[30.11.2006 first posted on silicon republic]
Businessman Simon Pepper is LinkedIn. No, he’s not a crazy gansta rapper in his spare time. What Pepper is, apart from being a marketing director of Dublin software company PrimeCarrier, is a member of an online social network that he uses to maintain a link with more than 629 business contacts from around the world, mostly overseas.

“I just use it purely as a networking tool to maintain contact with people in the industry on a global basis,” Pepper says. “These are mostly people I’ve formed a connection with by meeting through business or having worked with them. It’s useful to keep people up to date with who’s going where, such as if someone is changing job, or from a business perspective it is a way of spreading your contact base to meet potential customers or exchange ideas.”
Apart from being one of the first Irish businesspeople to join LinkedIn almost four years ago, Pepper is partaking in a peculiar phenomenon sweeping the business world.
LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking site established by former PayPal executive Reid Hoffman. So far more than eight million businesspeople around the world representing 130 professions have joined LinkeIn.
Until now Web 2.0 sites like YouTube.com, Bebo.com and MySpace have been considered strictly a youth phenomenon but indications are that’s about to change.
Social networking tools are about to join other technologies like Skype, blogging and instant messaging (IM) tools that have taken the leap from geek to chic, from the periphery to a potential killer app that businesspeople are using every day.
Fiachra Ó Marcaigh, director of web consultancy Amas, cites the example of investment bank Goldman Sachs building a social network of former staff.
There are over 9,000 ex-staff on the network. The members get a social benefit from keeping in contact with former colleagues. For the bank the payoff could be business referrals or a chance to rehire former staff.
“Online social networks are not only for kids and are being used increasingly by businesses,” says Ó Marcaigh. “Like many internet technologies before them they are set to make the jump from personal to professional tools.”
Ó Marcaigh’s observations have been backed by Fergal O’Byrne, chief executive of the Irish Internet Association. “More and more you are seeing social networking tools being used by corporates,” he explains.
“LinkedIn, for example, is a very simple web tool to connect people of a similar mind, not just profiling them but creating business leads.”
Pepper agrees: “We’ve actually been using it for recruitment purposes: you go in and see who do they know, who’s endorsed them, etc. It allows you to build a profile and people can endorse you on it. Career people can use it as a self-marketing tool if they’re looking to move.”
O’Byrne says the huge surge in user-generated content in the internet world will be reflected by business marketing strategies.
“If you look at sites like TripAdvisor.com, businesses and governments have to get their heads around that. They can ignore it at their peril. If enough people say such and such a location or hotel is crap and others use it as a reference, there could be a knock-on effect for business.
“Boeing, when designing its latest aircraft, had a section of its site asking people to collaborate, offering their opinions on cabin space, legroom and so on. That is only the tip of the iceberg: businesses will use social networking as a touchpad for new ad campaigns or products they are designing. For example, getting people’s opinion on new pension or mortgage products they are preparing or building up market anticipation,” says O’Byrne.
Software companies like Microsoft are also keen not to be left behind by the social networking buzz and Dubliner Brian Kealy, consumer marketing manager for Windows Live Services, says IM technologies are becoming an accepted tool in the everyday business world.
“Web 2.0 technologies are going to enter everyday business use, just like email did,” Kealy says. “Technologies like social networking will enter the territory of practical tools in everyday life rather than just being toys for kids.”
He adds: “According to Microsoft in-house figures, over 40pc of users of Windows Live Messenger are in the 25-49 year old age group. These are people engaged in serious careers, not teens. The key is to reach people through multiple devices wherever they are in a better informed and more protected environment.”
Ó Marcaigh believes that the move from geek to mainstream is typical of the internet so far. “The move from hobby-based use by geeks who are out in front in terms of technology [to widespread use] has been typical of everything to do with the internet. “Fifteen years ago email was used by academics in computer science labs and bit by bit email has become an essential business tool.
“Web 2.0 tools have started to go the same way. Blogs, for example, are already an established corporate tool.
“In terms of social networking sites and services, a lot of companies are flat in their management structure and have ad hoc teams that work on projects but aren’t necessarily in the same office or country. What social networks have shown us is there are ways for people to form tight bonds without being physically close. That’s the story of the internet: reach out and make connections with like-minded people,” he summarises.
Case study: Going down the Tubes Mike O’Rourke’s decision to turn his back on an engineering career in Dublin and head for the rugged Galway countryside was primarily for personal reasons rather than business.
But in recent years his Corofin-based company Elementary Energy has been capitalising on the desire by new home builders in the west of Ireland to make their homes eco-friendly and energy efficient through kitting them out with renewable energy systems like wood pellet boilers, geo thermal heating and solar panels.
As a small but growing business, efficiency is paramount and O’Rourke has found that clever use of web technologies like Skype and YouTube.com can help achieve high standards without breaking the bank or eroding quality of service.
In fact, he has discovered that clever use of these technologies can tick off a number of objectives: reduce costs, increase staff and customer satisfaction and engage in clever marketing activities.
“In keeping with the idea of being environmentally friendly we try to do everything in a paperless way,” says O’Rourke. “All our banking would be done online and for other core business functions the internet is the way to go as it keeps costs such as postage and packaging down. If someone wants a brochure we’d offer to email them first rather than post.
“We use a software package called QuickBooks for accounts that has an email and internet interface for our invoicing and payroll. We just feed the information into the website and it generates invoices and payslips. Our employees would receive their payslips by email, which would be password-protected PDFs.”
In terms of using the latest internet technologies, O’Rourke says he uses Skype for voice calls and also for translating documents. “We were working on a project for a low-energy house in Galway and the architect was based in Amsterdam and we worked through Skype. We’re about 20 miles outside Galway up a country lane. It shows you what’s possible.
“Our next project is to use YouTube as a way of getting pictures and moving images of our products online and show how we do things such as the installation process for solar heating.
“Another idea would be to use the YouTube platform to allow customers to follow the progress of a build. It makes sense to do it this way rather than spend thousands on web development,” O’Rourke says.
Social networking sites www.youtube.com Your kids probably use it but businesses are finding it useful to upload videos and link them through to their own websites for press or marketing purposes
www.linkedin.com LinkedIn is an online network of more than eight million experienced professionals from around the world
www.ryze.com Similar to LinkedIn, more than 1,000 businesses host networks on Ryze to help their members interact with each other
www.windowslive.com A group of Microsoft web services which are currently under development. It includes photos, maps, news, communications and search functions.
By John Kennedy