Thoughts On MyANC.org →
Posted on January 10, 2009 in Technology with 7 comments.
The ANC just launched their, hmm what can you call it? “Social” website? Definitely not social network. At a first glance, I am not overly impressed by it but are there definitely a few things that I do like about it. If you haven’t taken a look at it yet, goto MyANC.org. And again, for my international readers: The ANC is the ruling party of South Africa if you didn’t know already 
Lets start with the things I like about it…
What I Do Like
- Taking initiative! It is very cool to see political organizations around the world but more specifically in South Africa taking their presence online. This was obviously spurred by the fact that Barack Obama totally nailed it using the social web and it is definitely going to be interesting to see what COPE and the DA can come up with (If anything at all).
- Design – The design of the site is not too bad at all. It is aesthetically pleasing and navigating around the site is very easy. I like that I can easily find and read about the stance of the ANC on the different issues facing the country.
What I Do Not Like
Ok, here we go
- Where is the MY in MyANC.org. The only form of interaction I see on the site is a really crappy forum. The different boards appear as if they are named after ANC leaders, but for someone like me who knows very little about the ANC, they completely confuse me. Where can I start my blog on the site? Where can I ask the leadership questions? Am I missing something?
- Urm, it looks like the domain forwards to an IP address. WTF? The forum is also iframe’d. These little technical details annoy the crap outta me.
- Again, I want to see more interaction from the leadership. It seems as if the ANC saw what Barack Obama did with his website and thought they could just throw up similar website with less interaction and it would have the same effect. I want to see blogs from the ANC leaders which includes video. I also want to be able to comment on those blogs and ask questions.
So, those are my initial thoughts on the websites. Do you agree with what I have said?
Tagged with ANC, South Africa, Web development
My name is Matt. I am an adventurous web and mobile developer and this is my blog where I like to share my thoughts. 
Not to mention..
the sinfulness of launching a gallery with 4 pics.. ONLY.
perpetuating the politics of personality by splurging Zuma’s face on the index page.. under the guise of “Message from the President”..
and making regional contact details available only after seeing how well it worked for COPE..
Those were more or less my thoughts. I liked the design, but the URL, I also noticed that very quickly, it does not make much sense at all. Otherwise I more or less agree with what you said. The DA’s new website is supposed to be going live sometime this month, so im kind of excited to see what happens there. I think Obama did have an affect on SA political parties and renewed excitement and hope in the average South Africa – that their vote can actually make a change.
Noel
@Arthur very good points! Haha, the gallery really does look ridiculous!
@Noel I also look forward to the new DA website. The current one that was launched end of last year really doesn’t do much for me. I think its the typography that I don’t like…
I think aesthetically it looks pretty decent. The URL clearly is a web – no – no.
I actually find most of the comments about the site quite revealing, they generally overlook the primary strategic errors this site commits.
A)The primary target market of the ANC is not surfing the net for warez and looking for a forum to vent – in general they are looking to the ANC as an aspirational entity unto which they can project their hopes and dreams for a home, a job and decent education. At an emotional level this site doesn’t reaffirm the ANC brand but rather reveals the ANC’s desperate attempt to piggy back onto a marketing channel they have little or no experience with. Simply put sack their media planner.
B) The site is available in a single language, engels. Possibly should have allowed for an immediate translation into either Zulu or Xhosa which would have cemented this site as a representation of the ANC.
C)Seeding initial content with sloganeering and what could only be called “inorganic content” generated by fake users is pure stupidity and taints the entire experience as a farce – a stage upon which pro ANC propaganda can be heralded as open political discourse.
All in all just a poorly executed online communication strategy with so many flaws it’s difficult to even bother attacking the ANC. Unless of course that was their evil diversion tactic.
It’s not a ‘Social Media’ site. It’s not even ‘Web2.0′.
And only in English?
Clearly a #fail.
And what boggles my mind completely is that if they really were looking to make this a breakthrough in political parties’ websites, they could have called at least 10 industry leaders in South Africa for advice.
Clearly, what we have here is not a lack of expertise, knowledge, information or experience – what we have is a lack of management & leadership.
And I’m not too impressed with the other parties’ sites either.
Even if they had just bought a Ning.com site & changed the template…
I Samantha Steyn am not please with the ANC and it’s services. As far as services is concerned they do not deliver. There officials do as they please and they aspect us to vote for them- I am so sorry I will not vote for them as I am very unhappy
i do not go to vote this time cause nothing happen now live in shark no toilet no water pipe no RDP house at Newcastle ,Osizweni Section e house no 3322 im not working im in jhb right now still no work so i join anc 10years ago but nothing happen