This document contains personal information about Suraj Gopan and introduces a white paper he has authored on social media in South Asian countries. The white paper examines how social media has grown and impacted these countries. It defines social media, discusses how it has impacted Suraj personally and professionally, analyzes the strata of social media in India and how it has impacted various areas in India including politics, business, and consumerism. Examples are provided of successful social media campaigns in India. In closing, the document aims to add value by sharing Suraj's perspectives on social media.

1. PERSONAL INFORMATION
Name:
Suraj Gopan
Email Address: surajgopakumar.89@gmail.com
Contact:
+91 8104417456
+91 8854062988
Occupation:
Marketing & Branding
Designation:
Asst. Manager
Organization:
Pyrotech Workspace Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

2. WHITE PAPER
PRESENTED BY
SURAJ GOPAN
surajgopakumar.89@gmail.com
+91 810 441 7456

3. TITLE
SOCIAL MEDIA & ITS RELEVANCE, GROWTH & IMAPCT
ON SOUTH ASIAN COUNTRIES
AIM OF SUBMITTING WHITE PAPER
This White Paper is an attempt from my side
to bring my ideas and perspectives of Social
M e d i a o n p a p e r s , t o t ra n s l a t e my
understanding of Social Media in to words. To
address the concer ns the business
community has, regarding the scope and
prospect of Social Media in INDIA.

4. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
From the time I got introduced to Social Media, I have always got
fascinated about its idea, its span and the level to which it can expand.
So, when I saw this opportunity to pen down my thoughts on the
subject, I wanted to be a part of it.
The aim of submitting this White Paper is to throw some light on the
various Social Media platforms that are catching up with our nation’s
growth and how they have been able to impact the lives of Indians
from the grass root level to the top level.
I have went on to put together some amount of data about the
penetration of Social Media in India and how it has impacted our
nation. I have mentioned about the frequency of my Social Media
usage and the platforms and networks which help me accomplish my
goals. Social Media can prove to be a tremendous tool to bridge the
communication boundaries between countries. I have used three
illustrations to elaborate how Social Media as a tool has helped
Nations, communities spread their voice across the globe.
This document shows examples of how the people in Israel and Iran
used the Social Media platform to communicate with each other, when
both their governments were against each other and an eminent war
situation was at hand. Then we go on to see some of the positive and
negative impacts of Social Media and then to define the various Social
Media platforms, their use and shortcomings.
I sincerely hope this document adds value to the purpose it wants to
serve.
Regards
Suraj

5. What according to you is Social Media and how it
has impacted your life or your organization?
DEFINING OF SOCIAL MEDIA
For defining Social Media, I have to walk through two different facets
of the virtual communication platform, as a Consumer and as a
Marketer.
As
a Consumer, Social Media is a podium to share, gain and
exchange ideas. It empowers us in our decision making, to make the
right choice from the cluster of contents screaming out to reach us.
The last decade or so has seen Social Media become a religion, which
enables creation of virtual relationships across continents.
As a marketer, Social Media is a platform which enables access to gain
multiple insights to consumer generated media. Social Media is the
gateway to reach the respective consumer segments with minimalistic
resources being employed(both monetary & non-monetary).
Social Media is a responsive, proactive & engaging medium to build
trust and create brand loyalty in a rapidly changing consumer
segment.
A “Collective Content Sharing Platform” is a way to define Social
Media, which allows its millions of users to post, share and be the
curator of their own content.
Social Media is a convergence of Broadcasting, Audio, video, Text and
Internet Telephony, all these communication mediums put together on
one platform, makes Social Media stand out.
Social Media acts as a ‘Knowledge Sharing’ portal which empowers its
users to become advocates of information and ideas being virally
shared on its different properties, be it Blogs, Micro blogs, Social
sharing sites, Networking sites, Product Review pages etc.

6. IMPACTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA
They say human being is a Social Animal, thus our communication
with each other plays a major role in our life.
Social Media has tremendously impacted not only our personal
communication, also our professional communication as well.
I believe the 3 major factors of Social Media which has caused such an
impact in our life, or made the Social Media phenomenon, so readily
acceptable, are:
No Time Barrier
No Monetary Barrier
No Resource Barrier
The world lives 24*7 on Social Media.
A person does not have to wait for a specific time to check into his/her
social account. Social Media has erased the vulnerability of time limits,
which were one of the drawbacks of various social
communities/groups prevalent before, making it readily acceptable
among folks.
Social Media is free of cost.
One does not have to pay to use or be a part of the Social Media. It
enables its users to reach out to their connections far across continents,
free of any cost, making it a favorite form of communication among
the users.
Social Media can be reached and used with minimal resources.
A person can use a Social Media website with his
mobile/laptop/computer. Earlier is was just computer, then came
laptop, then mobile and now tablets. In India, one can buy a tablet at
Rs.3000, which means the basic means to gain access to a social
media site is very minimal.

7. HOW SOCIAL MEDIA HAS IMPACTED ME
CONNECTIVITY
Social Media helps me find friends with whom I had lost connection
years back. I can easily drop a message on his/her social profile,
without searching around for their mobile number.
DEVELOP SKILL SETS
Social Media enables me to develop my skills and learn the various
skills and practices being followed in different industry segments.
Eg: When I started my job in my first and current company, I was just
a management post graduate, with very little knowledge in various
aspects of design and lacked the necessary skills in various software
used in Catalogue & Brochures.
I had discussions with professionals in the design industry through
Social Media, who gave me great insights regarding my queries.
Social Media sites like Youtube and Vimeo had free tutorials which
helped me get acclimatized with this field.
COLLECTIVE CONTENT SHARING
The Collective Content Sharing platform provided by Social Media
helps me post my blog and other articles & get instant reviews from
users across the globe. I can easily ask a person sitting on some other
part of the globe to review my posted contents and give me a feeback.
IMPROVES EFFICIENCY
Social Media keeps me updated on the various news and events
happening across the globe.
Eg: Sometimes it happens so that, I am unable to get my morning
newspaper, the Social pages of various news papers gives me
regular updates.
The Linked In Influencers program is another fantastic example of
how Social Media helps its users to keep themselves on the track of
industry trends.

8. HOW SOCIAL MEDIA HAS IMPACTED ME
SOCIAL PROFILE
Social Media enables me and a million other users to create our own
social profiles. A profile which will give a first hand information to
anybody wanting to know more about us.
Eg: Few months back, I had to hire a graphic designer for our
company. We got an idea about his professional qualification for his
resume, but wanted to know something more about the candidate.
So went went through his social profile on Facebook and Linked In.
This helped us in making a more accurate decision.
VIRALITY
As a marketer, if my advert or campaign is to go viral, the best and
the most cost effective resource available to me is Social Media.
Social Media with its millions of members, empowers me to reach
out to my target group, with just a click of a mouse.
SOCIAL MEDIA AND E-COMMERCE
The various e-commerce portals have simplified my life and altered
my purchase decisions.
The integration of e-commerce with Social Media, has created a lot
of new benefits to me.
As a consumer, I can go to the vendor’s social page, to find out about
new product launches. If I have to lodge a compliant, or ask a
query, I can put up a message on the vendor’s social page, which
guarantees a quick response.

9. What are strata of Social Media in your country?
How Social Media has impacted your country?
STRATA OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Multiple Industries, Celebrities, Communities, Politicians, Corporate
Houses, are all present on various Social Media sites. Creation of
one’s virtual profile has become the call of the day.
eMarketer estimates that more than 76 million people in India will use
social networking sites at least monthly this year, up 51.7% from last
year’s total. Double digit growth users will mean that by 2014, 83% of
internet users in the country will regularly access social networks.
That’s significantly higher penetration of internet users using social
sites than is expected in the US the same year, where eMarketer
projects the share will be just 68%.
Social Media users and penetration in India, 2010-2014:
2010: 33.1 million
2011: 50.2 million
2012: 76.1 million
2013: 105.0 million
2014: 129.3 million
Social Media has now become a part of everyday life of a majority of
Indians.
According to research conducted by The Nielson Company in
collaboration with AbsolutData, nearly 30 million Indians who are
online are members of Social Media and two-thirds of them spend
time on social networking sites daily.

10. Among the top platforms, visitors were most engaged on Facebook,
spending an average of nearly 4 hours on it. Visitors spent nearly 2.5
hours on Google sites, with Youtube accounting for a strong share on
time spent on Social Media.
The total Indian Social networking audience grew 43% in the past year,
more than triple the rate of growth of total internet audience in India.
DATA REGARDING VARIOUS SOCIAL MEDIA SITE USERS
FACEBOOK: 82 million+
TWITTER : 13 million+
LINKED IN : 20 million+
GOOGLE+: 12.3 million+
Facebook is the dominant Social Networking site with a reach that is
nearly 7 times than its higher competitor Google+.
Social networking is one of the top activities for smart phone users in
India, fueled by the simultaneous growth of Social Media and smart
phone adoption in the country, according to Nielson. Social
networking apps offer seamless integration with other phone functions
enabling instant photo sharing, updates, website links and more.
Nielson Informate analysis of Social Media usage trends for
Android smart phone users in India uncovered the following
insights:
- Social Networking properties(apps/sites) are the most accessed,
second only to search
- Facebook leads the list, Google+ comes in second
- The Facebook app is very sticky with an average user logging in 17
days a month

11. 93% of Android smart phone users in India, used Social Media on their
smart phones in April 2012, from 86% in October 2011. The level
reached 86% via Apps, and 66% via websites.
Nielsonwire, May 2012, research data states that, the most preferred
way to access a Social Media site is through the application.
Integration with other Social Media sites, and with phone features (eg.
camera, browser) make the app a convenient one stop solution.
The Indian population spends more time on Social Media than they do
using personal email. The study by The Nielson Company found that
an equal number spend up to an hour on Social Media and Email.
However while just 8% spend between an hour and three hours on
personal email, 20% spend the same time on Social Media sites.
ACTIVITIES PERFORMED ON SOCIAL MEDIA IN INDIA
- Checking Updates: 86%
- Send Messages/Mail: 82%
- Share/View Photographs: 81%
- Get In Touch With Old Friends/Colleagues: 79%
- Watch Videos/Movies or Listen To Music: 73%
- Keep In Touch With Family Members: 73%
- Use Site’s Applications: 63%
- Participate In Discussions On Issues/Products/Services: 58%
- Find Out More About Prospective Spouse/Girlfriend/Boyfriend: 52%
- Play Games: 51%
- Keep Track Of Ex-Partner: 46%
- Research Future Employer/Employee: 43%

12. HOW SOCIAL MEDIA HAS IMPACTED MY COUNTRY
The knowledge and access of Social Media is on a steady increase in
India. Infrastructure problems thrive in my country, yet India is seeing a
steady adoption of Social Media.
Today, India is the world’s second fastest growing online population
with 31% year-over-year growth, 6x the rate of global internet
population growth, states the ComScore 2013 report.
The leader in measuring the digital world has released its “2013 India
Digital Future In Focus” report which states that India with 73.9 million
web users accessing the Internet, is the world’s third largest Internet
population, overtaking Japan but behind China and the US. However,
the report excludes mobile users and considers only users above the
age group of 15+ accessing from a home or work PC.
Com Score India Digital Future In Focus Report 2013

13. HOW SOCIAL MEDIA HAS IMPACTED MY COUNTRY
Social Media has impacted Individuals, Business Houses, Politicians,
Celebrities, Social Communities in a way no other social platform had
in recent times.
The Collective Sharing Interface offered by Social Media helps anyone
to become the curator of viral contents.Users are allowed to become
the creator/advocate of contents through blogs, social sharing, micro
blogs, websites, micro websites, and various networking sites.
Social Media is playing a crucial role in altering individual perceptions,
changing user behaviour and mental attitudes of a huge Indian
population.
Starting from Political parties, Celebrities, Fan Page to Business Brand
profiles can be found on various Social Media properties. Below given
are the snap shots of some of the famous Indian Social Pages...
ALL INDIA CONGRESS
75,346 likes
NARENDRA MODI
3,469,332 likes

14. HOW SOCIAL MEDIA HAS IMPACTED MY COUNTRY
AR.REHMAN
13,905,495 likes
VODAFONE ZOOZOOS
15,136,586 likes
INDIAN AIR FORCE
1,039,067 likes

15. HOW SOCIAL MEDIA HAS IMPACTED MY COUNTRY
Social Media encourages its users to be more participative and
interactive.
India in the past two years has seen micro blogging sites likeTwitter
share news faster than traditional media channels, as more and more
people are using it not only for their personal events but most
importantly as an information sharing medium and a collective
knowledge sharing channel with other people across the world.
SOCIAL MEDIA & INDIAN MARKETING
Marketers in India are expecting to increase the use of Social Media
and email to reach their customers, according to Octane Research,
“Gearing Up For Growth: India e-Marketing Outlook” report.
Almost 69% of marketers in India, said they planned to adopt Social
Media marketing in the coming year, and 53.1% plan to invest in email
marketing. 46% of marketers also plan to pay more attention to
developing company websites.
Some of the most successful recent campaigns are listed below:
Microsoft India had launched an
extensive Social Media campaign
for promoting “Office 365”.
From ‘#sorryboss’ on Twitter to
‘Completely Boss’ on Facebook,
Office365 had it all covered.

16. HOW SOCIAL MEDIA HAS IMPACTED MY COUNTRY
Fashionable eye wear brand Vogue Eyewear
from Italy based Luxottica Group had recently
signed up Deepika Padukone as its Indian Brand
Ambassador.
A microsite was created which housed the
world’s largest fan generated mosaic where
fans were asked to guess the celebrity endorser.
In a bid to launch a new range of innovative
products towards a brighter living, Godrej
embarked on a story telling approach this
March.
During IPL 6, actor Amir Khan dressed up as a
woman , in the Godrej commercials and
gradually unfolded its new products one by one.
Simultaneously a Social Media sync was created
to ensure a stronger recall.
SOCIAL MEDIA & INDIAN CONSUMERISM
Nearly 40 million Indians are using Social Media/Online reviews to
inform purchase decisions- 67% of Indians who are on the web use
online reviews to help them make purchase decisions. As personal
opinions gain currency on the social web, online users are seeking
various outlets to express themselves, be it blogs or Social Media.
In India, eight out of ten people from urban areas who buy cars use the
internet to search for information on brands and products before
making a purchase.

17. HOW SOCIAL MEDIA HAS IMPACTED MY COUNTRY
Increasingly, Indians also want brands to communicate with them
using social media. 60% Indians who are on the Social Media, are
open to be approached by brands indicating that Social Media has the
ability to change the dynamics between brands and consumers who
are typically time-starved and may consider traditional forms of
advertising obtrusive and undesirable. ( Nielsen, May 2011)
SOCIAL MEDIA & INDIAN POLITICS
Social Media will play a good role in the Indian General elections, it
will not a highly crucial role this time around, but an important one
nonetheless.
The Tata Tea “Jaago Re” campaign has been very successful in the
Television media, and it has also been well accepted in the Social
Media platform as well.
Politicians like Narendra Modi, has been highly active in the Social
Media, generating more than 30 lakhs of likes in his Facebook pages.
The Modi campaign is also active on twitter, with more than 20 lakh
followers.
The All India Congress Party has also created their Facebook and
twitter profiles, with some of their major leaders like Kapil Sibal,
P Chidambaram, Rahul Gandhi all having twitter accounts.
.
SOCIAL MEDIA & INDIAN SOCIETY
Social Media has enabled many communities in India to share their
line of thoughts and practices on the digital platform. It enables them
to reach out to people and show more about their ideologies.

18. HOW SOCIAL MEDIA HAS IMPACTED MY COUNTRY
The Social Page Of An
Indian Community.
The Social Page Of An
Indian Community.
Social Media has enabled us to spread perspectives on various social
issues, changes and ideas through its easy sharing features.
SOCIAL MEDIA & INDIAN STREET JOURNALISM
Social Media has given a heavy boost to Street Journalism/Citizen
Journalism, and enables us citizens to play an active role in collecting,
reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information.
Social Media users can report breaking news more quickly than the
traditional media channels.
The power of citizen journalism was seen during the floods that
wreaked havoc in Uttarakhand and various other parts of North India.

19. Do you think, Social Media is able to bridge
the communication boundaries among countries?
Social Media has become a significant platform for bridging the cross
cultural communication boundaries between people in countries all
over the world, allowing them to share interests, desires, fears etc. on a
universally human level in groups or as individuals.
Three examples are illustrated below to elaborate this.
LOVE DEVELOPED BETWEEN ISRAEL & IRAN CITIZENS
The situation between Iran and Israel, where both the Governments
were issuing threats of war and all the topics available on the various
channels of communication were about the eminent war and the
tension between the two countries.
It is not possible to dial an Iranian number from an Israeli telephone. It
will not simply go through, this lack of communication stems from the
government level.
But for this was not an hurdle for people wanting to communicate
through the Social Media. Israeli graphic designer, Ronny Edry,
plastered memes over his images then posted them on Facebook.
The response to his post was overwhelming, in a few hours he got
hundreds of shares and thousands of likes.

20. SOCIAL MEDIA TO BRIDGE COMMUNICATION
BOUNDARIES BETWEEN COUNTRIES
Thanks to Youtube videos, Facebook pages, Twitter messages from
people in both countries, overall support has increased for further
dialogue between Israel and Iran, and helped promote peaceful
demonstrations and other efforts in opposition of a possible war.
In a particular video there are mothers, fathers, teachers, students,
and engineers who have come together to show their support for
peace and understanding between the two countries.
Additionally, Facebook pages such as “Israel Loves Iran” are bringing
people together onto a single platform to share their ideas.
ISRAEL LOVES IRAN
Along with Facebook, Tumblr has also emerged as medium to share
photos and videos among the citizens.The activities on Social media
has reduced the tension between the two countries to a large extent.
Cross -cultural communication could make all the difference for these
nations on the brink of war by spreading respect, empathy, goodwill
and solidarity between the people on both the sides who desire peace.

21. SOCIAL MEDIA TO BRIDGE COMMUNICATION
BOUNDARIES BETWEEN COUNTRIES
NIGERIA: BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN GOVERNMENT &
THE GOVERNED
Until recently, much of the Nigerian citizens have had reasons to
believe they do not have a say in how they are governed.
The growth of internet and Social Media use across Nigeria is ushering
in a change that is taking root and encompassing the whole land,
granting erstwhile silent observers platforms from which to express
feelings in a voice that is almost impossible to drown down, via the
Social Media platforms.
The Arab spring revolts and several national elections across African
continent have clearly exemplified how Social Media networks can be
utilized to push for change.
The youths in Nigeria and many other developing nations are finding
ingenious ways to harness the freedom of Social Media to break the
barriers of traditional media resources. They have come to see the
Social Media as an invariable tool in the furtherance of the quest for
freedom, justice and a better, well administered society.
Through Social Media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Linked in,
Blogs, Youtube etc, the Nigerian citizens have realized that the ease of
communication that these platforms avails them could also be used for
more than just sharing of inter-personal information, but could also be
used to address issues that affect the larger society.
The Nigerian Youth believe that the Social Media platform, which is a
convergence of Broadcasting, Audio, Video, Text & Internet telephony,
will eventually eclipse the traditional media.

22. SOCIAL MEDIA TO BRIDGE COMMUNICATION
BOUNDARIES BETWEEN COUNTRIES
UNITED NIGERIAN YOUTHS
NIGERIAN PROGRESSIVE
YOUTHS
Quoting the Nigerian writer and Social Commentator,
“There was no way elections were going to take place without the
process playing out on Facebook and Twitter. In addition, a move like
President Jonathan’s decision to join Facebook helped in the
‘faddification’ of Social Media. In a country, long ruled by inaccessible
big men, it was a startling revelation to realize we could ‘interact’ with
the President on Facebook.”
The Nigerian Politicians are planning to utilize Social Media as a
means to counter the negative image of the country in the wider world
and as a vehicle to draw in needed foreign investment.

23. SOCIAL MEDIA TO BRIDGE COMMUNICATION
BOUNDARIES BETWEEN COUNTRIES
The Nigerian digital population is also planning to use the Social
Media as a platform to draw innovative ideas from youths, who are
willing to dish out such information for free, at the click of a button.
UGANDA: THE INVISIBLE CHILDREN “KONY 2012”
KONY 2012 is a short film produced by Invisible Children Inc. It was
released on March 5,2012. The film’s purpose was to promote the
charity’s “Stop Kony” movement to make African cult and militia
leader, indicted war criminal and the International Criminal Court
fugitive Joseph Kony globally known in order to have him arrseted by
the end of 2012, when the campaign expired.
The film spread virally, as of October 2012, the film had over 97
million views on the video sharing website Youtube, over 21.9
thousand likes on Vimeo.
The viral video was included among the top international
events of 2012, by PBS and called the most viral video ever
by TIME.
Invisible Children uses Social Media for everything. The group can be
found on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Vimeo etc. Due to the nature of
the cause the group relies heavily on Word-Of-Mouth sharing through
Social Media.

24. SOCIAL MEDIA TO BRIDGE COMMUNICATION
BOUNDARIES BETWEEN COUNTRIES
INVISIBLE CHILDREN
FACEBOOK & TWITTER PAGE
Here are some stats (as of 4/1/12)
FACEBOOK: 3.2 million Likes and 78,290 talking about this
TWITTER: 3,217 Tweets and 410,296 ‘Followers’
YOUTUBE: 261,856 Subscribers and 91,537,820 video views
The campaign resulted in a resolution by the United Sates Senate and
contributed to a decision to send troops by the African Union.
KONY 2012, teaches us that Social Media is a powerful tool to bridge
communication boundaries between nations.

25. List down 5 major positive and negative impacts
that you have noticed because of Social Media?
Social Media as indicated in the earlier sections of this document, is a
strong tool to bridge communication boundaries, share knowledge,
increase interaction etc, but sometimes every good stuff has a dak side
too.
According to me the Positive side of Social Media far outweighs its
Negative side.
Here I will list down certain positive and negative impacts of Social
Media.
POSITIVE IMPACTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA
1. IT EDUCATES (Knowledge Sharing Portal)
Social Media is a knowledge sharing platform, where anybody can
find, access and gain subject specific knowledge at minimal cost.
Social Media helps students to reach out to academic experts easily
and collaborate with peers to gain knowledge.
Employees can improve their skill sets by getting connected with
industry professionals free of cost.
Social Media educates us through informative videos, innovative
articles and viral content.
2. HASTENS & REDUCES COMMUNICATION BARRIERS
With Social Media we are able to communicate our thoughts and
perceptions over different topics with a large number of audience, with
a click of a mouse.
The sharing feature available on Social Media platforms makes our
opinions on any type of content, to be accessed by the huge digital
community.

26. IMPACTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA
3. ENCOURAGES PARTICIPATION
Through the various forums and groups on Social Media, people are
able to voice their opinion on different topics and themes that interest
them.
Social Media enables its users to be more participative.
Users who are introverts by nature, can easily shed of their shyness
through Social Media by communicating with people who are from
similar backgrounds. Social Media also increases their exposure to
different user groups creating a podium for them through self
expression.
4.COLLECTIVE CONTENT SHARING
Social Media is a platform for Collective Content Sharing, where
people from diverse cultural backgrounds can spontaneously start any
discussion. It has enabled a person sitting in one part of the world to
learn, study and interact with a person sitting in another part of the
globe.
Today, the various content sharing social sites have created a sense of
awareness among the country’s youth, about the various practices
and diversity in different parts of the globe.
5. OPPORTUNITIES FOR BUSINESS
Social Media has played a major role in Social Media becoming a part of
our daily lives.Business houses have recognized the value of Social Media
in the consumer’s life, and are using multiple techniques to promote their
brands.
Social Media has made marketing cost effective and made available a
huge fan base to the brands. A number of customized applications have
been created by different brands to secure a place in the consumer’s mind.

27. IMPACTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA
NEGATIVE IMPACTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA
1.SECURITY OF PERSONAL DATA & INFORMATION
As the access to all the social sites is free and information is accessible
to all, the security of one's personal information is of grave concern.
Also the reliability of any stranger is in question, as the account can be
a fake one.
Hackers can use one’s social information and create fake profiles of
the real users.It is up to individual to see that what all information
he/she wishes to put on their social profile for the world to see.
2.LEADS TO ADDICTION
As Social Networking Sites get more and more popular, children are
bound to increase their use. Many studies have shown that a
continuous use of Social Media by children can lead to addiction.
The games and applications given by the Social Media sites takes
them away from physical games and they spend more time on
machines, leading to several health problems.
3.EASY DEFAMATION OF A BRAND
As it takes years to make a tree, but hardly an hour to cut it off. In the
same way, it takes years to build a brand, but only some wrong
comments on social media can ruin the brand identity and can defame
the brand. Once a comment goes viral, it's very difficult to make the
target audience understand the right thing.

28. IMPACTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Sometimes, it so happens that a competitor may create a fake id, and
can put defaming comments on a brands social page, which may to
alteration in a consumers purchase decisions and the harming the
equity of the brand.
4.PRIVACY INVASION
Opening up certain personal moments and incidents and make the
user prone to invasion of their privacy by strangers. The personal
photographs and posts can make them vulnerable to personal
attacks.
5.TAKES AWAY PERSONAL MOMENTS
Today we just a drop a message or chat on site with friends/relatives,
and weeks go by, without calling or meeting them, and we move away
from those personal moments that our parents cherished, once upon a
time.
Today a Grandmother just makes herself happy by seeing her
grandchild's photo on the Facebook, rather than giving them their life's
first bite and having that sensation of first touch of the child.
These personal moments will be long forgotten and will cease to exist if
we make our lives rely entirely upon Social Media.

29. IMPACTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Sometimes, it so happens that a competitor may create a fake id, and
can put defaming comments on a brands social page, which may to
alteration in a consumers purchase decisions and the harming the
equity of the brand.
4.PRIVACY INVASION
Opening up certain personal moments and incidents and make the
user prone to invasion of their privacy by strangers. The personal
photographs and posts can make them vulnerable to personal
attacks.
5.TAKES AWAY PERSONAL MOMENTS
Today we just a drop a message or chat on site with friends/relatives,
and weeks go by, without calling or meeting them, and we move away
from those personal moments that our parents cherished, once upon a
time.
Today a Grandmother just makes herself happy by seeing her
grandchild's photo on the Facebook, rather than giving them their life's
first bite and having that sensation of first touch of the child.
These personal moments will be long forgotten and will cease to exist if
we make our lives rely entirely upon Social Media.

30. Define various Social Media platforms, their
usage, advantages, and their shortcomings?
The various Social Media sites can be broadly classified into six
categories.
- SOCIAL NETWORKS: facebook, linked in
- BOOKMARKING SITES: delicious, stumble upon
-SOCIAL NEWS: digg, reddit
-MEDIA SHARING: youtube, vimeo, flickr, pinterest
-MICRO BLOGGING: twitter, tumblr
-BLOGS & FORUMS: wordpress, blogger, jux

31. SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS
DEFENITION
1. SOCIAL NETWORKS
Services that allow you to connect with other people of similar interests
and background. Usually they consist of a profile, various ways to
interact with other users, ability to setup groups, forums etc.
The most popular are FACEBOOK & LINKED IN
2. BOOKMARKING SITES
Services that allow you to save, organize and manage links to various
websites and resources around the internet. Most allow you to “tag”
your links to make them easy to search and share.
The most popular are DELICIOUS & STUMBLE UPON
3.SOCIAL NEWS
Services that allow people to post various news items or links to outside
articles and then allows its’s users to “vote” on the items. The voting is
the core social aspect as the items that get the most votes are displayed
the most prominently.
The most popular are DIGG & REDDIT
4. MEDIA SHARING
Services that allow you to upload and share various media such as
pictures and video. Most services have additional social features such
as profiles, commenting, share etc.
The most popular are YOUTUBE, VIMEO, FLICKR

32. SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS
DEFENITION
5.MICROBLOGGING
Services that focus on short updates that are pushed out to anyone
subscribed to receive updates.
The most popular are TWITTER.
6.BLOGS & FORUMS
Online forums allow members to hold conversations by posting
messages. The blog owner can post links, images, conversations
which may interest him/her. Some blogs are especially meant for
discussions where the author will express his/her views on an event or
topic and invite others to join the discussions.
Blogs can act as both a personal diary and professional discussion
platform.
The most popular blogs are WORDPRESS, BLOGGER, JUX etc
USE
Social Networking sites FACEBOOK allows us to connect with our
friends and relatives across the globe. This is enabled by its wide
popularity. FACEBOOK also allows us to easily share viral contents on
our page.
LINKED IN is a professional social networking site. Linked In has lots of
industry specific forums and groups, which help us keep ourselves
updated on the various trends and events in the industry.

33. SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS
USE
The bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon allows users to discover and
rate webpages, photos and videos that are personalized to their tastes
and interests.
It acts like a huge database where one can find whatever web link a
person wants to find. It helps its users to advertise their blogs, website
and pages.
Social News sites enable us to go through the latest news events
happening across the globe, and gives us a general idea about the
views and opinions of the users on the other part of the world.
The polls and voting system for the various news events helps us to
form a general idea about how the crowd is reacting to a particular
news.
Media Sharing sites like YOUTUBE have played a major role in some
of the major viral content that the digital world has seen. These sites
enable the user top watch and share videos that have been uploaded
by its user community.
The user uploaded content can be freely accessed and downloaded.
Several content are available like tutorials which enable us to develop
our skill sets at minimal costs.
Micro blogging sites like TWITTER share breaking news faster than
traditional media, as more and more people are using it not only for
live streaming of their personal events but most importantly as an
information sharing medium and a collective knowledge sharing
channel with people across the world.

34. SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS
USE
Blogs are a great source of communicate one’s thoughts and
expressions to the world.The blog owner can post links, images,
conversations which may interest him/her. Some blogs are especially
meant for discussions where the author will express his/her views on
an event or topic and invite others to join the discussions.
Blogs can act as both a personal diary and professional discussion
platform.
The visitors can also share their opinion regarding the blog post on the
blog.
SHORTCOMINGS
In Social networking sites the conversations on FACEBOOK are not
very private, so it is easy for a stranger to look into the personal
photographs of an user.
LINKED IN, nowadays has become very cluttered with lots and lots of
unnecessary promotional activities being done on the various group
pages. It has become difficult to find out interesting articles among the
junk lot of content.
The penetration of these Social news sites are not so very good in
countries like India. These sites may have a very good impact in the
opinion forming structure and in Citizen Journalism, but the
penetration rate has been not so very good.

35. SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS
SHORTCOMINGS
In Social Bookmarking sites due to the lack of standards for tag
structures, this makes social bookmarking susceptible to mistagging,
which means that the tags created by the different users will not be able
to tag their bookmarked sites properly since they do not necessarily
have to follow any tag structure, such as singular vs. plural,
capitalization, and misspelling. Everything is too “personalized”,
making it difficult for other users to decipher what the tag is trying to
convey, especially if the tag has two or more meanings.
Another disadvantage that social bookmarking posses is its
susceptibility to high spam risk.
The users micro blogging sites like Twitter have faced serious issues on
privacy and security, as it share user’s personal information with third
parties. There can be issues of Identity threat, fraud, and spamming.
Media Sharing platforms like Youtube have become a source of over
advertising, in which the user has to wait to an entire advert to finish
playing if he/she wants to view the selected video.
India is facing a Social Media wave which is getting on to a high tide.
The usage and benefits of Social Media outweigh its shortcomings, so
we can hope in the coming times, these problems will be addressed
and will provide benefits to a larger population.

36. REFERENCE & BIBLIOGRAPHY
1.Gearing Up For Growth: India eMarketing Outlook 2012
2.eMarketer, February 2012
3.COMSCORE India Digital Future In Focus 2013
4.COMSCORE, August 2012
5.Nielsenwire, May 2012
6.www.lighthouseinsights.com
7.www.thesocialperspective.wordpress.com
8.www.socialbakers.com
9.www.wikipidea.com
10.www.thehindu.com
11.www.comscore.com
12.www.etcdigital.org
13.www.digitalsynopsis.com
14.www.indiadigitalreview.com

37. THANK YOU