Mark Gibbs

For more than 25 years, Mark Gibbs has done just about everything in the networking business short of hacking into NORAD. He worked as an executive in various companies, has created companies, and has consulted on product and service development for many businesses. As an author he has written four books and numerous articles about networking and computer technology. Gibbs has been a regular contributor to Network World since 1995 and pens (well, keyboards) the weekly Backspin and Gearhead columns as well as the twice-weekly Web Applications Newsletter. He also writes a blog called, with amazing creativity, Gibbsblog. For more detail on the man behind the myth please see here.

Recent articles by Mark Gibbs

Why a social networking strategy is needed

February 09, 2010

When I'm not being a journalist and leaping wide clauses in a single bound or moving faster than a speeding cursor, I adopt my alternate persona: Mark Gibbs, mild-mannered consultant. Well, perhaps not so mild-mannered.

YouTube worth watching

February 08, 2010

Gibbs wants to watch the sausage making of the law in action as it happens, no matter where it happens. When will the Supremes let him?

What your browser says about you

February 04, 2010

Mark Gibbs discusses online privacy and using the EFF's Panopticlick finds out that his online activities potentially aren't as private as he might have hoped.

Is Twitter losing its luster?

February 02, 2010

One of the biggest questions about social networking and the services that enable it is whether the whole concept has durability and what kind of durability that might be; in other words, is social networking a really long term transformative trend, a bridge to some other pattern of user interaction, or simply a passing fad?

Is Twitter losing its luster?

February 02, 2010

One of the biggest questions about social networking and the services that enable it is whether the whole concept has durability and what kind of durability that might be; in other words, is social networking a really long term transformative trend, a bridge to some other pattern of user interaction, or simply a passing fad?

You'll never guess what this week's topic is ¿

January 29, 2010

How could Mark Gibbs resist writing about the Apple iPad? He couldn't.

Annoyed and disappointed

January 27, 2010

Mark Gibbs downgrades a tool after using it seriously, and finds another utility that leaves him cold.

Customer service, Get Satisfaction

January 26, 2010

Last week here in the Network World Web Applications Alert newsletter I discussed some key issues that drive successful customer service and mentioned Get Satisfaction, a Web application that provides an outsourced customer service platform.

Shift happens and reality doesn't go away

January 22, 2010

The New York Times plans to stop letting you get its content for free but the world has changed and its plan will fail. They should read more history.

A couple of follow-ups and syncing IMAP servers

January 20, 2010

Mark Gibbs follows up on two items from the last couple of weeks and finds a cool tool for synchronizing IMAP accounts.