Life in 2 hours

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Posts Tagged ‘new media’

Tiny links and multiple lives

March 17th, 2009

Compressed communications

The first time I heard about Tiny URL some moons ago, I laughed. I couldn’t understand why someone would take the pain of creating a programme that apparently serves no purpose. But then eventually when I started Twittering more often than I did a few months back, I realized what a boon it is. But the thought of someone making a living making words (OK, links) tinier is way weird, when you come to think of it. As I explore social media tools more, I find myself slaving to communicate in 140 characters or less and find increasingly that the world is rules by the power of the link!!! I suppose this is no different than how people in a bygone era got a high using applications like WinZip of StuffIt that allowed files to compress and fit into a “floppy disk”. I am struggling to even remember how it looked like- the floppy disk, I mean!! In a world that is ruled by communicating in the shortest possible phrase, and one where prepositions and conjunctions are almost defunct…I dnt no whts coming nxt but’ll b intrstng 2 c!!

Getting a (second) life…

At a recent talk I gave on using social media for effective communications, one of the participants asked me if I could share how they could use Second Life to position their brand. While waxed eloquent about this 3-D virtual world created online by its users who buy land, build houses, go to parties, and otherwise “live” a virtual life, it set me thinking. When you join Second Life (http://www.secondlife.com), the first thing you do is create an avatar, your personal virtual representation. Not too different than a “Tiny Url” really. I don’t have an avatar and the first time I meandered around the Second Life labyrinth along with a friend who had one, I must admit I couldnt figure the head or tail of what one is supposed to do there. I mean, when I am such a poor shopper in real life, why would I want my avatar to buy stuff online? And I definitely wasn’t interested in seeing a virtual art gallery or go on a virtual picnic, when I could have so much fun doing it in real life feeling the sun on my back and a group of chattering kids around me.

But what I realized was that chatting up with “art critics” on Second Life was much less overbearing than one has to go through with nose-up-in-the air types, who make no sense whatsoever in their critique of art, at least to me. I am warming up to the thought that I could find fellow social entrepreneurs and social media officianados like me with whom I can have a discussion without moving out of my house. Maybe its time to create an avatar. Besides, Philip Rosedale is really cute!! J

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Posted in strategy & communications 2.5

Tags: Add new tag new media

(blog) camping notes

March 8th, 2009

This weekend was especially productive. I was speaking at the Delhi blog camp (http://wiki.ibnms.com/BlogCampDelhi2) organized by the Indian Blog and New Media Society (IBNMS) on how organizations, individuals and institutions can create an effective brand campaign using new media, taking up case studies and examples that have yielded commercial results for the organizations that chose to run them. It was a mixed group and frankly, way more lovely and participative that I had hoped it to be. I had expected a bunch of “whacko” techies, students and perhaps a smattering of communications professionals, who are realizing more and more that their inability to understand these new media for effective communications will make them obsolete very soon. But I was surprised to find professors, senior representatives from government establishments as well as established marketers, agencies, photographers, and journalists in addition to bloggers of many hues that just goes to prove that we are at the cusp of a new wave of marketing.

The debate and discussion was thought provoking and I learnt a few lessons in the process as well. I was excited to meet with a bunch of smart techies, who in addition to their day job ran free-to-subscribe portals like www.troublefixers.com that advised people with issues in their hardware, providing real-time solutions and trouble-fixing tips. I was intrigued by their business model that relies primarily on ad revenue right now, but perhaps needs a rethink to ensure sustainability.

It was a also a pleasant surprise to see that the book “Corporate Blogging in India” in its hard paperback version. I recall having several discussions with its author last year on the status of corporate blogging, trends that I predict, etc. Never realized they will all end up in the book. Makes for an interesting read, even if it is to give one a sense of how corporates are viewing the blogosphere!!