2007 – Twitter Year
December 18, 2007 at 12:44 pm
For those of you who don’t know, Twitter is a microblogging tool. It enables you to post short messages of 140 characters to your friends and followers. It’s like texting, but public and online. And it’s greatly enhanced my life in 2007. Here’s a Fast Company article by Robert Scoble that explains why he thinks so too. While I wouldn’t be going the way of some American commentators who refer to Twitter as ‘contributing to the evolution of Connected Consiousness’ or ‘when they day comes to take to the streets, time will be of the essence, and perhaps Twitter will light the way…’. No I wouldn’t go that far!
But I would like to share with you why I like Twitter and why it is the most positive addition to the business tools I use.
I use Twitter everyday, one of the first things I do when I switch on my computer is turn on Twitterific. There I get an update of who I follow and what they’re up to. The people I follow are not clients, nor are they from my real life social circle. They are people who are involved in the web, people who are as passionate as I am about things online. Some of them I would deem to be the smartest people I know; on top of their game, and generous with it too.
Why I like Twitter
- First and foremost, it’s an outlet where I can be real, honest, and share my thoughts. It allows me to connect with a group of like-minded people on a daily basis.
- Sometimes I use it to push out a recent blog post. For example, when I was complaining about being spammed by the Golden Spiders, I popped a note on Twitter to say that I had posted something really important on my blog… (and there’s a happy ending to that story!)
- It’s a great place to get quick answers from your network. On work or non-related issues!
- And I really enjoy when some people post links to good articles they’ve read.
- It’s also interesting to get to know people I’ve collaborated with in a whole new light. That smooth professional who has really cheesy taste in music. The usability expert who’s secretly a closet wine buff.
The people I follow are made up of activists, bloggers, cheerleaders, developers, easy listening fans, French migrants, Google workers, hip people, Internet lovers… When I suffered data loss back in October, I got such great support from my Twitter buddies. Advice, assistance, and phone support. These are people I didn’t know this time last year, or I knew their names and they were ‘competitors’.
So if you are reading this and you’re thinking you could do with a bit of this in your life too, then sign up to Twitter, start following people who write about things you are interested in, get your friends on board, and before you know it, you’ll be twittering!
Big Disappointment in Adland
December 17, 2007 at 3:20 pm
This time last year, the Irish Marketing Journal published the thoughts of many senior advertising people in Ireland about their predictions for 2007. All of them – bar none – talked up Digital. That’s the catch-all term applied to web, mobile, and other online activity by people who work in agencies.
When I read this, I got quite excited. I thought that this year might mark a new direction for Irish brands online. But no, it was not to be. Apart from the Powerade “Never Give Up” campaign from McCann Erickson, there really wasn’t anything inspiring coming out of Irish agencies that rocked my world. I liked the Powerade campaign because it was smart, integrating a blog with tv ads, outdoor, and banner ads, plus it used real life people – a key trend for 07.
Maybe I’ve overlooked something massive, but my conclusion is that 2007 marked another year where adland refused to take a big leap forward and not regard digital as just another medium like television and radio.
- Digital is worthy of more than just 5-10% of budget
- It delivers a fully trackable return on investment and reaches parts where television and newspaper can no longer reach
- It’s significantly cheaper to produce and can be tweaked mid-campaign
- It simply cannot be ignored
In the UK, the much lauded statistic about online advertising spend overtaking traditional happened at the start of this year. In the USA, I learned a lot about the opportunities for inspired advertising at the Future of Advertising conference. In particular Carla Hendra, the Head of Ogilvy, shared some excellent insights on what works online. The takeaway from her speech? You just don’t pitch for business these days without including a digital component.
In Ireland in many respects, we are ahead of the game (and here I’m thinking mobile) but when it comes to advertising, we are in the dark ages. Advertising and PR agencies are afraid to invest in the talent that could elevate them to the class of agency that ‘does digital’ and does it well. And until they do, the talents of their creative departments will continue to be limited to 20th century mediums only.
Merry Christmas
December 14, 2007 at 5:03 pm
In case you haven’t heard this enough in the shops already….
Golden Spiders Ordered To Pay €500 For Spamming Brightspark
December 11, 2007 at 11:57 am
Back in October, I was spammed many times by the people who run the Golden Spiders – Business & Finance magazine. Irritating, but above all, law breaking. Today we have arrived at an ‘amicable conclusion’ to this affair. I have accepted the Data Commissioner’s suggestion that the Golden Spiders be fined €500 and the money goes to a charity. In a way it’s a win for the little people, but the conclusions I have drawn from this whole affair would definitely push me in the direction of breaking the law myself in the future.
When I run email campaigns for clients, I ensure that the lists are all fully opted in. I take the time to explain to clients about what is fair game and what’s not for email purposes. A lot of time is spent before each send cleaning lists, and cross referencing from previous campaigns to make sure that nobody receives an email who should not.
The Golden Spiders people take a different approach. They seem to have multiple lists which they just fire off at a whim. My problem in October came because I had unsubscribed from their list and continued to receive emails. This is because the Golden Spiders people don’t take the time that Brightspark does in data cleansing.
I was frustrated and disappointed in October when I brought this to the attention of the Data Commissioners Office (the email police) because all they did was reprimand the Golden Spiders by mail. I simply had to accept the Golden Spiders answer that this would not happen again. Read the “data commissioners are a waste of time’ post here.
Fast forward to last week. And another email arrives from the Golden Spiders. Are they thick or what?
I duly sent this straight to the Data Commissioners, who came back with an offer of an amicable resolution. I get to nominate a charity and the Golden Spiders who have made massive profits on this year’s event, get to pay €500 to that charity.
Conclusions:
- You can get away with email spamming in this country. Just make sure you have a budget of €500 for charitable donations if you are unlucky enough to have a grouchy person report you to the Data Commissioners
- You must be spammed an average of 6 times before an amicable solution will be suggested.
- If we want to change the law and the powers that the Data Commissioners have, we must lobby for change to SI535. This involves schmoozing with the Minister for Communications which will take an awful lot of time and energy.
- In the meantime, do what you like…
PS – the charity I chose is Daisyhouse which provides housing to single homeless adults. You too can donate here…
Wednesday 12 Dec : Thanks to the people who gave me some help on this, I got some coverage on this in Silicon Republic. and in Irish Dev.
No More Cheques – Hopefully
December 6, 2007 at 3:44 pm
There was something in the budget for me yesterday and it wasn’t to do with stamp duty. I’m glad to see that the cost of banking has been reduced, and at the same time has increased for those who do not want to embrace technology.
The cost of cheques has increased from 15 cent to 30 cent, double! Hopefully it will push the many companies who write cheques to pay creditors to move online. I can’t wait because I think it’s such a pain the way cheque-type business is currently done. You’re forced to give 30 days credit – even though there is some legislation dating back to Harney’s time in Employment Dept that says small firms aren’t obliged to… Then on day 30, some companies do their cheque run, takes another 3 days or so to get to you thanks to the fabulous postal system we have. Then you have to find time to get to a bank during opening hours and lodge it, takes another couple of days to clear and lo! You finally get paid for a job done about 6 weeks later.
Paying electronically means there’s no messing about. There’s no ‘the cheque is in the post’ because you’ve either made the payment or you have not. I always pay my suppliers promptly because I think it’s respectful for a job well done.
On the other hand, the reversal of the sneaky stealth taxes that Charlie McCreevey imposed on us a few years ago, in relation to fees for having bank cards will help. The stamp duty on credit cards was cut by 25pc from €40 to €30 while that on ATM and debit cards has been halved from €10 to €5. Why the Government is entitled to money because I have a plastic card in my wallet I’ve never understood.
SING Campaign 2007
December 4, 2007 at 7:49 pm
Because there’s other stuff going on apart from Christmas shopping and what to wear…
Get involved in SING campaign.
