Sean Feeney
Architect of the digital age

Technology Evangelism

29 January 2008

The latest buzzword among web 2.0 experts is “evangelism.” As is often the case in this industry, they get to pick their own title, and many are opting for “Web 2.0 Evangelist.” This has been common for a few years now, but I noticed today that it’s starting to spread out to more traditional desktop positions: Adobe now has an AIR Evangelist. AIR does revolve around Internet collaboration, but it’s focused at RIA for the desktop. Since the desktop is becoming more web-enabled, and many see the future in a “Connected OS”, can we expect to see more desktop software companies hiring evangelists for their latest projects? And are the web 2.0 evangelists to blame?

In case you don’t know what the evangelist position is, it is typically an internal “marketing” position in or close to the IT department (or at least the CTO/CIO) with the duty of being the advocate for the use of the technology he or she is evangelizing - usually web 2.0 technologies. They’re expected to be an “expert” in the use of that technology, someone able to see where it could help and where it could hurt.

What are your thoughts? Should the industry continue down the evangelism path or return to more traditional titles? Post a comment.

Posted in buzzwords, industry, jobs, positions, titles