tweet tweet

well of late i've been twittering quite a lot..

a. don get the time to write long blogs

b. feel like sharing info with all..

c. don use facebook for sharing this info.. (u don go on a double-date with your boss.. u take along your buddy)

well then y iam writing in here today??

hmmm...

my bestest friend works with an IT co. in Japan..

Japan happens to have the biggest users of twitter outside USA..

n this guy doesn't use twitter?? well din came as a surprise for me..

u can take a guy out of India..but not India out of a guy..

ok..seriously.. i tried selling him the idea of signing up for twitter.. but not the ol' fashioned way that itz the 'in' thing.. but becoz it actually is Useful..(that's y i like twitter)

as in u can search n find about the stuff you really interested in...

n ya one would be surprised with the kind of useful stuff u can come across..

so ..let's see if he heeds my advice n lets see what he thinks of it..

many of my friends..actually most... who have signed up.. rarely use it.. rather not at all..

the major blame goes to twitter itself.. coz these guys don know what to do.. n how it could help..

not everyone goes on tweetdeck n other such applications to make it simpler.. itz twitter who have to provide useful applications..

for im sure most would agree.. had it not been for some innovative thinkers n early adapters.. twitter by itself wouldn't have been anywhere close to what it is today...

n it can't piggyback itself on someone else's shoulders..

come on you lil bird u gotta fly by urself n learn to hunt alone...

the marketer of the decade award goes to - YOU

Ya it's you who is the most sought after marketer of the decade..

well Time magazine didn't just name "YOU" the person of the year for nothing..

It's all because it "YOU" who updates his/her staus on FB.. It's YOU who's like and dislikes make others follow suit(ur friends... n hence the co.'s themselves)

It's your voice within those 140 characters sets the tone of the things to come and the things to "follow"

With the new media plastering itself deep into the social fabric of life it is "YOU" who makes or breaks a brand.. It is your voice that make a simple company from a litle town reach out to the world and it is your RT's which make their voice resonate all around.

So with any product , any company, brand today YOU has the power to reach out to millions.

So Nexus One dosen't need to even be launched before YOU make it a tending topic (on twitter) .. a NaNo dosen't need to be advertised for YOU know it all too well..

Now companies don't just have to acknowledge your tastes and preferences companies have to acknowledge YOU as a marketing partner.

P.S. when will Indian co.'s wake up to realize this..

happy new year people..

new year brings new hopes ... new beginings ... new approaches .. new ideas..

for me personally there is always a transition... to something better..if not new..

here's cheers for hope for peace n prosperity all around..

amen

What social media has done to us…

2 things i hated... but did the most in 2009

a. Facebook

b. Twitter

But now i just love them.. (twitter takes the 1st position)

so where are they heading for...

Facebook crossed the 350 million mark..every day users spend 8 billion mins. on fb \,post 45 mil status updates..i actually contribute 120 mins.. :) n u??

So what does it hold for marketers??

Well if u want to promote urself ... be out there on facebook.. even a small restaurant can advertise there n reach out to it's target audience.. for as low as 1$ a day..

it gives you a platform whre the customer reach out to you .. n can have a meaningful converstation.. so hey u CEO do create a page out there on fb n start connecting wth ur customers at a personal level..

well facebook is on a roll...worldwide spending on Facebook is expected to reach $435 million in 2009 and $605 million in 2010..

n Twitter has been on a steady rise..it has had more than 7 billion tweets .. check the real-time figures on http://popacular.com/gigatweet/

but there has been some sort of stagnation in twitters growth http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/12/22/the-world-is-flat-for-twitter-as-in-global-growth-has-stalled/

n it is a tough road ahead for twitter in terms of makin money,,

they must definitely look at creating their own applications.. n can earn revenue thorough ads when one goes on the application page... i definitely not recommend ads on the user pages..

there are zillions of applications out there based on twitter... so it's far better that twitter itself monetize the opportunities that lay in front of it...

but y do we spend soo much time on these sites...

well for me i use fb to play games...first it was poker... nw cafe world n stuff..

i rarely use it to intreact wth people...(thou undoubtedly itz the place if i wanna check someone out or reach out to)

n i use twitter to search n knw more abt the things i like... (i have almost stopped using google, blv me)

nw I don have to even login to techcrunch or google blog .. or nasa’s blog

.. I just get updated through twitter n if something interest’s me i just go on tha link..

actually some of the saddest news I heard was thru fb n twitter..

RIP MJ … n RIP Asheem da

Okay so yes twitter keeps me updated .. what’s more to offer??

Well use the search..

U knw .. try n search for mundane things like office furniture n u'll find :

a. people willing to give away furniture for free...NGO's can use this

b. people wondering from where n what furniture to buy.. co.'s can use this

go try out something really crazy .. n do share that with me..

was surprised myself to see that 90% co.'s promoting there hardware stuff like hand tools , garden tools etc. wre from India.. n they actually got leads...

I actually got to knw the abt a restaurant in Delhi which serves some of the best Indian cuisine .. from a German guy who had tweeted abt it..

when i don use them(fb n twitter) for work... i use them for fun...

n this"fun" tha i get out of them is wha keeps me hooked...

The other thing I really used on the net was stumbleupon …

Itz just wow… try it people.. it let’s u see the sites ..the webpages .. on the topics which interest u .. n u’ll get to see some amzin relevant stuff which otherwise you wouldn’t have come across on the net,, no amount of googling can yield the same results..

So 2009 has been an interesting year.. n ya social media sites have changed a lot… for the better… now let’s see what’s in store for us in 2010…

So Nokia will go bust!!!!!

Well i ain't sayin this..

MY very good friend says this..let's see why??

Well he owns a Nokia N92( communicator) n one fine day he drops it(keep this in mind)

now some part gets broken from inside.. so he gives it to the Nokia service center to get it repaired..

now it takes them more than a week to reapair n return his phone.. they had promised it'll be done within three days..

now can u stay without your phone?? ..which has all your contacts n other info for a day..

let alone a week.. no doubt my friend was infuriated..

so, while getting the delivery of his phone he writes on the feedback form that he's not satisfied with the service... n forget's all about it( no co. actually goes through the forms)

surprise !! surprise!! (actualy shock in his own words)

he get a call from Nokia..ya.. u heard right..

ok so whatz the big deal.. they ask him some lame questions.. n he states clearly that he was quite discomforted becoz of the delay...

so the Nokia promises that something will defntly done to compensate him..

( well promises are meant to be broken..aren't they)

shock!! shock!!

he gets another call a day after.. n guess what??

Nokia replaces his phone for a brand new one albeit battery..

ya .. this is a true story..

n before telling all this to me .. my friend said" Nokia is gonna go bust "

no prizes for guessing y??

Disclaimer: i've always used a Nokia phone.. n i love them...

Snail Mail form......Google!!!!!

Yup.. i got a snail mail from google.. actually it was addressed to my dad..

He runs a typical small scale business here in India, n the mail(letter) was from the GoogleAdswords..with a promotional offer..

Wonderful , i said as i opened the letter n showed to my dad..
Something i had been trying to cox him into ... to advertise on google..

Now this is something very imp and unique.. google is a co. which is today
a synonym for "web search" n they using something as far away from Internet as electricity is from my home town meerut..

The thing is ..India is unique market which provides unique opportunities
that we marketers need to tap n not grumble about..

people like my dad who are business owners( he's an exporter) still live a
century away from the net..
but not from good business logic..

Try n have a look at Indiamart.com .. it has co.'s registered on the site which have a turnover of less than 10,000 $ a year.. but Indiamart a typical e-commerce website has used traditional marketing channels to promote themselves ... and yes it has been damn successful ..

I wish alibaba was doing the same in India.. (can u think of more such co.'s??.. there are many)

K now google has my dad's attention ... i just hope he call the no. given in the letter.. as he would need assistance for running the ads...as he can't use the net to check his mails let alone go through the whole process of creating an ad online..

hence .. a 360 degree approach is what works best in India... with Internet just beginning to gain prominence for e-commerce( i say this because the size of e-commerce is minuscule compared to what it would be) all parties involved..be it the websites or the brands..they have to reach out to their customers in a way that leads to better engagement with their targeted audience,
n proper marketing mix is a must for tapping the vast market out here in India...

i remember registering on eBay n getting a letter from them...
Now maybe i'll get a letter from facebook one day??
u never know.. but i'll be really glad..

What Shiv Sena does is none of my business!!!!

It surely isn't ...that's y these hooligans enjoy a free run under the sun... they'll go about beating anybody... i must myself go underground ... for they'll be infuriated with what i have to say....



What Shiv Sena has just done .. going out thrashing Media persons is the right thing to do ... we people desreve this... for we are the ones that have made SS what it is today...



Do u really think anythin will happen to Bal Thackeray after this ,,, none...

There'll be a few arrests .. n then it'll be investigated... investigation is actually a pun for .. matter being thrown out of the window....



Shiv Sena wants to rid mumbai off it outsiders...

Mumbai actually wants to rid itself off Shiv Sena..



they'll say - he's an outsider(read not born in Maharashtra) .. i'll add tha i hav'nt been to mumbai more than twice...



but does us being outsider stop us from commenting about Kashmir... how many of us have been to Srinagar let alone ..anywhere else in Kashmir...



Sena Bhaiyo - Mumbai is as much mine as it is yours ... im lucky i was born in India...

but u rather make this ur disadvantage...n remain a king of ur castle...



but the irony is .. we know Shiv Sena is bad...

ppl will still vote for Shiv Sena... they'll still run riot ..some like me will write against what these hooligans will do... but none will stand up against them,,,( of'couse not me)



so what can we do..... whn all politicians r crooks....(Shiv Sena , MNS, BSP, SP, BJP, Congress, CPI....look at me trying to be politically correct by includin all i can remember..P.S. - AIADMK)



1st - we must all vote

2nd - we must vote for the one who is less of a crook... n not becoz he/she is of our cast....

3rd - we all cant go agnst the big crooks like bal or raj Thackeray .. but we can turn the tide against a small pawn ... from our locality .. or our community... remember the bal's of the world don't go out and break things... it is ppl like u n me ... ur frnd ur brother ... who due to the Adrenalin of youth take such anti-social steps...

it may not seem much... or may seem unfeasible .. but if we add up ... then we can make a difference...





i might wake up tomorrow n forget all this...

So next time anyone runs riot... blame me ... n also remember to blame yourself