Seven ways to manage your email traffic
Posted on May 12, 2008
Filed Under Featured Posts | 1 Comment
More and more of us seem to be getting overwhelmed with email traffic into our inbox. How does one get on top of it? No matter how many we reply to, there are still mails pending. And we seem to be managing mails all the time at the expense of other tasks. And one is not even talking about Spam here - only mails which need some action.
Is there a way out of the email trap? Here are some things people known to me do: Read more
Invitation to join Indian Blog and New Media Society
Posted on May 11, 2008
Filed Under Blogs,Podcasts & Other Resources, Blogging for Business | 1 Comment
The Indian Blog and New Media Society (IBNMS), in the making for many months, is finally a fully functional body. And is now inviting everyone concerned to take up membership (free) of the same.
The IBNMS is a not-for-profit grouping of all stakeholders in the blog and new media space from India – but open to membership from all over the world. These include those related to blogs, podcasts, internet TV and radio, online news and entertainment, on-demand videos, photosharing, social media, internet art, user generated content, PR 2.0, digital advertising and marketing and more. You could be publisher or consumer of these media to be a member.
The basic idea behind bringing this grouping together is to enable all stakeholders to collaborate and learn from one another, growing together by creating greater relevancy for new media forms and in the process gaining greater visibility to be able to make these publishing platforms more impactful in the Indian and global context.
If interested, visit the IBNMS site and sign up now.
LinkedIn F2F in Hyderabad on May 24
Posted on May 11, 2008
Filed Under LinkedIn Face2Face | 5 Comments
Any LinkedIn members in Hyderabad on May 24, 2008 can be a part of a planned LinkedIn F2F meet. The idea is to meet one another and share ideas and thoughts for bigger meets in the coming months. Here is the info on the same: Read more
LinkedIn F2F: Ways to be in touch with others
Posted on May 6, 2008
Filed Under LinkedIn Face2Face | Leave a Comment
If you are keen on participating in LinkedIn F2F meets, or are interested in taking the lead in organizing one, here are the various ways you can keep yourself informed or contact others automatically: Read more
Structuring Future LinkedIn F2F Events
Posted on May 6, 2008
Filed Under LinkedIn Face2Face | 1 Comment
An important discussion at the LinkedIn F2F meet in Delhi on February 23 was how to structure future events to ensure sustained interest amongst members. These were some of the suggestions that came up:
* Why have an agenda? It was natural for many people to ask what specific benefits can be derived from such meets? It was felt by many that having an agenda may just take the fun and surprise elements away; it is when you meet new people will new ideas come up.
* Discover more about each other: Again, why do we need to meet someone only to check out professional benefits? Discover more about each other and build relationships in an informal setting. Other things will follow. Continue reading for some useful tips on structuring F2F events
LinkedIn F2F: Ideas for possible events
Posted on May 6, 2008
Filed Under LinkedIn Face2Face | Leave a Comment
Here is an opportunity for all of us to put together some really innovative events. Here are some ideas, including those proposed by attendees at the F2F Delhi meet on February 23. You could also read this post on structuring F2F events for some more ideas. Cotinue reading for some interesting ideas
LinkedIn F2F Logistics: Volunteers, Financials, Communications
Posted on May 6, 2008
Filed Under LinkedIn Face2Face | Leave a Comment
A few pointers onF2F event logistics may be helpful to those planning any. Covered here are the same under the headers of Volunteers, Financials and Communications. Read more
LinkedIn Face2Face Delhi Rocked
Posted on May 6, 2008
Filed Under LinkedIn Face2Face | 1 Comment
This post first appeared on LinkedInF2F.com, a blog set up to initiate and coordinate LinkedIn Face2Face Meets. But we might run into trademark issues with LinkedIn at some stage, so have moved it to techgazing.com/category/linkedin-face-to-face-meets. Please bookmark this site for information on F2F meets.
The LinkedIn community in India finally had its first (probably) F2F meet in Delhi on February 23, 2008. And was it a success? It rocked, and this is an understatement.
[Click here if you want to view event photos taken by Naina Redhu and Ajay Jain]
For one, the response was overwhelming. We had 54 attendees - and this was more than the number who confirmed. How often does this happen? Continue reading about the learnings from the event
Planning holidays, with user generated travel content
Posted on April 30, 2008
Filed Under Featured Posts, Social Networking / Media, Trends | 21 Comments
The following post is a column I wrote for the Hindustan Times, a leading daily in India. You can access its web version by clicking here. It has a strong Indian context to it though.
Rohini Sharma wanted to go on a family holiday over the Easter weekend to Lansdowne, a hill station in Uttarakhand. The family was all set to go with accommodation tentatively booked at the Retreat Anand at this charming, colonial hill station, when the plan was changed to stay instead at the Bird House in Dehradun. Why? Because reviews and images posted on the Internet by other travellers did not paint a pretty picture of Lansdowne.
Instances like these are becoming more a norm than an exception as travel planning enters the Web 2.0 era. The Internet is full of reviews and opinions posted by travellers, and many people are using these as a key reference source when planning any trips. Such User Generated Content (UGC) is being seen as mostly credible and trustworthy, with the ‘authoritative’ voice of a professional writer no longer the last word when it comes to deciding one’s holiday. Continue reading this trend story
Consumer Survey: Social Media in India
Posted on April 29, 2008
Filed Under Social Networking / Media | Leave a Comment
EmPower Research is conducting a consumer survey about Social Media in India. They are trying to find out people’s understanding, attitudes, and usage with regard to current Social Media in India and their thoughts about the future. Should you be interested in participating in the same, click here.
Completed responses would qualify to possibly win an Apple iPod.
Do you enjoy reading e-books?
Posted on April 28, 2008
Filed Under Digital Content, E-Publishing | 19 Comments
I have been pleasantly surprised at the relatively high number of e-books I have sold of my book, Let’s Connect: Using LinkedIn to get ahead at work despite being available as a paperback too. I was thus prompted to ask around if people have started enjoying e-books over the paper versions, or are there some other reasons prompting them to go for e-books? Here is a summary of some of the responses I got: Read on for some interesting perspectives; even the comments below are worth a look
Microsoft’s Silverlight gears for Olympian leap
Posted on April 9, 2008
Filed Under Video, Internet, Digital Content, Software, Brands & Companies, Featured Posts | Leave a Comment
This feature was published in India’s leading daily, The Hindustan Times, and can be accessed online here.
There can be no substitute to enjoying the Olympics in Beijing later this year than being inside the arenas as a live spectator, a possibility only for the lucky or the privileged. But the next best option for the billions of others may no longer be television broadcasts but rich, interactive access on the Internet.
Log on to NBCOlympics.com this August to view the games like never before. You can watch any of the events live on the site, of course, but this is only for starters. You will be able to open up to six windows on your desktop for simultaneous viewing, somewhat like the PIP (Picture-in-Picture) option that some television sets come with. You can listen to live commentary on any of these, and receive alerts for other live events even when these are not showing on your screen. You can replay any missed action. Video-on-demand will allow you access any of the archives of more than 2,200 hours of recordings of the games captured over 17 days. Read more
Ajay Jain’s book on LinkedIn: Podcast interview with Martin Bossman
Posted on March 13, 2008
Filed Under Blogs,Podcasts & Other Resources, Social Networking / Media | 1 Comment
Martin Bossman, who runs a very useful and interesting podcast show at Inquire Online, interviewed Ajay Jain on his recent book, Let’s Connect: Using LinkedIn to get ahead at work. If you want to listen to it, click here.
To know more about the book and to order, click here.
My book on using LinkedIn to get ahead at work
Posted on March 13, 2008
Filed Under LinkedIn Face2Face, Internet, Social Networking / Media | Leave a Comment
For a change, this is news about me and not companies I report on.
I have written a book, Let’s Connect: Using LinkedIn to get ahead at work and it came out just a few days ago. Going by the initial response, I feel it has the potential to make a difference for the readers.
LinkedIn is currently the hottest professional networking site going around, and millions are benefiting from using it around the world. In this book, I talk of how you too can get this site to work for you as a professional. Full of interviews and testimonials to support my analyses and opinion, this book could well be a must-read for all kinds of professionals.
For more information, sample chapters and how to order, click here. You can also order on Amazon directly.
Kunzum, my travel blog launched
Posted on February 25, 2008
Filed Under Internet, Start-Ups, Blogs,Podcasts & Other Resources | 1 Comment
I am happy to announce the launch of my long planned travel blog, Kunzum.com. Named after the Kunzum La, or Kunzum Pass, located at about 15,000 feet above sea level in the Lahaul Spiti Valley in Himachal Pradesh in India, I was inspired by this beautiful and lonely spot through which I drove last year.
The blog is primarily going to be focused on travel related stories, anecdotes and reviews from India, but a bit extra would be thrown in too.
Why don’t you check out Kunzum.com? The content is limited as I have just started but you can expect more in the coming weeks. But do read the story of Lakshmi, the leopard cub, from Ranthambhore.
If you would like to be kept updated on some scintillating travel stuff, you can subscribe here, take a RSS feed or follow my Twitter Feed.
Smart tools for internal communication
Posted on February 7, 2008
Filed Under Blogging for Business, Resources for Managers, Social Networking / Media | 3 Comments
Blogs, wikis and in-house social networks are the new ways companies are communicating internally. Interactivity and collaboration being the key to these forms of open conversations, the quarterly newsletter may just be passé.
Want to win five hundred rupees? Predict the television rating of the next test match between India and Australia. The qualifier: You need to be on the media planning team at Lintas to have access to the internal blog this contest is run on.
This is just one example of what you may call ‘Internal Communications 2.0’ – the tools of new media are now being employed by companies to enable its people to converse openly and freely. These work for start-ups and big companies alike and in situations where the workforce is under one roof or spread across many locations.
There are many platforms one can do these on, four of them being most commonplace for their respective advantages. Read more
Event Alert: Blogs - How important are they to society
Posted on February 7, 2008
Filed Under Events | Leave a Comment
After the highly successful meet of the Delhi Blog and New Media Society (DBNMS) in New Delhi on January 12, 2008, another event has been put together on January 14 for keen bloggers and readers as given below: Read more
LinkedIn Face2Face meets kick off in India
Posted on February 4, 2008
Filed Under LinkedIn Face2Face | 1 Comment
LinkedIn members in India, the biggest market for LinkedIn in the APAC region, are all set to meet face to face in cities across the country.
Hundreds of users have already expressed interest in putting faces to names, and the first such event is expected to take place in New Delhi in February 2008.
Those interested in being informed may join the Yahoo group set up for the purpose as follows:
Group home page: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linkedinf2f
To join group, send a blank mail to linkedinf2f-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Send mails to group at: linkedinf2f@yahoogroups.com
Will Yahoo’s Behavioural Targeting change ad dynamics in India?
Posted on January 22, 2008
Filed Under E-Marketing & E-PR | 3 Comments
Advertisers in India seem to be a harried lot. Even as they get bigger budgets to spend on digital media, there is little to guide them on where and when to spend their money. The options all seem to come around to a handful of websites, with little market intelligence on how to get a bigger bang for their buck.
In such a scenario, will Yahoo’s Behavioural Targeting (BT) offering, now available in India, change things? Will it mean advertisers signing cheques assured of better performance of their ads, and Yahoo’s smile getting bigger all the way to the bank? Read on to know more about what BT is all about and if it will work in India
Why do you answer questions on Yahoo Answers and LinkedIn Answers?
Posted on January 22, 2008
Filed Under Internet, Social Networking / Media | 39 Comments
Forums like Yahoo! Answers and LinkedIn Answers see hundreds of answers being posted in response to questions asked by users of these sites. And the amazing part is this interaction takes place between people who are mostly stranger to one another. Why do they do this? What motivates people to spend their time and effort responding?
When I asked these questions around, the most interesting reasons came from an employee of Yahoo Singapore: he does so because he LOVES HIS COUNTRY and wants to answer any questions related to Singapore. On another note, he added that he does so to come out top ranked on Yahoo Answers and because he generally wants to help around. Read on to know what others have to say
Is NComputing better than One-Laptop-Per-Child?
Posted on January 17, 2008
Filed Under Gadgets, Laptops & PCs, Green Tech | 3 Comments
The much awaited laptop under the ‘One Laptop Per Child’ finally came out in 2007, although not quite at the targeted price of $100. Despite the hype, the jury is still out if this will address the shortage of computers amongst the resource challenged. The order book still seems to have a lot of blank pages left.
A more practical alternative may actually be from NComputing, winner of ‘The Wall Street Journal 2007 Technology Innovation Award.’ What does this product do? It enables many users – each with their own monitor, keyboard and mouse – to connect to and harness the power of a single PC. Most desktop PCs being very powerful, a typical user only uses a fraction of its processing capabilities. Depending on user needs and the PC, up to 30 users can be connected to a PC. And the cost to enable this can be as low as $70 per user according to Raj Shah, Chief Marketing Officer, NComputing. This is only the price of the NComputing hardware – the peripherals are naturally extra. Read on to know why this product makes sense
Making money in a Mobile 2.0 world
Posted on January 16, 2008
Filed Under Making Money, Mobile Applications, Mobile Phones | 3 Comments
I wrote a piece in The Hindustan Times, Delhi’s No. 1 daily newspaper and one of the leading ones in the country. The title of the same was ‘Making Money in a Mobile 2.0 World.’ You can read the online version here, or continue reading the text of the piece in this post itself.
For nearly a decade now, the mobile has been promising to deliver much more than just voice and text messaging – only to have its true potential always being two years away. So while the operators have been having it good with over three billion subscribers globally, democratisation of this platform has not been possible in the true sense allowing other application and service providers to make inroads and make money. But this may finally be changing. Welcome to the Mobile 2.0 world, offering commercial opportunities in a way even the old desktop Internet could not.
Why is this sounding possible? To put it simply, the dots are getting connected to make a pretty picture for all involved. This is how: Read more
Yahoo! enables driving directions in India now
Posted on January 11, 2008
Filed Under Internet, Mobile Applications, Software | 2 Comments
They say men don’t stop to ask for directions. Or was it women who do that? Either way, neither may need to anymore in India. Yahoo! India has introduced driving directions and community search on its existing Yahoo! India Maps. What this means in theory is you could be driving in a country of poor road signs and no longer land up in Ranthambhore when you are headed to Bharatpur.
A feature available for many years in developed countries, you could call this somewhat revolutionary in India. The service enable users to search for directions between 179 cities, 4767 towns and 226114 villages – as well as search for about three million points of interest marked by Internet users from around the web. Read more
Now develop apps on Salesforce too
Posted on January 10, 2008
Filed Under Software, Trends | Leave a Comment
Do you use Salesforce? And Google’s AdWords as an advertising medium? How would you like to connect to your AdWords account from Salesforce, correlate web clicks with inbound leads and be able to measure the effectiveness and ROI of your Google campaigns? It is possible through the ‘Salesforce for Google Adwords,’ a highly rated and one of the most downloaded application on Salesforce AppExchange On-Demand Marketplace.
While it is interesting enough to be able to do so, what is even more significant is the fact that this application could have been developed independently outside of Salesforce and offered on this platform. Because, with Facebook and Google showing the way, the big trend that could unfold in the coming years is that of independent developers plugging in their applications on existing platforms. And Salesforce, the world leader in on-demand CRM services, is ensuring it is not left behind. Read more
Blogging and New Media event in Delhi
Posted on January 9, 2008
Filed Under Events, Blogging for Business | Leave a Comment
The Indian blogging and new media landscape has been highly fragmented so far, with little information available on who is doing what. In an effort to bring this community under one roof, the recently floated Delhi Blog and New Media Society is organizing a meeting of all stakeholders in New Delhi on Saturday, January 12, 2008. The event is sponsored and supported by 20:20 Media and Microsoft.
The expected audience will include professional/part time/fun bloggers, fringe/yet-to-start bloggers, PR/corp communication professionals, blog/ new media/ social media consultants and service providers and mainstream media. The event is open to all, and there is no registration fee. Click here for more details
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