MarcForrest.com

Category: On The Marc

  • On The Marc – 28 April

    Here is this weeks On the Marc column. Unfortunately this will be the last one for a while, as I have decided against contributing to The Bugle newspaper for a number of reasons.

    I will still try and write a column every now and then, which I will publish on my site. If you have any suggestions on topics you would like to see, please feel free to leave a comment below :)

    How Social Media helped Europe in a time of crisis.

    Last week, the large majority of Europe came to a complete standstill when a small glacier volcano off the coast of Iceland erupted. Airline traffic in and around Europe was halted, as the ash from the volcano formed a cloud some 5 kilometers above ground. For almost a week passengers scattered around the world were unable to utilise flight services to and from Europe, and left many people stranded in foreign countries. Some had no place to stay as airlines battled to find accommodation for affected passengers, as well as being unable to clarify when they may be able to fly again.

    But it was popular social media tools: Facebook & Twitter that came to the rescue for some airlines and passengers. By utilizing the services offered by these Social Media tools, Airlines were able to instantly answer customers, who would have previously had to phone into a call centre. Twitter users started using the hashtag, as short tag in a tweet, #ashtag in their tweets to voice their concerns, which allowed fellow stranded passengers to interact. Soon, airlines such as KLM, Lufthansa & British Airways started using the hashtag: #ashcloud to update passengers on the situation. In just 7 days there were over 55,000 mentions of these hashtags. The European air safety control EuroControl, also used twitter for crisis management, by allowing official updates to be broadcast on twitter. Stranded passengers soon also started using the twitter hashtag: #getmehome, which would lead people in the affected countries to offers of accommodation and food from residents, whilst they were stranded.

    Airlines also used Facebook as a tool to update passengers of the situation, as well as allowing users to interact and query flight statuses with airline employees dedicated to answering such queries. One of the affected airlines, SAS Scandanavia directed users to their Facebook Fanpage to post updates on the situation and ask questions about their flights. Their fan base on Twitter almost doubled in the week to over 21,000 fans.

    It is great to see how companies are using social media as a crisis management tool and goes to show the value of using these tools in your everyday business.

  • Supersport Live Streaming Video

    I came across a very cool service offered by SuperSport.com today, where I can actually the rugby at work (sneaky sneaky).

    To sign up for the service you need to be a DSTV Subscriber, and you need your smartcard number to sign up. The registration process is quick quick, and you can watch your favorite game as soon as you have signed up.

    The streaming of the video was pretty smooth, and I didn’t have to buffer once. Although this is at work, I have yet to try this on an ADSL line, but I’m pretty sure it should be pretty smooth on a 4MB line. The service is offered 7am and 5pm, Monday to Friday.

    To get a full line up of upcoming live games that are being streamed, click here

  • Free Internet Marketing Course

    I came across this very cool looking FREE internet marketing course by online marketing guru, John Shoemoney.
    The course covers a whole bung of topics on internet marketing, and you get sent a PDF every week on a different topic.
    The topics included in the course are:

    • Week 1 – The Beginner’s Guide To Internet Marketing
    • Week 2 – Affiliate Marketing 101: Everything You Need To Know To Start Promoting Products
    • Week 3 – Market Research: How To Crush Your Competitors And Discover Hot Niches
    • Week 4 – Introduction to Pay Per Click
    • Week 5 – Advanced Pay Per Click
    • Week 6 – SEO Tips, Tricks, and Tactics
    • Week 7 – Content Creation: How To Create Articles That Attract Users And Increase Sales
    • Week 8 – Marketing: How To Use Social Media To Spread Your Brand
    • Week 9 – Make That Cash: 10 Ways To Monetize Your Site And Increase Profitability
    • Week 10 – Testing & Tracking: How To Optimize Your Site & Make Sense Of The Figures
    • Week 11 – Building Your Team: How To Network With Others And Find Long Term Partners
    • Week 12 – Launch Day: How To Kick Start Your Business And Manage Your Projects

    If you are keen to sign up, you can do so at http://www.shoemoneyx.com/signup.php

    Lemme know if you signed up and what you thought of the course.

  • On The Marc – 21 April

    Here is this weeks copy of my column in The Bugle. I took a look at the success of the “Don’t touch me on my Studio” viral campaign that’s been doing the rounds.

    Again, if you have any comments etc, please feel free to leave a comment or drop me an email.

    Don’t touch me on my…

    I’m pretty sure a coupe of years ago, you may recall an email being sent around of a middle aged guy, dressed rather awkwardly with a pair of rugby shorts, and a blue checked shirt tied up around his waist ? This “character” was randomly snapped by a party-goer at a “rave” held in Gauteng, and soon Veron Koekemoer shot to instant fame.
    You may remember some of the emails with Vern being photo shopped into various pictures, and he soon became a South African Internet legend. Soon, a couple of guys caught onto the viral campaign and built up a website called, CanLikeToHaveRambo.co.za, which showcased all the pictures & videos that fans had made. This was one of South Africa’s first viral Internet campaigns, and took off like a boeing.

    But last week, Vernon Koekemoer was eclipsed from the viral campaign hallows, when an E-TV news presenter, Chris Maroleng, was interviewing political analyst, Lebohang Pheko, alongside Mr Andre Visage, the AWB secretary-general. The trio were discussing race relations in South Africa, after AWB leader, Eugene Terre Blanche, had been murdered the previous weekend, and soon tempers began flaring. Mr Visage ripped his microphone off and stormed off the set. A couple of seconds later, pointing at Pheko, he said “I’m not finished with you, you don’t interrupting me (sic)”

    The host of the show, then came out to defend Pheko, with a phrase, that would launch South Africa’s next Internet viral campaign, “Don’t touch me on my Studio”, getting over 50,000 hits on YouTube in the first 24 hours.

    Overnight video’s and songs were created and placed on YouTube and other internet sharing sites. Radio stations around the country came up with their own parodies, and soon, everyone’s catch phrase was, well, Don’t touch me on my studio. Earlier this week, myself and a mate decided to build a website to showcase all these parodies, which we naturally called, Don’tTouchMeOnMyStudio.co.za. The response was phenomenal, and after receiving mentions an afternoon drive show on a national radio station, the site shot to fame. Within 3 days, we had received well over 10,000 hits, and loads of user submissions, and it’s still growing as I type this.

    It just shows us how something so small, can shoot to fame with the Internet. We can only wonder what South Africa’s next exciting Internet viral campaign will be ?

    Download the PDF

  • On The Marc – My new weekly column

    A couple of weeks ago, the team from a local weekly newspaper in Durban & Ballito, called The Bugle, called me and asked if I would be interested in writing a weekly column for them on various topics, including blogging, tech, fatherhood amongst others.

    I have to admit, it sounded a bit daunting at first, but after some convincing from a couple of people I took the plunge and dived in. I had to come up with a name for the column, and thanks to Twitter, I called it “On the Marc”.

    Last week Wed was my first column, which was really just an introduction to who I am, and what I do. I will be posting my weekly columns up here on a Wednsday, and if you happen to be in KZN, and pick up a copy of The Bugle, be sure to point me out to everyone around you :) (Jus kiddin)

    I would love to hear your thoughts and comments on the column, and if you have any suggestions on what I should be writing about, please feel free to leave a comment below, or drop me an email.

    Here is last week’s column. I will be posting this week’s a bit later today.

    Well, this is a leap. A couple of days ago, I was a blogger, and today I’m writing my first column in The Bugle. A blogger I hear you ask ? Whats a blogger ?
    I’m that geeky guy sitting behind my computer all day, putting my thoughts onto my little home in cyberspace. Not really, it’s really not as bad as it sounds.

    In 2004, I decided to take the plunge, and signed up for my first blog, which was called DurbzBlog. It was a foray into putting my personal thoughts down onto “paper” and sharing information with my readers I had found on the Internet. Initially there was a bit of commitment phobia from my side, but soon enough, I got the hang of it. In 2007, I decided to register my own domain, MarcForrest.com, which has been my blogging home ever since.

    Since then, things have grown in leaps and bounds, and today my blog is ranked in the top 20 blogs in South Africa, and is also the number 1 ranked personal blog in KZN, according to the African blog aggregator, Afrigator. My blog is mainly technology focused with a lot of the focus being on the iPhone and iPhone apps. I also write about KZN lifestyle and try and focus on being Proudly South African.

    I am a proud Ballito resident, and have 3 gorgeous kids, and a gorgeous wife, Lesley. When I am not being Mr Blogger, I enjoy spending time with my friends and family and watching the odd Bulls rugby game.
    Through this column, I am looking forward to sharing my experiences on the Internet, and am going to try and share some of the great things I find out there.

    Download the PDF