May 26, 2011

It probably escaped your notice that I have not been as frequent in my blog postings (nor have they been all that focused on process industry matters), particularly since other voices are emerging and competing for your attention. Two blogs have started recently that deserve some note, and both suggest more companies are moving deeper into social media as a means to build communities of customers and prospects.

First, Dave Huffman, who bills himself as a marketing support manager at ABB, has launched a new effort called Process Automation Insights. He’s had several postings so far, the most recent of which discusses operator effectiveness. This is a topic that ABB has been spending a lot of time on as companies deal with changing worker demographics.

Second, the Fieldbus Foundation has its new Foundation Technology Blog, with Larry O’Brien as the primary contributor, at least so far. He came over to the organization from ARC Advisory Group earlier this year, and succeeded Bill Tatum as marketing director.

Time will tell how these pan out. Finding interesting topics to discuss week after week will be the challenge, but I suspect both Dave and Larry have enough opportunities to talk to users and get direct input as to the concerns that are on people’s minds.