Make friends via Social Media

There has been a change in the way the world makes friends. Thanks to social media and web 2.0! Notice how your parents made those very few special friends. They made friends with the girl/boy down the lane, or people they met during school and college. And they mastered the art of making friends with ease. (My mom's closest friends are the ones she met in college...) With the coming of social media and technological advancement, we accept and reject friend requests instantly!

Social networking sites such as Orkut and Facebook are a hit with Indian youngsters. These sites put you on cloud nine, when you see the number of friend requests that come your way. (Many have met their school friends and have arranged reunions. Thanks to Orkut and Facebook!) It also annoys you and brings in a whole lot of competition among friends and relatives! (Facebook poke, hit, slap...and the friend requests on Orkut “Hey am so on and so...can we be friends??) Have you realized that you are posting on people's wall with whom you have just exchanged greetings during college days! What an irony!
Microblogging sites such as Twitter lets one 'follow' and 'unfollow' people. Tweeting thoughts in140 characters or less is an art that youngsters are getting hooked to.

Also friends exchange images frequently over social networking sites such as Facebook which lets you' tag' friends. Does it invoke feelings of jealousy? The updates on Facebook profiles have often made your day but have broken the hearts of your friends and relatives. (A Facebook update showing you are on a 15 day trip to Egypt will not go down too well with your relatives!)

Communication has changed over the years and the fact that social media is here to stay makes it all the more challenging. It is a two-way medium with messages being exchanged faster than ever before but all you psychology students out there are interested in the body language and the personality of an individual rather than updates and posts. There are a majority of people who get out of their boredom managing Internet relationships. Consider, for example, how people you know often seem different online displaying sides of their personalities you have never seen before. Do you see some of your friends show a different side of their personality? Are they aggressive? Are they saying things that they would not otherwise? Do they seem new to you? Welcome to the whole new world of making friends online!


Source: Online.wsj

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Jai Ho for Slumdog Millionaire at the Oscars

“It felt like an Indian movie awards function”
-Anil Kapoor

And why not?! Slumdog Millionaire – a movie that has an almost all-Indian cast and crew swept 8 awards of its 10 nominations at the Oscar night. It was a moment of pride for every Indian to see Rahman and Resul Pookutty walk the stage to receive their awards. It was heartwarming when Anil Kapoor, Dev Patel, Freida Pinto and the amazing child artists were up on the stage to accept the Best Picture Award, along with Danny Boyle. It was a night that belonged to Indian talent.

Yet the Indian audience’s opinion on Slumdog’s success is divided. While to many it’s a masterpiece, many others found the film to be nothing more than a feel-good movie. Though Slumdog tries to depict the morbid and dark side of life existing in India, yet its underlying theme of “from rags to riches” brings in an element of fantasy to the plot.
On the other hand, some opine, that there are many Indian films which are far better in their depiction of real India than the much praised Slumdog Millionaire.

For instance Parzania, Mr. and Mrs. Iyer, A Wednesday – all present to you a slice of life from today’s India. Another film worth mentioning is Barah Aana, which I was lucky enough to watch at the Pune International Film Festival.

Barah Aana is a comedy of real life, set in today’s Mumbai. The story revolves around three unlikely friends - a driver (Naseeruddin Shah), a watchman (Vijay Raaz), and a waiter (Arjun Mathur) – who are pushed to their moral edge by the overwhelming inequality which they face every day, be it social or economic.

A gripping plot, dark comedy, high production values and great performances mark this 97 minutes flick. Naseeruddin Shah is a treat to watch. He doesn't speak through most of the movie, yet his presence fills up the screen. He conveys so much with his eyes and the way he moves. It's a subtle but powerful performance. And when he does speak, what a moment it creates! It’s perhaps one of his best performances ever. Though the film is yet to release in India, you can know more about the movie at http://barah-aana-the-film.blogspot.com/

Already Barah Aana has received a favourable response from the audience and the film critics at the Film Festivals. I only hope that on releasing too, it gets the same if not better accolades and reviews as Slumdog Millionaire. It’s a great year to celebrate talent; starting with AR Rahman and continuing to veterans like Naseerudin Shah for Barah Aana….Amen!

The viral power of Facebook

Facebook has done it again this time with pink chaddi campaign. The attack on girls in Mangalore pub led many bloggers to write against Ram Sene. First it was started as a blog by Nisha Susan, a journalist with tehelka. The idea was to send some ‘love’ to Sri Ram Sene chief Pramod Muthalik, in the form of pink underwear. The campaign was then extended as a Facebook group. Later on many journalists and online campaigners joined the group and over 39,000 people responded. “The kind of mobilisation we got from our blog and Facebook group wouldn’t have come about if we had staged a dharna,” says Isha Manchanda, Susan’s colleague and campaign officer.

Facebook has created good buzz to mobilise public interests campaign at short notice. Marketers now have realized the power of various internet tools that can generate buzz about the product. The viral marketing is on the roll as it is easier and quicker to generate buzz. The Mumbai campaign and this recent pink chaddi campaign show that cyber activism can make noise on streets and kick up some real dirt as well.

The Twitter Revolution

Social messaging has taken a whole new form with the advent of the Twitter revolution. The most recent and popular examples of how effective Twitter has been can be seen in the twitter activity for Obama’s Presidential Campaign and the Mumbai terror attacks.

As LA Times reported – “During the attacks, users from around the world posted tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of short notes, updates, musings and links to the latest information on Mumbai — many, if not most, of the facts coming from mainstream news outlets.”

Another interesting story is how James Karl, a student , ‘twittered’ his way out of Egyptian Jail. He was arrested while covering an anti government protest. A one word twitter update sent by him got his friends alerted and eventually led to his rescue.

The fastest and simplest way to connect with an audience, Twitter has grown from being just a social messaging tool to a powerful business tool.

Online shoe retailer Zappos has experienced how Twitter has been helpful in the brand building process for the company. To quote Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos – “I've talked a lot in the past about how we've used Twitter at Zappos for building more personal connections with both our employees and our customers. In fact, we recently debuted on FORTUNE MAGAZINE's annual "100 BEST COMPANIES TO WORK FOR" list, and they began and ended the article talking about our use of Twitter to build more personal connections with people. That in itself is its own reward that has both personal and business benefits.”

The concept of ‘twittering’ has been criticised by many but maybe following certain rules will help in using Twitter to your advantage. Here are some tips from pearlanalytics on how Twitter can be used as a viable marketing tool –

1.Post something useful. You see a lot of people tweeting play-by-plays of what they had for lunch. Quite frankly, no one really cares, and you are simply clogging up my timeline. Tweet a link to an interesting article you found, or a poll question, a new blog posting, or in my case, I like to tweet Website Analyzer scores that were recently run.
2. Don’t spam people. Twitter’s version of spam is you going out and following a bunch of people you don’t know for any reason, and hoping they will follow you back. Your followers will should grow organically. There is nothing wrong with following people with similar interests, but let them know how you found them.
3. Update moderately, but consistently. I think of Tweeting like blogging. You wouldn’t fill up your blog with hundreds of meaningless posts, right? Don’t over-tweet, but don’t under-tweet either. 5-10 tweets per day seems like a good number, and if you are posting meaningful stuff people care about, that is probably a tough goal.
4. Don’t use Twitter to chat. Some get confused between Twitter and chat. Don’t have a one-on-one conversation with your buddy - no one will know what you are talking about, so the more of that you do, the less they will pay attention to your tweets, and will likely “un-follow” you.

So, if you haven’t joined the Twitter bandwagon yet, you might be missing something.

MTV Roadies makes it big on web 2.0

What’s the latest buzz? Do I hear the vroom of a speeding bike or is it the latest marketing strategy of Roadies 6.0? Yes. You read it right. The most popular show on MTV India, Roadies is back in action and boy did it not become the hottest talk of the town!

The credit goes to its seamless use of media that was strategically utilized to create a buzz around the show. The effort began way back in mid 2008 when Roadies 5.0 was introduced at an international platform.

TribalDDB, the marketing and creative agency of MTV India was looking at new media avenues to market the show. And for the first time, the show successfully capitalized on the emerging social media in the country.

The Internet was used extensively to promote the game show. About Roadies’ online strategy Aditya Swamy, vice-president, marketing, MTV India, said “A lot of the youth are online now and we needed to target them on this medium. For the first time, we conducted auditions online, and for the first time, we have created a dedicated website.”

Moving on to 2009, Roadies 6.0 – Hell Down Under has further utilized social media to its advantage. It penetrated the most effective of networking sites to keep the buzz alive about the show.

Spearheading this campaign was Orkut (voted by MTV as the Youth Icon for 2008). MTV came up with its official community in Orkut, which attracted thousands of members. Soon, a dedicated community for Roadies followed it. Today the count of members on both these sites together has surpassed two lakhs! Even Facebook has an official page and fan page for Roadies.

The next step was to introduce the Roadies Battleground – an online and highly interactive model of the main game. Thousands of participants enrolled themselves and tried their luck at the game. Through this Orkut application, the idea was to not only introduce a new twist in the scheme of things but to also generate word-of mouth publicity among youth.

Added to this effort were other things such as Orkut themes, initiating discussions, blogs etc. MTV also tied up with Zapak to introduce micro gaming sites. Another major way to spread the buzz was by uploading viral videos. Behind-the-camera action, uncut scenes, cheat codes etc were made available on social networking sites to keep the youth involved with the show. There isn’t one online channel which MTV India and Roadies have not tapped into, to their advantage.

The Web 2.0 campaign was well backed with MTV’s offline marketing activities. Through a synchronized offline-online communication plan, MTV managed to keep the buzz alive for their hugely popular reality show, even when the program was not running. Constant repeat runs of the show, launching the cheat code, and involving ex-roadies on shows like MTV Splitsvilla help keep the Roadie spirit alive. And not to mention, the cash register ringing!

Social Media has definitely grown in power. Gradually every marketing agency is coming to understand its importance in the field of communication. A bit of creativity and a little of sound strategy is all that it takes to create a BIG BUZZ on the web. And like the Roadies … bigger the buzz … better the results!