Reality bytes!

As the world moves on with the general audiences taking the lead in almost everything, the World Wide Web has also made the best use of the same by churning out campaigns which invoke the presence of the Generation Y. In a nation where huge campaigns like Jaago re and Sunsilk Gang of Girls has appealed to the masses through the medium of television and radio, the social media websites have also taken a huge leap in the development of mass campaigns.

A very unusually creative yet interesting marketing campaign by Make My Trip, has taken the entire population by force. Launching the campaign in the form of a protest, the visualizers of “Offisial Atyachar” made sure that the scope of the target audience was huge. Appealing to all who were victims of official tensions, which disturbed their work and personal life balance, the campaign took shape in the form of a Facebook profile page which gave out funny anecdotes and tips about daily life official madness. The increasing amount of people who joined the profile page gave rise to huge event where around 500 employees vented out their anger by smashing down an office, specially created to be brought down to pieces. Also later turning it into an official website, the campaign is still alive, with thousands of employees taking out their office frustration on a stage created by the social media. The campaign not only created a rage amongst the masses, but also created leads for Make My trip as an organization, as it continued its surrogate branding throughout the campaign. Expecting to create awareness for a better work life, the campaign now plans to release the idea at many different levels.

Joining the reality games, the consumer of today is attracted to campaigns which involves them, and connects with them on a much larger level than just emotion. According to various statistics, social media ads beat the efficacy of ads on television and the radio by a huge number. Making your voices heard is one right that the audience today strongly believes in, and the social media is offering them many solutions to do so.

Offering yet another platform, taking the help of the internet as a medium is the “Ibibo Great India Blogger Hunt”. The campaign compels the audience to write whatever they want to talk about in the form of a blog. The prerequisites do not require you to be a great journalist or a writer, but a person who speaks their heart out. Keeping the prize money as a whooping sum of Rs 1.5 crore, the online media challenge has attracted many to express views and opinions on the huge platform.

The social media has not only played an extremely vital role in the creating awareness and enthusiasm amongst the masses, but has also helped various organizations to use it as a platform to define their businesses. In a world where more users rely on social media websites than the television for efficient marketing communication strategies, moving to the internet is surely the smartest thing to do for most businesses.

Tags: Facebook, Ibibo, Offisial Atyachar, Social Media

Twelevision!

Social Media is one field which moves so fast that it’s hard to keep up with it. What started as micro setups in small organizations, have taken the form of a huge giant which rule the entire world. And literally so. It seems like everyone who has access to the World Wide Web is active on social media. Numbers of people adding to the social media buzz just keeps increasing in leaps and bounds, adding to the ever increasing population of the social media planet. With micro blogging sites like Twitter catching the imagination of everyone from celebrities, to students, to ardent technological bloggers, the need of the hour is to create something which leverages the usage of Twitter and take its interactive abilities to a whole new level.

What started as an in-house web application in an organization called Odeo, has spread across the world in a matter of three years, experiencing months and months of exponential growth.  Within a short span of time, Twitter has become much more than a platform, where one signs up to stay in touch with his friends. It grew as a source of information, opinions and views about anything and everything one can possibly think of. The question has changed from “what are you doing” to “what’s happening”. Twitter, in other words, is continuously becoming a speedy news site, where anyone can be the reporter, with breaking news clubbed into the character limit of 140.

Moving the infrastructure from the internet, Twitter now knocks the doors of another very-popular communication medium – the television. Tuning with the social media craze all over the world, itaas tru2way interactive technology platform comes up with a new way to keep in touch with the world, even while you are watching the television. Developing an application, which will be of utmost benefit to the avid twitter fans, Tweet Tube will now allow its users to simultaneously access their twitter accounts, viewing their tweets right on their television sets. A fresh challenge to marketers, the Tweet Tube is a whole new dimension in the social media marketing environment.

Another, rather expected combination of the television and Twitter is a new show in Spain, called Twision. Broadcasted on the Veo7 channel, Twision is a new medium which allows its viewers to be directly interacting with the various presenters and the guests on the show. During the hour long, weekly show, many a people log on to their Twitter accounts to comment and opine about any given subject, which in turn pops up real time on the television screen there and then! Though the program has no official connection with the social networking site, Twitter itself said that the show is one of a kind, and its innovative use of its open and public network is even more compelling.

Utilizing the power of the social media, the television medium analysts are coming up with unique ideas to club the kings of communication media in their respective eras. With a high number to support the new venture, the social media is sure to penetrate well in this new-found vertical.

Tags: Itaas, Social Media, Television, Tweet Tube, twitter

Social Media plays doctor

Changing with the current world full of Twitter updates and Facebook status messages, the field of medicine has also plunged into the ever growing world of social media. Social media has now been in and around for some years, and has created quite a rage. People from all age brackets, belonging to a varied amount of sections in the society are active on the assortment that the social media websites provide. From celebrities to teachers, and now doctors, social media has been consistently used as an online portal which keeps one informed in the domains that one is interested.

A survey released by the Pew Internet and American Life Project reports that 61 percent of Americans go online for to check on information for health issues, and the majority of them have turned to user-generated health information which has been available through social media. Blogs, forums and Facebook pages are flooded with queries about health issues, and the doctors are now turning to them, to provide people with advice they actually need and require, hence creating a unique, one to one patient – doctor relationship. This not only helps the patients to be at peace, but also helps doctors and prospective medical students to learn through a newer medium, which redefines the meaning of ‘hands-on’.

Citing a recent example, an Indian orthopedic surgeon, Dr. A.K.Venkatachalam, did a Twitter cast of a knee surgery, while he was at it! Containing details of the entire procedure, the doctor believes that the tweets would be of vital use for prospective post-graduate doctors who wish to choose surgery as a career option. He also reiterated on the fact that the social media has brought about a huge change in the way medical studies were taken in earlier times. The physicians also feel that the social media gives them a sense of responsibility and help give the current environment of health care a new perspective.

In yet another unbelievable incident, which was abuzz all over the social media websites, was the initiative of a woman, Mrs Jackson, from New York, to tweet during the abortion of her child, constantly tweeting right from the operation theatre. She also created a step-by-step video of the abortion to be posted on YouTube and regularly updated her blog posts about the happenings during the process. Trying to develop a whole new following of people, and creating a new perception about abortion in the minds of people, Mrs Jackson opted for the social media network to bring about a change in the way people think.

With the social media creating a safe environment for support and assistance, the masses are taking an easy breathe. Across the length and breadth of the globe, there are a million people who are willing to offer some help or lend some support to anyone who is in need. The focus has now shifted from commercialization to actualization. Not only social media has become a stage to offer services, but has also turned into an area to learn, grow and develop as an individual from the medical arena.

Tags: Blog, Facebook, Medicine, Social Media, twitter

The Twitter driven world

Twitter has been in and around for quite some time now. People belonging to all age brackets are live and active through Twitter, updating the world about their likes, dislikes, whereabouts, opinions, news – practically everything. Twitter has also become the latest hub even for the inmates of Tinsel town, who persistently keep their curious followers updated with their ‘oh so interesting’ tweets. The rise of celebrity twitter mania has also given rise to newer job prospects for writers, who the celebrities hire to update on twitter when they are too caught up with work.

Though apart from being a medium which entertains the masses, Twitter has also been put to use for social campaigns which have not only got justice for some, but also saved people’s life – and literally so. In many a recent instances, Twitter has been used as an active media to make people aware and hence create user-engagement for any campaign that takes place.

In a recent example, during the Haiti earthquake, aid organizations were heard quoting that social media websites, including twitter, helped raising the funds required for the relief process, with a much higher pace than through any other medium. Well-wishers from all over the world gathered up together to help the wounded, deceased and the ones in need through Twitter by donating through various social media campaigns, that started as soon as the magnitude 7 disaster took place. Nearly eight million dollars were collected through Twitter, which helped the aid organizations to get the best for the victims. Social media was globally applauded as the relief was provided in the nick of time.

Another such an incident, where Twitter came out as the helping medium, was for a celebrity which saved the life of a man who was mentally stressed. As reported and reviewed, Demi Moore got constant tweets by a follower who had become suicidal, hence posting threats on the social media platform. While keeping in touch with him by exchanging tweets, she instantly informed the police, who helped the man, hence saving him from taking his own life.

Instances like such have given a social media a whole new scope of innovation. Twitter is also now being used by the presidential race of various countries to make the masses aware, and the government transparent. Barrack Obama’s online campaign is being heavily put to use through the social media platforms to raise money and organize various activities at a grass-root level. This encouraged people to come forth and stand for the country.

What the social media as an online medium has done to the world at various levels is something magnanimous. It has not only created a literally made the world a smaller place, but has also developed a common bond amongst the entire human race as a whole. This medium has given the innovators of today to put their minds to creative use and develop something which was unimaginable in the past, turning the technologically driven world to a completely new and unexplored direction.

Tags: Demi Moore, Haiti, Obama, Social Media, twitter