With the advent of automation and steady development of artificial intelligence things have become overly simplified. Alexa and Siri have now become man’s new best friends!( kidding, no one can replace books! :P) From having chat bots in websites to answer your concerns to tele-operators you need to hesitantly listen in order to reach customer care, the world of AI is expanding with great pace. Another domain where AI has set its foot is in the world of twitter where among other people, its the politicians and parties who are trying to take the utmost advantage of this technology and further widen their convenience.

This can certainly be beneficial for politicians and parties to avoid typing a lot ( read thinking) and further transfer their load; in this respect to a robot who can handle such tasks much more efficiently. However, as we know how evil shortcuts are, excessive reliance on bots can fail terribly and can drastically sweep the image that is so crucial for politicians. At the same time, the side effects that it offers to the general public is quite desirable. Lets take the example of this hilarious twitter thread started by the account of our beloved PM- Narendra Modi! xD

Context– this is during the time of 2019 elections when BJP started this campaign – #MainBhiChowkidar. It started as a jibe on Rahul Gandhi who famously said- ‘chowkidar chor hai’. This campaign became one of the most trending topic in Twitter and to further strengthen it ( and increase their vote bank), the twitter account of Mr. Modi started thanking everyone with auto tweets who had used this hashtag along with rewarding them with a ‘certificate’ for the same. It was quite apparent that all these tweets were auto generated and so twitterati’s like always took full advantage of this fact. Bjp IT cell were so carefree that they didn’t even bother to check the names of the people that the bot was thanking from Mr. Modi’s account. As a result our dear PM ended up thanking Nirav Modi- the fugutive who ran from Indian in 2018 with loans worth more than 15 crores for supporting him for his fight with corruption! This was really the most ironical and hilarious event that I have ever witnessed in twitter. To further maintain the comedy, Mr. Modi kept on thanking and felicitating more parody accounts with user names like ‘ambani ka chela’, ‘modi le dubega’ etc. It was only after a day or two when they were conscious enough to delete such tweets. Below are some screenshots for the same.

Social media sites have become far more than merely places to reconnect with old mates or gossip about your ex. If used productively, it serves a variety of purposes. From a creating a brand for yourself to using it as medium to follow your passion and even earning a living from it, social media is the new fad! Another very important platform which digital media sites particularly instagram and twitter have been able to provide is a space for companies and business to promote itself and spread its image. ‘Digital media marketing’ has become one of the most trending profession in recent times. Companies are hiring a increasing amount of experts with hefty wages to manage their social media profiles and augment their presence. Just think about it. Your options are no longer static. If you are a regular social media user, it might not be very uncommon to find advertisements which cater particularly to your interests. Boom! With rapid boost in technology and advancement of the internet, companies are able to assess individual interests based on their searches, likes, posts and sometimes even their user name and target particular ads for them. As a result, their is also a parallel increase in the responsibilities of companies and businesses to post accurate content in order to create, maintain, strengthen and expand its consumer base.

One such company which has been performing brilliantly in this respect is Zomato. Zomato’s tweets are just spot on. Even when spontaneous, it makes sure to win hearts and lighten your mood. It’s contents are composed of humor, Witt and creative promotion. Creativity is of particular importance for brands and Zomato has made ample use of it.

For eg. lets take its most recent tweet-

It’s a big day for us and an even bigger one for Uber Eats India – all of us at Zomato want to thank everyone who has contributed to making Uber Eats India what it is today and especially you, the foodies. We look forward to this new beginning and exciting times, together 🙌 https://t.co/6wQqKTER2L

— zomato india (@zomatoin) January 21, 2020

Context- Zomato had recently purchased Uber Eats and some people were not very happy including me( Uber Eats was ridiculously cheap; seriously!) However, with this post and the caption, Zomato did made me feel better. This post could have also helped in cultivating the fan base of Uber Eats in Zomato.

Lets take another example and I am sure you would have heard of it as this one was immensely popular.

Food doesn’t have a religion. It is a religion. https://t.co/H8P5FlAw6y

— zomato india (@zomatoin) July 31, 2019

This was Zomato’s reply to an overly conservative Indian who lost his nerves after his food was delivered by a someone not belonging to his religion or in his words, a ‘non-hindu rider.’ Zomato with its brief but pungent reply not only managed to capture everyone’s emotions but also avoided controversy and offending anyone else.

Nevertheless, sometimes too much sarcasm is also not good and may dismay the spirit of its audiences. Take a look at the below thread for example-

They amplified your message. Why shame them?

— Gabbbar (@GabbbarSingh) July 8, 2019

Zomato started off quite well, but as it is evident, overconfidence can make you fall from the top. Anyways, I am pretty sure Zomato (or rather its eloquent media managers :P) would have realized the loophole and taken due measure for the same.

After all, learning an art will inevitably include failures but once you learn from it, you will transition to excellence. Zomato seems to know this pretty well.

The criteria to determine a celebrity in Youtube is mainly through their number of subscribers, their content and the composition of their posts- i.e what genre does their posts belong to- entertainment, politics, current affairs, education, technology, songs, gossips, content curation etc. In recent times, motivational and spirituality related content have also started gaining immense popularity in all digital media platforms especially Youtube. The range is also very vast- we have life advisory channels like ‘mindvalley’, ‘the art of living’, ‘men sutra’, ‘the academy of ideas’ etc. Then we have spiritual masters like, Sadhguru, Swami Prabhadanda etc focused on a philosophical and divine view of life. The last subcategory are individual youtubers like Himesh Madaan, Vivek Bindra, Thomas Frank etc who aim at providing tips and suggestions in living a happy and productive life.

One person or rather Youtuber who however have defied all such boundaries is Sandeep Maheshwari. Starting way back in 2011 with single digit subscribers, he is now one of highest subscribed Indian Youtuber with around 13.5 million subscribers, 259 videos and 700million+ views( as of January, 2020). One reason which makes him even more special is that among the top 5 highest subscribed Youtubers, his content stands out as very unique since three out of them are entertainment channels( Amit bhadana, bb ki vines and Ashish Chanchalani Vines) and one is a channel based on the latest gadgest and their reviews (Technical guruji). Sandeep Maheshwari is the only one(among the top 5) whose content cater to people having real problems and with advice having an embellishment of intense philosophy and life skills with a mix of spirituality. He also has a channel dedicated entirely to spirituality, named- Sandeep Maheshwari spirituality with around 829k subscribers and 92 videos. His ability to deliberate and discuss on any issue is what makes him so special and different. He initially started with posting videos of his ‘life changing seminars’ with thousands of audience where he talked at length about his personal struggles and his journey to success. This seminars were indeed life changing for many (including me). After his ‘last life changing seminar’ video which crossed over 10million views, he switched to ‘India tours’ and now have transitioned to studio sessions with limited audience of around 30-40 people. All of his live sessions are completely free and are regularly uploaded in Youtube. A plethora of people register for his sessions by filling the form in his website and then the lucky few are decided through a computerized mechanism. One more very unique feature of his channel which distinguishes him from the rest is that all of his videos are hundred percent add free as the purpose behind all his videos is to help people rather than commercial success and fame. He has not attended any Youtube festival and has apparently not accepted any awards that Youtube gives after crossing a particular threshold of subscribers. All of his videos are completely dedicated towards solving problems of individuals and encouraging them to adopt an optimistic view on life. His personal story of success under adversity makes hi channel all the more popular and special.

This is how his website describes him-

“Sandeep Maheshwari is a name among millions who struggled, failed and surged ahead in search of success, happiness and contentment. Just like any middle class guy, he too had a bunch of unclear dreams and a blurred vision of his goals in life. All he had was an undying learning attitude to hold on to. Rowing through ups and downs, it was time that taught him the true meaning of his life.”

While opinions about him and his post may differ, his objective undoubtedly is genuine.

Since Instagram gained momentum in being the most popular social media app among the youth, even exceeding facebook; it took the concept of ‘photo gallery’ to a whole new digital level. Facebook had already done its job in making people publiicize more and more pictures and videos of each and every moment of their lives and sometimes even of their private lives, but with Instagram we scaled up to the next version of sharing. For me, it was a medium to ‘maintain’ a profile portraying a visual representation of my personal life. I starting posting in Insta from 2015, at that time still in a committed relationship with Facebook and in two to three years, ditched her for my new found love. The break was tragic but now facebook are back to being friends! 😛

Anyways, I’ll share 3 posts of mine when I had initially stared using Insta and where I look unflattering or embarrassing or funny(according to me ofcourse!) and 3 more recent pics where I look flattering or good. This is too show how I progressed in using this app and how much more conscious and choosy I have become in posting pics( 1 of every 4600….8 clicks!)

The unflattering/embarrasing ones!

The Flattering ones!

Well, in the next 1 year so there is a huge possibility that the unflattering pics can completely disappear from my profile and my opinions about my flattering pics can transform as fast as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra! 😛

For most of us social media and networking is limited to some stereotypical platforms like facebook, instagram, snapchat and twitter( for the more sophisticated ones!) However, when it comes to a proper to and fro interaction, these sites depreciate in their value. I mean yes, it enables you to share, communicate and view content but the ‘choice’ factor is very limited. And most of the time it is just some aimless entertainment/gossip or people envying over each other’s so called ‘extra-ordinary’ life.

I came across Quora 3 years back when I was trying to google an answer for a question and the link for this site popped up. I was simply amazed by the concept of this site. Its user interface was friendly and the idea was very different than any other social media platform. Basically, Quora is a question-answer forum where people can ask questions related to literally anything in the word, ranging from something important like ‘how to prepare for a civil service exam?’ to the the most trivial things like ‘what to do if you have a crush on your mother?’ (I am not making it up, this question actually exist!) Anyways, the best part about it is that you can filter your choice according to the topics you like and ask a question or even answer to others based on your preference. There exists a plethora of diverse topics like astrology, philosophy, sports, politics etc. It allows you to exchange information, learn and know about different perspectives from people across the globe. I find quora better than any other social media site or even news portal because it gives me access to unaltered/censored opinions, it gives you space for improvisation and allows you to meet and listen to the views of like-minded people. Most importantly it allows you to liberally ‘express yourself’, a freedom which is increasingly losing its value in this country.

It is fascinating to know that Quora has helped people become published writers, overcome depression and anxiety and in few cases even found them their life partners!( all these stories are available in the site, just give it a search) In my case, I just like getting filtered content which I really want to read instead of getting bombarded with stuff I dont have any interest in. People who use Quora are called ‘quorans’ and have formed a community of their own! There are many Quorans who though I have never met or have even heard about are like best friends to me and few of them are so popular because of their brilliant writing style, sense of humor and thought process; that if I ever come across any one of them, it is gonna be a big fan moment-one of a kind!

Did you ever felt the need to desperately struggle to listen to your favorite song? Or forget that, have you ever spend days or even weeks trying to find a song you had once listened? Sounds like an impossibility? Well, it was not for the kids of early 2000’s. Its some time hard to believe how simple life has become with Youtube and apps like Gaana.com, spotify, itunes etc. Hundreds and thousands of songs in your fingertips with just one click!

Just 7-10 years down the memory lane, having access to music was an art. A DVD player was a ‘gadget’ and buying a laptop or perhaps computer with an ‘inbuild cd-player’ was a big time luxury. I remember having a separate folder in my laptop full of songs which had collected with a lot of struggle and even PAID for a few of them! That was the value of songs back then. We were actually judged based on our collection of music (which we still do now, but now it is more of selection than collection because you don’t really have the need to ‘download’ music anymore). I used to have a neatly organized folder of songs, divided into different categories like hindi, english, regional which was again sub-divided into themes such as bollywood, bhajan, old songs etc. Music CD’s were infact, given as gifts on occasions like birthday’s, anniversaries etc and were considered to be very precious. And so was the case with CD folder. These folders enjoyed the same popularity as scrap books for teenagers like me. Back then, when the generation accelerated from cassettes to CD’s and with the gradual growth of internet, I used to think that this is the highest stage of development we can reach in terms of access to music. But who was I kidding? Technology like always was twenty steps ahead of me and beyond everyone’s imagination! Today, there no longer exists the need for multiple internet searches or going to countless CD’ stores( which used to be lucrative business but now I dont even think exist anymore!) and bargaining with the shopkeeper or borrowing CD’s from friends or even relentlessly searching for stores where you can rent Music CD’s! Today, you just need Youtube and a app like spotify to delight your ears and souls with a melody of your favorite songs!

Today, you don’t need to walk towards music. Music comes to you.

When I was around 12 years old, I came across the term ‘pen friends’ I didn’t really knew what it meant until my elder brother told me it refers to the friends you make in the internet. Well, as a 12 year old introverted kid that was all I needed! I immediately rushed to a nearby cyber cafe(yes, that was the cheapest and only way to access the internet back then!) and started surfing the web. That’s when I made my first social media account on Orkut- which no longer exits. I still remember those days very vividly. Even though I was not very active, I loved the concept of able to communicate with friends in such an efficient manner( remember it was still the early 2000’s then). It was around in 2010 when I made my first Facebook and gmail account. It was also the time when I underwent the phase of social media addiction. In school, as a shy kid I didn’t used to talk much with people. I had a limited set of friends and with girls, there was atleast a distance of a kilometer! So, facebook was the best medium to grab and seek attention. I used to google every single day things like ‘top funny posts for maximum likes’ and so on. My facebook timeline of 2013-2014 is full of jokes, trolls and pictures of cats and dogs where I had tagged my friends. Getting a like was a pleasure on its own and a comment was a treat especially if it is from someone you wanted to talk for a long time. I remember spending ours on photoshop trying to make my hair blonde, changing the background of my picture( for which I went to a studio and paid rs 200 just to upload in Facebook!) to that of mountains and beaches or with celebrities like Priyanka Chopra and then posting it was a very cheesy caption like “born to impress, not to express!!!” My english was just terrible and so was my sense of punctuation. When I read my old facebook messages and posts I just want to bury myself!( now I know why girls never used to reply me back!)

However, since then I have changed drastically and so had my use of social media sites. My use of facebook is now very limited, infact I just open it once a month to check birthdays or if there is a really really good picture of me( no photoshopped this time!) which I want to upload or if I want to update my work details. Apart from that, facebook has almost become obsolete. Now I have shifted more to Instagram, there too my usage is very different than what it would be for a 13 year old me. I ‘maintain’ a very ‘classy’ profile and somehow try to reflect my personality through my profile. The only which has not changed in me since the last 7 years is my introvertedness. I still am shy in talking to people, especially girls( as usual!) and I still seek attention although not as badly as earlier. So this is how I made a jump from Facebook to Insta, with the same purpose as before but now I use in a much less desperate and pretentious manner.(But I don’t know if I will held the same view for a 20year old me after a decade! :P)

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.