Hashtags May Be Coming to Facebook!

Facebook is reportedly working on incorporating the hashtag into the social network.

A Twitter staple, the Wall Street Journal reports that Facebook has plans to bring the hashtag to its service, offering users the ability to index conversations around a particular topic, just as they currently do on Twitter. Sources ”familiar with the matter” told the Journal that while Facebook is working on the feature, it wouldn’t necessarily be released anytime soon.

Hashtags are already incorporated into Facebook-owned Instagram.

Hashtags seem like the natural evolution of Facebook’s newly-released Graph Search. The search is currently limited to information input by users on their location, friends, and Likes. Adding hashtag support would enable an expansion of that search functionality, letting users tune into public posts based around certain topics such as #Elections or #HarlemShake as well.

For now, the social network is remaining mum on when or if it will be adding hashtags. A company spokesperson telling us simply, “We do not comment on rumor or speculation.”

Would you like to see hashtags comes to Facebook? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Source: Mashable.com

Dirty Facebook? Now you have an App to Clean it Up!

Did you have a wild weekend or are there photos of you tagged doing things you might not want everyone to see?  Are you just about the head out to a job interview and you’re not sure about some of the old content on your  Facebook page?  Some people, including potential employers might think it’s inappropriate.

But, there’s an app for that. It’s called “Simple Wash” and it can help you clean up your Facebook profile.

A few simple clicks of the mouse will wash your social network's mouth out with soap via FaceWash's precompiled list of "dirty" words (sex, drugs, cursing), or a personalized word list into which users have full range over what terms they'd like to eliminate.

The app will search through comments posted on your wall or remarks left on photos you've been tagged in, as well as photos you've posted, links and pictures you've liked, status updates, and pages of which you are a "fan."

Results are returned in conceptual chunks, highlighting specific terms and providing a direct link to the post, where users can delete or privatize the message.

Not every post SimpleWash picks up will be something you want to remove (i.e., when I ran it, "crack me up" often got picked up as a potential drug reference), but it's a good way to quickly review the messages you're sending to the world.

Oh, but SimpleWash only detects words. So for now, you'll still have to filter out those old college party photos on your own.

Get SimpleWash for Facebook and Twitter. The Twitter version is currently in Beta, but if you're desperate to clean up your feed, just shoot the company a tweet.

Now a Facebook app that lets you... well BandWithFriends!!

Before it even dropped its “The” prefix, Facebook was a dating site. It could never have been anything else: It was targeting college kids, it encouraged you to not only upload but tag photos, and lead to us spending more hours than we care to admit clicking through picture after picture after picture after picture. If you were bold enough, this turned into a friend request – bolder yet, a Wall Post, or even a message. And so on and so forth… whatever that “so forth” turned out to be (you sly dog, you).

It’s not like it was all that subtle, but we’re leaving behind any trace of coyness considering the blatancy of BangWithFriends, the just-launched, insanely-popular new Facebook app. The fairly unsophisticated app launched last week and seemed to be little more than fodder for a slow news day – at least, that’s what it was for us a couple weeks ago (photo proof below). But according to the developers, who remain anonymous, it’s getting real results.

The creators of BangWithFriends are grad students, who describe themselves as “badass dudes happy to play wingman to over 10,000 couples and counting now,” created the app as a more honest approach to the dating and hookup Facebook game (they’ve created other apps but wouldn’t release details as to remain anonymous – all I can find is that the site’s server is located in Ashburn, Virginia). In case curiosity hasn’t compelled you to install and try out the app for yourself, here’s how it works.

First, you install. Exercise caution in granting permissions and making information viewable.

Then, you’re launched into the app, where if you’re a lady, you’ll see all your male friends, and vice versa. Simply choose who you want to bang (I'm being dumb enough to use my account to act as guinea pig).

If that person also installs the app and picks you, you’re both notified of the mutual interest with this email:

The app was built in 72 hours, and Doe says there’s been no comment from LinkedIn on the use of its API. “In our opinion a network such as LinkedIn might be a good place to look when trying to hook up with someone. After all, you spend most of your time at work, so chances are finding someone to hook up with based on your LinkedIn profile might be a good start.”

BangWithProfessionals functions the same way BangWithFriends does: Install, select who you’d like to bang, once they do the same, you’re alerted. Across the pond, Would Love 2 was just launched for iOS, although it’s a bit tamer and simply wants to find you someone to date – whether or not you bang is entirely in your hands.

All of these apps come with privacy problems. A simple Graph Search revealed who’s using BangWithFriends, and while seeing what LinkedIn-based apps someone is using isn’t all that easy, you will absolutely find yourself in an awkward situation if you install it “just to see” and then have to explain to your co-worker you don’t actually want to hook up with them. There are an endless amount of really uncomfortable ways this could go.

The biggest issue of course is people using BangWithFriends (or Professionals for that matter) with ill intentions, either just to see what the app does or, more underhandedly, to find out which of your friends wants to bang you. “My only concern is girls who install and add all their guy friends just to find out who’s perving on them,” one Redditor responded, adding that men are equally capable of the same thing.

Clearly it’s too soon to tell, but early reaction seems to be that the lowest common denominator may actually be a fairly effective way to find Internet love (or lovin’).

Facebook Acquires Storytelling Site Storylane in Talent Grab

Facebook is buying Palo Alto, Calif.-based startup Storylane in what is a talent-oriented acquisition. Storylane wanted to become a new kind of story-telling platform much like Evan Williams’s Medium and Rebel Mouse. “We’re trying to build this library of human experience,” said founder Jonathan Gheller in an interview with my colleague Eliza Kern, when the service launched in October 2012.

It caught the eye of Internet giants and entered acquisitions talks with the likes of Yahoo and Facebook. Facebook clearly values the team and founder Gheller who is known for his ability to correlate data, identity and growth. The company had raised $2.8 million dollars from the likes of Balderton Capital, Sigma Partners, Ariel Poler, Mark Goines and bunch of other angel investors.

On his Storylane page, founder Gheller shared this note:

After a lot of discussions with Facebook about how our teams might work together to have even greater impact, we are announcing today that the Storylane team will be joining Facebook. 

This is an exciting opportunity. Facebook’s mission of connecting the world has always been at the center of our work, and like our friends at Facebook, meaningful connections are what our team is most passionate about. 

The beautiful stories you have decided to share with us are yours to keep and share in however way you want. We are building tools that will help you migrate the content to other services if you so desire. I will be in touch with you about those specific tools later, but I can confirm that Facebook is not acquiring any of your data; and we’re working to make sure you can migrate your content in a manageable way. 

I want to thank our users. Your passion, sincerity and willingness to share, has made Storylane the incredible experience that exists today. We have learned so much from you. Your ideas and creativity will stay with us and inspire us on the next stage of our journey.

Now a Social App that can manage Your Entire Home From a Phone.

A new app aims to reassure absent homeowners by letting them manage and monitor household items, straight from their phone or tablet.

Prizm is a 5-inch touchscreen controller that uses Z-Wave, a wireless system designed to help users communicate with home appliances. Combined with the Prizm Manager mobile app, they can turn light switches on and off, lock and unlock doors, raise and lower shades, and adjust the thermostat. Users are also notified when a door or window is opened, or when someone leaves or enters the house.

The product's creators say they have developed a cloud platform that makes it possible for users to "stay connected to your home from anywhere in the world."

So far, Prizm has raised a little over $6,000 of its $200,000 goal on Kickstarter. Would you use it? Tell us in the comments, below.

Pepsi India Reveals New Brand Ambassador Through Social Media

Creating a buzz about new brand ambassadors on social media is another trend that is catching up from 2012. The latest to follow the trend is Pepsi India for its ongoing campaign “Oh Yes Abhi”. According to Best Media Info, Pepsi has brought on board the U-19 cricket captain, Unmukt Chand, as its new brand ambassador to its “Oh Yes Abhi” campaign. The latest TVC which has been created by JWT India introduces Unmukt along with the captain of the Indian cricket team, MS Dhoni, Virat and Suresh Raina. The entertaining TVC that focuses on the impertinence of the young star to join the Indian team went on air from 1st of March.

The video in a weeks time, has already got more than 175K views. One of the reasons for the growing views could be attributed to the pre-launch buzz created on social media. The Facebook page that caters to more than 3.6M fans, created some thrill for them before revealing the video. The page moderators shared some interesting visual content that not only revealed that there is someone coming pretty soon but it also got the people talking. For example the below screen grab gives the kind of the content shared to create the initial excitement. The numbers depict the excitement too – 178 Shares and more than 1K comments.

Along with Facebook, the brand that has an amazing presence on Twitter with more than 6K followers, was not left out. The tweets focused on the new member joining and sharing the video. In addition to this, the brand created a hashtag #SeniorVsJunior and tried creating a conversation around it.

Pepsi India has launched the commercial a month before the IPL which is not surprising. Unmukt Chand, who truly reflects Pepsi’s ‘Oh Yes Abhi!’ attitude in the TVC, has been used smartly on social media too. Not that it is the first time since last year we saw FashionAndYou and Myntra launch full fledged campaigns on social media for the launch of their brand ambassadors. A trend which is going to be explored in the near future by more brands.

Prasant Naidu

About Author 
Founder and Blogger at Lighthouse Insights. Loves to experiment in social media and believes social media is a game changer for SME's. A diehard Royal Enfield fan,a voracious reader. I believe that knowledge should be shared so I often do it via training and speaking assignments on social media...

Rebecca Marino Quits Tennis Following Attacks on Social Media

Canadian tennis professional Rebecca Marino announced she is quitting the sport, following a bout with depression that has been exacerbated by cyberbullying on social media sites.

Marino — the 22-year-old who was once in the top 40 players in the world — told reporters on a conference call she had received hateful messages such as "go die" and "burn in hell," according to Canadian publication The Star. Others berated her for costing them money while betting on her tennis performance.

Although Marino said she has "thick skin," the "really hurtful" words were compounded by the fact she has suffered from depression for the past six years.

“My depression had come way before the so-called cyberbullying,” said Marino. “Social media has also taken its toll on me.”

Following her announcement, she deleted her Twitter and Facebook accounts.

“Social media is actually a really important part of our society and there can be a lot of good that comes out of it,” said Marino, before adding it became too distracting. It's unknown if she will return to those sites in the future.

Last year, Marino took seven months off from tennis, but had recently resumed competing. Social media and depression aren't the only reasons she is leaving the sport, she said.

“I don’t think that I’m willing to sacrifice my happiness and other parts of my life for tennis,” she said. "There’s more to life than just tennis."

Review of Social Media in 2012 and Predictions for 2013 [Info-Graphic]

Yet another eventful year gone by and a lot has developed in this time gone by. Thankfully the world is not showing any sign of ending (it's already 9/12/12 and three more days to go for the 'D' Day) and so I thought I can gather up my grey matter to try and envision what would be the predictions for the Cyber Marketing and Social Media in 2013.

Now before I go ahead with my predictions for 2013, I'd like you all to review my predictions made for 2012 (Evolution of Social Media in 2012) which to my surprise has hit the bulls-eye on accuracy:

• Content Marketing was THE WAY all through out.
• Businesses started to focus more on the level of influence on their fan following rather than just the number of fan followers.
• Marketing, Technology and Data have converged that resulted in a lot of new tools / ORM products being launched in the market to fight the menace of 'Big Data'
• Talking of legal battles in Social & Cyber space the story of companies buying the klout of bloggers and threatening them was not a surprise to me. Everybody knows about the Samsung fiasco with blogger community.
• Social Security was another prediction that took the lime light of lot. Lots of cases of people being booked or arrested were trending on Social News circles just for using their democratic right to expression and speech. The Indian Government virtually proposed to create a watchdog body to monitor social networks users and manage their online reputation.

All this said and done still does not make me the Nostradamus of the Cyber & Social Media space. All my predictions are based on in-depth analysis, experience and a little bit of the gut. This time I thought to make my prediction a little more simpler and interactive. Below is an info-graphic of the 13 most probable topography of Social Media Marketing in 2013:

Any predictions of your own? Share your comment below or on Twitter @thesocialppl and Linkedin.

Campaign Trail: "Hello Honey Bunny", What an idea Sirji!

Idea Cellular's "Honey Bunny"
TVC going Viral.

Someone shared a video of the new Idea Cellular TVC on my Facebook timeline warning me it’s going to be addictive and it sure has been. So, if you are still grooving to the Gangnam style, then here’s a much more equivivalent funny song that is sure to make you go, “Feeling something something, Hello Honey Bunny Honey Bunny, You’re my pumpkin pumpkin Hello Honey Bunny”. If that looks cute, the tune makes it even peppier; you just can’t get it off your mind!

The new TVC shows Indians from around the country, with varied cultural backgrounds, connecting as one big happy family of over 120 billion people, all of whom are seen humming one song - ‘Honey Bunny’, albeit with a regional flavor!

Now as an online Marketer I was curious to study this campaign trail and see where this is heading. This new approach by Idea Cellular in their TVC made me think about the means most of the telecom providers are following. Upon studying the common factors I came to see the big picture; all the telecom companies in India are following a particular theme clubbed with their USPs or trending offerings at that particular time.

Look at Airtel’s campaign which focused purely on the buyer sentiment and EQ with their “Har ek friend zaroori hota hai” & “Jo tera hai wo mera hai” campaign; or Vodafone’s with their variety of adds focusing on the cost effectiveness (Irfaan Khan ads) or the network range (Pug ads) to the various VAS (Zoo zoo ads) or Reliance Mobile talking about their cost effective tarrifs. All these TVC had a purpose/theme or a philosophy behind them as a route.

Now let’s get back to our Idea Celluar’s “Honey Bunny” TVC which honestly left me confused. Until now all their ads had their flagship route of “What an idea Sirji!” strongly fulcrumed on some CSR initiative or social message. But with this new TVC the whole campaign seems derailed to me. No doubt the jingle is catchy and simplistically obsessive and Amit Trivedi (composer of ‘English Vinglish’ & ‘Dev D’ fame) has done an exceptionally great work contributing a jingle which is simple yet obsessive after a long time (the last simple jingle to be composed to my knowledge was for ‘Nirma’ in ‘80s).

Looking at this on the positive side I have a strong feeling that this new campaign of Idea Cellular is a well planned attempt by its brand communication and marketing team to strengthen their social media and online presence. What’s interesting to note is that Idea Cellular has been creating a buzz on its Facebook page a few days prior to releasing the TVC. Fans were asked to guess who or what is a Honey Bunny. In addition, there were many updates with teaser videos that helped in building up the suspense.

Below graph shows the viral growth in traffic on the TVC’s YouTube channel:

So to summarize on my campaign trail - initially I was skeptical with my assumption that this TVC was a desperate attempt of company’s brand communication team to get their brand viral, but at the end of it I realized that the Marketing team at Idea Cellular has done an exceptional work in terms of reaching the masses with its unique content strategy centered around ideas in a weekly set pattern, till this severely addictive song promotion, the Idea Facebook strategy seems to be well aligned. The telecom brand’s intention to create exclusive content for its fans is indeed impressive and would definitely help in building a long term community.

I’d like to congratulate the Idea’s creative agency Lowe on this note and sign off in a typical Idea Cellular way, “What an idea Sirji”.

You can’t stop singing ‘Honey Bunny’, can you?

Viral Thaker, Founder & Director | TheSocialPeople
A seasoned HR & Marketing professional, Viral was one of the early adopters of social media. With over a decade of industry experience under his belt, his skills span corporate strategy, delivery management, customer relationship management, business development and operations management. Viral is a voracious reader, a travel enthusiast and enjoys adventure sports. Follow Viral on Twitter @vrlthaker

Facebook Now Lets Users Create Repeat Events From the Past

Facebook built a new feature that lets users create a repeat event, company engineer Bob Baldwin announced Monday.

Members of the social network can now go to any past event that they hosted or attended, and replicate a new, similar event.

"It'll copy the details into a new event (which you can preview and edit before posting) and invite your friends from the past event," Baldwin wrote on his Facebook Timeline.

Rather than going back to square one, the feature will make it easier for users to fill in an event's recurrent details -- useful for monthly trivia nights or weekly study groups, for example.

Users can't use the feature for events created by Facebook pages they don't manage, according to Inside Facebook, likely to prevent spamming fans of the page. The website also reports that users can't invite the entire guest list of an event originally hosted by a friend; they can only invite their own friends.

Top image courtesy of Flickr, ewan traveler; Source: Mashable.com

Why Employers Aren’t Interested in Your Resumé

Resumés today are just an old school formality that provides little insight into the person’s past records and true personality.  Most employers today spend less time sifting through clichéd applications and more time surfing profiles of job seekers online.  

Stats show that today most recruiters find that sourcing candidates on social networks saves money. They prefer approaching candidates through online referrals and it also helps them reach out to people who may otherwise have not applied for the position. So be prepared for the inspection. Unfair or not, this is a practice one has to deal with.

Recently there were several incidents across the United States wherein employers demanded that applicants provide them with their Facebook username and password or that they log on to their network during the interview itself. Kind of like handing over your house keys to a burglar holding a gun to your head! The more polite practice is going through only the candidate’s public profile respecting his or her right to withhold any information they deem sensitive enough to keep private.

So, what can you do to be ready for the Facebook interview? 

1. First impressions matter, so make sure your profile picture doesn't show you drinking or acting too crazy.
2. Ensure that all your details across all your social network profiles, match. Fill out the description about yourself in a clear, crisp and clean manner.
3. Use the privacy settings. If you haven’t yet bothered about it, it’s time you started. Personal photos, or any other information that you would rather share with a select group of people, should not be made available on your public profile. After all, you wouldn't want your employer finding old pictures of you at a wild party, especially when if you’ve claimed your hobby is yoga.  
4. Watch what you post and tweet. Be casual but polite. Language does count. So learn to show a little restraint.
5. If someone posts something objectionable on your wall, be sure to leave a calm comment making your stand clear on the subject. Or delete the post altogether.
6. Your profile page isn’t just about keeping information private, but also a great platform to show off your achievements. As long as you keep it subtle. For instance, a photo of you receiving an award without tom-toming about it helps you come across as capable, ambitious and yet, balanced.
7. And if you’ve already landed the job, be smart enough not to openly vent your frustrations against your boss or leak confidential company details on your wall!

So now that you’ve set your profile in order, you can gear up for the personal interview. And this time you can carry that resumé along…for old times’ sake!

Are Indian Businesses Ready for Social Media?

Consider this: India ranks among the top twenty users of Facebook in the world. Among the seven major metros in the country, Delhi leads the pack with approximately 39 to 40 percent Facebook users, followed by Mumbai with around 25 percent. About 66 percent of these users fall under the age group of 19 to 40 years. Typically this is the age group that influences purchasing decisions.  Social media reaches out to nearly 60% online Indians.  So are Indian businesses ready for social media?

With numbers like these, they sure ought to be. 

Most businesses in India are still too unsure or shy of testing the social media waters. Unless of course they are youth oriented brands like Fastrack, for instance. A major reason could be the building of a new team to handle the online activity. In most large corporations, where people have pre-defined roles to the T and several channels for decision making, setting up a separate wing for social media management requires additional cost and can take quite a while.

Having said that, there are those who have successfully entered and made the most of the social media arena- Maruti Suzuki took to various online forums and networking sites announcing the launch of Ritz while Tata Nano interacts with several users on Orkut and Facebook. Grant Thornton’s International Business Report notes that 64 percent businesses in India use social media in some capacity- usually for advertising or for the purposes of consumer interaction. As an emerging market, it is perhaps easier for the country to adopt a new marketing phenomenon as compared to developed economies which seem to have already exhausted many such avenues. Indian businesses are most certainly geared to make the most of social media. To what extent, is a wait and watch scenario.

Social Media makes the Brands Tick! Find out how...

Why should brands embrace Social Media?

Internationally, more and more brands today find social media marketing a great way to establish a personal connect with their customers. And though the trend is beginning to pick up here in India only recently, the past year has already proven its power to change marketing tactics.

Check this out- based on the number of fans, followers, likes etc., the Social Media Brand Equite Ranking (SMBER) index by NM Incite revealed

• Samsung generated enough online buzz to topple India’s favourite cellular giant
• Nokia, from its popularity pedestal in 2011. 
• In the automobile industry, Ford tipped Maruti.
• Flipkart seemed to have cemented its presence as the desi ebay.

Not only do these brands have a strong presence on social media sites, they are as active in engaging visitors as any other international brand. Of course there are a few more things they can do to match the competition. For instance,

The Viral video

The success of Kolaveri has introduced the average Indian to the concept and grasp of the viral video. Sure, there were those few that crop up every now and then, like the True Roots video that managed to plug in 277,287 views, but nothing quite like Kolaveri. The song created a brand for the movie much before its release.

Dove’s ‘real beauty’ campaign too was very popular on social media sites. And I think it’s time more Indian brands used this medium to match the might of its international counterparts. 

A Challenge

Dare your Facebook and Twitter users with a challenge and see where it leads. It’s not about the grand reward here. For the users, the invitation is belonging to a clique; for the brand, it is the free word of mouth publicity.

Incentives

Okay, no rewards is no good either! Fastrack- a leading fashion retail chain store for the youth- decided to celebrate its fan base of 1 million on Facebook. They held a one day only flat 50% discount sale at all their exclusives stores across the country.  The news was promoted only through word of mouth on their Facebook fan page.  And the result:  stores at many places ran out of stock in just a few hours and the traffic police had to be called in for crowd control in Mumbai.

In what other ways do you think Indian brands can use social media to their advantage to compete in the global services market?

Introducing TheSocialPeople's Facebook Time

Facebook rolled out Timeline for brand Pages and coming March it would be opened to all. TheSocialPeople welcomes this new change & is proud to update ours.

Since the time when Facebook launched its timeline version for personal profiles we’ve closely chronicled reactions to the switch. While there are many people out there who are disappointed with Facebook’s new avatar, the change to Timeline has been eye-opening and emotional for others.

We must admit our experience lines up with the latter.

Upon adopting the timeline version Timeline, we rediscovered the fact on how much loved TheSocialPeople has been amongst our fans and their 2^nd degree network. We also realized another fact that our Brand Page is just 3 months old but still has over 60 and growing well wishers on a daily basis; this is truly overwhelming and an emotional realization for us. We learnt that our fan page has done everything from being our biggest brand ambassadors to being an outside advocate to help be become better and better every day by touching lives and businesses. With adopting the new timeline we’re excited to form our digital scrapbook in real time — right along with you.

Without you, TheSocialPeople wouldn’t be what it is today.

In the coming weeks, we’ll update our cover photo to represent our thought leadership ideas about how social media would make a difference to our individual lives and businesses. We belive it’ll be an easy and appealing way for you to empathize our passion towards what we do – Social Media Strategy & Analytics.

Also do let us know on what do you think of our new Timeline so far? We’re always open to suggestions, so please let us know what kinds of posts or cover photos you’d like to see from us in the comments below. We look forward to connecting with you via Facebook Timeline!

Why collaborative education model needs social networks?

Recently in a stunning announcement Atos, the European consulting firm announced that they would be moving away from corporate emails. So in the next three years Atos would officially sunset its email clients across its global locations.

I do remember my days as a B-school student where most of my time was spent mailing reports and research reports across my study group. I remember that I did almost 20-30 mails a day to the same set of people.

Collaborative efforts like research do require a lot of information exchange among members of the group. As this exchange is in the form of huge documents e-mail was the chosen form of transfer. But those were the days before the advent of social networks.

Connecting - Young Users via Social Media V/s
Older users via Email

Today our Toastmasters club uses Facebook extensively to transfer documents like training materials and members list across the club. All a member has to do is to log into the Facebook page of the club to access all materials.

Again these documents are regularly updated with the latest training material and any additions there of. A similar approach is developing across research organizations who prefer to use their internal social network tools to good effect.

But I personally feel that we have not not even scratched the surface. I would like to hear from you, as to how things have changed in the research and collaboration field due to advent of social media?

Social Media Education - A thought!

Last week Wednesday we had our first Twitter chat on “Is Education ready to embrace Social Media” and I must confess I was quite amazed with the kind of response that we received. Honestly I was under the impression that this idea would face a lot of inertia and that people from the Academic world would not be willing to accept this change.

But the actual reality was at exact 180degrees. People really want to use Social Media as an easily & readily available Learning Management or a Content Management tool. But then I was stuck on what’s stopping them. Now this was a billion dollar question, and just like any billion dollar question this had a simple logical answer but a complex execution algorithm (talk of complexity of simplicity).

What I learnt during the Twitter Chat (FYI - look for hash-tag #TSP_EduForum, it’s an acronym for TheSocialPeople Education Forum) is that there seems like there is general agreement among social media users/evangelists/consultants that education is crucial. However social media education can be quite vast and can pretty much mean anything. It's like trying to teach someone to be a mechanic in a few days or even a few hours, there's a lot to learn. The challenge is keeping the learning community up-to-date on those latest tools/tactics/strategies.

As you know social media is a very dynamic in nature and what you learn today might change tomorrow. So if we keep seeing new tools/techniques/strategies emerging almost daily, how to we create and administer social media training programs? My answer, focus on the core of social media principles or global best practices. Here are the main topics I would consider (I'm going to leave a few out because I'm more interested in what you have to say):

1. High level Social Media Strategy (This I feel is the most important and vital topic. Wrong strategy and you or your idea is doomed.
2. Identification of the right social media tools/platforms that suites your need
3. How to identify existing social media communities (or create new ones if needed)
4. Social Media measurement or metrics.
5. Understanding how to monitor social media and respond to sentiments shared by users\
6. Benefits/value of social media and risks of social media with effect exit mechanism, just in case.
7. Resources needed to succeed in social media
8. Case studies/examples/results of social media campaigns

So here I have listed 8 high level topics that make up a part of what I consider the Social Media Education core. Instead of focusing social media education efforts on details (that will change quickly) I think it would be much more valuable to focus on applications that are relatively constant to rephrase this more scientifically, strategize and use media that is evolving rather than mutating. I would also strongly advice that the herculean tasks of planning and strategizing details can be left to the experts who are implementing the actual strategy or to the consultants that are advising the company.

Do you agree with me? What other topics would you add to the Social Media Education Core?

For those of you who would like be a part of our Twitter Chat, it happens every Wednesday at 10AM Indian Standard Time. Don't forget to hash-tag - #TSP_EduForum.

Fashion2.0: How Social Media to revolutionize Fashion Industry.

I happened to come across this article on the Forbes which particularly picked my interest for 2 main reasons:

1.     It had the magical words "social media"

2.     The Content had something that I and my colleague Vikram had been discussing lately – Taking Fashion Industry on the Social Media.

Whether you are interested in fashion or not, it is difficult to escape the constant onslaught of information on the latest fashions and trends that we receive through social media and the internet. This is a fact that none of us would deny. Considering the quantum of information one gets to see on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube the fashion Industry is definitely becoming accessible to the general public or should I say reaching a larger group of people.

 The beauty of this initiative of taking fashion industry on the Social Media is that one gets to see all sorts of opinions and dialog on a fashion trend or outfit rather than the traditional one way opinion of the designer. Just like in any other industry Social Media once again proves that would help bridge the buyer-seller relationship with its multi dimensional communication channel.  It also makes it evident that, in this era of the social media, fashion designers and retailers are no longer operating in an ivory tower or for solely the red carpet. Because of the close relationships they now have with customers on social networking sites, many have adopted an "ask and ye shall receive" policy.

As quoted in the Forbes article it’s undoubting that Social Media would the next big muse of the Fashion Industry and its here to stay for quite some time.

Just recently there has been a rush of retailers advertising & setting up programs to help gather customer feedback on the fashions and trends for the season ahead including Debenhams, ASOS, Calvin Klein and likes. This show much customer sentiments matter to the fashion designers and fashion brands. Now just imagine the same in case of private fashion boutique owners who have selected and limited customers. One bad design might just cost them a loyal customer... forever!

Yet another interesting website that I came across is www.jooraccess.com. Started by a Mona Bijoor who is a seasoned brand consultant for the fashion industry. Joor basically is a network that makes it easier for brands and boutique owners to connect and conduct business with their customers in an interactive and collaborative manner. It can be called as the Facebook of Fashion world in lay definition. This again shows how Social Media can play a vital role in the Fashion Industry.

Now considering all this above gyaan and cases on how Social Media can benefit the Fashion Industry, I don’t really know if this liberalization or the democratization of the fashion world by the social media good or bad as I’m not really a fashion expert. This is something that time shall tell us. But from a lay man’s perspective any creation created in an collaborative environment has always been a masterpiece. Hopefully such would also be the case in Social Media Fashion.

Social Media in 2011 by TheSocialPeople

Can Social Media find a place in the Classroom? (Research)

Growing number of Educators say a “Yes” – says a research!

The post, “Can Social Media ever have an Academic Purpose”, is one of the most consistently viewed article on this blog. Similarly, “Why the Education sector is keen to adopt Social Media?”, resulted in the 2nd most trafficked day here this month. While Facebook and Twitter are both hugely popular Internet tools, I still find myself a little surprised by the popularity of these posts, considering the academic perspective of we - TheSocialPeople. Upon a general research online amongst the Academic community, I learnt that many teachers, even those at online universities, are hesitant to use such popular tools, given their inherent risk of exposing students to inappropriate content.

Of course these are two very different types of tools, but they both have their place in the social networking sphere. Facebook’s place is at the top of the heap (as of this writing it is the second most popular site on the Internet, right behind Google), while Twitter defined the genre of “micro blogging” (but much of its use is also in a social networking context).

It appears that Twitter is more widely used in the classroom, based on the volume of articles on this topic that I have come across during my online research. One obvious reason for this difference is that Facebook is limited to ages 13 and over, while Twitter has no age restrictions. Facebook is also more likely to be restricted on school networks. Perhaps if teachers were more aware of how a Facebook page and profiles can be configured to provide an appropriate level of privacy for course work, they (and school administrators) might be more open to considering its use (more on that below). Of course, there are also other educational scenarios that lend themselves more readily to a tool like Facebook, such as online universities and online courses.

Here are a few of the examples of Facebook playing a productive role in the classroom that I have come across. I will be doing a detailed case study about the use of popular social networking applications in the classroom and will discuss examples like these, and others that I learn about on this blog in the coming months:

·         Professor Gideon Burton’s work with Facebook: I first learned about Professor Burton during a random search on Facebook on “Social Media Education” where I ended up on a profile of a student where she commented, 

“In my British Literary History course last winter semester, my professor created a class Facebook group which we all joined.  We’d finish our reading for class and then get online and write a paragraph about what we’d read, focusing our comments on the specific course aims that my professor had created for the class.  We would then go to class where my professor would note the ways in which we’d covered the material well and he’d teach anything we missed as well as anything else he wanted us to know.” 

This was definitely a lovely insight on how a simple initiative and lead to an effective collaborative learning environment. It really justifies my statement I always habitually quote in context to this – “A tool is after all just a tool, the real person to blame is the person who chooses to use it or abuse it.

Click here to visit a Facebook discussion group for one of Professor Burton’s Early British Lit classes.

·         University of South Florida teacher uses Facebook in class: I recently came across this article about USF graduate student Alessandro Cesarano, who teaches a Beginning Spanish class, and uses Facebook for homework assignments and class discussions in lieu of Blackboard. Cesarano is seen quoting that he likes the Facebook page better than Blackboard because students have more access to authentic cultural material, and so it saves him a lot of time that otherwise he had to invest to train people on how to use the Learning tool.

·         Facebook has recently launched a “Groups at [University Name]” feature as an initiative to promote a highly collaborative learning environment amongst the Educational Institutions. This article explains on how this feature works and also disproves a lot of accusations on Facebook that it is a major distraction in the pursuit of a Learning tool. Honestly I am really excited to look at this feature to be rolled out to more schools and other communities.

Below is the snap shot of my comment that I couldn’t help put up on the trail and it’s corresponding comment:

On the whole the prospect of Social Media and Education eventually going hand-in-hand is no longer a matter of choice. From the data that I see, IT IS THE FUTURE. It’s just the matter of time that people start accepting it. So the real question here is not whether Social Media can/cannot be an ideal learning platform; I guess a choice on this is already made globally and the real question is on “HOW to make Social Media an ideal learning platform. I would be writing on this in my blog in the near future. 


To conclude - like any great idea even this one (Social Media collaborating with Education) has to go through all the 3 laws of Newton – Inertia, Momentum & Friction!

I’m really excited to see the day when Learning becomes Social in every way, global networking will be the essence of learning rather than limiting it to 4 walls, projects & assignment would be done & rated globally and over all to the day when there'll no illiteracy on the face of this planet.

[InfoGraphic] Social Media in Education Sector as of Today!!