Category Archives: Social Media

Twestival in Galway

February 9, 2009
Comments (0)
Twestival Houston
Image by .imelda via Flickr

Ina is organising a Twestival in Galway this Thursday (Feb 12th).  Twestival is taking place in over 175 cities around the world and is organised by volunteers:

On 12 February 2009 175+ cities around the world will be hosting Twestivals which bring together Twitter communities for an evening of fun and to raise money and awareness for charity: water.The Twestival is organized 100% by volunteers in cities around the world and 100% of the money raised from these events will go directly to support charity: water projects.

It’s taking place in upstairs in Nimmos (by the Spanish Arch) in aid of charity:water

charity: water is a non profit organization bringing clean, safe drinking water to people in developing nations by funding sustainable clean water solutions in areas of greatest need

If you can’t make the Twestival, you can still donate to charit:water on their site. If you’re not in Galway on Thursday evening, there are also ones taking place in Dublin and Belfast.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

You Want to Talk? – Engaging with Users

September 11, 2008
Comments (2)

Man with back turnedIn an earlier post on using feedback effectively there were ideas on sourcing, evaluating and using feedback from sources on the web and interested parties.  Lately I’ve been giving some thought to how companies engage with users who give them feedback directly.

As someone who works on the web a lot, I use quite a number of web-based services. For some, and particularly those that are getting established, if I spot a problem I’ll often send an email or leave a comment so that they can fix it. As someone developing web applications, I know that I would appreciate someone taking the time to point out a problem that I had missed. In the end, I know it will result in a better service for me, and in them being able to offer their customers something that works better.

Having done this a number of times I’ve noticed three levels of response Read More »

Your baby’s not ugly, but… – Using Website Feedback Effectively

June 17, 2008
Comments (0)

Scared Woman ImageIt can be difficult to hear, and more importantly, listen to criticism of your website, business, product or service. Having people from the outside telling you that parts of your website don’t work, or that improvements are needed to how you conduct business can be a painful process. This is especially true for small businesses where one person has spent a lot of time transforming their vision into reality. Read More »

So you want a piece of the Web: What Should you consider?

March 14, 2008
Comments (0)

In an earlier article discussing the the results of an ISME survey one finding identified that 40% of Irish SMEs were unhappy with the level of business generated by their website. The results released publicly did not give details of any reasons for this, state whether those surveyed were questioned further about this, or discuss the type of web applications being used by those surveyed. It does raise a question about the level of awareness about what could be expected from their investment in various web technologies. In order to help SMEs decide on the best course for using web technologies, this article discusses a number of factors that may be considered before deciding to adopt.

Read More »

Dealing with Negative Publicity on the Web

February 28, 2008
Comments (0)

Related to an earlier post on Social Media Responsibility – Companies Speaking Their Mind, Search Engine Land have an article on Local Business Listings: Dealing with Negative Publicity.

In it they identify 3 ways that negative publicity is normally dealt with:

  1. Flame the Publishers (i.e. request that the site owner or publisher removes the content)
  2. Get directly involved
  3. Simply let it play out


Choosing the right course depends a lot on the nature of the negative publicity. In an ideal world, getting directly involved in order to address the issues can be useful for others reading the review. But doing this may not always be possible.

At the very least, the business owner should try and look at the review subjectively. Doing so may help identify areas they need to improve in the services they offer. In situations where business owners become confrontational on blogs or message boards, there is always a danger that readers who started out neutral will believe the worst….

Social Media Responsibility – Companies Speaking Their Mind

February 20, 2008
Comments (0)

The growth in popularity of social media software, such as blogs, social networks, etc. has made mass communication far easier. For those engaging with people over the internet through such technologies, there are a variety of benefits, but there are also potentially damaging effects. This is true for people working in, and especially those in charge of companies.

In the past, corporate communications generally (in larger organisations) came through departments or staff that were specialised in that area. The company’s brand was developed and maintained using a variety of methods, including PR. The messages that were produced were tailored to portray a certain image of the organisation.

Read More »