Darryl King’s blog ireckon

Don’t get me wrong - like everyone who has been around the web for a long (read:maybe too long) time, Google has been an important part of opening the interweb up to the masses and making many web based things easy.

But…

As a closet data miner, and Information Analyser, I often wonder about when the popular masses will get as paranoid about their data collection services as they were here in Australia over the Australia Card debate, in the 1980s.

I was reading this morning a couple of interesting posts, 1 of which I tend to agree with, although I can see the value in both messages.

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Readers of this blog will know I like Twitter. And there are many others like me out there.

Yesterday I received my email advising me that because I don’t live in 1 of 3 countries, I would no longer receive the free SMS updates of the people I was following on Twitter.

Part of the attraction of Twitter is that you get to interact with it in a very cool way using your mobile, and out and about you get to interact with the people you follow. True mobile interactivity.

Due to their huge growth and of course the costs of this service they have turned it off.

While I won’t quit on Twitter just yet, I have started to look around at alternatives. Frankly I would probably pay for the SMS’s but that is not an option they have put in place for us Aussies. Well not that I have seen yet anyway. I don’t expect to get everything for free, like many users on the net, and am more than happy to pay for a service i get utility out of, but it seems their planning hasn’t factored me into their equation.

Facebook has an embedded widget for smart phones so that you get basically the same deal as being online, I get updates like messages on my phone and it costs me, not them - that’s smart thinking.

Maybe Twitter should have thought through all its options before it shut the gate on a community that has been extremely loyal through all its downtime and other issues.

I guess they feel the USA audience is enough to see them through the rough times, but that only creates more ill-will in the smaller countries that have high usage and uptake rates like Australia. I see a pal of mine in the UK bemoaning the same deal there, so that big audience isn’t going to be happy either.

Twitter, maybe this time the Whale of success might sink your boat!

So here is something which is hard for all service businesses. Losing a customer, or customers who want to cancel their subscriptions. Remember that customers who choose to go elsewhere, or just have no need for your service anymore are not necessarily lost forever.

We recently chose to use a Search Tool called Keyword Spy to do some strategic reviewing of a campaign. We subscribed for a couple of months, which was great, and got great value out of it.

But in good systematised cost control, my Chief of Search (yes that is his title), came and said we can cancel that sub for now because it isn’t needed at present. We regularly do this as we use possibly 50+ tools to keep up with a whole bunch of areas to do with Search Optimisation and Marketing, so hibernating the ones we aren’t using at present is part of the beauty of Software (or tools) as a Service (SaaS).

That is when the problem started.

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I was a guest today at the official launch of the 2008/09 Queensland Leaders Program. This program is now in its second year and by all accounts has been a huge success for the participants.

In short the program supports 15 individual companies based in Qld to assist them access mentoring, capital and training to enable them to become best of breed international corporations, enhancing the business future of Queensland.

From their site- Vision:

Build the head office infrastructure and networks in Queensland

Generate economic and employment opportunities at senior management level

Further develop industry sectors around key organisations

Further develop and diversify the Queensland State economy

Increase local management skills and connectivity

Increase business investment into the State

Harness the strength & resources of our business leaders

The luncheon was addressed by the State Treasurer Andrew Fraser, and industry speakers. Notably Richard Suhr, Enterprise Lead at Google Australia & New Zealand, discussed the modern technology that matters (from a Google perspective anyway).

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Recently I added the TXT ability to my twitter account, following the badgering and raving of a colleague who loves the way it works.

Being a gadget man myself, I just had to, particularly as we both discussed how the simplicity of the tool could be used in numerous business / personal angles, which I am sure many twitter devotees could attest to.

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