The 20 Best ITSM People to Follow on Twitter

A few months back there was a lot of social love for a report that listed the top 100 IT service management (ITSM) “influencers.” As to whether the listed individuals are really influencers is open to debate, but I do know that I learn a lot via Twitter. So, I wrote my first draft of this blog and scheduled it for publication. Then Cherwell’s Alida Mooreston created a far more thoughtful and detailed “influencers” list (than the aforementioned one) – 25 IT Service Management Experts to Watch in 2017. As my UK friends would say: “You wait an hour for a bus, then three come along at once.” But since Twitter is definitely a preferred social network for so many in the ITSM industry looking to learn (I, for one, can often “feel” like I’m at an industry conference by simply following the designated Twitter hashtag), I thought I’d still publish my blog about who I see as some of the most valuable and prolific ITSM Twitter users (aka “tweeters”). There’s quite an overlap with Alida’s list, which has to be a good thing… but please don’t think that I’ve been copying!

Before I continue, however, I need to state my Twitter “position” – that I’m not currently particularly overactive in the Twitterverse, and my views are formed from my lurking in the background rather than by my interactions with people. Twitter, and the tweets of these people in particular, has taught me so much about both the ITSM industry and how to best use this social medium.

20 of the Best ITSM People to Follow on Twitter

Firstly, I want to explain that my list is just people not corporate accounts. Some people will of course have company allegiances (don’t we all?) but they don’t use their Twitter account to hard sell you anything, other than good ITSM stuff. There’s no science to it, other than appreciating what these people are tweeting. And, in addition to the quality of what they share, you can feel as though you know the person somehow – they are more than a faceless tweet machine. I, of course, follow many more people, many of whom I did think of including, but I had to factor in people’s current tweeting cadence in deciding who would make my final 20. So I hope some of my ITSM friends don’t take it personally if they’re not on the list :).

The list is in alphabetical order and, depending on when you find and read this blog, circumstances might have changed over time:

1. Claire Agutter – she’s one of the busiest people in ITSM, playing a number of different roles, but she still gets her social on.
2. Aprill Allen – there’s a reason her Twitter handle is @knowledgebird.
3. Roy Atkinson – he has two Twitter accounts (@HDI_Analyst and @RoyAtkinson), so choose the one that suits your ITSM and help desk interests best (or both if you are feeling greedy).
4. Breed Barrett – the lovely Breed tweets a varied mix of content from the @MacantaConsult
5. Earl Begley – he’s the Jedi master of finding interesting ITSM articles and blogs to share.
6. Alan Berkson – he definitely has a customer service and emerging support technology slant if you like that stuff.
7. Daniel Breston – he loves mixing his Agile, Lean, and DevOps with ITSM.
8. Stevie Chambers – he’s not really ITSM-focused but he’ll get you thinking about cloud and DevOps in particular.
9. John Custy – he tweets what he finds interesting – and he finds a lot of ITSM stuff interesting.
10. Sophie Danby – she might be pretending to know about IT (and ITSM), but she still shares some good stuff.
11. Rob England (the IT Skeptic) – I believe that not following Rob is the ITSM equivalent of being an ostrich with its head in the ground.
12. Matt Hooper – a man of many talents, and interests, which is reflected in his tweets.
13. Joe the IT Guy – he might be a puppet but he definitely has his finger on the social ITSM pulse.
14. Kaimar Karu – he’s a very busy man, with steering the good ship ITIL, who still finds time to tweet good stuff and to occasionally disagree with people.
15. Stephen Mann – try spotting the good stuff among the occasional customer service failure moans.
16. Sanjeev NC – he might work for an(other) ITSM tool vendor but he shows his peers how to do the virtuous tweeting well, particularly at ITSM events.
17. Barclay Rae – it’s tweets from the father of #ITSMgoodness and itSMF UK CEO.
18. Stuart Rance – it’s Stuart Rance, there’s nothing else that needs saying. It’s Stuart Rance!
19. Greg Sanker – THE Twitter destination for words of ITSM wisdom in 140 characters or less.
20. Paul Wilkinson – never one to shy away from an issue, Paul challenges the status quo and shares interesting content in equal measure.

So, that’s my list of 20 great ITSM tweeters – who do you think I missed?