A recent report from public relations company, Wildfire, states that technology companies are missing the point when it comes to social networking sites.
Their research has found that nine out of ten of these companies have a presence on at least two social networking sites, but most of these are disregarding the feedback from customers, and are therefore missing out on the powerful interactive aspect of these sites.

Essentially, these companies are viewing having a social networking presence as a box that must be ticked, but not a resource that can be of value. They miss out on a valuable business resource, but worst than that, they ignore the reality that the modern consumer audience will punish a brand for aloofness.

The study concluded that less than half of these leading technology brands have ever responded to a tweet on their Twitter pages. While only one in four companies responded to comments on their Facebook pages.

According to Danny Whatmough, a consultant at Wildfire “These organisations are using social networks like a press release or old media, but it has to be a two-way dialogue.”

“In some ways, not replying is worse than not having a presence at all. Firms have to monitor networks for mentions of their brands, and certainly respond when people get in touch.”

“These companies should be using these services to let people know about updates or patches and software changes,” said Whatmough. “But more than that, if people have questions then they should be responding with helpful advice and it becomes part of customer service.”

“It’s about being transparent and consumers react well to that, but it requires a big mind shift from companies,” he said.

Surveyed companies didn’t fare any better with their blogs, the report concluded, with less than half even bothering at all with a blog.

Where companies did have a blog, only 25% of blogs received comments on a regular basis, and only 9% of companies replied to comments on their posts.

Read the report: http://www.wildfirepr.co.uk/documents/social_media_report.pdf

The BlogTalk conference in Galway on 26 and 27 August will host some of the International heavyweights of Social Media. Speakers will include Silicon Valley journalist Dan Gillmor, social tools authority Stowe Boyd, and Don Thibeau of the OpenID system used by Yahoo and Google.

The theme of the BlogTalk event will be to discuss current and future trends in Social Media.

Other speakers at the event will be Charles Down, manager for Facebook’s EMEA Platform Operations; Blaine Cook, the former lead developer with Twitter; and Ade Oshineye, developer advocate with the Google Social Web team.

Topics listed for discussion are as follows: the benefits of Facebook integration to business;  a new media literacy for our networked age; user data protection and privacy issues;  the featuring of new research from NUI Galway which demonstrates how Twitter has evolved beyond the early adopters to become a mature service with a constant growth rate.

The best of our home grown will be represented by:  Darragh Doyle, communications manager with Boards.ie; Ted Vickey, former executive director at the White House Athletic Center and a frequent speaker on LinkedIn; and Fergus Hurley, founder and CEO of the Silicon Valley startup Clixtr.

The event will be held over two days (26 and 27 August) on the NUI Galway campus

Registration: http://www.amiando.com/blogtalk2010.html

A recent report from Science Foundation Ireland shows some tangible fruition of our National aspiration to become an innovation economy. Science Foundation Ireland’s 2009 annual report showed that research links between industry and academia in Ireland grew by 25pc last year.

184 multinationals and 165 SMEs were linked to academic teams by Science Foundation Ireland, with 29 research centres and 3,225 researchers in higher education institutions supported.

This has all been achieved off a very low base – considering that we were (to quote Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation, Conor Lenihan TD) “a level below Bangladesh”. While we are now in the top twenty of global scientfic rankings.

In the post bubble wasteland, Ireland has been looking enviously at the Israeli model of a cohesive approach to seeding innovative companies with revenue and expertise.  Over the past 60 years Israel has achieved a fifty-fold economic growth, much of it fuelled by technology start-ups funded by venture capitalists. Small businesses and start ups in Ireland largely remain starved of the funding aspect that is vital to such growth, however the new innovation fund (launched by An Taoiseach, Brian Cowen) will offer matching revenue of  €250m as an incentive to an inflow of vital Venture Captial revenue. The hope is that this fund will mirror the economic aspect of the Israeli model, while we continue to build collaboration and partnership between Ireland’s scientific research and enterprise communities

Claire Carroll, Digital Media Strategist, neo@Ogilvy

Company: neo@Ogilvy launched earlier this year as a centralised team of digital specialists to service the Ogilvy Group in Ireland.  Our approach differs as we consider the full digital mix on receipt of the client brief which involves working alongside client service, creative, planners etc. We see media and creative as being inextricably linked when it comes to digital and those considerations are what drive results. It’s the process and planning that allows us to do this successfuly.

Job Description: Digital Strategist. It’s a great  job and a very interesting role although it’s quite a broad spec! Essentially, it’s my remit to understand the many facets of the digital world and how people use technology throughout their lives.  My background in digital media planning plays directly into this area and is pivotal in terms of understanding consumption trends and behaviours . Luckily, I have a high degree of curiosity when it comes to the area of digital and the overall impact it’s having on society. The pace of the industry is fast so being nimble and adapting to change are prominent characteristics of working in digital.

Likes: There is a great vibrancy within the agency and the calibre of talent working here is excellent. It’s great to have good colleagues and managers where there is a real team spirit. Everyone is enthusiastic about how digital is evolving within the agency. What I really enjoy is the fact that we get to work at the cutting edge of the communications sector and have access to award winning teams through the global Ogilvy network.

Career Ladder: On leaving college I worked for Heineken USA in San Francisco and Miami  - a brilliant experience. I then returned to Ireland where I joined Pigsback.com which was a great place to work as regards the team and the development of the website. From there I joined Net Behaviour working in Business Development and I gained a significant amount of experience with that team. I then moved to Strategem where I was Head of Digital.

Qualifications: BA in Marketing & French from Portobello College. Diploma in Advertising & PR from DBS.

Working Hours: It varies a lot but I’m usually in for 8.30am and try to leave by 6pm!

Breaktime: The office is in Ely Place in the centre of Dublin so it’s a great location for a selection of places to eat or to take a walk in Stephen’s Green.

Social Media Credentials: I won’t list them all but suffice to say I’m immersed in the developments and tools within this area. You have to be if you’re responsible for advising clients on how to employ them.  I use the tools extensively and enjoy trying out new online networks, tools, apps  and seeing how they all interconnect etc.

To some degree I feel the term ‘social media’ is somewhat redundant as media is inherently social.  I think it’s also slightly misleading as it doesn’t really encapsulate the gravity of the technology, the adoption by users and how these tools are enhancing their lives and social connections.

News: The ongoing news and updates from the International Ogilvy network  are a fantastic resource. I stay up to speed with several other sources, a few of whom include: The Guardian, Mashable, NYTimes, Digital Buzz Blog, iMedia Connection.  Some of them I get on feeds via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn whilst others I’ll receive via email or an app across several devices: laptop, iPad, smartphone etc.

Onsite or Offsite: A nice mix of both.

Why do you love Mondays? Because on an ongoing basis I put a lot of effort into ensuring I review the status and progress of ongoing and upcoming work.  I try to plan and prioritise as much as possible. Doing that helps defuse the stigma often associated with Monday mornings (!) and allows me to get on with yet another week of diverse digital work.

Prosperity, The Irish Times Training and the Irish Internet Association have joined forces to offer a new Diploma in Digital Marketing.

Students of the course will benefit from Prosperity’s knowledge of the digital media recruitment industry and skills required for digital media roles. Course speakers include journalist Conor Pope, head of Cybercom Rob Reid, Darragh Doyle from boards.ie and Krishna De, experienced digital marketing trainer.
According to Prosperity co-founder Gary Mullan, the recruitment company will be feeding into the course design by identifying areas where there are skills shortages.
The course, according to Mullan is best suited to people who have had “some exposure to digital media and would have some knowledge of the disciplines such as SEO, online advertising, etc.”
Topics covered include website structure, SEO, online advertising, email marketing, online pr, writing for the web, mobile web, semantic web/web 3.
“It would benefit people who have some digital experience but if people are doing it as a hobby, for example, building a music website, they can benefit from it if they have some interest.”
The Irish Internet Association will play an important role in identifying the most suitable trainers in the market. The Irish Times Training section has considerable experience in course delivery.
The course, which is Dublin city centre based, runs over 13 weeks and begins in September. This part-time diploma is FETAC accredited (level 5 minor award).

Detailed outline of course modules and profiles of instructors