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Twitter Ads: Monetise trending topics
“How does twitter make money?” must be a question on everyone’s lips. So far techcrunch has all the details. Here’s an image of a promoted trending topic for Disney Pixar.
Twitter Promoted Trending Topics
If you have a look at the what used to be 10 trending topics worldwide has now become 11 with the promoted trending topics being the eleventh one. Currently the trending topics are:
- Jaden Smith
- #iconfess
- #worldcup
- #betchris
- Vuvuzela
- Oil Spill
- Bafana
- Premier League
- Karate Kid
- Fixtures
- Toy Story 3 *Promoted*
Continue reading for the full story from TechCrunch…
Since April, Twitter users have grown accustomed to Twitter’s first ad revenue play: Promoted Tweets. Today, the second phase of that strategy is starting to be tested: Promoted Trending Topics. The first such topic? Toy Story 3, promoted by Disney/Pixar.
As you can see in the right hand toolbar of Twitter.com, at the bottom of the Trending Topics area there is now an 11th topic, “Toy Story 3.” Next to it is a big yellow box letting you know that it’s a promoted Trending Topic. Just as with Promoted Tweets, the functionality for these Promoted Trending Topics is the same as the regular Trending Topics — clicking on it takes you to a search results page to see what people are saying about Toy Story 3.
“As we have always said, we plan to test different advertising and promotional models in these early stages of our monetization efforts for both user and brand value. As part of this effort, we are testing trends clearly marked as “promoted” for an undefined period of time,” a Twitter representative tells us.
[via Disney/Pixar Buys The First Twitter Trending Topic Ad]
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More ways to follow the World Cup online
The wwworld is focused on South Africa for the biggest sporting event on earth the FIFA World Cup. Do i need to add a TM to the end of that? So far we Have Twitter, a Google Doodle, Google Street View, live streaming of the matches and you can even follow Casey Monteiro as he blogs his way to the World Cup.
The Quickest and easiest way to follow the action of the soccer matches is to simply Google ‘World Cup.’ Here you will see the latest results and upcoming fixtures straight from the search results.
Continue reading to do a quick recap of other ways to follow and support the World Cup on the internet.
Twitter World Cup 2010
Using live widgets, real-time search, and Top Tweets (updates that are currently catching the attention of many Twitter users) we’ve put together a special site to capture the spirit of the World Cup and it’s already pulsing with activity. Fans have a unique opportunity to connect with players, teams, and brands using Twitter to join the matches in a new way.
Nikisha Lalloo from Port Elizabeth has been crowned the national winner of the Doodle 4 Google ‘Love Football’ competition. Nikisha is now one step closer to being a global winner, emerging as the top young South African artist to enter the competition. Nikisha will have her logo design displayed on the Google South Africa homepage on Friday June 11th 2010, when all eyes will be on South Africa: www.google.co.za.
Live streaming the FIFA 2010 Soccer World Cup.
There are many options for watching the football matches including Ustream, Jutintv, Iraq Goals and many more in the comments section.
Google Street View the World Cup Stadiums.
Seven of South Africa’s new football stadiums, including Soccer City in Johannesburg, Peter Mokaba in Polokwane and Moses Mabhida in Durban are now available to explore from pitch-level in 360 degrees, both inside and out. These detailed images were collected over the last few months, using the Google Street View Trikes and some serious pedal power!
Don’t forget to Join the South African Wave with SonyEricsson. Found any more ways to Follow the World Cup online? Please share them in the comments.
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Follow the World Cup on Twitter
Feeling it yet? Well, it’s here. The World cup is undoubtedly the world’s biggest sporting event with an audience of approximately 1 billion people. The enthusiasm and the excitement is at an all time high and on the web, like wise, things are getting better by the minute . Just two days ago, The Vuvuzela , with all it’s popularity , became a trending topic on twitter.
However, things keep getting even more exciting. Twitter has just announced a special site that aggregates all the FIFA World Cup 2010 tweets with all the games and scores by the minute. So now, You won’t have to worry anymore about missing any of the games.
Here’s what twitter had to say said :
Using live widgets, real-time search, and Top Tweets (updates that are currently catching the attention of many Twitter users) we’ve put together a special site to capture the spirit of the World Cup and it’s already pulsing with activity. Fans have a unique opportunity to connect with players, teams, and brands using Twitter to join the matches in a new way. We also are providing a list of suggested accounts to follow during the tournament and a World Cup theme for your profile page. We’ll leave it up to you to learn how to do the neat little trick we’re calling hashflags.
With the World Cup here, a Twitter perspective to world cup seems to suggest that the world is already feeling it and ready to make this event a truly memorable one.
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Google Doodle World Cup 2010
Vote for this Google Doodle
Today, Nikisha Lalloo from Port Elizabeth has been crowned the national winner of the Doodle 4 Google ‘Love Football’ competition. Nikisha is now one step closer to being a global winner, emerging as the top young South African artist to enter the competition. Nikisha will have her logo design displayed on the Google South Africa homepage on Friday June 11th 2010, when all eyes will be on South Africa: www.google.co.za. In addition to her doodle being seen by millions of people, Nikisha also receives a laptop and a framed copy of her winning doodle.
Nikisha beat off strong competition from some 400 other entrants from around the country who designed a Google Doodle around the theme ‘Love Football’. Entrants also provided a supporting statement explaining their design choice. A panel of judges and Google South Africa selected a shortlist of ten doodles, and then teamed up with Sunday Times ReadRight (http://www.readright.co.za) to get the public to vote online or by SMS for their favourite Doodle. The panel included award-winning cartoon artist Zapiro (www.zapiro.com), former Pop Idols Africa presenter, Lebogang Mzwimbi, Director General of Education Duncan Hindle and Sandra Fivaz, Editor of Sunday Times Read Right. Nikishha’s Doodle was accompanied by her statement: “I love football, especially the unusual actions, e.g., the bicycle kick, which, when performed successfully is absolute poetry in motion. The skills, dexterity and bravery involved is second to none.”
On hearing that she had won, Nikisha said: “I am so excited that I have won this year’s competition and I can’t believe that my design is going to be on the Google South Africa homepage for millions of people to see. All my friends and family are so happy that I have done so well and I’m excited that my doodle will be among those competing globally. The bonus is that it is a football Doodle and the World Cup is presently in South Africa.”
Julie Taylor, Communications Manager for Google South Africa, commented: “The standard of entries in the Doodle 4 Google competition was outstanding; there’s clearly a huge amount of pride and excitement in the air among young South Africans, given all the soccer fever. The competition has revealed a great wealth of talent overall, and Nikisha’s doodle in particular shows wonderful artistic ability and creativity. Next we have to get the South African public to rally for South Africa and vote for Nikisha in the global competition!”
Check out Nikisha’s winning doodle live on www.google.co.za on Friday, June 11th, 2010.
The national winners are now automatically entered into the global competition, in which the public from around the world will vote for their overall favourite Doodle. The winner and the runner up stand to win some great prizes. In addition, the global winner will have his or her Doodle displayed on the Google home pages of all the countries participating in the contest. Voting for the global winner will be open from 21-28 June at http://www.google.com/lovefootball.
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Google Street View South Africa is here
The previous post written only yesterday about Google Maps Navigation has just been indexed and might begin ranking any time soon. Yesterday I also mentioned that street view is available but now it is official.
What is Street View?
Street View takes Google Maps to a new level, allowing you to visually explore and navigate a neighbourhood through panoramic street-level photographs. It enables you to view and navigate 360 degree street level imagery of various cities around the world, providing greater understanding of a specific location or area. We are delighted to have brought Street View to South Africa so that both locals and people around the globe will be able to explore the buzzing cities and stunning landscapes of South Africa right from their computers.
Johannesburg, 8th June 2010 – It’s not every day that you find an elephant in Street View, or for that matter get to visit most of the new soccer stadiums in one day. But from today people can do both with Google’s newly released Street View images and 3D models in Google Earth.
Seven of South Africa’s new football stadiums, including Soccer City in Johannesburg, Peter Mokaba in Polokwane and Moses Mabhida in Durban are now available to explore from pitch-level in 360 degrees, both inside and out. These detailed images were collected over the last few months, using the Google Street View Trikes and some serious pedal power!
Street View images are also available of around 27 South African towns and cities including Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban and Port Elizabeth, helping tourists get to know the local area or navigate their way to their hotel. Top tourist attractions can now be explored in detail too – there’s dramatic coastal scenery in the Cape; the urban buzz of Soweto, home to Nelson Mandela; or the world renowned Kruger National Park, to wander at your leisure.
Julie Taylor, Communications Manager for Google South Africa, said: “This is a first for Africa, and a really exciting development for South Africans, who can now explore their country in new ways, whether a local neighbourhood in the city or a scenic coastal route they’ve never seen. But it’s also going to be a massive bonus for the tourism industry, especially with all the international visitors arriving in South Africa. Tourists will be able to take a look at sights and stadiums before they get here, while the rest of the world can enjoy the view from their mobile phone or PC.”
Roshene Singh, Chief Marketing Officer at South Africa Tourism added, “We’re delighted that Street View has arrived in South Africa. Whether you’re looking at Cape coastal scenery, the Blyde River Canyon, or at our state-of-the-art new soccer stadiums, Street View is going to be an excellent tool for the tourism industry at large.”
If you want to read the full press release continue reading here or just enjoy this video explaining exactly how Google Maps Street view works.
Seeing that the following natural areas tourists to South Africa love have been mapped with street view trikes shouldn’t we call it Google Maps Safari View?
- Cape peninsula
- Natal Midlands
- Kruger
- Addo
- Tsitsikamma
- Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens
- Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens
- Midlands
- Tsitsikamma
- Wilderness
- Harkerville Forest
- Kagga Kamma Nature Reserve
- Blyde River Canyon
Have you seen the elephant?
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Google Maps Navigation South Africa
With the introduction of Google Android mobile devices running Android 2.1 to South Africa some of you might have noticed the Google Navigation application within your menu. If you’re using the HTC Desire or HTC Legend, tap menu and scroll down to just after the Market button, the Google Maps Navigation links should be there. It’ll just be called Navigation. See it? Cool now try launching it. Bummer that Google Maps Navigation is not yet available in this location At least we have street view
If anyone from Google reads this or if you know when Navigation will be available in South Africa please share it with us in the comments below. If only Navigation was available before the 2010 World Cup
So what can we do with Google Maps even though we can’t access Google Navigation yet? Not sure if you know this but we can get directions from point A to point B. It’s not turn by turn voice nav but at least it’s directions right? If you’re using the Google Latitude you can also get direction to your friends location. This is where Latitude trumps Foursquare. It’s great to know where your friends have checked in. The real ones you’ve actually met not the people you follow on twitter. Imagine you getting a call from your friend and he tells you his watching the 2010 World Cup opening match between South Africa & Mexico at a place you’ve never been to in an area you do not frequent. With Latitude you’d be able to get directions to you’re friends exact location without even having to ask
[update from lonewolf] (incase you don’t read the comments)
Got navigation working in SA with Brut Google Maps. Basically, it’s exactly the same as the official Google Maps but the internal location has been modified to the US so we can use it. You can install it alongside the official Google Maps without any issues. You can find it at the XDA developers forum: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=630887
Just install the package using a file browser/manager like Astro (available on the Market).
[end update]
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2010 World Cup Live Streaming
It is nearly time for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and you will not always be in near a television to watch every one of the 64 matches that will be broadcast live around the wwworld. In South Africa the official broadcaster SABC will have all 64 World Cup matches broadcast live on television or radio in one of the 11 South African official languages. I’d rather not listen to football and watch the soccer live. SuperSport will broadcast all 64 World Cup games in HD on 4 dedicated channels. You’ll need to be a DSTV subscriber though.
Continue reading to find links to 3 unofficial sources for watching the World Cup Soccer live on your PC.
Ustream.TV
According to Wikipedia Ustream is a website which consists of a network of diverse channels providing a platform for lifecasting and live video streaming of events online. The website has over 2,000,000 registered users who generate 1,500,000+ hours of live streamed content per month with over ten million unique hits per month.
On match-day head on over to ustream and search for ‘South Africa vs Mexico‘ and you might just find a live broadcast of the opening match of the 2010 World Cup.
Justin.tv
Similar to Ustream, Justin.tv is a website that allows users to produce and watch live streaming video. Like YouTube, Justin.tv user accounts are called “channels”, and users are encouraged to broadcast a wide variety of user-generated live video content, called “broadcasts”.
If you’re not near a TV or in Durban on the 25th of June 2010 try searching for Portugal vs Brazil on Justin.tv and you will probably find the match broadcast live
Iraq Goals
This site is awesome, just discovered recently, when trying to find a live rugby match when the usual channels/streams were down. Not only does Iraq Goals offer you live streaming of various types of sport matches but they give you a broadcast schedule of the upcoming matches that will be streamed live on their site. If you find everything to be in Arabic just click on the English link at the top right of the page and everything will be a language you can read and understand.
I’m sure there are more options to watch the World Cup in South Africa live online. Do you have any cool sites to share?
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The State of the Internet
There have been recurring themes about there internet this year, and one of them is growth. As previously predicted, it has indeed grown. The world average internet penetration stands at about 26% ( for 2009) and interestingly enough, Africa has surpassed the middle east in the number of internet users by Geographic region. it stands at about 86.2% while the middle east is at about 58.2%.
I found an interesting short video giving all sorts of stats about the internet and its growth. Enjoy
The State Of The Internet from R. Deniz ÖNER on Vimeo.
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Blog your way to the 2010 FIFA World Cup™
Casey Monteiro has won the KIA competition
This post is brought to you by Kia Motors The power to surprise. The same Kia that manufactures the Kia Sportage. If you get a red card when playing soccer/football you wont be all ROFL (Rolling on floor laughing) but actually be sent off for the remainder of the game. I’m sure you’ve already known that and cannot wait for the World Cup to begin. If you didn’t manage to get yourself tickets to the biggest event ever to happen on the African continent here is your chance to blog your way to the 2010 FIFA World Cup™.
All you need to do is the following: Join the Kia Motors South Africa page on facebook to enter the competition where you have to write a 150 word post that includes the terms “Kia Motors the Power to Suprise” and “Kia Design”. So its really 142 words. You also need to answer the following 3 questions:
- To be red carded is to be:
- What does “ROFL” stand for?
- Which car will be test driven as a part of this Kia experience?
Think you’re up for it? Here is what else you will win apart from attending a World Cup match in South Africa and a few terms…
- 2010 FIFA World Cup™ South Africa PS3 EA game to giveaway & Sony Cybershot camera to giveaway
- A panel of judges will select the best entry
- The Kia Experience prize is to join 12 other global bloggers from 18 – 21 June 2010, to stay at the new Rosebank Holiday Inn Hotel, attend one 2010 FIFA World Cup ™ match and a day trip test driving the All New Kia Sportage.
- The competition runs from 20 to 25 May and the winner will be announced on 2 June 2010.
All the Terms and conditions included on the Facebook Entry Form. I’ll announce the winners here.
- Join the Kia Facebook Fan Page and be part of The Kia Experience which continues through the 2010 FIFA World Cup ™
- Follow @KiaMotorsSA to see Casey’s updates and to find out about his experience.
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Don’t just watch Tv, watch Google TV
This is probably the best invention since sliced bread. It’s called Google Tv.
Although it’s been in the pipeline for quite sometime, Google finally made it official yesterday. Here’s what you can expect from google tv.
Google TV is a new experience for television that combines the TV that you already know with the freedom and power of the Internet. With Google Chrome built in, you can access all of your favorite websites and easily move between television and the web. This opens up your TV from a few hundred channels to millions of channels of entertainment across TV and the web. Your television is also no longer confined to showing just video. With the entire Internet in your living room, your TV becomes more than a TV — it can be a photo slideshow viewer, a gaming console, a music player and much more.
Could this be a potential blow for DSTV on Demand? — yes, no, maybe? It depends on which way you choose to look at it.
Google TV uses search to give you an easy and fast way to navigate to television channels, websites, apps, shows and movies. For example, already know the channel or program you want to watch? Just type in the name and you’re there. Want to check out that funny YouTube video on your 48” flat screen? It’s just a quick search away. If you know what you want to watch, but you’re not sure where to find it, just type in what you’re looking for and Google TV will help you find it on the web or on one of your many TV channels. If you’d rather browse than search, you can use your standard program guide, your DVR or the Google TV home screen, which provides quick access to all of your favorite entertainment so you’re always within reach of the content you love most.
Read more about Google Tv here.
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Join the South African Wave with SonyEricsson
There has been an element of creativity about this year’s World Cup in South Africa. For SonyEricsson, however, this can be said to be routine, because they have always been innovative . And now, they have started a movement by engaging the fans and supporters of the various nations that will be participating in the world cup to create the world’s longest mexican South African wave online.
You can upload your small video doing a South African wave, ( BTW, my video has just been approved ) and invite 8 of your friends to do the same and you could win world cup tickets. Currently, the top Waving nation is England with 19% of waves, followed by Brazil in second place and South Africa all the way to 13th place with only 2% of waves. Im pretty certain with a little input from everybody in South Africa , we can do better than 13th place. Let’s get Waving
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How to manage your photo privacy online.
A “privacy crisis,” as most people are calling it, or an “absolute disaster” from a website that’s currently under pressure from virtually all over the web , or which ever term you decide to give it, but no matter which one seems more plausible, one thing remains certain — Facebook’s privacy problems have given its users more reasons to be concerned. Some people have even gone as far as threatening to delete their facebook accounts, while others have grown more cautious about the kinds of information they post to the site.
At the moment, photographs are really a big concern, Although facebook has specifically said that it does not allow third party sites to access users photos , but it’s been proven that there are sites that’s been successfully doing it. Spokeo.com, for instance. This site let’s you search for people , email address and even phone numbers then displays results that include photographs and other miscellaneous information that might be private to certain people and making it available for public viewing.
However the good news is , amid all this crisis, there is still a way to manage your photo privacy online . When it comes to taking control of your photographs, there is one site that is particularly great for this. TinEye.com
TinEye is a reverse image search engine. It finds out where an image came from, how it is being used, if modified versions of the image exist, or if there is a higher resolution version… It uses image identification technology rather than keywords, metadata or watermarks.
Basically, How it works is — it lets you upload a photograph and searches the web to find where your photos is being used on other websites. Its a great tool , especially if you are worried that somebody is using you photographs elsewhere without your knowledge or consent.
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Google Code Jam 2010
It is exactly 3 days and a couple of hours before the annual Google code jam takes place. This year its going down in Dublin, Ireland .
Earlier, this year in March, Google held a competition for Africa named Code Jam Africa 2010, which the online competition was mostly dominated by South Africa and Egypt. The winner was from South Africa and runner up from Egypt, which show that , although the US may be part of the tech aristocracy, but South Africa belongs to technology’s working class, planting technological seeds with relentless endeavour. Who could argue that the future is not golden?
A little recap on Google Code Jam — it is a programming competition in which student programmers and professionals are asked to solve complex algorithmic problems in a limited amount of time. The competition also lets the contestant compete in the programming language and development environment of their choice.
So, If solving tough problems and grappling with technical challenges is what you enjoy? Then you should , with out a doubt, consider entering Google Code Jam.
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A network larger than the internet?
A network larger than the internet? Can it realistically be achieved? Yes, Absolutely! — With Smart Grid. That’s according to Cisco’s chief technology officer for the emerging-technologies, Guido Jouret.
what exactly is smart grid and why is it important?
In one respect, smart grid can be thought of as a two-way network where power and information flow in both directions between the utility and the customer, not just from the provider to the consumer. In another, it can be thought of as a solution to Africa’s energy crisis, (though it will take quite sometime before it gets implemented in Africa .)
If implemented properly , smart grid will be able to cut energy bills (great for South Africa’s 25% annual energy price hike), reduce consumption, give users more control in the kinds of energy they use, and more importantly let consumers produce their own energy and sell it back to power providers. (A bottom-up approach, in stead of a traditional top-down approach)
why is it important?
Its important because its the best of both worlds. In essence, its a consolidation of the information and telecommunications technology with the energy infrastructure to create a smart grid, ultimately leading to a network that’s even larger than the internet. Something that the energy community foresee as the ultimate future. A one that will be worth more than 20Billion dollars by 2015. For startups, this is more than a dream coming true , because Cisco is investing heavily in smart grid startups.
Below , I found a short (4 minutes) video that gives a comprehensive analysis of Smat Grid technology — Enjoy.
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