David Bowen commentaries

In his regular columns for the Financial Times and ft.com, senior consultant David Bowen has pursued themes ranged from customer relationship management and career marketing to ‘ethical’ retailing and royal family sites. His collected Financial Times and ft.com columns from January 2001 onward are indexed by theme and available for viewing on this site.

You can access articles directly by selecting a link below.

  • How do you meet the website challenge? Web managers confront common issues on their own diverse turfs, but our research into their site traffic reveals much about the collective response, Dan Drury says.
  • Which six issues you should be talking about Web managers never face an empty in-tray, but beyond its day-to-day cares they are also confronted with an agenda of fundamental questions, David Bowen says.
  • How to resist the seven-year twitch The world’s affair with Twitter began seven years ago this month. The birds lost a word for the chatter they make, but how can other communicators gain, David Bowen asks.
  • When to intervene on Wikipedia The online encyclopedia is a universal reference tool that can colour reputations – but beware its Siren song of editable entries, Scott Payton says.
  • What if ExxonMobil decided to dance? In the internet jungle the sometime biggest corporate elephant of them all currently lies asleep, but if it ever wakes up to the medium, look out, says David Bowen.
  • How whitehouse.gov is changing with the times Barack Obama begins a second term as US president with an official website that has made noteworthy progress between inaugurations, Scott Payton says.
  • When the business web goes wrong Companies should resolve to give up the five cardinal sins of online corporate communications if they wish to be effective in the new year, David Bowen says.
  • How to keep command of online communications The key to controlling the proliferation of online media and not being controlled by it can be found in a 10-point agenda for enlightened governance, says David Bowen.
  • How to get ahead of the trends Online managers at the inaugural Web Effectiveness Conference US debated three key issues dominating the development of their sites, Scott Payton reports
  • How the White House is being won From e-mail via Twitter to mobile sites and apps, online channels are playing as never before in this year’s US presidential election campaign, Scott Payton says.

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Comment: How do you meet the website challenge?

Web managers confront common issues on their own diverse turfs, but our research into their site traffic reveals much about the collective response, Dan Drury says. more...