Social Media

This is rather controversial for me to speak about,

Considering:
1) I am from the field of Marketing
2) I am such an active social media user

















However, since a few days I have been dwelling about the repercussions of social media, the usage of social media in current times and the impact it has on our lives, and it's got me thinking.

Let's start with a couple of confessions:

1) I am always connected
2) I find it hard to stay away from my phone for more than 30 minutes
3) My life involves a lot of sharing
4) I only share the highlights of my life (Read: The talk-worthy moments)
5) I do not share how down I typically feel on Sunday afternoons (Read: Sunday blues)
6) I share the relationships I want to celebrate
7) I do not celebrate the relationships I am not proud of being in
8) I only upload my nicest looking pictures on facebook (probably 2 out of 100)
9) My facebook life is a  strategically selected facade of the highlights of my real life

That was difficult to accept... but that makes me think.

I wonder whether we're currently living 2 lives at one time.
One,which is raw vulnerable, real and imperfect and the other that is glossy, triumphant and picture perfect?

 Our popularity is based on the number of likes our pictures receive.
Let's face the fact, if we do not cross the 11-like mark on instagram, or the 100-like mark on our facebook profile picture  most of us feel like shit. The whole point of sharing is to get people to know. We also don't remember most birthdays anymore. Why would we? We have Social Media to remind us.

I was speaking to a friend today and I told him that I am away from home and so I find a lot of happiness in writing wall posts for close friends on my social media platform. I think it makes them feel special. He asked why? I couldn't help thinking that it was so that the whole world knew how special they were. He said, don't you think they'll feel even more special if you sent them a personal message telling them how special they were. I thought he was right but I wasn't sure whether that was the reality in society.

While it's difficult to admit, research shows that 87% of social media users (irrespective of their sharing habits) base their idea of an ideal body image, skin tone, dressing sense, personality and humor based on social media influencers in their circle. That is why "stalking" is so prevalent. We stalk those who we aspire to be, envy, want to be friends with, want to be romantically linked to, want to get to know better -  just to know the highlights of their life.

Ideal Self vs Actual Self

In my consumer insight class earlier this year, we learned about "Ideal self" and "Actual self" and this gets me thinking about Social Media. Maybe Social media is just an extension of our ideal self, the self we want to be but not necessarily are, the self we want to show the world, the humor we want to project, the contouring that pumps up the high cheek bones, the wine drinking habits and the super social group of friends.

AND THIS

immediately got me thinking about the success of Humans of New York. They were real stories from real people! Such a breath of fresh air because  they involved so many real emotions. We suddenly realized there was a world beyond our own that involved struggle, joys, relationships and meaningful sharing. There were refugees losing their children, there were people who never gave up on their dreams but still didn't succeed, there were daughters reuniting with their fathers at the age of 50 and children protecting the goat their father brought to slaughter. Suddenly we were seeing reality. These posts went viral. There was empathy, sympathy and relatability coming from every corner of the world in the form of 35000 shares per post.


This leaves me with a parting thought: I am not a cynic and I certainly do not disapprove of social media. But maybe it's time to step back and regroup our energies. Maybe it's time to use social media not to be insecure or spread insecurity, to judge your popularity or body image but to use its potential to provide a greater good to our social circle. A platform to boost egos, better body images, celebrate triumphs and obviously be in touch. I haven't figured that out yet but when I put my marketing cap back on I know the power of Social Media and I know its possible. And while we do all of that, maybe live a real life without being consumed by social media, without being connected all the time and without feeling the urge to check our phones all the time (Read: Guilty) 

Maybe live a life where we are consumed in the real present and not the digital present, where we click pictures to save memories and not see if it's share worthy and where life does not depend on what others think about it.



I am still confused about how I feel about this phenomenon. But I do feel something strong and I know it has to do with a  huge change in the way we use this platform.

Tonight, I will sleep without worrying about the number of likes/views/comments this post receives but about the amount of lives it affects.

I'm going home

Someday I'll have something to say, and it shall be simple. Today feels like one of those days.

Today, I booked my flight to go back to Mumbai.

For the first time, I know what it feels like to go home. 

On 28th August, 2014, as I sat in the car on my way to the airport there was a whirlwind of thoughts in my mind. 

Today, when I think back to that day, I remember convincing myself to not go back for 15 months. I told myself that in every vacation that I have I will travel to places I have never been, meet people who I've never seen, learn skills that make me a better version of myself, discover tastes that my taste buds don't recognize and spend every minute of my 15 months trying to discover myself. I can say that I pretty much stuck to the plan. 

It's fifth quarter, and when I think back so much has changed. 

I'm not a New Girl in the City anymore. I can go from Quartino to Big Bowl without using Google Maps, I know the entire sequence of 18 stops from my house to downtown and I can tell you exactly what you should eat at my favorite 19 restaurants in Chicago. Also, I can call a cab and come back home fearlessly at 4 AM (My mother isn't too happy about this one). It feels familiar today, it feels like home. 

I survived the winter, the snowstorm, the terrible pangs of homesickness, the silly roommate troubles, softwares that scare the living hell out of me, a stalker, a 911 phone call, being stranded on top of a mountain in a mountain lion area. Basically, I survived this whole new life. 

And after all that, I thoroughly enjoyed the people, the food, the road trips, the mountains, the lake, my school, the drunken nights. 

Today, I cherish the new friends I've made, a couple that I will cherish for life, I cherish my house that I've made efforts to decorate, I cherish the food I make after a long day working, I cherish the long Facetime calls with people back home. When I look back, I cherish the sense of achievement I feel. 

And so, as December is approaching and I am getting ready for my one and a half month long vacation, I feel an intense sense of belonging. 

Today, I feel like I belong to two places: 

 A place with my favorite black and yellow Rikshaws and a place with the most interesting conversations with Cab drivers. A place where I was served hot food on the dining table three times a day and a place where I heated food that I made three days ago. A place where my mother took care of me and a place where I realized how important it was to take care of myself. A place where my best friends are, a place where I made new friends for life. A place where I'm most comfortable and a place where I created my sense of comfort.

A place where I grew up and the place that helped me grow up.

And like I said, I didn't know what it feels like to be going home. Today I do, and it feels beautiful. 

TOMS #withoutshoes

Between May 5 and May 21, 2015, TOMS a California based footwear and eyewear company did something pretty legendary on Instagram. They had an initiative called “One day without shoes” where they encouraged instagrammers to upload a picture of themselves barefoot with the hashtag #withoutshoes. With each picture uploaded they would donate a pair of shoes to a child in need. Their goal was to give out a Million Shoes.

Tom’s is a company that is known for its philanthropy as every pair of shoes that the company sells, a new pair of shoes is given to a child in need. A portion of the profit in their eyewear sales is also given towards restoration of eyesight among people in developing countries. What was unique about this campaign was that TOMS was not asking their customers to purchase their shoes. It was not just a campaign, they had launched a collective movement. By the end of the period TOMS had a path breaking 296,243 entries for the initiative with each entry having a unique individual touch about each individuals support towards children’s health and educations. This big story comprised of 3 million stories.

This particular event was of interest to me because of how they harnessed Instagram as a media platform to encourage stories by tapping into a human need.  Human beings always seek identification. In this case everybody involved in the initiative identified with the larger cause that also made them feel good about themselves as well as the company. This resulted in a lot of earned media for the company as most entries also congratulated TOMS for their initiative, which resulted in a lot of positive publicity. It was a clear case of “Do good by doing good”

Link: http://www.toms.com/one-day-without-shoes

Personally TOMS, You took my heart away!

#withoutshoes: Rocking ugly feet since 1992.