Robert Scoble, Microsoft’s high profile blogger, went on a blog holiday for the past week and it obviously gave him time to do some serious thinking.
He has posted a marathon post which posits five ways to improve Microsoft’s image both internally and externally.
What are his five suggestions?
-
A guaranteed Terabyte of Internet-based storage space for EVERYTHING and for EVERYONE running Windows in the world.
- buy every [Microsoft] employee a top-of-the-line Dell machine with dual monitors running Windows Vista. And do it now.
- Change employee behavior through public compensation change logs.
- Get rid of corporate speed bumps.
- Force marketers to explain their decisions — in public on their blogs.
It is a fascinating post and certainly one which will generate a lot of discussion within Microsoft - any one of those changes would certainly change perceptions of Microsoft for the better.
Here’s hoping he doesn’t fall foul of the ‘corporate speed bumps’ he referred to when trying to move this agenda forward.
UPDATE:
In an IM chat with me Damien Mulley pointed out that MS shouldn’t be putting a Dell system on everyone’s desk - I thought it was because of the widely reported Dell support issues but Damien reckoned they should buy Macs for all their staff so they could “know their enemy”!
I got an email this morning from Conn O’Muineachain from the An timeall podcast informing me that:
An tImeall, the daily podcast in the Irish language, today becomes the first independent Irish podcast to cross-over to traditional radio, as it begins a syndicated run on Galway city’s college community station, Flirt FM. The 15 minute show will air each weekday at 5:30pm…
An tImeall is published at imeall.blogspot.com. It was the first podcast in the Irish language, and one of the first in Ireland. It’s mission is to serve the worldwide community of Irish speakers and to encourage the development of online networks to promote the language. Over 120 episodes have been produced since last July, and last month the site was honoured for it’s use of Irish at the inaugural Irish Blog Awards.
Flirt FM is the community radio station for the student population of Galway city’s two third level colleges. It was established in 1995. Flirt FM’s new summer schedule starts today and further details can be found at flirtfm.org.
This is great news for Conn, who has been tireless in his blogging and podcasting, for the Irish language and for podcasting in Ireland - this is another validation of the medium.
Well done Conn - couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy!
Niall Kennedy is a well known blogger, a vertical search veteran, a podcaster (with Om Malik) on the Om and Niall podsessions podcast, and a soccer coach! I will be interviewing Niall tomorrow (Fri 21st) in the late afternoon (sorry for the late notice - I only just got confirmation) for a podcast on PodLeaders.com.
Niall has worked for Technorati, shopping comparison engines PriceGrabber and NexTag, institutional investment search company Callan Associates, and business services search for American Express.
Most recently, Niall has accepted a job working for Microsoft’s Windows Live Division.
And most importantly, Niall is the proud holder of an Irish passport!
As always, if you have any questions that you’d like me to ask him, feel free to leave them in the comments or emil them to me at tom@tomrafteryit.net.
I will be interviewing Bruce Horn of Ingenuity Software, tomorrow (Fri 21st) evening for a podcast on PodLeaders.com.
Bruce was part of the original team which developed the Mac. He invented the Finder and his signature is one of 5 which were on the inside of the original Mac 128’s.
As always, if you have any questions that you’d like me to ask him, feel free to leave them in the comments or emil them to me at tom@tomrafteryit.net.
UPDATE:
The interview has been put back to tomorrow (Friday) so you still have 24 hours to get your questions in.
I wrote a post yesterday called “‘Gis a job” where I referred to an article in the Boston Globe that claimed that blogging was good for your employment prospects.
I mentioned that in all the time I have been blogging, I haven’t been offered a job. Thinking about this subsequently, I wondered if this was because a) my blog revealed too much about me (I’m not the most diplomatic of people, for example) or is it simply b) because people assume I am not in the market for a job?
If we assume it is b) - then, what if I now say “I am in the market for a job”? Will the offers come rolling in?
What are my skillsets?
- Well, I’m not too bad at blogging and podcasting
- I know shedloads about social software and how to use it to raise the online profile of a company, product or service as well as how it can be used to improve a company’s internal and external communications.
- I know a considerable amount about search engine optimisation (hence the following, for example)
- I have an impressive and growing network of contacts
- I am a very good communicator - well used to speaking in front of large audiences
- I have led teams of coders in the development of large web applications
- I am a very experienced sysadmin - and I know my way around Win2k and Win2003 Server, SQL Server, Exchange Server, and ISA Server
So what of it - does this blogging for employment thing work?
By the way - the “Gis a job” expression is a reference to the very excellent Boys from the Blackstuff drama which was shown on TV here some time in the 80s.
A solution for Robert Scoble?
In a recent comment on Shelley Powers’ site Robert Scoble explained one of his reasons for turning comment moderation on his blog, it has nothing to do with comment spam - he said:
Robert, if someone is posting troll comments under multiple names coming from the same ip address - enter that ip address into your WordPress Options -> Discussion -> Comment Moderation field and then comments from that ip will be moderated - all others will get through.
Be transparent about it - say in a post on your blog that you are moderating posts from that ip because of abuse. People will row in behind you on that.
Moderating all comments seems like taking the lazy way out.