It's amazing how much time working out details of 'seemingly' easy things can take. Finally, after a couple of weeks of 'in-the-making' the IndiaSocial™Case Challenge that we've been busy coordinating is now 'live'. My sincere thanks to exchange4media and impact Weekly for partnering with the initiative.

Open from 3 February 2010, through 28 February 2010 (IST), the IndiaSocial™ Case Challenge invites submissions of their social media work in India, from brands, private and government organisations, not-for-profits, media bodies, celebrity brands...

1. Top 3 cases, as selected by the judging panel, will get featured in impact Weekly and also get an opportunity to present their case at a future event hosted by IndiaSocial
2. Top 10 case-studies will be featured on IndiaSocial.in under a special Gold Class section
3. Both short-term projects and longer term strategic work can be submitted to win under respective categories

On the judging panel are some of the most credible names in social media and journalism:

1. Dina Mehta, Co-Founder & Head of Research, Mosoci
2. George Skaria, Founder, ThoughtSpring and Former Editor, Indian Management
3. Kiruba Shankar, CEO, Business Blogging
4. Peter Griffin, Editor, Caferati; co-founder SEA-EAT and the World Wide Help Group
5. Pradyuman Maheshwari, Group Editor, exchange4media Group
6. Yours truly.

To ensure complete transparency and freedom from bias, any judge/judges will not rate an entry basis there/ their organisations involvement in a submitted case-study.

While we will share judging criteria along with declaration of winners, some of the factors that judges would be looking for consist:

1. Clarity of objectives
2. Alignment of results with goals
3. Rigour in measurement
4. RoI
5. Stakeholder engagement
6. Innovation & differentiation
7. Delight factors

   More about the initiative here.

   I am hoping to see some great case-studies in the @IndiaSocial Case Challenge that will convince me that there is more to all the social media talk than mere hype.

   ]]> tag:www.blogworks.in,2010:/blog//4.457 2010-01-31T05:27:07Z 2010-02-01T06:49:55Z
   I have been intently listening to many of the offline conversations around me, and have been quite fascinated how the pressure of putting our 'best face forward' on Facebook is playing up in our lives. It's a space which...
   Amita I have been intently listening to many of the offline conversations around me, and have been quite fascinated how the pressure of putting our 'best face forward' on Facebook is playing up in our lives.

   It's a space which has little place for the reserved and the shy; a dynamic tabloid replete with 'Beautiful People' hounded by a painstakingly self-seeded network of paparazzi.

   Belonging and self esteem have been recognized as the key human needs since time immemorial. As the Wikipedia note on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs says -
   All humans have a need to be respected and to have self-esteem and self-respect. Also known as the belonging need, esteem presents the normal human desire to be accepted and valued by others. People need to engage themselves to gain recognition and have an activity or activities that give the person a sense of contribution, to feel accepted and self-valued, be it in a profession or hobby. Imbalances at this level can result in low self-esteem or an inferiority complex.

   
   Facebook is a great platform to gain recognition and be accepted. However, there is an unspoken code of conduct that helps to cover the recognition ground rapidly.

   
   Here are a few commandments that will hold you in good stead:

   1. 1.Thou shall always have a smile on your face - real life may be about difficult issues as parents disapproving of your girlfriend/ not having a job or getting admission in a good college etc, but on Facebook you MUST be seen as happy. Why? If reality is perception and if you can influence that perception, by showcasing your best then you can change your reality. Well almost.
   2. 2.Thou shall 'Untag' any photograph that may make thy look short, fat or 'uncool' - there are several dementors prying around, to catch you in your non-Julia Roberts moment and bring it to everyone else's notice by pressing the 'like' button. Steer clear!
   3. 3.Thou shall never repeat a dress at any social gathering - well this one may imply additional financial burdens but then that's a small price to pay for being the Paris Hilton of your Facebook network. Wearing the same outfit on two occasions captured on the network can be a REALLY big fashion faux pas. Watch out!
   4. 4.Thou shall keep everyone informed of your current relationship status - one of the Facebook best practices is to have your beau feature in your profile photograph. There are also several relationship options to choose from - intelligent usage of this feature can also enable you to find (or even dump) a partner
   5. 5.Thou must upload your kindergarten photographs - so what if you don't exactly look like a dream anymore? You definitely have those really cute pictures of you as a 2 yr old. They are also great conversation starters. If there is nothing from the present life worthy of generating interest, past is certainly worth a try!

   
   Since brevity is the soul of wit, and user-generated content that of social media, I have left the scope for other 5 commandments to be generated from you dear reader and others of your ilk. :)

   Do share your thoughts.

   Cheers.
   

   ]]> tag:www.blogworks.in,2010:/blog//4.455 2010-01-22T12:11:08Z 2010-01-25T03:35:20Z
   Edelman and Brandtology have jointly brought out the second edition of its Digital Brand Index for India. Covering the last quarter of 2009, this edition of the study tracked 154,492 online conversations pertaining to 104 large technology brands contained...
   Manpreet

   Edelman and Brandtology have jointly brought out the second edition of its Digital Brand Index for India. Covering the last quarter of 2009, this edition of the study tracked 154,492 online conversations pertaining to 104 large technology brands contained in 306 influential channels.

   Here are some of the brands that emerged on top of the charts:

   

   

   From the first edition of this survey in the previous quarter, i.e. July to September 2009, Samsung(Client) is now ranked #4 among the top 10 buzziest brands in India this quarter, i.e. October to December 2009; and the only consumer technology brand to feature in the top 5 (Google#1, Microsoft#2, Yahoo!#3 and Apple #5) during the period Oct-Dec 2009. With Samsung showing a significant leap of 3 positions in the list of top buzziest technology brands, it is reaffirming to know that some of the social media work we did for Samsung India's Social Media campaign has shown results.

   The study also derives that there has been an exponential 123% increase in the number of brand mentions for Samsung during Oct-Dec (6,548 brand mentions). The Samsung Corby Colour Wars contest on Twitter as part of our Social Media campaign for Samsung India is likely to have contributed to this quantum leap. Our own post-activity analyses had shown around 3000 mentions of Samsung Corby, amounting to nearly 615000 exposures.

   It was also interesting to note that many of the insights shared by the report are being employed by the team in our approach already. Sharing some key insights here:

   • Brands should integrate their digital communication along with their offline communication for best results
   • Marketers should consider implications of timing, alongside targeting and channel selection as a part of a social media engagement program
   • Conversations grow early in the week, spike on a Wednesday, and then taper off towards a weekend
   • Leading online content creators (influencers) are actively being wooed by brands
   • It's time for brands to build the next set of influencers who are not sceptic about direct communication, and are likely to be influenced by the sheer gesture of reaching out

   Do share your thoughts on the study too.

   ]]> tag:www.blogworks.in,2010:/blog//4.454 2010-01-21T07:28:50Z 2010-01-21T11:00:52Z
   Dataquest published my article 'Back to the Future' in their last issue, on Social Media trends to expect in 2010 for India. Reproducing the content here: Back to the Future Ten trends that will drive social media in 2010...
   Manpreet

   Dataquest published my article 'Back to the Future' in their last issue, on Social Media trends to expect in 2010 for India. Reproducing the content here:

   Back to the Future
   Ten trends that will drive social media in 2010

   The year 2010 will be about social media coming of age, albeit in select ways. Some relevant trends:

   1. Social Media For the Enterprise: 2010 will be the year where the enterprise looks towards social media for providing internal solutions for interaction, learning, fun! By 2010 end, internal e-mails should be passe, with people/ organizations sharing news, information, and updates through their internal social networks
   2. Search Will Open Up: If Facebook opens itself to search, that in itself would be the single most revolutionary development in the social media environment for the year 2010. Google may also bring its social search out of the labs as a service, which again would shift the paradigm back in favor of Google as the enduring, preferred search mechanism. Real-time search will gain ground
   3. Greater Focus On Tracking and Monitoring: Rigorous social media monitoring will emerge as one of the key focus areas for brands and organizations, in addition to their outreach and engagement initiatives over the social web, a symptom of maturing digital campaigns. While social media monitoring has relevance for several other sectors like governance, e-journalism, etc., it will be interesting to see if its potential gets tapped in 2010
   4. The Year of the Mobile, Finally: While for the last two consecutive years, we've been beckoning the arrival of the mobile as the next big thing, 2010 looks like the year that mobile will get third-time lucky. While it is already a ubiquitous device, the mobile itself is increasingly becoming the first tool for social media consumption, making it seamless and instantaneous. People would publish, consume, and share on the go!
   5. Collaboration Among Social Media Stakeholders: One of the crucial trends that 2010 will see materialize is the coming together of the various stakeholders within the social media landscape for sharing, learning, collaboration as well as fun. (There are immense possibilities of this vibrant coming together - to name a few, mutual notes-exchange, enhanced business value, cross-sector partnerships, global alliances, et al. One such step has been initiated by Blogworks in IndiaSocial™, with a case-studies series, the India Social wiki and a large-format flagship event in the current pipeline.) 2010 will see this coming of age of the Indian social media scene through such collaborative initiatives

   
   

   6. Convergence Across Media: Increasingly, all media are coming together - textual, audio, visual. Google Wave is one such example - a cross between chat, wiki, and email. Convergence would gain credence and adoption across platforms, and even in social advertising!
   7. Augmented Reality: The much touted phenomenon of augmented reality, only witnessed in science fiction, may not entirely materialize, but will surely develop further. While we already rely on LinkedIn and Facebook to profile/ sample people before we meet them, or meet over Twitter before a real-life face-off, extensive social profiling is something to look forward to. For instance, foursquare is a well known location-based network. This is also convergence in the sense that offline and online identities eventually come together, where the hitherto separate persona and the person come together as one
   8. Social Gaming: Farmville and Mafia Wars have only shown the tip of the iceberg in 2009, and this potential of purely fun-based engagement on the social web will be tapped further this year
   9. Interest Based Tribes Mature: Just like anything that comes of age, social media would also become boring in general. However, there's respite in the fact that specific interest groups, as they mature, could become even more intensely active. However, these enhanced tastes imply that while 2009 was the year of un-friending, well gradually move to the year where people will un-join communities and un-fan pages that lie dormant on their social circuit. Brands will have to provide value to be on peoples social radars
   10. Revenue For Twitter: Twitter, the shiny object having lost its sheen by now, would be relevant for its use-value, and not just its glamor quotient. This in turn also means that 2010 is the one for Twitters growth as a business offering, it having fared well at the numbers growth in 2009

   
   What are your thoughts? Would love to hear if you agree or otherwise.

   ]]> tag:www.blogworks.in,2010:/blog//4.453 2010-01-08T05:58:41Z 2010-01-08T06:19:50Z
   We take our work very seriously, but being at Blogworks is fun. These caricatures make our email signatures and go on a wall in the office. Tell us what you think :) Rajesh Rajika Amita Manpreet Kriti Richa...
   Rajesh http://blogworks.in We take our work very seriously, but being at Blogworks is fun. These caricatures make our email signatures and go on a wall in the office. Tell us what you think :)
   1. Rajesh

      

   2. Rajika
      

   3. Amita
      

   4. Manpreet
      

   5. Kriti
      

   6. Richa
      

   ]]> tag:www.blogworks.in,2009:/blog//4.450 2010-01-05T05:40:31Z 2010-01-05T05:41:15Z
   It's interesting to read updates on Blogworks' anniversaries, one, two years ago, as I sit down down to write another about us turning three. Blogworks turned 3 'formally' on 26 December 2009 and, this post should have been up on...
   Rajesh http://blogworks.in It's interesting to read updates on Blogworks' anniversaries, one, two years ago, as I sit down down to write another about us turning three. Blogworks turned 3 'formally' on 26 December 2009 and, this post should have been up on 28th, but the previous post will summarize why I couldn't write it until now :).

   Year 2010 has started on a promising note. Last year, this time, the world was a different place - the slowdown had started to impact everyone. We too felt direct impact for about 2 months, which in turn cost us many more to get our cash flows back into order. Looking back however, it worked out well for us - the work that we started December '08, started to pay-off towards September-October 2009.

   1. Becoming an organisation: small, but an organisation for sure. My colleagues are going out and 'winning business'; submitting thought leadership articles; participating in crucial decisions about the company's future; we formally articulated our Values; collaborative working is pretty much a norm.

      We've been leveraging technology - internal wikis and chat systems are just some manifestations, and are going to hold us in good stead, as we add more people.

      We moved into a new office in May '09 - everyone who has visited us since has simply said, "what a lovely office". Yesterday, with new colleagues, and guests, we realised that we might need to add more space. Amen.

      We've been very selective in our choice of people, that isn't going to change.

   2. Evolution and Rigour: we worked non-stop through the year to add large multinational brands, as well as overseas start-ups - delivering strategic value to their social media programmes, even looking at every tactical initiative from a larger perspective; some great experiments that delivered valve - Samsung Corby Colour Wars, for example, took about 15 days of background work.

      RoI is our promised focus, from week reports to monthly and quarterly reviews, we believe you can measure anything, if you know the goals.

      Last couple of months have also seen frenzied activity in terms of evolving new practices - an Enterprise practice is in the works; the current marketing practice is likely to get split into 2.

      We've silently been incubating a few new initiatives, nothing to report on them right now :).

   3. Thought Leadership: the contribution we started over the last 4 years, continues. 2009, saw the launch of:

      - India Social Media Survey Report - Edition 1 with exchange4media
      - Exchange4Media made us a partner on the India Social Media Summit, in March 2009
      - Significantly, we seeded India Social™ recently with an aim to bring together stakeholders in the Indian social media eco-system for engagement, sharing, learning and collaboration in a vibrant space - physical and virtual.

   
   

   Last few years have taught me that it's sometimes difficult to 'predict'? what future holds, best to just keep our heads down and focus on what we need to do. However, with a clear understanding that "either we can wait, or we can create," we are not going to wait for sure. Expect more from us.

   Thank you, all, for being there with your support and good wishes - grateful.

   
   

   ]]> tag:www.blogworks.in,2010:/blog//4.452 2010-01-04T20:17:55Z 2010-01-04T20:21:45Z
   If you are an entrepreneur, you might be able to relate to this slide-show. Let me know what you think :) Entrepreneurial Journeys - Part 1View more documents from Rajesh Lalwani....
   Rajesh http://blogworks.in If you are an entrepreneur, you might be able to relate to this slide-show. Let me know what you think :)
   Entrepreneurial Journeys - Part 1
   View more documents from Rajesh Lalwani.
   ]]> tag:www.blogworks.in,2009:/blog//4.449 2009-12-24T11:28:31Z 2009-12-24T12:15:42Z
   Coming back from the team Christmas lunch at just now, we bumped into the little girl with flowers, again, and I am still smiling. What a lovely reminder of my own lesson she left me with day before... My wife...
   Rajesh http://blogworks.in Coming back from the team Christmas lunch at just now, we bumped into the little girl with flowers, again, and I am still smiling. What a lovely reminder of my own lesson she left me with day before...

   
   My wife and I were driving towards work when this really beautiful girl, around 6 years, came towards our car dancing. She was selling roses! I have stopped giving money to kids at traffic crossings, wary about feeding the vicious circle of child trafficking. On the other hand I have always been an admirer of how savvy the little 'salesmen/ salesgirls' are.

   I sometimes get upset when I see a kid trying to 'sell', but pleading like a beggar - "either you beg, or you sell! If you are not begging, then why is your tone that of a beggar? If you have CHOSEN not to beg, then important that you don't. Don't disrespect your work and yourself by 'begging' the customer to 'buy'. Sell with dignity!"

   
   This one was smiling, dancing, trying to sell her flowers to us...except I wasn't in a mood to buy -"the flowers may not be clean," a thought crossed. Wife said let's give her something maybe? I handed over a Rs. 10 note to her - she took the note, dropped a bunch of flowers in the car...danced away...laughing. My wife and I looked at each-other and smiled - what a lovely reminder...

   Merry Christmas to you all - share joy with all around.

   Blogworks completes 3 years officially on 26 December ( though I did my first Blogworks workshop in October 2006). There will be a post on 28th, as soon as we get back to work post the much deserved Christmas break :)

   Photograph courtesy Sankarshan.

   ]]> tag:www.blogworks.in,2009:/blog//4.448 2009-12-23T02:49:19Z 2009-12-23T02:57:12Z
   This is a year-end ritual that I find valuable. Here are the four trends I thought would play out in 2009. Please let me know whether they actually did - do take a minute to read the pieces to see...
   Rajesh http://blogworks.in This is a year-end ritual that I find valuable. Here are the four trends I thought would play out in 2009.

   Please let me know whether they actually did - do take a minute to read the pieces to see my perspective.

   1. 2009 Trend # 1 - Bloggers Make Money, Via Mainstream Media.
   2. 2009 Trend # 2 -Brand Stalker Cometh, this year.
   3. 2009 Trend #3 -Blogs become second skin, for mainstream media.
   4. 2009 Trend # 4 - Social Media for Marketing, focus on RoI

   Coming up, Trends 2010 - this time, my colleagues are joining in and a joint post is in the making.

   ]]> tag:www.blogworks.in,2009:/blog//4.447 2009-12-16T03:43:14Z 2009-12-16T05:35:16Z
   IndiaSocial™ - social media open, a new initiative seeded by the team at Blogworks, got off with a soft launch a couple of days ago. It's been a few months in the making, when in the course of a discussion...
   Rajesh http://blogworks.in IndiaSocial™ - social media open, a new initiative seeded by the team at Blogworks, got off with a soft launch a couple of days ago.

   
   It's been a few months in the making, when in the course of a discussion we realised that while there is a lot of great work happening on the social media scene in India, it is dispersed - it needed to be aggregated, showcased. Also, with the revolution well set in, the space needed to evolve - sharing, learning and collaboration were tasks at hand.

   Intuitively I wanted to call it IndiaSocial, nothing else seemed to fit = my colleagues loved it too - so we went and acquired the domain name at a premium. Several rounds of discussions later, we agreed to that IndiaSocial will:

   ...aim to bring together stakeholders in the Indian social media eco-system for engagement, sharing, learning and collaboration in a vibrant space - physical and virtual.

   There were elaborate discussions on concepts like 'bringing together under an umbrella' versus 'open-ness' and we agreed that the promise of IndiaSocial was going to be 'Social Media Open' with open embodying openness - embracing all stakeholders; open discussions; akin to a sport field 'open' showcases team spirit and a level play field.

   To begin with there are 3-4 initiatives that are planned:

   1. Case-study Series: Will share, on an ongoing basis, the best Indian case-studies of social media usage and impact across sectors - government and policy, not-for-profits, media, enterprise, human resource and marketing.

      
      We are keen to put together a panel of credible leaders from the space, with a reputation for transparency, to help us structure guidelines for what should make it on the IndiaSocial Case-study series. I have spoken with a few friends and will be speaking with more...

      If you have a case with real impact, please share it here

   2. IndiaSocial Wiki : Will aim to dynamically capture the social media journey and resources from an India perspective. We're hoping to tie-up with institutions and individuals to ensure that accurate content and learnings are shared. If you are interested in contributing, write to us at open@indiasocial.in
   3. IndiaSocial-2010: We are planning a large format social media event, in 2010, to showcase the social media landscape and opportunities in India. In the interim, we expect to bring some other events in collaboration - will keep you informed about that soon.
   
   

   We have also been speaking with a few others to come on board as 'Friends and Supporters' and will be adding a few shortly.

   Our approach to building IndiaSocial is clear. We want to adopt what I like to call the 'Restaurant approach' - soft launch, work on issues, take feedback into account, better-better- better, word-of-mouth to build the brand - against a 'Pub Night Club approach' - goes up quickly, comes down soon enough.

   If you'd like to collaborate, do reach with your thoughts.

   1. Follow IndiaSocial on Twitter: http://twitter.com/indiasocial or add @indiasocial
   2. Follow IndiaSocial on Facebook :http://facebook.com/indiasocial
   ]]> tag:www.blogworks.in,2009:/blog//4.446 2009-12-11T03:39:22Z 2009-12-11T04:17:28Z
   It was at the Taj Palace Hotel, New Delhi, on the eve of 26/11 that the thought first struck me about our changing attitude towards 'frisking' in semi-public spaces, particularly ones patronized by the privileged like us. My friend Devdutt...
   Rajesh http://blogworks.in It was at the Taj Palace Hotel, New Delhi, on the eve of 26/11 that the thought first struck me about our changing attitude towards 'frisking' in semi-public spaces, particularly ones patronized by the privileged like us.

   
   My friend Devdutt Pattnaik has written about rituals impacting beliefs.

   Set in a changed context, beliefs around a ritual also change.

   The act of being frisked has been frowned upon by all of us, a violation of personal space - our mind yelling "You don't trust me?". Security barricades and frisking at luxury hotels, or similar spaces, would be a complete no-no, a discourtesy, just a couple of years ago. However, in a changed context post 26/11, Mumbai (not that these were the first terrorist attacks, but the first impacting the elite), frisking, coupled with enhanced security and scanning devices, has come to be seen as an assurance - the mind giving a comforting "I think I can trust you!" signal.

   This is perhaps how, over a period in time, culture is shaped.

   
   

   ]]>