Connect with NAMA

by Diarmuid O'Riordan on March 11th, 2010

So social media is playing an increasingly large role in shaping politics in the world. That’s the line people are using, that’s the way it is.

It’s true that in Iran, where Government censorship and clamping down of information during the 2009 elections led to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and other social media sites playing a key role in the sharing of information between opposition supporters as well as the outside world. In the end, despite social media, they were unsuccessful.

There are further examples including Barack Obama raising almost $60m in the 2008 US presidential campaign through social media channels.

Seth Godin would say that these groups were “Tribes”, they had a leader, they had a cause, and social media was there method of communication.

Some might say (Noel Gallagher, 1996) that the election of the first African-American-Irish President, or the ousting of a suspected tyrant are weightier causes that the arguments against buying up a few billion worth of dodgy real estate in Ireland. However, people are not aware of the consequences of NAMA. In my Ireland-centric mind, we have greater cause than either of the two tribes mentioned above. Let’s look at the potential consequences of our three tribes not achieving their goal:

Obama

• America gets first female president
• America must wait 4-8 years for first African-American-Irish president
• Change and hope delayed for a few years

Iran

• President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad remains in power
• Ali Khamenei remains in absolute power either way: Iran still a fervent Islamic state, with little rights for minorities

Ireland

• Ireland loses 40 billion euro
• The EU and the IMF take over
• F.D.I & exports decline swiftly as taxes go through the roof
• Tens of thousands face unemployment and emigration

NAMA is purchasing loans at a 30% discount from the banks. The lands these loans are based on are now priced back at agricultural value. Unless the price of milk goes up to 100 euros  a gallon, we aint gonna see that money again.

David McWilliams sums up the figures as “we see that there will be €51.5bn of land and development assets and associated loans transferred, based on what he has seen so far, we are looking at a hole of possibly €40bn, where we will borrow €51.5bn from the ECB, for assets worth a little over €10bn.

40 billion ladies and gentleman, puts Ireland in the red for generations to come.

Ireland needs to connect online to have a discussion about the most important piece of legislation in the history of the state.

The Facebook group “No to NAMA” has 11,369 members. I want John Joe from the late late toy show to fix my clock group has 47,415!

Lets use social media to voice our opinions and lets get interested in what could potentially make or break our state.

Connector on Mediascope with Ellen Gunning

by Sarai Fernandez on January 12th, 2010

Yesterday we have had the pleasure to be interviewed by Ellen Gunning for her programme Mediascope, a radio show which deals with issues of interest to public relations, event management and journalism professionals. The interview will be broadcast in today’s programme on Dublin City FM (103.2) at 13.30 hours.

Conor chated with Ellen for 20 minutes about Connector. If you want to discover how Connector started, our new plans for 2010 and much more, listen to the podcast!

Connector Lunch @ Little Caeser’s

by Mallory McSweeney on November 5th, 2009

Connector Lunches moved to Pacino’s Restaurant on Suffolk Street last Friday. We had a great chat over some tasty pizza and pasta after a busy week of Halloween preparations. We continued our Connector Lunches odessey in Little Caeser’s, on Balfe St. this week at 1PM.

As usual we had a  very diverse crowd of friendly and interesting people from the online and offline world who dropped in to make or renew some connections over lunch.  Afterwards we popped into the Westbury for afternoon tea !

Please keep an eye on connector.ie for the next Connector Lunch location.  If you are a restaurant and would like us to pay you a visit, please contact events [@] connector.ie

By Mallory McSweeney

Nokia – Re-Connecting Electric Picnic People

by Conor on September 1st, 2009

Nokia – ‘Connecting People’ has been slightly amended in the blog post today as we have some good news for all Nokia mobile phone users @ Electric Picnic this weekend.  Nokia are providing a great green solution for the dreaded problem of a dying or dead mobile phone battery at a music festival !  Now you can potentially save your festival, save on electricity & also get the latest information about the festival @ the Nokia Recharge Pod !

And don’t forget to go to Nokia’s ovi.com where you can register for ‘Ovi Synch’ & back up all your phone numbers & more for free – this is a smart move in case of a festival mishap where you lose your phone & all your numbers !

Here is the message from Nokia about the Recharge Pods -

“Nokia are delighted to announce that they are contributing to the Carbon Responsibility Policy of the Electric Picnic by bringing for the 2nd year, the “Recharge Pod”. This is an eco-friendly, freestanding wind and solar power mobile phone charging station, capable of charging up to 120 Nokia handsets an hour for free!

The Nokia Recharge and Information area will keep you constantly updated with up to the minute festival news, updates, and information on all the services on offer at the Electric Picnic, and all while charging your Nokia handset in the Recharge Pod.

The Recharge Pod has been specifically designed for use at outdoor events and festivals, as it doesn’t require a power supply; the entire system is self sufficient and runs from its own renewable solar and wind power sources.  The Recharge Pod also powers its own lighting; utilizing low power LED’s to illuminate the inside, the turbine and the branding.”

Sian Gray, Head of Marketing for Nokia Ireland comments, “We are committed to doing things differently and reducing our own energy consumption.  We are delighted to be bringing back the “Recharge Pod” to Electric Picnic 2009.

Connecting with Paddy MaGuinness

by Jamie Richardson on August 13th, 2009

Today the Connector Interns had the pleasure of meeting with Paddy MaGuinness. Paddy, recommended to us by Don Mullan, our last interview, to meet up with. The web of connections has just begun, and Connector is keen on having many more!

Despite the fact that the chat was a little under an hour, we were able to discover a wide range organizations and projects Paddy has been involved with over the last year. A clear leader in international development, Paddy has worked with Niall Mellon Township Initiative Concern Worldwide, Traidelinks, and the Global Housing Foundation to name a few!

But most remarkably so, was Paddy’s Lifetime Humanitarian Medal presented to him by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. For more on this go check it out >here>>

We  enjoyed meeting Paddy, and hope to see where his passions take him next! The Connector Team is also looking forward for many more connections to come!

Connecting with TV3’s Total Xposure

by Jamie Richardson on August 10th, 2009

On the way in to Croke Park, we came across one of the contestants for Total Xposure, a competition to become the next presenter of TV3’s flagship entertainment show Xposé.

The show is down to 3 finalists, Ruth, Sean, and Simon. Simon Atkins was at Croke Park telling people to vote for him for tomorrow’s final voting as he is from Mayo. He was joined by two former contestants, Michael Coghlan and Daniella Moyles.

To vote for Simon for the Total Xposure competition, text SIMON to the 53307 or ring 1513 712 303.

Check out the the site for more information >here>>

Best of luck guys!

Connections made with Don Mullan

by Jamie Richardson on August 4th, 2009

“I’m an ideas man.”

 This is perhaps the most unmistakable quality about Don Mullan. Ideas. He is full of them. Social entrepreneur, humanitarian, author, world traveler, top mobile phone photographer, and ideas man.

The Connector Team had the pleasure of spending a couple hours with Don a couple of weeks ago. We chatted about his recent and highly successful exhibition of photos from his Nokia phones. The exhibition, called “A Thousand Reasons for Living” was the world’s first amateur photography exhibition based solely on mobile phone cameras.

The exhibition, put on by Nokia Ireland, was a huge hit. Look at Don’s photographs, and it’s easy to see why!

It was a great pleasure to meet Don and we hope to hear more of great work from the ideas man himself!

Connections on Dublin City FM’s The Persuaders

by Jamie Richardson on July 31st, 2009

Our very own Conor was on the radio this afternoon! 103.2 Dublin City FM’s The Persuaders with Alex Gibson to be exact.

Along with Robert from Bloom advertising, Fred from DoneDeal.ie, and Piaras Kelly from Edelman PR, Conor held a discussion on the importance of social media in the marketplace. Facebook and Twitter were obviously hot topics of discussion here!

The guys spoke for a while on live broadcast, and the rest of their conversation will be available for listening on The Persuaders’ podcast. The Persuaders is a podcast is a weekly program devoted to marketing and media interests. 

Conor and Piaras had a chance to talk about the success of the Connector Canon Digital Video Awards as well as other past and future endeavors. So have a listen! You can also check out Piaras’ blog >here>>

I also got a chance to connect with these guys, especially Alex Gibson! Thanks again. 

Connector meets The Apprentice Team

by Andrew Sigle on July 6th, 2009

Last week the connector team was in a meeting at The Church in the upstairs part of the balcony. It was brought to our attention that the entire cast of Ireland’s The Apprentice had taken a break from shooting to enjoy lunch on the balcony of the restaurant.

At first I had no idea who this party was until Eugenia from Shinawil approached Conor at our table. She was a producer for the company that also produced the show Dragon’s Den. She actually recognized Conor from his appearance on the show.  It was pretty cool that I ate lunch with the whole cast of The Apprentice right here at The Church.

I am a fan of the American apprentice show with Donald Trump; however I have still yet to see the Irish version. I hope to look into it now that I have witnessed all of the contestants eating lunch in person.

Connect with Anne Doyle from RTE News

by Conor on June 16th, 2009

After being out at brilliant Taste of Dublin event with Claire & the gang we met Anne Doyle when we went into Dicey Reillys for a pint … she was a good sport and check out the fabulous vintage car she is carrying under her oxter !