The Social Unsocial Experiment is over and boy do I have lot many things to share.
The past 21 days without Facebook have been bliss. Except the first day, when I had this urge of logging into FB, the feeling died down soon.
And that’s when all the good things started happening. Directly or indirectly. Maybe or may not be due to the “experiment”, following things happened for the good –Continue reading
“Sanity is a madness put to good use.” – George Santayana
10 years of Facebook. 5 years of me being on it. 3 years of it being the source of my bread and butter. And I quit.
There are times when a man’s got to do what a man’s got to do. Without compulsions, without inhibitions, without temptations. In certain moments, trying to prove yourself to be different from others is more important for you, than showing off to the rest of the globe. One needs a reality check to gather his senses and to ensure himself that he’s not a slave. Neither of the society, nor of the technology he has adapted to. It’s not a stunt. Rather, a necessity.
It’s been close to 3 years since I have started working in the field of Social Media Marketing. Presently, my average Facebook activity for a day includes a total of 7 hours being online, 50-60 notifications, 5 friend requests, 3 game requests, 5 app requests, 0.3 status updates, stalking of 2-3 profiles and analysis of insights for client’s pages.
I have no addictions, if I say so myself. And when I started doubting that very statement, decided to go ahead with The Social Unsocial Experiment.
The Social Unsocial Experiment
Truth be said, it’s not much of a big deal. One guy working in the Social and Digital Media field, who makes a living off it, will be discarding Facebook for a span of 21 days (15 Feb-07 March 2014).
The guy – Me.
Why?
Its an experiment. An experiment to analyse the behavioral feedback of not being continuously connected to your friend circles. To understand whether the absence of information from my “friends” lives makes a difference to me, and in the process, learn what percentage of it is pure crap that’s wasting time and Hard Disk space from my brain. An experiment to examine whether my overall work productivity increases in this period. An experiment to prove, that there is more to life than notifications and “likes”.
So Why Make A Big Deal Out Of It?
Ask a professional football player to play football without his boots. Not impossible, but difficult. Same is the case here. Getting off Facebook might not be a big deal for all. But for me, for a professional working in that very field, it’s difficult. And that’s the beauty of it. Who wants to do things that are easy and predictable?
What About Client’s Facebook Pages?
All delegated to the staff and in good hands.
How To Get In Touch In The Meantime?
Heard about eMail? Twitter? Phone? I’ll be there.
What Plans In The Meantime?
Uh… In case no one knew, I have a life. Work to do. Plan to work with lesser distraction, get work completed pre-schedule and blog more. And if time still permits, start thinking about the book I have wanted to write for so long.
Do You Think Anyone Will Miss You?
I hope not. Am leaving Facebook. Not the world.
Well….. Maybe except those lovely people who keep tagging me in pics and keep sending me Candy Crush requests.
Why 21 days?
I like the number 21.
Why 15 February?
Like all single good looking lads my age, I still dwell in the hope that on Feb 14 I’ll receive an anonymous message/friend request. Just letting that hope live through this year too.
– Vijay S Paul
The news of some IT firms using unethical means to gain likes for the Facebook Page of politicians and defaming opposition politicians has been in the news for quite some time. This just came to show that it’s all a game of numbers. None of these people give a rat’s eye about actually interacting with the public or utilizing Social Media for the actual reason it is to be used. You give them anything and they’ll destroy it. First the country and now Social Media Channels.
While these news were doing the rounds couple of days back, I found something quite interesting on Facebook. Now, let me remind you, being a Social Media Marketer, I pay lot of attention to the Ads I see on Facebook and Google and anywhere on the internet real estate. So obviously, it came as pretty amusing when I saw an Ad about Congress Party written in Mizo, showing up beside my timeline.
I never give the slightest attention to political ads. To me, they’re as full of crap as the politicians or political parties they’re sponsored by. But seeing a political ad in a language I can’t decipher was way outta my league. As I clicked on the Ad, I was taken to the following website of “Mizoram Pradesh Congress Committee”.
Now, I have no idea what was written and neither do I have a good sixth sense. But all my other senses tell me it has to do something with me voting for them. Sure Congress. I’ll do. Once you explain to me how a guy from Kerala can vote in Mizoram. Burn!
Now that I see some of the BJP lovers laughing out loud on me making fun of Congress, wait buddies. The show’s not over.
The next day, as I was just about to shut down my laptop at night, the following ad jumped up on my timeline.
I don’t have the slightest idea who this guy is or what is he doing on my timeline. The ad tells me he’s a MLA from Gujarat. Again, they aren’t trying to increase my general knowledge am sure. Nor do they love so much that they badly want me to see what some local MLA does in Gujarat.
I find it pretty insulting when these people ridicule Social Media in such a manner and consider the public to be fools. Having run Facebook Ads myself a good number of times, I know that it’s not very hard to target your audience based on their location. But when a party from Mizoram and a politician from Gujarat come up on my timeline, I get really really skeptical about how these politicians and political parties plan to use Social Media.
All said, am pretty sure about one thing. As long as such people and such parties are in existence, I’ll always get one or the other point like this to write a blog post on.
God bless social media. And my patience.
Image Courtesy: ramp.ie
Imagine this. You are a 5 Star Hotel chain. You have your own share of regular customers who consider you totally awesome. But then someone in your top management says – “We need more customers. I don’t care if they are quality people or not, we just need more numbers!”
So, you have a brainstorming session on strategies to invite more customers. Some new intern suggests a new idea, which even though sounds stupid and unprofessional, gets approved by the top management. With guns blazing and fanfare the idea is set into implementation stage – You send some of your middle management staff to the doorsteps of another 5 Star hotel with a placard saying – “Down the road there’s another 5 star hotel. Its awesome. Join Us”.
I wish no one does this in real life. And no one has done it yet to my knowledge. But when I saw LinkedIn Ads in Facebook, inviting people to join LinkedIn, this was the comparison that came to my mind.
Yes. LinkedIn Ads in Facebook.
It doesn’t seem that the Ads have been placed by LinkedIn’s HQ; its definitely the work of its India Office. I am no one to comment on whether its right or wrong, but it just seemed creepy to me. Not creepy creepy, but feels-odd-to-see kind of creepy. Almost gives one an impression that LinkedIn is desperate to increase its numbers and the Country Head of India is in risk of losing his job (No offense to the concerned person).
As the latest data conveys, total LinkedIn users in India are close to 24 million, with a online population penetration of 25.36%. Yes, it doesn’t come anywhere close to the number Facebook boasts of, but again, am sure LinkedIn is smart enough to understand they cater to a different category altogether. And in such a case when we see this “desperate” measure, seems like a lost cause or a decision gone wrong at LinkedIn.
The above said Ad wasn’t the only one I saw. There were different versions of it, one as shown below-
The way the copy-writing for the Ad, as you can see is done, looks pretty disappointing. One would even think it was a misguiding ad done by some other brand to get hits to their pages. But when I clicked on the Ad, LinkedIn login/signup page is exactly what came up, as shown below-
I am pretty sure no one has as much love for LinkedIn that they would spend their own money to promote them. Unless they are some crazy Venture Capitalist who badly wants to fund LinkedIn but has been turned down by them and now is out to show his love and affection for the social network. But well, that sort of things work only in the wildest dreams and Indian politics.
LinkedIn could have gone for Google Ads if it was serious enough. Not that Facebook Ads are upright wrong, still, for a brand name like LinkedIn coming up with Ads on Facebook, is childish. It can be argued that the same has been done since new users can sign-up using their Facebook account. That would definitely make life easier for the users. But companies like LinkedIn have to maintain a balance between doing the right thing to uphold their brand image and getting more people to log into their service. In that scenario, am not sure what exactly LinkedIn was thinking here.
As a personal request, if anyone working in LinkedIn India office is reading this, or if you know someone who does, I’ll be glad to know how this campaign turned out for them. No no, that wasn’t sarcasm. That was actual inquisitiveness for this bizarre thing I had the opportunity of seeing.
I haven’t stopped laughing since. But psychologists tell me that might be attributed to me having a irrational sense of humour.
Disclaimer: I saw these Ads last month. Thanks to procrastination, I kept delaying writing this post until I realized I have to go ahead with this before Facebook changes its UI again.
One more reason to hate Facebook.
After a lawsuit last year claiming that the Multi-Billion Dollar valued Social Network violated the law by using people’s names and images alongside advertisements without compensating them, Facebook agreed to include options for users to opt out of these. Now where can these options be found, I have absolutely no idea. Ask Zucky about that.
There was a hue and cry by the public because the users actions were connected to liking a brand whereas when their names were being associated with Ads, the image and text of the Ads were completely in control of the brand. For example – “Vijay likes X brand” is totally fine. But me being shown beside an Ad that says “Buy X brand’s product” is totally offensive for me.
See the following screenshot. The write-up at the bottom doesn’t make any sense.
While am “opting out to ads that FB pairs with news about social actions, FB may still use these social actions in other contexts like Sponsored Stories…..” Uh…. Not speaking on the basis of the 96 marks I scored in my English Exam in 8th Standard, but this sounds like Bane talking to me – I can’t understand a word, but still know its something bad.
But don’t worry, this ain’t the bad news. The bad news is just coming up. Based on the lawsuit mentioned above, Facebook is now bringing about changes in the statement of rights and responsibilities notes that users would be granting permission to Facebook to use information in Ads. (Read the full red-line document here)
To put it short and specific, the terms are going from this
You can use your privacy settings to limit how your name and profile picture may be associated with commercial, sponsored, or related content (such as a brand you like) served or enhanced by us.
to this
You give us permission to use your name, and profile picture, content, and information in connection with commercial, sponsored, or related that content (such as a brand you like) served or enhanced by us, subject to the limits you place. This means, for example, that you permit a business or other entity to pay us to display your name and/or profile picture with your content or information, without any compensation to you. If you have selected a specific audience for your content or information, we will respect your choice when we use it.
Oh wait, wait, wait. Before you start cursing and reaching out for your rifle, have the patience to read through the next para too. It explains the proposed changes in the data usage policy of Facebook. In simpler terms, how they can get to know “everything” about you.
We receive data from or about the computer, mobile phone, or other devices you use to install Facebook apps or to access Facebook, including when multiple users log in from the same device. This may include network and communication information, such as your IP address or mobile phone number, and other information about things like your internet service, operating system, location, the type (including identifiers) of the device or browser you use, or the pages you visit. For example, we may get your GPS or other location information so we can tell you if any of your friends are nearby, or we could request device information to improve how our apps work on your device.
But don’t worry, all’s not lost. These changes will be brought in only on September 5th, 2013. You can submit your feedback to Facebook on these changes here.
I leave it to your judgement on whether you actually think Facebook would heed the feedback from the public. Just going through the already submitted responses would give you enough idea already.
Finish off with the following toon I found to be apt for the situation.
