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Concise Bio
[Updated: July 5, 2010]
Neville Hobson, ABC, is a communicator, blogger and podcaster, one of the leading European early adopters and influencers in social media communication for business.
He is Head of Social Media Europe for WCG, an integrated communications company focused on the marketing and communication needs of the world’s leading businesses, based in the London office.
Neville is an IABC-accredited communication practitioner with over 25 years’ experience in public and media relations, marketing communication, employee, compensation and benefits communication as well as investor and financial relations. He helps companies use effective communication to achieve their business goals.
Neville is a founding Senior Research Fellow and Advisory Board member of the Society for New Communications Research, a California-based non-profit think tank. SNCR is dedicated to the advanced study of new communications tools, technologies and emerging modes of communication, and their effect on traditional media, professional communications, business, culture and society.
Throughout his career, Neville has been a passionate advocate for new and emerging technology tools and channels and how they can be deployed as effective agents of change in better aligning organizational needs with the marketplace and the needs of employees, customers and other stakeholders.
Neville’s interests in researching emerging communication technologies include engaging directly with companies, journalists, industry analysts, business bloggers and other influencers throughout Europe, North America and Asia.
His involvement in volunteerism leadership with the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) since 1989 includes serving as Regional Director in Europe and Member of the Executive Board and Executive Committee. He is one of four Ambassadors for Bright One, a London-based non-profit communications agency.
Neville blogs at NevilleHobson.com, at the intersection of business, communication and technology. He is co-presenter with Shel Holtz of the For Immediate Release podcast series including the weekly "For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report," the communication profession’s first business podcast started in January 2005.
Detail:
I first started a weblog in 2002. It wasn’t until July 2004 that I really got an idea of what I wanted to do with it, which is to talk primarily about business communication and technology – my twin passions – and stimulate some interesting conversations and discussions, in this blog and elsewhere.
So I started NevOn with daily commentary and opinion on business communication and technology. Many of the posts I wrote there (and write here now) are syndicated through WebProNews, the ebusiness news service, part of the iEntry network.
I no longer write at NevOn which is now the archive of my blogging and conversations from December 2002 until February 2006.
I’m British and I’ve lived and worked in Europe (Western, Central and Eastern), the Middle East and Latin America. I’ve worked for large and small companies, and for myself, in communication management consulting and in the software industry. I returned to the UK in 2006 after being based in Amsterdam, one of Europe’s great cities, since 1999.
Currently, I live in Wokingham, Berkshire, about 35 miles west of London.
I’m a communication practitioner with a passion for technology, focusing my knowledge of and experience with current, new and emerging technology tools and channels to help companies build dynamic relationships with customers, employees, shareholders and other key audiences and influencers.
In addition, I research emerging communication technologies, and engage with companies, journalists, industry analysts, business bloggers and other influencers. I work in close collaboration with like-minded communication practitioners in Europe and the USA in helping people understand the true value propositions of such technologies for organizations as strategic communication tools and channels.
Some highlights:
- In January 2005, I joined my friend and fellow communicator Shel Holtz, who’s based in California, to launch a business podcast, the first in the communication profession. Called For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, our bi-weekly show includes comment and opinion on topical communication, business and technology issues. ‘For Immediate Release’ is now a podcast series with separate occasional podcasts for interviews, book reviews and events such as seminars and conferences.
- In March 2005, I co-founded Blogging Planet together with fellow communicators Elizabeth Albrycht, Guillaume du Gardier and Christof Ducamp, who are based in Paris. Our goal was to provide counsel and training to organizations in Europe and the United States on how to effectively adopt new communication tools such as business blogging, wikis, RSS and podcasts. But in October 2005, we dissolved Blogging Planet. We had sound reasons; you can read why in "The alliance is dead… Long live the alliance."
- In October 2005, I joined the Society for New Communications Research, a California-based non-profit think tank, as a founding Advisory Board member and Research Fellow (see the launch press release). (I receive no financial compensation for my affiliation with SNCR.)
- I’m a member of the Corante Network Marketing Hub which aggregates the thinking of some 20 of the most innovative business people blogging today.
- In October 2006, a new marketing company was launched in Second Life. Headed by Joseph Jaffe, that company is called crayon, LLC. I was one of the founding principals, originally there as a Vice President of New Marketing. I left crayon in June 2007.
- In June 2007, How To Do Everything With Podcasting was published by McGraw-Hill. This is a 360-page ‘how-to’ book, written by Shel Holtz and I, that covers planning, recording, editing, distributing, marketing, building community, monetization, and a host of other topics about podcasting. See the companion website for more information.
- In October 2008, I announced a new venture I’ve made with BondPR International, to develop a new service offering focused on social media (details in the press release). Known as Bond-i, this represents another hat I’ll be wearing for quite a bit of the time, in addition to the others I also wear from time to time.
- In December 2008, I threw my hat into the ring with some very interesting people, all of us part of AdHocnium. As I said in my post about it, “What I find especially thrilling is when an alliance of such people, in different places around the world, starts to coalesce where everyone involved doesn’t yet know exactly how the thing will work out but is willing to throw some hats into the ring to find out.”
- In October 2009, I hung up all my various hats apart from the FIR podcasts as I joined WeissComm Group (rebranded as WCG in January 2010) as their new Head of Social Media Europe, based in London.
I spend a bit of time in the three-dimensional online world of Second Life, which I joined at the beginning of 2006. My in-world identity is Jangles Junot (that’s me in the picture).
Virtual worlds like Second Life present enormous potential for business, something I write about in this blog at times and speak about at conferences and in conversations with companies.
Overall, I’m constantly on the look-out for interesting things to get involved with, so if you have something interesting you’d like to talk about, do let me know. This blog, and my one of historical record I mentioned earlier, will give you a good sense of the kinds of things I’m interested in.
I’m a frequent speaker in the UK and internationally on the subject of social media communication and its effective use in organizational communication. My list of speaking engagements has information on events I am speaking at during this year.
I’m an active and committed member of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), my professional association. I’ve served IABC and the profession in a range of formal leadership roles since 1989, most recently (2002-2004) as Regional Director in Europe and member of the Executive Board and Executive Committee. I do other more informal things for IABC, eg, co-produce the monthly Cafe2Go podcasts and interviews; and, from 2005-2007, I co-produced the ConferenceCast conference podcasts.
In June 2009, I received the huge honour of being awarded the 2009 IABC Chairman’s Award. I’m very proud of that.
English is my native language / también hablo español fluentemente / ein bisschen deutsch / en een beetje nederlands.
For more details about my professional background presented in a formal CV-type fashion, see my profile.
If you’d like to talk, do get in touch anytime.
And finally, let me note that everything you read here in this weblog represents my own personal views and has nothing to do with any organization with whom I have an employment or other kind of business relationship. What you read here in the posts and pages are my opinions entirely, for which I take responsibility. See also the terms and conditions of use.
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