Watching the recent events unfold across Egypt, I was struck by how social media was used in this revolution, specifically by Wael Ghonim, a Google executive.  This is not the first time social media was used to protest against a government – remember Iran’s Twitter protests in 2009 – but this is certainly the first time a regime has been toppled (though it is still too early to say much).  Just to recap, Ghonim created a Facebook page about Khaled Said, a young Egyptian who was killed for angering the country’s police by posting a video of them on YouTube.  This Facebook page attracted 500,000 followers, and Ghonim used this to focus attention on other misdoings of a corrupt government.  Ghonim was arrested and later released, and he became the spokesperson of the revolt.  Google also played a role here – when the Egyptian authorities cut off internet access in the country for 5 days, Google created Speak2Tweet, allowing Egyptians to leave voice messages that were later posted on Twitter (should a company play an active role in a revolution like Google did? But that is a subject for another post )

Authoritarian regimes that have controlled traditional media to control their citizens are finding social media a completely different ball game.  Social media is a ‘revolutionary’ game changer here!

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I was recently in conversation with an ex-colleague and now a Senior VP at Infosys, and we were discussing some of the important changes in the way enterprises are adopting technology. I also read an interview of MIT’s Andrew McAfee, on enterprise 2.0 which corroborated the same view point.

The advent of web 2.0 tools and technologies, that are user friendly, easily available, employees will spearhead the adoption of technology within entreprises, a 360 degree change from the times when technology adoption was driven by the CXO’s office amidst a lot of resistance and pain.

Since it is a bottoms-up approach, it is likely that many observers and organizations would under estimate its impact. In fact, McAfee, who as authored a book on this subject, says that his hypothesis when he started the book was that he believed that web 2.0 was all about “cool” apps that had little relevance for an organizaton. But his research made him change his views.

The most attractive aspect, especially for an emerging company (like us) is that you can experiment and adopt in real quick time. At Prayag, we use a fair amount of web 2.0 and free collaboration tools that are available on the net.

The same trend is now observed among work groups within larger organizations.

Clearly web 2.0 has become much more than a consumer phenomenon. Its impact on enterprises will be felt in the years to come.

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A recent book by Jessie Paul, CMO, Wipro Technologies, titled No Money Marketing appears to have sparked off a lively debate on whether a barnd can really be built without expending too much money.

Like everyone else, I took was curious, and took a look at the book and its premise to see if there was something new by way of ideas.

I concluded that the title is really a clever marketing gambit! It clearly grabs your attention and persuades you to read further.  But the book really focuses on contemporary ways to build a brand and focuses on social media as well as personal branding as a tool.

At Prayag, over the last several years, we have conveyed two points to our clients:

1. Today, it is possible, even if you do not have deep pockets, to build a brand, if you start early, and in a sustained and systematic manner, add programs to the marketing mix. In fact, we have a model that maps the recommended marketing footprint across the life of a company.

2. The second not so obvious but equally important insight is that, today, it is no longer sufficient if you throw money behind marketing. Take PR for example. Some years ago, it was possible to pay a hefty retainer to an agency and ensure you got the “right” publicity. However, today, with the internet and web .0 especially bringing about a disintermediation of PR, you may be on the backfoot if there is a dissonance between the propagated “paid” messages and the reality. Also, to build a brand, you have to invest time and effort to establish a point of view, or keep in touch with your key stakeholders.

Thus, it is not so much about no money marketing, in my view, but it is no longer just about money and marketing.

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On Sept 1, during our anniversary celebrations, I discovered two things- one that the Internet is now entering its middle age ( a newspaper clipping I read that morning alerted me to the fact that the Internet turns 40) and two, the “official ” birth of the internet is just a day away from Prayag’s own “birthday” ( The internet anniversary is on Sept 2). Interesting coincidence, isnt it?

Jaya Kumar, our Chairman, during his talk referred to this and spoke about the way the internet is changing the underpinnings of marketing. For one, it has impelled marketing to become a more “honest” function as it has empoweerd the customer with more knowledge and information. Two, it has also given avenues for a company or brand to communicate directly with their customer, without having to resort to the help of influencers- in other words- disintermediation. Third, with the arrival of collaborative web 2.0 tools, one can actually do two way communication with customers and other stakeholders and create more meaningful products and services.

 All of this, over the next decade, can bring about fundamental shifts in the way marketing functions.

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When the suits take to it, you know its no longer cool. That may be soon true of Twitter, I fear, as companies embrace it with a vengence. Back home there is our very own Infosys leading the pack of Twitter converts – with followers including financial journalists from Wall Street as well as the World Economic Forum.
This is a great use of a web 2.0 tool for a company that can literally, move markets. But it also works well for smaller players and especially as an internal communication tool. Hard pressed for time CEOs of emerging companies can no longer put off that long pending employee blog post. After all how long can it take to punch out a 140 character message. While it cannot be used to replace a detailed communication, it can be used effectively for virtual backslaps and handshakes or contract announcements.

It could equally effectively be used by dispersed companies for departmental communication – HR missives come to mind here, so do resource updates on intranets.

One case certainly where short is truly sweet!

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Taking a cue from Facebook, Linkedin has also introduced a suite of applications. Check out http://www.linkedin.com/static?key=application_directory&trk=hb_side_apps to get a first hand feel. The applications include wordpress, slideshare ( for sharing presentations), google presentations and private workspaces. In an interesting contrast to facebook, which has allowed a proliferation of apps, linked in plans to keep its apps seelctive and relevant to its target audience – business users.

The apps are well chosen and allow the member to perform a variety of tasks from sharing a reading list, presentation or your blogs, collaborating with a team.

Watch with interest, how the apps portfolio unfolds……….

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