Buzzin’ man!

February 12, 2010 · Posted in social media · 7 Comments 

Okay no prizes for original titles for me when writing about Google’s new service Buzz. I’m now seeing it in my Gmail from my PC but so far I have checked it out more often on the iPhone. I fear Google may be a little late to the party on this one but the promised open-ness (“Connect sites you already use. Import your stuff from Twitter, Picasa, Flickr, and Google Reader.”) should allow people already familiar with other Google services to tap into it. I already use Friendfeed in a very lacklustre manner admittedly but it fills my lifestreaming void (Bet you didn’t even know you could have one of them eh?) Increasingly many social networks do allow this cross pollination through RSS feeds and APIs. The amount of replication as a result can be overwhelming and irritating. I know one of the things I’ll be doing next week while waiting for the arrival of Nipper 3.0 will be sorting out all my feeds, where they’re going and who’s seeing them. I know, the excitement!

However not everyone is enthralled by Buzz. Laurent Francois of Social Media Today feels that the assumption that Google make that you automatically want to be visible or see all your Gmail contacts is a big assumption and a questionable attitude to privacy.

But what’s the buzz for business? The mobile version is location specific (although it’s been having a fine time pinpointing my location so far) allowing users to “view buzz near your location” or “Post buzz tagged with your location”. This could be a great boon to businesses using Buzz and Google Maps as one of the functions allows the user to see Buzz “Nearby” and add in locations not unlike that other new-ish kid on the Irish block, Foursquare. Businesses could buzz about special offers, events, opening hours etc. and pick up passing buzzers. Despite Laurent’s fears above it will still be up to customers whether they follow the buzz on businesses or not. For customers however it’s nice to know that you can click on the nearby button when you’re thinking of a purchase and seeing if any nearby businesses are offering any specials, whether they are open and what your options are.

Connect sites you already use

Import your stuff from Twitter, Picasa, Flickr, and Google Reader.

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See you in September

February 12, 2010 · Posted in IIA Team · Comment 

Today is my last day before I take six months leave. I will return to my duties in early September.

Members, in the meantime please, please don’t hesitate to contact members at iia dot ie with your guest blog posts. Check out the guidelines here.Members are also welcome to post all types of content to the main IIA.ie site as well. Read more here.

You can also contact the chairs of the IIA Working Groups who will be seeking blog posts, case studies and speakers in 2010.

Please bear with the IIA over the next couple of weeks as they adjust to my departure… :)

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The value of your IIA membership

February 2, 2010 · Posted in Membership · Comment 

You may be deciding whether to renew your IIA Membership right? Or maybe you’re thinking about joining. We know, in (sorry to bring it up) times like these, every decision to shell out cash is a hard one.

In January of every year we encourage our existing members to renew their membership. It’s a great time to join as well because you will get a full year of all that goodness.

What goodness exactly?

  • Did you know that you can save up to €1035 on training costs this year as an IIA Member? With an average satisfaction rating of 85% for events the training is well worth it.
  • Did you know that as an IIA member you can approach our working groups for advice relating to a range of issues from legal queries to web development?
  • Did you know the value of IIA Resources & Services, if it were to be undertaken by you privately, would amount to the following:
    - Legal support on specific queries with a minimum value of €300 per query;
    - Training course materials and Case Studies valued at €4,200;
    - Development guides and White Papers valued at €3,600.

It’s a solid business case and that’s just the hard numbers.  Being a member of the IIA is important, it puts you and your business at the centre of Ireland’s digital economy.

Join now!

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