Just a decade ago, traditional media such as print, radio and tv dominated the marketing budgets. Today its a completely different world: two-thirds of the world’s Internet population visit a social network or blogging site and the sector now accounts for almost 10% of all internet time, according to a recently released report by Nielesen Media. With the rise of online media (Internet) and in particular the user generated social media (blogs, Twitter, Facebook) there has been a clear shift in the way marketing messages are created and consumed. Smart companies now pay equal attention to social media as they do to other methods of communications and marketing. In case of telcos in Pakistan we have recently seen Telenor embracing social media to engage its customers and to create buzz through bloggers. This post is a review of Telenor Pakistan’s efforts to promote its brand using social media.
Telenor has always focused on its brand’s presence whether its online or offline. To align their brand marketing with the growing trends, Telenor went on to launch their Weblounge Service first in the bloggers meet-up held in major cities in the second week of August. We had appreciated the initiative of Telenor Pakistan as it was the first of its kind to provided a platform for bloggers to interact and give their feedback on services being offered from Telenor. It was along this launch that Telenor Pakistan also announced a blogging competition for the interested bloggers. As is the case with new experiments, it takes some fine tuning to get to the objective.
The initial results of the blogging competition were received on 28th August, 18 days after the start of competition in which Telecompk.Net was ranked third. The email also stated that the competition will end in the last week of September.
During the Eid vacation, some bloggers discussed on the much awaited competition results on twitter and decided that the if Telenor fails to give the prize, the issue will be brought up on blogs.
Yesterday all the participating bloggers were informed that the competition has been extended for a month, now ending on 31st October and have also put a limit of 1000 referrers to qualify. However in order to encourage and appreciate the efforts of bloggers they are sending in gift hampers. Perhaps the low traffic during Ramadan and Eid could be the reason behind this.
Nevertheless, the change in competition rules has come as a surprise. But its not a big issue for those bloggers who blog with a purpose in mind. Prizes are nice but its more important to be a credible source of quality information. We at Telecompk.Net beleive that extending the date doesn’t mean a change in game plan. We think that this interesting experiment should be allowed to conclude in good faith and good spirits for all, not to be criticized with aggression like another breaking news blog did. Its always more important to talk about core issues rather than creating hype on non-issues.
Telecompk.Net has always provided a platform to share information. We welcome Telecom Pakistan to have their say with us.
I came across a very interesting research project which aims to make social networking on mobile phones as ubiquitous and easy as it is today on the web. Although many of you already interact with Facebook from your mobile (Telenor, Zong etc provide such services), this research is a way to rethink the whole approach to how social platforms are designed.
From the western world to the third world, the use of handheld devices (cellphones, PDAs) has proliferated. The world of users is becoming both wireless and mobile. Web 2.0 has ushered in an age wherein the web is viewed as a provider of services and not just a repository of documents and/or information. Despite this advance, the web remains just that, a single web with an inherent assumption that a powerful computing and communication infrastructure supports it. Couldn’t mobile wireless devices in close proximity form a web of their own? This is the vision behind this project, the Web on Demand (WoD).
WoD aims at bridging the gap between social networks and ad hoc networking. In other words, it aims to rethink the system software stack all the way from application to networking that would allow the creation and management of social networks without any assumption of infrastructure support. The core of the research is to develop software technologies for mobile devices that would allow the dynamic creation of thematic ad hoc overlay networks empowering (a) mobile people with similar interests (e.g., weather forecast), (b) friends and family (e.g., in a theme park), and (c) participants in mission critical applications (e.g., search and rescue), stay connected. WoD complements the World Wide Web (WWW) and leverages it when it is available, such as exploiting the ambient computing infrastructure to enhance user experience, and managing the dynamic creation of User Generated Content (UGC) by mobile users.
The vision behind this project is to democratize access to services that are currently offered through WWW. In this sense, the results from this research can have far-reaching technological and societal consequences. Most importantly, the research will help breed a new class of computer scientists who are connected with societal causes in addition to advancing technology.
Becoming aware of online comments and learning how to use the information can avert potential downturns in sales and can help companies fine-tune their marketing. In a recent article at the Kellogg business school site, a cell phone case study is used to make a point about the value of social conversations for business.
The researchers examined online word-of-mouth for the cellular phone industry. They focused on five specific brand models from five leading cell phone companies in the United States. Using data from an online forum with more than eight million posts, they explored the conversations of individual posters over time and analyzed how the nature of these posts related to individual customer behavior. From there they examined how the nature of online conversations relates to corporate performance.
In a working paper based on their research, Krishnamurthi and his colleagues report that they developed the data set by identifying keywords in the posts that expressed an attitude toward a cell phone and usage experience. He explains, “We classified people’s comments in these posts in three ways. One is an action-type statement, such as ‘I’m going to buy it.’ Another type expresses emotion, such as ‘I hate it.’ The third category is made up of attribute-type statements that have to do with quality, things that relate to the functionality of the product, such as ‘It has great reception.’” Each type of rating can be positive or negative.
Using specially designed software, the researchers rated the action, emotion, and attribute statements on a scale. According to Krishnamurthi, “It’s a little bit like artificial intelligence. You take a large number of posters and look at all the words they use, and create a classification of these words as highly negative through highly positive. The software has a dictionary, and when these posts are made the software automatically classifies them on this continuum.”
The technological evolution of Web 2.0 tools has produced a global platform that empowers the collective wisdom and intelligence of the crowd. Powerful arrays of technologies are emerging as ecosystems for extending, enhancing and enabling learning in an accelerated mode.
Deemed Learning 2.0, these online collaborative, interactive, and just-in-time information delivery technologies are encroaching on mainstream education in developed economies. These new and innovative technologies are not intended as a replacement for traditional education, but rather as an extension for learning in deep and powerful ways.
Tagging, the practice of attaching a descriptive word or phrase to a piece of online content for the purpose of linking it to other related digital media, is a well-known web phenomenon. Students searching for those tags can retrieve that specific and relevant content; thus, facilitating just-in-time learning and creating new possibilities for creative expression.
The Learning 2.0 Platform for Teachers and Students in Pakistan has introduced a new technology that provides the capability to transcend the limitations of simple tagging for describing an entire chunk of rich media. This next generation of tagging and its derivative progeny – linking and searching – allows the creation of direct links to specific parts within a larger selection of media. By indexing metadata, which enables tagging specific sections, you get deeper data information with the descriptor “deep tagging”.
Consider the possibilities for just-in-time learning: educators record their multi-hour lectures with a simple webcam, tag and upload them to the Learning 2.0 Platform as small interactive chunks. Students can repeatedly review the relevant information without enduring the entire session. Deep tagging metadata allows them to jump instantly to that specific section within the video for the information they need to learn.
The above image illustrates how deep tagging enhances collaborative learning. Abdul Aziz Bhatti, Principal at the Federal Government Model School for Boys G-0/4 in Islamabad was videotaped giving a lecture about Chemistry. Students tag the video while watching and their tags are indexed and made available to all who subsequently watch the presentation. Students can also comment upon their peers’ tags and all comments are emailed to the teacher for response and interaction.
A good summary post by Shahid Saeed on the topic of automotive navigation in Pakistan appeared recently at Pakistaniat and other blogs. Last year I spent some time evaluating the feasibility of making the portable navigation devices ‘connected’ in US and EU. By including a SIM in these gps based devices, one could combine location based features with search and other internet functionality. The idea was good but the market was not ready for that – the main factors were the high cost of data and the competition from mobile phones, which now have almost the same functionality as a stand-alone portable navigation device. In the US the phone companies are making a lot of money by offering network based navigation (turn-by-turn directions) services on the phone.
These pictures are via Shahid’s post. He writes: these pictures show a drive from my home in Rawalpindi to Jinnah Super Market in Islamabad. The maps were of course not up to date, but will provide a relief to somebody new in the city.
I have been waiting for this moment for long. Google maps mobile have finally added detailed maps for Pakistan. Now i can search for a nihari shop or a flower shop or any other business and Google maps will show me the marker. The navigation part is still missing. Google is still not offering turn by turn directions nor it gives the details like traffic, street view or driving distances, but it is a big welcome change. Moreover, I still can’t see the detailed maps on PC version. I’m sure PC maps are following its mobile counterpart but there is an obvious reason why mobile maps have come first.
Pakistan is a big market for mobile Google maps. Pakistan has more than 90 million mobile users, vast data network over GSM/GPRS/EDGE and absolutely no other street navigation system at all. Does it get any better than that?
Actually it is a community effort using Google map maker on PC. Map maker allows users to add roads, streets, businesses, crossings and everything else for areas for which there are no maps defined yet. Then other users approve or disapprove there additions and changes. Eventually a map comes into being that is eventually supposed to be posted to Google maps and Google maps mobile. So the Google maps mobile we see today for Pakistan, has all the maps that were made on map maker and have been moved to main Google maps for mobile and I’m sure Google maps for web will be updated soon.
This move by Google will not only increase the usage of their product in Pakistan but a big number of software and hardware solutions will now spring up for the local market soon. A lot of people already using GPS enabled phone will put their GPS to use now with this free service. I think it will boost the sales of GPS enabled handsets as well.
Our recent poll about technology based distance learning has shown positive results. The majority – 66% of voters – believes that e-learning is the way forward. This is in line with our thinking. At TelecomPk.net we are passionate about technology, education and community to solve problems and make progress. With this goal in mind we are starting a series of posts about e-learning opportunities and challenges in Pakistan.
I have written about schools and role of telecom industry in education. I am personally involved with supporting a few schools in the private (NGO) sector. There are some great efforts going on despite the challenges of funding, finding good teachers and defining curriculum. Despite the great intentions, it is very hard to scale such efforts. I have come to the conclusion that technology is the way to scale the education so that it can reach the masses, in the way that it makes sense to them (for example, using Urdu or other local languages). Technology is also valuable to engage and motivate different groups which are involved with education.
Some people expressed concerns in the poll about infrastructure and cost issues associated with e-learning. It is a valid point and one that needs to be carefully addressed. The trends in Pakistan are clearly in favor of technology based learning – the cost of devices and connectivity keeps on decreasing, while efforts by organizations such USF continue to make connectivity more widespread.
For the youth, technology based learning comes as natural. It is the decision makers who need to understand and realize the potential. One thing is for sure - the future of Pakistan hinges on providing a scalable, well-managed and balanced education environment for all. Let’s get working on it.
A detailed report from Universal McCannon social networking trends shows that Pakistani users are fast adopting social networking. The popularity of social networking in Pakistan is no surprise, given the high numbers (percentage and overall) of youth, growing access to Internet and a culture inclined toward sharing and social activities. The telecom reform and subsequent growth of access to social networks through Internet and smart phones has contributed to this. For example, look at the number of blog readers and social network participants. This number could be much higher if a) obstacles to broadband could be removed and b) an Internet exchange is developed within the country and c) useful local content generation is encouraged.
Telenor has introduced a score of industry-first Value Added Services for its customers. Keeping in line with the innovative tradition, Telenor brings you yet another industry first service. In order to facilitate an ever growing population of facebook users, we have successfully integrated with Facebook !
Now upload pictures to your Facebook accounts directly from your mobile phones by simply sending them to mobile@facebook.com via MMS.
Really? See this screen from Facebook mobile. Any user of facebook can register their mobile phone and upload media by sending email to mobile@facebook.com. That email address is not unique to Telenor. I don’t get the “integration” part. Come on Telenor, you owe us some explanation!
Over the years I have presented different views and ideas on how to improve the very low number of broadband users in Pakistan (here and here). Here’s another view by Dr Amir Mateen (Cisco) from TeleCON 2008. His presentation looks at the problem in a different way and provides some brutal, honest analysis such as “Not digital divide, just the old divide carried over into the digital world”. His recommendation: Redefine success criteria for broadband in Pakistan.
“productive usage” vs “# of connections”
results vs usage of broadband internet (catch the mobility wave)
Urdu on the web (in normal Urdu script)
Tee Emm attended the event and shared some great commentary on Dr. Mateeen’s presentation which is worth repeating here:
Some presentations were really good and thought provoking like the one given by Dr Amir Mateen of Cisco Systems Pakistan where he talked about how great the broadband vacuum is in Pakistan and how unprepared the local contents are and that in the absence of structured local contents, people will make up their own contents (read social networks) and in doing so, there is a real danger of a whole new generation getting carried away in the roman Urdu flood and how this threatens the Urdu script and the associated heritage.
I share the same concerns about how we are treating Urdu language in Internet and telecommunication age. This is something which needs to be discussed in more detail.
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