I consider myself a fairly tech-savvy person (or at least a tech-gadgety person). I sport an iPad, an iPhone, a Droid phone and multiple other devices. In fact, when I travel, I practically have a separate suitcase for my chargers (and it doesn't fit under the seat). I have a facebook account, a linkedin account, my own website (albeit dormant), but I have personally shied away from social media. Why? For a few reasons - in the corporate world, most employers don't appreciate extracurricular commentary, especially when you want to talk about "business" and secondly, you worry that you won't have anything to say.

One of the many fun things about working at SAS is that participating in work-related social media outlets is strongly encouraged. Awesome - I'm good with the whole blogging thing and I’ve really enjoyed both sharing and interacting with the external insurance analytic community through this medium. But what about this Twitter thing? First of all, how on earth am I going to condense my thoughts into 140 characters or less? Well, I'm going to give it a shot. I am inspired by my co-workers at SAS who enthusiastically work to get the message out there. One of the great things about social media is that we have a forum to contribute, share and consume all kinds of thought provoking content from our personal, professional, and even commercial relationships. I'm looking forward to this "new" way of communicating.

Of course, I wouldn't be writing this post if I wasn't going to tie this back to the industry I cover - insurance. As I set up my Twitter account and was learning the ropes, and wanting to subscribe to industry happenings in insurance, I checked out insurance on Twitter. The #insurance tag, among other things, includes three insurance companies: Allstate, Travelers and PEMCO. As boring as you think insurance tweets are i was pleasantly surprised to find the tweets offered sage safety advice as well as communiqués to and from customers. But will this be an imporant or preferred communication channel for them now and in the future? Guess you'll just have to follow me and find out.

I'd better stop now - I'm pretty sure I've exceeded the recommended word count for this post.

#SAS #analytics #insurance @raltsimmons

TTFN!