Behind Every Great Woman…
October 29, 2010 at 7:15 am
is another great woman? : )
Very happy to announce the launch of Joan Burton’s new site today. This one landed 5 days after Airt was born and I thought it worthy enough to come out of maternity leave retirement for it. I didn’t want Joan falling into the hands of someone who wouldn’t give her a fabulously stylish and user friendly WordPress blog site.
Kick off meeting happened 3 weeks after Airt was born. I was very excited to be out – in town, with make-up on! Things got started with the wonderful John helping me…
Then the economy got in the way
You’d want to be living under a stone not to be aware of the busy summer Joan and her team have had, the meetings in the Dept of Finance, the many many interviews…. all this time I was living in fear that an election would be called and then we really wouldn’t have time to finish this newest addition to the Labour Party suite of sites.
The good news is that the election hasn’t happened yet and the Budget is still some weeks away
So in this time of relative calm, Joan’s team have signed off on the site and it’s gone live today. A select group of bloggers enjoyed a sneak peak last night and by all accounts, it’s a hit.
I think we’ve managed to make Labour Party red seem a little softer, but the messaging is still as hard-hitting as ever. See for yourself. Visit Joan’s site today.
Digiweb Leave A Sour Taste In My Mouth
October 28, 2010 at 8:36 am
I made the decision to shift my business from Digiweb to Magnet over the summer, and documented it here. Digiweb might have been in the running but for the fact that they never took it upon themselves to tell me over the four years I was with them to tell me I was eligible for free landline phone calls, so boo to them, I’ll take me and my broadband and phone business elsewhere.
I’m with Magnet and am enjoying the improved customer service and lack of broadband downtime.
- I like the way that Magnet ‘heard’ me talking about them on Twitter and jumped in with a response.
- I like the way that Magnet found my blog and added my kind words about them to their home page.
- I like the way their customer service people dealt with my query about an invoice on the day it was received in a friendly and polite manner.
- I especially like the way that Magnet staff don’t all have dire Meath accents!
While I have come in from the cold and am relishing the feeling of being treated well as a customer, Digiweb are still being bitter and nasty. Like a spurned lover who cannot accept that the time has come to move on, they delayed the porting of MY telephone number for 4 weeks so I was without phone which is akin to being without a limb. If you’re looking to avoid bad broadband providers Ireland, read on.
Now the latest thing is that some people who have been trying to call me have reported hearing a weird error message. It turns out that this is because Digiweb has still refused to transfer all parts of my phone business. According to my smart Magnet customer support people:
It is digiweb’s responsibility to “announce” with all other providers your number has changed to magnet, it seems they have not done this with O2.
So anyone calling me from an O2 number can’t get through.
If you are thinking of going with Digiweb, I’d suggest you think twice. Unless you plan on being with them forever more you can expect to be treated like this – even 2 months after you’ve taken away your business.
Thankfully there are more competitors in the broadband space these days, so you don’t have to go with bad broadband providers.
Tags: bad broadband providers
Change This Freebie Event
October 27, 2010 at 7:40 am
I’ve been enjoying the Change This manifestos for a number of years. Rather like Springwise, another old favourite to my inbox, I don’t always get to read them, but when I do, they don’t disappoint. Now the good people at Change This have gotten all their contributors together for a free two day event, happening on 3 & 4 November. With great people including Chris Brogan, Michael Gerber, Charlene Li, it’s definitely worth bookmarking.
Featuring video messages from up to 30 leading authorities on how to maximize leadership and influence effectiveness. Each presenters video will be between 6-20 minute in length and equip you with knowledge and insight that you can use to become a better leader and influencer. If you can’t make the main 2 day event, sign up anyways and we’ll send you a link to watch the replay! We’ll also provide you with several free leadership resources as downloadable tools to help you apply what you’ve learned.
Sounds good. Get on over here, sign up, and enjoy.
Tags: Change This Manifesto, leadership event
That thing you always mean to do…
October 14, 2010 at 1:29 pm
I just did something that I’ve been meaning to do for – oh – about 3 years now! Have you ever been running to a city centre meeting, find a car park space, and have your stress levels rise a little due to trying to find a nearby parking machine AND having change to put in the machine? Or you’re in a meeting somewhere around Merrion Square where the parking police are nazis, and the meeting is dragging on and on. You know you’re paid up to 4.57pm, it’s now 5.36pm and you’re wondering whether you’ve got clamped or not?
If you answered yes, then you, like me, have probably glanced at the ad for mobile phone paid parking on the back of the parking ticket and think ‘what a good idea, I must sign up for that’.
Three years on, I’ve just done it. And what a pleasure it was too. Much has been written about some of the awful car fee related sites in this country. The ParkingTag.ie site is easy to use once you get past the fact that the main call to action on the home page that looks like a link is in fact an image (the click here):
It’s a smart service that will save me money. Now I will only pay for parking used. When the parking fairies are fluttering away on their gossamer wings having found me a space, I will take out my mobile phone, text a number, and go on my way. No more clicking in high heels down uneven Georgian pavements to find a meter. No more jangling of loose change.
If there’s one thing you to do make your life easier today, sign up for Parking Tag.
Tags: mobile car parking payments, parking tag
How (Twitter) Influential Are You?
October 5, 2010 at 8:35 am
Came across this nice tool for measuring your Twitter influential-ness – Klout. Type in your name and it gives you a nice score that shows your true reach, who you influence, and who you are influenced by, and has a nice little summary text bit that places you in a nice chart.
Tags: twitter reach
Normal Service Resumes
October 4, 2010 at 5:07 pm
Day one of being a ‘working mum’. Rather enjoying the work I’m doing researching social media monitoring tools. Expect to see normal frequency posting beginning again.
This comment on BBC made me smile:
If they don’t get [social media] right, at best they look as awkward as Dads joining their daughters on the school disco dancefloor.
