Economy of Social - Social Media Tips, Marketing and Business

Facebook released its first ever transparency report . Colin Stretch, the Facebook general counsel said, " We scrutinise each request for legal sufficiency under our terms and the strict letter of the law, and require a detailed description of the legal and factual bases for each request. We fight many of these requests, pushing back when we find legal deficiencies and narrowing the scope of overly broad or vague requests. When we are required to comply with a particular request, we frequently share only basic user information, such as name. " The top 5 countries included U.S., India, U.K., Germany and Italy (below). Surprisingly among these five countries, India had the least amount of requests per million users on Facebook. Germany was the highest with 73 requests per million Facebook users. United States was also significantly high considering they have over 180 million Facebook users.

A few months back I had no smartphone. Life was much simpler. The phone ringtone was loud enough to be heard even when the phone was buried under the pillow. Even the one alarm that I could set on it was loud enough to wake me up. Only a few rare occasions drove me to the world of smartphones and their extravagant displays, with a smooth touch navigating through a web of mesmerizing applications.

Entrepreneurship is about innovation and the ability to tackle problems. Doing both means you have a successful venture. Redbus.in is a classic Indian example of a startup that tackled challenges through innovation. RedBus (redbus.in) is now India's biggest online bus ticketing company. Interstate bus travel in India was a highly unorganized sector with many private local players and government buses. A consequence of this was the selling of bus tickets through traditional brick-and-mortar agents. Another problem with bus travel was immediate booking of tickets before journey. There used to be few advance bookings. Travelling to remote corners or on an immediate basis through bus remained a cumbersome task. Moreover there was no guarantee that if you went to a bus stand, you would find a bus.

Are you tired of using Social Networking Sites? Do you feel that joining a new Social Networking Site like Google + will not add value to you, but only waste your time? Man is a social animal. The successful development of virtual communities that tapped into this social aspect of human beings took the world by storm. The collective power of entities such as Facebook is so huge that it can topple governments like it did in Egypt or build one like it did for Barack Obama. But have we got too much of Social Media? There is a segment of people on social networking sites that is simply sick and tired of Facebook and Twitter. In a recent conversation with a friend he was of the opinion that " People are too Facebook oriented ". Their conversation end with - " And now this goes on Facebook...Please click a pic for Facebook... Their life begins and ends with it. As if their entire existence depends on it or as if their life's goal had just been Facebook-ed. " But,...

2007: Advertising on digital media grew by 155% to $1.2 billion but consumer interest in these sites dipped by 14%.  2008: Google's $1.65 bn purchase of YouTube wasn't giving returns. I possibly have an explanation

After a phenomenal success and an unprecedented valuation, Groupon is all set to see a competitor in the form of Google. Google offers, quite similar to Groupon has tied up with Adility, a company that is amassing its own sales force. Google recently issued this statement about Offers: " Today we launched a marketing campaign inviting Portlanders to sign up for a test of Google Offers — to get great deals delivered right to their inboxes. Offers is part of an ongoing effort at Google to make new services that give consumers great deals while helping connect businesses with customers in new ways ". Personally I am quite disappointed with Google offering a "me-too" kind of service, although it makes business sense to get into a growing market. Google had its own tryst with Groupon after its founder Andrew Mason turned down a $6 billion acquisition offer by Google (Google's highest offer, almost double of its highest acquisition in history) in Dec, 2010 ( read mor...

Do we like people telling us what to do or what not to do ? I certainly don't, unless I've asked for advice. Steve Jobs is doing his bit to keep porn off the iphone. He has taken the high moral ground. It is good, but a direct invasion into the choices of iphone users. He is simply behaving in a dictatorial manner using his power to control whether or not people watch porn on iphone. A customer of Apple Matthew Browing replied to Steve Jobs in an email saying, ' Unfortunately, I’m really starting to have a philosophical issue with your company. It appears that more and more Apple is determining for it’s consumers what content they should be able to receive.' - Techrunch Web is meant to be free. It is the web that is behind the meteoric success and popularity of Apple. The government of Apple although it seems has changed its ways. Its playing the mummy's role of Iphone users. Interestingly Steve's moral ground does not limit itself to iPhone. He has gone ...

You did well in your exams. That makes for a case of hardwork. You helped your friend in his difficult times - That makes a case of good friendship. You did not take a lucrative risk-less bribe - That makes a case of good upbringing. Google as an organization is no different. Its decision to not censor search results in China despite legal and political restrictions, and keeping Google China at stake is case of good upbringing. The sixth point in its 10 point philosophy says - "You can make money without doing evil". It has stuck to its philosophy and the implications are loosing a lot of money. This makes a case for the new generation entrepreneurs - Give your organization a good upbringing. Loss of Business This move has huge implications for Google's business in China including the roll out of Android with the help of China Mobile . Similarly China Unicom, the second largest telecom operator in China is no longer partnering with Google for search. Communist vs...

Google could not have operated in china without having filtered its search. I cannot imagine India and me today without Google. Guess what would have happened if we were a communist country. Google, in or out of china is a matter of following a great philosophy . Without me being politically incorrect, many points in Google's ten point philosophy point towards a clear direction. Some of them are Point 4. Democracy on the web works. Point 6 You can make money without doing evil. And finally Point 10 Great just isn't good enough. The rest is up to you to think.

Finally, Google pops out its very own nexus one with Android 2.1. Well the name Nexus in itself should send warning signals to you as Nexus, locked version is supposedly coming up with a price tag of $180. (A T-mobile 2 year contract). You'll understand why they call it Nexus when you'd read the terms of contract on PC World . A non-nexus unlocked version will sell for a premium of $350 over the subsidized version. I expected more from Google. he iPhone funda of lock-unlock and premiums does not go well. Its a wait and watch right now. Google is set to have a media briefing on 5th Jan . The early buzz can be simply rumors also. When it comes to Google, you might end up being a part of 1st April Doodle (Only January this time).

Now Google is partnering with livehinsdustan to create web content in Hindi. Livehindustan.com is an HT Media venture that brings hindi news to web. Read more here . The market for hindi news readers on web is not very huge but still it has a lot of potential. I see it as a good inititative to spread Hindi as well as cater to the needs of Hindi news readers. Support of Google will also do a lot good for the cause.

The easiest (and the evilest) way to defame a guy who is your enemy or competitor is to have an anonymous id and start writing negative about him/her. A similar case happened with Ashish Mehta, a cardiologist in Mumbai who was the victim of defamatory posts on a blog hosted on blogger.com. The challenges for Google giving this service are many fold.It is practically not possible to discredit or credit an opinion. As a blogger, I may have my reservations on certain issues and may write about it, but it could be 'defamatory' for the guy in the line of fire. The big question that arises out of this debate is " Can Google be held responsible ? " I'd say no. But,certainly yes if the company looking at the case did not take action swiftly and do damage control, which I'm sure Google would have done. In future looking at the preventive actions, it would be advisable to periodiclly Google your name/business or name/business + review to keep a tap on unwarranted harmfu...

Rajeev Motwani, the mentor of the students who founded Google passed away. The professor at Stanford completed his B-tech in computer science from IIT Kanpur in 1983 and went on to do his doctorate from U.C. Berkley. I first read about Rajeev in the Google Story by David A Wise. Today was the second time I encountered his name while checking out Google trends. Finding more about him on the search magic he helped build made my eyes moist. Shivanand Kanavi , a theoritical physicist from IIT Kanpur wrote on his blog , just before the Google IPO was launched - "Motwani’s father was in the Indian Army, which meant growing up all over India. Young Motwani wanted to be a mathematician..." OM Malik, a friend of Rajeev Motwani writes : "My day is ending with a broken heart and tears in my eyes. It is the day which reminds you of the unpredictability of life." Although I don't have a direct connection with Rajeev, he has become a source of inspiration for me as I embark ...

Microsoft Bing : Microsoft will be coming up with Bing , a decision engine that will challenge the dominance of the god of search - "Google". It is a move that could either give the web a new era of search or could reiterate the fact that Google is the best. The search war has heated up as finally a competitor to Google's search will finally be out in the open. Google, the world's top brand with a brand value exceeding $100 billion is gearing up for its first fight in the search arena. There have been critics (whom I admire) who have tried to be (as always) Google disciples and have rejected Bing. The part that impresses me is that Microsoft has shown up the courage to stand up to the search behemoth and say " Hey Beware!!! We are coming ".Not many can do that. The second and the most important thing will be what they are offering. Looking at the initial presentation, Microsoft Bing looks impressive. The decision engine i.e. Microsoft's Bing is evolvin...

Recession has spread like wild fire and many people stuck in this fire are googling for that fire suit to keep away from the burns. If Google search results (below) are any indication, panic has spread among the Indian working class and people are finding for recession proof hideouts. The questions that comes to my mind are "What is recession proof career ? or what kind of a job is recession proof ? Are we moving towards escapism ?" Can't really say. Searching for a shelter in the rain may be wise but may not be always possible, if atleast our job demands so. So what if the shelter is no where in sight and the rain comes before we reach it the job is over. Maybe the rain will make us more resilient towards coughs and colds. Changing a job and going towards a recession proof job may not be wise since you may not be alone. You might just be the one to trigger the chain reaction leading to further and deeper recession. This might sound idealistic and clichéd to some but it i...

Saving power might be considered by many as an after effect of recession and if it really is, it's good. Powering off your TV might take you only a few seconds but the lazy loafer in each one of us does it a minute later. And I too am a part of the 'you' mentioned. Going by Thomas Friedman's 'Hot, Flat and Crowded', the world is having fever and it's getting warmer by the day; the of which effect was felt this winter. The solution or the silver bullet to counter this may be that small extra effort, tinier than the drop in an ocean. After 100 years of spewing industrial venom we will need a 100 years of Medicare to get things back on track. So why am I discussing all this ? All thanks to this post by Bill Weihl who informed about the Climate Savers Computing Initiative (co-founded by Google). They've come out with power saving computers. Although I am skeptical about using environment as the theme of their business of selling computers, they've come ...

If you found recession tough enough enough to handle, here is an easy way to find out the best sorted out content that will help you save money. I recently read an article that said that sale of motivational books has increased and the most obvious reason for this - Recession. This recession, the worst since great depression of the 1930s can be a great thing for the world to unite under a single theme - Save Money, Save Job; and what better platform than Google. The blog entry by Colby Ranger on the official Google blog says As we all navigate today's choppy economic waters, we'd like to put these beliefs into practice. That's why we created Tip Jar (www.google.com/tipjar), an experiment powered by Google Moderator that we hope will help you discover the most effective ways to save money. So what kind of tips can you expect ? Here is an example (Work Related)- "Find out about all of the benefits of your job. Most people aren’t even aware of all of the benefits avail...

Freida Pinto left her boyfriend Rohan to pursue her career in the glam world. Was she right in crushing love to go ahead ? Was the decision taken in haste ? The career woman, her dreams, her life and love. Ok fine, Slumdog won Oscars, congrats, bye bye lets go to sleep. The next day- Lets look at what took place Freida Pinto left her boyfriend Rohan, a somebody from Goa, who obviously did not fit in to be Freida's hubby as she overnight became an international diva. So was she right ? Shobhaa De thinks that way. she says The mistake both of them made was to rush into marriage. Going by press reports, it was one of those hasty decisions which Freida at any rate, apparently regretted soon after. It was too late by that time, as her wedding pictures suggest. She could not have dreamt that ‘Slumdog..’ would happen to her… and because of that one film, her entire life would change so dramatically, practically overnight. Well all my thoughts about the good and charming pinto are beginnin...