Thursday, September 25, 2008

Lousy Customer Service


There are many things which can make a customer go mad. One of them is lousy customer service. But this inset picture says it all. Just when an unassuming customer is entering a retail shop, he sees this.

Quote-unquote: Management is not responsible for any loss of hand baggage deposited with security.

My question is: Who is then? Isn't security a part of your team? TRUST is one factor which takes a lifetime to build and here it is broken at the very instant when a customer is entering the retail shop.

Image courtesy: Siddhartha Reddy (Twitter handler)



Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Indian Social Networking Trends

I've to say upfront that I'm a keen observer of Social Media, which by now must be quite evident if you're a regular to this blog. If not then I may have something interesting for you. So keeping with the blog post, I keep a track about what's hot & what's not in Social Media and much so in Social Networking especially in India.

The genesis of this blog post is Dina Mehta's blog post on "Future of Social Networking" and more so a recent development from Yahoo! Indian Arm which came up with a new Social Networking site dubbed as SpotM for the age bracket 16-24 to capture the growing Indian market (Read my post here).

So on this recent Yahoo! development, I also commented my opinions as to what would fancy Indian users so as the capture their imagination & in turn take advantage of growing Indian market. Below are my comments from my previous post:
....within a span of 2-3 years there have been plethora of Social Networking Sites (SNS) developed by Indians and International giants like Google, Facebook, MySpace etc. So for SpotM, it better be good, different, fast, high on usability and wide reaching otherwise another failed investment.....

On the hindsight, I recently came across another site called ChillX which has tried to position itself as a site
where Indian youth can hang out dubbed as "Hamara Desh". Now a quick usability check gave me a very good impression about its various features its blogs, videos, news and my favorite- the chat applet. Though this may be nothing new to most of us, but surely this site has unique Indian community feeling which I saw lacking in most western counter parts as of now. Also if I'm not wrong then this site's positioning is more "Community Based" i.e. it wants to build a community of Indian Youths.

So taking cues from Dina's statement on Social Networking's future

Networks based on & layered around location, access, presence & context. Those that enhance real-world interactions. Enabling choice, privacy and control”

it seems evidential that without these key ingredients i.e. layered network effects across location, access, presence & most importantly context which enhances real world interactions with different users will define the future of Indian Social Networking Space.


So what do you think will click in Indian Social Networking Space?



Monday, September 22, 2008

Top 10 Social Media Blogs in India

The genesis of this post started long time back when I started the Social Media Marketing space in India for a while now. After hovering around in the Web, I've found very few comprehensive lists on Social Media Blogs in India. So this effort is primarily to put all those insightful & interesting blogs under "Top Social Media Blogs in India's" list and rank them accordingly.

The "Top 10 Social Media Marketing blogs" list ranks blogs according to Google PageRank, Alexa Rank, Number of Feed Subscribers, Technorati Authority and My Ranking (as Sampad's Rank).


#1

Gauravonomics (RSS)

8

4

5

3

5

25

#2

Rajesh @ BlogWorks (RSS)

8

5

5

3

2

23

#3

India PR Blog (RSS)

7

4

5

3

2

21

#4

Customer World (RSS)

7

5

3

3

2

20

#5

Kiruba Shankar (RSS)

7

5

3

1

3

19

#6

Dina Mehta (RSS)

5

5

3

3

3

19

#7

Bhatnaturally (RSS)

8

3

5

1

1

18

#8

Technology, Mobility, Usability and other Musings (RSS)

7

5

3

1

1

17

#9

Brants (RSS)

7

4

3

1

1

16

#10

Daksh's Marketing Blog (RSS)

5

5

3

1

1

15

















The list down below are the rest of the blog which are trailing behind as per the ranking to get into the top 10 list.

#11

Interactive Marketing Blog (RSS)

6

4

3

1

1

15

#12

Marketing in a branded world!! (RSS)

6

3

3

1

1

14

#13

MisEntropy (RSS)

6

3

3

1

1

14

#14

Saurabh Garg (RSS)

6

2

3

1

2

14

#15

Marketology- Emerging Trends (RSS)

5

4

1

1

3

14

#16

One Size Fits One (RSS)

5

4

1

1

1

12

#17

CheckPosts- On Marketing Media and Culture(RSS)

4

4

1

1

1

11

#18

Digerati Forum (RSS)

3

3

1

1

1

9


Each of the five factors range from 0 to 10, where 10 is the maximum score. The maximum total score for each blog, therefore, is 50. There will be monthly updates on the ranking. Below you will find the details about the algorithm:

Blogs Considered: The list considers only blogs that have high percentage of Social Media related content. Topics might range from Social Media news, information, tips, building communities, conversations etc.

Google PageRank (0 to 10): Google PageRank is a link-analysis algorithm that interprets web links and assigns a numerical weighting (0 to 10) to each site. The actual PageRank was used in the algorithm.

Alexa Rank (0 to 10):Alexa ranks sites with an algorithm that incorporates page views and reach (the percentage of all web users who have visited that particular site). This ranges were determined based on the Alexa Rank (i.e., 150k and up, 150k-100k, 100k-75k, 75k-50k) and each range was asssigned a number (1 to 10).

Feed Subscriber (0 to 10): Subscriber ranges were determined (i.e., 1-50, 50-100, 100-150, 150-200 and more) and each range was assigned a number (1 to 10).

Technorati Authority (0 to 10): Much like the InLinks count, Technorati's Authority count is the number of blog (as opposed to individual links) that link to a particular blog. Ranges were determined based on Technorati's Authority rank (i.e., 1-100, 100-200, 200-400, 400-600 & more) and each range was assigned a number (1 to 10).

Sampad's Rank (0 to 10): This is the only subjective measure in the algorithm to be assigned to the blogs which will be ranked. The actual rank depends on the content of the blog posts, quality of the blog posts, frequency, creativity & relevancy.

P.S. These are the best blogs on Social Media in India. If you also want to feature in the "Best Social Media Blogs in India" list, please link back to this post or else mail me at sampad.s [at]gmail.com your Blog Address and RSS feed for review. As soon as your blog gets listed, will mail you back.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Lousy Customer Service


There are many things which can make a customer go mad. One of them is lousy customer service. But this inset picture says it all. Just when an unassuming customer is entering a retail shop, he sees this.

Quote-unquote: Management is not responsible for any loss of hand baggage deposited with security.

My question is: Who is then? Isn't security a part of your team? TRUST is one factor which takes a lifetime to build and here it is broken at the very instant when a customer is entering the retail shop.

Image courtesy: Siddhartha Reddy (Twitter handler)



Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Indian Social Networking Trends

I've to say upfront that I'm a keen observer of Social Media, which by now must be quite evident if you're a regular to this blog. If not then I may have something interesting for you. So keeping with the blog post, I keep a track about what's hot & what's not in Social Media and much so in Social Networking especially in India.

The genesis of this blog post is Dina Mehta's blog post on "Future of Social Networking" and more so a recent development from Yahoo! Indian Arm which came up with a new Social Networking site dubbed as SpotM for the age bracket 16-24 to capture the growing Indian market (Read my post here).

So on this recent Yahoo! development, I also commented my opinions as to what would fancy Indian users so as the capture their imagination & in turn take advantage of growing Indian market. Below are my comments from my previous post:
....within a span of 2-3 years there have been plethora of Social Networking Sites (SNS) developed by Indians and International giants like Google, Facebook, MySpace etc. So for SpotM, it better be good, different, fast, high on usability and wide reaching otherwise another failed investment.....

On the hindsight, I recently came across another site called ChillX which has tried to position itself as a site
where Indian youth can hang out dubbed as "Hamara Desh". Now a quick usability check gave me a very good impression about its various features its blogs, videos, news and my favorite- the chat applet. Though this may be nothing new to most of us, but surely this site has unique Indian community feeling which I saw lacking in most western counter parts as of now. Also if I'm not wrong then this site's positioning is more "Community Based" i.e. it wants to build a community of Indian Youths.

So taking cues from Dina's statement on Social Networking's future

Networks based on & layered around location, access, presence & context. Those that enhance real-world interactions. Enabling choice, privacy and control”

it seems evidential that without these key ingredients i.e. layered network effects across location, access, presence & most importantly context which enhances real world interactions with different users will define the future of Indian Social Networking Space.


So what do you think will click in Indian Social Networking Space?



Monday, September 22, 2008

Top 10 Social Media Blogs in India

The genesis of this post started long time back when I started the Social Media Marketing space in India for a while now. After hovering around in the Web, I've found very few comprehensive lists on Social Media Blogs in India. So this effort is primarily to put all those insightful & interesting blogs under "Top Social Media Blogs in India's" list and rank them accordingly.

The "Top 10 Social Media Marketing blogs" list ranks blogs according to Google PageRank, Alexa Rank, Number of Feed Subscribers, Technorati Authority and My Ranking (as Sampad's Rank).


#1

Gauravonomics (RSS)

8

4

5

3

5

25

#2

Rajesh @ BlogWorks (RSS)

8

5

5

3

2

23

#3

India PR Blog (RSS)

7

4

5

3

2

21

#4

Customer World (RSS)

7

5

3

3

2

20

#5

Kiruba Shankar (RSS)

7

5

3

1

3

19

#6

Dina Mehta (RSS)

5

5

3

3

3

19

#7

Bhatnaturally (RSS)

8

3

5

1

1

18

#8

Technology, Mobility, Usability and other Musings (RSS)

7

5

3

1

1

17

#9

Brants (RSS)

7

4

3

1

1

16

#10

Daksh's Marketing Blog (RSS)

5

5

3

1

1

15

















The list down below are the rest of the blog which are trailing behind as per the ranking to get into the top 10 list.

#11

Interactive Marketing Blog (RSS)

6

4

3

1

1

15

#12

Marketing in a branded world!! (RSS)

6

3

3

1

1

14

#13

MisEntropy (RSS)

6

3

3

1

1

14

#14

Saurabh Garg (RSS)

6

2

3

1

2

14

#15

Marketology- Emerging Trends (RSS)

5

4

1

1

3

14

#16

One Size Fits One (RSS)

5

4

1

1

1

12

#17

CheckPosts- On Marketing Media and Culture(RSS)

4

4

1

1

1

11

#18

Digerati Forum (RSS)

3

3

1

1

1

9


Each of the five factors range from 0 to 10, where 10 is the maximum score. The maximum total score for each blog, therefore, is 50. There will be monthly updates on the ranking. Below you will find the details about the algorithm:

Blogs Considered: The list considers only blogs that have high percentage of Social Media related content. Topics might range from Social Media news, information, tips, building communities, conversations etc.

Google PageRank (0 to 10): Google PageRank is a link-analysis algorithm that interprets web links and assigns a numerical weighting (0 to 10) to each site. The actual PageRank was used in the algorithm.

Alexa Rank (0 to 10):Alexa ranks sites with an algorithm that incorporates page views and reach (the percentage of all web users who have visited that particular site). This ranges were determined based on the Alexa Rank (i.e., 150k and up, 150k-100k, 100k-75k, 75k-50k) and each range was asssigned a number (1 to 10).

Feed Subscriber (0 to 10): Subscriber ranges were determined (i.e., 1-50, 50-100, 100-150, 150-200 and more) and each range was assigned a number (1 to 10).

Technorati Authority (0 to 10): Much like the InLinks count, Technorati's Authority count is the number of blog (as opposed to individual links) that link to a particular blog. Ranges were determined based on Technorati's Authority rank (i.e., 1-100, 100-200, 200-400, 400-600 & more) and each range was assigned a number (1 to 10).

Sampad's Rank (0 to 10): This is the only subjective measure in the algorithm to be assigned to the blogs which will be ranked. The actual rank depends on the content of the blog posts, quality of the blog posts, frequency, creativity & relevancy.

P.S. These are the best blogs on Social Media in India. If you also want to feature in the "Best Social Media Blogs in India" list, please link back to this post or else mail me at sampad.s [at]gmail.com your Blog Address and RSS feed for review. As soon as your blog gets listed, will mail you back.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Lousy Customer Service


There are many things which can make a customer go mad. One of them is lousy customer service. But this inset picture says it all. Just when an unassuming customer is entering a retail shop, he sees this.

Quote-unquote: Management is not responsible for any loss of hand baggage deposited with security.

My question is: Who is then? Isn't security a part of your team? TRUST is one factor which takes a lifetime to build and here it is broken at the very instant when a customer is entering the retail shop.

Image courtesy: Siddhartha Reddy (Twitter handler)



Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Indian Social Networking Trends

I've to say upfront that I'm a keen observer of Social Media, which by now must be quite evident if you're a regular to this blog. If not then I may have something interesting for you. So keeping with the blog post, I keep a track about what's hot & what's not in Social Media and much so in Social Networking especially in India.

The genesis of this blog post is Dina Mehta's blog post on "Future of Social Networking" and more so a recent development from Yahoo! Indian Arm which came up with a new Social Networking site dubbed as SpotM for the age bracket 16-24 to capture the growing Indian market (Read my post here).

So on this recent Yahoo! development, I also commented my opinions as to what would fancy Indian users so as the capture their imagination & in turn take advantage of growing Indian market. Below are my comments from my previous post:
....within a span of 2-3 years there have been plethora of Social Networking Sites (SNS) developed by Indians and International giants like Google, Facebook, MySpace etc. So for SpotM, it better be good, different, fast, high on usability and wide reaching otherwise another failed investment.....

On the hindsight, I recently came across another site called ChillX which has tried to position itself as a site
where Indian youth can hang out dubbed as "Hamara Desh". Now a quick usability check gave me a very good impression about its various features its blogs, videos, news and my favorite- the chat applet. Though this may be nothing new to most of us, but surely this site has unique Indian community feeling which I saw lacking in most western counter parts as of now. Also if I'm not wrong then this site's positioning is more "Community Based" i.e. it wants to build a community of Indian Youths.

So taking cues from Dina's statement on Social Networking's future

Networks based on & layered around location, access, presence & context. Those that enhance real-world interactions. Enabling choice, privacy and control”

it seems evidential that without these key ingredients i.e. layered network effects across location, access, presence & most importantly context which enhances real world interactions with different users will define the future of Indian Social Networking Space.


So what do you think will click in Indian Social Networking Space?



Monday, September 22, 2008

Top 10 Social Media Blogs in India

The genesis of this post started long time back when I started the Social Media Marketing space in India for a while now. After hovering around in the Web, I've found very few comprehensive lists on Social Media Blogs in India. So this effort is primarily to put all those insightful & interesting blogs under "Top Social Media Blogs in India's" list and rank them accordingly.

The "Top 10 Social Media Marketing blogs" list ranks blogs according to Google PageRank, Alexa Rank, Number of Feed Subscribers, Technorati Authority and My Ranking (as Sampad's Rank).


#1

Gauravonomics (RSS)

8

4

5

3

5

25

#2

Rajesh @ BlogWorks (RSS)

8

5

5

3

2

23

#3

India PR Blog (RSS)

7

4

5

3

2

21

#4

Customer World (RSS)

7

5

3

3

2

20

#5

Kiruba Shankar (RSS)

7

5

3

1

3

19

#6

Dina Mehta (RSS)

5

5

3

3

3

19

#7

Bhatnaturally (RSS)

8

3

5

1

1

18

#8

Technology, Mobility, Usability and other Musings (RSS)

7

5

3

1

1

17

#9

Brants (RSS)

7

4

3

1

1

16

#10

Daksh's Marketing Blog (RSS)

5

5

3

1

1

15

















The list down below are the rest of the blog which are trailing behind as per the ranking to get into the top 10 list.

#11

Interactive Marketing Blog (RSS)

6

4

3

1

1

15

#12

Marketing in a branded world!! (RSS)

6

3

3

1

1

14

#13

MisEntropy (RSS)

6

3

3

1

1

14

#14

Saurabh Garg (RSS)

6

2

3

1

2

14

#15

Marketology- Emerging Trends (RSS)

5

4

1

1

3

14

#16

One Size Fits One (RSS)

5

4

1

1

1

12

#17

CheckPosts- On Marketing Media and Culture(RSS)

4

4

1

1

1

11

#18

Digerati Forum (RSS)

3

3

1

1

1

9


Each of the five factors range from 0 to 10, where 10 is the maximum score. The maximum total score for each blog, therefore, is 50. There will be monthly updates on the ranking. Below you will find the details about the algorithm:

Blogs Considered: The list considers only blogs that have high percentage of Social Media related content. Topics might range from Social Media news, information, tips, building communities, conversations etc.

Google PageRank (0 to 10): Google PageRank is a link-analysis algorithm that interprets web links and assigns a numerical weighting (0 to 10) to each site. The actual PageRank was used in the algorithm.

Alexa Rank (0 to 10):Alexa ranks sites with an algorithm that incorporates page views and reach (the percentage of all web users who have visited that particular site). This ranges were determined based on the Alexa Rank (i.e., 150k and up, 150k-100k, 100k-75k, 75k-50k) and each range was asssigned a number (1 to 10).

Feed Subscriber (0 to 10): Subscriber ranges were determined (i.e., 1-50, 50-100, 100-150, 150-200 and more) and each range was assigned a number (1 to 10).

Technorati Authority (0 to 10): Much like the InLinks count, Technorati's Authority count is the number of blog (as opposed to individual links) that link to a particular blog. Ranges were determined based on Technorati's Authority rank (i.e., 1-100, 100-200, 200-400, 400-600 & more) and each range was assigned a number (1 to 10).

Sampad's Rank (0 to 10): This is the only subjective measure in the algorithm to be assigned to the blogs which will be ranked. The actual rank depends on the content of the blog posts, quality of the blog posts, frequency, creativity & relevancy.

P.S. These are the best blogs on Social Media in India. If you also want to feature in the "Best Social Media Blogs in India" list, please link back to this post or else mail me at sampad.s [at]gmail.com your Blog Address and RSS feed for review. As soon as your blog gets listed, will mail you back.