10.28.08
Social Media for Social Change
I thoroughly enjoyed last night’s 27 Dinner in Cape Town – not only for the great food and conversation, but also because of the great presentations.
First up was Eran from Springleap who gave us an insight into the various marketing channels they use to get their product out there. Interestingly, some slightly unconventional methods (well, these days) such as cold-calling seem to also be in the repertoire. Great presentation and cool to see how they’ve integrated various traditional and online strategies into their marketing approach.
Secondly, Marlon Parker from CPUT spoke about an awesome drug counselling initiative using social media channels such as Mxit and Twitter to counsel drug addicts and those with related social issues. The project, called Reconstructed, operates out of Bridgetown on the Cape Flats and teaches participants skills to aid the community.
The counsellors themselves are all reconstructed and reformed drug addicts and gangsters. The service is available on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 3PM and 5PM. The service has already broken the 3000 contacts mark – a fantastic achievement. They are clearly making an impact, and it’s awesome to see how technology and social media is empowering communities. Really encouraging stuff.
Finally, we had a short talk from Justin Hartman from Afrigator about the ‘State of the Afrosphere’ and how the product has grown over the last couple of months, and the exposure they bring to African bloggers. Sounds like they’ll be worth watching over the coming months as they have loads of cool stuff in the pipeline.