From the monthly archives:

June 2007

User-Generated Content – Just more ‘Us vs Them’?

June 29, 2007

Bloggy thought three. Something I was mulling over for a while, even shared in a completely inarticulate manner with Rajesh yesterday, who by the way awarded me with the Thinking Blogger Award.  He shared with me some links that report on the recent IAMAI Web2.0 conference, with the comment – “am getting a bit restless with marketers”!  Then I got a call from a journalist, who wanted to discuss ‘unconferences’ – and I took off on her a little and told her how I dislike the term – any activity that is prefaced with an ‘un’ makes me feel not-so-nice about it.  Anyways, it also reminded me about another phrase or term in the social media realm that I generally dislike —- user-generated content and I started my rant on her! 

I particularly dislike it when I hear mainstream media and corporate organizations get a high on the phrase ‘user-generated content’.  In India, many times, its shortened to UGC (the only UGC I know of is the University Grants Commission!) and it bugs me no end. 

I dislike it, especially when, in the background, I hear their minds ticking away the rupees they can generate, behind all this buzz and excitement around the term.  When they have not really embraced it themselves.

I dislike it when they distance themselves from it – it’s something other people — oops users do.   How many of them have actually generated content themselves?

I am happy with adopting the term when I am talking about content that is created by users of a service – so there is user-generated content on Youtube, or on blogging platforms, or on wikis.  But I dislike it when marketers, PR agencies talk about the ‘potential’ in harnessing user-generated content for their brands, products and services through advertising messages on the user-generated content spaces or sites, and then believe they are really using social media in their strategies.  Am not knocking advertising based strategies – I just feel they are skimming the surface of the true potential in participating in the conversations, co-creation, community and collaboration that occurs when there is user-generated content.

I think they have it wrong, when they feel that getting onto the user-generated content bandwagon is a quick-fix for their social media strategies. Inherent in the phrase is a division, the notion or assumption of ‘us vs them’.  They have got to see themselves as co-participants and partners rather than marketers or advertisers who are ‘using’ user-generated content as another media opportunity.

I simply loved Toby Bloomberg’s rant at Unilever which so well illustrates what I am trying so hard to articulate!

“So I really want to see that ad. I really Need to see that ad. What do I do? Do I search for Lux? Do I go to the Unilever website? Nope. I head for YouTube and sure enough here it is! It’s a must watch. Oh and the Unilever Lux site?
Good I didn’t head that way, my coffee would have turned cold looking
for any mention of the campaign. Anyone for integrated marketing?

Questions To Ponder
Does a marketing campaign have to be “social” to be successful?
Is traditional advertising dead?
Is there room in the proverbial marketing mix for the good old 60 second TV spot?

Diva Marketing Thoughts
Marketing 101 tells us to hang where our customers hang. For some the “tube” means television and for others it means YouTube. And for many people it means Both. 

While there were quite a few Neon Girl videos on YouTube, I didn’t notice a Unilever Neo Girl YouTube Channel.
Unilever you missed an opportunity. Actually you missed several. Never
too late to get into the game. Would be a good idea to consider
especially if a sequel is in the works. Work it right and you might
have the next Lonely Girl.”

Bonus link: Here’s Jon Udell on why he dislikes the term per se.

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Does everything have to be ‘searchable’?

June 29, 2007

Bloggy thought two. It’s not worth it, if it’s not searchable. Robert Scoble and Steve Rubel seem to feel so. Am actually feeling the contrary only because of my recent experiences with Facebook and Twitter. The other day, I was chatting with a young friend who is 18, and he told me a few things around Facebook. His dashboard and homepage is Facebook – all his social interactions happen around it, along with a few IM clients. He doesn’t really use email very much. And most pertinent to this post, was his comment that he was disturbed that his whole family including aunts and grand-aunts could ‘peep’ into his entire life. In fact, it was so funny when he related a story about how an aunt actually sent his grandma some pictures of girls who wanted to ‘marry’ him. He’s now got most of his family on ‘limited’ profile — but his friends have full access to him!

I still believe that what you write or say or show on the web is there for everyone to see, read or hear, and I like that openness and transparency of the web. Still I am enjoying the levels of privacy that Facebook offers me. When I blog, I do sometimes (not when I am feeling particularly ranty) wonder whether what I write will come back to bite me some day or how people will view me as a result of what I write. I do feel more ‘responsible’ about what views I share on my blog – perhaps this happens when you have been blogging since 2003 and when your blog becomes your single-point public profile, for the whole world to see – family, friends, clients, potential clients etc.

But on spaces like Facebook and Twitter, I feel so much more comfort – I can rant, I can be silly, throw some food at a friend, hug someone else, share when I am upset or ecstatic. I don’t ever ‘think’ too much when I am on Facebook – my mode is a more feely one. It’s more about me and who I am. And less about my thoughts on a particular subject and less of the ‘Dina’ I want to project or promote or share around what I do.

I loved this comment at Steve Rubel’s post by Ryan McKegney – it resonates:

“As Steve points out above, there are advantages to having a walled
garden. In real life, I have a public and private life, but because of
Google and the general openness of the web, the balance between public
and private online is out of whack. The existing “private web” (IMs,
email) has been largely static for the last half decade, but if it
chooses to be, Facebook could be the next evolution of the private web.
Facebook isn’t just a walled garden, it is MY walled garden.”

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Does your company have a social media strategy?

June 29, 2007

I was driving back from a meeting when I had a few bloggy thoughts … long drives in traffic and beating rain tend to do that to me! It was a good meeting – regular (I actually said that!!!) qualitative research project among IT students and professionals to understand motivations that drive them to join certain sorts of organizations in a highly competitive field, to figure out a strategy to draw them to my Client’s organization. As we were discussing the research, I suddenly felt – wow – this is the perfect case for a social media / new media strategy —- you have young professionals, in the IT industry, probably heavy users of the internet, a captive target audience that must be familiar with blogs, social networking sites, youtube and the like! When you think of motivations and drivers for this segment, how can you not think of The Influentials, who help them frame their opinions. Am waiting eagerly for my copy which is winging its way here currently. It would be neat to figure out who or what they are in the project I am doing. So somewhere midway in discussing sample definitions, I broke away and asked my client – do you have a social media or blogging strategy – you need one! She was interested I think, particularly since one of her marketing objectives is to build a powerful corporate identity in order to attract the best talent.

Now am hoping it’s a qualitative research +++ project!!  Am beginning to believe any organization or brand that is targeting an audience that is ‘online’ must have a social media strategy.  Social media is in-your-face today, no web user or surfer can really escape it.  

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Wifi in the Hills

June 18, 2007

The Indian Express reports that a couple of Israeli geeks have set up a low-cost wi-fi network in Dharamshala, spread over 70 acres, more than 7,000 ft above sea level.

“Thirty-eight-year old David’s technological expertise and perhaps
even nimble athleticism (courtesy his Mossad training) proved useful in
setting up the network in the mountainous terrain. Antennae were
erected in the most unlikely places (in one case the tower was painted
with the insignia ‘Om’ and served as the spire of a local temple), the
Linksys routers were re-engineered to make them power-efficient(most of
them run on solar energy) and the towers were made “monkey resistant” after it was found that the primates found perverse pleasure in
dangling from them.

Other “sabotage” bids were similarly thwarted. There was one
last year in the form of a Distributed Denial of Service Attack (DDSA)
on the website of the Tibetan Technology Centre. Says Ginguld: “It is
difficult to pinpoint who did it but it started after an extensive
series of scans which happened somewhere in China. The same URLs were
loaded to access the database repeatedly…” In a written reply to The
Sunday Express, the Chinese Embassy said it was “unaware of any such
thing”.

Schools, hospitals and other NGOs have benefited immensely
from the service, though the network’s limited bandwidth means it is
not accessible to individuals and laptop-carrying tourists. Says Dawa
Tsering of the Tibetan Medical Institute: “Our earlier connection would
break down frequently and wouldn’t be repaired for long durations. The
connectivity now is more or less uninterrupted.” While the vision of
BPO centres coming up in the region might be a bit too romantic, the
network is being used to promote trade. Dolma Kyap of Norbulingka Art
Institute says they offer Tibetan art works like Thangka painting and
statutes for sale on the Net. But what Ginguld is particularly thrilled
by is the sight of children using the network. “Computer labs in Indian
schools have lots of computers but no internet connection, which is
akin to having a sleek car without petrol. Today when I see
10-year-olds logging on to sites like hi5, chatting with people, I
realise we are on the right path,” he says.”

Cool!

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Supermarket 2.0

June 11, 2007

OMG this is soooo funny – a supermarket going web 2.0!! Thanks Toby.


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Way to go Sify!

June 9, 2007

Refuses to block Orkut under political pressure!

A picture named no.jpg

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I got My Facebook!

June 9, 2007

The New York Times had similar thoughts. Check out this really neat article there on how a daughter is pissed off because her mum gets a Facebook!

“But after receiving a follow-up threat from my daughter (“unfriend
paige right now. im serious. i dont care if they request you. say no. i
will be soo mad if you dont unfriend paige right now. actually”), I
started worrying that allowing parents in would backfire on Facebook.”


While I wonder about how the younger generation will react as more of us ‘oldies’ go in there, I must say I am really having a blast at facebook. After a long time, a social networking site has really drawn me in. Along with a few others, I thought I had reached the limit way back in 2003, when there was this mad scramble to invite all your friends to every new social networking site that came about. This time, when I got my own Facebook, I find myself behaving differently. I find I am not inviting all my friends in there, or sending out one of those blanket join me at facebook sort of message to everyone. I find a lot of my family, old and young, in India and abroad, are in there and we’re having fun peeking into each others’ lives and reconnecting in ways we haven’t done via email or even chat. Many of my close blogging buddies are in there too – and I am enjoying learning about so many new facets of their lives with applications like Trip, Last.fm, Ask a question, books, movies, photos etc.

Facebook also lets me feel I own my own page there – something Ryze lost a long while ago with its new UI. Stuart had expressed this feeling so eloquently then:

“There’s

no sense of art in a place where artisans play
no sense of personality in a realm of personalities.
no sense of canvas when everyone paints
no sense of action when everyone chatters
no sense of our place just structured space.”

“The new stuff? Says RYZE first — ME
second. What was the brief? Oh probably make the community more
professional looking. You have any recommendations? Is there a
strategy? Is there a business model? Ryze could have had it all.”

Facebook today offers me that sense of art where artisans play, that sense of personality, that canvas for me and my friends to colour on, that sense of my space (pun intended!). And its all happening in my time at ease, without that pressure to be really active on it that there was while many of us were indulging in some Serious Play at other networks.

Tags: Facebook, social networking, social networks, social media

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Google has my past – and my future

June 4, 2007

Google is not merely moving towards “owning” the internet, its also beginning to “own” me.I had a friend over this weekend, and I was setting up a blog for her on Blogger. I had to sign out of my Blogger account to set her up. During the process, I wanted to check my mail, and clicked on my Gmail tab in my browser – and I was shocked to see that it opened up her Gmail account instead. Should have expected it – its logical – but it disturbed me. It’s convenient, it’s quick – but I want the controls and the ability to decide which ones I want auto signins for and which ones not.

Say, if I have Google Reader running – and I have signed out of Gmail — if someone else tries to log into their Gmail account – they can read my mail. Or if they want to check their scraps on Orkut – they get to see mine instead. Google Maps can show pictures of your front door and look through your window
- very cool – yes – but it makes me uncomfortable too. Although I need
not worry as I live in a city where its going to be very difficult to
get everything ‘on a map’ as there is so much chaos in the planning.
They have my presence info (limited tho) through Gmail
and Gtalk, they have my social network on Orkut, they dish up ads in my Gmail which make me feel a little
uneasy about privacy. I have been doing many studies recently with youth, and when I ask them how they use the internet – the response is Googling, Orkutting (note – not search and social networking) and chatting – Gtalk hasn’t yet managed to become a verb!

In countries like India however, where for the large part, computers are shared at work and home – this could become a problem. Not everyone has the know-how or the presence of mind to set up different logins and user accounts at boot up.

Look at Google’s acquisition over the years – they are buying up the best really. And our lives are enriched and simpler as a result. I love using many of these and it makes my life better. But yesterday’s experience with setting up my friend’s blog got me thinking in the longer term – and I kept pondering over – what cost?

Eric Schmidt , Google’s CEO was quoted in FT. Do I really want my computer to tell me what I should do tomorrow, or what job I should take?


“Asked how Google might look in five years’ time, Mr Schmidt said: “We
are very early in the total information we have within Google. The
algorithms will get better and we will get better at personalisation. The goal is to enable Google users to be able to ask the question such
as ‘What shall I do tomorrow?’ and ‘What job shall I take?’”


See this video, although a little dated – it looks forward to a Google world in 2014 – EPIC. Robin Good has a transcript:

“On Sunday, March 9 2014, Googlezon unleashes EPIC.

Welcome to our world.

The ‘Evolving Personalized Information Construct’ is the
system by which our sprawling, chaotic mediascape is filtered, ordered
and delivered. Everyone contributes now – from blog entries, to
phone-cam images, to video reports, to full investigations. Many people
get paid too – a tiny cut of Googlezon’s immense advertising revenue,
proportional to the popularity of their contributions.

EPIC produces a custom contents package for each user, using his choices, his consumption habits, his interests, his demographics, his social network – to shape the product. A new generation of freelance editors has sprung up, people who sell their ability to connect, filter and prioritize the contents of EPIC.

We all subscribe to many Editors; EPIC allows us to mix and match
their choices however we like. At its best, edited for the savviest
readers, EPIC is a summary of the world – deeper, broader and more
nuanced than anything ever available before.”

With the recent acquisition of Feedburner, Google just bought over access to not just us, but our readers as well. They even acquire the internet in year 2017!!

Google has my past, and it’s rapidly ‘taking over’ my future. My actions today, in the present, are building the tracks for that future. A dystopian Brave New World, or Utopia?

Should I really care? Does it bother you at all?

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Thought for the Day – Is what I do who I am?

June 1, 2007

A picture named thought.jpg“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters
compared to what lies within.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

A reminder to reflect more on ‘Who I Am’ rather than on ‘What I Do’. What I do brings me success and recognition, both hugely motivating, but is it significant to who I am? Doing often makes me wear masks, which put me in my comfort zone – being rarely does.

Who I am is often defined by others, who I am is how others see me. What I do is what people see and how they put it all together is to them who I am. But to be…. just be… is just being true to yourself.

We often do what we think is expected because of who we think we are. Which is again perhaps in line with Cooley’s Looking – Glass Self phenomenon which suggests that “a person views himself or herself through others’ perceptions in society and in turn gains identity. Identity, or self, is the result of the concept in which we learn to see ourselves as others do (Yeung, et al. 2003)”

And when we let ourselves ‘be’, it really can be so easy and is fun too. I want to learn to feel this difference and not just view myself through reflections in others’ mirrors. Really listen, understand the balance between the two, and learn to navigate the streams that let us flow from one to the other.

[Image sent to me last year by a friend - its titled 'Thought']

[Afterthought - I think I need a holiday :) :):)]


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