Tuesday, March 14, 2006

online mutterings

It's a strange morning in Joburg - mild with heavy cloud cover. Reminds me of an Autumn day in England. Mind you, it is rapidly heading into winter now, just hoping for a few more hot and sunny days before I freeze.
I've been reading the headlines over the last few days and it makes for interesting reading. Google is paying back US$90 million in the click fraud case, niche bite-sized videos are attracting attention, Knight Ridder is about to bought, the huge media companies are on the hunt for new websites, everyone is talking about blogs etc etc.
And yet, here in SA, no one really seems to be talking about the Internet, blogs, online videos. Here, we're still yapping about how the magazine and newspaper industry is growing (despite the closure of Nova, a Media24 newspaper 'experiment'); how well radio advertising is doing etc. It makes me wonder when we are going ot catch up. Granted, South Africa is much like Brazil in the huge disparity between rich and poor, therefore there aren't that many (relatively speaking) using the Internet at the moment. And of course, Telkom is a huge hindrance with the cost of broadband and not so nifty service. But, unless marketers and advertisers start using the Internet as a medium, it's never going to grow. I just wish some more people would take a few risks. It's what other people do.

Friday, March 03, 2006

If only...

It's a beautiful day in Joburg so far. An almost clear sky, warm and the birds are singing. However, I'm tired (no sleep whatsoever last night), irritable, and trying to hatch a plan.
You see, I have a problem. My partner and I have moved into a new place, albeit in the same complex (we like it there and it's far too much hassle to move far) and it stinks. I mean, literally, stinks. Having inspected the place very briefly a month previously, we could smell cat wee. However, we presumed (wrongly) that the cat had sprayed only on the furniture (as seen by my partner) and therefore the stench would be removed when they moved. WRONG.
The place was filthy (four days and it's still not clean enough for us) and the smell is so bad that after washing the carpets with an industrial cleaner 10 times, it's still as strong as ever. Luckily, the carpets are being replaced today. This is not to mention all the other stuff that's wrong with the place either. Sigh.
You may wonder why I'm telling you all this. Simple. To demonstrate the power of the Internet, and blogs. How else as editor of a marketing magazine would I ever get to vent like this. To the world, no less. Or, at least to those reading this blog. And if I happen to find out the name of this woman who kept 10 cats (most of whom must have been feral as all cats registered in the complex have to snipped, and you're only supposed to have one) I will be posting her name on my blog and probably dedicating a website to her.
I love the Internet.