Going into first world markets and experiencing the advancement of online outreach created a desire within to see the South African market advance to the same level of online engagement. I became frustrated at the lack of local online engagement, and I’m starting to wonder if it’s not the public relations space that is behind in this space but rather the blogger community.
Nic Haralambous at the recent Alt.conference argued that bloggers in South Africa lack a niche focus. He illustrated this with examples from the SA Blog Awards façade where bloggers such as Christopher M won an award for his ‘technology blog’ when very little of his blog has much to do with technology!
Many PR folk are all over Twitter, we are using online monitoring tools and tracking online conversation. When we start finding real online influencers with niche relevant markets then the two way conversation will start, until then I expect the focus to remain largely on traditional media.
Nic haralambous speaking at the Alt.conference on his passion. Picture by Paul Jacobson on Flickr licensed under Creative Commons.
