The Choice to be Made – to Cherish or to Self-Destruct

Modern man, arguably perhaps the most intelligent of all beings on this fragile planet Earth, arrived here not so long ago; about 200,000 years back…a tiny speck of dust in the vastness of cosmic time-scales. But in spite of that fleeting presence, he has made his impact felt. He has risen up the evolutionary ranks, facing some of the fiercest battles with other species, and countless other ordeals with nature’s occasional fury. But he has survived...at least so far. Nature in her series of great experiments, in a succession of trials and errors, was finally able to create that super-species. Little did she know that he’ll one day come to be her own nemesis.

Antaeus emerging from the Earth (Gaia), who was his mother and the source of all his strength

 

It was all there, even when we weren't

Let’s rewind a little, and go back to the time when intelligent modern man had not yet evolved and life was much simpler. Hmm…let’s see. OK, all the land was still there, with its majestic mountain ranges and snow-capped peaks, the exquisite plateaus that run miles, the flourishing plains and the incredible variety of flora & fauna that they support. So the land as we know it today, was more or less already there. The water was there too, within the gigantic glacial rivers that are the sources of almost all of the freshwater in the world, powerful streams that carve hard rock to create beautiful canyons, wondrous waterfalls that multiply any place’s beauty, the shallow seas that harbour some of the most exotic and diverse life on Earth, and the mysterious ocean deep. So, essentially, water was there too. The land was there, the water was there, and all the other organisms were there too already, created by that skilled artist called nature. Everything perfect to the last detail, and a system that maintained its own equilibrium over millennia.

Then one fine day (well, not exactly a day, but probably more like a few thousands of years) nature decided to push her limits and create a new model of perfection. And man evolved. At first, while he was still mostly at her mercy, man used to worship nature. But later, as he started to get more sense of his place, he slowly but surely lost touch with his creator. His knowledge grew, but his wisdom nonetheless decreased over time. But with that knowledge, something else grew too, which was soon to tilt the scales more profoundly in man’s favour than perhaps any other species, ever…

Man - worshipping even nature gods in HIS own form

...and then it happened

With knowledge came power, and it exposed that one flaw that nature had been reckless enough to overlook while creating man…the greed for even more power. So much so that one day, not too long ago, man with his new-found obsession with power, decided to control nature herself, grossly overestimating his own power and underestimating that of his creator. He modified, disturbed and destroyed life on this planet as he pleased…he violated that sacred covenant that binds all natural beings. He tried to dominate, not co-exist, with all life forms on all the few places on this Earth where he’s been able to set his feet. Till today that thought of co-existence seldom crosses his power-inebriated mind, and he continues to wreak havoc on ecosystems and destroy prehistoric equilibria, the world over. And the balance that nature was so carefully able to maintain for over millions of years, has now been tampered with. Nature, in her turn, will now come back with her full vengeful force and would restore that natural order. Maybe not tomorrow, but maybe in a decade or so, quite soon anyway.

Nature has seen and had enough of this

 

So what now? Is this it for us?

It’s going to be soon, even amongst the most enlightened and yet the most deluded species of all time, some folks do realise that (see here and here).  And it’s their responsibility that their kind gets this crucial message and acts on it, responsibly, as befitting for a creature with so much power, and not as a mindless idiot he behaves like today. Probably then sense would prevail, and perhaps we could still make it right, perhaps there’s still some time and hope left for the human race.

We’ve been too proud for too long, and it’s time we realise that it was all there before we came to this Earth, and in all likelihood, most of it would still be there long after we’re gone. The choice is right in front of us – do we choose to be grateful for all that there is and cherish it, or do we choose to destroy it and with it, eventually, self-destruct.

© Jayant Rana, 2014

Image credit: Foter.com / mandymama / CC BY-NC-ND; srgpicker / CC BY; Malinda Rathnayake / CC BY

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True Descendant of the Survivors

Humans are everywhere. There are over 7 billion of them on this planet we call our home. And that number is still growing. But the stories of the origins of our species are the stuff of legend and are intriguing and exciting.

Modern man has his roots in the place we know today as Africa. Evidence from archaeology, anthropology and genetics all points to the fact that it was this great continent where human life took its first steps around 200,000 years ago. And they stayed put in that magnificent cradle for a while…in fact for about a good 100,000 years. That’s an important number, and to put it in perspective, just consider that of all the time humanity has spent on this planet, almost half of it was spent exclusively in Africa! But then some folks did try to venture out. In fact, many tried…

Geographically, Africa is a vast continent with even vaster oceans surrounding it from all sides, some sides more than others. So even though many explorers would have made attempts to venture out and go on epic voyages, it’d have been really difficult, to the point of being all but impossible at that time. It’s only in the north that a few plausible routes can be identified, but those wouldn’t have been a cakewalk either, because of the blazing and brazen Sahara, and still plenty of sea to cross beyond that.

Researchers have now unearthed that the first and perhaps the only group among those early explorers that was finally able to manage to cross over their home continent did so from a very narrow region in north-east Africa into the deserts of Arabia. And all of that epic adventure was made possible due to certain rare and favourable environmental variations that existed during that time and only briefly so. And due to that lucky happenstance, a small group (estimates of a few hundred only) was finally able to venture outside their home.

Solid evidence through robust DNA analyses has proved beyond question that every single one of us humans, who isn’t an African, is a descendant of that small group of pioneers…and that is simply mind-boggling!

It takes a while for the full impact of that fact to sink in, but eventually you know that your ancestors (who evolved into somewhat varied races later on) actually descended from just a handful of audacious and courageous adventurers, who dared to go into the unknown, who challenged the status quo, and who really were the true survivors. And that’s inspirational, and enough to lift your spirits whenever you come to think of the fact that whatever challenges you’re facing these days or have faced in your entire lives (whether at work, or at home, or elsewhere), wouldn’t even come close to what your ancestors have faced and already conquered. They survived…and if you’re a true descendant of those survivors, then so can you.

© Jayant Rana, 2014

Image credit: Foter.com / Ryan Somma / CC BY-SA; midwestnerd / CC BY

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Religion and Science - Origins and Ends

Most of the natural systems, most of which concern humans anyway, are inherently chaotic. What that means, in the words of Edward Lorenz, is that although the present does determine the future, but the approximate present does not approximately determine the future. Simply put, this means that even minute variations in the initial conditions may yield incredibly diverging outcomes; this is also known as the butterfly effect. This presents an interesting problem for the human mind. It knows that the future can be predicted, given that the present (with all its zillions of variables) is perfectly known, but achieving perfect knowledge is an unending pursuit, mythical even.

Okay, I lost you at butterfly! What are we discussing here again?

Since the beginning of time, randomness has presented humans with great discomfort. Be it the sudden changes in weather, the migration of birds & animals, the seasonality of crops, sudden outbreak of disease, and many other such equally baffling natural phenomena, which have a direct bearing on our survival. And for the same length of time, humans have made consistent efforts to reduce that randomness by actively seeking to know more about their world and its inhabitants. This need to know is one of the most basic human needs. Humans seek knowledge to identify patterns in nature, to find conformity in apparent chaos. Conformity is comforting, knowledge of the future is comforting. Uncertainty is distressing, not knowing is uncomfortable. It has a psychological cost.

That sounds fair. So what about Religion and Science?

We’ve established that the need to know, the curiosity about not only our future, but also our past, is a basic human need. This need can only be satisfied by faith, i.e. by a belief in a body of ideas addressing those questions of past, present and future. That's why faith is such a powerful thing. It gives you assurance, a sense of comfort in this otherwise seemingly random world. Faith, therefore, is something that the human mind naturally strives for. The essence of every belief system is a pattern which predicts not only the future based on our present,  but also tells what was our past, which has led us to this present condition. Science and Religion, in that sense, have the same common origins. Both arise from that singular all pervasive need to know. Also, the ultimate objective of both is to attain knowledge of all that there is...that state of spiritual nirvana. The means of both may be different but the ends are quite the same.

You keep saying Religion and Science, but hasn't it always been Religion versus Science?

The human civilization of today has been shaped by countless battles of seemingly conflicting ideas. It all starts with a belief in anything that gives us some ability to predict the future. Take for instance, the belief in astrology. Astrology is so popular because we humans have always liked to think of ourselves connected with the universe. We like to believe that the universe, and more specifically the positions of stars and planets at the exact moment of our birth have an almost direct bearing on our lives. You only need to take a look around, be it newspapers, TV or the internet, to see how popular astrology is. Our belief in astrology in early times was so strong that anything untoward was blamed on an unfavorable position of a planet or a star, explaining the origins of the word disaster, derived from Greek dus- + astron, meaning "bad star". Thus, astrology is/was a great system, all based on careful observations, record-keeping and memorization on the part of astrologers, and it did seem to explain the past and predict the future, partly at least.

Observations alone led to the belief that the Earth is at the centre of the universe. And why not? The Earth was a stable, solid surface and apparently all other “heavenly” bodies seemed to revolve around it each day. It seemed only natural to assume that. This Ptolemy's model seemed to explain most of the natural phenomena and worked well for that time. Copernicus, at long last tried to change that view in light of his new set of observations, but people had grown comfortable with the Earth being at the centre of everything. It seemed quite convenient too. People had faith in it. Copernicus was called a heretic and was ostracised. It was only much later that his observations gained credence in light of new evidence from later scientists like Johannes Kepler. But Kepler too was initially looking to find God's great plan for himself and his world, which led him to an obsessive pursuit of geometric patterns and the motions of "heavenly" bodies. The difference was that he was using the scientific method and hypotheses testing and gathered immense amounts of his own observations and other previously recorded data. And even though a lot of his hypotheses would explain a natural phenomenon almost entirely, but at times failed to explain some exceptions. It would have been convenient for him to ignore those observations as irrelevant, but he did not. It took him a lot of heart to discard his original views and hypothesis in light of new observations. But he persisted. It would have been tremendously frustrating. To test again and again his ideas and theories would have taken not only patience, but also a lot of courage. That's the scientific method. That's just the way it is. At the heart of science is the acceptance of uncomfortable facts, a preference for hard truths over your dearest illusions.

It all begins with a burning desire to know. Science, the word itself is derived from Latin sciens, the present participle stem of scire (meaning “to know”). Following up that desire with a curious heart and a rational brain is the next most important ingredient. Science is at the intersection of observation AND theory. One completes the other. Neither can alone explain or predict countless natural phenomena that we humans attempt to understand. It is by rigorous pursuit of hard facts combined with imaginative thinking that leads to scientific discoveries and inventions. Serendipity too only happens to the ones who are looking for it, and are ready to take notes when it happens! Curiosity is one of the most basic of human qualities. That alone has led to the dominance of the human species on this planet.

New ideas, in most societies, have always been resisted (with the exception of perhaps during the Renaissance). Science is about keeping that desire to know even in the face of that resistance. If one has a closed mind then every new scientific discovery is always a choice between either an uncomfortable truth or a convenient lie. And blind, unquestioning faith doesn't allow for reevaluation of conventional wisdom, and in that sense is closed minded. That's one of the major reasons why Religion and Science always seem to be in conflict.

Religion on the other hand, and to be fair, is the most instinctive and perfect source of faith, which completely satisfies that human need to know. According to some estimates, there are approximately 4200 religions in the world. One of the common themes which run across most of the religions or belief systems is the legend of some individuals or a single individual who stumbled upon great truths in their inspiring quest for knowledge. As varied and difficult a task it may then seem to define the word religion, it is popularly defined as an organized collection of beliefs, cultural systems, and worldviews that relate humanity to an order of existence. Essentially, religions are great collections of ancient human wisdom which prescribe adherence to a particular set of beliefs and practices, the rationales for which are embedded deep into the immutable laws of that religion.

There are so many questions we humans relentlessly seek answers to. We wish to know about not only the future, but also the past. We want to know where we came from, how did we come to inhabit this planet, how did such an incredible diversity of plants and animals arise, and how did we happen to be the dominant species among them all. Moreover, we want to know what we are going through in the present too, what impact are we having on the world around us and vice versa. How are we one with the universe? We always have wanted to be aware of our cosmic connection. Both Science and Religion do a great job of telling their believers consistent and coherent stories that answer all of those existential questions of their minds, and give them psychological comfort and peace.

Finally, when we've made our peace with our past and our future, we think about the present. There too Religion and Science lay out a clear step-by-step protocol as to what we need to do to lead healthy, happy and satisfied lives. Also, they lay out the knowledge of what consequences we might have to face if we deviate from the scientific or the divine path. Again the ends are the same, the means maybe not so much. 

The Best of Both Worlds

The passion to explore is at the heart of being human. You have to understand that our passion for learning is really a tool for our very survival. Science and Religion both aim to fulfil that same pristine need to know. The scientific method as well as the multiple religions of this world provide a structured belief system, which forms the foundation for faith in that system. If you take away a man's faith, what do you have left except for randomness? That’s a notion which is psychologically distressing and discomforting. Therefore, a mutual respect for all the belief systems and all the religions is really the true form of respect for that primitive and basic human need to know.

The scientific method has come into being relatively recently, while Religion has been around for millennia. As a result Science is still very young on that timescale and although science is a fast learner and inherently a self-correcting process, there are perhaps some things that both Science and Religion can learn from each other. Obviously, that would need an open mind and a desire to know. And I guess we don't need to worry too much about the latter.

Exploration is in our nature. In the words of the great astronomer Carl Sagan, “We began as wanderers and we are wanderers still. We make our world significant only by the courage of our questions and the depths of our answers.”

Do share with us your thoughts on Religion and Science here in comments.

© Jayant Rana, 2013

Image credit: Foter.com / h.koppdelaney /  CC BY-ND; kennymatic / CC BY; jessleecuizon / CC BY; Remko van Dokkum / CC BY; Mr. T in DC / CC BY-ND; write_adam / CC BY-NC; Eddi van W. / CC BY-SA; The Flying Trilobite / CC BY-NC-ND

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You Are Here – How to Never Lose Your Way in a New City

"Like all great travellers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen." I wish it was my original quote, but Benjamin Disraeli wouldn't let me have that honour; still I completely agree with his words. Okay, so first of all I know the post is titled “how to never lose your way in a new city”, but that's kind of inevitable, even impossible. I mean you could lose your way in your own sweet city. So in that sense this post essentially tries to share some tips with you on how to minimise the probability of getting/ feeling lost in a new city and have a great experience while you're at it! Does that sound fair to you? Okay then, let's start sticking pins on a map and threading our way through the city of your choosing.

Know thy city

Every city in this world follows a pattern, from the most planned to the most chaotic, every city in this world still follows a pattern – be it its layout, its architecture, its public transportation, its health services, its culture and customs, including even the general attitude of its people. And city exploration, in that sense, is a glorified pattern recognition exercise. You might need to pay a little more attention sometimes, but you’ll find it eventually. If not, then keep looking, the time you invest in recognising these patterns, would save you a lot of time later during the remainder of your stay there.

Make no mistake, cities are living entities, with memories, personalities and everything, and hence you can glean a lot of insights by finding about their past. Check out the history of the city, and the more you begin to do so, the more sense everything starts to make.

It’s great to be spirited like Marco Polo and Christopher Columbus, but you don't have to be as adventurous to just go out there and make your own maps on the go. Today you have far more advanced navigation technology available in the palm of your hand than the greatest of explorers in the past. So use it. Download maps, apps, reviews and use GPS to find your way to your destination.

If you like tangible maps, then by all means do get a paper map, and then get another one, and then another – yeah from three different sources. Never rely entirely on a single one, especially if it’s a sponsored tourist map. There's only so much space on a map, so the sponsored one would only contain key things of interest from the point of view of the sponsor/publisher and their partners. And it would almost never be comprehensive (and it’s not supposed to), but what would happen is that you’d miss out on critical pieces of information if you rely only on a single map. The true map (if at all there is such a thing) is the mean of all these three maps that you have (obviously with an associated confidence interval).

But if you're more the believer in 'the journey' than ‘the destination’, and I think all of us should be like that every once in a while (depending on the time you have), then don't fuss too much about the tech or the maps, you'll get there eventually like many others have before you.  Just enjoy the ride.

Know thy neighbour

There's a reason why testimonials are such a powerful tool in marketing, because we're programmed to believe more in what “real people” say than what's written on a website. So an endorsement by a third person helps in alleviating our scepticism, and provides us with trust and comfort. It's just an instinct.

So, don’t always take the tourism and other marketing literature on “must-see” and “must-do” things as word of the gospel. Read the reviews of real travellers from reliable unbiased sources, or better still from the people you know who’ve already been there, to get some practical and “real-world” information.

Most important...know thyself

As with almost everything in life, planning your travel starts with your objective for the trip. Depending on what you want to achieve, your itinerary might change dramatically. Many things in many cities are seasonal, so check out if it’s a good time of the year for the activity of your choosing and plan ahead for it (although off-season has its own benefits). For example if you’re the cultural explorer type like me, and want to see the city’s popular concerts and museums, then check out when does the cultural season start in the city, or if that museum you want to visit isn’t shut down for renovation.

Also dependent on that season are the prices and availability of tickets and accommodation, among others. Knowing about the seasonality can save you a considerable amount of money, and more importantly make sure that you get timely reservations for things you actually desire to see/ do. Some days you might need to pay a fortune, while on select few you might actually be lucky enough to be treated to a free performance. Well, I guess that’s definitely something worth planning for!

Know thy locals

Never go with the idea that the local language would be same as/ similar to your mother tongue or even English for that matter. Have a plan in place to deal with the local language at your destination; learn some common greetings and phrases essential for survival. Some locals appreciate the fact that you respect them enough to have at least tried to learn their language, and in turn they might be more forthcoming in helping you out in whatever ways they can. I can’t stress enough that it might work with most people but sometimes you might just get unlucky and encounter a grumpy one, who'll spoil your first impression of the city forever!

The best way to get information out from the locals is by, well you know, talking to them. More often than not, they’d be quite willing to talk to you, especially after they’ve had a business transaction with you – like that waiter at the restaurant, or that cab driver, and obviously the hotel concierge.

Two's better than one. Although I have no reservations in travelling solo, but if you have company, at times it can help you in getting some leverage in terms of bargaining with the locals (you can even try the ‘good-cop bad-cop’ tactic in negotiating deals in your favour!) as well as being better from a security point of view.

Know thy plans and thine contingencies

Choose a base camp! Preferable would be in the heart of the city, or more importantly near a major transport hub from where you can get direct connections to everywhere in the city. That makes getting around easier, and you don’t waste precious time in commuting. 

Secure your belongings. Once that’s done, you’d feel more comfortable and can focus on your exploration rather than wondering who might be rummaging through your luggage, while you’re out there taking selfies with unabashed confidence.

Bear in mind that your luggage might get misplaced on arrival (yeah, the one in which you packed your favourite polka-dot garments and jumpsuits!), and you might not have access to it for about the next 24 hours. Plan for that contingency.

Also, don’t just sit in the base camp and keep planning, get onto the city transport – tram, metro, bus, etc. This way you can see around while you plan, and more importantly you can also get quick and valuable tips from the locals while on your way, which you may not find that easy on the internet!

Buy a single ticket/ city pass to save some costs and the inconvenience of standing in queues, but absolutely make sure that the places you want to explore are covered by that.

Do not lose data – be it your photos (yep those same selfies taken with unabashed confidence), your maps with all those detailed annotations, or any other critical information and documents. Plan for backup...always. It’s easier than you think.

Food is something you’re going to have probably not more than three times a day, so there are only so many places you can explore, and assuming your hotel charges already include breakfast, that leaves you with only two opportunities. Don’t rely entirely on the locals for recommendations. Do check out sites like TripAdvisor, Yelp, Zomato, etc. for a taste of local flavour. You can find reviews, prices, menus, even ideas on what to order with what accompaniments! Again don’t overdo it, relax, talk to restaurant folks, don’t be afraid of trying the chef’s speciality (there’s a reason they call it that) and let them impress you by creating some magic of their own.

If you’re on a budget, don’t let that discourage you from going out and exploring, as there are ALWAYS (in caps) plenty of things to see/ do in a city that would cost you zilch but can give you that top-class local experience of the city, without any significant compromise.

Not all those who wander are lost

Travel is the best way to explore, discover and experience realms unknown, through which many a time we discover self. Finding your way in a new city isn’t that much of a science, as it is common sense. Planning in advance, using all the resources at your disposal, is a great way to make sure your upcoming trip would be an amazing, and even life-changing experience. But don’t overdo it, otherwise what’s the fun in exploration. Leave a little to imagination as well; it’s an amusing little thing!

Did you find some of these tips useful? I'm sure you have plenty of travel experiences of your own, both great and not-so-great. Please do share them with all of us fellow travellers in comments below.

© Jayant Rana, 2013

Image credit: Foter.com / practicalowl / CC BY-NC; TaylorMiles / CC BY-NC-SA; Kalexanderson / CC BY-NC-SA; Don Sullivan / CC BY-NC-ND; JD Hancock / CC BY; ShironekoEuro / CC BY-ND

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Dude, where’s my Patent?

You think the title’s a little cheesy, eh? Well tell it to the guy whose patent just got infringed; he doesn’t agree with you. Or for that matter neither do any of those other innovators and artists, who don’t feel motivated enough to do great work, because what good is it anyway if others steal it, or pass it off as their own! Yes we’re going to talk about intellectual property rights (IPRs) in this post, and how they are driving the growth of our society. People can choose to ignore them if they please, but it's a choice we make as a society, and its implications are far and wide.

TL;DR version: IPRs are good for the society as they incentivize creativity and innovation. Protecting them by way of legal frameworks is hence critical for the growth of our civilization. 

Ok, calm down…intellectual what?

Assuming that’s an honest question let me tell you what we’re dealing with here and set

some context. Ideas have shaped the human civilization over the ages. Had it not been for innovative ideas, the human society would have been much different and inchoate than we know it today. But, as with everything else, humans need incentives to ideate and innovate. This primitive need gave birth to the concept of Intellectual Property Rights (copyrights, trademarks, patents, industrial designs, trade secrets, geographical indications, etc.), which grant the authors, inventors and innovators ownership rights to the creations of their intellect whereby they can choose to share those freely or to control their use in certain ways.

What good are these IPRs for?

Let’s take it from the top, shall we? The omnipresence of Intellectual Property can’t be underrated. We see IP almost everywhere – books, records, films, computers, cars, drugs, varieties of plants, the designs that help us identify one product from another, and even places of origin of products, like Champagne in France. So, the benefits of IPRs are manifold. They provide an incentive to create, which motivates people to invest time and resources to foster innovation and enhance knowledge. This leads to various ground-breaking inventions and creative masterpieces which we see around us. They also help in encouraging a competitive marketplace by way of promoting disclosure of innovation through grant of full economic and moral rights to the innovator for a limited period of time. This disclosure is of great essence as it allows other members of the society to learn from that idea to further improve and build upon it to broaden the knowledge horizon of our civilization, while also helping to prevent repetitive work or reinventing that proverbial wheel. Hence for the effective and efficient functioning of a market, IPRs are vital. In other creative areas like literature and audio-visual arts, IPRs are incentive for creation of a rich and diverse cultural wealth for a society. This also translates into the enrichment of public knowledge and culture.

So what’s the deal with IPR infringement?

The theft of IPR protection by way of infringement and piracy of cultural works can be

potentially disastrous from the point of view of the society. The threat has only increased with technological advancements and the emergence of internet in today’s super-modern and inter-connected society. Because of this, around the world many new works of art never actually emerge because there exists simply no incentive for the artists to take any risk. Reports of movie industries worldwide suffering losses worth millions of dollars every year because of piracy are not new, nor have been reports of artists raising demands for better anti-piracy legislations from the governments. Also, the issue of counterfeiting is very serious from the health and safety point of view of the society. Most international organizations like the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the World Trade Organization (WTO), and UNESCO recognize these threats and hence work sincerely for providing a legal framework for IPR protection through cooperation among various countries.

So what you’re saying is…

IPRs drive the growth of our society by incentivizing creativity and innovation. Infringement of IPRs is a serious matter and a global legal framework is critical for their protection. It’s hard to imagine that the human society today can achieve its long-term objectives of social, cultural and economic development without recognizing sufficiently the importance of IPRs.

© Jayant Rana, 2013

Images courtesy: Foter / JD Hancock / CC BY ; Jian Awe / CC BY; FreeDigitalPhotos.net / Stuart Miles; nongpimmy

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How to use Hashtags like a Marketing Ninja

Everybody uses hashtags these days, some more than others, and for all sorts of reasons. But the humble looking pound (#) sign can be a powerful tool in the hands of a marketing ninja. It’s not so much about the symbol itself, but the way it’s used in marketing communication which decides how much impact it can and will wield with your target audience.

Wait, I thought “#LoL #my #cat’s #so #cute” is all that there is to Hashtags!

Well, not really. Like the symbol itself, the hashtag had humble beginnings in the year 2007, and has come a long way since.

how do you feel about using # (pound) for groups. As in #barcamp [msg]?
— Chris Messina™ (@chrismessina) August 23, 2007

The First Ever Hashtag Posted on Twitter

Its innate superpower to be so simple and yet to connect people in a way that was never possible before, led to its explosion on Twitterverse, and Twitter decided in Jul 2009 to allow its usage for categorizing Tweets and for searching them easily. Mass popularity followed (what with it being named the word of the year and babies being named Hashtag - because of its aforementioned superpower) and drove the hashtag to god-level on almost all popular social networks, with the most recent (and perhaps most debated) introduction on Facebook. Hashtags in essence, give context to content, and a great context+content combo is arguably the most effective tool in the hands of a seasoned marketer.

Er...so apart from “#LoL #my #cat’s #so #cute” what else can you use hashtags for?

Great marketers can think of almost any number of creative ways in which they wish to unleash the power of context+content. Here’s a small list of ways in which hashtags can be used in marketing:

• creating and maintaining a unified and consistent brand messaging across multiple social platforms
• driving engagement and participation across multiple networks by changing the way people discover content
• identifying in real-time what your audience is saying about your brand and engaging with them in live conversations
• increasing the reach for your brand outside of your established network, without even having to pay for sponsored content
• and very important, giving context to visual content, which needs it more as opposed to text which is easy to search, on platforms like Instagram and Pinterest to enable users to find your content more easily

Owing to these great applications, hashtags, for most of the top brands, have already become an essential part of their social media repertoire and the trend is only going north from here.

Sooper! So how do I use these hashtags? Is this fine - “#LoL #my #cat’s #so #cute”?

NO. With great #power comes great #responsibility, so never overuse the hashtags. It looks like spam and desperate marketing, and is a sure-fire way to rapidly lose your fans & followers.

Aspiring marketing ninjas should consider the below things when using hashtags:

That guy just wrote funny in 20 different ways!! He can do it, but strict no-no for marketers.

• nothing works better than coming up with an original hashtag that’s relevant as well as unique to your brand 
• the choice of hashtag is also important because it’s not only meant for your network, but also for others outside of it who’ll discover your content using that hashtag - don’t be too generic, or too obscure
• before implementing one, validate your hashtag - does it already exist, what other kind of content shows up with it, does it confuse/ turn-off your audience and waste their time?
• less is more, try not to use more than two hashtags per post - rotate them, space ‘em out in subsequent ones, but don’t overuse...ever.
• keep your hashtag simple and consistent across platforms

Hashtags are powerful tools that can lead to exponential increase in reach and generate massive impact for a brand. The key is to understand how they work and creating a unified social media strategy to be implemented across all the various platforms that allow the use of that humble-yet-powerful symbol.

© Jayant Rana, 2013

Images courtesy: misspixels / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND

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Global Convergence of Consumer Tastes – Fact or Fiction?

There's a secret dream that every international marketer's heart harbours, whether it remains a distant dream for long or not is the question. The underlying thread that weaves through all the hype surrounding catchphrases like ‘glocalisation' is but the convergence of consumer preferences globally. And that's sort of the holy grail of international marketing!

TL;DR version : Global convergence of consumer preferences is a reality we're witnessing each day. This has profound implications for international marketers. Concerted strategic marketing efforts can shape & drive this convergence.

Holy Grail, eh? Just break it down for me, would you?

The ‘Global Village' is no more a myth thanks to the rise of global capitalism, falling of barriers to international trade, increasing interconnectedness and a cross-fertilisation of ideas, which has been further fuelled by the convergence of media, income and technology. Today, we see a certain degree of homogenisation in the global consumption patterns as national borders and traditional cultural boundaries blur rapidly, leading to the identification of global segments. Yet, the idea itself isn't novel; Theodore Levitt in his landmark 1983 article had argued that this homogenisation of needs and wants was inevitable as the rational consumer would invariably prefer standardised products of high quality and low price. So when we see McDonald's prospering around the globe, western fashions becoming common in many eastern countries and cross border music channels like MTV becoming a rage everywhere, it's of little surprise to the international marketer. The evidence is for everyone to see mainly in the form of various marketing messages of omnipresent brand identities predominantly in the FMCG and technology sector. People around the globe are developing preferences for the same products, wearing the same type of clothing, watching the same TV programs, and playing the same digital games on their computers! And these consumer behaviour trends are being reinforced all the more by the print media, radio, TV and to an increasingly great extent, the Internet.

Then why do we still see so many differences across markets?

All said and done, the convergence isn't perfect and its foundations are regularly questioned in view of the substantial variance in consumer behaviour across nations. But with differences of per capita GNP progressively disappearing, culture has become a powerful variable to explain this trend, and which the Hofstede studies also corroborate. National culture, which is broadly the values, beliefs, norms and behavioural patterns of a national group, is subject to global culture's continual influence, which in turn is instrumental in reshaping an individual's personal culture. Even as these global cultural values get transmitted to the individual, he retains a set of core common values, which helps explain this partial heterogeneity in consumer behaviour. Still, the consumer tastes appear to be driven less and less by long-standing local and regional traditions, and more by perceived desirability of global brands. Simultaneously, there seems to be shift in values as well towards standardisation.

Sounds pretty cool, but is this thing for real?

Commodities of culture-association, like alcoholic beverages, etc. are harbingers of the degree of cultural convergence. Research shows an increasing health consciousness of the consumers as they switch to beverages containing less alcohol, also a switch from the local traditional drinks to beverages that are seen as more fashionable as well as healthful has been observed. Apart from such commodities, digital convergence too is being largely guided by consumer preference. Consumers globally have shown a preference for mobile telecommunication handset size similar to that of the current PDA or mobile while adopting a considerably larger display, thereby directing R&D to increasing the pixels per inch, while still maintaining the portability. But obviously, given some degree of heterogeneity in this trend, partial, rather than perfect, convergence is expected. But the good news is that research also shows that concerted strategic marketing efforts can affect consumer perceptions and actually alter consumer choices. This means that to be effective, the various marketing activities like standardising the product, identical brand names, uniform packaging, synchronised product introductions, similar advertising messages across markets in various countries, have to be integrated and coordinated well. Advertising should seek to portray products in idealised and desirable context, because globally consumers buy the products that they believe express their identities.

Alright, so what's the lesson for the international marketer?

The global marketer should take heart from this fact that cultural traditions aren't impenetrable, and that consumer choices can be affected by intelligent strategic marketing, which is an interactive and evolutionary process. Tempting, though it may be to read the consumer psyche every day and regularly adjust your marketing model to it in consonance with local traditions, it is not sustainable in the long run from an international marketing perspective. The key is to identify homogenous global segments so that if at all any customisation is required, it is minimal. Standardised marketing strategies and products are actually the future drivers of cultural change and consumer convergence.

© Jayant Rana, 2013

Images courtesy: Foter / sebr / CC BY-NC-SA; heiwa4126 / CC BY; Express Monorail / CC BY-NC-ND; kateboydell / CC BY-NC

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The Social Web & Graded Influence - Why You Should Care

The Web, as we knew it a few years back is no more. Broadcast is now an outcast. It’s social now, and the transformation from seeing the Web as a megaphone to as a telephone is all but complete. Also, as the conversation shifts online, we are witnessing another remarkable shift – that of influence. And the implications of that are nothing short of profound.

Is social a radical new concept?

Not really. I mean if you come to think of it, this transformation of the Web is quite intuitive and follows naturally from the fact that humans by nature are social. And from that perspective it becomes easy to understand the rapid evolution of multiple platform technologies that have enabled the present day Web to be more natural and easy-to-use than the machine-inspired, static code of the older times. As a result, people of all ages from all the various strata of society have been able to find a channel for making their presence felt online and are sharing their ideas freely, frequently, and globally. We exist today in what is being called as the 'knowledge economy'.

So how does this impact me?

Well, it all comes down to differentiation. Think of it this way, why do you need to get into a great school? Why do you need awesome CV points? To differentiate yourself from your competition...to stand out. This goes as much for individuals as for consumer products. When everyone you know is online, the game is not anymore about visibility – the real thing is credibility. And credibility is what builds influence, and influence drives action. Therefore, whether you’re looking for a new career, or connecting with other like-minded people, or growing in your current profession, or even promoting and selling your product, building influence for your personal or business brand is key. 

Got it, but how do I know how influential I am...by the number of my connections?

As you might have guessed, your online influence is only partially determined by the number of your connections. What’s key really is how your connections engage with you, which translates into the strength of your network. Measuring influence is still an evolving area, but there are multiple metrics out there that are attempting to build standards for online influence. Needless to say, it’s not an exact science and depending on who you ask, there are strong opinions on both why they are inaccurate and only activity-based, as well as why they are doing quite a great job at analysing influence. 

Let me briefly introduce you to some of the most popular measures of online influence these days:

• KLOUT

The Klout Score is a number between 1-100, which essentially represents your influence. Klout claims to arrive at this composite score by measuring data/signals from multiple social networks as well as “real world data” from say LinkedIn, Bing, Wikipedia, etc. Broadly determined by a ratio of the engagement you generate with your social network compared to the amount of content that you share, the Klout score remains arguably the most popular of all influence metrics out there right now.

• KRED

The Kred Score, in addition to influence, measures something known as “Outreach”, which reflects on how you interact with others and help them spread their message online. Influence is measured on a 1000 point scale, whereas Outreach is measured on an infinite scale, as generosity is assumed to be infinite! Kred also claims to be more transparent than others, as it tells you exactly how your score has been calculated and what actions have impacted it, though critics argue that its transparency in turn makes it quite vulnerable to manipulation.

• PeerIndex

Although having an approach similar to Klout and Kred for measuring influence, PeerIndex relates more to the type of content you generate and the people who consume and interact with it. Aiming to identify your authority on a particular topic, the PeerIndex helps you understand the kind of people you influence online and to what extent.

And your point is?

The world has gone online and the social web is a reality, which has redefined the entire scope and scale of conversations among people. To drive action in this super-connected and super-social world, one needs to grow in influence, which too is gradually shifting online. Influence is impacted by various factors and the most important amongst them are credibility, expertise and the ability to convince others. Many new start-ups are intently focused on grading this influence and have developed multiple tools for the purpose. Even though there remain many limitations of these novel methods, depending on the context these new metrics provide quite useful information about one’s ability to drive action or one's social capital, and that has profound implications from a business perspective. The accuracy of these tools is only going to improve further, and true influencers would play a very important role in the new knowledge economy.

What do you think of these new approaches to quantify influence? Share with us in the comments.

© Jayant Rana, 2013

Images courtesy: photoraidz / KROMKRATHOG / FreeDigitalPhotos.net; Salty Waffle; Thomas Hawk / Foter / CC BY-NC

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Sachin Tendulkar: the man, the Indian, the legend…

Few and far in between are men in a nation’s history, who change its course with the impact they have on the consciousness of its people, and who leave behind an unparalleled legacy. One such man is Sachin Tendulkar. Heroes rarely exist in real life, but here’s a man who came so close to being one in the true sense that most of his fans almost deify him as a god, and believe me, in a country of multiple faiths and multiple gods, where people take their religion quite seriously, that really is a big deal! Both adulation and criticism rarely got to this man, and all the overwhelming number of records that he not just broke, but completely obliterated leave you with so much to talk and yet all you can think of is his humility, courage, determination and patriotism. Volumes upon volumes have been written about his cricketing abilities, and the batting wizard that he is, so in that sense this post doesn't dwell upon those topics. What this post does explore instead is the legend of Sachin Tendulkar through the eyes of a true fan, which gives us a perspective into what he was doing to the heart and minds of a billion plus people, and which is really the essence of what he represented. 

 

Few people I know, who have followed Sachin as closely as my dear friend Karan Rampal. He is also one of the more balanced and objective people I know, so an ideal person to interview on this topic. Sachin for him is the reason why he even started following cricket in the first place, and he’s a self-confessed true fan. Surprisingly, Karan’s earliest memory of Sachin isn't one of his dominating and aggressive batting, but actually one of his most amazing bowling spells ever. He’s reminded of the night of 24 November 1993, the semi-final of Hero Cup at the Eden Gardens, where India were playing South Africa, with Brian McMillan on strike and SA needing only 6 runs to win from the final over. That’s when the then captain Md. Azharuddin, to the entire nation’s perplexity, played an incredible gambit by turning to Sachin to bowl the last over. The rest is history, and India obviously won the match because of that dexterous over from Sachin, and eventually lifted the cup in the final, but that incident was just one of the many that displayed the determination and hunger Sachin had to always be in the thick of the battle. Then of course Karan can recount those innings in Sharjah against Pakistan which displayed Sachin's extraordinary might with the bat, by which time he was following his every match.

But his domination of bowling attacks the world over wasn't really why people swore by his name, Karan tells us there was a lot more to it. More than anything it was the consistency with which he performed for India, and the way he conducted himself both on and off the field with immaculate humility and politeness, being a true gentleman and a great ambassador for the sport. Besides, if there’s one single thing that binds India together, in spite of its awe-inspiring diversity, it most certainly is cricket. You can get an idea of how serious the Indians are about the game by the fact that even during the 90s, when in most towns and cities of India DoorDarshan (DD) was the only channel available, and even though DD wouldn't have the television rights for most tournaments, if there was a match India was playing, it had to be broadcasted on DD. And Sachin was at the pinnacle of the sport, giving hope to a billion Indians that one of their own can get out there and be the best in business. That hope, that silent promise, that inspiration meant the world to an eager yet shy, courageous yet sceptic India, only just opening up to the outside world. That’s why Sachin had that unique charm about him that transcended generations and made almost every Indian to turn on their TVs whenever he came out to bat, and to turn them off as soon as he got out (without even bothering about the outcome of the match), and in a sense uniting the incredible diversity of this country with a single thread, for so long. People just wanted him to go on and on without ever retiring, ‘cause somewhere deep inside their hearts they didn't want that inspired and excited child within them, which had followed Sachin through his entire career, to retire. There certainly was some wizardry to what he was doing with that piece of willow.

Over the years, Sachin captured the nation’s imagination in ways that few others had done before him, and in the eyes of his fans he became much more than titles like master-blaster, etc. and rose to a different level altogether where they started deifying him. Karan believes that it is justified to a great extent. One of the fundamental qualities in the idea of any god is to provide the followers with a source of faith, and Sachin performed at the highest level of professional cricket for so long and so consistently that it is only natural that his followers put that level of rock-solid trust in him. It most certainly is no mean feat to perform on a top-class level for 24 years in an era when so many matches are being played in a year (not like the old times when only a few tests and ODIs were played each year), and in that process shatter every batting record worthy of mention, and it’s something Karan believes which only Sachin himself could do. Moreover, the thing that made him ever so endearing and special to his fans is that he never considered himself above the game, respected the weight of the billion plus expectations, which he bore on his shoulders every time he came out to bat, and had unmatched love and dedication for the game. Maybe in those moments of intense hard work and determination, he did become much more than just a man, maybe even for some fleeting moments he did become a god.

But beneath that steely exterior, Sachin had his human side as well. Karan tells us that the problem with being Sachin Tendulkar is that once you start performing and achieving great things so consistently, your critics take that for granted, and only look for that Achilles’ heel. Like any other person, Sachin has had his fair share of criticism too. The only difference was that he handled it all with sheer grace and composure. Karan reminisces some of the many instances where Sachin dedicated himself completely to the team and hence the nation – like the time during the 1999 World Cup, when his father passed away and he took just a match off for the funeral and was back for the next to perform for his country. The kind of super-human strength of character that would have taken is incredible. Sachin himself understood his limitations and to what extent he could push them, and he always focused on being a good cricketer keeping the team’s interest always in mind.

ODIs featuring Sachin Tendulkar were a definitive force that shaped the Indian psyche all through the 90s and the better part of the first decade of the 2000s. Now that he’s taken retirement from the shorter format of the game, and in near future might retire from the tests as well, Karan feels every cricket fan regardless of their nationality would miss the legend on field. But he’s also excited about Sachin’s love for the game and believes that he won’t be able to stay away from the game for long, and that he will continue to contribute in some way or the other to cricket in general and society in particular.

Update:

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar retired from all forms of cricket on 16 November 2013 after playing his 200th test match, returning to his home ground - the Wankhede, Mumbai. He consummated his career after playing in 664 international matches scoring a supermassive 34,357 runs, including an earth-shattering 100 centuries.

But beyond these colossal statistics, he's remembered much more fondly as a great Indian, and here's how he dedicated all his achievements in his retirement speech:

To honour Sachin's contributions to Indian cricket in particular and India in general, the Indian government conferred upon him the Bharat Ratna, the country's highest civilian award, and making him the first sportsperson to be bestowed with the honour.

Do share with us your thoughts on Sachin, and what impact has he had on your life.

© Jayant Rana, 2013

Photo credit: B. Sandman /CC BY; Vikas /CC BY; vijay_chennupati /CC BY; Birsha /CC BY-NC-SA; Guppydas / Foter.com /CC BY

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