This is pretty cool because now you can see how your contacts are connected. But how else can data visualisation help us?

Location:

I have been trying to track keywords and events based on location via social media tools for a long time. The issue with social sites like Twitter is that people don’t set their location correctly. For instance if a Twitter user enters Jamaica as their location then it assumes Jamaica, New York, USA, not the country. Also people use other terms like jamdown, jamrock, or just cities like Kingston or Montego Bay. When trying to find tweets from a specific area even if the person matches the keywords the location may be off.

So I first considered creating a list of Jamaican twitter users, however how will this be updated (migration etc.)? Then I thought of tracking interactions and then flagging users as Jamaican, but once again that would require alot of human interaction. Ideally I want something automated and dynamic. InMaps gave me a potential answer. Track interactions between users and then group them into subsets just like InMaps. Couple that with a metrics system, where a user with properly filled out Location or listed under multiple twitter lists with specific keywords or Klout has a higher metric than others. When users are associated with other users with higher metrics it helps to create focal points for the network.

Online communities are associated by content, relation (friends, family, groups, alumni) or location. By establishing the link between individuals online we can create a dynamic social mapping tool more accurate than what currently exists, even more accurate than what the user them-self knows. This would allow analysis of keywords by social-location-grouping or possibly by profession, education, and more.

What are your views?

Foursquare Swarm Badge

At 8:44pm I felt like I had caught my unicorn when I unlocked the Swarm Badge on Foursquare. This is the most prized badge I have and am proud to now have it since I started promoting Foursquare use in Jamaica months ago. This is not the first event I have been to where I expected to unlock the badge. Originally I expected it to be unlocked at Monster, a party at Chilitos Mexican, however even though over 50 foursquare users attended, they were not all checked in at the same time. The Fiction Lounge also tried to unlock it at one of their events, with no success.

So without further adieu, congratulations to Jamaica Pegasus for hosting the first Foursquare flashmob in Jamaica. Keep on innovating!

What grades your social media efforts are interactions, how useful your tweets or facebook posts are, how it helps people, how it relates to others. Social media is building a relationship, with your friends, other personalities and brands. If your social media efforts do not help, or build relationships, then why bother? Now some people will add that hey, they are just trying to broadcast information  useful to their followers, this is also building a relationship because your followers then begin to trust you for quality content and in some cases understand you may not be able to reply specifically to them. The fact is trust, in social media people trust you for your content (opinions, blogposts, videos, photos, news, etc,). Changing or adjusting your content for better rankings or seo is not the aim, the community is the aim, build your community, word of mouth is a better recommendation than any search engine.

In all of your efforts, reporting, etc remember people first, ask yourself, are you helping someone or are you just pushing out useless content on a daily basis? It doesn’t matter if you have x amount of followers if they are bots, or you have no interaction, find your niche and provide for it.

….The question soon came up: What do we do about his Facebook profile? We had never really thought about this before in such a personal way. Obviously, we wanted to be able to model people’s relationships on Facebook, but how do you deal with an interaction with someone who is no longer able to log on? When someone leaves us, they don’t leave our memories or our social network. To reflect that reality, we created the idea of “memorialized” profiles as a place where people can save and share their memories of those who’ve passed. We understand how difficult it can be for people to be reminded of those who are no longer with them, which is why it’s important when someone passes away that their friends or family contact Facebook to request that a profile be memorialized. For instance, just last week, we introduced new types of Suggestions that appear on the right-hand side of the home page and remind people to take actions with friends who need help on Facebook. By memorializing the account of someone who has passed away, people will no longer see that person appear in their Suggestions. When an account is memorialized, we also set privacy so that only confirmed friends can see the profile or locate it in search. We try to protect the deceased’s privacy by removing sensitive information such as contact information and status updates. Memorializing an account also prevents anyone from logging into it in the future, while still enabling friends and family to leave posts on the profile Wall in remembrance……

The form for reporting a deceased friend on Facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=deceased Twitter handles it similarly by requesting that you email them, but they close down the account:

If we are notified that a Twitter user has passed away, we can remove their account or assist family members in saving a backup of their public Tweets. Please contact us with the following information:

1. Your full name, contact information (including email address), and your relationship to the deceased user.
2. The username of the Twitter account, or a link to the profile page of the Twitter account.
3. A link to a public obituary or news article.

You can contact us at privacy@twitter.com, or by mail or fax: Twitter Inc., c/o: Trust & Safety 795 Folsom Street, Suite 600 San Francisco, CA 94107 Fax: 415-222-9958 We will respond by email with any additional information we might need. Please note that we cannot allow access to the account or disclose other non-public information regarding the account.

Now that I know what I need to do, I just need to face the music and submit as necessary R.I.P.

Since then people have been killed, injured and kidnapped in Egypt as demonstrations continue.

Earlier today Kenneth Cole, a popular clothing brand released this tweet:

Millions are in uproar in #Cairo. Rumor is they heard our new spring collection is now available online at http://bit.ly/KCairo -KCless than a minute ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®Kenneth Cole
KennethCole

Here is an image just in case the tweet is removed:

I will put this in my books as what not to do for social media marketing. What do you think?

Update! Kenneth Cole has tweeted this in response to the uproar on twitter:

Re Egypt tweet: we weren’t intending to make light of a serious situation. We understand the sensitivity of this historic moment -KCless than a minute ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®Kenneth Cole
KennethCole

I am not sure if that counts as an apology, is there any way for them to recover from this blunder?

Update 2! A fake account has been created on twitter: @kennethcolepr which is tweeting more scenarios that Kenneth Cole tweets could disregard history. The smoke is building, will this go viral? 2700 followers in 2 hours.

Chilitos JaMexican restaurant in Jamaica is a huge fan of social media. They use it actively in promoting specials, events and to get provide better customer service. Chilitos is one of the first restaurants in Jamaica to use Foursquare (what is?) specials, giving away Margaritas to repeat customers. They are also heavy Twitter users, with over 290 Jamaican followers, proving that social media works for niche markets in the island. Recently Chilitos made a first by creating a physical Follow Friday board, to promote their most loyal twitter users:

With the Monster Foursquare Halloween Costume Party Chilitos is not only organising the first Foursquare event and meetup in Jamaica, but also attempting to unlock the swarm badge for customers. When 50 or more Foursquare users are checked in to the same place, they can unlock the swarm badge:

Currently I don’t think any Jamaican Foursquare user has the swarm badge, unlocking this badge will be valuable to the users of this popular geolocation service. The event is also being sponsored by Fiction Night Club, who will be hosting the after party and will also feature Foursquare specials all night. As well as NCB Jamaica who with My Elite Grocer will be providing prizes and surprises all night at Chilitos. Other attractions include foursquare specials all night, a taco eating contest and more.

For those planning on attending the event and tweeting, they will be using both #monsterja and #4sqpartyja hashtags, you can use either to see tweets about the event.

For more information please see the Facebook event page, tweet chilitos (@chilitosmexican) or call them 876-978-0537

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Vision 2030 Campaign

The first stage is to create awareness. This is a call to all the bloggers, twitter users, Facebook users. Share the Vision 2030 campaign online and talk about it with your friends, family and coworkers in person. There is no need to re-invent the wheel, many of your suggestions are already outlined in the National Development Plan prepared by the Planning Institute of Jamaica. You can view the development plan at the following locations:

On this blog: http://dmitridawkins.com/2010/10/jamaicas-vision-2030-national-development-plan/

On Scribd : http://www.scribd.com/doc/39056939/Vision-2030-Jamaica-NDP-Full

On Jamaica’s Vision 2030 website: http://www.vision2030.gov.jm/NationalDevelopmentPlan/tabid/73/Default.aspx

Ask your online social community to at least read the outline, send links to it as an email to all of your address book. The aim is that people can make decisions in accordance with the 2030 plan. This is not just a government venture, as individuals we all need to promote the development of our country. Share the link once a week, or even just once a month. It will help.

Corporate and Organisation Support

Every business and organisation has a core and followers. We need to spread the Vision 2030 plan to all involved, not just creating awareness but also making decisions according to it’s contents. Let employees and members know that they are responsible for executing the plan, that they each need to be a leader of change.

Greater Social Responsibility

As leaders of change for our nation, we need to hold companies and the government responsible for not following the plan. If a company’s business practices are not in line with the plan then support a competitor who is. If a government office or official is making decisions contrary to the plan then petition them, “loud it up”, or don’t re-elect them based on their policies. The only person in control is you.

Remember this is a people driven change, it starts with you, read the relevant sections to you and decide how you can make changes in your home and office. For this to work it has to be an effort from all involved.

I will write another post about this soon, please subscribe to my blog or just keep checking this category : http://dmitridawkins.com/category/making-jamaica-a-developed-country-by-2030/ for information related to the campaign.

This is a call to action for YOU to make a difference.

Thank you,

Dmitri Dawkins and future generations.

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The responses to that tweet have now numbered over 1200 so far and counting. 86 people have contributed to the discussion and even a national newspaper The Jamaica Observer has promoted the discussion on twitter to get more involvement.

What ICT suggestions were made?

Although there have been over 1000 tweets in the discussion they all revolve around the following points:

For greater ICT development in Jamaica we need (in no order of importance):

Better Education

• Teachers need more training and exposure to ICT practices on a continuous basis
• Schools need better equipment to facilitate ICT courses and learning
• Children need more exposure to ICT at an earlier age
• A general push from the education system that ICT can be used to develop all fields and industries and ICT does not only mean IT related jobs
• Make Information Technology mandatory in all primary and high schools (with varying proficiencies based on student aptitude)
• See my related post on Reforming Jamaica’s Education system using Social Media
• Educate all students about cybercrime, internet security and phishing to prevent identity theft

Higher internet penetration

• The internet is the new essential utility, everyone should have access to it regardless of demographics
• Internet access will help those most in need, especially rural communities
• Education – the internet allows people to research and learn online, increasing education and literacy rates
• Business – the internet is a platform that can be used to boost business in a community, parish, country or region (access to an online marketplace worth billions)
• More internet users will help reduce internet costs for all and will make increased infrastructure development viable
• Promote the use of internet on mobile phones (there are more mobile phones than people in Jamaica)
• Free wifi at libraries, schools and businesses (restaurants, cafe’s etc)

Entrepreneurism and Business Development

• Create a greater awareness that becoming an entrepreneur is a viable option. Many Jamaicans think getting a job is the only option, while doing a “hustle” on the side.
• Use ICT more in all fields and industries. Technology does not just mean computers and websites. ICT can be used to help all businesses to reduce cost, increase efficiency, increase productivity and generate more profit.
• Create an overseeing body to oversee business practices by ICT professionals to ensure quality and build faith in local professionals
• A mentorship program is needed to guide young entrepreneurs.
• Use ICT to provide services to niche markets on a global scale. There are only so many people in Jamaica, why not market products to the world?

Finance Sector Support

• More funding is needed for ICT start-ups
• Local banks need to open payment gateways to allow micro, small and medium businesses to process credit and debit card transactions online.

Green ICT Policies – Thanks to @raggayouth for adding this

• Policies to mandate the use of energy efficient equipment and practices. Power plants generate harmful gases.
• Policies to mandate proper disposal of computers and other ICT equipment to limit or eliminate environmental impact
• ICT policies to reduce paper and other expendables
• Waste management companies have the opportunity to recycle and properly dispose of ICT hardware
• ICT growth can help support the development of renewable energy projects in Jamaica (@ICT4DJamrock)

Government Support

• Government needs to support more local ICT service and product providers (instead of sourcing overseas)
• Government needs to eliminate taxes or duties on computers and accessories (or allow one tax free computer per household)
• Provide tax concessions for Venture Capitalists and Angel Funds investing in ICT startups
• Reduce taxes on ICT startups
• Create programs to get computers and internet access to impoverished and rural communities
• Create ICT awareness programs to promote ICT use in business and entrepreneurship

ICT Professionals to Get It Done

• Make use of the opportunities provided online
• Create more applications locally for computers, web and mobile phones
• Be more professional and provide better customer service when providing ICT products and solutions
• Hire the necessary staff to make the right business choices and develop small businesses
• Local professionals need to properly evaluate the value of products and services and price accordingly
• Create a lobby group to push the interests of ICT supporters to the Government
• Create greater awareness through an association of the products and services available by local providers to the business sector
• Create outreach programs to show youth what options are available to them through ICT development
• Support other local providers with their ICT based business

Summary

The ICT sector has the biggest potential to make a positive impact on Jamaica’s economy. The industry and it’s services could become Jamaica’s much needed boost to the manufacturing sector, creating jobs, attracting foreign revenue and increasing education without destroying the environment or using up natural resources. What is needed is a drastic change in beliefs, attitude and a drive to better one’s self and the country. Jamaica has the benefit of being in the same timezone as the eastern seaboard in the US, English is our primary language and we are located close to the Americas and our sister Caribbean countries. Let’s all mobilise, make use of our current advantages while making necessary changes to promote further development in the industry.

I would like to highlight the following twitter users for contributing suggestions to this discussion:

@kharysharpe @davidmullings @brukins @dezchamps @ict4djamrock @corvedacosta @lexlimitless @nik_williams @chrysalisceo @ingridriley @uncensored_mind @waynejonesjnr @doyenwilliams @billbailey25 @liddles15 @xyoni @damienharris

If there is any major point I have left off please alert me on twitter @dmitridawkins or @utenjm or leave a comment below

Other articles about the #ICTJA discussion:

TBA

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More and more brands are jumping on to Social Media. Overall this has been received very well in Jamaica and the rest of the world. The idea of a brand using Social Media is to be interactive with customers, get better feedback and to be real time As brands log on to the web I think they should also help promote the medium they are using for their new campaigns.

In a developing country like Jamaica or other Caribbean Countries, it is essential to also promote social networks in order to increase the user base. After-all the more people using these social media networks is the larger your user-base to interact with. As more brands come on board the ratio of brands to people will become distorted, making the opt-in nature of social media feel more like advertising. The point of social media is to interact with friends to share content. Brands are supposed to follow this trend by providing content for fans to interact with. By advertising social media more people will sign up, enhancing the networking aspect of social media. The more people use social media is the greater the opportunity for brands to interact with customers, whether existing or prospective.

I think brands should develop programs to help increase internet and social media use in Jamaica, thereby increasing literacy and reducing the barrier of computer illiteracy. A person may not be willing to take a computer class, but by using Facebook or Twitter more often they can develop typing and communication skills. Other benefits of increased internet usage are more exposure to world culture, new technology, business opportunities, better English skills and more. I don’t see any negative factors compared to the current trend of education in the majority of Jamaican schools. Exposure is key, let’s get more people exposed in order to help boost business, the economy and education.

How can a brand help? Sponsor wifi for a rural community, computers at a local school, computer literacy classes at community centers, help to get more internet kiosks around the island. Brands can also help sponsor free internet access at local restaurants and cafe’s, as well as giving away old internet capable PC’s from the office to staff or members of the public. Additionally we can lobby the Government to make IT mandatory in high schools. This is not an overnight project, it will take years to develop. However the return on investment will be huge, never before has technology been so influential, people will only use it more as time progresses. Let’s not leave Jamaica and the Caribbean behind, let’s get ahead of the curve. Act now.

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