Larry Taylor, online and social media manager for BT Ireland

Company: BT Ireland is an all-island organisation with 3,000 employees. It is at the forefront of bringing next generation networks, services and skills to Ireland (north and south)
Job description: I am the head of digital and social media-related development. I also manage the Business of Science and Technology programme, which selects 30 students from the BT Young Scientist exhibition and workshops their ideas in Nova UCD.
Likes: Learning new things whether inside work, or out. At the moment, I’m learning to play the cello, understanding the dynamics of Social Media and the capabilities of next generation networks and cloud computing.
Career ladder: I started out as a research scientist, learning how to crunch data and find conclusions. I then joined a campus company start-up in UCD, to develop e-learning software and I learned how to manage multi-disciplinary teams, to deliver new technology. Esat was just starting its home phone and (dial-up!) internet access service and I was asked on board to lead the design studio. Esat quickly evolved and blended with Ireland on Line, Oceanfree.net and finally BT Ireland.
Qualifications: I have a Science degree and a Ph.D. in genetic engineering which are pretty useful in the complex world of technology and online media. I also completed courses in graphic art and design with NCAD.
BT has great in-house management training programmes, lasting from one day, to one year and I have recently finished a BT Leadership programme.
Working hours: BT has one of the largest team of flexible workers in the world, allowing us to keep connected anywhere, any time. So my core working day is 8am to 5pm, but my smartphone is rarely off. It’s a mixed blessing, that allows you the freedom to leave the office if necessary, but means you can always be reached!
Breaktime: I try to get out and about for some fresh air every day and lunch is usually at my desk. But I have started cycling to work thanks to some very decent weather.
Social media credentials: I blog internally within BT, manage the @btinireland Tweets, BT LinkedIn groups, Facebook.com/BTYSTE content and Flickr accounts. Twitter #tags are my new friends right now.
News sources: www.mashable.com (I got to meet Ben Parr at #DWS7!), http://etre.com/blog, www.TheJournal.ie, www.Siliconrepublic.ie and ‘wins.failblog.org‘ just for fun. Plus all the usual broadsheets.
Onsite or offsite: With flexible working and smartphones, there is no ‘one site’, any more. We even use the term ‘coffice’ to describe somewhere between the office and Starbucks. To do my job, I also to broadcast live from events, meetings and sponsor activities. Time to respond is also becoming limited; with Twitter, you have about one hour to report, or respond to a live event. With Facebook, less than one day.
Digital strategy/vision: BT in the Republic of Ireland is concentrated on Business to business operations and our digital strategy reflects this. Rather than trying to establish a ’social media team’ within BT, my vision is to build a community of networked experts throughout the organisation in Ireland. My wish is to empower dozens of technical and business experts with the skills to use social media as an everyday tool, rather than as an exotic marketing device.
I love Mondays because: I am helping to shape the future of marketing and communications in BT Ireland and there is always a new project and a chance to try out new things. Right now I am pretty excited about Ellen MacArthur’s involvement with the BT Young Scientist and Technology programmes in 2012. She kicks off her work with BT on 6 December 2011, taking part in a web chat with our BT Young Scientists. See www.facebook.com/BTYSTE for more info.