We all receive wedding invites, by post, by courier, in person and even by email. A friend of mine recently invited me for his wedding. What’s new, you might ask. Well, somebody inviting me for a wedding is not new, but the wedding invite was an out-of-the-world card, from the e-world literally! The invitation was designed to look like the Facebook homepage.

I thoroughly appreciate his creativity for designing it in such a manner; after all, who wouldn’t know Facebook, right? Nobody would have ever seen a card like that, and his wedding will be remembered by a lot of people for a long time, all because of the invite. Most people who saw the card expressed a wow. Some were of the “oh c’mon, Facebook even in a wedding invite?” kind of opinion.

Creativity apart, are we getting so obsessed that we think of Facebook even in a wedding card? Inviting people on Facebook is one thing; designing a card like Facebook is a different thing altogether.

Next, the status updates might read like this:

XYZ updated status three minutes ago:
we exchanged wedding rings
12 comments, 20 likes
XYZ updated status two minutes ago:
wedding solemnized
24 comments, 50 likes
XYZ updated status one minute ago:
I just kissed the bride, or better still,
I am kissing her now!
108 comments, 254 likes

If this was the case, people would never bother to attend weddings and would happily sit elsewhere, hitting the like button for every update posted!

Recently, during a blog workshop, a PPT slide caught the attention of the audience. It was called, Go, KISS your Blog. Of Course, the title was inspired by the book, ‘Go, Kiss the World’ by Subroto of MindTree, for whom, I have great respect and admiration.

In the slide title, the anagram KISS stood out, but it did not represent the usual sentiment, of Keeping it Simple and Short. Instead it said, ‘Keep Improvising & Synchronize Serendipity’. The new definition evoked curiosity.  Later, a few queries poured into my mailbox. So, I would like to take this opportunity to describe what KISSing your blog, is all about.

Let’s say, you keep writing about Product Engineering (PE), people will eventually associate PE with you. Let’s assume you are writing consistently, about PE for a while, that when people search for ‘PE’ on Google, your name shows up! Your destiny has just taken a new turn. You have now become a brand. People have begun to connect with what you do, for who you are.

Forgive me if I sound a little carried away by the season sentiments, but I do believe that Social Media is the new Bible of the masses where Content creation, Connectivity and Conversion form the new media trinity. Most of the bustle, the hype and the confusion revolve around these three entities.

As long as people are alive, there will be Content creation, for god said: “Be Social. Let the Web teem with living conversations, and the tweets fly above the earth across the expanse of the Internet.”

So conversation took wings and the Web was filled with content of every kind, with corporate and individual blogs, videos and tunes, and flickering images and apps of every kind, animating the Web with the spirit of life.

With India all set to hit a networking boom and the future being predominantly mobile, the Government of India has finally come out with a draft Social Media Framework and Guidelines.

The draft is aimed and designed to engage with all its stakeholders (especially citizens) in real time to make policy making citizen centric. The guidelines have been developed for all eGovernance projects under the National eGovernance Plan.

With social media transforming the way people connect with one another on a 24×7 basis, and with its viral ability for exponential spread of information by word-of-mouth, it is redefining the way organizations and people communicate.

Taking a cue from this, Governments across the world are taking to social media to interact with their citizens. In the US, for example, The White House has its own Facebook page and Twitter profile. In Victoria, Australia, the prime minister’s office uses YouTube, Facebook and Twitter as well as Live Chat and blogs to interact with its stakeholders.

In India, many Government organizations are already using social media in a limited manner. The Delhi Police, for example, uses Facebook and Twitter to ease handling of traffic related issues.

The Public Diplomacy division of the Ministry of External Affairs made its debut recently on Twitter with the ID IndianDiplomacy which was used recently very successfully during the recent crises in Libya and the Middle East.

Let’s assume for a second that you know Portuguese and dislike a loud mouth named Galvao and wish to say “Shut your mouth, Galvao”! Not only do you wish to say it loud and clear, you wish to circulate it to the millions of Brazilian brethren who also hate Galvao with a passion. The three words in Portuguese are Cala Boca Galvao.

You strategize that Tweeting it will create a huge momentum that will, hopefully, help shut Galvao’s mouth.

And why is Galvao so despised?