And he talks about it from a perspective that most of us didn’t see – from a brand’s point of view. And he makes some solid arguments to prove his proposals right.

However, what surprised me was the context of argument, almost everyone argued from the perspective of individual users (read “customers” if you are marketer). Now, this took me aback!!!

I feel, when someone says “I like this”, it doesn’t make bring a kick in me, because I feel ya you might me 1 of other billion odd people who might be liking this. On the contrary, when you say me “I am a fan of Facebook”, this ushers the adrenaline in me and makes my stupid brain think, why the hell this person is fan of some strange animal called “facebook”, what’s so special about it?, and this curiosity leads to search for information about “facebook” (which means receiving new unique visitors), getting acclimatized with it (increasing chances of conversion), and maybe becoming a fan of it too (yeahh that’s my target at the end of the day). Does it sound good (if not great)???? Hit me back if any marketer disagrees to it.

I personally think it was a good move for businesses everywhere, maybe not from a marketing point of view because Facebook definitely wants to expand the radius of its social graph, unless it suffers the fate of Friendster and MySpace. To do that, Facebook needs to become the ubiquitous social identity. The de facto. The omnipresent. Now to do that Facebook needs to enter websites and every online operations. And by killing the more passionate word called ‘fan’ Facebook enters a more neutral ground of ‘liking’ which everyone can live with. And doesn’t mind indulging in.

I can just be interested in something and I can like it. Thus putting it into my social stream and exposing the ‘liked’ content to my friends thus making it go viral. More likes >> More content into social streams >> More hits back to website >> Facebook = happy and Content owner = Happy!

And I have seen this again and again. Brand managers get so fascinated by the phrase ‘My brand has x000 fans on Facebook’ that they start forgetting the real value of the word ‘fan’ .. A fan is a wildly passionate evangelist of your brand who loves it. Revels in it. And tells others proudly about his fandom.

How many fans of a page are actually at that stage? Doesn’t it conclude that most of them just liked your brand anyways and were NOT fans.

How many of us are actually ‘fans’ of the communities we currently have listed on our profile? What exactly does being a fan mean? Is it not being a staunch follower of all happenings and keeping your-self updated of each and every happening in that particular community?

It is normal to like a couple of things and have your interest in some subjects. I like music, but I may not be a fan! To like a community or page is more casual and easy on the psyche of the user! This opens up more possibilities in terms of increase in the number o f people in showing interest towards a community or fan page.  It is definitely more light weight and does not over power the user to take a decision! I see this as a more approachable way in suggesting users to make more connections across the site.

Verdict: I ‘Like’ it! :)

Internet and social media is going mainstream. A sport like cricket pushing youtube to the masses is something that gets a smile on my face. And I would want to confess here that I am NOT a cricket or a IPL fan.

Brands lose no opportunity to leverage the hoopla of IPL.If a product like IPL which was sold even before it was conceived is associating itself to Youtube in this manner, it’s time Brands realize they cannot miss out on leveraging Social media.

The comparison between modern Social media platforms and Usenet is based on the premise that both of them united people and contained the foremost essence or the crux of any social media platform: interaction emerging from common interests.

Over the years, marketing has adapted to social media and the fact that there is an increase in the presence of more and more people coming online and interacting. It is human tendency to trust people in a new medium of interaction. Cases in point being social media platforms like face book and twitter when they first emerged. Although niche, social media platforms are greater influencers as compared to television today because people get the missing dimension of interactivity which a TVC or a print commercial cannot give. Secondly, the user can choose who to interact with.

The clue train manifesto is a set of 95 theses regarding new market places. These theses are a call to action for businesses in the new market place. An instance of one such new market place is the internet. The manifesto goes on to say, that ‘a powerful global conversation has begun. Owing to a marketplace, which is more informed, and share relevant knowledge at a blinding speed, the stress is on having a conversation with people. So the more informed you are, the better the relevance and hence, better will be the quality of your conversations.

In social media, there is one paradigm of engagement only:

Attention ——> Relevance
As a newcomer to social media, I have realized that the online audience is smart. More so, they seek relevance. “What’s in it for me?” is generally their first and foremost question before they join your community or interact with you. Taking a patronizing tone with an audience this sharp, is the equivalent of social media suicide.

Although not all of them have what Daniel Goleman calls EQ, they can find out if the information is accurate, just in case you are taking the high ground by Pfaffing.

Why is it ‘Social’ Media?
The word ‘Social’ in its most basic sense refers to the interaction of organisms with other organisms and to their collective co-existence, irrespective of whether they are aware of it or not, and irrespective of whether the interaction is voluntary or involuntary. Social Media is media meant to be disseminated through the use of the internet. Now this broad definition of Social Media can include Microblogging, Social networking (which is distinct from Social media), Social bookmarking, Blogging, Social network aggregation, Photo/video sharing and so much more.

Heraclitus wrote once, that you cannot enter the same river twice. For a beginner in Social Media all I can say is that there are many aspects of it that I have not completely discovered as yet and by the time I discover them, the river is not quite the same anymore!

Ladies, he is also the Head, Social Media Strategy at Superchooha. Go follow him!

A Google search reveals this
http://www.google.co.in/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=DCM&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&q=mayur+makheri&start=10&sa=N

His Linkedin tells me

• His educational background. Good enough to tell the parents. [MBA kiya hai bhai]
• His work ex. Has a marketing background, will give a good sales pitch to the relatives ;)
• Is currently at a leading position at Superchooha. That means access to credit cards with high credit limit.

His Twitter tells me

• Passionate about social media. Good!
• Is a happy go lucky person http://twitter.com/admads/status/10209106475
• Can get naughty :P http://twitter.com/admads/status/9972195493

His Facebook tells me

• http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3115098&id=502864919 Can be absolute nuts
• We have x friends in common, is not a fake id
• Is a Cancerian, perfect! [source- FB birthday]
• The photos tell me his friends love and adore him. Awww how cute
• And he loves traveling

He seems like a great guy to be with and take home. Woohoo! Who needs Shaadi.com? On these lines do check http://www.youpid.in/ an Indian initiative  on a matrimonial social network. [We have no association with them whatsoever, just that it's a pretty cool concept]

Mr. Mayur Makheri you are socially [media] naked now. Go figure!

When it comes to Human behavior enough is never enough.  One of the most interesting traits of  human behaviour is situations we tend to find comfort and solace in. More then the situation its the conversation that happens that has a pacifying effect -but then conversation do not necessarily have to be relevant. History has it that nothing is as pleasurable then watching your best friends fail at things – while I tend to disagree with that there have been cases where if not friends, but yes people have derived utmost pleasure from incidents absolutely irrelevant to them.

Welcome to whole a new world of human behavior – “Schadenfreude”

Here is a classic explanation of the german word – (More details here)

Schadenfreude — by Si Frumkin

Germans have a way with words. They created words that other languages simply do not have.

Schadenfreude takes 7 English words to define it: “malicious satisfaction in the misfortunes of others”. The dictionary explains it with a quote from historian Peter Gay — who felt Schadenfreude as a Jewish child in Nazi-era Berlin, watching the Germans lose coveted gold medals in the 1936 Olympics; he said that it “can be one of the great joys of life.”

Now picture this – 50 Million tweets per day. 60 Million Status Updates on Facebook  PER DAY.  Clearly we live in a world where reviews are written before a movie release, debates are held on naming of a product, and kids are named before a couple even has sex.

On a serious note, we are surrounded by opinions –  Good, bad, neutral and extreme, soft, hard. Opinions of every kind.  Thanks to the ease that platforms like twitter and facebook have provided to voice one’s opinion. While these tools have enabled companies to interact with their end customers by tracking their views about their brand, there have been cases where these opinions have created lead to PR nightmares. The human tendency of replicating negative emotion more vehemently over the positive one is not unknown any more.

For instance the Cleartrip Kiruba Incident (Cleartrip’s  Stand and Kiruba’s Stand ) was a issue between a company and a normal customer but the fact that Kiruba’s single tweet reached 1000′s of timelines and was further retweeted n number of times required the CEO of the company Hrush to step in and explain every action over a blogpost. Amidst all this close to 40 twitter updates were made that literally crucified Cleartrip for no good reason.  For some reason people RTed Kiruba’s tweet, while some enjoyed the drama – Amidst all this Cleartrip was defamed. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing but what the heck- people RTed whatever little they knew about the acutal story. Damage beyond repair was done to Cleartrip.

Chetanblock -Another classic example where people drew pleasure from a conversation between Chetan Bhagat and Fly youfools. Consequences – #chetanblocks trended for almost a day on twitter. Some body went on the extent of buying a domain chetanblocks.com. What next – they now intend to make tshirts saying #chetanblocks. All this while hundred’s of people used the hashtag #chetanblocks and thousands of tweets were  exchanged with very few people actually understanding what happened.

While there a dozen other stories where brands have been crucified, people have started deriving sadistic pleasure out of this trend of defaming. I still believe that most of the people don’t actually read facts before they actually share a negative opinion, without actually understanding the consequences their actions might have. They just do it. And yes as a friend of mine puts it – Sadistic pleasure is better then the real version of pleasure. Welcome to the world, the world you live in surrounded by Schadenfreude.

I am no expert at understanding the human psychology but then yes Humans are Humans and social media platforms are no exceptional places for them to behave differently.

The next time you retweet a negative thought or share one on FB, for a moment put yourself in the shoes of the brand manager of the brand and ask yourself – Is this what I actually signed up for – To give justifications to people who believe that their brand is bad.  Food for thought.

From my personal experiences on twitter and facebook

• Maybe because, in a day and age where land rates are sky high, everyone can have a 24×24 farm at Farmville. You are ready to plow, plant, harvest and grow!
• Maybe city dwellers want a taste of good ol’ countryside. Mooing cows, quacking ducks, meowing cats are all here to add to the zing. It’s a land where ugly ducklings get transformed to beautiful white swans.
• Its not the aspect of farming that attracts players. Its simply the craze for things we cant have in real life with real money. Living in a rented apartment? Fret not, in Farmville you can own a farmhouse.

All said and done, Farmville is the perfect substitute or defense mechanism to get our dreams virtually. It connects us emotionally to a culture that we all desire. It connects us with more like minded people.

What else can be done?

Some social strategies that can be added to enhance the social gaming aspect:

• A social and more central marketplace - The current game plan allows you to interact with the Farmville admins. Users should be able to sell and buy with more ease amongst each other.
• More detailed views – The current game gives us a top view of our farms. We would like more detailed stuff where we can enter sheds, windmills, kitchen etc.
• Work to make gold coins – Let users give each other jobs (post jobs in the marketplace?) and they can complete tasks for other users for a certified amount of gold.
• Move into the Farmville world – Increase your levels to become the landlord of some area and then rule over it by loaning it to others.

Definition

A fundamental shift in the way information is spread and shared on the internet. But as Mr. Daniel says – “At its core, the concept of “real-time web” must be about the immediacy of information flow” Well put, Sir!

Why do we need it?

Human beings are an impatient species. And as the reference article says everyone has 24 hours, no less no more. All the more reason for us being impatient, right? Personally, I want to grab every piece of information, as soon as I can, before everyone else.

Some important things to be noticed here are that I would like the information to be relevant to me interest, it shouldn’t interfere with my daily work and I should be able to quickly assimilate the whole story from snippets of real time data flowing around me.

Push or pull?

The most important point that Mr. Daniel stresses is the fact that real time web is forcing info on users and thus interrupting productivity. What is being forgotten while making this remark is the fact that the 2.0 web and all its real time characteristics with it (web 3.0?) are permission based ones. No one pushes the information on to the audience in the new media, the audience goes to the information portals and seek it out themselves.

Challenges

The challenge of mining real time data and converting it into meaningful information will be the breakthrough of the century. And we are slowly moving towards that goal, one step at a time.