Check Out These 14 Unsung ITSM Social Influencers

Let’s talk about ITSM social influencers. Not everyone makes the final cut of the increasingly popular IT service management (ITSM) “thought leaders” or “ITSM social influencers” lists. You’ve probably seen the lists that I’m talking about – a list of 20 or 25 people that are “worth a follow” on social media, created by people who may or may not actually pay any attention to the social exploits of the people they list (go figure!).

Thus, like anything in life, the ITSM social influencers lists, and their entries, span the spectrum of “great” to “meh.” In that, they sometimes can get it right, and sometimes you’re left wondering (it’s best that I leave it at that). Plus, there’s always people who miss the ITSM social influencers cut, even when it’s a long list.

The Politics of ITSM People Lists

But sometimes, it can be more complicated than just missing the cut – with other factors coming into play. For instance, being too anti-establishment, working for a competitor (to the list-creating company), not tweeting or blogging enough (but IMO, there’s definitely a case for quality over quantity), not creating personal content to point people to, or simply being a puppet (you know who you are!).

So, this post is “doing the ITSM industry a solid” by highlighting some of the unsung ITSM social influencers based on their Twitter sharing, blogging, or both.

14 People Who Should Make ITSM Social Influencers Lists but Often Don’t

Before you ask, they’re listed in surname-based alphabetical order. Plus, of course, some of these people will have been listed in certain “Top X” industry lists, but they’re still worth calling out here as I consider who I consider unsung ITSM social influencers:

1. Sally Bogg – Sally was an IT manager at Leeds Beckett University who now helps make sure the NHS’s digital capabilities work well.
2. Matthew Burrows – Matthew is a well-respected advisor on SFIA, BSM, ITSM, SIAM, and transformation who usually shares content related to ITSM skills on Twitter.
3. Chris Chagnon – Chris was added to this list in the 2023 update. He’s well known to and loved by HDI members for his ITSM knowledge sharing, but the rest of the world would love him too.
4. Rob England – you might be surprised to see “the artist formerly known as The IT Skeptic” on this list. He’s a prolific tweeter (albeit not always on IT matters), book author, and blogger (and the owner of a very popular blog site that’s still valuable years after he stopped posting to it). Rob will always be one of the main ITSM social influencers, no matter his focus.
5. Ken Gonzalez – Ken, or Kengon to his friends, was swallowed into the belly of Gartner, but now he works for Freshworks he’s tweeting far more.
6. Joe the IT Guy – Joe is the resident blog writer and IT Guy at SysAid, plus one of the most prolific ITSM tweeters and bloggers out there. You can read Joe’s ITSM blog here.
7. Jon Stevens-Hall – like Joe, Jon is a vendor-employed tweeter and a blogger, with his “day job” being a Principal Product Manager at BMC.
8. Nancy Van Elsacker Louisnord – Nancy was President, TOPdesk USA and is now CMO at MANTA. She writes blogs for HDI as well as other sites.
9. Ivor Macfarlane – Ivor is a now semi-retired ITSM industry legend but isn’t the most prolific of tweeters. He does, however, offer up his thoughts, knowledge, and opinions via various blog sites. Here’s an example (and his semi-retirement doesn’t affect him being one of the key ITSM social influencers).
10. Simon Morris – Simon works at ServiceNow and is an all-round helper of others (in life and at work). His blogs are brilliant. Here’s an example.
11. Vawns Murphy – Vawns was a Problem and Change Manager at Micro Focus when this list was first published, i.e. a real ITSM “doer.” She now works for i3works and tweets more, her blogs are always good reads.
12. Greg Sanker – Greg was a CIO at Oregon Department of Administrative Services when this list was first published, now he’s a Director IT Support. He’s also a book author. He tweets some absolute gems about change management and ITSM’s value, although Greg does need to up his blogging game 😊
13. Doug Tedder – Doug is an independent IT consultant who is an infrequent Twitter sharer of ITSM good content. However, he blogs frequently on popular ITSM blog sites.
14. Paul Wilkinson – Paul is a now retired founder and director of Gamingworks, a company that develops business simulations that support organizational change. Paul is great at sharing on Twitter as well as being a frequent blogger (on the people side of ITSM) and a regular presenter at global ITSM events. Even though Paul is now retired he’s still one of our favorite ITSM social influencers.

So that’s my list of 14 people who should make more ITSM Social Influencers lists. Who would you add (and they really do need to regularly tweet and/or blog)? Please let me know your ITSM social influencers in the comments.

This 2018 ITSM social influencers article was updated in 2023.

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