The following article was initially published in the Isle of Man Maritime Blog by Dick Welsh Director of Isle of Man Ship Registry. I realise I am a Luddite who went to Sea a long time ago, but I am concerned that the modern age of instant communication and social media may not be helping our seafarers.
Nowadays one cannot deny the widespread use of social media and the fact that they have find their way even in the Maritime Industry. Mark Clark, Director of Navigate Response wrote an interesting article regarding how social media can be used for the benefit of a shipping company. So you don’t work for a major shipping company, and you don’t have several thousand pounds to spend on large broadsheet adverts which showed your non existent links to the Olympic Games? Panic not, there is still hope to get the message out that you ship short sea aggregates from the UK to Europe, or run reefer ships to the West Coast of Africa, and are looking to build your customer base.
Last August SHIPSERV launched its 3rd Internet and Social Media survey. SHIPSERV annual survey is a real barometer of digital use in the maritime industry with the aim of building an understanding of how trends in business-to-business e-commerce and social media are impacting the maritime sector. The survey aims to collect opinions both online and offline from purchasing managers and suppliers from the world’s leading shipowners, managers and suppliers. For this year’s survey questions have been added about social media usage and its development, as there has been a marked increase in the use of these platforms by shipping companies. This year’s survey can be found HERE.
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Officer of the Watch 