permanent attention and empathy. But lets be real; this was going to be a permanent mark on my body so I was most definitely going to have control over which four I was willing to have inked on me and what the design would look like!

The four causes I selected were specifically issues that relate to Africa. As I am a South African I wanted to support something that was meaningful to me, and where I come from. They were #savethechildren, #somalia, #education and #africa. As with my luck I had #savethechildren and #education come tie.

I got my tattoo artist to design something for each one and I would then pick the one I liked the most. I went with #education. Funny enough most voters decided that education would save the children!

On Thursday 22^nd I headed off to get inked. I had a friend join me on this endeavor and needless to say I nearly broke her hand off in the process. I have had tattoos done in the past but never really experienced pain like this! Thanks to Fabian though for doing an awesome job!

The foot might I add is definitely a very sensitive area! But I gritted through it and am now officially inked with a design that shows my support of education in Africa, indicating, for me at least, the importance of it in bettering the future for all.

Interestingly enough this has all happened round the same time as the Social Good Summit.

The goal of the summit was to get people together to discuss the shared goal of unraveling the potential of new media and technology to make the world a better place. It focused on how communities and various audiences are connecting with each other through social and digital innovations.

The Social Tattoo Project seems to be one of the ways that people are trying to change what is going on in this world through the use of Social Media. Millions of individuals are connecting via Social Media and talking not only about their lives but also about topics they feel strongly about which pertain to world issues.

Could Social Media be one of the tools that movers and shakers can harness to make a difference in this world? I have a feeling it will be, or actually I think it has already started to be.