MxMIndia

Category: Digital

  • Radio producer and Sub-editor amongst 10 most misunderstood jobs as LinkedIn introduces 'Bring in your Parents Day' on Nov 7

    Weekend Exxxtra: One in 3 parents in India don’t understand what their child does for a living: LinkedIn study

    By A Correspondent

     

    One in three parents in India admit they are unfamiliar with what their child does for a living and so may find it challenging to provide the right advice to support their child’s success. Interestingly, 90 per cent of the Indian parents surveyed agree that they could benefit their child if they had a better understanding of what he/she did at the job. These were findings of global survey by online professional networking platform LinkedIn which was also conducted in India.

     

    ‘LinkedIn Bring in Your Parents Day’ is a way to help bridge this gap by bringing parents and their children together at the workplace, so they can learn from each other.

     

    LinkedIn has announced ‘LinkedIn Bring In Your Parents Day’, on Thursday, November 7, 2013 to help bridge this gap by bringing parents and their children together at the workplace, so they can learn from each other. Professionals are encouraged to invite their parents into their workplace to provide them with a first-hand look and greater understanding of what they actually do every day.

     

    Nishant Rao

    “With a plethora of options available to professionals today it is plausible to say that most parents may not completely comprehend what their children really do at work each day”, said Nishant Rao, LinkedIn India’s Country Manager. “By introducing LinkedIn Bring in Your Parents Day we not only attempt to bridge the gap between parents and their children, but also let professionals in India provide their folks a glimpse into what they do at work, and in return, takeaway valuable lessons and even greater appreciation from their parents.”

     

    The survey further reveals that two third of parents surveyed want to learn more about what job their child does. In India 65 per cent of parents surveyed are familiar with the job/career that their children pursue. Globally, careers such as social media manager, investment banker and sociologist are among the top 10 professions that parents are least likely to comprehend. While in India, this list includes professions such as care nurse, sub editor and radio producer.

     

    37 per cent of Indian parents surveyed would like their children to pursue a career path similar to theirs; the highest globally. However, when it comes to working in a preferred industry, Indian parents have varied views. Contrary to popular belief, a mere 28 per cent of Indian parents, want their children to become doctors, while 40 per cent of them would like to see their children employed in a finance-related job, making it one of the most coveted jobs/ sectors. According to the survey, a large number of Indian professionals (36 per cent) also look forward to bagging a job in finance. It is interesting to note that only 1 per cent of the parents surveyed want their children to become politicians.

     

    The top 10 misunderstood jobs in India, with the percentage of parents who weren’t confident in their ability to describe the job are:

    1. Lumberjack (75 per cent)

    2. User Interface designer (64 per cent)

    3. Actuary (64 per cent)

    4. Radio producer (59 per cent)

    5. Care Nurse (55 per cent)

    6. Fire-fighter (55 per cent)

    7. Laboratory technician (53 per cent)

    8. Sub-editor (52 per cent)

    9. Veterinarian (52 per cent)

    10. Data Scientist (51 per cent)

     

    LinkedIn Bring In Your Parents Day will be held in 14 countries including the United Kingdom, United States, France, The Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Australia, India, Canada, Singapore and Hong Kong. Many companies have confirmed their participation.

     

    We enourage – parent, employees, and businesses in media, advertising and marketing to participate. Details at www.LinkedInBringInYourParents.com.

     

  • To be held simultaneously in 9 cities across world, makes debut in India with over 100 events at 6 venues in city including Mantralaya and the Group M office

    Social Media Week in Mumbai from Sept 23-27

    By A Correspondent

     

    There’s just a week to go for the maiden Social Media Week Mumbai and the event is getting a cross-section of people involved – government officials, celebs and journalists joining SMW Mumbai plus brands and organisations have joined in with their ideas and events (*See Disclaimer).

     

    The event is open to the general public, being an essential part of the social media. “Hosting SMW Mumbai is a true testimony of R Square’s Consulting’s unique integrated offering of events and activation and digital marketing and technology,” said HemantSoreng, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, R Square which is hosting the event.

     

    More than 100 events across six hubs, 200-plus speakers and 1000-plus attendees are set to witness talks and discussion, workshops, master classes, exhibitions and parties.

     

    Among the various partners of the Social Media Week (other than MxMIndia) are: BBC, SAP, IMIMobile, Germinait, MindShift Interactive, Unmetric, GroupM, chlorophyll, Genesis Burson-Marsteller, Crossworks, Avid Learning, Sportskeeda, Yellow Seed Content Solutions, Social Samosa, Page Traffic buzz, Social Times, Time Out magazine, Cartel Advertising, Miss Malini, authorSTREAM, and The Indian Networker.

     

    For details on the event and registration: click here

     

    *MxMIndia is media trade partner of Social Media Week Mumbai

     

  • The Advertising Standards Council of India asks for withdrawl of Hike Messenger's online commercials

    ASCI asks Bharti Softbank to axe Taproot’s digital ads for Hike Messenger

    By Pritha Mitra Dasgupta

     

    The Advertising Standards Council of India has for the first time taken action against a digital ad, asking Bharti SoftBank to withdraw an online commercial for its free messaging app Hike Messenger because it violated its codes.

     

    The self-regulatory advertising watchdog has sent out a suspension order on a commercial titled ‘Keep Close Friends Close’ to both Bharti SoftBank and creative agency Taproot, after finding it “extremely offensive”.

     

    Arvind Sharma

    “This is the first time we could take a strict stand against an ad that was launched in the digital space,” Arvind Sharma, the outgoing chairman of ASCI and chairman and CEO India Subcontinent at Leo Burnett, said. Umesh Srikhande, CEO at Taproot, declined to comment. A person familiar with the development said Bharti SoftBank has agreed to take the commercial off YouTube. The company had released a set of four ads for Hike Messenger targeting young audience on August 27. One of them is set in a library where three boys spot a friend in a nearby seat with a girl. The boy with the girl ignores their hushed calls. Suddenly, one of the three boys stands up and screams abuses in Hindi and threatens to call the girl’s real boyfriend. And the boy sitting with the girl sprints out of the library. Although light-hearted in its tone, the film is riddled with abusive and obscene language and breaches the ASCI code, the regulator said.

     

    ASCI roped in internet giant Google as a partner to send out the suspension order, Mr Sharma said on the sidelines of the recently concluded ASCI’s annual general meeting. “And this collaboration with Google will hopefully go a long way,” he said.

     

    “Tracking ads releasing on websites is a huge challenge for us and we are taking baby steps in this space. The legal position is not well defined and we do not know how to even begin to monitor this vast ocean of websites,” Mr Sharma said. The regulator is now trying to get Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin on board as members to help it form a specialised team that will monitor ads on the Internet.

     

    Mr Sharma said the action against Bharti SoftBank’s ad was initiated after Allen Colaco, secretary general at ASCI, received a number of phone calls. The regulator brought the ad under the suspension pending investigation (SPI) article, where the ASCI chairman and two members of its consumer complaint council (CCC) make a fast-track decision. The SPI deals with ads that are obscene, indecent, and vulgar and that are against public interest.

     

    For this ad, Mr Sharma and two members of the CCC – Bobby Sista, founder and executive trustee at Population First, and Sameer Sathpathy, EVP and business head at Marico India – looked into the matter. “And we found it extremely offensive,” Sharma said. Besides sending out suspension order to both the client and the agency, ASCI have also written to various media companies that may have planned to release this ad on various media platforms to consider this ad as a serious offender.

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2013, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

    Licensed to republish

     

    See also: Maadar… Taproot crafts bold digital campaign for Hike

     

     

  • Rajesh Iyer, Head of Marketing, Colors on the format of this year's Bigg Boss and the reality show's role as a buzz creator for his channel

    Jaldi 5 with Rajesh iyer, Marketing Head, Colors: Bigg Boss has become a cult show on Indian television

    As a programming property, Bigg Boss has become huge for Hindi GEC Colors. Not just in terms of the efforts to put it together and bring in celeb guests, but the push on marketing and promotions. Season 7 of the show which is being aired for the sixth consecutive year on the channel took off on Sunday, September 15 with much fanfare. MxMIndia posed a few questions to Rajesh Iyer, Head of Marketing at the channel on the format of this year’s edition and Bigg Boss’s role as a buzz creator for his channel

     

    01: This year sees some interesting twists to the Bigg Boss format. In fact, the division of contestants makes it for ‘alag chhe’ as against ‘Saath 7’?

    Last year’s theme was ‘Alag Che’ because there were a lot of new elements introduced whether it was the talking parakeet or the Talking fish. This year’s theme is truly Saath 7. It acknowledges the co-existence of Good and Evil inside of each one of us  – that none of us are  entirely good or evil, but it is the circumstances that bring out the best or the worst in us.

     

    The division of the Bigg Boss House into 2 parts aims to drive this concept further by making it a part of the product

     

    1a: The 9PM slot would of course mean that the family values would be maintained in what we see on the tube?

    We brought Bigg Boss back to the 9PM slot last year to family audiences and were successful in making the show an integral part of dinner-table conversations. This season, even with the Heaven and Hell format, we are catering to family audiences – something that becomes evident with us including a husband-wife duo within the list of contestants who have entered the house.

     

    02. Do you see it generating a greater buzz and consequently ratings for you?

    Bigg Boss is a huge property for us when it comes to generating buzz. In fact, the launch episode which aired on Sunday, 15th September saw Bigg Boss trending on Twitter at the #1 spot. With regard to ratings, the show’s fan following has been growing by leaps and bounds season-upon-season. We are certain that the incredible mix of contestants that have been roped in for Bigg Boss Season Saath 7 will be received really well by audiences.

     

    2a: Any target for TVTs?

    A: Bigg Boss has become a cult show on Indian television. Ratings are just one by-product of the show. The buzz that the show generates amongst audiences is too huge to measure. Also let’s not forget the unending discussions on radio stations and news channels – regional and national – once the show gets into its element.

     

    2b: Any specific reasons why the Salman Khan episodes have been moved to Saturdays and Sundays instead of Fridays and Saturdays?

    A: With the success of Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa and Comedy Nights With Kapil, we have realized that there exists a huge audience group that tunes in to watch their favourite shows and artists on television on Saturdays and Sundays, owing to which we have introduced ‘Wow Weekends with Salman Khan’.

     

    03: The competition from rival channels in buzz-creating shows is a lot more this year. There’s Mahabharat on Star Plus, Sanjeev Kapoor on Sony… Too much to watch on the Hindi GECs?

    Yes. There are a lot of options for audiences and that is always a good thing. But Good content always prevails. The Bigg Boss franchise has done well for so many years now and we are confident that this year too it will triumph.

     

    3a: Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa has just completed, Bigg Boss has just started and 24 very soon… In fact we, in the media, have received an invite for the launch presser on Thursday (Sept 19). Plus some interesting movies. For COLORS, the season’s more than just busy. Any more action expected?

    The last quarter of the year is always a busy quarter for us with the launch of Bigg Boss. This year, we have the added bonus of 24 launching as well and India’s Got Talent will be launching later this year.

     

    Bigg Boss 7 has a fairly high voltage digital presence? Is that the way to go for big budget Hindi shows?

    The Bigg Boss content has always found favour with the digitally savvy audiences.. This is primarily because the show caters to a voyeuristic audience giving them something new to discuss every day for the period of 104 days thereby making it viral and keeping them engaged throughout the duration of the show.

     

    05. One is aware of Bigg Boss’s role as a buzz generator for Colors. So do you’ll internally see the spends on it as a marketing cost or a content/programming cost?

    This is one of those shows which delivers both on buzz and ratings.

     

  • Mobile phone player Celkon has assigned its digital marketing duties to digital marketing firm FoxyMoron’s Delhi NCR branch

    FoxyMoron bags digital marketing duties of Celkon Mobiles

    By A Correspondent

     

    Mobile phone player Celkon has assigned its digital marketing duties to digital marketing firm FoxyMoron. This mandate will be handled by the recently opened Delhi NCR branch of FoxyMoron. This digital mandate includes the independent management of the mobile brand’s presence on social media platforms including Facebook and Twitter.

     

    In the recent past, Celkon Mobiles has concentrated its marketing efforts towards sponsoring cricket tournaments. With the shift on to the digital platform, FoxyMoron conceptualized and recently executed the ‘Campus-O-Logy’ campaign, aimed at encouraging young college going students to enjoy their time on campus with the newly launched Campus Series smartphones.

     

    On the decision of appointing FoxyMoron as its digital agency, Pradeep Yerraguntla, Head, Digital Management, Celkon said, “We are happy to associate ourselves with FoxyMoron to drive all our digital communications objectives. At the core of our marketing strategies is the need for a detailed strategic and creative alliance to take Celkon Mobiles, the brand forward to the highest level.”

     

    Said Akshay Gurnani, Business Head – North, FoxyMoron: “Our aim will be to leverage their innovative products to build conversations with young consumers as they enjoy experimenting with exciting innovative technology products.”

     

     

  • Because it is so cheap to do it and there are no safeguards built into the social web, reputations could be damaged with seconds, rues Vijay Mukhi

    Vijay Mukhi: There are no fake accounts on Twitter and Facebook

    By Vijay Mukhi

     

    If you believe the title of this column, you will believe anything, including the medicinal properties of snake oil. Let’s take a hard look at a real Twitter user, vijaymukhi712 by typing in any browser http://twitter.com/vijaymukhi712. The reason why this user cannot be a fake under any circumstance is because he/she has tweeted over 150 times and also has an unrespectable 16 followers. He/she is also a confirmed romantic as most of the tweets sent talk about love. There is no way a person who tweets once a day for months can be a fake. However, if you look at the tweets for a certain day of the month, say, August 22, July 22 etc, they are all the same. One probable explanation could be that this user tweets the same tweet every day of the month, you can accuse him/her of running short of love tweets.

     

    The more probable explanation is that the author of this column is extremely lazy. All that he did was collect 30 love quotes from a site on the internet and placed it in a database. He then wrote a 5-line program that picks up the current day of the month, goes to the above database and picks up the corresponding love quote and tweets it. This explains why the quotes are being repeated every month. If I had the patience to collect 366 love quotes, then there would be no way you could figure that Twitter user vijaymukhi712 was not a human. I used to do the same for my Facebook account, but I stopped because too many people (friends) started liking and commenting on my quotes, hence I stooped embarrassing people. This program that tweets automatically is so simple to write that I doubt that I can get anyone to purchase the code from me, even though I am willing to accept payment in 10s of paisas.

     

    My basic tenet is that there is no way to distinguish whether a Twitter/Facebook/Social Media account is being operated by a human being or a machine. There is an arms race going on in the social media space where everyone wants to showcase the number of users they have, not at all talking about the quality of the users. Thus it’s in the best interests of the social web to go overboard in making it child’s play for you to create users real or fake. The social web believes that there is a direct correlation between the number of registered users it has and its stock price, the higher the number of users, the more money the social web makes through various means like selling advertisements.

     

    I have seen no attempt at all made by the social web to clamp down even slightly on fake users on its properties. I always thought that my name was unique, in the solar system, but on Twitter there is a vijaymukhi, vijaymukhia, vijaymuhiy, vijaymukhi712 and so on. Is there no way for Twitter and Facebook to crosscheck why are there so many Vijay Mukhis on Earth. All that I would do if I was the person in charge of the social web, I would insist  for a phone number while registration to which I would then send an sms to verify the user’s identity.

     

    I would make sure that you cannot use the same mobile phone number twice bearing in mind that every user may not afford a mobile phone. This is one sure and simple way to eliminate fake accounts, but is anyone out there listening?

     

    The social web has made sure that you can access it by using any device, be it a computer, phone, tablet and now a watch. The only way they can achieve this is by allowing you to use programs to handle the entire process. The social web was smart enough to realise that a CEO would be on the social web only if he/she could outsource their social media presence to an outside agency. After all, few CEOs would actually have the time to tweet or post. Thus the company entrusted to manage the CEO’s account would only make money if they could automate the entire process. This is what I did and I have a Twitter account that is now very active. Unless you automate a social media presence, you cannot scale and make money hand over fist.

     

    The second problem that the social web faced was that no CEO would like The Times of India to talk about how he/she has only say a mere 1000 followers, very bad for reputation. To resolve this issue I believe the social web made creating fake followers very easy. Today, it has become a lucrative  business for people to start companies that guarantee millions of followers and likes on Twitter and Facebook for sums of money. The bits of the social web is now replaced by $s. If our government was serious about reducing CAD, encouraging activities like this would go a long way in making the Rupee stronger.

     

    What I now spending sleepless nights thinking about is a simple fallout of fake followers. I now have around 10,000 sleeper Twitter accounts which can be activated by the simple act of running a program. I also have a database of over 50,000 negative and other generic statements like You do not know what you are talking about, You are an idiot, You have the brains of a donkey, I disagree with you Sir etc etc. Very easy for someone who understands some English and a one-time activity for creating a database of known English comments. I wait for Mr Modi to make an innocuous tweet. I then turn my social media cyber army on and within minutes I have 10,000s of tweets against Mr Modi’s tweet. Another cyber army of mine only specialises in retweeting these tweets. Within minutes, Mr Modi is now trending, in a very negative sense.

     

    The media picks it up as how 10,000s of people on Twitter/Facebook have risen against Mr Modi and eating him for lunch. Makes for Breaking News, Modi is losing the war in cyberspace, a cyber revolt against Modi, etc. This simply shows how unpopular Mr Modi is in cyberspace. Nobody realises that it’s not even a storm in a teacup as none of these tweets are by real people.

     

    Do this for a month and the press convinces the rest of us on how Mr Modi has lost his edge in cyberspace and therefore his chances of being anything. How much would the entire exercise cost, if you paid over Rs 10 lakh for this exercise, you would have overpaid. You can also substitute Mr Modi by Mr Tharoor and nothing would change.

     

    My worry is that because it is so cheap and there are no safeguards built into the social web, reputations could be damaged with seconds. I would like the Election Commission in India to make an Act like this into a serious electoral and criminal offence which can get a candidate/party debarred for life. The only hitch is that if I pay someone in Bangladesh a lakh of rupees in Indian currency in cash to increase Mr Tharoor’s followers by a large number. When this happens I complain to the EC that Mr Tharoor has indulged in an electoral malpractice. How would the EC prove it either way, only God knows. The only way out is that the EC in India codifies strong Do’s and Dont’s on what is fair and decent campaigning in cyberspace. We haven’t seen such a document yet.

     

    Finally, a word of advice to the print and TV news media. Can we please stop reporting social media numbers until the dust settles down? Comparing the number of Mr Modi’s followers with Mr Tharoor’s makes no sense as there is no way of ever figuring out whose followers are fake or not? We must stop believing in social media statistics until we have independent verification of the numbers we use. The social media ecosystem needs to make sure we have a credible way of looking at numbers, if they do not, they will go by the moniker, snake oil salesman. I am saying this with a lot of responsibility as that is what the social web ecosystem is known by today.

     

    Next time we will talk about actual numbers that people charge all over the world to make you more popular that Mr Bachchan or Mr Salman Khan on the social web. You do not have to sell your house to be more well known than Bollywood stars on Twitter and Facebook. See how much respect you get from everyone, you could be a social media icon!

     

  • An 'HTML 5 Tour in India' begins under the aegis of the Department of Electronics & Information Technology

    Govt undertakes HTML 5 yatra

    By A Correspondent

     

    An ‘HTML 5.0 Tour in India’ began in the capital on Tuesday (Sep 17) under the aegis of the Department of Electronics and Information Technology. W3C Global Technology Leader Michael Smith delivered the detailed technical lectures along with technology demonstration about the new features of HTML 5.0 standard. The tour is being organized by the W3C India office.

     

    From Delhi, the ‘HTML 5.0 Tour in India’ will be moving to 5 metro cities: Bengaluru (19th September), Hyderabad (21st September), Kolkata (23rd September) and Pune (25th September) [details available at http://www.w3cindia.in/HTML5-tour-2013/index.html]. The theme of the workshop in Bengaluru will be, “Understanding the web: Core features of the platform (HTML)”. Sadly no Mumbai where a fair number of users would be.

     

    So why the sugar is MxMIndia carrying this news? Well, as we know, HTML5 is the next evolution of web development standards by which application developers create end-user experience. It provides a full programming environment for cross-platform applications with access to device capabilities, video and animations, graphics, style, typography, and other tools for digital publishing, extensive network capabilities and more. One of the most important benefits of HTML5 is that it is capable of making the Web useful on mobile and wireless devices, which will be next paradigm shift for internet growth in India (information source: ministry communique).

     

    Now hear this (courtesy a press release from the ministry): The Web has become the main channel for governments to deliver services to citizens. Hence, Web technologies play a crucial role in the relationships between governments, industry and common citizens. W3C interoperable, open web standards help to ensure data accessibility independent of devices and platforms. The present series of workshops will be a big step towards creating awareness about the benefits and usage of HTML 5.0 standard for developing next generation web and mobile applications. The entire software and mobile computing industry in India is expected to be benefited from these workshops – which will provide a single unified platform for developers, web-designers , academicians and researchers to have one to one interaction about the upcoming standard of HTML 5.0 and its applications. This will accelerate the involvement of Indian ICT industry towards development of the next generation web standards and its adoption in India.

     

    Now isn’t it strange that a session isn’t happening in Mumbai. Guess the government – and hence its allied bodies – the Expressway toll booths, the railways or airports – want Mumbaiwallahs do the trek to Pune for the gyaan. Or as some will tell you, they’ve been using HTML5 for a while. The government decision is good, but it could’ve come a while back.

     

  • MEC India has appointed Tanushree Radhakrishnan as Digital Head – North

    MEC appoints Tanushree Radhakrishnan as Digital Head – North

    By A Correspondent

     

    Tanushree Radhakrishnan

    MEC has announced the appointment of Tanushree Radhakrishnan as Digital Head -North India. She will report to Vishal Chinchankar – Digital Leader at MEC. Prior to MEC, Ms Radhakrishnan has worked agencies like Webchutney and Zed Digital/Performics (Publicis Groupe).

     

    Speaking about the appointment, Roopam Garg, All India Head-New Business Development and General Manager, MEC North said: “I welcome Tanushree into the MEC family. Her expertise in the digital space will certainly give us an edge in building our organic and inorganic business.”

     

    Roopam Garg

    Added Mr Chinchankar: “Tanushree is a very seasoned professional. Her in-depth knowledge and experience in managing major clients across verticals in digital space is much valued and is well-resourced to maximize the ROI of our clients. I wish her the very best in this new role at MEC.”

     

    On her appointment,Ms Radhakrishnan said, “I am excited to workin an integrated marketing environment, which has been the crux of the growth of all GroupM agencies. I look forward to working with MEC and use my digital experience and skills to grow the digital pie of the business in the North”.

     

  • 'LiveTalk' platform allows live access of events over a call made from a mobile or landline phone

    VivaConnect takes Narendra Modi live on phones

    By A Correspondent

     

    The next elections will be fought via the mobile phone and social media. Note it’s not going to be only fought via the phone, but telecom technology is sure to be a huge facilitator of sending the message across.

     

    Mumbai-based mobile marketing and tech company whose ‘missed phone’ service is deployed by many has unveiled a new product called ‘LiveTalk’.

     

    LiveTalk, empowers live audio streaming of live events over a simple phone call, wherein one has to call in a published phone number and experience the event live without any internet, smartphone nor a subscription to special or premium add-on services. The caller enjoys this facility at a rate of regular phone call without any extra charges. All one needs to have is a phone connection, be it a mobile or landline!

     

    LiveTalk was launched on September 15 and deployed for BJP’s ex-serviceman rally held in Haryana. The service connected over a lakh callers across India to hear the party’s PM candidate Narendra Modi’s speech.

     

    According to a communique, the BJP partnered with firms like Zipdial and VivaConnect and offered a unique mobile connectivity model between mobile users and the party leadership.

     

    Vikram Raichura, Managing Director of VivaConnect said: ‘We are honoured to be associated with BJP and showcase one more possibility on how by leveraging mobility one can extend overall reach and even cater the far-flung areas to achieve mass involvement on national and international scale.’

     

  • Twitter is hogging mentions in timelines with its new-found aggression. A view from Mindshare's Original Thinker series by Ollie Killick, Elizabeth Barry and Jed Hallam

    Tweet, tweet hota hai!

     

    Twitter is hogging mentions in timelines over not just its IPO, but also on how it is on aggressive mode. As part of Mindshare’s Original Thinker series, Ollie Killick, Elizabeth Barry and Jed Hallam wrote this view. Republished with permission

     

    By Ollie Killick, Elizabeth Barry & Jed Hallam

     

    For many users, Twitter is the place where real-time conversation happens. This engaged audience and stream of real-time data has attracted advertisers and has started to turn into much needed advertising revenue.

     

    The additional functionality and expertise Twitter gains as result of this acquisition will add to its second screen credentials and give advertisers more tools to better target their consumers across whatever screen they are engaging. No doubt we will see much more development in this TV, social, and mobile intersection.

     

    In a quest to scale and better tap into real-time sentiment and mobile targeting, Twitter has gone on an acquisition spree with the purchase of Trendrr, a social-TV analytics company, as well as MoPub, the world’s largest mobile ad exchange. Both moves solidify Twitter’s desire to bring together and own, particularly vis-à-vis Facebook, three key spaces: TV and online multi-screening, mobile, and programmatic buying.

     

    Twitter also added a TV slant on its targeting when earlier this summer it rolled out a TV Ad Targeting in the US. This product allows advertisers to target their ads towards users who are likely to have seen the shows where their ads ran based on what individuals have tweeted or the hashtags they have used.

     

    The acquisition of Trendrr adds two key products to Twitter’s stable: Trendrr.TV and Curatorr. Trendrr.TV provides TV networks, publishers and media agencies with tools to track TV engagement across social networks, including Twitter. Curatorr allows those same parties to sort through social streams to visualize data and to help them identify high-quality tweets. These tweets can then be re-tweeted by a TV show’s Twitter account or show up on air during a live show that includes Twitter conversations as part of their show format.

     

    With these two key products, the ability to now insert MoPubs technology into the equation becomes even more powerful; according to Twitter “they plan to use MoPub’s technology to build real-time bidding into the Twitter ads platform so our advertisers can more easily automate and scale their buys.”

     

    As Twitter points out in the release: “The two major trends in the ad world right now are the rapid consumer shift toward mobile usage, and the industry shift to programmatic buying. Twitter sits at the intersection of these, and we think by bringing MoPub’s technology and team to Twitter, we can further drive these trends for the benefit of consumers, advertisers, and agencies.”

     

    These recent acquisitions actually complement a third major trend occurring with TV and mobile which is two screen viewing and conversations, especially around live events. The ability to track and target real-time messages to relevant users more accurately is being reinforced with these acquisitions.

     

    Finally, there is widespread speculation of a forthcoming Twitter IPO next year; these acquisitions should further improve its attractiveness to advertisers, and therefore Twitter’s financial performance and profitability.

     

    Implications

    These acquisitions will not only allow Twitter to offer deeper audience insights and functionality to marketers, networks, publishers and other organizations, it will also bring in-house a competing service. Trendrr was the last independent player in the social TV chatter space; Twitter bought Bluefin Labs in February and Nielsen bought SocialGuide in November. This is all notable as Facebook has been evolving its platform to become more of a contender in the real-time conversation market with the development of new tools like Trending Topics and hashtags. Facebook has also indicated that it’s looking at its association with TV much more closely.

     

    Facebook announced in July (coincidentally from the results of a Trendrr research piece) that it has more TV chatter than Twitter just behind “closed doors” due to its users’ ability to restrict access to their content. By absorbing Trendrr, Twitter has not only bolstered their appeal to advertisers, but they have also ensured Facebook have limited options for future acquisitions.

     

  • Starting Monday, 23 September, over a hundred events to be held in six venues including Mantralaya and Group M will celebrate and discuss social media

    Mumbai to go Social next Week

     

    By Fatema Rajkotwala

     

    After garnering much success and kudos in over 20 cities globally, New York strategy firm Crowdcentric’s brainchild, Social Media Week (SMW), comes to Mumbai. Digital buffs and enthusiasts will attend their first solely focused social media conference. Organized by Bengaluri-based marketing services firm RSquare Consulting the event will comprise over a hundred scheduled sub-events spread over a span of a week starting Monday, September 23 to Friday, 27 September, 2013 across six venues in Mumbai.(*See Disclaimer)

     

    Toby Daniels, Founder & Executive Director, Social Media Week, and CEO, Crowdcentric is excited about the experience of bringing the Social Media Week to Mumbai, “Given India’s presence in the mobile and tech space, Mumbai felt like a natural fit for SMW13. SMW is a distributed conference and we’re honoured to have RSquare Consulting taking the helms for SMW Mumbai. The team has been responsive and quick to help us understand the cultural aspects of hosting SMW in India. We can’t wait to see the week unfold.”

     

    MxMIndia is curating and hosting two sessions at Social Media Week Mumbai.

    The details of these are as follows:

     

    How Social Media dictates Journalism

    Date: Tuesday, September 24, 2013

    Time: 12noon to 1pm

    Venue: The Barking Deer, Mathuradas Mills Compound, Lower Parel

     

    Like it or not, social media dictates the way journalism in India happens. Newspapers and television channels track celebrites and people in office zealously and that dictates the way the news flow works. For many newsmakers, Facebook and Twitter are a godsend as they can now reach out to their TG and the media directly and with much ease.

     

    Panelists:

    1. C P Surendran

    Editor-in-Chief, dna

     

    2. Sidharth Bhatia

    Senior journalist and author

     

    3. Sachin Kalbag

    Executive Editor, Mid-Day

     

    Moderated by Pradyuman Maheshwari

    Editor-in-chief and CEO, MxMIndia

     

    How ETC rules Social Media

    Date: Wednesday, September 25, 2013

    Time: 12noon to 1pm

    Venue: The Barking Deer, Mathuradas Mills Compound, Lower Parel

     

    News and discussions on EntertainmenT and Cricket rule the social media. How has it changed the way cinema, television and cricket function? Do cricketers get influenced by what is being discussed on social media. Ditto with cinema and television?

     

    1. Raj Nayak

    CEO, Colors

     

    2. Deepa Gahlot

    Senior journalist, awardwinning critic and Head of Theatre and Films, NCPA

     

    3. Omar Qureshi*

    Editor-in-chief, Zoom

     

    4. Hemant Kenkre

    Former cricketer, commentator, columnist and PR consultant

     

    Moderated by Pradyuman Maheshwari

    Editor-in-chief and CEO, MxMIndia

     

    *To be confirmed

     

    What to expect?

    Social Media Week will host to an array of over 100 events themed around advertising, marketing, politics, government, science and technology, business and entrepreneurship, lifestyle and culture, media and publishing, society and environment, education and learning, health and wellness and ofcourse opportunities to network and party.

     

    Over the week, there is a mixed bag of workshops, seminars, exhibitions, parties and speakers lined up such as Dr Subramanian Swamy, Suhel Seth, Gul Panag, Kiran Khalap, Deveika Bhojwani, Subhamoy Das (e-Bay), Harshil Karia (FoxyMoron), Toby Daniels and Benjamin Scheim (Crowdcentric) among others.

     

    The multiple venues across the city are also eyebrow-raisers. These include Mantralaya, National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA), GroupM office, Bluefrog, the Barking Deer, the Westin and Trident. As reported earlier by MxMIndia, the event is open to the general public, being an essential part of the social media.

     

    SMW has a visibly city-focused angle. Toby Daniels spoke of how Mumbai and India are viewed globally in terms of their digital footprint, “India is emerging as a major digital force. Its Facebook userbase has amassed more than 60 million. Yet, we know that it’s only beginning to grow. Social media is available for only 60 per cent of the entire Indian audience, and we think Mumbai’s digital industries will be a leader in helping bridge this digital gap.”

     

    Social Media Week Mumbai kickstarts on Monday, 23 September at Bluefrog with a power packed day of interesting topics hosted by IMI Mobile, RSQUARE, International Advertising Association (IAA) and SAP, followed by music performances by artists and the SMW Mumbai Opening Bash by Mindshift Interactive.

     

    From the advertising and marketing arena, September 27 is another day to watch for. The Barking Deer and Westin will host various talks by Group M and other media agencies. Buzz generating topics such as “I’ve got my fans, now show me the money” by Drizzlin Media, “Social by Design: Vada Pav meetup” at Mantralaya are some others to keep an eye out for.

     

    Tushar Vyas, Managing Partner, Group M South Asia spoke of GroupM’s association with SMW, “Social media is becoming central to communication – helping integrate all communication channel. We would like to help highlight the role of social media in marketing communication. Social media is at the heart of adaptive marketing and to look at it as an island would be a big folly. One needs to step back and also peer in at the same time. This is why we at Group M are trying to weave in elements of this medium into everything we do – from activation to content to campaign.”

     

    The week will also see exhibitions themed on Mumbai, wildlife photography and art at the Piramal Art Gallery, NCPA hosted by CRY, R Square Consulting and Indianartcollectors.com. Nokia will also be conducting a Masterclass on Mobile Photography.

     

    The Bombay Street Style Party at Olive Bar and Kitchen is another event to mark your calendar for.

     

    SMW will begin with ‘Mega Pink’, registrations for the women’s fitness run at Shivaji Park by Maximus Events and will end on 28 September with the Chai and Pakoda Bike Ride hosted by the Indian Bike Week.

     

    Why should you be there?

    If you use social media on a professional front or as a means for individual brand development or deal with anything in the digital space, Social Media Week is the place to be. In today’s hyper-connected world though, this includes everyone from brands, digital agencies, entertainers, individual artists, government verticals, and basically, everyone.

     

    Shedding light on Crowdcentric’s philosophy and vision for social media, Mr Daniels said, “We are experiencing one of the biggest shifts in how we communicate in human history. Because of this, our aim is to provide the best information, ideas and inspiration to help people understand how to achieve more in a hyper-connected world. We are often asked about the direction we plan to give Social Media Week and what we’ll do when social media is no longer en-vogue. Whether social media as a term is popular in the future or not has no bearing on the mission we’re embarking on. The world is changing is fundamental ways due to the speed at which technology has permeated our lives and created a connected society.”

     

    Social Media Week promises to be the platform to bring together people from different walks of life to come and share their experiences and learnings of how social media has benefitted them. R Square Consulting, the city organizer for the event, has partnered with the Government of Maharashtra, advertising professionals, photographers and individuals from the entertainment industry who will guide the public through the events chalked out each day.

     

    Hemant Soreng, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of the firm spoke to MxMIndia about how an event of this scale will provide multiple takeaways for the public. “Some of the objectives are to help learn to collaborate to share and educate; amplify existing causes/issues within the social media industry; networking and meeting people from different backgrounds; a city-based event that will put Mumbai on the social media map globally. Our vision is for Social Media Week becoming one of the regular annual festivals of Mumbai.”

     

    The Buzz creators

    Talking about the challenge in organizing a new format event such as this, R Square founder Rohit Varma told MxMIndia, “As a format, Social Media Week is unconventional in terms of venues chosen, partnerships and its audience. The basic philosophy here is to collaborate and connect. India has not witnessed this kind of a conference format, which is why when we began talking to partners it took a little while for everyone to realize the power of this format. With this event, we are building the community as social media touches everybody, making it a B2B and B2C event. It is not just about brand development or social media tools; it is about how individuals, artists, a brand use social media, or how an agency uses tools to understand consumer behavior. That is the amazing part of SMW – it is by the community for the community.”

     

    Talking about the challenges and preparations that went into putting the event in place, Mr Soreng said that the newness of the format of the conference that is based on crowdsourcing, posed some difficulty in the beginning but things eased up along the way, “We started the process five months ago by putting an advisory board in place, which comprised experts and veterans from the advertising, marketing, government, media and entertainment industries. We are primarily based out of Bengaluru and have an office in Mumbai. With a systematic plan, timelines and a project plan, along with the global team that we worked with, now there is a buzz that is helping. We believe that next year it would be bigger. The experience has been great so far, challenging but we have learned a lot.”

     

    From the company’s business philosophy perspective, an event focused on social media neatly fits into their ideology. Mr Varma added: “One of the services we provide is events and activations. This is what we want to do and this year being the maiden event in India, I’d say this will go bigger and bigger.”

     

    These features contribute to what makes this conference unique in its own right. The Social Media Week has been favourited the world over for its potential for global collaborations, interesting and educative workshops, knowledge sharing and eclectic mix of speakers and attendees. Mumbai sure is awaitin’

     

    * Disclaimer: MxMIndia is a trade partner of the event and is also curating and hosting two sessions

     

  • A Q&A with Toby Daniels, Founder & Executive Director, Social Media Week, and CEO, Crowdcentric on the eve of the Social Media Week Mumbai (September 23-27)

    Jaldi 5 with Toby Daniels, CEO, Crowdcentric: Mumbai felt like a natural fit for SMW13

    Toby Daniels, Founder & Executive Director, Social Media Week, and CEO, Crowdcentric is going to be among the speakers at the Social Media Week Mumbai (September 23-27), and is excited about the concept taking shape in India and Mumbai specifically. Fatema Rajkotwala engaged him in a quick Q&A on the eve of the event.

     

    01. How has the experience been so far in the process of organising the maiden Social Media Week in Mumbai?

    We are always excited to SMW expand. Given India’s presence in the mobile and tech space, Mumbai felt like a natural fit for SMW13. SMW is a distributed conference and we’re honoured to have RSquare Consulting taking the helms for SMW Mumbai. The team has been responsive and quick to help us understand the cultural aspects of hosting SMW in India. We can’t wait to see the week unfold.

     

    02. Tell us how India and Mumbai specifically are viewed globally in terms of digital footprint?

    India is emerging as a major digital force. The Facebook userbase here has amassed more than 60+ million. Yet, we know that it’s only beginning to grow. Social media is available for only 60% of the entire Indian audience, and we think Mumbai’s digital industries will be a leader in helping bridge this digital gap.

     

    03. What is Crowdcentric’s vision and philosophy for SMW now on?

    We are experiencing one of the biggest shifts in how we communicate in human history. Because of this, our aim is to provide the best information, ideas and inspiration to help people understand how to achieve more in a hyper-connected world.

     

    04. Social media is the flavour of the season now, but a decade hence?

    We are often asked about the direction we plan to take Social Media Week and what we’ll do when social media is no longer en-vogue.

     

    Whether social media as a term is popular in the future or not has no bearing on the mission we’re embarking on.  The world is changing is fundamental ways due to the speed at which technology has permeated our lives and created a connected society.  For example, in the past 10 years, 3 billion people have connected to each other through the Internet and mobile technology.  This has already created a seismic shift in how we connect and communicate, but it’s really just the tip of the iceberg.  In the next ten years, as technology continues to advance, as the global population continues to grow, especially in emerging markets such as China, India and in Latin America and Africa and as mobile technology becomes even more ubiquitous we are going to see an additional 3 billion people  join the grid and come online.

     

    05. And the impact of Social Media on society?

    We can’t tell what impact this will have and we’re not sure how societies, governments and economies around the world will change as a result, but with the support of some of the world’s brightest minds, our community, our Local City Organizers, we aim to be the biggest and most influential platform that connects people around the issues that matter and a be the most important platform that provides a way for us to explore how our lives, culture and human behavior will change in the future.