By Rhodri Marsden:

The survey's findings coincided with the social network Google+ introducing Pages: "A leap forward in building relationships between businesses and people".

London - There must have been loads of research into the efficacy of attempts by brands to become our best mates. Why else would copywriters churn out endless, cutesy blurb for packaging - christened “wackaging” by writer Rebecca Nicholson - or would banks put up signs in their windows saying “hello” in friendly, lower-case letters, and yet more inside saying “take the weight off your feet”.

But while that approach is deemed effective, the same cannot necessarily be said for brands trying to worm their way into our affections on social media.

A worldwide survey by market researchers TNS has found that 61 percent of British people - higher than average for the developed world - don't want to engage with brands online. And while social media is still considered a direct, cheap way of businesses speaking to customers, there are signs that they might be wasting their time by trying to invade a space that we'd rather they steered clear of.

The survey's findings coincided with the social network Google+ introducing Pages: “A leap forward in building relationships between businesses and people”. But how many businesses leaping into the arms of Google+ will see positive results? Over on Facebook, apparently only 5 per cent of posts on pages ever get answered, indicating a huge disconnect between brands and consumers.

Only last week, Waitrose found itself in the middle of a Facebook fracas following its tardy response to a complaint by a customer whose disabled child had been called an “animal” by another shopper.

Suddenly, everyone was paying close attention to Waitrose's social media strategy - and while the company did eventually post to assure everyone that the complaint was being taken seriously, it's a perfect example of the stresses businesses experience as a result of having a social media presence.

Because it represents a complete loss of control. Stripped of the ability to effectively manage an online PR crisis, many businesses feel that it's safer not to say anything at all, in case they dig themselves even deeper into a hole. As a result they might appear arrogant, but to some extent you can't blame them.

In the summer, PC security firm Symantec reported that mistakes made on social media had cost major corporations an average of $4.3m over the previous 12 months -litigation costs, damaged brands, leaked secrets and so on.

With the public so keen to pounce on mistakes, and apparently not that interested in engaging with brands anyway, is there any point in trying?

Well, it might be worth a shot. Engaging Twitter accounts by brands such as BetfairPoker and London's St John Restaurant do them nothing but good.

A recent fake Twitter account publicising Shippam's Paste mercilessly satirised attempts by brands to engage with the public, and in doing so managed to pique the interest of thousands of people before the brand humourlessly put a stop to it.

But 60 percent of FTSE100 companies still don't publicise a social media presence on their websites, and thousands of company blogs and Facebook walls are dotted with tumbleweed. Perhaps that lack of engagement suits everyone just fine.

By Nicola Mawson, ITWeb deputy news editor.

Broadband prices are expected to come down by about a fifth over the next year as operators drive efficiencies, another cable lands, and local loop unbundling kicks in.

However, South African consumers will still be paying too much per MB compared to other end-users in countries such as Poland, says an analyst.

Recent research from Ovum found that fixed and wireless broadband in SA is as much as 20 times more expensive when compared to offerings from providers in 18 other countries that are also classified as emerging markets.

The prohibitive cost of broadband in SA is an aspect government has vowed to tackle for several years, yet the report finds connectivity is out of reach for most South Africans.

Ovum's "Broadband Pricing in Emerging Markets in 2011" looked at HSPA, WiMax, and DSL broadband services in 19 countries in Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, as well as South and Central America.

SA has the most expensive broadband tariffs of the 19 countries the report surveyed. Some low-end entry-level services cost as much as $1 443 a year, while costs for higher end services are as much as $6 000 a year.

South Africans have benefited from a range of promotions recently, which has lowered the cost of connecting to the Internet. However, these have been limited-time offerings.

In general, stripping out the special deals from operators, the cost of broadband declined by about 20% over the past year, and a similar drop is expected in the next 12 months.

Driving efficiencies

Jannie van Zyl, Vodacom's executive head of data product development, says incremental improvements in network efficiencies could drive down mobile broadband by between 15% and 20% in the next year.

Van Zyl says this would be a similar trend to what happened last year. He adds SA saw massive price cuts recently thanks to promotions, but these are not sustainable.

Cellular companies are working hard to get more efficiencies out of the network, which will incrementally lower costs. He explains that about half the cost is linked to the radio side of networks, which includes spectrum use and the base station.

The balance is related to the backhaul, which is the cost of connecting consumers up to the towers, says Van Zyl.

Cellular providers are self-providing backhaul by laying down fibre, but this is challenging as councils deal with many applications from companies wanting to dig up pavements, which delays the process, explains Van Zyl.

However, as more fibre is laid down, prices will drop over time, says Van Zyl. In addition, technology improvements allow operators to get more use out of the current available spectrum, allowing them to decrease prices, he adds.

Flow-through benefits

Wayne de Nobrega, CEO of Altech Technology Concepts, says the cost of fixed broadband will also come down, although prices will not halve. He says the cost could come down by between 20% and 25%.

De Nobrega explains the West Africa Cable System (WACS), which is expected to open up for commercial services in the first quarter of next year, will aid price cuts. In addition, he says, local loop unbundling should also drive prices down.

Regulations to enable local loop unbundling are expected to be published by the Independent Communications Authority of SA next month.

De Nobrega adds the actual drops depend on several factors, and the timeframe in which these aspects come into play. He explains consumers are likely to get "more bang for their buck" instead of extremely cheap packages.

Internet Solutions' connectivity executive Sean Nourse says the bulk of broadband pricing is based on Telkom's pricing, which accounts for about 60% to 70% of the total cost.

Nourse says this leaves about 30% to 40% for an Internet solutions provider to provide local and international bandwidth, support and then to "try and make a margin".

WACS will trim the cost of international broadband, but providers will have to use a more expensive cable to ensure redundancy, as there will be "soaking in" outages, says Nourse. "While there will be reductions, it'll be hard to see them as high as 20%."

Richard Hurst, Ovum's emerging markets analyst, notes that SA consumers are still paying far too much for broadband, despite recent price drops.

Hurst expects prices to come down by between 20% and 30%, but does not expect a drastic move. He adds that operators will be under pressure to provide more "bang" for consumers' bucks by offering value-added products such as higher data caps, or bundle voice in with broadband.

Rapid growth in broadband penetration is starting to transform the way that South Africans use the Internet, with consumers beginning to use richer services and applications more extensively than they did two years ago.

That's the word from Tim Walter, executive head of marketing at Nashua Mobile. He says that the Internet is no longer just about web browsing, online banking and email - consumers are also starting to download media, share videos, and play more games online.

The reason for this is that years of deregulation and infrastructure build-outs have started to bear fruit for the technology industry. All of a sudden, there's plenty of international bandwidth from the new undersea cables that have landed over the past two years, more national fibre links, and fiercer competition for the consumer's spend.

Walter says that the arrival of the first uncapped broadband ADSL accounts in 2010 marked the beginning of South Africa's shift from expensive, scarce bandwidth to more affordable high-speed connectivity. Mobile broadband services have also advanced in recent years, with prices dropping rapidly, and operators stepping up their rollout of HSPA+ and other high-speed data services.

Today, South Africa has 3.7 million broadband subscribers, of which 2.6 million use mobile technologies, according to research from PricewaterhouseCoopers Southern Africa.

However, Walter notes that most Internet users in South Africa are still predominantly middle-class, urban and older than 35 years of age. That means there is still plenty of scope for broadband services to be extended to people with less disposable income.

"Urban users have the pick of the best services - Wi-Fi, ADSL and HSPA+. Many use ADSL at home for entertainment and mobile broadband from their smartphones, tablets and notebooks on the road," Walter says. "The challenge is to extend these services to more people."

Walter says that Telkom is stepping up ADSL rollouts with a view to reaching more people. But in the longer term, it will be high-speed mobile technologies such as long term evolution (LTE) that will move the market.

LTE offers download speeds of at least 100Mb/s and uploads of at least 50 Mb/s, as well as lower latencies. It will be key to bringing richer services such as video to parts of the country with poor or no fixed-line infrastructure. South African operators such as MTN are currently piloting LTE services, with a view to rolling them out as soon as they can access the spectrum they need to do so.

Concludes Walter: "With the rapid improvement of South Africa’s broadband infrastructure and a decline in prices, we can expect to see a number of innovative services starting to reach the market. Video-on-demand, for example, is on the horizon. South Africa is slowly beginning to enjoy access to the same services Internet users in other parts of the world already take for granted."

IOL SciTech

Day 1

• 8am: US Eastern time: Millions of workers arrive at their desks across the US and discover that there is no internet access. At first it is believed it's only a few companies, but unbeknown to Americans the problem is worldwide.
• 9am: The porn industry collapses.
• 10am: Realising that they cannot bitch about internetlessness on Twitter, millions of calls are made from cellphones to internet service providers who can offer no answers. Technicians are on the problem.
• 1pm: News outlets start calling the lack of internet in America a "very, very serious problem". It is also reported that the internet has not been working in Europe and Asia for at least a week before the problem is reported in America, proving once again that Americans have no idea what is going on outside their country. In South Africa barely anyone notices that the internet is not working. Most at first think it's just slow service. The Department of Home Affairs reports that the internet crisis has not affected its operations. "Everything is normal for us," says the minister.
• Meanwhile, the rest of Africa is asking, "what is this internet thing?"
• 3pm: Reports emerge that work has stopped across America in the absence of e-mail.
• Many companies implement emergency measures whereby employees are forced to communicate in person. Such programmes fail as most have no idea how to do this.
• Technicians say they're still trying to restore the internet.
• 7pm: President Barack Obama addresses the American people and calls for calm.
• He also demonstrates live on TV how to make a call from a landline.
• Networks air Baywatch and Seinfeld re-runs to distract the public. Oprah even offers to do a live broadcast.
• Midnight: A gathering is staged at Silicon Valley where software developers, IT geeks and Star Wars fans commit suicide en masse.

Day 2

• Millions wake up hoping that the internet crisis was just a bad dream, but remain in bed and refuse to go to work when they realise it wasn't.
• Wall Street doesn't open. The director-general of the stock exchange asks, "what's the point?"
• Everything tumbles, but fast food industry shares soar as Americans turn to their second favourite pastime in their time of difficulty.
• The makers of Valium and Prozac also report record gains.
• Youth in the UK decide that planning riots might be a good way to cure their boredom. However, barely anyone turns out to trash and destroy the streets of London as ringleaders cannot send out BBM or Facebook messages. Authorities are relieved. However, in some parts of the US, police report having to deal with cases of vandalism perpetrated by Facebook junkies and Twitterholics who begin scribbling their rambling on subway trains, bridges and walls of public buildings.
• Hospitals across the world are, meanwhile, overwhelmed with cases of neck injuries caused by people staring at their phones waiting for internet services to be restored.
• Technicians still cannot find the source of the problem.

Day 3

• Obama says that it is unclear "if" or "when" the internet will work again, but urges Americans to remain calm.
• Riots break out across the globe and the homes of telecommunication CEOs are broken into. Several of them are bitch-slapped.
• In South Africa, Julius Malema raises eyebrows by singing "Shoot the geek".
• A group of desperate techno extremists and members of an Apple cult dig up Steve Jobs and reportedly try to resurrect him. One sicko is heard shouting, "make it work! Please make it work" while shaking Jobs's skeleton.
• Martial law is declared in most major cities across the globe.
• Religious nuts start coming out of the woodwork.

Day 4

• Riots come to a halt as most are too depressed to leave their homes, leaving the streets of cities deserted. Those who do leave, do so only to restock on Prozac.
• A new unexplained behaviour starts to emerge in some places whereby heavily drugged individuals start digging up and chewing fibre-optic cables at night. Others have resorted to eating hard drives and other computer components.
• Electricity grids start collapsing everywhere as a result of missing fibre-optic cabling.
• Governments recognise the seriousness of the cable problem and give orders to shoot "cable gobblers". But the problem is uncontrollable, especially as Prozac and Valium supplies run out worldwide.

Day 5

The South African government announces that the internet has collapsed. This is after Telkom releases a statement saying that "some problems have been experienced over the last few days". The company, however, insists that no refunds will be given to internet users.

Malema applauds the announcement of the internet collapse, saying the internet is a "neo-liberal capitalist white thing that is counter-revolutionary". He also calls for the nationalisation of the internet but retracts his statement when he is told that the internet is not owned by white South Africans. He later takes responsibility for destroying Twitter.

Emergency sessions are called at the UN to plan the restoration of the internet and to strategise ways to govern during the crisis. President Jacob Zuma is selected to chair the sessions after he convinces world leaders he is the best man for the job. "I am the guy to sort this out. I govern a country where at the best of times there is no electricity or internet. This is not a crisis for me, this is just another day at the office," Zuma tells world leaders. - Sunday Tribune

By Masood Boomgaard

Security researchers reveal the rollout of new social media sites and features are leading to a fresh crop of online scams and threats. Online security company PC Tools has predicted three top threats that consumers should be on the lookout while joining, logging in or engaging on social networks:

Email alerts for "tagged" photos where YOU might appear online

Social networks are developing increased intelligence for facial recognition to assist with tagging photos. When you're tagged in a photo or at a location in your photo album, you can often expect an email or notification letting you know where to view it online. Take caution. Cybercriminals may be using this as a tactic to get you to click on malicious links asking for information - possibly even prompting you to click on a link leading to a fake login and password entry form posing as your social network.

Online robots or "bots" on social networking sites will be more sophisticated

PC Tools believe within the next few months that social media "bots" will become more advanced, effectively creating human-looking profiles and personalities. Cybercriminals rely on bots because they are the fastest and most cost-effective way to spread malware, spyware and scams through social network sites.

Through these bots, criminals can auto-create bogus personalities on social networks, which can in turn link to fake companies that sell products - all to trick users into buying merchandise that isn't real or spreading news that doesn't actually exist.

An increase in fake invites to join "new" or "exclusive" social networks or social groups

New social networks are popping up every day, some of which are "invite only" making them more appealing. Cybercriminals could use this appeal as a method to lure users into clicking on fake invites for exclusive networks. Upon clicking on these invites, users could be asked to provide personal details such as name, login, password or birthdates which should not be released.

"If you're looking to join the hottest new social network, be careful where you click - your personal life may be at risk," said Richard Clooke, Worldwide Reviews Programme and Public Relations manager (EMEA) at PC Tools. "Cybercriminals are taking advantage of the buzz surrounding these new social networks and features by tricking unsuspecting users to divulge personal information or download malware."

Clooke added that today's malware looks legitimate, but what may seem like a harmless email or link can actually result in a person's stolen identity or credit card data theft. According to Pew Research, 46 percent of internet users agree that "most people can be trusted" - a prime reason why cybercriminals are so successful at duping consumers.