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The Next Stage of the Social Revolution is on Ireland’s Doorstep
Ms. Kneafsey, who was speaking ahead of the Irish Internet Association’s annual congress, "Beyond Websites: Business Uses of Social Networking and New Media", to be held in the Croke Park Conference Centre in Dublin, (Thursday 15th May 2008), said, "The latest TV viewing figures from the States shows some staggering drops, with the numbers down 20% for the Academy Awards, one of TV’s ‘big nights’. The consumer behaviour analyst firm IDC has found that people are spending twice as much time online (32.7 hours) as they are watching TV (16.4 hours). Recognising this, our own Referendum Commission, for example, has just announced that they will try to connect with the Internet generation using social networks such as Facebook to engage the younger demographic in relation to the Lisbon Treaty. The Internet’s time has truly come and in Ireland we better be ready to grasp the business opportunities that this worldwide phenomenon presents. It is particularly ideal for an off shore island like Ireland, because the internet does not care where you are. This is the new gold rush with the payload on our own doorstep."
Recognising this burgeoning worldwide phenomenon and its potential for all types of Irish enterprise the Irish Internet Association chose "Beyond Websites: Business Uses of Social Networking and New Media" as the theme for this year’s congress in the Croke Park Conference Centre. Delegates will be able to explore the possibilities that social networking and new media technologies offer their businesses through a mix of presentations, breakout sessions and web strategy clinics throughout the day.
The Irish Internet Association’s National Congress 2008 "Beyond Websites: Business Uses of Social Networking and New Media" commences at 9.30am on Thursday May 15th in the Croke Park Conference Centre, Dublin 3.
Co-sponsors of the IIA Congress include IQContent, Blacknight, IEDR who along with our headline sponsor Dell and Realex Payments, Ion Technologies, TradeDoubler and others will be exhibiting at the Congress in Croke Park.
user experience, IIA website, statistics, State of the Net
The tipping point is nigh!
As the Irish internet tipping point of one million Irish broadband users hoves into sight, Amas in conjunction with us here in the IIA, release State of the Net Issue 9. This is available to all via our Resources section of the IIA site. We will also be distributing print editions to delegates at Congress 2008.
This quarter’s edition of State of the Net covers:
- Key statistics from the first Joint National Internet Research presented by Tim Griffiths, JNIR Chair
- A distillation of the latest key figures from the CSO in relation to internet use, examining usage by age and region in particular
- A review of Comreg’s latest business information and communications technology survey results
- Figures about broadband uptake and coverage
- Business use of eGovernment for full electronic case handling
- The rise and rise of mobile
- What are Irish internet users searching for?
- The majority of online shoppers have no complaints
AMAS, who are members of the IIA, are a consultancy specialising in online channels and they help businesses and government bodies to plan, manage, evaluate and market their online channels.
Membership, Congress 2008
Competition time with the IIA
Firstly I would like to welcome to our newest member Zircol.com. Zircol is a global, free to join online business network focused on helping Irish companies to grow and on helping Irish entrepreneurs and investors from the Irish community and diaspora worldwide to connect online in the time it takes to setup an account. They already have 6 networks set up including Zircol itself. These networks include a creation and innovation network, an entrpeuners’ network, a healthcare network, and the Wireless Ireland Network.
If you are interested in these networks and the potential they could represent for your business you might also be interested in our Congress which takes place on Thursday (so expect a sharp downturn in posts after today). I have one pair of tickets for Congress for whoever can tell me:
Q. Who is sponsoring our “Build a Great Website” breakout session?
Answers in an email to roseanne@iia.ie before 5pm Tuesday.
We have also notified the winner of last week’s IPod . So if you haven’t heard from us, better luck next time!
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Easy like Sunday morning
If you’re up and at ’em early on Sunday morning catch the IIA CEO Fergal O’Byrne on the Sunday Business Show on Today FM at 10.30 am. (10.30 am is a veritable lie-in in our go-getter household!)
IIA website, Congress 2008, statistics
Mad for the IPods
It was a sad day in the IIA office when I had to tell my colleagues that no, they could not do the survey and be in with a chance to win a 16GB Apple IPod Touch. So come next December if you are scratching your head and wondering what on earth should I get Roseanne, Fergal and Irene in the IIA for Christmas…
We had a great response so thank you very much to everyone who completed the survey. The results are available on our website – currently just available to members so please log in to access them*. We will announce the winner at Congress, on the IIA site and here next Thursday. Oh the suspense – it’s just like Next Top Model!
One statistic that interested me was the 46.9% who indicated that the absence of a business case was the main barrier to deployment of social networking and new media technologies. We hope, with the presentations of case studies at next Thursday’s congress, that those of you who wish to be convinced, will be and those of you seeking to convince, will have ample ammunition when next you are asked, “What’s so brilliant about social networking and new media anyway?”
And now for some Friday fun. For the 7.3% who responded “What are you talking about?!” when asked which social networking and new media technologies they use in their business I will leave it to the good folks in Commoncraft to explain it all. (Buíochas leis an Imeall don nasc!)
Have a great weekend and see you all next Thursday!
*Have you forgotten your username and password? Email members@iia.ie and I’ll get one out to you ASAP!
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One third of large corporations plan to spend between €50,000 and €100,000 on social networking and new media technologies in 2008
This online survey was run in conjunction with Ciall.com, one of the IIA’s newest members, who deliver a wide range of consulting services and business solutions to its clients across varied industry sectors.
Key findings of the online survey were:
- 33% or large corporations (100+ employees) plan to spend €51,000 to €100,000 on social networking and new media technologies in 2008. This compares to 47% who spent less than €5,000 in 2007. No surprise then that 61% reported they were satisfied with their return of investment on these technologies and 31% reported they were very satisfied.
- Blogs were the favoured new media technology among microtraders and SMEs while large corporations favoured the use of RSS (Really Simple Syndication) to make their website content easily available.
- Microtraders and SMEs indicated that "sharing information with clients" was the main reason for their adoption of social networking and new media technologies while 58.3% of larger corporations indicated that knowledge management was their purpose when deploying these technologies.
- While microtraders and SMEs indicated that senior management were driving the adoption of social networking and new technologies, 60% of companies with between 50 and 100 staff indicated that their sales and marketing team were driving the adoption of these technologies. However, in larger corporations the drive for adoption of these technologies was split evenly among senior management, sales and marketing staff and information technology staff.
(Members can access the complete results in our Resources section.)
Sponsored by Dell, the IIA’s 2008 Congress "Beyond Websites: Business Uses of Social Networking and New Media" will include a presentation from Bruno Sardo, Head of eCommerce in the Small & Medium Business Division of Dell EMEA. His position and daily contact with Small & Medium businesses gives Bruno a special insight into the needs and aspirations of 75% of the IIA’s members who have less than 100 employees.
In light of these findings delegates at the congress will no doubt be keen to hear, for example, case studies from the likes of Barry Meehan, Managing Director of Worldwide Cycles in Tipperary who recorded an increase in the actual customers arriving in their shop in Clonmel due to their blogging.
Other speakers include Mark Charkin, Head of Advertising of Bebo International and Philip Macartney, Bebo’s recently appointed Head of Sales in Ireland. Bartley O’Connor, Associate Director, Advisory Practice in PriceWaterhouseCoopers Ireland will be among the speaker in the morning’s plenary sessions as well.
While many companies (65% of our survey respondents) see social networking and new media as a way of sharing information with clients, a number of our speakers have realised the potential of social networking to allow collaboration and problem solving on a broad range of issues. Two of these innovators will present at Congress 2008.
- Campbell Scott, CEO of IGOPeople.com, will be presenting their innovative new social networking platform that will allow individuals and groups to find and connect with the right people, organisations and companies to resolve issues and problems. Delegates at the IIA Congress will be invited to be among the beta testers along with a number of organisations, SMEs and major brands.
- Joe Newell, Marketing Director of Ammado, will speak about Ammado’s vision to enable people to be "the change you want to see in world" by using the power of social networking to connect nonprofits and socially engaged individuals dedicated to positive change on a global and local level.
Maeve Kneafsey, chair of the IIA and Managing Director of Elucidate, will be chairing the plenary sessions in the morning. The afternoon events will include breakout sessions covering a variety of topics:
- Build a Great Website – Sponsored by iQ Content
- How to eCommerce Enable your Website – Sponsored by Realex Payments
- Monetising your Email Marketing – Sponsored by 4GiftsDirect.com
- Mobile Internet… The Next Big Thing? – Sponsored by dotMobi
- Online Marketing – Capture & Measure – Sponsored by Elucidate
- Know the Value of Your Business
A brand new feature of Congress 2008 will be our web strategy clinics. As a member-driven organisation we responded to requests to make one-to-one assistance on specific issues available. These clinics will allow delegates to spend half an hour with an industry expert focusing on their web strategy as follows:
- Web Analytics, User Experience and Accessibility – iQ Content
- Online, Mobile & Interactive Advertising – David Connor, Strategic Planning Director, eighty:twenty
- Web Design – Rick McKee, Commercial Director, Tibus
- Legal – Paul Lambert, Merrion Legal Solicitors
- SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) – John Ring, Technical Director, RingJohn.com
Co-sponsors of the IIA Congress include IQContent, Blacknight, IEDR who along with our headline sponsor Dell and Realex Payments, Ion Technologies, TradeDoubler and others will be exhibiting at the Congress in Croke Park.
A limited number of tickets are still available for this unique event from www.iia.ie/congress/ and includes access to all the plenary and breakout sessions, a web strategy clinic, the exhibition and networking areas, and to all the breaks, lunch and the post conference drinks reception sponsored by Microsoft.
IIA website, Membership, Congress 2008
Ask and ye shall receive
One thing that many of the delegates at our previous congresses asked about was the chance to get some one-on-one advice about website strategy. As the IIA is a member-driven organisation we take these suggestions seriously and so this year we developed a brand spanking new feature of Congress 2008. This year we bring you Web Strategy Clinics! We have organised 5 different clinics with experts from among our membership. These clinics will allow you to sit down for half an hour and pick their brains on your choice of the following:
Web Analytics, User Experience and Accessibility – iQ Content
Online, Mobile & Interactive Advertising – David Connor, Strategic Planning Director, eighty:twenty
Web Design – Rick McKee, Commercial Director, Tibus
Legal – Paul Lambert, Merrion Legal Solicitors
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) – John Ring, Technical Director, RingJohn.com
You need to register for the clinic of your choice* and give some details about your current situation so that you and the expert can kick off and waste no time on formalities. If you leave a comment below saying “hellohowareyou!” you can consider that done and get right into the meat of it!
* You can attend as many as you like – you’ll just have to register for each seperately. Enjoy!
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Win a 16GB Apple IPod Touch
I mentioned that I am in total research mode while finishing up my M.Sc. in Social Research Skills. So here goes my first attempt at picking your brains! Please tell us how does your business use social networking and new media technologies?
If you take part in our survey you can be in with the chance to win an IPod Touch kindly sponsored by Ciall.com
In advance of the IIA Congress 2008 “Beyond Websites: Business uses of Social Networking and New Media” (which I may have mentioned here once or twice 😀 ) we and our newest member, Ciall.com, would like to get some idea of how you use these technologies in your company or organisation.
We have developed a survey which will take no more than 3 minutes to complete. This survey asks 10 key questions about your experience and use of these technologies.
Take part in the survey and be in with a chance to win a 16GB Apple IPod Touch with thanks to the IIA’s newest member, Ciall.com. Ciall.com provide professional expertise to their clients in information systems, business process and strategic planning.
Take the survey now!
The information gathered in this survey will be anonymised. The resulting anonymised data will be shared with Ciall.com and key findings will be reported on the IIA website and in the press. If you have any queries please contact Roseanne Smith at roseanne@iia.ie
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Things that make you go mmm mmm mmm
Welcome to our newest members Web Things who specialise in all things web. Founded by David Hanafin and Guntars Sinarski, this web development company offers packages to suit every budget and a bespoke service to boot. They offer their customers the following assurance:
Our technical ability, combined with graphic design expertise and imagination, ensure your web site is to the forefront in web design, maximising its potential and giving your business the competitive edge needed in today’s business environment.
Who could ask for anthing more? Looking forward to meeting Web Things at Congress and other IIA events.
(Would you like to read about your company here? This is just one of the many ways that we help our members promote their services and expertise. Read about all our membership benefits and join today!)
Uncategorized
How does your business use social networking and new media technologies?
Take part in our survey and be in with the chance to win an IPod Touch kindly sponsored by Ciall.com
In advance of the IIA Congress 2008 "Beyond Websites: Business uses of Social Networking and New Media" the Irish Internet Association and our newest member, Ciall.com, would like to get some idea of how you use these technologies in your company or organisation.
We have developed a survey which will take no more than 3 minutes to complete. This survey asks 10 key questions about your experience and use of these technologies.
Take part in the survey and be in with a chance to win a 16GB Apple IPod Touch with thanks to the IIA’s newest member, Ciall.com. Ciall.com provide professional expertise to their clients in information systems, business process and strategic planning.
The information gathered in this survey will be anonymised. The resulting anonymised data will be shared with Ciall.com and key findings will be reported on the IIA website and in the press. If you have any queries please contact Roseanne Smith at roseanne@iia.ie