Musings of a Social Aviator

“I superLike it, I am sleeping now DND, LOL, Mercedes or BMW, Final exam tomorrow; How do I study”. Gen Y and the baby boomers like me today exist on the overdose of such ‘quotes’. Or may be life after recession still thrives on the adage that in bad economic times, people exercise more, eat out less and cook more, usage at public libraries goes up and people spend more time on the internet and now on social networking sites. Today most of my networking happens on these sites at my fingertips and at my discretion and it is one of the new ways of multitasking which is more emotionally connected and fun-inducing. It is said that if you are not on a social networking site, you are not on the internet. And those who are not on internet existed only in Mesozoic era!
Whether its Twitter, or Facebook or IM or iTunes, or Picasa, social media has become all the more pervasive. Supply of information is satiating our hunger for a rich and satisfying inner life. We have become more passionate about information and about our society and planet, courtesy social media.
Social Media is gradually becoming a critical factor, determining success or failure in many facets of our life. Else, how could Obama’s tryst with ‘Change’ catapult him to be Mr. President? Corporations are making this cultural shift at their workplace. HR professionals have started making most of LinkedIn. Marketing professionals are already shouting at the top of their larynx about what they think before they have had even a chance to think about the product. Few social media evangelists have started saying, ‘Email is passé. Tagging is in’. Web 2.0 tools have increased the real-time collaboration and information dissemination churning out higher revenues for businesses. Non-profits are using these powerful tools to garner more resources and make society a better place. One of my best experiences with the social media was in March 2011 when I was able to raise approximately Rs. 5 lakhs for an NGO within a matter of 10 days. ‘Likes’?
Tools like Cubbuzz, IdeaMax, JustAsk, microblogging site, Mind works, CTO Blog, etc are already making waves in TCS and redefining the way TCS functions. It has empowered the associates, made the decision-making process faster, and created the workplace which is more innovative.
How we manage this information in a more powerful way or what we can do to empower ourselves, are some of the challenges social media bring in. Who knows, in our quest for answers, someone may stumble upon some very innovative solutions. Remember Orkut and then face book.
Time for me to post this article, tag people, tweet about it, and count the ‘likes’, comments, shares, re-tweets and have a ‘virtual’ celebration!