In this blog, I analyse and discuss trends, behaviours and practices in digital communication to help you make informed decisions for the benefit of your organisation and its people.
Since I started my first blog in 2002, I’ve written and published over 5,000 posts here on a wide range of topics that intersect the broad themes of business, communication and technology. Take a look in the Library – I’m sure you’ll find something of interest.
You can also find me across the social web, primarily on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.
Feel free to get in touch:
Concise Bio
Professionally, I’m a Social Media Strategist, a podcaster, experienced in digital communication for B2B & B2C.
Since 2000, my career has focused on working with organisations globally to develop understanding of the challenges and benefits of contemporary business, communication and transformation issues that embrace social, digital and emerging cognitive technologies. I connect this expertise with a further 10 years’ career in traditional public relations, marketing communication, employee, compensation and benefits communication, and investor relations.
My LinkedIn profile has detailed information on my business background – https://www.linkedin.com/in/nevillehobson.
On a more personal level, I can tell you that over the past three decades or so, I’ve lived and worked across continental Europe, in the Middle East and in Latin America, as well as in the UK. In addition to English, I’m a fluent Spanish speaker.
I co-present the monthly Small Data Forum Podcast that I started with Thomas Stoeckle and Sam Knowles in the summer of 2016, the goal of which is to help listeners make Big Data less intimidating, more actionable and thus more valuable. In early 2017, I began co-presenting a new monthly edition of The Hobson & Holtz Report business podcast that Shel Holtz and I started in early 2005 that ran non-stop for over 15 years.
I’m a Founding Fellow of the Society for New Communications Research (SNCR); and, for nearly 20 years, I was an accredited member of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC).
Based in West Berkshire some 50 miles west of London, I work either from my home office – which is pretty much all the time in our current pandemic/lockdown environment – or from wherever I can get a good network connection if I’m allowed to go there. I’ve not been on a plane since 2019 and don’t miss that at all.
A Few Further Notes…
- From 2014-2015, I contributed a twice-monthly commentary on technology topics in live broadcasts on Share Radio UK, a digital radio station in London, as a regular guest in ‘Consuming Issues’ presented by Georgie Frost.
- Since the turn of the century, I’ve co-authored one book: How To Do Everything With Podcasting with my podcasting partner Shel Holtz, published by McGraw-Hill in 2007; and contributed the introductory chapter to The Social Media MBA: Your Competitive Edge in Social Media Strategy Development and Delivery, published by Wiley in 2012.
- In 2012, I co-led the Chartered Institute of Public Relations’ (CIPR) initial outreach to the Wikimedia Foundation in the UK, leading to the development of the first version of the CIPR’s Wikipedia guidance for PR professionals by the CIPR’s Social Media Panel.
- From 2007-2010, I worked with the CIPR in creating and delivering on-going professional development workshops called “New Media for Old Hands,” designed to provide senior-level practitioners with the knowledge and confidence to embrace social media tools.
- I’m also an occasional reviewer of gadgets and gizmos, apps and experiences. A test pilot of shiny new objects, as it were.
Accolades
In addition, this blog has featured regularly in recent years in Vuelio’s “Top 10 PR Blogs” rankings.
Everything you read here represents my personal views and has nothing to do with any organization with whom I have a business or professional relationship, unless stated otherwise. Note that comments on blog posts or submitted to a podcast I present are the views and opinions of the commenters for which they take responsibility. See also the terms and conditions of use.
Thanks for visiting this website. Please feel free to join in or start a conversation in any of the blog posts you read; or reach out and connect, either directly or via any of the places you’ll find me across the social web.
[Content updated: March 9, 2021.]