Infinite thoughts

We are hearing the spread of fake news via social media - FB or WA. Government is also trying to muscle its power to curb the spread of rumors via WA. UN study is also relating the violence with FB engagement. This is essentially is getting caused due to speed at which the digital media can travel. A single person can send the same message to potentially thousands of people over WA or can simply post it on FB and hundreds of his/her friend can see it. Government is trying to finding a digital equivalent of " Sec 144 (unlawful assembly) " and is forcing WhatsApp to help with means and tools to achieve the same. In a real world (i.e. before digital world), it took time to spread any news. There were only limited ways people could communicate with each other. Either meet in person or pick up a phone and talk to another person. If you are a bad guy and wanted to spread fake news/rumor, you would want to do it silently without attracting any unnecessary attention. This ...

Clipping from newspaper talking about problems faced by physical book industry Today's newspaper carried an article underlining the fact that in general the tendency to purchase books is reducing. True it is. Landscape is changed in last several years. There are changes at social, behavioral, technical and mental levels. And book industry, at least regional book industry, hasn't changed much. Social: Number of nuclear families has gone up. They have shifted to smaller places. This means lesser space available for books. People are also engaging in lot more varied activities, which were not available in the past - lot of newer sports, adventure sports, various hobbies, parties, movies, get-togethers and what not. The extent of all such activities was considerably lower say about 20 years back. Reading books was a favorite activity during free time and at times at the cost of studies/work 😉 Behavioral: People are commuting a lot. Spending mo...

After Pune Traffic Police, it is now PMPML (Pune Mahanagar Pariwahan Mahamandal Limited) who has started using the social media to promote their drives and improve their services through crowd sourcing. Pune Traffic police conducted some nice initiatives by inviting the citizens to post the photographs of offending vehicles (parking in no-parking area/non-standardized number plates/encroachment by private offices/restaurants on public parking space etc). The police ensured that the complaints registered so are addressed, the update is posted on the Facebook along with the action taken and the concerned police station/police officer's name/contact no. Although this is just a start, if continued persistently, this will go a long way to help improve the traffic chaos in the Pune city. Now that PMPML has also launched its own facebook page , we'd see some similar action on this front from PMPML. I have my own reservations about PMPML and hence about this initiative too. As part of...

After a long time of inactivity, I have become very much active socially. Facebook , twitter , Blog are some forms which are helping individuals to remain connected socially. In these days of busy lifestyle, we don't find much time to connect with other folks - friends and relatives. But given the very nature of Human Being, he/she is ought to be a social person, barring few exceptions off course :) These social media have helped in fulfilling this basic need in a very effective manner. No, I am not saying these platforms are replacements for in-person conversations, but these are definitely feeling the gaps. If these wouldn't have been there, how would I connect to a friend sitting in the Uncle Sam's country and still both of us are updated about each other? At times it also helps in converting acquaintances into good friends. Few of you might also have experienced that there's very less "fear of rejection", since the rejection would happen in private and not...

Had heard about this network for quite some time, finally today got registered with them. I am yet to explore the full strength of this networking site, but, nonetheless I am looking forward to a better experience. While talking about the social networking sites in Indian context, you can't miss Orkut . But unfortunately, it has failed to keep my interest over a period of time. I still login to Orkut check my friends' profiles, do some profile hopping but that's it. It's not keeping me hooked on to that service any more. Hoping to get some good things from this linked in service. Here is my profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/mandarbehere Related links: Hatred