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Analyst Relations Meme: Downfall - Gartner MQ

This one's been making its way around tech marketing and PR/AR circles the past few weeks, but it's too well done to not share here....

Analyst relations expert and Technobabble 2.0 blogger Jonny Bentwood created this parody, and after a quick scroll through the comments on this video, you'll see that he's struck a cord with tech marketers, analyst relations experts, PR pros and industry analysts alike.  As ZDNet's Michael Krigsman said on his IT Project Failures blog, Jonny's parody "brilliantly captures, and simultaneously mocks, the power and influence of industry analysts and their effect on enterprise vendors."

Gartner's Magic Quadrants are highly visible and infamous in IT, and Krigsman is correct - enterprise vendors do take them quite seriously. Heck, one vendor - ZL Technologies - has even sued Gartner over the Magic Quadrant.

Between laughs, there are a number of good lessons in this video for every tech marketing professional. From international analyst outreach and eliminating surprises to investigating alternatives, Jonny followed-up his original post with some solid 'lessons learned.'

So what do you think? Did the video make you laugh? Strike a chord?

As an aside, Jonny writes one of my favorite blogs on analyst relations. If you're not already reading his stuff, I highly recommend checking it out...

-Stephanie

Content Marketing On The Go

Hypothetical question – if you left your cell phone at home, would you turn around to go get it? Chances are, you would. Like our wallet or purse, we feel lost without our mobile device and can barely entertain the scenario of living a day without it. Not just for making phone calls, checking email or looking at agendas, but for reading the latest happenings via our favorite social networking sites. Or maybe that’s just me.

But according to a survey conducted by ComScore, it appears that I’m not the only one who turns to a cellular device to check up on virtual friends and colleagues. The survey found that the number of cell phone users connecting to Facebook via a mobile browser has grown 112 percent compared to a year ago and Twitter has seen a 347 percent increase.

What does that mean for you and your business? Make your blog and website mobile-friendly! If you’re going to Tweet and post Facebook messages to fans and followers, don’t direct them to sites or documents that can’t conveniently be read on a small screen. Chances are highly unlikely that your audience will revisit your link on a desktop some time later, thus losing their interest indefinitely. In other words, make the most of their attention span while you have it and give them what they want in the format that makes the most sense to them.

There are a ton of great tips and resources out there to help you get started with you mobile site, so check them out and see what works for you.

- Mary Evans

Can You Pass The Turing Test? If So, You Might Be a True Twitter User!

In case you missed it, Barracuda Networks’ Barracuda Labs issued an interesting set of data points on Tuesday with a particular focus on Twitter. While the report did show that Twitter is growing in terms of active users, only 10 percent of Twitter users are, as Barracuda Labs calls them, “True Twitter Users.”

What lofty goals do you need to reach to become a True Twitter User? According to Barracuda, the requirements are:

• 10 followers
• Follow 10 people
• Tweet at least 10 times.

That’s all you need to do to become a True Twitter User, yet only 21 percent of accounts on Twitter meet this criteria. All Things D points out that this shows that Twitter is still mainly a service for watchers, not talkers.

What I think this shows is that Twitter as a platform is practically begging for meaningful content and actual opinions – if you have something to say, Twitter remains a great platform on which to say it. Listening and retweeting (in moderation) are fine, but actually participating and contributing your (pertinent) thoughts to the discussion are even better.

--John Terrill

How Journalists Use Social Media

  I just came across a study that was published earlier this year by George Washington University and Cision on journalists’ use of online and social media in 2009 (PDF).  It not only asked about the extent that they used it but also their attitudes towards it.

With my last post featuring some highly regarded journalists’ and publishers’ take on what will happen to print media in the future, I thought these results might be interesting to see…

According to the survey, blogs (64%) are the most frequently used social media tool to publish, promote and distribute what journalists write, followed closely by Social Networking sites such as LinkedIn or Facebook (60%) and Microblogging sites such as Twitter (57%).

When it comes to using social media or online sources for research, most journalists – 56% – said social media is important or somewhat important for reporting and producing the stories they wrote. Of the journalists surveyed, 89% use blogs for online story research, 65% use social media sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn, and 52% use microblogging services such as Twitter. Also, every participant uses Google as a research tool and 61% of journalists use Wikipedia.

Even though it seems journalists are doing a lot of online research, they are skeptical of what they read. Most journalists responded (84%) that they feel news and information delivered via social media was slightly less or much less reliable than news delivered via traditional media – citing lack of fact-checking, verification or reporting standards as the number one reason for this perception.

** Not to toot our own horns, but even with all of the social and online media research they do, the survey reports that journalists still turn to PR professionals for help with their primary research. Among the benefits they cited:

– Ali Smith

The Deals Keep Coming

Washington Technology came out with its annual ranking of top M&A deals this week. Despite the downturned economy, the publication reported there were 77 deals in the government contracting community in 2009, down just 11 from 2008. While the number of deals was not fully reflective of the economy, the type of M&A activity highlighted is indicative of the times.

Deloitte’s acquisition of Bearing Point’s government business, named best mid-market deal, was the most direct reflection on the economy. Northrop Gumman’s sale of its TASC unit to private equity firms General Atlantic and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts was named best overall deal. Northorp was forced to sell TASC due to organizational conflicts of interest. Deals like this may grow in the coming years as the administration is taking a strong look at large integrators and conflicts within their numerous operating units. The feature also points out this deal marked the entrance of General Atlantic and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts onto the Washington equity scene, a sign of more deals to come?

Read the full coverage here and let us know what you think about their picks.

-Piper Conrad

K-12 education technology at NAIS

Bill Carter, myself and Robb Ryerse manning the Budgetext booth

Last week I attended the National Association of Independent Schools Expo with our client Budgetext, who was there promoting its product Studysource, an online bookstore that allows schools and parents greater flexibility when purchasing textbooks. The conference’s theme was, “unleashing your superpowers within” and along with helping teachers and administrators find their super powers during the sessions the expo presented a lot of super companies. 

Among the rows of exhibitors I searched out companies that use technology to promote education and, along with Budgetext, I found some interesting companies that were attracting quite a bit of attention. 

myself and the BrainHoney team

BrainHoney combines classroom instruction with online learning to create a hybrid environment. They provide an inexpensive way to supplement classroom instruction with online content, offer online courses or a complete virtual school. The platform creates a curriculum map that aligns to state standards. Teachers then add activities that map to the standards to complete the map. As assignments are completed and grades are entered, BrainHoney automatically tracks students’ mastery of the state standards, giving teachers an idea of how kids will do on SOLs before they are given.

Schoology screen shot

Schoology is a course management system for K-12 and higher ed built on a social networking platform designed to help educators, students and parents interact outside the classroom and to incorporate social learning into traditional learning. For teachers, Schoology offers an online place to create assignments, post assignments, collect assignments, converse with students, track attendance, and maintain a gradebook. Students are able to see all upcoming school related events on Schoology, and receive email or text messages to remind them of approaching deadlines as well as chat with each other, share notes and collaborate on group projects. And, parents can view their children’s homework schedules, interact privately with teachers and keep tabs on what student workload will look like week to week.

James Conway at the BrainPOP booth – James is an elementary school teacher who uses BrainPOP in the classroom to engage his students.

BrainPOP creates online supplemental learning videos to be used either in the classroom or at home to reinforce curriculum. Using animated characters, short films and interactive quizzes, BrainPOP engages students to learn in a way they find enjoyable, to ask questions and to form their own ideas. Supporting educators and students, BrainPOP works with Science, Math, Social Studies, English, Technology, Arts & Music, Health, Reading and Writing lessons.

– Ali Smith