The overpopulated planet…

No points for guessing that it’s FACEBOOK I am talking about.

I may have disappointed my clique by deciding to write about Mark Zuckerberg, a hard working guy. But this guy who went to Harvard and then left it midways to become the youngest billionaire (debatable, because his roommate cum co-founder is also a billionaire and was born 6 days after him) deserves some recognition.

But folks cheer up, he has some of our traits, look how he quit studies midways!!

So you might be thinking that you know everything about this guy, you have watched the movie “Social Network” right?

WRONG! There are some startling revelations coming up in this blog…

But before that I will narrate an interesting story.

It was a dark afternoon in Delhi; the eclipse prediction was accurate to the T. Rishav was already two floors down when that rigging dilemma whether he locked his room or not took over. He rushed back upstairs and confirmed from the nearest staircase itself… it was locked.

He struck his rear head lightly with his hand. This is what he has been doing for every silly mistake he does. But today this punishment would not suffice for the gaffe he commited last night.

He rushed to the spot where the cab would be waiting for him everyday. He was late as usual. But Nobody really minded his late coming, instead he was always greeted with “good mornings/ afternoons” and “smiles”. There is one thing that must be said about him in this respect. Rishav was a social animal.

He befriended people in no time, particularly those whom he wanted to be with (or for that matter from whom he wanted to extract some work).  So he was friends with the cab driver (of every cab he ever traveled in), with all the guys who ever accompanied him and of course with all the girls he ever met. Yes, he was a womanizer too.

Some said it was his child-like looks and others said it was his soft-spoken attitude that these girls liked. But here he managed to maneuver both the sides in such a way that the girls didn’t mind his friendship with the so called “bad” boys, and the guys were not jealous of his long list of “girl” friends!

But today was not just another day. It was the SECOND of days he would like everyone to forget. He sensed trouble for the first time when nobody greeted him, except Smith, his best friend (or so he thought). He did not know whether to initiate a discussion today. He could do it in any normal day when others hardly had a topic to start a conversation. But today a strange eerie in the cab’s atmosphere made him hesitant.

Suddenly it struck him!

Did they know what happened last night? But how could they?

He did the job with such finesse; he couldn't dare to let others know about it! 

Was it all over then?

Then why didn't that column in THE HINDU mention or even hint at him?

Or was he overrating the scenario?

Maybe these thoughts were bound to arrive in every brain which masterminded, executed or even witnessed the previous night’s occurrences.

Then why was every thing so atypical today? Or was he mistaken?

It could be that everyone greeted him and he didn't hear any due to his exhilaration. Maybe it was his anticipation of the worse which blanketed the reality just like the moon’s shadow had done to the earth few minutes back.

He decided not to jump to a conclusion. He was trained not to.

He replied with a hesitant smile to Smith- “Wassup buddy?”

Smith- “Bas kat rahi hai yaar, Tu bata. Ghar se phir phone aya tha kya? Upset lag raha hai?”  Smith was one of those Indians (on the verge of extinction) who still preffered Hindi unless forced to otherwise.

“Nahi Yaar, just have a headache”

He decided not to talk throughout the journey and pretended to have a serious headache.

To be continued...

So friends, a first time writer just sold his draft to you, thanks to FACEBOOK.

Imagine me starting the blog with a title: Story (just another story) of Rishav- the terrorist in masquerade. Would you have read it from there? No, but you did this way. Such is the power of social media.

So not only individuals like me but even business houses have caught up with the trend. They say it’s been high time that they transit from selling to a mass (out of which many may not buy) to selling to the needy (90% selling guaranteed).

While Facebook has undoubtedly surpassed every other medium in the space (in almost every aspect), other media are not really dispensable. A simple fact in support could be that every prospect (in business sense) does not have a FB page. Twitter, consumer forums, dashboards and blogs are unique in their own way. An assembly of these media can effectively help business houses to reach out to the consumers. Where businesses worldwide have realized this, some specialized business providers have mushroomed to fill the demand gap.

These firms provide specialized services which are customized according to the needs of their clients. They have the infamous advantage -talked about widely in the book FREKONOMICS- of information and expertise which their clients do not have.

Moreover, there is a sense of paranoia amongst these giants that they might miss something in the social sphere which their rivals can use against them.

NETSCRIBES offers such services to its clients so that they don’t miss out on any development in this arena. And I am a part of this process! Interesting right?