Tag Archives: new Zealand

Social Media encourages real world interactions

Posted on by Vaughan Rivett

For some time I have been interested in how my reach on social networks and other forms of social media have influenced people in a “virtual” world. However, this is not so as I consider the fact that there is really no virtual world.

Why? Well at the end of what we call “virtual” is a “real” person. I think that we often live in a virtual fantasy unaware of real participants and real consumers of the information which they share.

While being at Lotusphere I’ve been able to meet with a number of people whom I have only ever known through blogs, Facebook and twitter. A number of these people have commented on blog articles which I published several years ago. Obviously, some of these posts must have had significant impact on real people in a real world.

Baby “JJ” may never vote, but he could decide the future of our nation

Posted on by Vaughan Rivett

This is unacceptable! 

In recent days, I have been shocked and sickened by the murder of a 2 year old boy, known as JJ.  He was killed in his family home by what the New Zealand police claim was blunt force trauma to his abdomen which caused sever damage to his internal organs.  At the time of the incident, there were four adults and three children in the home.  The adults have been interviewed but their stories are inconsistent so the police have not been able to lay charges.  This is sickening, and even worse, public opinion would suggest that it is commonly believed that the adults are covering it up.

This is not the first time that this has happened in New Zealand.  A few years ago twins were murdered in their family home, Chris and Cru Kahui.  Once again the adults managed to cover up the truth and even today, I don’t think the true story has emerged.

“In less than one week there is to be a general election held in New Zealand which will enable us to provide a better future to the kids of New Zealand”

The people I have been talking to lately, have suggested that all of the adults which were present in both cases should be locked up in prison until the truth is revealed.  No, this might not be the ideal solution, but unless we do something different to what we are doing today, nothing will change.

“This is now the one policy which will determine how I vote”

Up until today, there was only one party that I was going to vote for, but now my vote is up for grabs.  I am looking for a party who is willing to create a policy which will deal with situations where children are murdered and the adults are able to pervert the course of justice.

There are so many issues that I could consider when I cast my vote, the economy, education, health and more.  But I think that there is something fundamentally wrong when children can be killed in their own homes.  None of the other issues will ever matter to these children.

“How can you help?  How will you help?”

We need to bring this to the attention of our politicians, and we need to do it now!  Please tweet/retweet this article to your friends and the politicians.  Get the word out.  Get the politicians to commit to sorting it out.

Old Mout Cider goes social

Posted on by Vaughan Rivett

The other day, I quickly became interested in a conversation on twitter.  One of my colleagues had decided to nominate me for a prize from Old Mout Cider who were embarking on a social marketing campaign.  Within a few minutes Old Mout Cider send out a tweet saying that I, along with some others, had won a few bottles of Cider.

True to their word, today I received four bottles of various cider to try.

What interests me about this, is that this is yet another example of a New Zealand business adopting modern marketing strategies to get their product out to the masses.    I like social business.

Lotus Notes / Domino Tour of Duty (New Zealand)

Posted on by Vaughan Rivett

Over the last couple of days, I have been reflecting on my tour of New Zealand, last week, as I visited a number of Lotus Notes/Domino customers throughout the country.  Myself,  four others from IBM and a number of IBM Business Partners vistied Hamilton, Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch as we checked in on various customers.

There were a number of themes that came through, but here are the top three:

  • Lotus Notes/Domino customers who are in two minds about the future of the product and their commitment to it, are impressed by the roadmap for the next few years.  I came out of a number of meetings where the customers had little understanding of the power of the platform, but were eager to explore what they could be doing both now and in the future.
  • People are wanting more from a collaboration platform.  This opened the door to great conversations about Social Business and stratigies which include both IBM Connections and IBM Lotus Domino Server.
  • The “cloud” is big here in New Zealand.  The Christchurch earthquake has impacted this nation and as such, people are considering their options for greater resilience.

For many years, I have been an advocate for Lotus Notes and Domino here in New Zealand.  I am now in a position, where I think we are on the verge of something great.