You, Me and Miss Social

We, Homo sapiens, have evolved a lot, from scribbling wall paintings in ‘caves’ to online ‘social media’ posts. One thing hasn’t changed much, though - the craving for being needed, loved and belonged. So, is there anything anti-social about social media?

 

Hold on. This is not the love story of Adam, Eve and the forbidden fruit. This is about you, me and Miss Social (media), in the context of present times, where technology has invaded our personal lives like never before. Step on to the era of Services like Instagram, Google Plus, Twitter and Facebook which encourage users to share from the rooftop every life event as material to be viewed and commented on.

 

Strange, isn’t it? Love and relationships have turned buttons of “likes” - and so are self-expressions. Indeed, in a fast paced world, isolated from real one-on-one relationship, the enigma is stark clear. While the average adult Facebook user has more than 300 friends, in reality, research indicates, average adult has far fewer friends - perhaps just a couple of good ones, in many cases.

Scratch the surface, and dig deeper into the consciousness. What do you see? We have mutated into a species that will invariably have its fingers on a digital device or keyboard at all times. Look at the irony, cut off from the real world and avoiding actual human contact, we still claim to be high on the social, glued on to the touch screens.

Our happiness has become a measure of the number of “likes” we get on that new FB photo. We feel elated when we get too many RT’s on that tweet of ours? Often, we “like” or “RT” a friend’s post or tweet with a latent desire of being reciprocated in return.  We have started rating our popularity and clout in terms of the “followers” we have.

The reason: Our actions on Social Media sites are acting as a potent tool to gratify our inherent desire to be ‘needed’ in the ever increasing tsunami of information, nuclear families, stressed lives and aching hearts. In an increasingly connected world, may be your lonely hearts and minds are gasping for an iota of “attention and recognition.” So much so that there is an unspoken war out there to own that fraction of that attention span.

Behind the pink social status of carefully selected, ever happy ‘photos, and ‘texts’ lies the rising emptiness and isolations of real-life social belongingness. So, strong is the charm of social forums that unknowingly you get addicted to “likes” on social media as an affirmation of your identity. Indeed, fame is now reduced to its most basic ingredient: public attention.

Look at the paradox, friendship and love becomes a score keeping of the “likes”, “followers” or “RTs”. The real humor is “all is well” on social media. Often, everyone is happy. And, there are a thousand ways to flaunt happiness and self-worth, at the click of a button or filter.

Yet, there is little “social” about the social media. For instance, we don’t have to have a face-to-face discussion to end a relationship; it can all be done with a click of a button, just Unfriend. Perhaps this one-button-does-everything mentality that we’re now so used to is making us less social (or social, pun intended) and more insensitive to the feelings of others. The question is does it allude to the existential crisis that has infected us in today’s fast paced life?

Well! Who among us has never experienced the desire to be liked, a bit more, just a little bit more than others? Indeed, deep within us lies an inherent trait which craves for a constant reassurance of being loved, recognized and needed. And, this desire sprouts right from the cradle to the grave. There's a very human need for intimate, one-to-one communications.

The concern though is social media helps fuel feelings of isolation, anxiety and self-doubt to an extent. Some research indicates that the longer people spent on Facebook each week, the more they agreed that everyone else was happier, prettier and had better lives.

Being on the short end of someone’s social media endorsements can create feelings of anxiety, inadequacy, and irritation, while being too generous with your own social media praise can feel one-sided when left unreciprocated. Often, it can facilitate jealousy and suspicion in romantic relationships and open up new modes for stalking and harassment.

Ironically, a fear of missing out (FOMO) on something better can make you miss out on all the things you do have going on in your life right now. This anxiety tends to cause compulsive behaviors, like checking out other social situations even as you are in the middle of one currently. Unfortunately, FOMO can lead to many acquaintances but no close friends.

Think about it. While we might think social success looks like an endless envy-inducing Instagram feed, isn’t it actually about connecting with other people in a way that feeds your soul?

For some, social media is the place where your ‘psyche’ and ‘social capital’ by virtue of your relationship traces is stripped and searched, and reduced to data that is aggregated, sliced, diced and ‘used’ to mint money or mold minds. Isn’t it a strange feeling when Facebook enters your private address book with WhatsApp. To some, this gives rise to the notion of users losing control of their information to advertisers and third-party platforms.

Take a pause. What happens to the invasion of privacy as the uninhibited culture of 'say everything' from vacations to break-ups to what I had for dinner last night? Careless self-revelations have run havoc in the past. Careers have been ruined, childhoods and marriages destroyed, privacy invaded and exploited, all in the name of sharing.

Did you hear this? Recently, a counter movement of users has formed, deciding to leave social networks by quitting their accounts (i.e., virtual identity suicide) driven by privacy concerns.

What’s on your mind?  Whatever…Who cares? Love it or hate it, you can’t avoid a date with Miss Social.

The Blogger is Kiran Kumar Yellupula:  The views expressed here are purely personal. Please share your feedback at mediavalue@yahoo.com

 

Sailing Smart during Tough Times

To succeed and thrive in this era of rapid change, one needs to think and act ambidextrous. What this means is inculcating a Janus like spirit, a strong vision of the future rooted in the social context of the present.

How does one sail smart during tough times? Which is a more critical arsenal, marketing or innovation for business success? Such questions become more pertinent, as growing economic turbulence, and shrunk technology life cycles have made austerity the new normal and continual innovation the imperative for survival.

However hard one may try, there is no escape from resolving the above dilemma which we often face. Yes, this is all about the paradox of exploiting the present and exploring the future. And, this calls for honing  new skills, a set of hybrid skills, a multidisciplinary approach, rooted strongly in adaptive collaboration, and constant experimentation. The future demands a new breed of knowledge workers: who combine broad understanding of business with deep practical execution in a functional area.

To succeed and thrive in this era of rapid change, one needs to think and act ambidextrous. What this means is inculcating a Janus like spirit, a strong vision of the future rooted in the social context of the present. Where strategy and execution are a continuum of the same river, and transcend the narrow barriers of the execution trap. The metaphor of the two-faced god ancient Roman God, Janus connotes transitions and transformation as he looks to the future and to the past.

The real challenge lies in accomplishing this balance of past, present and future, mastering the science of exploring new avenues and the art of exploiting existing ones. Indeed, this is easier said than done. While Ambidexterity is tough to master, individuals, businesses, and nations alike have little choice, but to improve their Janus Quotient (JQ). This is more relevant to a country like India, which has slipped to a dismal rank of 66 in the global innovation index.

What is required is blending the traditional arsenal of the vision, risk tolerance, adaptive spirit and agility needed to score early-mover edge with a persistent focus on futuristic skills to outsmart competition.

To infuse ambidexterity, we must understand the diversity and dynamism of our environment and implement the appropriate approach. Each approach requires a different set of interventions and implies a radicle shift that can helps us make that uncanny choice at the right time to stimulate incremental or disruptive ideas that resides at the intersection of invention and insight.

Regardless of which approach we choose, we just need an ounce of common sense to catalyze success. The problem is in today’s fast paced life, common sense has become very uncommon, almost facing extinction. Indeed, the biggest truths are simplest. Yet, we miss them past in the mundane grind. It is high time, we start asking questions like kids, without any biases, and look beyond the obvious for answers.

A perfect Janus’s Quotient (JQ) calls for thinking outside the box, empowering the bottom of the pyramid, and creating value in a social context, for ourselves, businesses and society. Empowerment is the key words as a flock of choice less doers at the grassroots can have a crippling effect. A balanced exploratory and exploitative approach is a precursor to this. This holds true whether we are focusing on personal goals, or experimenting with new products, process or business models that impact business and societal progress.

Make no mistake. Only innovation will help us differentiate, to score competitive edge, one country from the next, as well as one economy from the next.  And, those equipped with the right skills will set and lead the innovation agenda. For instance, marketing and innovation can be thought as a two sides of the same coin that work in synergy to accelerate a firm’s success. This is vital as many marketing managers often dream up creative campaigns to drive top-line sales but shy away from the balance sheet impact of their promotional programs.

Calibrating success in a world where information rules necessities starting gathering and contextualizing the data, drawing rich insights, and using these insights to create relevant, personalized, targeted experiences that help enhance the productivity and deliver on metrics to drive success. The best way is to break the inertia and start small as real innovation is about incremental gains, not always about world-changing discoveries.

This will pave way for adaptability, scalability and sustainability of ideas that matter, and can act as catalysts for accelerating .the progress of the human race. We just have to work as a global community to embrace open collaboration, and take the leap to the future. Are we ready?

The Blogger is Kiran Kumar Yellupula:  The views expressed here are purely personal. Please share your feedback at mediavalue@yahoo.com