Caroline Ritchie: Pope a Twitter fan, bless him

The Pope sent his first tweet last week. It was a wonderful plug for Apple Inc as the world was presented with pictures of him ably scrolling about on a sparkly new iPad 2.
For an institution which has been in business as long as the Vatican, it's a little surprising it's taken this long for tweets to become acceptable.
Free, instant, global and powerful in the right hands, social networking sites must have got the attention of the Church and other big organisations early on. So why the lag to get on the digital-media bandwagon?
The image of conservatism in business must still carry more weight than the potential benefits of a truckload of new-fangled net bites. Or does it?
Have we reached a tipping point of acceptability with the digital age where we not only acknowledge that every business will be online and on message, but expect them to be so as standard?
In a world in which the US president tweets during town hall meetings, it would appear so.
Getting with the Twitter programme is the new black for swanky, smartphone waving executives needing to go forth and disseminate without leaving the room. The biggest question now facing many middle managers is: iPhone or Android?
In news closer to home and just as exciting as the proposed new, tighter All Black jersey, is the earnings momentum building for certain New Zealand companies. Things are starting to hot up with only 70-odd days to go until the Rugby World Cup.
Earnings estimates run from the cautiously optimistic to the arguably impossible - but there is little doubt that an influx of happy overseas supporters will have a swelling effect on the profits of many.
The proof is always in the share price and how much of this optimism turns out to have been already factored in remains to be seen.
The headstrong New Zealand dollar may dent the luxury appetites of previous visitors who, though they find our lamb delicious, might baulk at $42 per head for a rack of the stuff at Euro.
Or maybe not, but the quiet winners may be the essential services, those things one can't get by without, such as airport bars.
Or mobile phone shops, (hundreds of cellphones are lost at rugby matches), or sunglass booths, (sunglasses have the same disappearing qualities as cellphones).
I hope the Rugby World Cup is a big hurrah for New Zealand but an even bigger hurrah for the small-business owner in need a survival boost.
Caroline Ritchie is an investment adviser with Forsyth Barr in Napier. She can be contacted on 0800 367 227 or caroline.ritchie@forsythbarr.co.nz.
Her free disclosure statement is available on request. This column is general in nature and should not be regarded as personalised investment advice.