Lets face it, Instagram is here and it’s here to stay. Facebook acquisition, adopting Android platform after rocking iOS and the very fact that social networking is about “photos” more than status updates. People like to tell stories/share photos more than anything and we have all been there. Initially pretending not to care about Instagram and then jumping on the bandwagon.

I do not credit myself of coming up with this idea. Photowalks have been around for long, spearheaded by several Flickr groups and bloggers. But it’s always had an entry barrier – the DSLR Cameras. So I wanna put a spin on it, combine the networking zest of Tweetups, collective sourcing power of bloggers, brands which are interested to connect with this group of smartphone trotting people and make it a fun meet up for all! Maybe even have a space to show the Top-10 photos from every such meet.

The Agenda is simple: Decide a venue to meet, Map out the path & start clicking. All Instagram Photos must be shared with #TheInstaWalk hashtag, this makes it easy to track the content & conversations. Maybe we can even have an Annual TheInstaWalk Day… Dates?

We will start with Pune & then see how this community can spread its wings nationwide or even internationally. Let me know if you have a suggestion or comment, just post it or tweet to me at @MrShri and follow @TheInstaWalk.

Cheers!

TheInstaWalk.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the brands mentioned in this post.

So we’re finally in 2012, the year where everyone is almost convinced or is trying to be that the World will end. At least in the movie it did and no matter what happens, we know life goes on. But this isn’t what I intend to write as my first post of this year. In fact I wish to begin this year pledging some changes & requesting some habits to be dropped by our Social Media enthusiasts / gurus / experts. Starting right now.

So we can make this year better by…

1. Stop making negative comments about everything humane out here. Social Networks are for people to help each other in any way possible, your negativity only adds a blot in it. So either lead from within or move aside.
2. Sharing the same content on every social network. I cannot believe how many of us do this each & every day. We push that every single tweet to our Facebook wall, that wall post to twitter, picasa albums, youtube videos and possibly the most hated of them all – foursquare checkins! Your friends/followers do not need to know everything you’re up to or sharing. Choose wisely, Share responsibly.
3. Every week there’s a new tool or service out there. Now it’s easy for the early adopters to get all excited & sign up for Beta, even invite friends & start sharing (possibly the same data) here as well. But the phase only lasts as long and we abandon these “would’ve been big” services quickly. Take some time out, delete your profiles & if possible, tell your friends & followers too. (I’m personally guilty of this & still have to delete by EAv profile).
4. Fake Checkins – One thing which is probably the saddest. Ever since the advent of checkins, people have been hopping places where they would possibly never go. Maybe its for the Mayorship madness or simply bragging about badges. Fake checkins are downright disgusting. And this has to stop, along with duplicate venues and stuff like that.
5. Facebook Tagging, especially in photos which are not even of people or quotes etc. This has to go away.
6. Twitter Following & Un-Following just to get your follower count high, this is a bat-hat technique which most Social Media Experts use. It does more damage than good. Why not just take a little effort to introduce yourself & grow your follower base organically? Second to this would be Mass-Unfollowing.
7. Anything else, you can think off? Just add that in the comments.

Lets focus on making this Year better for everyone & it will be great for you too!

Intro: Zomato is all about Food & Lifestyle in India and where you can “find” it. So far I have been using Zomato to plan which restaurant or bar to hit with my friends either during the long week or on weekends. It helps me understand a few things in details to leave the surprises out. Also they have a better listing about restos in Pune than any other website, as per my taste. Recently Zomato launched an Android, Blackberry & iPhone App, which has made things even easier.

First, 3 things I like about Zomato:

1. The ability to “Explore” Restaurants by locality in Pune is my favorite feature. The reason being that we might be aware of most restaurants within a location, but its always possible to miss the ones which are not much talked about by our friends or something we did not notice. I have found several good restaurants in and around my location thanks to this awesome feature.

2. Recently introduced “Events” Feature is one of the most up-to-date I have seen for any websites. Since I love checking out whats happening around a particular date, this comes in very handy. Other websites fail, as their event listings seem very biased towards particular venues. This is another plus for Zomato and a must-check-out feature.

3. The Restaurant pages are my another favorite with this site. Especially the details such as Menu, Reviews, Map (with Directions) and Typical Price for two. The last feature can give you an approximate idea of how much you would end up spending in a group or when on a date. Works for people of all ages. Reviews can be extensive & also show if it was Helpful or Not.

Now, 3 things I would like to Change/See on Zomato:

1. The ability to Recommend a Restaurant to a friend via Twitter, Facebook or Email. This is important as sometimes I am just thinking about ideas for a dinner plan or brunches, I can then share the same instantly once I’ve discovered something on Zomato. Also, if I could simply add the Venue to a “Must-Do” on my Foursquare account. This way, I could plan ahead.

2. I was slightly unhappy with certain restaurant reviews cause they were either too extensive for my taste or did not help me at all. Also at the same time, certain reviews on the same restaurant were very helpful. I would like to see the most “Popular” Reviews on Top, the ones which did not help can be pushed down. Like a Voting system where registered users of this website can decide what would be better for others & at the same time save a lot of time for folks like me.

3. I think Zomato should introduce the “Check-in” button for all to use. Location Based Social-Networking is now completely in and a part of our daily life-style. If I am at a restaurant, cafe or bar.. I like to share that with my foursquare, twitter & facebook friends depending on the mood. This would help Zomato in two ways, it could track “actual” users who go to a certain restaurant after checking the reviews or searching for them and two, also help restaurants know how their presence is being gauged by the reviews, events etc.

To add to #3, I think even a feature such as being able to share that “I am going to be at XYZ Grill for Dinner” on Twitter via Zomato would be AWESOME! All these can be tracked easily & turned into opportunities for clients & users benefits.

Now, here are some additional changes I would like to see. Please use with your own discreation

A. Integrate Foursquare Location Tab to show Mayors, Tips & even plug User Photos from the API, which are relevant too. (Google+ can be kept as as option once the full API access is available).

B. Option to Tweet to a restaurant or get on their Facebook page via Zomato listing.

C. Events – Export to Google Calendar / Outlook + Add who is going (RSVP) will add to the experience. I can only see events, I need to save them to my smart phone too.

D. Suggested feature: Tweet to Reserve a Table. Simple tweet name of the resto+city+number of people to @ZomatoBook & say Twitter Handle at the restaurant to claim. Alternatively Zomato can even create a Hashtag #ZomatoBook to auto track tweets using simple tools such as TweetDeck. This will lead to good realtime engagement & increase in the number of followers. / Suggest testing this feature starting One City at a Time?

E. City Pages – Showing popular restaurants by your Index, Reviews & Photos would be awesome.

F. Give a Restaurant Page Widget, not a finder widget. Restaurants can use this on their website or blogs.

Thanks! Do try out Zomato if you’re a regular foodie or just planning something for the weekend. It’s a great site & I trust it will only get better.

So I woke up this morning to yet another Facebook Design overhaul.. yes, they simply shifted some things around, changed the wall display styles, gave me top-stories & current updates in one single flow and even better – Now tells me what my friends have been upto. (So stalkerish)

Twitter is abuzz with the sarcastic humor, Mark Zuckerberg trending thanks to the split between the people who hate/dislike the new design changes and the Social Media marketing gurus.  In reality, we do not really know what is happening. And this is the truth, we do not control facebook, twitter or any other free social network for that matter. Our opinion (mostly) does not count. These guys need to make money, and the only way they can do it is by making us come back to the site again & again. Read: Page views & hits.

Now I’ve been out of bloggersphere for sometime thanks to a lot of shifting happening at my end. And so much has happened in just this short span that its unbelievable what can be coming next. I accept the changes as they come, we have the option to choose in the end. Twitter likewise remains strong despite Google+, Facebook’s subscribe to feed option is the new game changer or maybe not. It’s a constantly changing world & we’re right in the middle of it.

What do you think facebook really needs to do here? (We can discuss Twitter & Google+ later).

Keeping with my nature of having fun on Social Media and my general interest in infographics, I checked out Visual.ly today and decided to Twitterize myself. In layman terms that means using my Twitter data to generate an infographic and it’s for Free! Currently there are two options, either you can do a Solo Infographic of yourself or some other tweeps or compare yourself (to say a Celeb!) in the Faceoff.

I recommend you do this, meta is always fun Check my Infographic below or click here if you do not see the image.

What do you think? All images courtesy visual.ly

With all the recent hoopla around Google’s latest attempt at Social Networking – the Google Plus, many of us have simply signed up or were invited into the very private beta and did not think twice about what data or for that matter the whole circles deal was all about. Now we have a fair understanding of this service, well at least there are the early adopters (geeks) to guide us all. Check out Ben Parr’s 4000 word guide to Google Plus on Mashable! and you can even Google for more (no pun intended).

Now I have a problem, my social profiles like the one on facebook & twitter don’t really gel with my GMail account which has been in existence far longer, covering various contacts, ex-girlfriends, lost friends, ex-clients and what not. And this does not go with my current lifestyle either. So I looked for ways to delete & restart my Google+ experience.

This is what I found out to be the best way out of Google Plus: Downgrading your account without deleting other Google services.

Simple 5 Step process to follow:

1. Sign in to Google+
2. Click your full name or email address in the Google+ bar.
3. Click Account settings.
4. Click the Account overview tab.
5. Click Delete profile and remove associated social features

And this should set you free.

Now all I have to do is get myself a brand new Google+ account which is more “Me”.

Let me know your thoughts and comments.

Update: Add me on Google Plus – MrShri

Adding to the much fanfare about Google’s latest attempt at getting Social Networking right – The Google+ launch has seen it’s share of twitter trends & the tussle between the haves & the have-nots. Very entertaining. I got my hands on G+ just yesterday so this isn’t a full review & am also not getting into any speculations. There are enough Social Media Gurus out there already raving.. Am watching

What got me interested was the Android app of G+, lets not forget that Google did try the same thing with Buzz & it failed to take off in any direction. The interface is much more cleaner now, I’d say idiot proof too. So here are a few screen shots which should give you a fair idea of what functionality can it serve, especially for those who are always on their smartphones (Android that is..)

The main screen of G+ (version 1) is pretty simple & I like that. There is some space below the Profile button which hints at additional functions to be added later & the notification is classic Android style drawer which you can pull to check. Neat!

This is the Stream preview. Note how G+ gives credit to the original author – Robert Scoble here. Also interesting is the Check-in Button at the top (Hello Foursquare!!?), Option to click & upload a photo and Share an update with the selected Circle.

The Photos screen is pretty basic, but that helps in loading faster. By connecting my Picasa account, G+ has simply pulled in all the albums there. Again, very smart import & navigation.

The Circles screen (No I haven’t yet fully gone into this) but thats cause this is a no-brainer review. It quickly shows & allows you to browse your contacts plus check the Suggested contacts to follow in People tab. Google needs to add a bit more functionality here if the app has to be used independently like others in this space.

Thats my profile right there. Very much like Facebook here, showing About, Posts and Photos tabs below and activity stream.

Huddle, this has to be the most interesting feature I’ve seen coming from Google. You can start a group discussion or messaging instantly with a selected circle. Many applications for this are possible as user base builds up. Wonder if this can be used to Spam people? (Ouch!) and how that can be avoided. Will explore this feature the most and post a video review soon.

So are you on Google+ yet?

Bottomline: All the Social Media Rockstars & Press have landed on G+, which is cause of all the buzz around it. Give it a few days and weeks if possible, see if it grows on you. Personally, I landed pretty late at the Twitter party and I think I’ve done well. So enjoy exploring

What Brands should be thinking about before jumping on the bandwagon.

Today I started my day by asking a simple question: Why do you Like or Follow brands on Social Networks? This was tweeted out to all my followers and some interesting insights were shared by most of them.

It’s important to note that not all brands have anything called an online strategy or vision when it comes to being on social networks. They either just “showed up” for the party & did not bother checking the RSVP or agenda or were trained by some social media training academy on ‘how to create a facebook page’. As hard hitting as these might sound, this is the ground reality.

This is the reason why we do not hear more success stories about engagement or brand rockstar’ing it on these social networks. But this is not the point. Coming back to the question, brands can learn & adapt rapidly just by understanding why would someone ever Like or Follow them, here is the summary from my tweetchat:

1. Like brand pages on facebook just so that one can write on the Wall or mention them in the comments.

2. Follow brands on twitter for goodies or freebies.

3. Follow & Like Brands on these popular networks cause they generate content that is interesting to share & talk about.

4. Majority of your fans might not be happy with your services or products, hence they will find you on social networks to complain & be heard.

5. Contests.. yes people love contests and ever so more – winning.

6. Most people might still Like or Follow you only if you show up in their friends streams or online advertisements.

7. Don’t respond to your followers and this is what happens – Twitter unfollow is common, it’s not the same for facebook.

So apart from #3, all other reasons seem very common & the easiest to figure out. What is your brand doing different on social media? Are you the anti-social types who probably underestimated the opinion & intellect of your customers?

Summation: Brands need to look within themselves and figure out how to engage with their audience on social networks. Great place to start is & might be the networks themselves, but then be honest about it. You need to nurture your community like you would do with your family, not everyone might really like you in realtime, but they will appreciate your effort to respond when the time is right.

Think about this, listen, respond & create the strategy. Be Social.

If I missed something, please add it in the comments

This is one question that bothers everyone from the Brands seeking Social Media-Epicness to the Agencies pitching for the accounts. So what is the real cost of SM? Our friends here at SYNCAPSE have done the research & put all the data into this infographic.

What do you think about it? Let me know in the comments or Tweet me.

Literally stumbled upon this piece of content from PSFK Conference on my tumblelog. According to me this is an important step in the next line of innovation & integration of Social Networking with how we live & interact not just with each other, but the Government.

There are a lot of tools built that let us communicate in realtime. For example starting with the basics of TXT/SMS based devices right up to twitter, foursquare & instagram/picplz. How can we harness these tools to make our cities better, Government more accountable for their duties and at the same time reduce the chores involved in the whole process?

In this video, Rachel Sterne – Chief Digital Officer for New York City explains how they are opening up datasets for developers and letting them build applications around. Roadify & DontEat.At come across as very innovative yet using the very basic principals of using the data that’s available on a platform and visualizing it + making it interactive.

Check the video below & let me know if you think your city can benefit from something like this? The challenges for us back in India are huge, but I would love to setup something like this in Pune.

Check out the PSFK summarization too (LINK)