Racing fans – cars or bicycles – are familiar with the concept of drafting – travelling close behind another vehicle to reduce wind resistance. The concept is sometimes applied to marketing by savvy practitioners who use the spend of others to multiply their own impact in public consciousness. In recent months, I’ve noticed a growing use of twitterContinue reading “Twitter Drafting – Marketing in the Tweetstream”
Tag Archives: twitter
SapphireNow Day Two – Pump It Up
Bill McDermott began the day for Orlando attendees of SapphireNow by demonstrating that there is no charisma deficit at SAP these days, and his co-CEO Jim Hagemann Snabe was right there behind him to make the case that commitment and strategy are not lacking either. They welcomed Sybase, hailed the new ByDesign release about toContinue reading “SapphireNow Day Two – Pump It Up”
SapphireNow Day One – Getting Virtual Events Right, And More
I got some great messages today from people who enjoyed my tweets “from” SapphireNow in Orlando – although I wasn’t there. That’s a tribute – not to me; we’re only talking tweets, for goodness’ sake – to SAP for pulling off a two-continent, video-streaming, full-on collaborative event I was able to participate in meaningfully fromContinue reading “SapphireNow Day One – Getting Virtual Events Right, And More”
Will Tiered Content Strategies Crack the IT Research PayWall?
There are two content models in the IT research world: the PayWall and the freely available. In the former model, the business assumption is that the firm’s revenue stream is largely driven by content subscriptions. The latter treats content as the best advertising of the firm’s real value: its people and the advice they canContinue reading “Will Tiered Content Strategies Crack the IT Research PayWall?”
The State of The Industry Analyst
How’s that for a ridiculous title? This piece is nowhere near as ambitious as that; it’s a response to some typically provocative comments from Gideon Gartner, a founder and arguably the most iconic figure in our industry. In his blog post Advisory Industry, a future redesign: the Payment Model, Gartner challenges his readers to thinkContinue reading “The State of The Industry Analyst”
AR: Analysts Don’t List Themselves on Social Media
Several AR professionals have recently asked me how to find industry analyst blogs or Twitter addresses. The immediate answer was to send them to Sage Circle, where a pair of excellent directories are maintained. But the fact of the questions made me revisit the issue with a simple test: if I looked up biographies, wouldContinue reading “AR: Analysts Don’t List Themselves on Social Media”
Anonymity Is A Coward’s Cloak
Some people choose not to identify themselves when they leave blog comments. I recently had a twitter conversation after finding myself dismayed at some particularly inappropriate statements from people with “cute” screen names discussing a vendor who has recently undergone some business transitions. Assertions about the company and alleged co-workers were made that would beContinue reading “Anonymity Is A Coward’s Cloak”
AR: Continuity of Contact Makes A Difference
I’ve been an independent analyst for a few months now, and it’s been an eye-opening experience in many ways. One has been the way some organizations I dealt with for a decade forgot my name the next day. This is not intended to embarrass anyone; I will name no names. It’s about best practices forContinue reading “AR: Continuity of Contact Makes A Difference”
What’s a Hashtag, and Why Should I Care?
At IBM’s Impact event, Billy Crystal hosted the first day and much hilarity ensued out of Sandy Carter’s avid adoption of social media – especially Twitter. Sandy (sandy_carter if you care to follow her here – well worth it) incorporated tweets creatively into her keynote, showing screens with questions and comments. Like other non-tweeters, Billy lovesContinue reading “What’s a Hashtag, and Why Should I Care?”
Analyst Bloggers – Threat or Menace?
OK, I admit it – I stole that title idea from an old National Lampoon. But the issue is no laughing matter: what is the appropriate code of conduct when industry analysts who work for brand name companies like IDC, Gartner or Forrester have an “outside” blog or start using Twitter frequently? There have beenContinue reading “Analyst Bloggers – Threat or Menace?”