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.

Tweeting, what’s that? Texting? Not allowed. Orkut? Banned. This is the scene in undergrad Journalism schools in Bangalore where students are more media savvy than their teachers. A few days ago I was at a Journalism Students Forum in one of the undergraduate colleges in Bangalore. The topic under discussion was “The Role of Media in Social Change.”

Media experts went on a historic tirade about the role of print media in India’s freedom struggle, and about Television serving packaged news. But they seemed completely clueless on the impact of social media. Had they heard of Obama winning the elections using social media? If USA is too far away from their mind, had they heard of the pink chaddi campaign back home that left the communal rascals shamefaced and democracy had won, thanks to New Media.

Because it’s topical, it’s fun, it’s participatory and it works across boundaries of geography, demography, hierarchy and class! It is frustratingly difficult to measure the results of using social media (if you are really keen, go here) but it’s impossible to ignore the phenomenon. Our resident expert, Jyothi Kiran, Digital Anthropologist, has her thoughts on social media here, in a paper called Addicted to Anonymity. It’s a good read, even if we say so ourselves.

Social media is quite unlike traditional media, which pushed content and dictated what you should be reading or listening to. Remember, this is 2010? The media landscape has changed with blogs, networking sites and user generated video. Remember, member of Indian parliament Shashi Tharoor is using social media, the president of South Africa is using it, the prime minister of Norway is using it and so is the Queen of Jordan? Oh yes, Bill Gates is using it too. So why should you be left behind?

Some weeks ago, a journalist called up and asked a pertinent question, “How can viral marketing help a small and medium enterprise in India?”

Viral marketing requires two things for success: a message that is useful and a high pass-along rate. Otherwise it is doomed for failure. It’s not enough to have a well-crafted message – but equally critical to ensure it is interesting/ outrageous. Viral marketing can take many shapes: from a simple email forward to people recommending videos to their friends. SMEs should especially consider viral marketing as it is low cost, low risk and has the potential to produce quick results. Viral marketing is a powerful tool that can help deliver offers to your market/ target group, help you build a database and give your brand visibility.

That’s, of course, all very well, but how should a SME build the viral effect? The answers vary for each SME.