Skip to main content

The Monetizing Power of the Internet


My studies this semester have mainly focused on the US adoption of social media even though I know that the social networking platforms have been embraced by populations all over the world. Yesterday, CNN mentioned that a 6-year old You-Tube star, Boram, in South Korea bought an $8 million property from her YouTube earnings. According to CNN, Boram has 13.6 million subscribers for her toy review channel and 17.6 million subscribers for her video blog channel, and one of her videos has over 376 million views.  As a “digital immigrant”, it continues to amaze me how people can monetize their online endeavors. But, this and other online success cases indicate that the opportunity is available for those who can find the market for their perspective skills or talent. Can this success be replicated in some African countries, such as Ghana?

Africa is set to be the next emerging market. According to Forbes (2017) the continent lacks an advanced technological infrastructure but is experiencing a drastic shift towards financial sustainability which could lead to it being called the next emerging market.  According to the ‘Digital in 2018’ report, 10 million Ghanians (an increase of 22%) are on the Internet due to more affordable smartphones and mobile data plans. Africa is set to outpace the world in population growth, if nothing goes unchanged and the continent is expected to double its population by 2050. Hopefully, with this population growth, will come opportunities to generate wealth and prosperity! It would be great to see countries from Africa shift from being ‘developing’ to ‘developed’ countries. If the county continues to build its infrastructure and technology capabilities, perhaps its young population can harness the Internet to create wealth and shift the economics of some of the countries in this region.

To read more about the background on these stories, check out these articles:

https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/26/asia/boram-youtube-korea-intl-hnk/index.html
https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2017/07/13/is-africa-the-next-emerging-market/#76bd123c576f)
https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/over-10-million-ghanaians-using-the-internet-report.html

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week # 11 Reflection

I am in the end stretch heading towards the last week of the semester. Intense would aptly describe the way that I am feeling. I took two courses this semester and so I am having to juggle the end of the semester demands this week; and on top of my full-time job, it is a crazy time. I am looking forward to a little break between this semester and the Fall. I think that I will use the downtime to go back and investigate some of the tools that I didn’t get a chance to experience during the summer. I definitely want to try Diigo, Twitter, Pinterest and LinkedIn. This course has taught me the importance of establishing an online presence and sharing with my fellow peers. I’ve learned so much from others and it’s important to contribute to the collective knowledge. I definitely plan to have fun as well. In fact, I’m off to Jacksonville this weekend for a short weekend get-away. And, after the hectic rush of assignments, I aim looking forward to relaxing on the beach, eating some seafo...
1 comment
Read more

Week # 7 Reflection

It’s the week of July 4 Th and I still don’t know what I plan to do for the weekend! It seems that this week will be one in which I leave the planning to the day of! Typically, I would venture to a cookout with family, where we would have barbecue chicken, ribs, potato salad, fruit salad, pound cake and maybe something green & healthy. Then, watch fireworks in the evening. But, this year, most of my family has decided to travel up to Augusta, GA so I will be alone, which means, I will likely have whatever is available at my local Fresh Market! I thought I would blog about food today because it is a common element that we all share, regardless of our race, gender, or ethnicity, we all must eat. I think food is a way to bridge communities and build relationships with others who may be different than you. I have traveled as far away as Moscow Russia and people still delight in being able to provide ‘good’ food for their family. We had a guest speaker this week in class, one of ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Using Trello for Time Management

I was introduced to Trello a couple of weeks ago and wanted to share how I have been using it stay productive. Trello ( https://trello.com/en-US ) is an online platform that allows users to use a variety of boards and cards to organize their projects. As a new graduate student, I have been seeking a way to manage my school, personal and professional life. Trello’s platform makes it easy and actually fun to do! First, you can select your background to set the mood for your project. You can select either a color or photo that represents your personal style or the theme of your project. Since its summer time, I decided to go with a bright pink. I created a Weekly To Do Board and set it to private because it included a mix of personal and professional tasks. I adapted the tool to match my needs. I need a place where I could see all of my To Dos so I customized the board to include these components: Weekly View -  I created 8 lists for each day of the week (M, T, W, R, F,...
Post a Comment
Read more