In my last consumerism related post (available here), I spoke about how to go about alerting fellow consumers to bad service or other inadequacies of a brand. In this post though, I’m going to speak on how companies can interact with bloggers so as to minimize the damage and to create a brand ambassador out of these angry bloggers.The Internet is a vast, unmonitored space where anyone and their grandmother can and will complain about your product. Here’s how to make sure they change their tune to something more positive. I’m going to harp on the same example of Stopcore.co.za here as it’s the most obviously aggressive example in recent memory.

The first step is to not give the angry bloggers a chance. Either strive for a decent product and customer service (yes SA companies, it is possible) or if you cannot do that then take some steps to avoid nasty domain names. A domain costs R50 a year so make sure you register “stop”, “sucks” and other negative derivatives of your name and an adjective. However, since you cannot control a personal blogging space, these are the rules to follow in those instances.

It’s important to remember that you cannot stop every single negative mention of your brand (you can for a smaller brand but bigger companies often have lots of complaints). What you can do is look for trends such as a site like Stopcore.co.za or a growing movement of angry twitter users. To track these mentions your easiest bet is to use Online Reputation Management tools like Brandseye or Trackur although it is possible to mash together a group of free tools to do this in a slightly less elegant but cheaper manner. The biggest failure (in South Africa) is that companies are “listening” but doing nothing about these complaints. If you follow the logic of listen, talk and execute (not the blogger) then you’ll be able to make changes if the complaints are valid and constructive.

It’s important to remember that blogging is relatively anonymous and bloggers online tend to not be the same person online that they are offline. What this also means is that Bloggers don’t think before they type but more importantly for your purposes, they tend to back down when confronted. It’s easy to stand on your soapbox and complain about a product but it’s a lot more difficult to make these comments to the product owner or ambassador.

This brings us to the plan of attack. You see, all bloggers want is interaction with regards to their complaints. What you need to remember though is how best to interact with these bloggers.

When RJ Van Spandonk from Core had a sarcastic tirade on Twitter about Stopcore.co.za and other unhappy blogggers, the tone was a simple “we don’t care at all”. Had RJ taken a moment to consider the issues of price and service and addressed these issues in a humble, deferent manner then it would have been likely that the entire site would have been pulled down assuming a decent explanation could be given. You’ve got to remember that these are your clients and they are cross with you or your service/product and at the end of the day, keeping a client is a much cheaper proposition than getting new clients. In no way should you ever be sarcastic or condescending online. This is what I like to call “a terrible idea”.

What RJ forgot is that the Internet remembers every mistake and between Google and the ease of taking a screen shot, it’s extremely easy to have that negative evidence forever. If you look at ORM from a strategic point of view, you would never want to fight the bloggers on their turf. Take the conversation offline where you are able to make sure all conversation is between only you and that complainant. As mentioned before, the average blogger/twitter user will back down when spoken to in real life and as such, you need to interact in a world you understand. Whether this interaction happens in a phone call or a face to face meeting is irrelevant but in my experience online complainants back down when you have a physical connection with them.

Bloggers are egotistical and just want to be heard. If you can interact with them in an understand manner and actually make any changes if their comments are legitimate then you’re well on your way to creating a brand ambassador that will talk about your product and do the job of marketing for you.

Looking at the Geek Retreat, a weekend dedicated to “making the SA Internet better”, there’s a grand total of one black person going to this event. Now bear in mind this was an invite only event and since I was involved in the selection of guests I can say that the aim was to invite “prominent” members of the community to increase the gravitas of the event. Hell, the second darkest person is Nic Haralambous and only because he’s Greek!

However, I don’t want this to be a negative post and I certainly do not want to disregard any work done by black online pioneers in South Africa. My issue is that those who are the loudest in our community, the entrepreneurs, the writers, those high up in corporate environments are all pretty pale.

So here’s my question to the South African online and web 2.0 community: what are we going to do to make the situation more equitable and why are we in this position? The economics are simple, most people in the community come from relatively affluent families with access to the Internet for the past 10-15 years but now that things have changed, what are we doing to promote that change online?

While driving home at 6:15 on a Friday night from a long day of Podcast editing the inevitable happened: I got stuck in traffic. I was awed by the fact that there was actually traffic when I assumed people should have gone home a long time before. Now this time made me realise how amazing a city I live in despite some pretty major flaws. This post is an ode to my love-hate relationship with the city I call my home: Johannesburg.

Traffic: The highway in Joburg is pretty much the only way of getting around quickly. At the moment, almost every highway is being upgraded from a three lane to a four lane monstrosity and as such there will be traffic regardless of the time or day of the week. While I hate the traffic I find it’s here that I do my best thinking and come up with some amazing, if not bizarre ideas. It’s just me, the radio and my thoughts and I love it. This is probably my number one love/hate relationship with Joburg but lately I’m leaning more towards love. The best for me though is how no one ever obeys the speed limit. Either you’ve got people driving at least 40 kilometers per hour slower than the limit or 40 kilometers per hour above the speed limit. This is not a city for middle ground.

Pace: This place is seriously fast paced. The reason Joburg is the place where business gets done is simply because people are desperate to succeed. Deals are made over expensive meals and the rat race is faster as well as bigger than anywhere else in the country. It’s not uncommon in the larger companies to work an eighty hour week but this seems almost acceptable since everyone else is doing it as well. The fact remains, if you’re looking for the buzz that surrounds a hive of activity then Joburg is the only place to be.

Weather: Cape Town has three months of solid rain and Durban is constantly unbearably humid but in Joburg we have a fairly constant climate. As I write this it’s close on 11 in the evening and my car just told me it’s 21 degrees. In winter it’s mildly uncomfortable in the morning and evening but on a whole you can expect a bright sunny day 80% of the year. Not only is it constantly warm but you get the pleasure of the most visually amazing lightening in the summer months. For me nothing quite beats sitting in my room with the lights off at night watching the lightening strike outside.

People: With such a fast paced, aggressive culture you’d think people would be stuck up and arrogant. The bad news is that they are but the good news is that people are excited to meet other people. You could go into any bar/club/social gathering and make a few new acquantances anyday. Call it people’s desire to network with other successful or potentially successful people but the reality is that there is a desire to meet new faces. There’s none of this “clique” factor that exists elsewhere in South Africa. Sure people are snobbish but if you are from the same social stratus (and you will be if you’re hanging in the same places) then they tend to be very friendly.

Looks: People wax lyrical about how Cape Town has the mountain and don’t get me wrong, I think Cape Town is one of the most beautiful cities in the world but Joburg has a certain something to it. I dare you to drive on the M1 highway between Empire and Hougton offramps in the evening and not find the view breathtaking. If you’re brave enough to stop your car on the side of the road you’ll be greeted with the view of the Westcliff hotel, the Zoo and thousands of trees lining leafy suburbs all lit up by hundreds of lights. Even town, which is basically a monument to 50’s and 60’s dodgy architecture has a beauty in it that you will not find anywhere else. Sure, we don’t have a mountain but we’ve got some amazing architecture both old and new. Add to the fact that there are tree’s throughout the cities suburbs then you’ve actually got a leafy paradise.

Glamour: This is hardly something I can comment on but Joburg is very glamorous. I only realised this when a friend from Cape Town mentioned how “done up” the women in Joburg are. It’s a city with expensive clubs frequented by models and wealthy BEE enriched businessmen. There is an abundance of trendy bars and restaurants. People are dressing for success and it shows.

Quirks: If there’s one thing Joburg has an abundance of that would be its quirks. On an average drive around the city you’ll avoid at least a couple of potholes all while never stopping at red lights so that you don’t get hijacked. You will drive as aggressively as possible and and you will hoot as much as you can. People have places to go and don’t get in their way. Road rage isn’t just acceptable but it’s the norm. Joburg is a city where one of the largest informal settlements in the country borders one of the richest areas in the country. It’s a city of don’t haves and have mores; again there is little middle ground. Even if you don’t fit into the “have mores” category you’ll live juggling one credit card debt onto the next card just to pretend you’re wealthy enough to own an expensive German sedan. The list of Joburg quirks is probably endless.

The reality of Jozi is that you cannot be a wimp to survive here. It’s a fascinating, troubled environment where a lot of hard work gets done while at the same time many dreams are shattered. I’m not always a fan and complain about it plenty but there is no doubt it’s a place worth living at least for the experience.

After flying to Cape Town last Tuesday and then back to Johannesburg yesterday (Monday the 2nd) I can only come to the conclusion that local airline Mango is absolutely rubbish. To be fair, maybe rubbish is an unfair statement but a more apt description might be that the airline is made for little people or as those in non-politically correct land call them: midgets.

You see, in an attempt to cut costs (they can’t get away with drug smuggling like their big brother airline SAA does) they attempt to cram as many seats as is possible into a small space. In a sense whoever designed the Mango seating plan should win some award for space utilitsation while at the same time being flogged for cruel and and unusual torture.

Now I get it, for R600 I should be grateful that Mango even has seating but when you have to sit like the hunchback of Notre Dame to use your laptop then something might be wrong. I have a relatively small 13-inch Macbook and it couldn’t even be opened properly Let it be known that if you’re flying Mango then buy a Netbook, it’s the only way to work on one of their planes.

Having flown on low cost airlines in Asia I have to admonish Mango for their sardine approach to flying. Frankly the whole point of a low cost airline is to trim the frills and find innovative ways to cut costs not pack people into a fire hazard. I’ve flown both Kulula and 1Time and cannot seem to remember them being as cramped as the Mango flight.

I guess low prices talk and all I can say is thank goodness it’s only two hours!

Cramped hands Saul

The next story is about two 30-year old brothers (not physically children but mentally equivalent it seems) choking and then stabbing each other over the question of who was next to play an unidentified Playstation game. Pretty weird story huh?

Story number three happened just under a week ago and features a 16-year old girl attacking her parents for revoking her cellphone privileges. She had her phone taken away for stealing money to buy prepaid credit. As a result the girl attacked her parents with two knives, slashing into the door of the room the parents were hiding in. Fortunately no one was heard in the attack but I think a cellphone being taken away is the least of this young girls problems.

I think the question is what is creating such violent children. Is it video games, is it bad parenting or can we blame Slipknot for all our issues? I’m not going to make a judgment call on this one as I lack enough information to be judgmental but the fact of the matter is that we as a society are becoming excessively desensitised when it comes to violence.

I think we all need to wake up and realise that the kids of today are rapidly becoming the psychopaths of tomorrow. Something needs to be done to remove this issue of extreme aggression on behalf of the youth of today. I’m personally not sure what on earth is going on but I’ll leave you with the issue to ponder.

In Malcolm Gladwell’s latest book “Outliers”, he posits the theory that for someone to truly become amazing at something they need to put 10000 hours into their craft. Now when I say truly amazing I mean world class, revolutionary or simply the best of the best. I’m certainly not going to disagree with the amazing Mr Gladwell as his examples show it to be true (he uses case studies such as Bill Gates) but it brings me to another interesting thought: should we push our children to put in the 10000 hours on an activity they might be vaguely interested in or let them develop on their own?

The numbers are quite astounding when you do the maths. If you practice something for three hours a day, seven days a week it will take you just over a year and a third to reach the 10000 hour milestone. While it’s a fairly daunting amount of time it’s not exactly that long especially for a young child whom has plenty of extra hours to spare.

So this brings me to my original question: should we push children to succeed in areas we choose? Would Tiger Woods have wanted to be a golfer had his father not made him put in the requisite hours required? As a person that has occasionally been pushed in the wrong direction or the direction not of my own choosing I’m obviously blantantly against this concept. However, what if the child had some vague interest in become, for example, a world class guitarist? Even if you made the child practice one hour a day, seven days a week the 10000 hours could be reached in less than four years.

I’m not sure what the answer is to be honest. It’s an interesting thought whether we should push our children to reach those 10000 hours in a discipline of our choice or one of their own later on in life. I’m not saying it’s the worst idea to push your children in a direction but I think it shouldn’t be purely to reach the 10000 hour milestone or for other reasons. I guess it’s different for every children but my vote is ultimately for nature even if it means you will blossom later in life.

Just a quick punt for my new favourite hardware sellers.

I’ve been struggling to get decent PC hardware at a reasonable price in Johannesburg and after many issues with distributors I decided my time isn’t worth fighting with people so I decided to go online. I’d dealt with the Prophecy Store before but have never really used them as I usually went direct to the distributors myself. This all changed after I placed an order a month ago with a large retailer and I’m still waiting for them to get back to me about stock.

Fed up, I went to Prophecy, selected what I wanted and within five minutes I was paying for my goods. This was on Thursday last week. I ordered some Ram for my computer and while I asked for the products to be delivered to my house I sent them an email asking them if I could pick up the products to save time. The very next day (Friday), I got a call saying stock was available. As I was quite busy I couldn’t make it but I appreciated the call.

On Tuesday this week I got an email with a tracking code for their couriers and today my product arrived in a nice, branded box. It’s very unusual to get such good service, especially from a faceless online store so I was very impressed. They also have a forum where you can get information on products desired and request products which is very cool. Add all this to the fact that if you spend more than a grand the shipping is free you’re dealing with hassle free shopping.

The guys at Prophecy are running a pretty solid business and I recommend you support them next time you want some hardware. Not only are they well priced but highly efficient and everything occured without a hitch.

Point your browser here for great prices and service.

The latest news from our boys in blue, the South African Police Service is that they are now prosecuting people who steal ADSL caps.

Getting an ADSL cap is relatively easy. You get an IP scanner that will check to see if any IP has a web login. This web login is almost always your ADSL routers control panel. Most users don’t change their username and password so it’s easy to log in based on the default password which is easy to find in online manuals. Once into the router, the ADSL login details can be recovered and then used for ones own evil machinations.

The thing is, each ADSL connection should have a unique identifier as each ADSL customer is assigned a port in a box somewhere along the side of the road. Any ISP should technically be able to track where a login occured by linking the user with their phone number. If the usual phone number is not used, it’s obviously not the actual user.

Until now, it’s been a moral and legal grey area as to what ramifications exist when you have your bandwidth stolen. Lesson one, always change your router login details and lesson two, change your ISP password if you feel something is awry.

The point of this post however is to point out how ridiculous it is that the Police have to get involved in dealing with something as ridiculous as bandwidth theft. In our country where rape, murder and insitutionalised corruption are commonplace is this really something we should task to the Police? I guess it’s pretty impressive that our legal system has provisions for online theft but this seems a little excessive.

There should be a Telkom complaints line or something similar where people could complain and seek greivance but I’m still convinced that the Police should be used for policing ANC members or something useful.

While I applaud the concept in that it can potentially protect women from abusive men it’s unfortunately very, very open to misuse.

To sign up for the site, you need to have an email address, a username and a password. I haven’t had the time to sign up for the site but I imagine then all you need is then to upload an optional picture and promote your sob story. It’s hardly a fool proof system and is highly open to anyone uploading a “sob story”

Now bearing in mind that I could quite easily upload pictures and stories of my friends as a joke the more worrying issue is that of the crazies. This stereotypical “evil-crazy woman” with the proverbial “crazy eyes” could easily put a picture and story of a guy that has scorned them. People’s reputations could easily be tainted either as a joke or by a crazy stalker type. The moment Google starts indexing this sort of thing it could easily affect careers when employers do a Google search.

The problem with a site like this is that there are two sides of the story. The guy might have have a reason for acting a certain way and should be allowed to give his side of the story. At the end of the day what we have here is potential defamation on a massive scale.

I guess from my point of view it’s just sad that men have this terrible reputation. I hope Do Not Date Him either changes their service fairly soon or manages to find a happy medium rather than blatant man bashing. Until such time, don’t give women a reason to hate you.

Rafiq Phillips is South Africa’s first, and so far only, Search Engine Optimisation rockstar. He recently stopped working at Quirk in Cape Town and is now doing some super secret work at Media 24. He authors the blog “Web “2.0? Applications, Development, Design & Innovation in Cape Town” aka WebAddict. I’ve been following Rafiq’s Twitter stream and through this have found out some very interesting information. I now present to you 6 previously unknown facts about Mr Rafiq Phillips:

1. Rafiq was the first person to register a domain telepathically from the womb. Many have tried to copy this stunt but have failed.
2. Rafiq’s supposed “insomnia” is actually due to the fact that he exists in many parallel universes.
3. Rafiq knows “Rex the Lion’s” hideout due to the fact that Rafiq knows the location of every server every South African website is hosted on.
4. Rafiq has recently copyrighted the terms “T-Rafiq” and “Wwworld”. We’re actually violating copyright law just by using those terms. Have mercy on us Rafiq!
5. Apparently Rob Stokes (The Quirk head honcho) has a shrine in his bedroom to Rafiq. Spies tell us it’s made of nail fillings and hair clippings
6. Rafiq goes through so many Skyrove vouchers he actually has had a login code generator installed in his forehead.

Now remember everyone, this is a joke