Tales from The Engine Room

In this episode of Tales from the Engine Room, host Caroline Beavon interviews Tom Buck, the founder of Fair Internet Report.

Tom shares his journey of creating websites that analyse mobile broadband speeds in the UK, starting with his frustrations about certain network coverage areas. His entrepreneurial spirit drives him to find ways to monetize the websites, which involves incorporating mobile phone deals that visitors might find beneficial.

Tom discusses the utilization of open data from sources like Measurement Labs (M-Lab), and he emphasises the challenges of making such massive datasets comprehensible and accessible to the general public. An interesting discussion on the unpredictability of SEO leads to Tom expressing his skepticism towards those who over-promise on SEO capabilities.

The conversation transitions to the challenges and benefits Tom experiences due to his position on the autism spectrum, including his difficulty in writing compelling copy for his websites. Tom mentions his reliance on AI tools, specifically ChatGPT, to help him create more engaging content. These tools alleviate the stress of producing compelling writing, thereby enabling him to focus on data analysis and website development.

Tom offers insights into his work habits, explaining his ability to stay focused on engaging tasks and his tactic of switching to different tasks when one proves too challenging. Lastly, Tom discusses his various projects, the most successful of which, crimerate.co.uk, he developed during a bout of burnout. He talks about the challenges of monetizing the site, given the nature of its content. The future, he hints, might involve exploring the realm of open energy data.

Find out more about Tom's business at https://fairinternetreport.com