HP's Lusher on AR and social media
Carter Lusher, AR head at HP and ex-Gartner analyst, posts on the use of social media by analyst firms (synopsis: not enough) and wonders on the impact of blogging on influence from analysts. Great issues.
The current position, as I see it, is that bloggers have relatively little influence on CIO-level execs and business folk. They do, however, have influence in the more techie arenas. Big generalisations, of course, but it seems to hold for most markets, and makes a reasonable starting hypothesis. Demographics are also an important feature of socila media's reach (but this may be changing: if The Archers are podcasting, anyone can...). Country differences also exist (e.g. France is generally more blog-friendly...).
It's important to recognise that bloggers are often influential because of their "day job" and just happen to blog nowadays. Richard Holway is a good example. Blogging is a means of access, and it allows previously inaccessible people to gain exposure. So you find DBAs and developers emerging as influential bloggers - their influence is expanded out to the web, beyond the confines of their employers.
In researching case studies for the book, I discovered that blogging and other social media need to be dedicated activities, with time and budget allocated. Otherwise it's just dabbling, as Carter points out in IDC's approach.
The key question is always, influential on whom? If analysts are trying to influence CIOs then there is no immediate need to blog, because CIOs generally don't read them. James Governor is successful because he aims at the more techie audience, and is thus more influential on that audience.
The trick, then, is to monitor blog readership closely, and to respond when the sitation changes.
The current position, as I see it, is that bloggers have relatively little influence on CIO-level execs and business folk. They do, however, have influence in the more techie arenas. Big generalisations, of course, but it seems to hold for most markets, and makes a reasonable starting hypothesis. Demographics are also an important feature of socila media's reach (but this may be changing: if The Archers are podcasting, anyone can...). Country differences also exist (e.g. France is generally more blog-friendly...).
It's important to recognise that bloggers are often influential because of their "day job" and just happen to blog nowadays. Richard Holway is a good example. Blogging is a means of access, and it allows previously inaccessible people to gain exposure. So you find DBAs and developers emerging as influential bloggers - their influence is expanded out to the web, beyond the confines of their employers.
In researching case studies for the book, I discovered that blogging and other social media need to be dedicated activities, with time and budget allocated. Otherwise it's just dabbling, as Carter points out in IDC's approach.
The key question is always, influential on whom? If analysts are trying to influence CIOs then there is no immediate need to blog, because CIOs generally don't read them. James Governor is successful because he aims at the more techie audience, and is thus more influential on that audience.
The trick, then, is to monitor blog readership closely, and to respond when the sitation changes.
Labels: blogging, Carter Lusher, influencers, Richard Holway
posted by Duncan Brown at 12:08 pm
4 Comments:
Perhaps another question should be "influential when?" Much of influence is seen as happening at the point of acquisition, and indeed that's where the rubber hits the road for the tangible outcome of spend.
However, as IT is less and less about major procurements, so is influence. For example, IDC's influence could be seen as primarily to do with market sizing, pretty influential on the vendor community even if companies aren't following what they suggest afterwards.
Other significant influences these days come from the consumerisation of IT (via mobility, home working) and from the conversations going on "out there" in the blogosphere. So it can be that, by the time the procurement decision takes place, the time for influence is largely in the past.
I'll let you decide where smaller companies fit into this; I firmly believe they do, that's all :)
Hi Duncan, Thanks for the link.
I agree with your point about CIO-level execs usually do not directly read the blogs. Some unscientific, anecdotal data points that I have gathered from customer interactions shows that almost all say “the more technically-oriented staff read blogs,” while a very few indicated that they personally read some IT strategy blogs and one has said that blogs are included in the weekly roundup of commentary (e.g., analysts, press, blogs) that is put together for his weekend reading.
Now this could be generational with new CIOs over the next few years being avid readers of blogs… or maybe not. There are still older execs who have their admin assistants print out their e-mails because they never read them on the PC. Contrast that all the execs here at HP where from the CEO on down are e-mail jockeys.
I also agree with your contention about the “day job” contributing significantly to making a blog influential.
In the next round of the annual study I commission examining the influencer impact on HP customers purchasing decisions, I plan on putting in a lot of questions about blogs and other new media based commentary. I also plan on examining the influence of analyst press quotes as well. Ought to be interesting. I’ll share some of the findings in my blog.
Duncan
Having dabbled in blogging a bit - I only post when I feel I have something worth posting - the AR blogging issue is one that I have watched with interest I have seen a couple of things I'd like to add:
1. The established firms seemed to have adopted blogging post facto - i.e. its a channel that should be used so we might as well use it (as opposed to James G et al who have smartly used blogging as a major part of the business)
2. The AR fraternity have established blogging for news/best practice discussion
While the argument of blogging = influence is in question one other thing I feel is that blogging = awareness and much like advertising some blog so people know they are around and to maintain awareness.
Thanks for you comments, chaps. Jon's timing is issue is something I want to explore in more depth, as it is absolutely a critical issue. It's discussed in the book, and I'll post on it shortly.
I'll await Carter's research findings with interest.
And the disparity between analyst firms and AR community in their use of social media is interesting. You'd think that, at least within an analyst firm, they'd want/need to use blogging or a wiki or some other social media as an idea exchange mechanism. At Ovum it was done through email groups - clunky but of its time. A wiki sounds a better approach these days...
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