High Road Communications

IT World Canada just announced that it has acquired IT Business Group from Transcontinental. That means ComputerWorld Canada and Computing Canada will be part of the same family. For how long? IT World Canada confirmed seven lay-offs in the press release but added there would be “no additional personnel changes as a result of the purchase”. No details yet on the future of all the publications and digital brands. IT World Canada’s president Andrew White made the following comment:

“Over the coming weeks, we will be finalizing the integration of the companies, and reviewing the product portfolios for future synergies. In the meantime, we will maintain all existing properties and work with our clients to ensure a smooth transition over the coming weeks and months.”

The acquisition will strengthen IT World Canada’s position in the market (I am especially interested to see what kind of digital strategy the combined powerhouse will embark on). Depending on the extent of the “future synergies”, it may also leave the Canadian IT community with less opportunity to get business technology news from different media sources. This begs the question: will we see another media company (or blogging network) step up?

Maybe one of the large American technology business sites will consider creating a Canadian site to get a share of the local online advertising dollars. Red Herring announced some kind of Canadian presence a while ago. CNET already operates international sites in Asia, Australia and several European countries. It has all the technology infrasctructure in place. Why not hire a few journalists and add Canada to the portfolio (again)?

Maybe other Canadian media properties, like Canoe or Globetechnology.com, will look at beefing up both enterprise-focused content and Canadian stories in their technology sections?

Or will we see even more independent bloggers and news sites pop up in Canada? Former National Post tech reporter Mark Evans is blogging away with his two tech blogs and a podcast series (together with Kevin Restivo). On the telecom/VoIP side, we have people like Alec Saunders and Jon Arnold covering the community. And there are many more.

IT World Canada is positioning itself for long-term success as an important voice in Canada’s thriving technology community. With more editorial staff it has the chance to provide even more breadth and depth in coverage. But there is room for more voices - corporate or independent.

Read the press release here

Apart from being a prolific blogger, Dave Forde is also the chair of Toronto Technology Week (TTW), a new initiative and event series that’s being held in Toronto from May 28 to June 1, 2007. Dave stopped by at High Road yesterday to give us an overview of the events and activities that will be part of TTW.

TTW is an umbrella initiative that brings together a series of Toronto-based technology events that include the mesh conference and the Canadian New Media Awards. IT associations like ITAC and other organizations with an interest in the technology sector are also looking to plan activities during TTW.  Behind this initiative are The Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada (DFAIT), the Greater Toronto Marketing Alliance (GTMA), the City of Toronto and a number of people active in Toronto’s technology community.

“The purpose at a high level is to have one week dedicated to celebrating success within the sector, create a platform for Toronto based companies to share their story with Toronto and the world at large. To give you a very simple explanation, think of what Toronto Fashion Week or the International Film Festival do by bringing those industries together for one week for networking, celebration and education, that is similar to what we are looking for TTW to do for the tech sector.”

More information can be found on Dave’s blog and on an upcoming website for TTW that will include an events calendar and information on sponsorship opportunities and other ways to get involved.

It’s been pretty hard to ignore the problems which have hammered U.S. discount airline JetBlue in the past week due to their inability to handle the winter storm that hit much of the U.S. northeast.

The company has turned to a Youtube video to help communicate what they are doing to avoid repeating last week’s events.

The CEO’s message is based on a Customer Bill of Rights and does a good job outlining how the company is going to make things better and repair the hits its customer service reputation has taken in the past week.

The company scores points for putting the CEO front and center and for tackling complaints head-on with a clear action/compensation plan. Strangely, when I search YouTube I can’t find the video...I do however, easily find a handful of videos from customers sharing their bad experiences last week. 

Talk about making the best of a bad situation...Kudos to whoever came up with this idea: With Alan Greenspan scheduled to address 1,500 business people in Toronto yesterday as a guest of Canadian Economic Forum and sponsored by BMO, they hit a snag.

His flight was snowed in and he couldn’t get out of Washington, DC. No worries, they linked him in via video. They put the screen in a nice Bay Street looking-leather chair on stage. Then they added a suit. The result? A great photo opp that drove front page coverage of the event in the Toronto Star and front page of ROB in the Globe and Mail.

Check out the picture in print when you have a sec. Here is the link to the TorStar photo. A usually boring talking head shot turned into front page material. Nice! 

I just read through a great article that appears in the current issue of New York Magazine (http://nymag.com/news/features/27341), which contends that emergence of social media is creating the most significant generation gap since rock and roll music burst onto the scene.

It is a worthwhile read for people on the north side of the generation gap (let’s say aged 30+) who are looking for a better understanding of how the south side of the generation gap defines personal information and privacy. Let’s face(book) it, part of the attraction for marketers to the web is just how personal the information online has become. And part of the mystery for people in understanding social media + youth is “Why would anyone put it all out there like that?” Young people on the other hand, are responding by getting more and more active. For them, public life is fun, it’s creative and it’s where their friends are.

In the online world, everyone has an audience where they can belong and connect with friends. The desire to belong and connect with others makes social media sound exactly like every other revolution embraced by young people in every generation. Yet, at the same, it is like nothing else that has come before. (Via Clive Thompson http://www.collisiondetection.net/)