What part of ‘No Automated DMs’ don’t you understand?

Posted by Bhavishya Kanjhan on Jul 6, 2010 in social media | 0 comments

I know this is neither a ‘current’ topic of discussion nor an exciting one but it got me thinking again after I received a couple of auto-DMs from both individuals and businesses after I followed them. I was immediately put off by it, but then I thought maybe I’m being too much of a purist, and maybe with a more practical approach they did have some utility. So I decided to put the question out there to collect the wisdom of the crowds.

The answer was a resounding ‘No’. You can see some of the responses as embedded tweets below

The rest of the responses were in the same vein. But it seems many Social Media ‘Experts’ and Agencies continue to do this. So I’m forced to ask,
What part of ‘No Automated DMs’ don’t you understand? Is it the No? Or is it the Automated DMs?

7 things Facebook needs to fix for Businesses

Posted by Bhavishya Kanjhan on Jul 5, 2010 in social media | 1 comment

There is no doubt about the fact that Facebook is a pretty good Community engagement platform. By introducing pages, Facebook has let businesses converse with their audience on a platform they are already at. However Facebook’s offering is far from perfect and the whole experience leaves a lot to be desired. Here we talk about 5 annoyances Facebook needs to fix in order to make it that much more useful.

1. Allow Pages to post to other Pages, Profiles, Groups

Right now, individuals may post to individuals, pages and groups, but pages can only post on the page itself. If a page admin wants to promote itself on other pages, he has to do it from his personal profile. By allowing pages to post on other pages, Facebook allows admins to cross promote linked pages. Issues of spam can be solved with a simple delete/report/mark as spam button as exists on Groups currently.

2. Allow Admins to comment as Individuals as well as Pages

Many a time there are comments and posts on a page that need not warrant a response by the page, but a reply or a like from an individual is nice. Or maybe a discussion veers into an area where page involvement may not always be appropriate but an individual may indulge in it. Allow admins to choose whether they want to do an action as  a page or an individual instead of restricting them to only ‘Page’ as it is setup right now.

3. Notifications on Interactions by Email

Yes it is the job of a community manager to thoroughly monitor the Facebook fan page, but email notifications will make life simpler for page admins. Allow users to subscribe to email updates for a particular discussion, comment or photo so they can stay updated on certain time-critical topics.

4. Allow Page Creator to be different from Page Owner

More often than not, it’s your intern or agency who creates the Facebook page for you. While it is necessary they have administrator access to your page, what happens when your intern leaves on a not-so-pleasant note, or you switch agencies and they aren’t too happy about it. Setting up the page by allowing the real  owner to indisputable rights lets you separate the two. An absolute god mode if you may. In fact, different access rights to admins may actually be a good thing.

5. Fans be allowed to contact Admin

Groups show who the creators and administrators of the page are. For fanpages, there is no such feature. So unless a contact form tab is specifically created, users have no way to contact the page admins. This can be fixed if Facebook itself were to provide a simple form with a ‘Contact page admin’ link under the profile picture.

6. Share Access to Ads

While Facebook may be an engagement driven platform, Ads are an important component of Facebook Marketing. The problem lies in the fact that only the ad creator gets access to it, and all modifications need to be routed through that user. Even wanting to check performance requires an export of the report by the creator and then send it via email. Again, setting up an access level system for users would solve this problem.

7. Collaboration, Collaboration, Collaboration

This problem is specific to pages with multiple admins. Right now admins work individually with no real way to trace back what action was taken by which admin. The problem is minimized if the admins are physically close and/or communicate well, but a log of actions in the admin section would increase accountability and collaboration. Moreover a view of the page by any admin may display “Admin: Username” to display what action/comment is attributed to an admin would allow them to keep tabs on each others actions minimizing the need for manual action logging by users.

These are some of the annoyances I’ve faced when working with clients on Fan pages. Have you had any similar experiences?

UAE loves to socialize

Posted by Bhavishya Kanjhan on Jul 1, 2010 in Events | 2 comments

It finally happened, the first Social Media Day was celebrated all across the world including the UAE and it was a huge success. UAE’s version of it was held at The Shelter in Al Quoz, Dubai. The event was spearheaded by @mita56 , but in a true social manner, it was crowd-sourced with helping coming in from various means. The evening saw a turn out of over 200 people which included both individuals and businesses.

The main area had a bazaar style layout with businesses on either ends – everything from Home made toffees like @toffeeprincess to training companies like @Loomni – who got the platform to connect to a community they wouldn’t have otherwise gotten. . The event even had an iPad 360 give away by @me360 and the lucky winner for that was @Dorksterdave. Local student darlings @campusradiome was present broadcasting live from the venue and despite my requests, they did not let me read the news. The inside room featured talks. The event also featured community talks which were on topics ranging from Nutrition among Emirati Society to Educating for Road Safety.

The atmosphere, as is always at such an event, was very jovial. People formed new relationships and strengthened existing ones.

Pictures from the event can be seen here (by @mich1mich) and here (by @faisalkhatib)

I discuss Online Privacy and what it means for Businesses & Users

Posted by Bhavishya Kanjhan on Jun 28, 2010 in Published, social media | 0 comments

“What is left of privacy has become the user’s responsibility to control what they put up online, since anything you put up online can become public – one way or another; the phrase ‘Online Privacy’ is now nothing more than an oxymoron.

Suddenly marketers are sitting on unprecedented levels of data, opening up a new world of opportunities limited only by their definition of it.”

Read the entire article on Emirates Business 24/7

Social Media Day comes to UAE – #SMDayUAE

Posted by Bhavishya Kanjhan on Jun 22, 2010 in Events | 0 comments

Mashable believes Social Media deserves a day of its own. And why not, Social Media has dramatically affected a lot of things we do daily. So 30th June is the date when enthusiasts and businesses will meet up worldwide to celebrate #SMDay. Local twelebrity Mita Srinivasan (@mita56) is heading the efforts to celebrate Social Media Day here in the UAE. Of course, as is the case with all things Social Media, she is getting support from the community.

The event takes place on the 30th of June at The Shelter although celebrations will begin on 26th June with Social Media Week (#SMWeek on Twitter) with local businesses offering special promotions as “Social Media Offers” at their venues and web locations.

Businesses can register their interest for Social Media day here

Individual may RSVP on the Facebook Event page and become a fan on the fanpage. For updates follow @SMdayUAE