Regular bloggers are used to being asked what they achieve out of blogging. While many bloggers might struggle to identify concrete benefits from their self-publishing, it is not likely to be an issue for Tom Raftery.
A freelance technology consultant since 2004, Raftery can easily claim to be the most influential technology blogger in Ireland. His musings on software and the web are read by high-profile bloggers such as former Microsoft evangelist Robert Scoble and his Naked Conversations co-author Shel Israel.
Raftery's blogging has firmly established him on the tech speaker circuit (he's just back from conferences in Madrid and Copenhagen) and he has successfully branched out into podcasting with his PodLeaders show.
In May last year, Raftery's blog became the focus of a major debate over whether the term Web 2.0 should be trademarked, following a cease and desist he received from lawyers acting on behalf of the conference company of open source advocate Tim O'Reilly, telling him he couldn't use the term in connection with an event he was organising.
The ensuing debate raised Raftery's profile but it's also the quality and consistency of his posts that have made him Ireland's most popular blogger, according to Technorati.
Tom Raftery's Social Media: http://www.tomrafteryit.net
