36 Cities of the World September 8, 2007
Posted by Arun Rajagopal in Conversations, Travel.1 comment so far
36 Cities, originally uploaded by thelastminute.
I love this collage of 36 interesting visuals of the 36 largest metros in the world. We live in such a beautiful world.
Credit: Duncan Rawlinson
The Social Media Challenge-1 September 6, 2007
Posted by Arun Rajagopal in Conversations, Digital, Social Media.10 comments
Update 1: 5pm (Mct)
My 10-hour Social Media Challenge is on. My mission today is to go on a social media trail on the blogosphere from the perspective of a social media beginner.
My efforts will include:
1. Answering the questions – What is social media? What is its impact and opportunities?
2. Connecting with leading social media bloggers and their great work.
3. Identifying learnings, insights, best practices and trends.
4. Having a great time on the social web.
You can team up with me in this Challenge in the following ways:
1. Ping me about post(s) on your blog which will be of interest to a rookie social media enthusiast who wants to know more. Send me a comment in this blog or email at arunjoboy (at) yahoo (dot) com and I will link to / highlight the same.
2. You may also recommend interesting blog posts / work that you believe is worthy to be part of the social media discovery challenge. I will give you credit for being a great guide.
3. You can send me a comment or buzz me to check if I’m dozing or on with the live-blogging effort 🙂 I’ll be online in Windows Live Messenger, Facebook & Orkut. If there is some new tool we can use to connect, just let me know.
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Update 2: 5.30pm (Mct)
I start the Challenge by googling ‘social media’. Among the top search finds is this interesting e-book titled ‘What is Social Media’ by Antony Mayfield who is Head of Content and Media at Spannerworks. Antony has over ten years experience in online communications and blogs at Open (minds, finds, conversations).
This 33-page e-book is a short sweet summary of social media and is a must-read for media, marketing and communications people with an interest in the subject.
This e-book:
• Defines social media
• Describes 5 characteristics of social media
• Introduces and explains 6 types of social media tools and how they work
• Talks about changes in media production and distribution brought about by social media
• Explains social media’s effectiveness and reasons for its popularity
In fact, I have done some value-addition of my own by just creating a PowerPoint that explains the gist of this e-book using the visual metaphor of ‘hands in action’. I’ve mailed Antony this presentation and am awaiting his feedback.
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Update 3: 6.00pm (Mct)
In this post titled ‘What is social media?’, popular blogger and tech evangelist Robert Scoble says that he prefers calling social media as Media 2.0 and compares it with old / traditional media such as newspapers, radio and TV. He defines social media as ‘online media with interactive capabilities’.
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Update 4: 6.30pm (Mct)
I followed the comments trail in Robert Scoble’s post on social media I discussed in the previous update and here’s what I landed up with.
In the post ‘What is Social Media? No, really, WTF?’, Chris Heur discusses the 3 significant Cs of social media: Context, Communications and Collaboration.
Excerpts:
“The context of what we are trying to accomplish and why we are passionate about it is the starting point for our conversations and the basis of everything else. Communications in its traditional and emerging forms, references how we come to understand and connect with each other. Collaboration is about how we work together for our common and individual interests within the various contexts in which we invest our attention.”
Social web consultant Stowe Boyd explains 4 fundamental distinctions between social media and its predecessors.
1. Social Media Is Not A Broadcast Medium.
2. Social Media Is Many-To-Many.
3. Social Media Is Open.
4. Social Media Is Disruptive
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Update 5: 7.15pm (Mct)
Social Media Club is an interesting online community that shares best practices, establishes ethics and standards, and promotes media literacy around social media.
I dug up a few interesting posts on social media 101 from SMC.
In ‘Reading, wRiting, aRithmetic and RSS – The 4 R’s’, Chris Heuer talks about 4 skills that are must for every social media literate person.Chris discusses 4 trends on the importance of social media here.
According to him:
1. Social Media will become more of a business, but will retain the power from its personal passion, unlike new media in the big dotcom boom.
2. More individuals will band together in networks small and large, changing the very notion of freelancing and employment.
3. The corporation will be forever changed, traditional media will adapt before dying completely and all companies will become media companies thereby shrinking the advertising pie.
4. Social Media will be a primary catalyst in saving the world… or bringing about our demise.
On his blog ‘Ether Breather’, Jiyan Wei discusses traits, types, features and advantages of social media. ‘Getting started with social media’ is very similar to Antony Mayfield’s ‘What is social media’ e-book in Update 1.
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Update 6: 7.45pm (Mct)
I’m taking a quick break now! Will be back and there’s more stuff to explore. Stay tuned!
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Update 7: 8.45pm (Mct)
Just back from my break. I’ve ordered for Cheese-Labneh-Chicken Pizza from the Turkish restaurant next doors. Promises to be yummy! Here are a couple of pearls from Christopher Kenton, President of MotiveLab at the ‘Unica Marketer’s Consortium’ blog. In ‘The Meaning of Social Media’, Christopher Kenton dissects and defines the terms ‘social’ and ‘media’ in social media and tells us that social media has transformed broadcast marketing to conversational marketing. And let me quickly plug this in, if you haven’t heard about ‘The Age of Conversation’, a recent path-breaking book on conversational marketing, you might want to visit www.ageofconversation or click here.In ‘Getting Started with Social Media’, he offers 3 specific nuggets of wisdom to organizations who wish to jump into the social media bandwagon.
In short, they are: (1) Focus on an initiative with minimal investment in time and money. (2) Choose an initiative that would engage others in the organization in the project. (3) Choose something fun and engaging.In ‘Social Media Metrics’, Kenton explains how conventional marketing metrics may not be good enough to measure effectiveness of social media. He urges marketers to embrace innovation over immediate performance returns to get a long-term competitive advantage.
Excerpt:
The lack of robust metrics makes a lot of marketers gun shy. If you can’t demonstrate clear ROI, how can you justify the budget? I don’t want to be flippant about this, but I think marketers need to bring a little balance to the justifiable demand for performance accountability. We do need to be accountable, and we do need to show that we’ve thoroughly vetted the investments we’re making. But when you’re in a competitive market that demands innovation, you have to get in the trenches to help innovation along, instead of just throwing up knee-jerk stop signs to every project that doesn’t come with a business case tied up in a neat bow. It makes me think of a prehistoric fish in a receding inland sea saying to an amphibian “so, what’s the business case for legs?”
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Update 8: 9.30pm (Mct)
I emailed Chris Kenton saying Hi and then downloaded a free MotiveLab Marketing Brief titled ’12 Essential Tips for Success in Social Media’. I will quickly outline the 12 tips and to read more about them, I suggest you download the e-book here.
1. Establish Clear Business Objectives and Metrics
2. Reframe Your Notion of Marketing Communications
3. Clarify Your Positioning
4. Identify the Influencers
5. Listen Before You Launch
6. Integrate Social Media with SEO
7. Engage Your Audience
8. Engage Your Employees
9. Engage Your Customers
10. Be Honest and Up Front
11. Define Metrics According to Business Objectives
12. Fail Quickly. Fail Cheaply
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Update 9: 10.00pm (Mct)
I just read about the demise of the Business 2.0 magazine on NYTimes.com via www.socialmedia.biz. It’s a pity this amazing mag is going to be shut down after October. Interestingly, there was a campaign on Facebook to save the mag. Also read an interesting post ‘Are you on Facebook yet?’ by Ann Handley, fellow co-author at ‘The Age of Conversation’ at Marketing Profs Daily Fix Blog again via socialmedia.Biz. Quite a number of AOC co-authors have also commented on that post. Though I regret that I don’t get enough time to play around with Facebook, I’ve no doubt that it is one of the hottest social networking scenes to be seen at today. And it’s increasingly being used to connect professionally with much success. Click here to read Judi Sohn’s post ’12 Ways to Use Facebook Professionally’. The September issue of Business 2.0 features ‘The Facebook Economy’ – how the world’s No. 2 social network is fast evolving into a new kind of software platform with custom social media applications.
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Update 10: 10.30pm (Mct)
In between all this talk about social media, I want to share this awesome commercial for Virgin Atlantic’s Upper Class Suite with you. Enjoy!
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Update 11: 11.15pm (Mct)
I picked up this interesting visual that explains the rise and emergence of mass social media on Dion Hinchcliffe’s Web 2.0 blog post ‘Social media goes mainstream’. Dion provides a round-up of social media definitions and introductory information and tops it by 5 ground rules.
1. Communication in the form of conversation, not monologue.
2. Participants in social media are people, not organizations.
3. Honesty and transparency are core values.
4. It’s all about pull, not push.
5. Distribution instead of centralization.
Check out this interesting ‘World Map of Social Networks’ at Valleywag. Which network is popular in your country? And for the unidentified patch that is Oman in the Middle East – I can tell you that Orkut is very much popular among the Indian expat community while Facebook is more used by Omanis and other foreign expats.
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Update 12: 1.00am (Mct)
Back from another break. Here are a few good resources on social media via Unica’s Marketing Consortium Blog.
Consumer Generated Media 101, Word-of-Mouth in the Age of the Web-Fortified Consumer – A white paper from Nielsen BuzzMetrics with a very solid and concise background on social media and the specific content vehicles that directly impact consumer purchasing decisions.
I had to submit information at this request form to access the whitepaper and surprisingly Oman was missing from the list of countries! So, I went ahead and selected United Arab Emirates, our next door neighbour. Now, how cool is that?
Have a look at the SEOmoz roundup of 30 social media tools that marketers should be familiar with, including Digg, Flickr, Technorati, JotSpot, StumbleUpon, and many more.
Or check out the more extensive “Seth Godin’s List” of social media tools.
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Update 13: 2.15am (Mct)
Ryan Karpeles talks about how social media is an invaluable asset to companies who choose to embrace it.
New to social media and looking for a blogger role model? Ryan showcases over 35 amazing bloggers in this excellent post that links bloggers to specific competences and qualities. Yes, bloggers make outstanding teachers.
Top blogger & branding expert Drew McLellan offers you a smart Blogger Toolbox – blog sites that a new blogger should visit, explore and study. Here’s his pick:
Converstations (chock full of practical tips)
CK’s blog (compelling blog post examples)
Viral Garden (demonstrates how to build a community)
Lonely Marketer (teaches marketing tools)
Successful & Outstanding Blogs (bloggers who spotlight newbies)
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Update 14: 3.00am (Mct)
5000 web applications in 333 seconds. Check out this viral video from Simple Spark, a comprehensive directory of Web 2.0 applications via Karl Long’s blog.
Gavin Heaton blogs about ‘Why does Social Media Stink’ and warns marketers against treating it like a channel.
Rohit Bhargava writes about ‘The Dark Side of Social Media’ and 5 ways to avoid it.
My first ever Social Media Challenge comes to an end and I’m so ready to conk-off. It was fun, 10 hours of trolling my way through the blogosphere searching for info and insights on social media. Will be back soon! Now it’s another trip to snoozeland.
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Welcome to the 10hr Social Media Challenge September 5, 2007
Posted by Arun Rajagopal in Conversations, Digital, Social Media.add a comment
A long time ago, ‘coffee-guzzling web developing sociologist’ Mark Blair did an outstanding live-blogging effort to promote ‘The Age of Conversation’ through his 24-hour Internet Marketing Challenge.
Inspired by his efforts, I’m going on a ’10-hour Social Media Challenge’ tomorrow (Thursday, 6 September 2007). The mission is as follows: Get on a social media trail on the blogosphere from the perspective of a social media beginner.
Efforts will include:
1. Answering the questions – What is social media? What is its impact and opportunities?
2. Connecting with leading social media bloggers and their great work.
3. Identifying learnings, insights, best practices and trends.
4. Have a great time on the social web.
Expected Outcomes:
1. Create a mini social media hub on this blog linking to a wealth of connections & knowledge that will be of use to social media learners as well as experts.
2. Expect the unexpected.
You can team up with me in this Challenge in the following ways!
1. Ping me about post(s) on your blog which will be of interest to a rookie social media enthusiast who wants to know more. Send me a comment in this blog or email at arunjoboy (at) yahoo (dot) com and I will link to / highlight the same.
2. You may also recommend interesting blog posts / work that you believe is worthy to be part of the social media discovery challenge. I will give you credit for being a great guide.
3. You can just send me a comment or buzz me to check if I’m dozing or on with the live-blogging effort. I’ll be online in Windows Live Messenger, Facebook & Orkut. If there is some new tool we can use to connect, just let me know.
The Challenge kicks off at 5pm Muscat time (1pm GMT – click here for timings around the world) and will end at 3am Muscat time (12noon GMT – click here for timings around the world).
See you at the 10-Hour Social Media Challenge tomorrow!
Got my hands on AOC! September 4, 2007
Posted by Arun Rajagopal in Conversations, Digital.2 comments
My hard copies of ‘The Age of Conversation’ finally got here yesterday! 9 of them – and I thought I’d welcome them with a new ‘hair-do’. Don’t know how well the ‘do’ has turned out to be. But the book is a real smashing beauty in print 🙂 Click here to read more about ‘AOC‘ or visit www.ageofconversation.com.
Thank you AOC! August 17, 2007
Posted by Arun Rajagopal in Conversations, Digital.23 comments
It’s been a month since the launch of ‘The Age of Conversation’ and I think it’s a great time to sit back and take stock of how the book has impacted my life and the AOC community. But before that, let me thank the people who worked behind and in front of the scenes to make this dream come true. It’s a huge list of people & contributions and I’m sure to have missed a few – my apologies in advance! Here’s to the heroes and heroines of ‘The Age of Conversation’.
It all started with Drew McLellan & Gavin Heaton.
Thank you for spearheading the Age of Conversation and doing everything that made this book a reality. Thank you for your emphatic leadership and vision. Thank you for bringing us closer and showing that the world is really a global village. You are our superheroes of the season. Yeah, the bots from Transformers, Spiderman and Jason Bourne all run a close second.
CK gave a new dimension to AOC by leading the initiative to gift copies of the ‘Age of Conversation’ to Fortune 500 CMOs. Toby Bloomberg, Mario Vellandi and I have also teamed up to spread the word on AOC in the corporate world through this smart marketing initiative. We are proud to dedicate the book to the memory of her darling momma, Sandra Kerley. I’d also like to thank CK for spreading love through her cookies. Though I haven’t had the pleasure of having your yummy cookies, I love the affection you gift to people through them.
PR Guru David Reich worked behind the scenes to ensure that AOC received its due share of PR coverage around the world. David Armano designed the elegant cover of AOC. Roger Anderson supported the editors on the intricacies of self-publishing. Thank you guys!
Amazing Matt Dickman brought the AOC community closer together through social media tools. He gave us our very own Flickr community group and Wetpaint wiki. Oh yes, and also a Google Map highlighting the global nature of this blook.
Sean Howard showed us that he is the unchallenged king of ‘nekkid comedy’ with a spoof video that celebrated the arrival of the AOC books at his office.
Steve Woodruff added a brilliant touch by giving AOC an official mascot. Curious George is currently on tour in the United States, before heading to Europe, Middle East and Australia before reaching home at Variety, the Children’s Charity. He also gives us a quick recap of every chapter in the book.
Mark Goren took the great initiative to create ‘Age of Conversation Contributors and Friends’ Group on Facebook. The Group has 167 members as of today.
Mark Blair went a step ahead and set up a Google CSE which helps search the blogs of all contributing authors of AOC. Brilliant, don’t you think? It didn’t stop there. Fuelled by what must have been barrel loads of caffeine, Mark then went on an enterprising 24-hour Internet Marketing Challenge liveblogging and promoting AOC online!
Lub Debaisieux did a brilliant post that effectively captures the impact of AOC on reality – essentially, how the seed of an idea germinates into a huge tree delivering the fruits of immense positive actions.
Press Mentions in the Sultanate of Oman & Middle East
A big thank you to the two angels you see with me in this snap. Dina Al Jafari, Account Manager & Bosky Dutia, Senior Account Executive at Buzzword Action PR, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman went out of their way to ensure that the voice of ‘The Age of Conversation’ was heard not just in Oman, but the entire Middle East. Their efforts created an incredible buzz for ‘AOC’.
On behalf of the entire AOC community, I thank Dina, Bosky, their PR associates, media persons and publications that covered AOC and helped ‘ping’ social media in Oman. Though most stories highlighted my contribution, the book emerged the real hero.
Print / National Dailies – Oman
Oman Daily Observer (Zawya) – 18 July 2007
Oman: Local blogger is part of unique worldwide blog collaboration
Times of Oman – 19 July 2007
Oman-based Arun among bloggers authoring a book
Oman Tribune – 15 August 2007
Blog your way to fame
Thank you Jeta Pillai for plugging into AOC and offering sneak previews of chapters of Becky Carroll, Toby Bloomberg, Jessica Hagy and Ryan Rasmussen.
Magazines / Tabloids – Oman
Faces, Oman – July 2007
Making a ping!
Thank you Mary Paulose for plugging into AOC.
The Week, Oman – 25 July 2007
Of blogs and conversations
Thank you Aninda Sardar for plugging into AOC.
Hi! Times, Oman – 27 July 2007
Local blogger part of global ‘blook’
Gulf Marketing Review, Middle East – August 2007
Social networking and UGC spread across the Gulf
Radio – Oman
Cybertalk Show, 90.4FM – 19 July 2007
Tariq Al-Barwani, Oman’s IT whiz and Online Manager at Nawras Telecom promoted the ‘Age of Conversation’ on his weekly radio show on ICT. Thank you Tariq for plugging into AOC.
Web – Middle East
Zawya.com – 18 July 2007
Mideast blogger a part of first ever worldwide blog collaboration
Maktoob.com – 17 July 2007
Middle East blogger a part of first-ever worldwide blog collaboration
Middle East Events – 17 July 2007
Mideast Blogger A Part of First-Ever Worldwide Blog Collaboration
Trade Arabia.com – 17 July 2007
Muscat blogger joins e-book venture
Forthcoming Media Coverage:
A special feature on AOC & social media in Digital Oman magazine. Thank you Prem Varghese & Hasan Kamoonpuri for plugging into AOC.
Thank you to:
Lulu.com – publishers of ‘The Age of Conversation’.
Variety – the US based international charity which AOC is supporting through book sales. As of 3 August 2007, we sold 695 books and earned $5,674.37 for charity.
Last but not the least, the Co-authors of ‘The Age of Conversation’
A BIG thank you – for coming together and giving your voice to ‘The Age of Conversation’; for sharing your unique thoughts, insights and ideas on how to create exciting conversations with the world; for the efforts you have taken to support the book during its creation and your constant endeavour to promote the book after its launch through book tours, podcasts, book readings, gifts, speaking engagements, audio books, meetings and more…
Gavin Heaton (Editor, The Age of Conversation)
Drew McLellan (Editor, The Age of Conversation)
CK
Valeria Maltoni
Emily Reed
Katie Chatfield
Greg Verdino
Mack Collier
Lewis Green
Sacrum
Ann Handley
Mike Sansone
Paul McEnany
Roger von Oech
Anna Farmery
David Armano
Bob Glaza
Mark Goren
Matt Dickman
Scott Monty
Richard Huntington
Cam Beck
David Reich
Luc Debaisieux
Sean Howard
Tim Jackson
Patrick Schaber
Roberta Rosenberg
Uwe Hook
Tony D. Clark
Todd Andrlik
Toby Bloomberg
Steve Woodruff
Steve Bannister
Steve Roesler
Stanley Johnson
Spike Jones
Nathan Snell
Simon Payn
Ryan Rasmussen
Ron Shevlin
Roger Anderson
Robert Hruzek
Rishi Desai
Phil Gerbyshak
Peter Corbett
Pete Deutschman
Nick Rice
Nick Wright
Michael Morton
Mark Earls
Mark Blair
CB Whittemore
Mario Vellandi
Lori Magno
Kristin Gorski
Kris Hoet
G. Kofi Annan
Kimberly Dawn Wells
Karl Long
Julie Fleischer
Jordan Behan
John La Grou
Joe Raasch
Jim Kukral
Jessica Hagy
Janet Green
Jamey Shiels
Dr. Graham Hill
Gia Facchini
Geert Desager
Gaurav Mishra
Gary Schoeniger
Gareth Kay
Faris Yakob
Emily Clasper
Ed Cotton
Dustin Jacobsen
Tom Clifford
David Polinchock
David Koopmans
David Brazeal
David Berkowitz
Carolyn Manning
Craig Wilson
Cord Silverstein
Connie Reece
Colin McKay
Chris Newlan
Chris Corrigan
Cedric Giorgi
Brian Reich
Becky Carroll
Andy Nulman
Amy Jussel
AJ James
Kim Klaver
Sandy Renshaw
Susan Bird
Ryan Barrett
Troy Worman
S. Neil Vineberg
And finally, a big thanks to all the visitors to my blog who have come in looking for information on ‘The Age of Conversation’. Thank you Tom Hoehn, Kamla Bhatt, Eric Kintz, Scott Berg and Karen Lawrence Öqvist for your comments of support and encouragement. And Dona Nazareth for being a good sidekick & naming me ‘Donga’ – it was nice meeting you through AOC. And a word to all my friends at work and elsewhere – Your support and encouragement keeps me going to be part of adventures such as ‘The Age of Conversation’. Thank you for being there!
What I learn from Harry Potter August 13, 2007
Posted by Arun Rajagopal in Conversations, Pot Pourri.add a comment
I finally finished reading ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ this morning. I’m an avid fan of The-Boy-Who-Lived and it’s not surprising to see me walk around the agency these days mumbling stuff like ‘Mudbloods, Muggles, Squibs, Filth of the Earth, Merlin’s Pants’ or using the Imperio, Crucio, Avada Kedavra and Expilliarmus charms on unsuspecting Muggle-folk. Naming friends at work after characters in the book has become a passion.
Suddenly, office has become Hogwarts School of Magic. Every client is a Goblin or a potential one in the making. The creative guys are the ‘Order of Phoenix’. The top honchos belong to the ‘Ministry of Magic’. The Prison of Azkaban is where all the ad layouts that don’t see the light of the day go. The boss is Albus Dumbledore (in real life, he bears a stunning resemblance to the sagacious wizard – hopefully he is not reading this post!). Hermione Granger, my best buddy has taken off for a fellow wizard’s wedding. Best chum Ron Weasley is soon to desert me in the hunt for Horcruxes and look for greener pastures in the Forbidden Forest (India). Hell, we even have our own Sir Cadogan, Finch and Peeves. The neighbourhood cats are lovingly viewed as Thestrals, Centaurs and Hippogriffs. Uptown Bar has been renamed Three Broomsticks. However, I haven’t yet found an apt candidate for the Dark Lord You-Know-Who.
I’ve been thinking whether to call our client serving team ‘Death Eaters’ but let me get my Invisibility Cloak around me and disapparate before I get hexed. May be Dementors is a more apt title. But I’ve pretty much figured out the likes of Draco & Lucius Malfoy, Hagrid, Neville Longbottom, Uncle Vernon, Severus Snape & Professor McGonagall. And no guesses as to who is Harry Potter. Especially when I’ve been strutting around complaining that my scar has been burning and that I can get into the dark recesses of The-One-Who-Must-Be-Not-Named’s mind, especially when I’m in the loo (now called the Floo Network).
My patronus charm varies between a WAP4 electric loco and a silver camel. Depends on the days I’m playing Quidditch. I’m sure that you get the drift. That I urgently need to be taken to St. Mungo’s for a check-up. Jokes apart, Harry is my role model. One of the best ever.
Dr John Mark Reynolds, the founder and director of the Torrey Honors Institute, and Associate Professor of Philosophy at Biola University says that Harry is an example of “mediocre” or merely “above average” people who achieve greatness if they persevere in learning virtue. Dr Reynolds then speaks of Harry’s true merit:
Harry does not think himself the “chosen one” based on his skills. He perseveres and so learns courage, moderation, practical wisdom, justice, faith, hope, and love. He is great in character and it is better to be good than to get the best marks in wizarding. Click here to read his post.
In another post, Dr Reynolds describes 5 things one can learn from Harry Potter, namely:
1. Magic / Technology cannot solve real problems.
2. A bad start in life does not control destiny.
3. People have a choice to be or not be ‘bad’.
4. ‘Authority’ may not always have solutions to all problems.
5. The need to grow up and acceptance of the responsibilities and pains which come along with the pleasures of adulthood.
For me, Harry Potter is a man of action. Someone who steps forward to accept challenges that life throws at him. A struggler who ultimately wins because of his dogged persistence to attain his mission. A decent human being who values the power of friendships and relationships to advance in life. Someone who is bold, courageous and chivalrous yet accepts his frailty in situations that demand him to. Greatness seeks out such people. Ultimately, even the Universe conspires to help the dreamer.
Here’s another interesting article on 10 things you can learn from Harry Potter.
And oh, I can feel my scar burning again.
The real power of Social Media August 1, 2007
Posted by Arun Rajagopal in Conversations, Digital.add a comment
This has to be one of the most viewed YouTube videos (comes with strong, profane-language) at the moment. Only a day old, it’s already garnered thousands of views and coverage on CNN.
Here’s the backgrounder:
- Roman Catholic priest put on leave after verbally abusing skateboarders
- Skateboarders were using St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne as a skate park
- Reverend Monsignor Geoff Baron’s outburst filmed and placed on YouTube
- Baron apologizes, saying skaters provoked him alleging he was a pedophile
While I refuse to take sides of any party or offer comments on who’s right or wrong, what I would reflect on is:
1. The pervasive influence & power of social media. Whether you like it or not, social media is omnipresent and often used to bring out ‘bad’. People need to be aware that their ‘negative’ actions are very likely to be captured and presented to a public domain.
2. With great power comes greater responsibility. It’s great when social media tools are used to fight ‘evil’ and spread word about ‘good’. But what about creating / supporting ‘evil’ in order to spread word about ‘evil’? For example, how ethical is it to offer a bribe to a higher official with the hope of baiting him, so that it can be captured on camera?
What are your thoughts?
Ready for a mind game? August 1, 2007
Posted by Arun Rajagopal in Conversations.3 comments
It’s called ‘Mental Tennis’. Apparently, top tennis coaches from around the world use this game to shape up their wards into world-class pros.
This is how the game works. The coach tells the player to play the game mentally. You anticipate your opponent’s game in your mind. You practice the serve, volley and all the other shots in your head, over and over again. You even refine and improve upon them. Mentally, you picture your hands and legs stretching and reaching out to the line – basically you push your body over the limit. You imagine yourself winning and prevailing yourself over the competitor. You visualize yourself doing improbable things – for example a clay court game is not your virtues. But in this mind game, clay court has suddenly become your bastion. It seems that this approach usually works. Mental games make you stronger. They prepare you for success. Your mind, body and soul have already been bought into achieving the inevitable. Confidence is sky-high and so are energy levels. Your limbs move better, your entire body is primed, your mind functions better… even your vision is enhanced. All you have to do is perform, and that now comes naturally to you. Because your mind is prepared.
Apply this mental game of tennis into your daily life. Put it into practice before your next public speaking assignment or work meeting. Try it before you sell an idea to a group of people. Play this game before you work towards your next ambition or goal in life. Hell, use it to even conquer an illness. Trust me, it works. Every time.
Inviting HP to ‘The Age of Conversation’ July 26, 2007
Posted by Arun Rajagopal in Conversations, Digital.11 comments
I woke up this morning and knew I had to talk to this special group of HP bloggers. So I went out on the WWW and got the links to the people who I have to talk to in this post. So here goes:
Dear:
Ash Ashutosh
Claudio Bartolini
John Bennett
Giordano Beretta
Scott Berg
Cannes team
Duncan Campbell
Marco Casassa Mont
Ged Collins
Ozzie Diaz
EMEA CSR Team
Enterprise Printing Team
John Erickson
Vince Ferraro
Richard Fichera
Eileen Fritsch
Stan Garfield
David Gee
Ian Griffin
HP Inkjet Printing Team
John Jantsch
Eric Kintz
Muriel Kopélianskis
Pankaj Kumar
Karen Lawrence Öqvist
Phil McKinney
Nandini Nayak
Anneliese Olson
Krishnan Ramanathan
Archie Reed
HP Russia blog team
Jim Rutherford
Rahul Sood
Rita Sully
Sundance Team
HP Technology Forum Team
Gary Thome
Susan Underhill
UK Corporate and Enterprise team
William Vambenepe
Jim Vanides
Tanya Vaughan
Alex Vorbau
Jason Ward
Susie Wee
Ross West
Ray Wu
Fred Zuill
How are you doing? I’m Arun Rajagopal from Muscat, Sultanate of Oman & I’m glad you have come by my blog. I work as a content strategist for UMSi, a leading web solutions company out here.
Have you read this interesting book called ‘The Age of Conversation’? If yes, great! Nope??? Then you are missing on something darn exciting.
But wait; do you know what the buzz on ‘The Age of Conversation’ is all about? Let me explain the big deal in a nutshell. Let’s get on with this conversation!
‘The Age of Conversation’ is a book about engaging consumers through conversations in a world being shaped by citizen marketers. Now for the exciting part. It is authored by 103 marketing bloggers from 24 states of the USA and 10 nations, making it a first-of-its-kind collaboration via the Internet!
So what’s so special about this book?
It really explores the art of conversation and how that is changing the face of marketing from virtually every angle possible. You get over 100 voices. 100 different perspectives.
And a single purpose – how to have more exciting, meaningful, interactive and memorable conversations.
The book was written for you. It is all about you. It is your book! Read a review by Advertising Age.
Let me give you a small example. My example. I’m one of the 103 co-authors of the ‘The Age of Conversation’. My chapter is titled: The Rules of the Garage. For Digital Media Conversationalists.
As a HP blogger, you know ‘The Rules of the Garage’ better than me. In my chapter, I talk about creating exciting digital media conversations by taking inspiration from HP’s ‘Rules of the Garage’ management philosophy. Cool, huh?
I think these rules are so wonderfully expansive that you can apply them to almost any aspect of life. I plugged them to digital conversations because that is my line of work and then interpreted them for digital pros who are interested in creating exciting online conversations.
I recommend that you not only read my chapter, but 102 other chapters written by marketing pros who value communities and conversations.
‘The Age of Conversation’ is all about ‘win-win’ conversations that are transforming the entire marketing landscape.
• About how various marketing disciplines such as advertising, digital, PR and journalism have to change the way they talk to their consumers to be heard.
• We remind you through our different voices that the most important part in a conversation is LISTENING.
• Plus, we share powerful insights on how to use social media and networking tools to transform the ways we converse.
Simply put, the book is a must-read for any modern marketer and communications professional.
‘The Age of Conversation’ has gold nuggets for everybody. And I mean EVERYBODY. And that according to me is one of the greatest strengths of this book.
Not just marketing people – parents, kids, service industry professionals, community leaders, anybody who is for conversations will come out richer after reading this book.
Dear blogger pal, it will be great if you read ‘The Age of Conversation’ and generously spread the word on the book.
It would be even better if you order copies and give away a few to your friends & colleagues.
After all, it’s not entirely talk about conversations and social media transforming your life.
It’s about helping kids around the world smile more.
In a true spirit of community sharing, we are donating proceeds of book sales to Variety, an international charity committed to serve children across the globe. Our commitment is to raise at least $10,000 for Variety through book sales.
You can buy ‘The Age of Conversation’ as an e-book ($9.99), paperback ($16.90) or hardback ($29.99) from this online store. For more information, please click on www.ageofconversation.com
Trust me; we need EVERYBODY on board The Age of Conversation.
Remember: It’s no longer ‘I TALK, YOU LISTEN’. It’s ‘I ENGAGE, YOU TALK’.
P.S: Oh yeah, the pic you see there on top of this post is my workstation, and that’s the first snap I took with my new mob. Now you know how attached I’m to my PC, it’s got magnets, calendars & even a Harrods London Bus parked on it 🙂
Thank you for your time. And attention.
Arun Rajagopal
Joined by ace conversationalists:
Gavin Heaton (Editor, The Age of Conversation)
Drew McLellan (Editor, The Age of Conversation)
CK
Valeria Maltoni
Emily Reed
Katie Chatfield
Greg Verdino
Mack Collier
Lewis Green
Sacrum
Ann Handley
Mike Sansone
Paul McEnany
Roger von Oech
Anna Farmery
David Armano
Bob Glaza
Mark Goren
Matt Dickman
Scott Monty
Richard Huntington
Cam Beck
David Reich
Luc Debaisieux
Sean Howard
Tim Jackson
Patrick Schaber
Roberta Rosenberg
Uwe Hook
Tony D. Clark
Todd Andrlik
Toby Bloomberg
Steve Woodruff
Steve Bannister
Steve Roesler
Stanley Johnson
Spike Jones
Nathan Snell
Simon Payn
Ryan Rasmussen
Ron Shevlin
Roger Anderson
Robert Hruzek
Rishi Desai
Phil Gerbyshak
Peter Corbett
Pete Deutschman
Nick Rice
Nick Wright
Michael Morton
Mark Earls
Mark Blair
CB Whittemore
Mario Vellandi
Lori Magno
Kristin Gorski
Kris Hoet
G. Kofi Annan
Kimberly Dawn Wells
Karl Long
Julie Fleischer
Jordan Behan
John La Grou
Joe Raasch
Jim Kukral
Jessica Hagy
Janet Green
Jamey Shiels
Dr. Graham Hill
Gia Facchini
Geert Desager
Gaurav Mishra
Gary Schoeniger
Gareth Kay
Faris Yakob
Emily Clasper
Ed Cotton
Dustin Jacobsen
Tom Clifford
David Polinchock
David Koopmans
David Brazeal
David Berkowitz
Carolyn Manning
Craig Wilson
Cord Silverstein
Connie Reece
Colin McKay
Chris Newlan
Chris Corrigan
Cedric Giorgi
Brian Reich
Becky Carroll
Andy Nulman
Amy Jussel
AJ James
Kim Klaver
Sandy Renshaw
Susan Bird
Ryan Barrett
Troy Worman
S. Neil Vineberg
Guess who’s rocking today? July 21, 2007
Posted by Arun Rajagopal in Conversations, Digital.4 comments
Once upon a time, I was an avid quizzer with a particular penchant for the rapid-fire round. You know that heart-crunching round, where they shoot you a volley of questions at a speed that outruns the pace of your answers. You are not just hunting for the right answers, but you are pitched against time!
Today, if somebody asked me this question in a rapid-fire round of a quiz on social media & marketing, I wouldn’t need more than half-a-second to come up with the answer.
The question: Who’s the smartest marketing blogger out there with the biggest heart to care & share?
My answer: CK.
What else can I say about this amazingly thoughtful & smart marketer who perfectly understands that fellow-marketers need to get on board ‘The Age of Conversation’ to be a part of the conversation that is redefining the conversation between them and their customers.
And what does CK come up with? A neat idea – to buy and gift 5 copies of ‘The Age of Conversation’ on behalf its 103 authors to 5 CMOs of 5 Fortune 500 companies. In true community spirit, CK requested the AOC community to recommend these benefactors and has promised to give away yummy cookies to volunteers who help her get information on the CMOs. The fab 5 companies are: Wal-Mart, Sears, Saturn, NBC and United Airlines.
The buzz gets hotter and two smart marketers have joined the fray to emulate CK’s example – Marketing Diva Toby Bloomberg and bloggernaut Mario Vellandi. So that means that more CMOs are going to be a part of ‘The Age of Conversation’ and that’s better news for their customers, right???
Here’s a toss of my hat to this wonderful lady of thought & action. And a commitment from my end to give away 3 copies of ‘The Age of Conversation’ to 3 CMOs of most active digital brands in the Middle East. I’ll wait for the copies to arrive and then announce the ‘lucky 3’. Thank you, CK – you rock, as always! And before I go, let me let you in on a small way I’m spreading the word on ‘The Age of Conversation’. Private reading sessions with my friends! I’ve had 2 so far. While Mary Paulose and I read Sacrum’s Warmness together, Shweta Asher has a particular fondness for both Roger von Oech’s How to Think Like A Fool and Steve Bannister’s How to be Happy.
If you have a bought a copy of ‘The Age of Conversation’, may I recommend that you read the book together with people who mean the most to you. Trust me; you will come out feeling blessed and enriched. Like me.
Arun Rajagopal 