Weekly Blog by Philip King, CEO of the ICM - 'The two 'faces' of Twitter and social media'

During the summer riots, there was much talk of the influence of Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites and their role in helping to organise and promote illegal activity. Last week I was reminded at a much more mundane and practical level of the power of Twitter in my working life.

I woke up last Wednesday morning to see a tweet from Chuka Umunna, the Shadow Business Minister, saying he was going to be speaking at a private members debate on late payment. He included a link to the parliment website and, as I was in the office on Wednesday, I was able to watch much of the debate live. I must confess that I had not realised that such debates took place in Westminster, other than in the main debating chamber itself. This one on late payment had been called by Debbie Abrahams, the Labour MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth, who was clearly passionate - and knowledgeable - about the subject.

The contributions from several MP's we know including Lorely Burt, and others we didn't previously, presented some strong arguments supported by background knowledge that was - in many cases - impressive. What was particularly encouraging was their knowledge of the work being undertaken by the ICM and it was gratifying to receive many mentions.*

Afterwards, I exchanged tweets with Debbie and we are planning to meet to discuss how she and her parlimentary colleagues, along with the ICM, can drive more engagement with the Prompt Payment Code and point SMEs towards the practical advice we can offer through, for example, the Managing Cashflow Guides.

I've also recently had some interesting conversations via twitter with Richard Tyler, Enterprise Editor at the Daily Telegraph, and I'm conscious that - without it - I would have been blissfully unaware of last week's debate and missed a real opportunity to engage with people who can be influential. I know there are downsides to social networking but, for me, the upsides can be pretty impressive too.

*For those interested, our press release following the debate can be found here, the transcript here, and the video recording here.

To follow me and the Institute of Credit Management on Twitter go to http://twitter.com/philipkingicm and http://twitter.com/ICMorg

The Prompt Payment Code

Managing Cashflow Guides

Weekly Blog by Philip King, CEO of the ICM - 'To tweet or not to tweet'

Tweeting to Rachel Bridge of the Sunday Times, recently, made me realise just how far we have come in our social networking strategy.

We've now been actively tweeting for over a year (philipkingicm: 1,244 tweets; 389 followers / icmorg: 313 tweets; 145 followers), I've been writing this weekly blog for almost ten months (this is my 41st), and our LinkedIn group (ICM Credit Community) has amassed 1,745 members. These numbers both impress me by how quickly they've grown, and disappoint me in that so many people aren't engaging.

The reality of course is that we are all different; we all want to consume news and communicate in different ways. For some, our magazine Credit Management is the only communication they want to receive; others want email contact; and others want a mix.

And this of course isn't limited to contact from organisations like the ICM; it flows through all aspects of life. I can't remember the last time I watched the TV news yet I'm an avid listener to news on the radio; I've recently become a Kindle convert yet I always insisted I never would because I love books so much.

So what's my point? I've recently seen examples of just how powerful Twitter and LinkedIn can be in generating contact and communication (particularly with the press) that otherwise wouldn't happen. The Sunday Times coverage for the ICM ten days ago came as a direct consequence of a Twitter conversation between me and the Enterprise Editor. I'm making contact with some of our Members in an informal way that would not take place by phone or email, simply because Twitter and LinkedIn provide the opportunity to do so, and those conversations sometimes lead to deeper, 'real' conversations as a consequence.

We shouldn't be afraid to embrace new technology and ideas. Some will fail early, some will last a while then diminish (Friends Reunited is a good example), and others will get stronger - although there's already talk that Facebook's popularity is starting to decline precisely at the point when some of us are just beginning to understand its value. Twitter, too, will no doubt one day reach saturation point and outgrow itself. For now though, by being selective about who I follow, Twitter provides me with access to news, views, information, and contact that I might otherwise miss or at least not see so quickly. It is therefore useful. And I've talked to credit professionals who use these media as a way of knowing their customers better and that can pay real dividends!

http://twitter.com/philipkingicm
http://twitter.com/#!/icmorg
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=94851