Fun social media tools for you

Now if you're a social media cool hunter, here are some interesting tools which let's you explore different things.

Evernote: This is your moleskin notebook on the cloud. make notes, stick photos, add videos, scribble your thoughts and access it anywhere. Works on any device, works from anywhere and its fun. Try it.

Klout: Klout let's you understand your clout on social media. Type in your twitter username and you can see the level of influence you have on others. Neat analysis.

SocMetrics: Similar to Klout, SocMetrics helps you understand the key social media influencers' and how to engage them in various social media marketing plans.

Rypple: Tool for HR Managers and teams to stay connected with their work. Pretty useful I must say after using it for almost 10 days.

Sustainable Design - How it works in India

Here's a lesson and advanced learning to all budding designers, architects and sustainability thinkers. How people in India, use their common sense to create the most practical and sustainable design for things that really matters.

Strangler Fig living bridges in Meghalaya, India from Christiaan on Vimeo.

Simplicity is next to godliness.

Now everyone is on sale

Holy Shit. Now we have a Social Media Exchange called Empire Avenue. It means we can all become millionaires by trading our friends and families to earn virtual money and grow our portfolio and find out our net worth on social media and stuff. Which means we're all on sale. Damn.

Now why on earth would I want to trade my friends and families for virtual money and trading them like equity shares? Am sure there are plenty of people who would do that but ewwww... why? Anyways. I have to sign in and check out to find out more, how it works. They've a detailed FAQs which explains how things work. Maybe there is something in this which will transform our future. You'll never know until you've burnt your fingers. And that's exactly what I'm going to do now. You can check out too.

A story of hope and dream, an inspiration to us

The story of Anil. India is truly incredible in many ways. Here is just one of the billion stories. Planners often talk about empathy but they forget what is empathy made of. Enjoy.

Mumbai Golf - ESPN E:60 from Evolve IMG Films Ltd. on Vimeo.

Future.ly - Mapping global innovations

Here is Future.ly. They are mapping global innovations from everywhere. Great initiative. If you're an innovation freak and wanting to find out what cool things happening around the world in sustainability, social causes, CSR, Green projects etc., Future.ly is the place to be in. Good work guys. Cheers.

Did Tata Tea miss out it's biggest opportunity?

Tata Tea made news in India when they launched their 'Jaago Re' campaign. Everyone started talking about Tata Tea and their bold stance against corruption.

But today when Anna Hazare at the age of 72 yrs is going on a 'Dharna' and pledged to 'Fast till Death' to make India Corruption Free and pass the Lokpal Bill, it seems Tata Tea itself is suffering from TBTC (Too Busy to Care). Ha. Social media is buzzing with the news, news channels are beaming live, the events. But Tata Tea is nowhere to be seen.

Words like 'Brand Movements,' 'Social Brand,' 'Doing Good' sounds good when it comes to pick up metals and Effies. Brands often fall into these traps of finding a cultural insight and doing good. They stand up for something which is often superficial and when the right opportunity comes, they duck. Today is the biggest day for Tata Tea's 'Jaago Re' but they've missed the boat. Will the people of India ever believe in 'Jaago Re' anymore?

Anyways. Corruption is indeed eating up India. Corruption has been institutionalized in India and at every level, in every department, in every govt. bodies. It's the biggest hindrance to our nations growth. So stand up. Log on to India Against Corruption and make yourself heard on their Facebook Page. Support the cause, the right cause, a good cause for yourself and your future generation.

Stand up India. Do good.

Making money from doing good.

I really like and believe in what Mr. Noam Kostucki (Co-founder of Seeducation) says at TEDx. It only reinforces my belief that the sole purpose of making profit is for doing good. Period. Exactly the same point I mentioned in my ATTICUS paper.

Well, watch out. Companies who still don't realize this simple fact is bound to have larger problems later. Do Good or Die.

80% children between 0 - 5 yrs are on internet

Nearly 80% of children between the ages of 0 and 5 use the Internet on at least a weekly basis in the United States, according to a report released Monday from education non-profit organizations Joan Ganz Cooney Center and Sesame Workshop.

Via Mashable.

Google - how thoughtful.

To everyone in Japan, to everyone who has someone in Japan. Please try this new Google Person Finder. Google - you're a good brand. And we love you.

Honesty sells

Here's a great example rather social experiment by a brand. Not only does it capture human behavior but also brings out the brands core value out to people in the most engaging manner. They're not the only one however, Innocent did similar feats long back. But I love the way they turned an on-ground promotion into a social experiment which in turn became earned media for the brand. Now thats interesting.

Considered Design - The Next Wave

In the beginning of 2010, when I was writing my thesis paper on Sustainability and intelligent ways of using resources, how it is becoming the most important and critical factor is developing a global brand, seldom did I know that Nike was actively creating a Considered Index Calculator as part of their Environmental Apparel Design Tool. You should also check out their Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability report, one of the best data visualization report I've come across.

I was so happy to find out that Nike is playing a leadership role in this area and together with brands like Patagonia, Adidas, Espirit, Levi Strauss, JC Penny, Walmart, H&M, M&S, Target, Timberland along with Outdoor Industry Association, Duke University, Environmental Defense Fund and US Environmental Protection Agency and many others in creating the first Sustainable Apparel Coalition. The new Sustainable Apparel Coalition will establish a common index setting industry wide benchmarks for ecological credentials of clothing and footwear.

Am sure we'll see more companies, universities and govt. bodies coming together from across industries to create coalition indexes and benchmarks together. Personally I think in India, the telecom giants should come together to create an Index that delivers meaningful Value Added Service. I also think all the Life Insurance companies in India should come together to create a Claim Transparency Index. Its seems like a great proposal but the later is highly impossible given banking and transparency don't go together. But when you give it a serious thought, you will see, how deeply it can impact the lives of our people.

Do share your thoughts and comments.

21 things that will be obsolete in 2020

Here's an interesting article that predicts 21 things that will become obsolete by 2020. Scary but really interesting. Wonder what the kids of 2020 will become. They might just make us obsolete.

Cleaning up Egypt

Barely 10 days since the fall of Hosni Mobarak, people of Egypt have joined hands to clean the city ravaged during the protest march. Henkel and TBWA\RAAD has joined hands to get things clean and back on track. How amazing feat that can be. Henkel is doing this as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility initiative and not a brand promotion. Highly appreciated.

Hope more brands join hands to bring real meaningful change in Egypt.

Our home in the future

Awesome. I want it in my house.

Social health and free condom apps

Well things like this happens. But not in India. You don't need smartphones. You just to send a text message to people. You can even segment those people for precise targeting etc. Drivers, construction workers etc. Condom brands in India don't think this way nor does the govt. health dept or local municipal bodies. The telecom companies don't say anything either. But honestly so much good could be done, if only brand managers cared about doing good. I mean the other two P's apart from Profit while our Govt. stays busy cleaning its own mess from the scam.

Social health is a high potential, growth segment for the next few years. Imagine a future when Social Health + Mobile Health join hand to create an unique platform in India. Imagine if the Dept of Health + Hospitals + Pharma Companies + Health Insurances + University Research Dept come together? Imagine creating a (RED) equivalent using different platforms and technologies to do good REAL, TANGIBLE GOOD for poor people? Joining hands to eradicate poverty and illness from India. Doing what the Govt. is failing to do. Well, only if they really want to make any meaningful contribution other than making profits. Ha. Only if the marketing teams in India, understood how to approach the concept of doing good.

Coke Studio

Coca Cola is the best brand. I don't care what others think, but they know their marketing skills. Coke created Coke Studio in Pakistan. Such a wonderful property. Their Youtube channel is filled with such great content.

The world however did't know about its existence until their Facebook fan page popped up.

If you notice Coke is still silent and not fast enough to spread the concept of Studio in other countries. This is the flip side of global marketing. Response time to identify and implement cross market learnings is so slow that often the impact is lost. Imagine the impact Coke Studio could have in India especially during Aman ki Asha & World Cup or in Myanmar or in Egypt for that matter. Give the youth a platform to express and the use social media to spread the message, spread the love. Such a simple idea that nicely connects back to Coke's core belief of Open Happiness.

I think 2011 will be an year of consolidation by global brands. We'll see lots of Digital Content aggregation happening this year. Content Optimization to be precise. You should check out the work AKQA has done for Heineken, if you haven't yet. So expect global brands like Coca Cola doing lot of content aggregation and optimization this year. Maybe McDonald, Dove, Pepsi, Cadbury etc will jump the bandwagon too.

Cheers.

Good times indeed

The wave of change has hit the MENA nationals hard. What an amazing time. People power at its best. But I didn't know John R. Bradley, author of Inside Egypt (2008) predicted long ago, a social revolution is about to happen in that region. I haven't read the book yet so I cant say much but it makes me wonder, planners should have the ability to predict changes with precise timelines too. Over throwing regimes vs. over throwing market leader. It's all about the marketplace end of the day. Ability to predict doesn't mean writing trend reports, ability to predict means doing/ implementing tangible social experiments to judge the socio-cultural undercurrents. From precise prediction to visible ripples in the market. Then comes the strike rate of correct prediction.

Makes me ask so many questions about the changes we're going through. People actually haven't come to terms with the chain of events happening around us. Will the MENA/ GCC region create its own currency now? Will GCC truly become an effective Union? Wonder what role will Iran play? What about Turkey and Saudi Arabia? What will be Israel's role in the whole game plan? OMG... things are quiet fucked up.

Ha. Planning is fun.

Victory finally

People of Egypt indeed managed to bring down the regime. All started with this video on Youtube. People responded, people came together and bring down the gov.. Viva la Social Media Revolucion. More to come from the region, as experts are predicting.

Anyways, down with the dictators. Am not a political science expert but I do get an idea that social media will play a big future role in hatching mass gatherings for a common cause, one that will actually bring change. Networking online, offline demonstration - will be the delivery model. Though its been happening since the birth of internet but the difference now is people are demanding absolute transparency. Yesterday might as well be remembered in history as the day of Social Media Enlightenment (a modern version of Age of Enlightenment) and more people from that region will aim to achieve the same goals of freedom, breaking free from poverty, exploitation and social security.

Well, I don't know how democracy will take shape in Egypt but young people has managed to pull it off without much bloodshed and they used technology and social networking to their utmost advantage, against which the govt didn't have a chance. These lessons are applicable to brands and companies too. I want to see what happens to Yemen in particular.

Walk like an Egyptian.

Egypt - The rise of Social Media Revolution (Update)

In less than 1 hour, of me mentioning about the Social Media Revolucion, we indeed have "The Virtual March" on Facebook. Go ahead. Bring a revolution. I mentioned here how Egypt is turning to be a great example of social change using social media, rather a regime change. This is a live event happening around us. I just hope more clients in India start listening to what people are saying in the social media platform, before they go out in the streets screaming, 'Viva La Revolucion.'

On a different note, I was wondering, the Communist Party of India is indeed stupid. They couldn't manage to use social networking and social media to their advantage, both online and offline. Am guessing a similar event about to happen in Kolkata very soon. Or maybe not. Didi ain't transparent either. Anyways. Change will prevail upon the regime. May the force be with you.

Egypt - The rise of Social Media Revolution

The latest developments in Egypt can become the new face of Social Revolution in the ear of Social Media. Surprisingly with several instances of people and society coming together to raise their voice against oppression, corruption and government wrong doings signifies an emerging trend - Social Media influenced Revolution.

Examples like:

• The Red Brigade taking over central business district of Bangkok, Thailand last year.
• Uprising in Tunisia against Ben Ali and people using social media to spread the word.
• The civil unrest in Kyrgyzstan and the spreading the news through social media.
• Suu Kyi's supporters using Social Media to raise awareness of the oppression and her house arrest.
• Thousands of people gathering near The Gateway of India after the 26/11 Mumbai attack coming together after spreading the message on Social Media
• Thousands of people sending Pink Chaddi's (Pink underwear) to RSS & VHP supporters against their inhuman action on Valentine's Day in Bangalore.
• Finally Wikileaks taking on Govt. of the world by releasing tapes and classified documents.

What is the new role of Social Media? Can Social Media become the most important channel when it comes to raising voice against wrong doings? Can Social Media become the platform for Social Revolutions? How will Social Media affect Govt. branding? How will it impact government functioning? Will Social Media finally bring in transparency at every level?

Well, these developments are serious issues with greater impact on the way we live our lifes, the code of conduct for govts., the economic state of affairs, etc. Think over. And please do share your views with me.