From Sites to Blogs to Twitter

PAT QUIRKE, from PFQ.ie, spent 20 minutes tonight in front of 24 people, explaining the evolution of his business from a brochure site to a blog and onto Twitter. His audience was attending a Clonmel Chamber of Commerce event in Tippperary Institute, hearing Pat the storyteller weave a yarn from three generations back. He dropped onto the web in 2001, with guidance from a former student of mine (not the one at left). Version 4.4 of his site is one of the first HTML 5 web properties I've used because we are looking at real estate in Clonmel. Pat Quirke's evolving Twitter identity intrigues me. I think he will tap a mother lode of interest by offering direct message tweets to 30-somethings who are in the market to upshift in a down market. Pat Quirke Estate Agents already serves people who know their offerings, know the office staff, and trust their service--but don't know the centre city location of the fine plate glass window where properties can be viewed in the main street of County Tipperary's largest city. The story of Pat Quirke online makes me realise that the 50 students on my Social Media module next semester will have a local case study to learn how to monetise their tweets, blog posts and Flickr shots. And because I know Pat Quirke will spot this post, I hope he'll leave a comment below where he confirms he'll meet up with my diligent cohort of students in Hearns Hotel Library (the front bar) at 3PM on the last Thursday of January 2010. I'll serve the first round.

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