On CIOs and Social Media Ban

A lot of companies (read CIOs) ban the use of Social Media sites as a part of their Internet policy.

Few factors such as fear of negative reputation, employee productivity, wastage of time etc. forces such moves. Check out this study on social media behaviour in companies for deeper insight.

Good to know that almost 10% of the companies are open to Twitter, Facebook and YouTube usages inside firms. High time companies redefine their “cultures” of Freedom and Respect!

Viral from C2W – fail to impress

Just stumbled on a new ‘viral’ from contest to win. They call it the ShineShah aimed at promoting retirement plans from IDBI.

Do check it here (if you really want to that is). Very losely connected script and making fun of a cult character from the past leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

Guess its time we see something fresh!

But the fact that I clicked on an ad from facebook to reach this viral should be good from a numbers point of view. I am not convinced about IDBI though.

What is keeping my ‘net-head’ running

Mighty trip at home without the use of internet was good. But, the ‘net-head’ in me is rearing its head back again.

Social Media – can’t stop tripping on the possibilities. Squidoo has come up with some brands which has taken this medium very seriously . Thinking of ideas by which brands around us can gain in a major way by use of good old Youtube, Flickr, Facebook, Tweets and such.

The really awesome idea of user generated stuff going has proven to be as cool as Karl Marx’s theories (sorry, it doesn’t really work), but activating curiosities and ‘hey this is nice’ comments from them sure can help in brand recalls (hope so, maybe, keep fingers crossed).

Reminding myself again and again – content is king! Running around and bumping into content providers; read movie makers, photographers, artists, cool random people, you and me!

If you were guessing Weltan Butterfly got trapped in a spider…….

Website? No! Facebook group? Yes!

I decided to do some marketing along with the bootstrapping of Weltan Butterfly. The idea is to keep a glamour factor running along – its costs nothing to be cool!

I had one dude who asked me “Website?”
Currently deciding to keep the website idea away and do my stuff on this Facebook Group instead.

Till then, keep the cool flowing…..

Logo Crowdsourcing – Weltan Butterfly

John Pathrose had made a logo for Weltan Butterfly over a cup of tea and Classic Milds.

So, what do you think?

When do you matter

Seth Godin has come up with a list of things which says when you matter…

When you love the work you do and the people you do it with, you matter.
When you are so gracious and generous and aware that you think of other people before yourself, you matter.
When you leave the world a better place than you found it, you matter.
When you continue to raise the bar on what you do and how you do it, you matter.
When you teach and forgive and teach more before you rush to judge and demean, you matter.
When you touch the people in your life through your actions (and your words), you matter.
When kids grow up wanting to be you, you matter.
When you see the world as it is, but insist on making it more like it could be, you matter.
When you inspire a Nobel prize winner or a slum dweller, you matter.
When the room brightens when you walk in, you matter.
And when the legacy you leave behind lasts for hours, days or a lifetime, you matter.

Totally awesome! I am touched. I am convinced. Hail Seth!

Weltan Butterfly starts off

People – glad to say I am starting off a firm now. Calling it Weltan Butterfly.

Would be doing Social Media Consulting. Will work for food, clothing, shelter and money.

How to connect your society and the social media

I have been tripping major on social experiments.

Ever since late 2007 when I moved into online advertising, people all around are going major gaga over ’social media’. The Facebook way of doing your thing, the iphone way of seeing your thing and the Twitter way of saying your thing. A big huge bunch of keywords and people revolving around it.

Somehow, this strikes an idea that social media is a mirror of the society around you. 300+ friends on facebook is a sign that 300 people trusts you and you are somehow or the other responsible for these 300 people with the little things you say and you do. Just like everyone else, one may find himself / herself (i know) in sticky situations once in a while. This is the time when you could use some help from your friends and then come clean.

1. Try creating a sticky situation – could be one that existed before and you have not really come out 100% clean. There are chances that you might find yourself back in the situation if not checked / controlled.

2. Make use of your friends in an offline way – I tried SMS. Its good, its easy and no use of vocal chords.

3. Come online and push it – Use Facebook messages, email, Twitter, personal blog (I use this one) etc. to clean yourself out.

I see results in terms of numbers on the internet. I also see results in the form of an easy, quiet, non-sticky mind.

Definite winner!

What happens in the social media scene

Something cool I did when I got some time.

I know there are spelling errors – came to know of it later. I was a little too enthu I guess!

forgive and forget

Marketing – Art or Science or both?

Seth Godin has come out with a really beautiful “Art vs. Science” argument for marketing.

Its good to speak numbers and analytics in marketing. Very vital to measure your progress at each and every step. However, the target of all marketing is human attention. Numbers could not always speak for human attention. Art could though.

The solution lies in switching art and science thinking hats depending on various parameters. I second this idea