Tag Archives: IT Counts

New, new town

Posted on by
3

Thanks to everyone who’s sent their good wishes for my new community consultancy role with Sift, in Bristol. It was excellent experience setting up ION online communities at the ICAEW, which I aim to put to good use for my new clients.

My one remaining thought to help IT Counts achieve ‘take-off’ and move from to the next stage is two-fold. Firstly, promote the login integration with the corporate site. Secondly, couple that with explicit news that the ‘consent to be contacted by MS’ is removed from the sign-up process. Of course there are plenty of other things that are needed to achieve sustainability. Coming up with a compelling reason to sign up and take part is part of that.

Can Twitter help Apple’s shares rise?

Posted on by
Reply

How’s this for a quick example of the power of Twitter I posted on ICAEW’s IT Counts today as my final day in the role of ION community manager, based on the simple premise of the value of being in the right place at the right time? The price of Apple shares have dipped recently with rumours of Steve Jobs’ health concerns. Yet yesterday notable blogger Robert Scoble posted: “I’m in Palo Alto. Just had yogurt at shop that Steve Jobs eats at frequently. They said he was in a couple of days ago and is in great health.”

In return Ross Mayfield posted on Twitter: ”Amazed at how much play @scobleizer got with his Steve Jobs health insight.Wonder if it will move $AAPL stock tomorrow http://bit.ly/jLpI”

So now I’m watching Apple stocks today to see if there’s a positive effect effect. Whatever the outcome, it’s a great example of how Twitter can quickly and easily spread the word.

Note: the use of the $ sign before Apple’s stock symbol is so the post also gets published on the Twitter-related shares site StockTwits.com with other Apple posts.

Le Web 08 here we come

Posted on by
2

Looking forward to start of Le Web 08, especially as it’s being carried online (programme pdf here), some great looking sessions. Free live webstreams on ustream.tv. I see one of the official bloggers is IT Counts very own Dennis Howlett, who recently gave me a nice hat tip in relation to starting a poll on the VAT reduction.

Have a great Le Web 08 Dennis.

Web 2.0 delivers new finance model for business?

Posted on by
1

I was at a talk at the RSA last night for a sneak preview of a new film Us Now about the potential power of ordinary people using web 2.0 tools to change everything from the way government works to the ownership of football clubs. To quote internet guru Clay Shirky change happens not when we adopt new tools, but when we adopt new behaviours. And web technology can make this happen easier than ever before.

After the film I realised the film’s real power was in describing an alternative model for financing projects, based on web 2.0 technology, from BHO to banking. Fortunately as I work at the ICAEW this realisation came a little quicker, and I blogged it on the ICAEW’s IT Counts.

As you’d expect the US is way ahead of the game on this, it’s already got a catchy title ‘Finance 2.0′, with discussion at a recent Silicon Valley event including the US-version of Zopa called prosper.com.

Blogging or sharing?

Posted on by
Reply

 Which generic term for services like Twitter do you prefer?

“‘Microblogging’ is the industry standard term for applications like Twitter, Plurk, Pownce, Jaiku, but many see it as inaccurate and too ‘inside baseball’. We prefer ‘microsharing’ which reflects the nature a little more accurately, and isn’t as off-putting to ‘non web2.0′” (Laura Fitton, of Pistachio Consulting).

I hear that in the UK Plurk are expanding activities with the hire of as senior engagement manager (from a software development background), working with clients like the Guardian. Wonder how he/she deal with the significant cultural issues which lie behind web 2.0 adoption?

Perhaps that’s more of an Enterprise 2.0 concern:

“One has to remember though that even if Enterprise 2.0 technologies such as the ones listed above provide for rapid and agile collaboration and empowerment, there has to be a cultural openness to this within an enterprise for it to truly be successful. So it’s not only about aligning the technology with the business, but aligning the culture with the technology that now becomes the challenge.” (The Future Value Business Blog).

Certainly in conversation with an industry insider yesterday (nice offices near the College of Arms in London) that cultural adoption issue, rather than the technology, was the prime concern of her clients. So in that light too, the language used does help. Not sure if either ‘microblogging’ or ‘microsharing’ are that user friendly in that context?

A small example of how what’s obvious to one person ain’t necessarily obvious to another, from a recent Twitter of conversation of mine with Jeremiah Owyang, Senior Analyst at Forrester Research in Social Computing. BHO? It’s obvious when you know;-)

 jowyang twitter 12 November

Yesterday’s lunch with Peter Fenton (Benchmark VC) we discussed how: FDR used
Radio, JFK used TV, Obama (BHO) used WWW to win elections about 24 hours
ago from web

stuartgh twitter

@jowyang BHO? about 23 hours ago from web in reply to jowyang

jowyang’s reply

@stuartgh Not sure what “BHO” is? Barack Hussein Obama, even his
name is far different than any before about 23 hours ago from web in reply to stuartgh

IT Counts open to the public

Posted on by
Reply

The ICAEW’s IT Counts website is now open to the public. It’s already won a Web 2.0 Strategies award, and is shortlisted for the 2008 Accountacy Age Awards. Be interesting to see what kind of demographic visitor profile it attracts with its focus on accountancy, IT and business with topics ranging from better use of MS Excel (did I mention it’s sponsored by Microsoft?) to the latest SocialCalc wiki spreadsheet from Socialtext, with the chance via Dennis Howlett to become one of the first users. There’s even mention of the credit crunch. Of course if you want to use the site to make contacts, post blogs and comments you have to register but at least now the content is open for all & Google to read.