Now Universal McCann has published some more findings from the same study in another report titled When did we start trusting strangers? How the internet turned us all into influencers. The report is a treasure trove of interesting findings on how digital media is changing how we look at relationships and influence and I’m sure that I’ll return to it often in subsequent posts.
However, in this post, I want to focus on Universal Mccann’s findings on how we stay in touch with our personal contacts –
The evolution of the web as a social platform and primary communication channel has had a dramatic impact on the scale and nature of our friendship networks. Figure 8 shows the global average number of friends and personal acquaintances we maintain via different forms of communication including face to face, digital and letters.
MobiChange is a social entrepreneurship venture that will leverage mobile social networking for mobilizing social change.
Even as the ubiquitous use of mobile phones bridges the digital divide between the developed and developed countries, another digital divide — digital divide 2.0 — is opening up between the haves and have-nots. Digital divide 2.0 is not about access to communications devices; it’s about the ability to leverage the power of group-forming social communications technologies to collaborate with others, self-organize into grassroots communities and create crowd-sourced content that is relevant for these communities.
MobiChange will enable disadvantaged communities to benefit from the power of group-forming social networks by bringing these technologies to the $50 mobile phone that can only be used to make voice calls and send text messages.
I have no patience for the stuff in the dead zone, the items that are too slick to be real, but not slick enough to be a marvel.
Seth Godin’s advice is that if you can’t make it really slick, you should make it really simple.
My advice is that even if you can make it really slick, you should make it really simple.
First, let me say that I agree with Seth Godin — it only works if it’s really slick or really simple; all the in-between stuff is mostly mediocre. So, yes, if you can’t make it really slick, you should make it really simple.
However, it takes more time and effort to make things really slick than to make them really simple, and if both really simple and really slick have the same effectiveness, why not go with really simple?
I am a big believer in this thinking and you will notice that both my website template and my daily vidcast are so simple that they are perhaps too simple.
It’s basically a cool unconference where people talk about interesting things they are doing, or things they are really passionate about.
The Interesting unconference is the brainchild of Russel Davies and his colleagues at the Open Intelligence Agency. The previous Interesting events have been held at Sydney, Amsterdam and London. The New York event is being hosted by David Nottoli and it was because of Jinal Shah’s thoughtfulness that I came to know of it.
If you are in New York on September 13, I would strongly urge you to join us at the unconference. You can follow Interesting New York on Twitter or register for it on Facebook.
The interesting twist is that I’ll record, edit and upload my vidcasts exclusively from my Nokia E71 smartphone. So, the vidcast is also an experiment in what is possible and what is not possible with mobile technology. Stay tuned.
I’ll be spending some serious time this year working on MobiChange, a social entrepreneurship venture that will leverage mobile social networking for mobilizing social change.
No, I don’t know enough about either “mobile social networking” or “mobilizing social change”, but I do know that mobile-based communities can be critical catalysts for transforming youngsters into committed change agents. So, I’ll start from whatever little I do know and learn the rest.
Why would a twenty-something, single, eligible, IIM-educated, upwardly mobile marketer on the corporate fast-track in India’s business capital decide to go ‘off consumption’ for a year?
Will a year off consumption, not buying anything that isn’t a necessity, leave him ill-equipped to handle life and work in Mumbai?
Or, will it leave him with invaluable insights into what drives us to consume, or not, into the nature of consumption, into human nature itself?
We derive our identity (and our happiness) basically in four ways — from the things we own, from the experiences we have, from the people we relate to, and from the meaning we create. These four elements are arranged in a “hierarchy of identities” that is not only different for each one of us, but also changes for each one of us over time.
Quick Summary: I’m totally delighted to announce that I have been selected as the Yahoo! Fellow in International Values, Communications, Technology, and Global Internet for 2008-09 at Georgetown University.
The Yahoo! Fellow is chosen from applicants drawn from the government, corporate, non-profit and academic sectors with interest in BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China). Two graduate students from the Master of Science in Foreign Service (MSFS) program at the SFS are also selected to as Junior Yahoo! Fellows to engage in research associated with the Yahoo! Fellow. Part of the research done by the Yahoo! Fellow is also incorporated into the MSFS program as guest lectures, special seminars, case studies and/ or course modules.
Quick Summary: I was recently profiled in Indian daily Mid-Day for a story on how online and offline relationships have merged for young people in India.
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I was recently profiled in a Mid Day story on how online and offline relationships have merged for some of us.
Ever since I started blogging three years back, my blog has been at the core of my social life. I have met some of the most fascinating people I know through my blog, or, in the last year, through Twitter. Some of my closest friends, including my last three girlfriends, are bloggers and some of my most important professional connections were made online.
The other day, I was talking to my girlfriend about how the center of gravity of my social life has further shifted online since I started my off-consumption experiment.
“Sometimes, I ask myself: what would I have done without my blog this year?”, I said.
“The question you should ask yourself is: who would you have been without your blog?”, she reminded me gently.
