Guest commentary

Louise Houghton, Television Host at DW

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Circle, LinkedIn…

It’s hard to try and keep up with them all. Even now I am thinking that I must change my Twitter settings because I have been hacked and am sending out adverts to my 500 followers!

People say that it sometimes feels like another job making sure that everything on their social media platforms is current. Of course, everyone wants to be the first to post about the new presenter seen on DW or the opening of a new store in Berlin, for example.  This is how news gets around nowadays and wouldn’t it be great if it was you who started a “Twitter trend”! There is no denying that Journal and newspapers offer a more detailed account of world events, but the likes of Twitter actually get the information out to the world much quicker. It is now possible to communicate without even using words – all you have to do is post a picture and that says it all. What an ingenious idea Instagram is! It saves me typing, but then I spend double the amount of time tweaking photos and putting them into little collages before I actually upload them.

Is it all really necessary? Are we doing it for ourselves or for our friends and followers who take an interest in what we do? We didn’t have it before, so why now the sudden interest in what dinner your friend is eating tonight? Furthermore, why is there a need to post a photo to clarify the fact that they have actually cooked it themselves?

I often wonder what we did before these sites were accessible with the touch of a button. Those precious seconds were probably spent taking life a little bit easier. We probably felt like we were able to relax before going off to sleep at night rather than thinking we need to write one last status update and say goodnight to the world.

These sites can also intrude on people’s personal lives too. Those who have millions of followers need to keep them happy by constantly posting something. But the reality is, as I mentioned above, that it is just too time consuming so they have someone else who takes charge of their social media presence for them.  It is not surprising that there are stories of stalkers and burglaries as a result of these sites either because the world knows where you are or where you are not as soon as you check in on Facebook!

Saying all that, no one can deny that there are benefits to having speedy access to all this information, especially if you have a smartphone. When I am working away from home it is great to be able to keep up to date with what my friends are doing and see pictures of their birthdays, children and holidays. It makes the world feel a bit smaller and that you are still part of each other’s lives even though there is distance between you. The number of people now living away from home has, no doubt, increased since the invention of social media, Skype and Facetime.

Not only does social media help on a social front but these mediums allow people to promote themselves or their companies with minimal costs.  Small businesses have the ability to promote events they are holding by posting links on feeds with followers and that is a great advantage.  The Internet means that headlines get around the world faster than the speed of sound. Whether it is news on who won the latest series of “I’m a celebrity get me out of here” or the horrific pictures of a tsunami, you only need to log in to your social media sites to see the information there in front of you because everyone will be talking about it. It’s quicker and easier than a search engine. This helps to educate nations without them even realising they are being educated. I believe there were a number of people researching Nelson Mandela after he died because of following posts, blogs, tweets and captions of his quotes on social media sites. This can only be a good thing – news is more accessible through these sites and becomes more a topic of discussion rather than just a headline. Our understanding and knowledge of historical events will be stronger as a result.

Like many things in life social media has its pros and cons and I have barely scratched the surface on the many topics of conversation based around this ever-growing medium. One thing is for sure though, technology will continue to shape our world and we can’t stop it, so I think it is best to jump on the bandwagon and enjoy what these sites have to offer. Otherwise you risk getting left behind not knowing what a hashtag means! #‬justsaying #socialmedia‬

Asia

The Sydney-based culture channel Ovation is now a DW partner in Australia.  The 15-year-old television channel is carried by all major providers and has a large fan base with programs that feature art, film, opera, history, culture and drama. Ovation will be adding Euromaxx, Arts 21, Europe in Concert, Discover Germany and Treasures of the World.

DW is also being broadcast now on the business and finance news channel, Business Plus, in Pakistan. It is the only channel of its kind in the country with a focus on business and economic issues. Euromaxx, DW’s lifestyle magazine will be aired daily during the evening program as an addition to the lifestyle segment. There are plans for more cooperation with DW in the future. The channel is broadcast nationwide via the Paksat-1 satellite and is carried by all major cable providers allowing for a potential audience of 12 million households in Pakistan. Outside of Pakistan, the channel is available in 52 countries. Business Plus belongs to the MTL media group.

The Vietnamese news channel VNews will be providing a monthly contribution to DW’s World Stories starting in January 2014. VNews is the television broadcaster of the Vietnam News Agency.

Europe

DW has added a new online partner in Greece. Since the beginning of October, DW has been providing full reports on Greek political and business news that are being featured on the popular business website capital.gr. The website covers finance, business and investment news while providing political analysis and background information. Capital.gr attracts a young audience with an average age of 35 who also have a high level of education and interest in socio-economic issues. The site is visited by around 1,250,000 users in Greece each month.

 

 

Classical music is one of the most coveted aspects of German culture and DW has always been in tune with this, taking global audiences behind the music with documentaries like Schumann at Pier 2 and the Beethoven Project.  DW’s latest classical music film production, The Highest Level, recently premiered to much acclaim in Berlin. The film was directed by DW’s prize winning director, Christian Berger. It follows the Chinese pianist Lang Lang and the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Sir Simon Rattle as they put together a stunning performance of Piano Concerto No. 2 by Hungarian composer Béla Bartók and Piano Concerto No. 3 by the Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev. The two pieces are considered to be some of the most intricate and complicated for pianists.  A sneak preview is available now on Euromaxx on DW.  You can see the film on DW television in English, German, Spanish and Arabic from Saturday, November 30 to Monday, December 2 as part of the In Focus documentary series. On December 1 it will be available on-demand in DW’s media center. For those who can’t wait Sony Classical will release the film on October 25, 2013, on DVD and Blu-ray Disc. You can buy the audio CD now online.

Africa

DW is gaining ground in French-speaking Africa. Radio Kledou in Mali has been broadcasting DW’s French programming since the beginning of 2013 and continues to attract more and more listeners. It is broadcast from the capital city of Bamako and is also available in Sikasso, Kayes and Ségou.

DW has also signed new online partners in Mali (www.info-mali.com), the Ivory Coast (www.rj24.info), Cameroon (www.equinoxetv.com), Guinea (www.bolivar-fm.com) and Burkina Faso (www.mutationsbf.net).

 

Latin America

DW’s partnership with Folha – the largest news portal in Brazil – has been paying off. In July, DW’s content that is featured on the website generated 77,000 visits. DW has been working with Folha since 2006 and the partnership was expanded this May. DW’s editorial team delivers news and content daily which is then featured on a DW page on the Folha website, as well as being listed in the different sections.

 

Europe

DW’s video of the day is now being featured on the video platform Megogo.net. The videos appear in the main “News” category and are linked to the Russian or Ukrainian website at dw.de. Megogo logs about 13.5 million visits per month. Around 70 percent of its 16,000 hours of video content is free of charge and can be accessed online, via mobile devices and apps as well as by using SmartTV applications.

 

Asia

With PSI, DW has a new partner in Thailand. PSI is known as the knowledge channel and has programming that covers everything from wildlife and nature to technology, history and archeology. PSI is broadcasting Euromaxx daily and is available to 12 million households in Thailand.

Another TV network has added DW’s Indonesian science and technology magazine Inovator to its lineup. B-Channel has more than 20 regional TV stations in Indonesia and reaches around 75 percent of the terrestrial television market.

 

Online

DW expanded its Media Center this past month to include photos, audio and video content in an additional 10 languages, including: Bengali, Croatian, Dari, French, Greek, Indonesian, Macedonian, Pashto, Polish and Urdu. DW’s Media Center now offers content in a total of 25 languages.

 

The Internet is full of funny, pithy and sometimes even breath-taking clips, but they’re not always easy to find. That’s why Euromaxx searches high and low to find the best for Clipmania. And to celebrate the celebrated its 100th episode, our editors designed a contest called  Clipmania 100. Viewers and users voted for the 100 best user-generated videos from the almost 300 that have been featured on the program over the past two years. The contest generated over 5,000 letters to the editors and the videos were viewed over 230,000 times on DW’s YouTube channel. The winning entry  titled Black Hole came from English authors Olly Williams and Phillip Sansom. The two-minute video is about an overworked employee who somehow prints out a black hole during the nightshift.

Clipmania 100 ran from January 1 to April 26 and you can find the playlist of all the videos on YouTube.