HISTORY BEHIND THE BEAUTIFUL GARDEN

Cape Town has a remarkable history, a history that represents the background of this big city. The mother city has different tourist attractions that reflect how this city was created and how people lived in the olden days. One of Cape Towns most loved heritage sites is the Company Garden.

The garden became famous in the 1800s for its delight and the beauty it has. In the olden days the garden was known as the Botanical Garden.In the 1800s the garden had taken most of the landscape design in the City Parks.

 The curving pathways were imposed on the formal Dutch Garden grid. In 1693 there were some new developments that were made in the garden by famous gardener called Hendrik Oldenland. There were pathways made and fountains added into the garden which still exist till now. The pathways made the garden to be filled with different sections of flowers and trees. The company garden is one of the oldest gardens in South Africa to grow fruit and vegetables. There was a Zoo in the first place where rose water is exported.

The Company had a great meaning that was unique; it had a special mix of public cultural institutions that represent power and authority within the context of a changing historical landscape. 

The Company Garden was not only used to plough vegetables, fruit and herbs it was also used for vines that were used to produce wine in 1659. The garden represents the history of Cape Town and it means a lot to Capetonians.

HIP HOP MUSIC

Everybody listens to it, we love it, we sing along to it or must I say we rap along to it. Hip hop music is a music genre consisting of stylized music that commonly accompanies rapping and rhyming speech that is chanted. The reason why Im blogging about this music genre is because I listen to it and I love it more than any other music genre. Hip hop has a huge influence on our society it has changed the way we dress, speak, write and the way we express ourselves. Hip hop originates from New York's South Bronx in 1973 by Jamaican born Kool DJ Herc. Some people think that hip hop is a music genre that promotes violence and it is affecting the youth  negatively with its rhymes and lyrics.  Back in the days hip hop had a meaning, the lyrics of rap music expressed a positive message. Rap music has become more popular in our society especially in South Africa; it is starting to develop and more rap artists are being introduced. I have noticed that some South African rap artists are copying what is being done in America, the way they dress, how they rap and how they speak.

Hip hop has changed artists rap about money, the type of cars they drive, women and how many houses they  have. Artists such as Lil Wayne, Kanye West, Drake, Jay Z and other various artists have a huge influence on both American and South African citizens. Hip Hop is now being listened by the younger generation they follow its trends and they copy what they see on television. Even my younger brother who is seven years old listens to this type of music and he even sings along to it, this goes to show that hip hop music has a major impact on our society. The other day I was watching a video on youtube where an infant was crying when her father played a Beyonce song she stoped crying and listened to the song.We listen and sing along  to music that we don't even know what the meaning behind it is and where it originates. Hip hop will always have an impact in our lives and it will continue to grow throughout the years.

"The thing about hip-hop today is it's smart, it's insightful. The way they can communicate a complex message in a very short space is remarkable." Barack Obama

"Hip-hop has done so much for racial relations, and I don't think it's given the proper credit. It has changed America immensely. I'm going to make a very bold statement: Hip-hop has done more than any leader, politician, or anyone to improve race relations." -Jay Z

 

Is social media affecting our face to face interactions?

We blog,we tweet, we text and we facebook that all requires using a pc or mobile divice and we tend to forget about face to face communication. Ever since social media was developed people think that face to face interaction is overrated, personally I think face to face communication is not overrated at all. Face to face communication means being in the presence of another person whereby you see their body language, facial expression and hear their tone of voice. With the new developments in technology and social media we are starting to lose face to face communication as people are addicts of devices. In face to face interactions people can read nonverbal cues and understand how the other person feels, whereas in social media communication people can lie and pretend to be something they are not. When in a gathering people tend to bury thier faces in their mobile devices they become anti social.

People are starving themselves from human interaction and they substitute that with social media. Human interaction builds trust between or among people and that enables people to have a better understanding of one another. In our days people use social media for the wrong reasons, they create fake profiles and they pretend to be someone they are not. Im not saying that social media is bad but in some cases it does affect us negativley and it changes they way we write, speak and think.

In my personal point of view social media is affecting our face to face interaction and we are slowly losing face to face communication to social media.

This is an example of how social media is affecting our face to face interaction.

HOOTSUITE VS TWEETDECK

Ever since I started using Hootsuite and Tweetdeck I discovered that these two social media systems are a bit similar because they  both allow me to  manage my  social networks. Personaly I prefer using  Hootsuite over Tweetdeck because Hootsuite enables me to schedule my tweets and it has various features.

Hootsuite is a social media system that allows you to manage multiple social network. It enables you to publish updates, track activity and analyse results across multiple social networks including Twitter and Facebook.

Tweetdeck is another social management system for Twitter and Facebook. It allows users to send and receive tweets and view profiles. The difference between these two social management systems is that Tweetdeck combines all social networks into one window whereas Hootsuite creates a tab for each social network added.

When I was doing more research about these two social management systems I found some advantages and neutral feautures of the two:

HootSuite feature advantages:

• ability to schedule tweets
• updates faster
• provides robust statistics
• allows for the incorporation of additional social networks
• allows more multiple accounts to be controlled by multiple users

TweetDeck feature advantages:

• photo tweeting
• Twitter interface
• user feature

Neutral features:

• user interface
• URL shorteners.

In my perception Hootsuite is the winner of this battle!!!!!

"ARE COMPANIES WASTING THEIR TIME WITH SOCIAL MEDIA PROFILES?"

Social media is a powerful tool of communication that creates a platform for companies and the public to interact. In my opinion if the correct social networks are chosen for the company then it is not a waste of time for companies to utilise social media profiles. Social media helps companies to engage with its internal and external stakeholders at any time and any place.

More and more companies are turning to social media to promote their image and the services or products they offer. But then some companies still prefer to use traditional media than social media. Social media allows companies to build and mantain long term  relationships with its customers, therefore making the company gain new customers and keep the old the ones. Most companies engage in social networks such as facebook, twitter and Linkedin. Social media can create a huge impact on building a brand for many businesses. It has helped companies to achieve their business goals and it expands the company. Social media is developing and it is here to stay so companies need to embrace it and use it effectivley as it is a valuable resource.