Egyptian revolution 2.0 (or not?)

January 2011, the month of the Egyptian revolution. It all started on 25 January with demonstrations, marches, labour strikes and fights between demonstrators and supporters of the regime of Hosni Mubarak. Every country in the world was focused on the Middle East, wondering what would happen. Everywhere in Egypt people were gathered to demonstrate against the government, often combined with many violence.

It was possible to follow the developments in Egypt from every place in the world by watching the news or reading newspapers. In addition, everywhere in Egypt people communicated by leaflets, playcards, graffiti, and of course all the TV cameras with life footage. As mentioned in this BBC article: "When one communication channel is blocked, people try another." Meanwhile, this time another communication channel showed up: the internet.

The use of internet and mobile phones to organize demonstrations increased over the past few years. The internet showed his power several times before, and again that power was visible in January 2011. Many protestors in Egypt used social media to spread the news about developments, and to gather people for the next demonstrations. As mentioned in the article, "The Facebook group set up to protest at Khaled Said's death is "liked" by nearly 600,000 people and was a key organising centre for the current protests." However, next to Facebook, mainly Twitter was utilized for communication (#egypt), followed by an almost complete shutdown of international internet access between Egypt and the rest of the world. Nevertheless, on the historic 'Day of Rage' nothing could stop citizens from communicate which each other, and a huge number of citizens came together on the streets. These demonstrations resulted in an historic event: Mubarak resigned as president on 11 February and left Cairo.

From my point of view the internet was truly an important factor in this Egyptian revolution, but it was not the leading factor. I think this revolution would have happened anyway, perhaps just a little slower. After all, it is not the internet that brought this revolution in Egypt. It was hope.

Don't loose your fingers, you might need them.

Technological, electronic developments are a major characteristic of the current society. In addition, mainly the mobile phone industry is dealing with fast developments: Apple and Blackberry are competing with each other nowadays about which telephone is the best one for businesses. However, the main difference between both mobile phones is the absence/presence of a touchscreen, but what are the opportunities of these touchscreens? Touchscreens are not only implemented in many mobile phones, but also in several other environments. In class (User Interface Design) our lecturer showed us a fascinating video about a vision towards the future of touchscreen technologies:



This video shows an impressive imagination about the future. The implementation of the touchscreen is ranging from walls, to mirrors, to windows, etc. However, not every technology in the video is just a fantasy. Many applications in the video are existing (in a low stage and in development though).

Look at this interface which turns your table into one giant computerscreen:



Furthermore, this is an oversized blackboard for interactive teaching (invented at the University of Groningen):



And look at this amazing touchscreen storefront:

As you can see, there are many technological innovations which are still under construction. From my point of view touchscreens offer many opportunities for useful gadgets, but still it is hard to imagine to live in a world like in the first video. It is unknown what life will be within approximately 50 years, but the technology is fast. That's for sure.

Think out of the ordinary-usual-convential-box

In my previous posts I mainly talked about the positive and negative effects of social media, but this time the topic of my post isn't about social media (maybe a little bit though, but it is not main subject).
Today I want to talk about advertising. I suppose you know what advertising means, in short: persuade consumers and convince them to buy your product. Obviously there are many forms of advertising, such as posters, brochures, websites, tv-commercials, and several other techniques. Nevertheless, sometimes it is difficult to choose that specific communication-channel which is appropriate for you business. Meanwhile, despite the endless possibilities of marketing communication, money is still an important factor. However, creativity and originality is even more important to address your target group, and that is why some smart marketers utilize Guerilla marketing.

Companies mainly use conventional channels (tv/radio/print/internet) to advertise a product, but there are many other channels.
Surprisingly not much people are familiar with this method of marketing, although it was invented a long time ago (the term was introduced in 1984 by author Jay Conrad Levinson). The concept behind Guerilla marketing is to address the target group in an unconventional way, in order to surprise them with a unique experience at an unexpected place (for example on the street). From my point of view, guerilla marketing is genius, original, extraordinary, and easy. Take a look at these amazing examples:

















Does these pictures caught your interest?
I think companies should investigate the opportunities of Guerilla marketing for their business, in order to make the target group excited in an unconventional way. Even better, connected to the internet, such as a viral sensation, because internet increases the power of guerilla marketing. A very original example was the advertising campaign on Hyves, about privacy on the internet: Stanislav. In addition, there is an other nice example of a viral campaign: SP Jan Marijnissen.
However, there are a certain amount of techniques for all kind of purposes. Gmarketing.com offers many interesting information about this opportunity. The only way to find out which technique is the best one for your business, is to immerse yourself in this guerilla marketing and learn from the experts. Think out of the box, and be creative.

Big brother is watching you

Today I found a remarkable news-item on CNN.com. The editors of a new online datingsite found an exceptional approach to increase the number of members: steal information from the profiles on Facebook. However, according to the creaters of the datingsite, the purpose was to show the lack of security on the social network Facebook.

This topic triggers me to think about all the people who are still questioning the security of online social networks. I assume that everyone knows someone in his or her environment who is very sceptic about the safety of those social networks.

However, from my point of view it all depends on what you post online.
The internet is open, always, and everywhere, so I do not think that posts/pictures/information will be safe. Nevertheless, many users of social networks does not realize this. Consequently, when a message or a photo shows up on a totally different website, people are dismayed. But why? If you do not want everyone to see your posts; just do not post them!
Of course, websites spend many time to improve their security, but because of the nature of the internet, it is hard to realize this.
Obviously, users trust online social networks like Facebook and Twitter, but I think it is important to realize the risks and the inventiveness of hackers and other online criminals.

In addition, many companies have become aware of the possibility to find information about applicants online. A study from careerbuilder.com shows that Facebook is the most frequently used website to search for information about (potential) employees. Likewise, a specific website in the Netherlands offers businesses a quick search engine to find information about their employees: wieowie.nl
However, how do you know what message and what photograph is inappropriate for you boss? What about a picture of you in a funny costume on a party? Or a negative message about your annoying colleague? In my opinion you should ask yourself whether photographs and messages are relevant. Furthermore, it might be wise to control your privacy settings on online profiles. After all, the first impression (offline as well as online) is the most important one.