Indian Slumdog wins 8 Oscar awards; bigger things to come

Today I am not going to write on social media as I simply cannot ignore the Eight Oscar awards that a film based in India with Indian artists has received.

Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire, a movie made by a foreigner with India artists for the western markets managed to take home Eight OSCARS including the one for best direction and motion picture.

Slumdog Millionaire was unable to make a place for itself in the heart of most Indians as after watching the movie they felt a sense of déjà vu as India has produced numerous movies on similar lines… right from Satyajit rays of this world to present day Anurag Kashyaps… (of Dev D fame), the list is endless. Some extremist are of the view that it hurts the Indian sensibility. In this time of economic gloom, India and china are the only countries showing reasonably good growth figures. Ignoring that fact and showing India in such a poor light (slums) to the world at large is indeed prejudicial. Why didn’t Boyle portray the success story that India has become over the years. These are the questions that most Indians are asking!

And the West has lapped it all up…the slums, the dirt, the beggars….and also given eight awards to the Slumdog.

Well, I think it is the time to rejoice and not sulk. Let us look at the positives. Eight OSCARS to a movie that not only has Indian artists but also showcases our very own Mumbai. By recognizing Slumdog, the West is trying to communicate to us that Indian film industry is not just recession proof but it is a goose that lays golden eggs hence it is time to collaborate. The Hollywood-Bollywood marriage makes perfect business sense! Will it also mean moving social media networking consultancy for Hollywood films to India. Well, let’s hope we will get a pie of the social media networking business of the Hollywood. Hence open your doors to profitable marriages, mergers, collaborations, and big bucks…..not just ‘big cinema’.

Cracks becoming more pronounced on social networks

Are cracks in the social media networks becoming more pronounced as this industry is virtually on a fast forward mode? Well, the recent facebook fiasco definitely points towards that. And why not? Facebook had a unique visitor base of 54,552,000 as on December 2008.

It all began on February 11, 2009, when a slight change in Facebook’s terms of service pertaining to the ownership of user content after being deleted, created an uproar in the blogosphere. The company reiterated that its licenses on user content expired upon account deletion.

A company statement clarifying the deed as reported by CNN said, "We are not claiming and have never claimed ownership of material that users upload.” "The new Terms were clarified to be more consistent with the behavior of the site," it said. "That is, if you send a message to another user (or post to their wall, etc...), that content might not be removed by Facebook if you delete your account (but can be deleted by your friend)."

Facebook officials, I am sure were not expecting such a public display of anger. What started off as a public debate soon snowballed into a massive controversy? And why not! Social networks have gripped the attention of the net surfing communities globally.

Whether its chit-chatting with friends, promoting a brand, social networking or measuring consumer response to new products, social networks have become the one big networking playground for all of us. Huge money is riding on social networks like Facebook, hence our content better be safe with us.

This brings me to another question! Will the recent controversy involving Facebook trigger social media network users to be more cautious about content in social networks? Well, if such networks offer infinite benefits to users then they also must be ready to face the music.

In a damage control exercise, with much haste Facebook changed the policy statement to what it was in the first week of February. As it stand now, Facebook's terms of service claim that the company does not have ownership over content, yet that it does have "an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (to)...use, copy, publish, stream, store, retain, publicly perform or display, transmit, scan, reformat, modify, edit, frame, translate, excerpt, adapt, create derivative works, and distribute" material as long as it doesn't violate the privacy preferences set by the user.

So users be aware! Before you upload your content, pictures et al, be careful….for you might end up seeing your stuff on the promotional pages of one of the third party vendor s (of facebook).

Outsourcing is the Future of Social Media

Haven't written anything for my blog in a long time. Have been following some of the top social media agencies globally to understand how they operate. Having interacted with some of them, I have come to the conclusion that some of them are a worried lot. Looks like it is a stiff competition among the web 2.0 followers.

They should not have any cause for concern as social media pie is really large. There is enough space for everyone in social media segment, whether it is a start-up or an established firm.

However going forward, each social media will have to create a niche market for itself to grow. Outsourcing of social media will only help the industry.

So join hands, reduce your insecurity and become truly sociable.