7 Reasons why Abhishek Bachchan Tweeted on 16th Nov

Abhishek Bachchan become publisher of his own news. Though media was restrained, however he released news of arrival of his baby girl, first to his fans and followers at one go through Twitter. Earlier trend was press conference. Media as an intermediary between news makers and news recipient is fast becoming history. Internet has played catalyst role in most of the industries to remove and realign role of intermediaries.

Advantage :

1) Abhishek is sharing the news with his followers, therefore all were excited.

2) Its instant. They need not depend on so called breaking news from media houses.

3) It was easy for all followers to share among their own followers and friends on social as well as off line circles.

4) Its direct, so easily trusted and cannot be twisted.

5) All his followers can directly communicate with him to congratulate or abuse when he acts in movies like Raavan (Mani Ratnam's not Ra One of SRK) .

6) Followers can also communicate with him abt what more they want from him and so he can also convey his thoughts. 

7) Imagine Anna Hajare has 1 mn followers on twitter. What he can do with his one tweet!!!! For that matter any movement can ignite in no seconds.

Just yesterday MP Shashi Tharoor at one of the conferences warned media companies that Internet is changing their business in unimaginable way. Yes suddenly landscape is changing.  

Purpose of this post is not to show how Social media is changing Media Industry but to awaken all readers about what this can mean to their business. 

Do you need someone like Shashi Tharoor to warn and awaken ??  

Its two way dialogue, instant , direct, easily sharable & above all exciting and interesting too. Companies like Mahindra Home Stays, Ford , Red Bull, CISCO, Volkswagen India, Disney, Jetblue, Kaya Clinic & many more are aggressively using SM Channels. 

Most important is Engagement & Two Way Communication. Unless customer engagement is there, people are not interested.  

Just a few numbers : 

1) Face book enjoys 3rd largest population after China & India. Indian FB users 34 mn. Growing at 60%. 

2) India: Internet penetration is 8% Mobile Penetration is 67%. Imagine what will happen when Internet usage through mobile becomes affordable and accessible!!!

Its not just marketing. It’s about marketing plus, brand building, lead generation, customer service & feedback, wow ! Customer experience, knowledge sharing, collaboration, hiring, product design and launch, remain in touch & much more what more one can imagine. 

Yesterday a few college students in Goa visited one of the hotels. They liked the food so they tweeted about the hotel. Hotel has social media policy and brand watch, they tracked this tweet about them and immediately thanked all of them through reverse tweet. It will reach many many more on tweeter. 

It’s not about technology or a fad, its about mind for customer experience and mission to provide scintillating customer experience. First in hotel and 2nd through responsive social media awakening. 


Here going extra mile can take the brand miles ahead. 


New Social Media Theme :  Like it? Share It , tweet it.

If you are in Mumbai and want to know more about high profile event is taking place in Jan 2012.  Click here to know more and participate http://www.clickasiasummit.com

Vacancy for Anna Hajare for Corporate Cleansing. Any One?

Based on the principles of Swami Vivekanand "Yuva" Programme on CNN IBN last Sunday was highly inspiring. It shows how people from different walks of life { educated & can get high paying corporate jobs } devote their life for the betterment of the needy. Be it poor, women or children. Scope for doing good is immense & these people r actually doing it.  

Movement by Mr. Anna Hajare and its team Dr Kiran Bedi and Mr Arvind Kejriwal is another chapter of people involved in mass movement of general public good. Selfless is the key word. Dr Bedi's dynamic public life is known to everyone. Mr. Kejriwal is IIT Grad and did his IRS also. He could have enjoyed like most our corrupt bureaucrats life of power and money. However he refused to be part of rotten system and choose to become change agent. Many may not be aware that he was awarded Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emergent Leadership in 2006, for activating India's Right to Information movement at grassroots and social activities to empower the poorest citizens to fight corruption by holding the government answerable to the people. 

All of us are in some or many points in life encounter a situation where we need to indulge in corrupt practice either for getting things done or getting out of the turn favour. As a professional we also get tempted to fudge our company accounts, evade taxes, declare wrong statements with authorities, claim wrong tax benefits, sign audit report which are not true and fair and on top of this claim to be a smart breeds of all.  Ability and capacity to do wrong has become our key strength.

We have lost capacity to think that someone without any selfish motive can do some good work for others. Our business models even in social space have become questionable.No mission and vision statement talks abt way of doing business. I have verified Vision Statements of some of the top Indian corporates. Ethics and values find place in hardly few of these statements.    

Corruption at high places are two way game.  One demanding and one offering. Indian money at Swiss Bank are of these people. Anna's team is taking care of the first one. We need someone to take care of 2nd side. {corporates shy away in publicly supporting anti corruption movement courtesy: they are either part of it or afraid to become victim of govt's witch hunt like Kejriwal ,Dr Bedi and Bhushans. No courage left as personal stakes are high. }


Next movement should be about Ethical Corporate and business behaviors. Annual report MUST have statement by none other than CMD that company has not indulged in corrupt and unethical practices in achieving these results. It must be applicable to all companies across the board at one go unlike IFRS and XRBL where implementation  is stage wise.  

Who will take up the role of Mr. Anna Hajare for corporate and business cleansing? { Even ICAI has failed miserably in controlling ethical behaviors of their members. However its about personal values and integrity towards the self conscious and institute can not manage the same beyond a point. }

Anna Movement & Lessons for All Institutions (incl Business Enterprises)

Governance is a MAJOR cause of CONCERN across the world and across the institutions. Be it Parliament, Political Parties, NGOs , Companies, Cooperative Societies, and even housing society s'.

Over the period of time all these institutions forget for whose benefits are they suppose to work. Management of this institutions becomes self focused and start working in their self interest. Leaving aside the real expected beneficiary of their existence as per their governing CHARTER. 

Therefore it is very essential to have ANNA in every such institutions to make them aware about their role (On a continues basis)  and keep them on track. 

We need truly Independent Directors not only on the board of listed companies but also on the board of all other Public Institutions and Govt Funded NGOs. Today the way SEBI guideline n Independent Directions are being practiced is nothing more than a FARCE. Hardly a handful of companies have implemented this in spirit. 

Like our political Class who have lost face with people they represent , business enterprises have lost face with their CUSTOMERs, for/because of whom they exist. URGENT and extreme steps are required to bring customers in focus.  

Anna have awakened not only people and politicians of the country , it also MUST awaken all across the institutions about their Governance Standards.  Its in the interest of these institutions as competition will drive U out of business when focus is lost and governance is at its nadir. 

Appoint one true ANNA on your board and listen to him also.  Yes its in the interest of every enterprise. Why do we have only 1 company known for their governance and hence for performance also? Its time for others to raise their bar on governance and customer focus.

4 Lessons Entrepreneurs can learn from battle - Anna Hajare Vs Govt

Law , lawyers & professionals cannot handle emotional situations. Its great LEADERs who can handle such a situation.  

Congress has best of lawyers like P Chidambaram and Kapil Sibbal , new but more than aggressive Manish Tiwari , AM Singhvi and S Khushid and learned professional PM.  Though the way they are handling the situation , we can learn a thing or two from their blunders.  

- When U can peacefully agree & have your way, don't make it an EGO issue.  { What is the harm in presenting both drafts to the Parliament , when ultimately it will be decided by MPs only.}

- Don't remain so lethargic in solving burning problems so that wisdom is replaced by thoughtless immediate solution when water goes beyond the head. ( In Japanese there is a word KEIRETSU which means action when age of the problem is ZERO, but we act when problem is ripe and ready to become much bigger , They even could have invited opposition members in drafting committee which they did not do. }

- Tact can handle the situation better than legal way. { people management in the organization - some lessons!!! }

- Have wisdom to Foresee implications of present problems & actions to solve the same. { Anti Congress waves across the nation for their way of handling the situations }

Stakeholders' sentiments do matter ( Suppliers, customers, people (staff) and  shareholders ) and ignoring the same can prove fatal in the long run.