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First Irish man to row across the Atlantic solo uses Facebook to update his progress

On Friday the 30th of April, Sean McGown became the first Irish man to row across the Atlantic ocean solo. He has used Facebook to keep all those following him on his epic journey updated.
Here is his update from Facebook:

Here is his Facebook “Like” page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sean-McGowan-Atlantic-09/88930142279


There are 1,212 people on his Like page, these people followed his journey and offered support and encouragement via comments.

This is an example of Facebook been used in a very cost effective way to keep followers reminded of the journey and a great way to show support.  It also serves as a diary, charting the thoughts and experience through this journey.

Sean is doing this in order to raise money for Soweto Connection, a registered Irish charity which helps African communities.

Donate here link page:

I would urge you to donate something if only a small amount as every little helps, furthermore the Euro is of greater value that South African Rand, and therefore your donation will go further.

How I know Sean

I know Sean from Working in Dell, he was one of my many bosses while I was there. We had our ups and downs, as can be expected within such a high pressure corporate environment. I have great admiration for Sean and this is an incredible journey to complete both from a mental and physical perspective. This is an inspirational story and proves that anything can be achieved once you put your mind to it. The message I get from this is “just set goals, no matter how massive they may seem once you keep the end in sight and put your mind and body in to it, the goal will be achieved”. Sean also undertook and completed his Masters degree in business administration (MBA) at the Kemmy business school the year after me. I wonder which was tougher, and MBA or rowing the Atlantic solo?

How Sean got to know the Soweto Connection

As part of the MBA programme at the Kemmy business school there is an international workshop. Sean and his class visited Cape Town in South Africa for this international workshop. One of his lecturers, Sheila Killian is one of the founding members of the Soweto connection charity.

How I know Soweto Connection

As part of my MBA (the year before Sean and his class) I also went to South Africa for the MBA international workshop, and Sheila Killian was one of my lecturers in Finance, who also came on the workshop. As part of this workshop we received lectures on the South African economy, its stock exchange, its problems, its resources, its history and its attitude to entrepreneurship. We also visited the in townships in Cape Town, Robben Island and inner city redevelopment. We got to meet the very rich and the very poor, an amazing contrast. This international workshop to Cape Town, South Africa forms a big place in my memory as it was an education but, also an experience.

Here again is the Charity Sean is supporting, donate here:
Donate here link page:

Posted in Facebook, Motivation, Social Media, Social Networking, Technology. Tagged with , , , .

Blogging for Business training Limerick

Blogging for Business - Course outline

  • Introduction to Blogging.
  • Uses and benefits of a business blog.
  • Some examples of successful business blogs.
  • Blog Search engines.
  • RSS
  • Reading and commenting on blogs.
  • Setting up Wordpress.
  • Preparing your content and scheduling it in.
  • Optimising content for search engines.
  • How to promoting you blog
  • How build a community around your blog.
  • Blog metrics

I am reserving one space for a charity free of charge, if you are a charity, or know of a deserving charity, please email me and I shall add them.

Next course running 29th of April 2010 from 9:00 to 16:30 at the Clarion hotel, Limerick.

Cost - €400 - Lunch included.

Class size limited to 14 places for quality purposes.

In order to get the most out of this session a laptop with wireless is essential.

Call (087) 9497083 (Mark) to book.

About the Trainer

Mark Cahill holds a masters degree in business administration (MBA), and his thesis “To what extent have Online Social Networks Changed Business to Consumer Marketing”. His thesis looks at how online social networks and Web 2.0 have changed the marketing landscape and it proposes a model for an integrated offline and online marketing strategy.

Mark is also a guest lecturer with the Kemmy business school, University of Limerick in Entrepreneurship, and Marketing, with a focus on Social Networks and Social Media.

He holds a Bachelors degree in Computer Engineering and has a passion for technology and how it can benefit business. Mark is one of the founding organisers and speakers at Bizcamp Limerick

Mark is a co-founder of Socialbits, a consultancy which specialities in Web 2.0 (Social Web) and Web 3.0 (Semantic Web) for Marketing and Business.

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Social media, technology and business events in May

May is the fist month of Summer (and boy are we overdue a Summer) and there seems to be a bit happening, here are some of the events coming up that I am aware of:

Green open coffee

This is similar in concept to open coffee with a green twist, the reason for the location is Cloughjordan is building an Eco-Village. There will be a tour of the Eco-Village on the day as well the consumption of fairtrade and organic coffee and tea.

When? Saturday 1st of May from 10:30 to

Where? Sheelagh na Gig, on the main Street, County Tipperary.

How much? Free to attend

For more details see - http://www.consultmark.ie/blog/2010/04/02/green-open-coffee-in-cloughjordan/

MetaMeets 2010

Europe’s premier 3D internet and virtual worlds conference, featuring enterprise, community and education tracks.

When? 6th-9th of May

Where? Dublin Institute of Technology, Aungier Street, Dublin 2

How much? €180

For more details see - http://www.metameets2010.com/

Bizcamp Limerick

is making a return on the 8th of May, again it is on in the Kemmy business School in the University of Limerick. Bizcamp Limerick is for businesses and Entrepreneurs of all shapes and sizes. It is about sharing stories of success and failure, and learning from these experiences.

When? Saturday 8th of May

Where? Kemmy business School, in the University of Limerick

How much? Free to attend

For more details see - http://www.bizcamp.ie/category/bizcamp-limerick/register-limerick/

Startup Weekend

is a 54 hour startup event that provides the networking, resources, and incentives for individuals and teams to go from idea to launch. Get connected with local developers, innovators and entrepreneurs. Build Community. Start Companies. No Talk. All Action

When? 7th - 9th of May

Where? NDRC, Dublin

How much? €75 and places are limited

For more details see - http://dublin.startupweekend.org/

3D camp

is making a return for the 3rd year.It has moved from its home in the University of Limerick to the Institute of Technology Tallaght.

3Dcamp is a themed Barcamp which will focus on:

  • 3D modelling (Blender, Sketchup),
  • mapping mashups, GPS,
  • Location based Services (LBSs),
  • haptics and augmented toys (eg. Wiimote hacks),
  • augmented reality,
  • virtual worlds (Second Life, the Metaverse),
  • mirror worlds (Google Earth and Virtual Earth),
  • interactive art installations
  • …and all things 3D.

When? Saturday 29th of May

Where? Institute of Technology Tallaght

How much? Free to attend

For more details see - http://3dcamp.barcamp.ie/

Is there any more I have missed that I could add here?

Posted in Bizcamp, Blogging, Business, Education, Entrepreneur, Facebook, Marketing, Social Media, Technology, Uncategorized, event, open coffee. Tagged with , , , .

Twitter ads - a revenue model at long last

Up on until now Twitter has not turned a profit, and for quite a while there has been speculation on whether it will run advertising. It has been however is getting some revenue by supplying posts to Google, Microsoft  and Yahoo, in order to give the search engines data for real time search. I think it is about time twitter has decided to run ads on its platform, some of the first advertisers in line are Starbucks, Bravo and Virgin America.

Let’s just hope the ads are well targeted and not just related to the brand names, as this will annoy people and turn them off. It is based on keywords, but unlike Facebook twitter does not have the same level of account detail.

Overall, this is a the first significant step toward a proper business model.

For more see -

Adage - Twitter Has a Business Model: ‘Promoted Tweets’

New York Times - Twitter Unveils Plans to Draw Money From Ads.

Posted in Brand, Business, Facebook, Google, Marketing, Sales, Social Media, Social Networking, Technology, Twitter. Tagged with , , , , .

The world through Google Goggles

As google throw their Intellectual weight at the mobile, here is a cool project they are working on : Google Goggles. It is only on the Android, but there are plans to have this application on the iPhone and other platforms, I wonder how long it will really take to get this application on other platforms? This is early days for this technology, but the possibilities are exciting.

It can also be use it to translate…

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