I am writing this from Boston where Cisco is holding their annual mega
channel partner summit. The summit is being held in the backdrop of the bleak
economic outlook that still is all pervasive here and the buoyancy that has been
witnessed in the Indian market since the new government took shape.
In this scenario, the Indian and the Chinese delegates were probably the only
ones who had something to cheer about. But that is not what really set me
thinking or cheering for that matter. What was most intriguing was the emphasis
that all of Cisco's top management had in their keynotes about the power of Web
2.0. Collaboration that is their latest buzzword and social networking tools the
medium that they are using to enhance it.
So how have they done it? Very simply by first emulating all these things
in-house. So all of the top brass twitters regularly. Cisco's high profile CTO
Padmasree Warrior has a huge following. There were at least more than 4,75,000
people who are following her twitts. A fact that brings her immense joy as she
quipped that her followers are more than George Clooney (the Hollywood
heartthrob) but less than Oprah (the Queen of media and celebrity talk shows).
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| shivangi yadav |
Now isn't that something! Another regular tweeter is Keith Goodwin, Global
Channel Chief, Cisco who has more than 400 avid followers. And what are these
two talking about on their twitts? About the company of course. During the
channel partner summit all their twitts, which were pretty frequent by the way
sometimes in the middle of keynotes also, they talked and talked about their
company, its achievements. What a mind blowing way of getting free publicity.
The most prominent example of the power of social networking is now a
resident of the White House. Obama used tools like Twitter, Facebook to amass
not only a huge fan following but also a huge vote-share which put him firmly in
a position of power.
Closer home, the elections were a great eye-opener about the power of social
networking tools. Rahul Gandhi was an avid twitter all through his election
tour, and had amassed 350 followers before his account was hacked and he
stopped. But through his twitts, he was managed to connect to the young
audience. The same example was followed by lot of people who are considered part
of Rahul's core team. In fact diplomat turned politician Shashi Tharoor even
twitted about his first official dinner. And the number of clubs that supported
every one from Deepnder Hooda, Sachin Pilot and not to say Rahul Gandhi on
Facebook were amazing. Pre-elections days saw hectic campaigning by group
members about voting for change or simply about going in to vote.
Yeah, the following is small, but imagine if it can put Obama into White
House and make Rahul Gandhi connect with youth and get Congress into power in
such a strong position, what it can do for your business. It is personal, highly
interactive and instant, is that not what all of us want to achieve when we do
business?
The problem is again perception; I think all of us think that these things
are for those who have too much time and too little to do. And that with our
work compulsions we will not have the time. A lot of times I have heard that it
is because of the low Internet connectivity ration in India. But guess what, all
these things can be easily done on your mobile phone, and you don't need to be a
tech expert to do it, plus you get the reaction instantly.
I have been active on Facebook for my friends and recently started on Twitter
also. In case you want to join me on twitter, I can be found @shivangiyadav.
Pretty simple eh! So I look forward to getting your twitts.
(shivangiy@cybermedia.co.in)