Is Social Media making us anti social?

Is Social Media making us anti social?

No, I am not trying to answer headline of this blog, I am just attempting to give my inputs how social media has become part of our lives and how people are behaving on social media platforms.

One thing i would like to highlight is Social Media is not facebook, twitter and linkedin though these have become definition of social media. Social Media is a platform on which people express their views. Tomorrow anybody can come with some innovation in the way people express which will be more than likes, comments, Retweets etc.

Lets talk about nature of Facebook and twitter and LinkedIn to understand more about them. By nature i mean the way these three platforms behave. Facebook is more visual , Visual cues play important role when people express their views.You know research says blue color is soothing to eyes, it is calm in nature, hence Facebook color scheme is blue. Due to its nature it engages people in pictorial way which means people tend to post pictures on this platform. I loved one line somebody mentioned "The urge in the people to speak/express themselves is the reason of success of this social media". People want to tell about themselves, what they are doing at any given moment and want others to acknowledge it. Thats why more no of likes, comments gives people a high.

Twitter is a different phenomenon. In 140 characters, it forces people to write/express relevant. Text/word is a hero, people think high about usage of right words to express themselves. Hence it is more of text. If you are hyper active on twitter, people don't mind much as one tweets in less space and can tweet more in number however if a person is hyper active on Facebook , pressure of likes/comments makes him feel that people will not respond beyond one point.

Linkedin is a different animal altogether, it supposedly captures professional aspect of a person, his career, his connections. It is basically used by professionals and a kind of no- nonsense platform.

here is a catch, 3 major platforms, different nature! and a most of the people behave differently in all these platforms!

I am a different person in all the three platforms. By nature , i am a content creator not a passive reader. On facebook, i tend to write humor/witty lines as i like entertaining people, on twitter, i play a role of a observer where i tweet about my observations in any topic , be it advertising, brand, politics, bollywood, cricket, management etc. On linkedin, I like to read articles, participate in discussions apart from interacting with right people who have similar interests.

CAN A SINGLE PERSON BE DIFFERENT ON DIFFERENT PLATFORMS?  

In my perspective it is possible , provided you are reasonably active on all these platforms.

I have few other observations:

1. I am beginning to have perception that passive readers on these platforms are increasing.They would scroll down the page and like to read the content of others than posting their own.

2. Since the updates are real time, that gives other people a kick to read more  about other peoples' post.

3. Social media platforms are acting a vent for the people to express their emotions & feelings.

4. These platforms are good for brand awareness not selling of product/service.  

5. With the adding of people in their friend list, people believe they are in touch with each other, but that is not true, through these platforms people have become more accessible. People who spend more time on these platforms are increasingly becoming disconnected since they are not putting efforts on meeting people but interact on these platforms.

Facebook asks " What is on your mind"

Twitter asks " what is happening"

Whatsapp and BBM are too playing their role.

One of the professor in my college mentioned it to me once " Always make efforts to meet people, you will learn and unlearn"

And I thought I am in touch with people though this internet based platforms!!


Vikas Sachdeva 

My latest blog- my dwarka visit

My Dwarka Experience

All the people mentioned in this blog are real and hold resemblance to situations. No feelings are hurt in writing this blog, only various incidents which happened during my visit to dwarka have been described.

I must say God is kind to me, my visits to these religious places have been spontaneously planned and have been executed with ease. They say " More you plan, it never happens" so just spur of the moment and i executed darshan of dwarkadheesh and nageshwar.

There are 12 jyotilings of shiva in india and after covering 10 of them there was a strong urge in me to cover rest 2. While Shiva has devastated kedarnath , only one jyotiling which i could cover in next  1 year was "Nageshwar" in dwarka.

I reached Rajkot from Mumbai at 8 pm and as suggested by my respected seniors, i went to railway station for retiring room, since my train from Rajkot to dwarka was at 3 am in the morning next day, i started roaming around in rajkot city at 9 pm. With silence all over, less crowd and small shops, i was away from madness of mumbai, people seemed to have lot of time for each other and seemed in love with each other talking. I just spotted a panipoori thela who was staring at me from a distance asking me to consume him entirely. being a golgappa lover ( its called golgappa in Punjab and delhi, Puchka in east, Gupchup in raipur, Pani ke Patase in UP) , i was defeated and soon found myself standing next to thela eating so good panipooris ( 8 pcs in Rs 10, worth mentioning). Then i returned to my room and started waiting for the train.

Being a keen observer, my mind was thinking about gujrati people ( i love them for what they are, culture, food is awesome). I was thinking in a city like rajkot if you are not building relationships with local community and get word of mouth about your brand,  no matter how much money you spend in advertising, a brand will face hard time.

I reached dwarka station at 7.30 am and then i witnessed few interesting people and stories:

Auto driver- The networker

After seeing my face, this guy noticed skillfully that i am looking for a hotel and help in planning my day's itenery. after he agreed for rs 40 for a drop to dwarka temple and help in hotel, he started talking ( gujratis love that) , in 15 minutes, he told me all mythology behind dwarka city and his rates if i wanted to take his auto for the day. After being impressed ( shocked!) by the autowala's knowledge, he stopped in front of a hotel. based on appearnce i denied, he insisted if i could see the rooms first and then decide. I bowed down , he was taking his commsion from hotel guy after i agreed for the room. he left the hotel with a winning smile ( money from me and hotel guy).

Hotel owner

He was in hotel business for last 10 years. The valuation of his place had increased 100 times from the price he had bought this hotel long back. Wondering how did i know? he just told me as i was getting room keys. I was surprised as with just a hello, he told me his story of life. he then narrated the way he does business focusing on small revenues then increasing the prices in the season ( navratri and janamashtmi)

Dwarka Darshan

I was mesmerized to see the temple, such a huge old strucure ( 5000 years old reportedly), my speed was slow in the temple, i wanted to see each and every brick, wanted to hear every story, then somebody told me this temple was a court for lord Krishna, this was his office from where he used to operate. Krishna was such a politician, he used every technique to win mahabharata, create his own aura, anyway thats a seprate story altogether. I was told by my wife that dwarka is one of the 4 dham. I did darshan of dwarkadheesh, thanked him for everything and like every indian had my list of wishes ready to ask from him.

Then i was taken for a tour of 5 hours covering 4 locations which had their own story. the good thing about travelling is you get to know many things , many people, many stories.

Nageshwar

as i mentioned earlier, i was the fortunate to cover 11th jyotilinga of shiva out of 12, i was simply in love with the temple, they had constructed a big shiva statue outside the temple. There was no major rush and my purpose of visiting dwarka was complete as i met shiva.

Gopi talab

story goes like this, Post mahabharata, Arjuna was in lot of awe of himself thinking he is the best with his Dhanush, Krishna being the best judge thought of correcting arjun. he sent 1,00,108 Gopis with arjun to be travllelled from dwarka to Mathura. krishna with his power created few people who had a battle with arjun and arjun lost and 1,00,108 gopis immersed themselves in a pond which is now called Gopi talab.i saw that talab and was ready for next spot.

Bhent Dwarka

They said it was home of krishna, he used to live with his family, this dwarka was mae of gold and was immersed in sea by krishna fearing people will fight for gold when he will not be around. sudama came there with some rice and gave it to krishna, hence name ,'Bhent dwarka" , we covered almost 25 minutes in the sea to reach to this place.

Then there was a Rukmani temple which had its own story.

Back to hotel tired but satisfied with the day, i slept and woke up next day , covered 6 hours in bus travelling inside gujrat and then flight back to mumbai from rajkot.

 This experience of 1 day was eventful, heard many stories, many people.


"Pappa, main aavi gayu" , i heard this voice at mumbai airport, somebody calling home.


"Traveling is like a book, the one who has not traveled , is on one page only throughout"


Vikas sachdeva

I am a customer

I AM A CUSTOMER

I am a customer, lot many companies approach me daily, I get flooded by calls from credit card companies, everybody is trying to give me money, every product is claiming to change my life, every brand takes care of my comfort, whether my room is cool or not, whether there are mosquitoes in my room, whether my telephone bill is more, whenever I walk on the road, every hoarding is telling me I am the best, when I sit down and read newspaper, then also every brand is shouting I am the best! Everybody is decreasing prices for me, giving me plenty of discounts.

They have made me the king.

What they want in return is loyalty , I should stick to them forever but the problem is how I can be loyal to all the brands, so I asked all of them a question.

Are you loyal to me?

No brand spoke, silence!

I asked few more questions!

Have you understood me well enough?

Do you know what problems I face daily? Have you tried to understand what makes me happy? Do you  know which color I like? Do you know what my family loves the most? No, you are just throwing some freebies for me, some discounts for me, ok, I will be happy for that moment when I have to pay less price for buying your product, but in the long run, when I will have choice, I will move to the product which understands me better! I will move to brand who genuinely thinks about me, plays with me, display love for me when required, feels happy for me and you thought that you can play with greed forever! NO!

What Special you are doing for me?

Tell me, why I should buy you? What special you have done for me? Just spend some time will with my family and you will realize that what it means when somebody sends a birthday cake on my son’s birthday? When pizza guy comes, takes the money and says “ apni family ke saath khana, acha lagega!

When I am sitting in a flight and attendant plays with my daughter!

When doctor says, “ Koi baat nahi paisa phir kabhi aa jaayega, aap healthy raho”!

Try to do special for me then I will feel special about you!

Have you made my life simple or complex?

I really feel bad when you don’t mention delivery charges extra explicitly whenever I order online, you try to fool me by showing lesser price and then adding huge amount of delivery charges! Mention the price directly and say ‘delivery charges are included in the price’, I will be clear what I will have to pay. You do multiple verifications when you have to sell a credit card but when due to slow internet , transaction fails, then you say that we will revert to you in 7 days

Why 7 days?

Why can’t you check things online and call me next day and update me with the status.

Why inspite of heavy luxury tax, service tax paid by me in your restaurant, your waiter returns the change in coins? So as I can leave few coins for him.

Why don’t you try to simplify my life, once you do that, we both will grow!

Don’t overpromise if you can’t deliver!

Don’t overpromise, you don’t know how many people apply your fairness cream because you promise that they will be fair someday, Instead say it improves skin texture.

Deliver the parcel in time committed to the customer; someone may be waiting for the parcel.

Don’t say yes when you know it is no.

Don’t think I am angry at you; I just want to say that if you are seeking loyalty from me, then you should also be loyal to me!

Sincerely

A customer!