Friday, July 30, 2010

Metaswitch Newsletter Relaunch/Debating the Merits of Voicemail

Regular readers will know that I've been closely following Metaswitch for a long time. As companies reach critical mass, branding and messaging becomes more important. Metaswitch has been doing a great job with this on a few fronts, and today, they have another one I'd like to share with you.

They've just relaunched their e-newsletter today - it's called "Overheard - water cooler talk from the Metaswitch office". I kinda like the title - I know it's just a free newsletter, and most vendors have one - but it does catch your attention. Wearing my MBA Marketing hat, this is a good community-building tool. Being an indie, working from home, I'm constantly struck by how many people in this market work the same way as me. We have no water cooler to go to - that's why Facebook, Linked In, and of course Twitter are so popular. I'm just glad to see someone connect the dots here and use email as a channel to extend the water cooler beyond the physical office. We may not be reading about rumors or saucy gossip, but we all want to know what other people are doing, thinking, saying, etc.

I think it's a good read, and would encourage you to get it. Content-wise, I'm happy to say they've included me in one of the features - Hang Ups. It's a point-counterpoint debate between Martin Taylor and myself about the value of voicemail in today's world. I'm on the contrary side of the argument, and it sure makes you think about the utility of tools we've been using forever. The Internet is changing the communications experience more than we realize - whether that's a good thing is best discussed another time.

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