Mark Schmid from the TalkTalk Blog goes 60 seconds with Chris Marling, editor at Broadband Genie, the UK’s longest running dedicated broadband comparison website. Chris oversees news and editorial at the consumer-focused site, and also looks after the site’s forum where readers’ broadband questions are answered.
What is your favourite money saving tip?
Do your research and try to start early and take your time. It can take time to find the right deal, maybe a few attempts looking around online, so don’t rush your decision.
What was your first experience of the web?
It was probably 1996. I went to university as a mature student in Nottingham, which had rooms where you could sit online 24/7. It completely blew me away. I remember playing an early online game, The Realm, chatting to people all over the world. Some of them are still friends now.
What’s your biggest web annoyance?
Can I say comparison sites?! Unfortunately for every good one such as ours, which are up to date and offer consumers a really helpful, useful experience, there are two awful ones that give the rest of us a bad name. It’s a real shame.
What are your views on social networking?
It’s a handy tool, but I’ve grown up without it so it hasn’t taken over my life. It’s going to be fascinating to see how it affects the next few generations as far as social interaction goes, but as long as people are still having to go to school and love things such as live music and live sport, it’s not going to end up in some horribly dark sci-fi scenario quite yet. It can really bring some folks out of themselves too: I know some really shy people, and others with serious physical disabilities, who have found a real second life online.
What is your favourite website and why?
Probably Wikipedia. A dull answer perhaps, but it’s so incredibly useful to a journalist. As long as you use it as a source to go forth and find out more – its a brilliant start to most fact finding missions – and not the be all and end all. A few years ago I probably would’ve said MySpace, but it is just impossibly bloated and deformed now.
How long have your worked at Broadband Genie?
I’ve been here since January. It’s a really creative environment, with a tremendous feeling of forward motion. Having worked in print for almost ten years beforehand, which can be a little set in its ways, it’s liberating.
If you didn’t work at Broadband Genie, what would be your dream job?
Evil genius. Or novelist. Probably the latter, as I could work from home somewhere nice, instead of an underground bunker or extinct volcano. My conviction about writing changes depending on who I’m reading. If I’m reading someone I really respect, I give up on the idea – until I read something by someone like Dan Brown and think, ‘I could do that’.
What’s the best way of getting in touch with Broadband Genie?
Drop us an email (feedback@genieventures.co.uk), or if you’ve got a broadband problem you can ‘ask the genie’ by heading to our ‘community’ section. We’ve got broadband experts who will answer pretty much every technical question we get from visitors, if one of our other readers doesn’t get there first.
Twitter or Facebook?
For personal use, Facebook; for work, Twitter. Facebook has genuinely got me back in contact with people and that makes it worthwhile in itself. I’ve moved around the country a lot and I’m a very sociable person, so it’s hard to keep up with everyone you want to. As for Twitter, I didn’t like it as a personal thing, but it’s proving a useful and enjoyable tool in the office.
Have you ever Googled yourself?
It’s an occupational hazard I’m afraid. I do a lot of PR for Broadband Genie, in which I’m quoted, so I need to keep an eye on what coverage we get. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it! There seems to be a very good angler in America who shares my name, which is annoying – I keep getting his Google alerts.
How many computers do you have in your household?
Just a PC, plus my work laptop. I use two monitors at work though, and I miss that when I’m at home, so I might treat myself.
Where do you get more news content – newspapers or the web?
Online. As much as I’d love to plough through the papers each day, I simply don’t have the time – or money! There is still something thoroughly satisfying about reading the papers, especially at the weekend, but for practical purposes online has taken over.
Do you stream music across the internet via sites like LastFM or Spotify? If so, which is your favourite?
Spotify is tremendous. I didn’t buy into the LastFM thing – it seemed a bit involved and overly geeky. Spotify has simplified things beautifully.
What was the first computer you or your family owned?
I go way back, I’m afraid. I had an Atari 2600 console back in the day, before moving on to a ZX Spectrum and then an Amiga. I didn’t buy my own PC until I left university in 1998, mainly because I couldn’t be without the internet!
Do you have a landline telephone at home?
Absolutely, because as much as I’d like to rely on mobile broadband it isn’t an option for someone with very heavy usage. I work from home quite often too, so need an unlimited, fast service to justify that.
Which do you think you’d struggle most to give up, your mobile phone or the internet?
The internet, without a doubt – I’d be without a job, two hobbies (I write for music websites, as well as dabbling in some online gaming) and a host of other things. I got by without a mobile phone for ages, and could again, quite comfortably – it’s merely a convenience. But the internet has changed everything.
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