Social Media


4
Nov 09

Twadka

The trend on the e-street is now all about Twitter. A website using, almost, a global chatting platform to help people connect to others they would not have known otherwise. Companies market jobs, teens talk about their days, and others, just ramble.

Hypothetically speaking, lets have everyone living in Chandigarh active on some social networking site- In this case, lets focus primarily on the Twitter and Facebook concept. The idea may seem far-fetched in, but it will change the way we go about our daily mundane routines. Allow me to elucidate.

Let’s take the Sabzi-Waala (the guy who brings the groceries), the Dhobi (the guy who irons and washes your clothes), the Dhaba-Waala (occasionally where you head for Aloo-Paranthas), the Raddi-Waala (the person who collects all your old newspapers and bottles), and your Safai-Waali (the men/women who keep your house clean). They all build their Facebook and Twitter pages. Lets call these folks ‘Twelpers,’ and we’ll be Hemant (a single, middle-class man, living with his elderly parents).

Now all you’d have to do is add these Twelpers to your personal accounts and follow them. Here’s how your routine would follow in Chandigarh: When you get up in the morning, you’d see Facebook and Twitter updates from the ‘Twelpers,’ followed by Superpokes from your Dhobi and a Tweet ‘@Hemant Clothes ironed and washed. What time is good for delivery? @Dhobi.’ You could revert to his message from your Twitterberry application ‘@Dhobi Arriving home by 5:30pm @Hemant. Send clothes then.’

If the Safai-Waali(a) can’t make it, she/he would Tweet you ‘@Hemant Will be late today. Daughter unwell @Safai-Waali.’ Only moments later, you’d be Tweeted about the rates of groceries, for that day, by the Sabzi-Waala. He’d even click pictures of fresh fruits – from that morning in the Sector 26 Grain Market – with his iPhone and upload them to his Flickr account – so you could see what looks good for the day. He would also use Google Maps on his iPhone to let you determine his location and route. This way you could be at home when he’s around. A typical tweet from him would look like: @Sabzi-Waala #fresh #tomatoes today. #lowprices on #onions @Twelpers26.

The Raddi-Waalas would be the most active Twitter users. They’d tweet daily rates of ‘Raddi’ (similar to stock updates on the news) such as: ‘Newspaper Rs.5/kg :: Bottles Special Rate today Rs.2/bottle.’ And they’d even give special prices to their followers.

As well as, when you’re done partying at a local disc – during the wee hours – you’d send a Tweet to the Dhaba-Waala: ‘@Dhaba-Waala Arriving with 5 #drunk friends. Prepare 20 #aloo-paranthas immediately. #veryhungry @Hemant.’ The Dhaba-Waala would also send Aloo-Parantha Pokes, Sabzi Pokes during lunch hours to your Facebook accounts.

In fact, there would be a Twelper’s group for every sector on Facebook and Twitter. For example: @Twelpers26 and @Twelpers43. So, if you were to move in from another town, all you’d have to do is add the respective Twelper’s group for that sector. Thus, finding a maid, groceries, a reasonable dhobi and aloo-paranthas would become a cake walk.

There would also be reviews on Facebook on which Safai-Waalies (maids) are bad and which Sabzi-Waala (vegetable seller) has the choicest groceries. All the ladies of the sector could even hold regular Tweet-Ups (Twitter folks get together for coffee, usually once a week). Tweet-Up topics can range from blacklisting to endorsing the right people (and this platform would also act as an additional point of gossip).

And finally, apart from the Twelpers, we can also have: @Pooja-Paath (for all news and updates of temples) and even @Geri-Route (get instant feeds on the happenings of the city). This way you’d ensure that all spoiled brats pray before they head out for a day of eve-teasing.

Check out the complete article in The Tribune – Saturday Extra 28 November 2009.


5
Aug 09

Off to WordPress

After much reluctance and anticipation I’ve finally switched over to WordPress from Blogger. Yes, there were those times when anxiety levels went through the roof – attempts to make sense of hosting servers, DNS, mySQL and other similar nerdy quacks became quite an orgy in themselves.

I even ended up deleting a few things that you’re not supposed to. No worries there.

Called up GoDaddy support, and to my surprise, they were helpful and fixed all my blunders within minutes.

This is where a Skype account comes in handy. Just get hold of a monthly unlimited US to Cananda package. You don’t know how many calls it will take, in case you loose your way.

Smitten by GoDaddy and WordPress. (Don’t take me literally!)

Here’s my conclusion on both platforms.

The Short Version: You’ve finally left your dal roti and moved on to pasta – made by a 36-24-36.

Blogger: An excellent tool for beginners. You’ll get free hosting. All you need is a domain and your ready to go.

(Its a good idea to have your own domain. Like me – cockybox.com)

Once you get your domain, Blogger lets you build an entire blog with ease. The characteristics of Blogger are simple, easy and most importantly, all free.

You can setup google Adsense to generate revenue. (Only for those who get a huge number of hits on their site.)

For you and me – couldn’t care less.

And finally, their are many forums and blogs that will help you learn and solve daily mingles.

The key – Free, Free, Free.

At this point, you could be wondering – if everything is available for free in all simple, why would anyone want to move to WordPress?

Here’s your answer.

Cause they’re silly. And they have the cooties. Ha. No, no. Just kidding! Wait a second. Don’t you look at me. I don’t have the cooties.

Moving along now.

WordPress: The easiest way to setup your WordPress self-hosted blog is to go through GoDaddy. You can purchase the domain and WordPress hosting. After that its a click away. You get access to every possible platform, tool – stop drooling – plugins, support at your fingertips.

The only drawback being towards the cost of hosting services. And if you’re looking to start, its as low as 5 dollars per month.

The good things I found about WordPress are as follows:

The neat and minimalist design of its entire platform.
Availability of awesome looking templates that are free.
Levels of customization, which can be done with ease.

Now, I’m sure there are so many things that take the cookie for you. But for me, at the moment, its these few.

So if you’re a bored Blogger user, come down to WordPress, and lets get you a drink or two. Cheers.

:: P.S. – Will miss you Blogger ::

Things to do list:

1. Back up all your Blogger content via Export option.
2. Should prefer using WordPress Hosting from GoDaddy. It makes everything happen over a click.
3. Your Feedburner settings need to be updated.
4. Once you have your WordPress self-hosted blog ready, simply import the file you earlier exported from Blogger.

If you need any help, leave a shout in the comments section or tweet me. Will surely help you with your troubles.


12
Jul 09

Auto Giants Get It Right

Recently a close friend asked for my vote, which would help her in winning a contest that involved a 3000km road trip across the Indian terrain in a Mitsubishi Cedia. The contest requires its participants to collect the maximum number of votes to qualify. More details will be available, albeit shortly.

This contest is reminiscent of something similar done by Ford, popularly known as the Fiesta Movement. Except Ford chose its individuals on their own criteria.

This brings me to an argument of – in times of pocket crunch, advertising budgets are being cut, unlike fats from most bloated bodies. Classic print ads, television commercials, radio spots just wont cut the cheese. So what do you do? The idea is to involve the end consumer.

Follow these links Ford and Mitsubishi.

Just get ordinary people to do the job for you, for free! Well, almost free. It certainly beats spending millions on superstars. Companies around the globe are learning and cashing in on the social media networks. The results are simply rewarding. You get a whole bunch of noise and buzz by people ready to dive on the once-in-a-lifetime-opportunity boat. It seems that some companies have gotten it right. Others, however, look at all this and turn their heads – sooner or later they’ll see the light.


15
May 09

I love Skittles

Like most kids, I love the sound of candy. At the drop of a few names, my mind is instantly transported to the land of mouth-watering-sugary treats. No wonder I am mostly chilling with my dentist. Hope you’re not shocked. You might need a therapist soon. Why? Well, you’ve forgotten what its like to be a kid. And trust me, people pay tons of money for this – learning to be a kid again. Although I’ve kept it simple for myself.

Moving along now to a deeper conversation of twits.

fruit-skittlesI recently came across a beautiful example of how a brand, such as Skittles has managed to capture and harness the various noises of the social media sites.

Namely Twitter and Facebook.

Firstly,

Skittles re-designed its website, which you can find here. And all the other places in this post, where you see the word ‘Skittles‘ written. Like that. But you already knew all that.

From its concept to its superb execution its got Skittles-is-ahead written all over it.

Secondly,

Instead of tweeting, Skittles merely displays tweets with the word ‘Skittles’ in it. In addition, it also displays photographs on Flickr with the word ‘Skittles’ in them.

A beautiful concept executed with its target audience in mind – all Skittles lovers.

P.S. – Did I mention, I wrote this while being held hostage, at the Skittles factory. They made sure I hyper linked every Skittles. I totally ripped them off.