Business and Social Media

Unless you count the young crowd who use the social networking sites like Orkut, Ibibo, Facebook and others and the IT crowd, Social Media really has little or no presence yet in India. Even in that, certain tragic incidents (such as the Adnan Patrawala murder) have made it something parents view with suspicion and even ask for bans, restrictions, monitoring etc.

Some schools and colleges are even considering or already have banned even the use of mobile phones- the one tool most used tool in social networking in India. A few PR and media firms have embraced the digital and social media in some prelimnary steps, and of course blogging is reasonably 'in the news' now due to, “the film stars do it’.

So when I say that SM has no presence what I mean it is, not numbers of registered users, but maturity - it is still first generation. Which is what makes it also encouraging and exciting!

If there was a term like Web 0.5 - I'd use that to describe how little or badly we harness the tools as a country. I could write an entire book or draft an university syllabus on this topic. While elsewhere in the world, libraries, hospitals, governments, disaster management, moms, educators, disabled or differently abled, poor in Kenya, brand managers are all using SM tools. But for now, I'll stick to SM for business.

Even as in the external world it is gathering traction, with companies it is a different issue. And in few instances is at all they are used, then only behind the firewall. Or in disparate random efforts. Normally one is engaged in questions of ‘persuading’ and enabling companies to embrace SM tools. But recently someone asked when should companies not do social media- which got me thinking to write this post. Organisations - which have the capabilities, even large ones and for employees who need it for the work they do- restrict access to employees to the internet and anything else remotely SM-like. Blogs, Wikis, Streaming media and other Social Networking tools etc. I could immediately identify with the query. Social Media is an extension of the endeavor of listening and engaging with employees & customers- both existing and potential.

When the company already has a good product or service and wants to engage with customers in making the experience a better one then it makes sense. Engaging in social media simply as a PR exercise to cover up or even gloss over inherently poor practices or products and services is futile. If the company is treating its employees, customers and vendors in a fair and good manner then social media makes sense. Because what they then do is really harness the existing good will. If the perception of the organisation is one of an unfair employer, aggressive market participant with no concern for customer but only on profits, or doing it to deliver profits to the company and not demonstrated value to the customer, then the SM exercise may run the risk of being a mere exercise and not deliver any real returns. For instance, if all that a blog will do is provide a place for the company representative to post a reply to a very annoyed customer comment with a "Please contact our Customer Service Dept. for quick resolution of your issue" it is laughable. And yet, quite likely this will be proudly presented by the company as it's commitment to embracing new technologies.

Another example, is when a tool is used or simply works as more of a 'one way' - monitor and report mechanism and broadcast mechanism. If there is a genuine commitment to deliver something superior (product, process, experience, expertise) then the organisation should go in for social media and deliver what it set out to do in the first place. Or it may run the risk of being seen as doing it simply because someone is sold on the latest shiny, bright toy. Then it is better the organisation does not engage in social media because the people - in this case customers, may well get even alienated in the process. In short, like the old Hindi film song that went, 'Yeh Public Hain. Yeh sab jaante hain'. The Indian one is more canny and value-conscious than his counterparts.

Not to mention the huge expenses incurred by the organisation in using social media for communities as mentioned here in this Wall St. Journal blogpost.

Art and the city

This is a sculpture at a busy and main Mumbai intersection near Mahim and Bandra.

It was installed recently- maybe a year ago and due to its location and size can barely be missed. Yet, to my surprise it elicited little or no interest or comments from the media or even the average citizen (a.k.a. blogs ). Which I find significant because it is almost the first prominent public art display that I have seen in Mumbai.

I concede that the average practical Mumbaite ( me included) does not have much patience to appreciate 'weird stuff'. It is too much at odds with a city culture that places a very high premium on a practical, pragmatic, no-nonsense, make the most of every minute ethos.

And yet, a complete lack of any kind of natural beauty , added to that a lack of any 'bohemian' influence makes the city what it is- a sad, weary, troubled one. No time to stand and stare -slowly it makes us humourless, petty and mean spirited.

Urban spaces, or lack of it is more appropriate in a city of Mumbai has seen increasing land grabbing by building and construction industry. While parks and open spaces are under threat and some hobbly- wobbly approach continues in supporting heritage structures; one more aspect of urban spaces as good as dead or non-existent in Mumbai is to do with Art & Culture.

In contrast to it's northern counterpart New Delhi the capital, Mumbai has no Dilli Haat, India Habitat Center, or even an Arts Council (which is really ironic considering Charles Correa lives in Mumbai). Chennai has a Dakshin Chitra, Artist Village, Goa has an annual carnival- I don’t know what Kolkata has – but last I knew the whole city had ‘kolchure’.

Installations, city squares and public spaces - large (or small) open friendly central areas where people can meet, congregate, celebrate, experience art, music and festivities & culture is non-existent. Small, sporadic, scattered efforts are at best just that. The rest are exclusive. While space is a constraint, lack of any public policy is what really distressing - which means there are no guidelines or governing principles.

Music, art, dance, pottery, puppetry, craft? What is that? Fairs, exhibits, exhibitions, carnivals, cirque de soliel?- will only elicit puzzled confused looks from the harried citizens who can barely make it to work and back. Isn’t that for Page 3 people? Public libraries, town halls- you gotta be kidding right?

Compare this to other global cities -which is why this article caught my attention. It speaks on the importance of creating and preserving urban spots where artists and poets converge as critical to growing urban centers. This article that also has a picture of old New York city precinct by Ed Yourdon, my twitter friend who pointed me to it.

So when I see this update on Twitter by someone who lives in New York, I , wonder, will even the next generation in Mumbai ever post a similar update.

If the current situation and state of the city is any indicator then it seems highly unlikely.

A Brahmakamal Blooms on Twitter

When talking about culture, communities and connections it is but natural to think in conjunction with new media, social media or social participative media.

However, often the emphasis is so much on the technology part that the people and process part gets scarce attention.

The reality however is that (whether within the enterprise or out of it) even the most simple technology can be used and can get accepted and to the despair of many a CTO and CIO the audience refuses to bite the most sophisticated silver bullet of systems put in place. It is the engagement of the people involved that decides the excitement and effectiveness.

Take for instance a seemingly small matter of a bloom. At first instance to the untrained observer this may even border on a P G Wodehouse kind of quality that lends itself to the whole event.

But from my perspective gleaned out of more than a decade of working with teams, this sharing by Preshit (pronounced Prey-sh-eit ) on twitter represents an amazing story especially because it brings together many things I love- Mumbai, Trees, Culture, Community, Media.

Preshit is as described on his profile 'A 21-year-old Blogger, Webmaster, Content-manager, Apple-lover, Mac-user, iPod-listener, Twitter-boy, IT student who loves travelling, photography and adventure sports.'

First about the plant and the flower that blooms only once a year at midnight (Pics here) and as described on flickr set by him;

Characteristics:

1) Has flowers only once every year
2) Each flower is attached directly to the leaves and not to the branch.
3) One leaf may have upto 4 flowers, even 5 in some cases.
4) Each flower blooms fully at 00:00 hours.
5) The flowers have a characteristic serene smell
6) They are offered to the Hindu Lord Shankara as his favorite flower.

@Preshit was simply answering ' What are you doing' as he used Twitter, Blog, Phone, Camera, Ficker Photo album and I'm sure if he had a recorder it could also be on You Tube to share stuff.

The updates from around 5 p. m to mid-night, gave updates on the crowds gathered, how his grandmother wanted it covered by media, the importance of the event as evident in this, and also a request for a camera!

It elicited responses from people in locations like Bangalore, Chennai, Kerala who immediately identified it or with it and from others in Mumbai - in what I thought was a remarkable display of how in spite of language differences really all of India is bound in common threads of culture - and even from someone in London who did not understand what it was all about.

Thanks to technology and this young person in Mumbai, I could finally claim to have participated in an event what over the years I had missed in my own home :)

I also want to mention one more thing and that is the simple act of 'sticking with it' and involvement. What really builds a community. This wasn't any planned twitter coverage and even I refused to be interested in the first few updates. The motivation to click on the link given to last years photos or even to respond to others like Sathya and Aravind was low. (though Sathya is based in Chennai he was really sharing about his mangalore home).

But as the updates were regular even I got caught up in the excitement. This 'excitement' and involvement is what (building) a community is about.

In a final chilling comment on what Mumbai does with its flora and fauna, the irony is best expressed When he says, 'Now for the BIG news- the plant will be chopped down to make way for a car park'- here in this tweet!

Picture of Brahmakamal flower by Preshit Deorukher

I get by with a little help from my friends

I had blogged a simple post on J. K. Rowling here.

A second post on the same person?

I just had to share this-'The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination'- speech she gave at the Harvard Commencement that I’m posting today.

After reading the speech, I will never associate the word 'Imagine' with John Lennon’s song or even with Einstein and his famous quote. The word, Imagine now will always remind me of this lady author.

The talk is filled with gems; and as I was reading it I felt very grateful for many things that made it possible to access this, even such small things that we normally take for granted such as to be able to read, to comprehend English, to have access to the Internet, to be able to share it with friends & others via my blog.

Any good blog post has its fair share of fans and follower comments. Since my blog has hardly any comments or traffic (maybe due to the fact that I did not have a comment feature enabled or more likely it is just a boring blog) while I was googling to link to the talk, this post on BoingBoing caught my eye too - it is replete with comments so I thought I'd link to it too - No.38 is my favourite. I stopped reading after that!

Instead of writing this post if all I could do, is say it in 140 characters allowed by twitter, then what I’d say is this:

‘I wish wish wish I could put 'Creator & writer of Harry Potter series' in MY twitter bio.’

Nature Thoughts

I've always loved the rains.

Many memories of childhood and the past are all interwined with this season and weather. Whether back to school after summer vacations when little or the floods of 26/7 in 2005 - Mumbai rains are a part of me, not just a part of my life.

As Henri Amiel wrote,

"A RAINY landscape has a great charm for me; the dark tints become more ethereal. The country in rain is like a face with tears on it- less beautiful no doubt, but more expressive"