So which league are you in?

If you have ever travelled to work (preferably Gurgaon or Noida) by car, you would've noticed that there are windows of time when unbearable traffic collects. 

After travelling the route to Gurgaon for almost 2 years now, I have come to a conclusion - there are different leagues of people who choose different windows of time to travel  which according to me clearly defines their work ethic. 

(A tiny disclaimer here: these are purely my thoughts and I take full responsibility if you get pissed off, remember exceptions are what keep us going) 

So which league do you fall in? 

1. The early risers - Look around your workplace, identify that one person who reaches work early and complains about it all day. I'm sure you recognised more than one! Now, these early risers are the ones who would like to believe that they are the smartest as they beat the morning traffic and reach work first. Hats off guys, you have cracked the traffic dilemma but trust me you aren't leaving before the entire work gets over in the evening! These people generally never take risks and are very comfortable watching other people work hard. 

2. The peak commuters - this group actually knows that it's going to be real crowded in that 8-8:30 am time window when everyone is rushing to get to work at half 9 but that does not deter their determination to choose that very time to travel. Even at work, you can recognise  them easily - always there in a group discussion saying exactly what other people are saying just a little differently! 

3. The smart-lazy combo - this league is close to my heart as it chooses the 'sweet spot' to travel after months of clear observation and detailed analysis of its route. You know there is that time in the morning when the 'peak commuters' have left and the 'late crawlers' have yet not considered leaving. That is the 'sweet spot' - they might be a few minutes delayed at work but take the least time to reach. Even at work, I'm sure you have those who are always on top of things, yeah? See them. Salute them. 

4. The late crawlers - trust me, let's get over the fact that people who come real late to work are cool and actually have a life. The truth is - they always 'think' they will make it on time and eventually succumb to fate. You might beat the peak traffic but honey, you were never competing! So think of those people at work who always think the deadlines work according to them and not the organisation, keep your hand on their shoulders and say - 'it's okay' when they come late. See their reaction - it's priceless

You say Facebook, I say Work!

4 years of engineering makes you breathe numbers, digest concepts and play with applications. And then you drop it and choose a whole new path for yourself. And guess what, to top it all, you choose something that isn't so mainstream at all. 

The last time I tried to explain to someone what do I exactly do led to the following conversation -

- Oh so you mean you sit on Facebook the whole day? Or 

- What's the difference between Facebook and Twitter anyway? Twitter is just Facebook without photos, isn't it? 

- People actually get paid to do that? 

- YouTube is a social media channel? 

Honestly, I don't blame them because how much so ever updated one might be; explaining digital, especially social media management to them remains a painstaking task. 

Entering the digital space as an outsider and living in it for almost a year now, I have learnt a few things that are absolutely unique to the kind of work we do and people will never get these. 

1. Others might not believe it but launching a Facebook page can be as demanding as bringing up a baby. You check on it time and time again, you feed it with new content and then you protect it from spammers! 

2. We too have crisis! Recently somebody asked me - after all, your work is not about life and death, so what's the panic about? The panic is about protecting your property from unwanted people at any hour - day or night. 

3. Having a social presence is not only about 'posting' out-of-context quotes and getting a million 'likes' or following everyone on Twitter so that they follow you back. There is 'strategy' that goes into every aspect of what we do too. 

4. 9 PM - 5 PM? Come again? 
The web doesn't sleep so how can we? You never know who, where, is sitting and waiting to be offended by something that your client sells or does. So next time you give a bad review/remark online after eating dinner late at night - remember someone like us is getting thrashed the next day! 

5. It seems to everyone that we never work. Whenever someone will come by our desk - they will see the likes of HootSuite, TweetDeck running all the time. This doesn't mean that we aren't working, that IS OUR WORK! 

6. Lastly, people always say - 'you guys are so lucky'. Seriously? Try being on Facebook/Twitter as 4 different people with completely different personalities for a week and the same tools you love, you will despise. I mean imagine talking like 4 people - an engineer, a businessman, a corporate executive and a social worker at the same time. 

Is social media making us better at what we do?

Just yesterday my brother performed solo at one of the leading theatre events in Delhi. While he was getting ready for it, I asked him - why was he being so finicky about the white shirt, it wasn't going to show when he would be so far away on the stage.

He looked at me as though my question had really offended him. He said that the group he was opening for had a live twitter feed, an updated Facebook page and a videographer present at the event. Also, he himself has an active YouTube channel among other social media sharing outlets. To add to that, his friends would be present at the event who would definitely share his images and recordings online.
He basically meant that technically his performance doesn't end that evening. It'll be carried to different platforms where that tiny mark on his shirt could create potential crisis or unwanted conversation.

I was a little taken aback. So this 15 year old boy had not only thought about his performance live but also the aftermath of it on social media. So is the fact that there are no boundaries to sharing and no event is technically closed to an online audience making us perform better than before? Or for that matter, micro manage things that we would've ignored earlier?

What one does on stage can trickle down positively or negatively online. Delhi concerts have been a clear example of this. A few days before the Tiesto concert, we were hearing rumours about it being cancelled. The organising group did not choose to pick a publication, print a life size advert and erase that rumour but just published an online interview of Tiesto talking about how excited he was to come to India. And moments later, people were posting all over social media about the confirmation of the Tiesto tour. This definitely relays the trust people have in what other people like them post online than someone unknown sitting behind a printing machine.

Coming back to the point of performance. Are we paying more attention to what we create keeping in mind the kind of platform it would be shared on? According to me the answer is yes. Taking the example of Instagram - how many us who have that application installed on our phones don't think about what filter a certain thing would look good in? The fact that photo sharing has become synonymous to Instagram is a clear indication that people are putting articulated thought into things around them and how to best capture them.

At a polo event last month, I was sitting amongst Delhi's elite and was overwhelmed by the talks of leading make up and clothing brands. Something mentioned by one of the ladies surprised me - she said - "I bought this Louis Vuitton Damier bag just two weeks back and she had it a day after I did. I think she saw my Greece vacation pictures on Facebook and decided to buy it." I wanted to tell her - "Honey, I don't think she dropped a few thousand dollars just because she looked at how good the bag looked on you in your profile picture" but I stopped. Because yes, there could be a clear high possibility that this trend-cheater just saw that bag on her friend's profile and decided to buy it. So is sharing helping us convince other people's choices and set trends like never before?

I personally believe it is the beginning of a never ending era of sharing and crowd sourcing. So would you thinking before you wear that shirt or watching your pronunciation while you speak at a presentation. According to me - please do, you never know who is sharing.