No matter how rich Bill Gates is and how successful Microsoft is, it is widely known
and acknowledged that he failed to read the Internet trend when it began. Early
1990s he couldn’t see it clearly and MS had to bundle Internet Explorer with
Windows to combat Netscape. There are many other internet-applications
companies that MS simply couldn’t catch up with. Even today Internet Explorer isn’t
the No.1 browser. Others like Firefox, Chrome and so on have taken up a good
bit of space. In business, it’s a huge advantage to be the first to take off.
Everyone knows Neil Armstrong was
the first but not many may be able to name the second man to set foot on the
moon. (Are you wondering who?)
It’s a famous song by The Beatles: “Can’t buy me love” but I’ve got news for you. There’s
also a movie of the same name titled “Can’t buy me love” in which the
hero rents a girlfriend for $1000
for a month. Hmm! Are you available? If you are, you’re in luck! Someone’s just
decided to buy a lot of friends on the Social Media. What do you do? Send in
your profile to the guy who gave that “Badminton” speech on January 20. Here’s the
good news:
According to reports, Kapil Sibal, the guy who
earlier wanted to choke the internet and social media, the Congress party would
need to spend 100 Crores to buy fraaands and influence votes through the social
media. The other guy, foul-mouthed Digvijaya Singh, who ironically heads the
party’s Communication Cell feels the BJP is leading on the social media front
and Congress got left behind. The best part? Both these wiseguys have decided a
strategy would be formed and presented to Rahul
Gandhi, the “Badminton” boy. So essentially what they’re thinking is that
the RSS invented social media, Narendra Modi nurtured it and the Hindu
terrorists have overwhelming presence on it. Yeah! Move over Social Genius ‘Internet
Hindus’ is now passé. After Sushil Shinde’s remark on Hindu Terror, the
call-sign is now changed to “Internet
Terrorists”. Except for the stray presence of Diggy on Twitter, the other
guys don’t have any presence and still probably believe Al Gore invented the
internet. Nothing to worry, help is always around.
Remember all those tweets you get promising to get
you thousands of followers in just a few hours or days? That would be a good
starting point for Congress. Of course, there are Twitter champions like Barkha
Dutt, Rajdeep Sardesai, Bhupendra Chaubeji, Ashutosh, Nikhil Wagle and even
Pankaj Pachauri, the PM’s media advisor. No, I haven’t forgotten! They also
have Twitter Goddesses Sagarika
Ghose and her protégé Pallavi Ghosh. With a whole team and these two ladies
batting for Congress, a solid start is assured. So while these guys have been
called PaidMedia for Congress so far, now there’s a new meaning to it; they
will now be PaidSocialMedia. I hope
the party also needs some bloggers (Hint! Hint!). Someone on Twitter has also
suggested maybe the Congress should float a TwitterNREGA. Not a bad idea for a bunch of brain dead people who
still don’t understand how SM works.
Diggy and the Congress still remain under the
impression that the SM in India has been driven by RSS or Narendra Modi.
Well, what can I say! If the doc
diagnoses your common cold as cancer he is bound to make you spend 100 Crores.
Hey, later on don’t complain if we make some noise about the ‘100Cr tag’ just
like someone created serious heartburns with the ‘50Cr tag’. So how do we help
the party spend the 100 crores? The first point is always those paid-follower
sites which guarantee you millions of followers like this one:
There is a harsh truth behind the Congress’ SM
plan. It’s that the MSM has failed to
help the party’s fortunes. Despite their best attempts, channels like NDTV,
CNN-IBN, Times Now and the gang don’t seem to have worked wonders for the
party. All the Tulika ads during the
Gujarat campaign haven’t paid off. In the print media, newspapers like
Hindustan Times seem to have failed them. Remember, this is despite the fact
that the last HT Summit was best funded by Govt PSUs. Social Media has now become a watchdog over the MSM; there can’t be
any more doubts about it. All the lies, half-truths and propaganda by MSM have
been successfully dismantled by SM. Congress feels the threat because there’s a
forecast that by 2014 there will be 200 million internet users in India. Let’s
try and examine some features influencing SM.
1) First and foremost most of the SM people who
are successful in getting their message out are well-educated people.
Historically, that is not the Congress vote-bank. In fact, I’d go a step
further in stating that Congress thrives by keeping people uneducated and
uninformed.
2) Being
connected for serious participation on SM requires stable power supply. There’s
hardly any Congress-ruled state that isn’t facing power problems. This is a
failure that will affect not just their SM constituency but life in general.
3)
Unlike MSM, SM is mostly “user-generated” content that comes out of genuine
interest and beliefs. I doubt money can buy that. Sure, there are some people
who can be bought but usually they are the ones who don’t really have thinking
skills or writing skills that can have a great influence. You know, like the
bimbo on Twitter who said villages in Maharashtra had internet connection in
1995.
4) The
Congress foolishly thinks NaMo’s success is partly due to his presence on SM.
Wrong! NaMo gained followers and admiration for “performance” and not for “presence”.
By Congress logic Shashi Tharoor should be far more influential for the
Congress as its SM brand ambassador. Doesn’t work like that!
Now, being on SM is all about being “connected” with people. If the Congress
were to really learn from Modi they’d have to learn that Modi “connects”
everywhere. He connects on the SM and he connects with villagers in rural
Gujarat. In contrast people like Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi are being booed
when they visit Amethi or Rae Bareli. The duo had to beg Mulayam Singh for
non-stop power supply in their constituencies as a favour. No villager has to
beg NaMo for such a favour. Does that teach them anything? No! The Congress
still believes money can buy fraaands.
The other thing is historically the communists and
the MSM have perpetrated a fake history on Indians when it comes to the
Mughals, the British and many other historic events. They have even turned
patriots into villains. This correction of history is undertaken on the SM by
many good writers and researchers and nobody pays them to do this. Their only
drive is their love for their country and truth. The anti-Hindu MSM, similar to
Shinde’s “Hindu Terror” comment, has always been biased against the Hindus.
Many SM people make a strong effort in correcting this bias. They aren’t paid
for this. The MSM may help sustain the Congress propaganda or campaign of
half-truths but propaganda usually gets exposed and rejected on the SM. Lies
and half-truths get destroyed on the SM. Every lie, deception, distortion and
negligence by the MSM has been exposed by people on the SM. If Congress
believes spending money will gain friends and influence votes they haven’t fathomed
SM yet. That is why it appears they’re
going for Chemotherapy to treat the common cold.
The Congress team for SM is going to be headed by
Rahul Gandhi and assisted by the likes of Digvijay and Kapil Sibal. Two of them
don’t have any presence worth the mention. The third, Diggy, is the comic
relief on Twitter who gets ridiculed every step of the way. Modi was vilified by
the MSM, he became a hero on the SM, that’s the reason his supporters have
campaigned heavily for him without seeking any payment for it. Unlike the sycophants
in the Congress party that fall at the feet of “Madamji” and the prince, SM doesn’t
have a sycophant culture that can be bought. Seriously, you can’t pass 66A as law on one hand and hope to succeed on the SM.
Hard truth is that for over 60 years the Congress,
the Commies and the MSM wiped out the Hindu voices from public discourse. Let
me add that everything connected with Hindus, like the RSS, BJP or any party
was painted as “Evil” by these political parties and the top media celebs to
appease their favourite minority group. The Hindu practices and rituals were
rubbished. Their temples were looted to pay out doles. Technology has this
potential to destroy lies, distortions, deceptions and injustices. It is laughable that those who couldn’t do
justice in the public domain are now seeking to redeem themselves on the SM.
Take the case of displaced Kashmiri Pandits. Their voices were destroyed by the
MSM but they’re being heard on the SM. You need to spend money to buy lies and
propaganda. You don’t need money to buy truth. Too late the Social Hero!
