maktion - Digital Notes by @arifkhan7

My first iPhone — loving it is easy!

noreply@blogger.com (Arif Khan) — Sun, 26 May 2013 22:49:00 +0000

Finally, she has come home. Our family's first Apple baby - the iPhone 5. I've been waiting to upgrade my current HTC Wildfire phone for quite some time and after evaluating all the flagships I had in mind, i.e. the Samsung Galaxy S4, HTC One and LG Nexus 4, I came to the conclusion that iPhone 5 is the best fit for me, at least for now (I've discussed the reasons below). Apple says, loving it is easy. And it really is as soon as you hold the iPhone in your hands. I can't describe it in words as it's a completely out of the world feeling and there's no second thoughts that the iPhone is a brilliant craft of technology and design aesthetics which Steve Jobs started in 2007. I am a big advocate of everything google, android but now it's time to embrace Apple as in my old age I don't want to end up saying that I never used an Apple product, otherwise my grandkids will question me big time!

I wasn't born rich nor do I like to ask anyone for such expensive gifts but at the same time, I am impulsive and get fascinated by such amazing gadgets which can assist you in your day to day life. I mean, who doesn't? But, at the same time I like to research the product I intent to buy well and I must have read more than 50 posts combined on all the four phones in the last 4-5 months. After all, you're going to spend a huge amount from your pocket so you have to be sure that it's for the right product which will give you a great user experience and will last considerably long. My previous selection the HTC Wildfire proved to be a right choice at that point of time and I was quite satisfied with most of its features, except for the camera shots as it often had a slight lag period resulting in blurred photos. Here, I won't discredit any product as I feel all four phones are great in their own way and it really depends on your individual taste and what suits your personality. For me, the choice was basically between comfort, power and built quality. I did some perception mapping to understand what phone my friends associate me with as this would give me a clear idea of whether an iPhone fits in anywhere or is completely out of question based on my personality. The question is shown below:

Analysis: You know me well, right? Give me 5 secs, which phone comes to your mind first when you #thinkofArif? Thanks twitter.com/arifkhan7/stat…
— Arif Khan (@arifkhan7) May 24, 2013

Blame the marketer in me but I find this method of evaluating somewhat reliable, at least to give an idea. The answers that I received surprised me. Someone said Nokia 1100 (obviously joking!), then a Iron Man transparent phone (WTF!), Nexus 4, Samsung, Windows Phone and 2 responses for iPhone.

@scdelhi @arifkhan7 @harshbpatel the question was which phone comes to mind when we think of Arif - for me it is iPhone. #context
— Kalpesh Shah (@IamKalpesh) May 24, 2013

@arifkhan7 an iPhone Bhai ... Hands down! :) and no problem! I'm just being honest :)
— ZUHA KHAN (@Zuha25) May 25, 2013

Seeing those 2 responses for iPhone from someone whom I trust and value a lot gave me encouragement that I might be heading the right way. After the perception exercise, I thoroughly went through apple.com and their youtube channel to understand the finer aspects of the product. I came across the launch video where Jonathan Ive, Senior VP - Design speaks about the iPhone and that just won me. I must have watched this video 50 times and recommend you to watch it once, even if you have nothing to do with the iPhone.

As a marketer, I know this is Apple's exceptional marketing but somewhere in the video you find honesty, perfection and great value for design. As someone who believes strongly in visual design thinking, it was a great plus point for me. I instantly connected with Jonathan's vision for the iPhone and it went beyond that as I ended up reading a lot on him, the two favorites being his interview on simplicity in design and design for (economic) growth. By now, I had become his fan for design-thinking which resonated with my own perspectives on everything design. It wasn't enough and I knew I had to do something, so I spent some time on the weekend ideating a campaign (for fun) keeping one word in mind - simplicity. That's what really won my vote for iPhone. Simplicity 1-0.

Phone Campaign Concept: Every single element has been carefully thought; from shape, fonts & color choices. Like it? twitter.com/arifkhan7/stat…
— Arif Khan (@arifkhan7) May 25, 2013

It's not only the hooplah which influenced me but I actually took detailed opinions from actual iPhone users whom I trust and know well. Special thanks to @tanweeer, @ThisIsSamar, @IamKalpesh, @VishalGaba and @parthasarangi with whom I had convincing discussion on almost every aspect of the iPhone. This was important for me and if even two out of the three would have said a "No", I would've never gone ahead. Now, you understand why word-of-mouth is powerful? It really is, especially among trusted network.

@arifkhan7 I am using iPhone 5, previously had HTC Desire. iPhone is so much better, iOS is faster. I'm definitely with Team Apple from now
— Samar (@ThisIsSamar) May 22, 2013

'i' would! u won't regret it RT @arifkhan7: @thisissamar iMay, those whom I trust are giving it a strong reco and a thumbs-up. Should i "i"?
— Samar (@ThisIsSamar) May 23, 2013

So, to sum up, my final considerations were:

I required a phone first which can connect me instantly to my loved ones.
Something which should definitely fit comfortably in my hands. No compromise here.
Slips easily into your pocked and the iPhone Black looks very cool in hand.
Feature-rich hardware was not a priority but yes, I wanted the best apps.
A really good camera which can click instantly. And I mean instantly with sharp photos.
After sales support is very important and I didn't have a great experience with my previous phone's support. Have heard a lot of praise about Apple's premium support.
I'm from Digital Marketing and it's a known fact that the maximum content consumption is happening through iOS (and not Android). This was important for me as I feel it's important to understand the medium where your audience is and the only way to do that - be there.
My three favorite J's on twitter (@jack, @jowyang, @jeremywaite) have an iPhone!
I can now vine like @tanweeer and @mahafreed as it's available only on iOS.
Frankly, I never thought I'll make a 3 times jump for a smartphone. NEVER. But all the other flagships were priced above 40k which forced me to rethink and if one can stretch till 42k, 43k is not a big deal. It burnt my pockets but then it's an investment, at least for the next 2-3 years.

Okay, reasons 8 and 9 above are just for fun. On the other hand, why not these guys:

S4 - Big in my hand and it had much more features than I could possibly use. Confusing.
One - Very nice phone but once again big in my hand & was relatively heating up fast.
Nexus 4 - Convinced it's great phone but the design or feel - something was missing.

The Laws of attraction for me were - simplicity attracts, design inspires and touch fascinates which allowed me to buy the iPhone 5 with conviction. I called up my Father & Mother first and then my Sister to share the happy news, they were thrilled and congratulated me. Then, I spent time understanding the iPhone and its apps. I decided to do something different on twitter, and what better than tweet like my inspiration - Jack Dorsey (creator of twiter) followed by the announcement.

just setting up my twttr
— Jack Dorsey (@jack) March 21, 2006

just setting up my twttr (from my new iPhone 5).
— Arif Khan (@arifkhan7) May 27, 2013

[►] slide to unlock. She has come home. Our family's first Apple baby — the iPhone 5. Loving it is easy. :) twitter.com/arifkhan7/stat…
— Arif Khan (@arifkhan7) May 27, 2013

I started with Samsung and went on with it for 8 years, then moved to HTC for almost 2 years. I am a great admirer of HTC and have even praised HTC on my blog to which their Worldwide Community Manager replied. Even today, many folks associate me with HTC including Javed Anwer, the well known Tech Journalist from Times of India whom I've bothered several times with my phone-questions!

@arifkhan7 You sure it's iPhone 5... Or is it HTC One?
— Javed Anwer (@Javed_Del) May 27, 2013

@arifkhan7 Nice. It's a great device for all practical purposes. Have fun :-)
— Javed Anwer (@Javed_Del) May 27, 2013

Now, it's time to move ahead with our family's first Apple baby - the iPhone 5. As I write this, I've spent almost 3 hours with it and I'm really loving it. I rely on my intuition and once again I think it has guided me well. I am satisfied with my "earned" iPhone for now and with this upgrade, I can focus on other priorities of life. Have I made the right choice? The tweets below suggest. I would like to hear from you in the comments section below.

@arifkhan7 You finally did it! I'm sure you'll see it was a good choice #iPhone5
— Samar (@ThisIsSamar) May 27, 2013

@arifkhan7 u r welcome , i am glad u made the right choice.
— Manish Khatri (@MAHESHTELECOM) May 27, 2013

@arifkhan7 I know you do :) I'm glad u made this choice :)
— ZUHA KHAN (@Zuha25) May 27, 2013

And these guys were just waiting for me to board the Apple ship:

@arifkhan7 so you succumbed.. Welcome to the club..
— तनवीर(@Tanweeer) May 28, 2013

@arifkhan7 woohoo... Welcome to the 5 !
— Zafar Rais (@Zaf) May 27, 2013

@arifkhan7 Enzzoy!! You're welcome in the Apple Fan Club
— Malhar Barai (@MalharBarai) May 27, 2013

@arifkhan7 welcome to the dark side :D
— Kalpesh Shah (@IamKalpesh) May 27, 2013

@arifkhan7 - kya baat kya baat kya baat bhaijaan...bangaye aakhir aap bhi #apple fanboy. Ab no looking back ;)
— Vishal Gaba (@VishalGaba) May 28, 2013

What next? Well, I want to first of all complete this blog post asap so that I can spend some time with my new iPhone! I will go a little slow now as I'll have to first learn the iOS and adapt to it fast because it's all new for me. I will also use it for a lot of reading and play dots as I end up spending almost an hour commuting from home to office. Plus, I look forward to capture moments around me from the awesome iSight camera and am leaving you with this wonderful video by Apple. Feel the magic!

Simplicity 1-0,
A.

Infographic: The complete history of #socialmedia

noreply@blogger.com (Arif Khan) — Sun, 19 May 2013 15:53:00 +0000

History was one subject which fascinated me back in school. I really enjoyed reading about the various civilizations, countries, eminent personalities, world wars, independence, science & technology and much more. Skimming through history tells us what has been tried in the past and what were its implications. Imagine if some of those folks like Newton, Gandhi, Einstein, Crick came back to real life and see how much the world has evolved improvising on their contributions to mankind, how delighted they would be. Not that it matters, but it's always pays to know a little background about the products, services, their evolution and about the company you're working work in order to understand the context and contribute significantly in-line with the business priorities.

Today, Social Media is growing like anything and every day something new flourishes either as a feature update or sometimes even a new social network. There's just no end to this and that's good as it shows that innovation is on an all time high. With all these social networks, the Digital Marketer's dilemma is to decide whether they should maintain a presence on all social networks or on a selected view? In my opinion, one should maintain an 'active' presence irrespective of whether it's a presence only on Facebook or across 10 different social networks. As long as you have sufficient content which adds value to your followers and know how and when to post on social media, you're doing good. I will write more on this later but would like to hear your take on this in the comments below.

Coming back to the historical aspect, I feel it's important that Social Media professionals should know the origins of the platform they handle on a day to day basis. It's not merely a GK exercise, but it allows you to understand the context in which the various social networks were built and how does it relate to that demographic, time period, etc. On the web, Blogger surfaced in late 1990's on which bloggers write long posts. It's more like a diary. LinkedIn came in 2003 which brought a shift from personal to professional networks. Then came Facebook (for everyone) in 2006 which allows users to post status updates in 2-3 lines. Facebook also allows users to post photographs and arrange them in an album. At the same period, Twitter came out which initially allowed only text updates in 140 characters. In 2010 we saw a complete reversal where Pinterest put photos in the spotlight in place of textual content. Instagram followed the same route and finally in 2013 we saw Vine app (right now only for iOS) which allows users to post short 6 second videos on twitter. See how social networks have evolved from long posts, to text snippets to visual content? That is what a little history can tell you and with some reading and observation you can even predict what's coming next so that you can prepare well, especially if you want the first-mover advantage. Of course, you may dismiss all this and begin hands-on with any network but what I've realized over the years is that experience and knowledge do give you an upper edge. If nothing, it will definitely help you when you take part in discussions related to social media as you'll appear well informed. And that matters!

Having said that, it's not practically possible for all of us to keep going back and reading tons of wiki-pages to know every social network's evolution. Definitely not. So how do we do it? Well, I came across Avalaunch Media's interactive infographic which illustrates the complete history of social media across three time periods; BC-1800s, 1900s and 2000s-Present. Their Eddy the Yeti (by the way, he's cute!) takes you through the time wheel and at each 'year' tab tells you which social network came out along in that year along with a short description for the major ones. Spend 4-5 minutes of your time on the interactive infographic to pick up some pointers. It's always good to stay informed.

Some of the key landmarks that Eddy will show you in the infographic are:

Postal Service (550 BC)
Telephone (1890)
Radio (1891)
Email (1966)
IRC - Internet Relay Chat (1988)
Blogger (1999)
Wikipedia (2001)
LinkedIn (2003)
Orkut (2004)
YouTube (2005)
Facebook - for everyone (2006)
Twitter (2006)
Tumblr (2007)
Foursquare (2009)
Instagram (2010)
Pinterest (2010)
Google+ (2011)
Pheed (2012)
Vine (2013)

Go on, play around with the interactive infographic on the complete history of social media and do share with your friends who may find this useful!

Stay social,
A.

Image Source: Versio2, Avalaunch Media

Behind the banner - how digital ads are served?

noreply@blogger.com (Arif Khan) — Tue, 14 May 2013 21:49:00 +0000

Have you ever wondered how the digital ads that you see on any website show up? Does it not amaze you that those ads appear in practically no time, sometimes even before the web page has completely loaded! And then what about those Cleartrip and Flipkart ads which more or less connect with what's been on your mind for some time - noticed them? The world of online ads has grown a lot since Google introduced text links as one of the first AdSense units. Apart from text ads, there are the display ads, link units, video ads and mobile ads. Even if you're not someone from the digital field but have been blogging for some time, you would have been exposed to these ad units through your blogs dashboard. Next time when you login as admin, pay close attention.

Today I happened to see Adam (@adamostrow), the Chief Strategy Officer at Mashable sharing a link on how online ads works and upon visiting it, I just had one reaction - "Awesome!"

Nice interactive visualization of how online advertising works -- cmsummit.com/behindthebanne…
— Adam Ostrow (@adamostrow) May 14, 2013

First as a blogger and internet enthusiast and now as a digital marketing professional, I have read numerous support pages, blogs, etc on digital ads, display units, etc till date. Adobe released an interactive visualization on how digital ads are served which illustrates the whole process with simplicity. They add on that the entire ad placement network is one of the most complex computational systems on the planet and Behind The Banner is an attempt to understand the underlying interactions that define this ecosystem, and how they impact our daily use of the web. The microsite introduces you to an arbitrary digital profile of a 32 year old woman whose anonymous information helps in understanding how the digital ads are served to her.

How digital ads are served?

The visualization takes you through seven distinct steps along with how much time in microseconds (ms) does it take to accomplish it. You will see below that a single ad placement takes only 150 ms which is incredibly fast!

1. Reaching web page (0 ms)

When the user visits a web page, a request is initiated for an advertising impression.
An impression request is generated based on what the web page knows about the user.

2. Ad request to publisher (28 ms)

The impression request is forwarded to the publisher's ad server (DoubleClick, OpenX, Adzerk, Adgear).

3. Direct sold attempt (40 ms)

The publisher first checks if this impression matches any of its pre-sold ad inventory.
If the impression hasn't been fulfilled, it is sent to one of several ad exchanges (DoubleClick Ad Exchange, Right Media Exchange, FMP Exchange, Facebook Exchange).

4. Impression sent to one of several exchanges (65 ms)

Servers looking to bid on the impression may communicate with other servers to augment their data on the consumer (DataXu, Sitescout, Invitemedia, AdRoll, Turn, MediaMath, Triggit, Retargeter and then AppNexus, Acxiom, Bluekai, Lotame, Exelate, Quantcast, Legolas).

5. Real time bidding (100 ms)

Next, an auction takes place in which third parties bid on the chance to fulfill the impression.

6. One bid wins the auction (125 ms)

The impression is sold to the highest bidder, for the second highest bid price.

7. Ad delivered to user (150 ms)

The creative content for the impression is sent to the web page and appears to the user. Even the choice of creative can be an entire data-driven process in its own right.
This single ad placement event can be one of thousands happening every second on the web page.
And one of hundreds of thousands of impressions being served every second across the web.
Dozens of sophisticated servers can be involved in a single ad placement, which takes less than a quarter of a second.

Go ahead, see the visualization first hand at Behind The Banner and leave a comment below if you found it useful. In case you know someone who may benefit from this, then do share with them.

Keep clicking,
A.

Image Source: The Next Web, CM Summit - Behind The Banner

I drank milk, cleaned my house and had good food. Happy Mother's Day!

noreply@blogger.com (Arif Khan) — Sun, 12 May 2013 16:06:00 +0000

Whenever I sit and think about the best days of my life, I can only visualize those moments from my childhood where my Father, Mother, Sister and I were together. Whether it was over the morning breakfast table, or going out to shop, or celebrating Eid or when our parents dropped us to school in our Maruti 800 car — every moment where we shared responsibilities, happiness, joy and sorrows together was special for me. I never realized it back then but now when we have grown up and moved away from our parents for work, I often remember these moments when I'm travelling back to home, or sitting near the balcony or when I'm at the beach. These moments flash in front of my eyes and I cherish them close to my heart. They will always be the best days of my life.

When we were kids she would serve us hot milk twice — once at morning before school and at evening once we came back from the playground. She always asked us to eat our meals on the dining table where everyone would be together even if it meant missing our favorite TV show. When we had holidays she would ask us to arrange our room which included everything from changing bedsheets, to arranging our cupboard and cleaning the stereo and computer peripherals. Even today, whenever my Ammi calls me she first asks if I've eaten proper food or not? She also reminds me to drink milk and juices and to keep my house clean. Of course, when I was small all this used to seem a bit too much but now I cherish those moments. I feel through all this she gave me some very valuable lessons in order to survive in the world. All acts may appear small but trust me they taught me how to be self-disciplined, how to take care of myself, how to live a good life, and how to be a good human being. Even as I'm writing this I can see her on my screen and all I want to say is that I drank milk, cleaned my house and had good food. Thank you for being supportive and an inspiration. I just want to tell you that you're the best and I love you Ammi! In the last couple of days, I've developed some strange fondness for Giraffes and I leave you my Giraffe tweets. Hope you like them, especially the third one.

I want thim! RT @thatsearth A baby giraffe twitter.com/ThatsEarth/sta…
— Arif Khan (@arifkhan7) April 29, 2013

#MomKiDaant: Retweet if you ever felt like this in your childhood! twitter.com/arifkhan7/stat…
— Arif Khan (@arifkhan7) May 11, 2013

माँ . امی . Mom — You're the best! Happy Mother's Day. :) #Asays twitter.com/arifkhan7/stat…
— Arif Khan (@arifkhan7) May 12, 2013

And if by any chance, a tear came out from your eyes then here's something to cheer you up. In the tweet below, just click the play button and watch the amazing Giraffe animation video!

I wish I was creative....... to create something like this! #MindBlowing youtu.be/uFxnBrO9n7o via @adobe #giraffe #animation
— Arif Khan (@arifkhan7) May 11, 2013

To all the awesome Moms out there — Happy Mother's Day, today and everyday.

Love,
A.

Image Sources: Google's Mother Day, Baby Giraffe, Baby Giraffe drinking bottle milk, Mother's Day in the Animal Kingdom

Twitter CEO @dickc's inspirational speech: Be bold. Make courageous choices. Be in this moment.

noreply@blogger.com (Arif Khan) — Fri, 03 May 2013 20:33:00 +0000

Two years back I gave an alumni speech to 1000+ students. I still receive emails from some students seeking guidance, asking for opinion and other curious questions that a girl/boy would have at that age. In my speech, I emphasized that in their journey they'll come across some very successful people and while it's good to admire them for who they are, it's also important to learn from their story and to know how to get there. Ask questions like "How did that guy reach where he is today? What did he do in his early years? What choices did he make? Was he passionate about something?" Every self-made person who's successful today was once just like us with his/her share of difficulties, curiosity and accomplishments. They've worked hard, followed their passion and are real-life examples of success. Learn from their story.

Today, on May 4 it was the turn of the CEO of Twitter, Dick Costolo (@dickc) to share his story at the University of Michigan's (@umich) commencement speech. Like any leader, Dick personally started working on his speech a week in advance, evident through his tweets:

Writing this @umich commencement address & thinking i might be quoting too liberally from The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
— dick costolo (@dickc) April 27, 2013

Finished @umich commencement speech. Safe to assume audience has read Sartre's essay on phenomenological ontology in the original French?
— dick costolo (@dickc) April 27, 2013

Thanks to @umich, I got the opportunity to watch Dick's commencement speech in real-time. Standing at the podium, he started by tweeting a photo of the students sitting in front of him and said "I'm a professional, so this will only take a second." Haha, that was so cool and showed his charismatic and funny side the way we all know him on twitter!

Commencement @umich My view twitter.com/dickc/status/3…
— dick costolo (@dickc) May 4, 2013

Dick gave an inspirational 17 minutes speech where he shared moments from his own journey like how he opted for stand-up comedy after college despite having good offers from 3 technology companies and how he saw the internet as an extensible structure that had amazing possibilities and he created a sequence of companies over the course of 20 years that led him to twitter. His story is very inspiring and here are some gems from his commencement speech:

Make bigger choices, take courageous risks.
You can't plan a script. The beauty of improvisation is you're experiencing it in the moment. If you try to plan what the next line is suppose to be, you're just gonna be disappointed when the other people on stage with you don't do or say what you want them to do and you'll stand there frozen. Be in this moment. Be in this moment!
We didn't have internet in our pants, we didn't even have the internet not in our pants!
Make bold bets and focus on what you love (referring to twitter).
Not only can you not plan the impact you're going to have, you often won't recognize it even while you're having it. The impact is what others frame for you and the world after it happens. The present is only what you're experiencing and focused on right now.
You cannot draw any of your paths looking forward. So, you have to figure out what you love to do, what you have conviction about and go do that.
There are no expectations (after college). There's no script.
When you're doing what you love to do, you become resilient because that's the habit you create for yourself. You create a habit of taking chances on yourself and making bold choices in-service to doing what you love. If on the other hand you do what you think is expected of you, or what you're supposed to do and thinks go poorly, or chaos ensues as it surely will you will look to external sources for what to do next because that'll be the habit you've created for yourself. You'll be standing their frozen on the stage of your own life. If you're just filling a role, you will be blind-sided.
Believe that if you make courageous choices and bet on yourself, and put yourself out there that you will have an impact as a result of what you do and you don't need to know now what that will be or how will it happen because nobody ever does.
Be bold. Make courageous choices for yourself.
Don't always worry about what your next line is suppose to be. There's no script. Live your life. Be in this moment. Be in this moment. Now, be in this moment.
Remember to say Thank You! #GoBlue

Found some inspiration? Then watch Dick's complete speech, you just can't miss this!

Dick's commencement speech reminded me of his tweet to me 2 years back. Today, I can once again say that yes, twitter is sending us positive thoughts and these are definitely more valuable. :)

@arifkhan7 @delbius @jess we're sending you positive thoughts. Those are more valuable :)
— dick costolo (@dickc) November 5, 2011

Thank you Mr. Costolo for inspiring us!

In this moment,
A.

Image Source: Ann Arbor.com

Bill Gates welcomes Warren Buffett on twitter, real-time opportunity for @CocaCola

noreply@blogger.com (Arif Khan) — Wed, 01 May 2013 20:51:00 +0000

May 2: Today, five years of professional life passed just like that but did some meaningful work, met some of the finest people and learned along. I'm thankful to those who stood by me and bore my crazy ideas. Back in 2008 when I started working I knew the fundamentals of Marketing, the 4 P's, etc like any other B-school grad. But, throughout my entire study period I've been fascinated by the web and have observed it from close quarters. Today, a lot has changed and it's the era of real-time marketing, i.e. on the go! If you can't think fast and write short, then you're certain to miss out in the big game. Twitter helps me exactly here. It allows me to think fast and identify unseen patterns which can be connected to make some sense, at best a story.

While I was reading my twitter timeline, I came to know someone big joined twitter. Someone whom we read a lot about in B-school. Ask any B-school grad if s/he knows Warren Buffet and you'll get a straight "Yes!" Warren Buffett is a business magnate who's considered one of the most successful investor of the 20th century. He's the #4 Forbes Billionaire and among the 15 most powerful people who gave away his fortune to charity, chiefly to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. There's just so much we've heard and read about him and it felt amazing when I saw his first tweet. As if this wasn't enough, a lot of famous folks welcomed Warren on twitter and one of my favorite Bill Gates wished him too in a rather interesting photo-tweet! See their tweets and also note the number of retweets:

Warren is in the house.
— Warren Buffett (@WarrenBuffett) May 2, 2013

Welcome to Twitter @warrenbuffett. First ever Twitter bridge tourney starts now. I bid 3 Hearts. ow.ly/i/21tlH
— Bill Gates (@BillGates) May 2, 2013

As soon as I saw Bill's photo-tweet, my eyes went straight to the object on the table - the bottle of Coke and "ting", the Marketer in me woke up! For a second I thought if I were handling Coca-Cola's (@cocacola) twitter account, this was a great opportunity to make a real-time story by retweeting Bill's tweet along with Warren's handle with their hashtag #Happiness. Trust me, this could have been Coke's Oreo moment! I tweeted to ask if someone else also observed this? It seemed Jim (@jimprosser) from twitter thought similar and even gave a tagline for the moment! See tweets:

I'm wondering if Coca Cola would hijack Bill Gates' tweet welcoming Warren Buffet! See the pic closely: twitter.com/BillGates/stat…
— Arif Khan (@arifkhan7) May 2, 2013

@arifkhan7 superb observation man! @cocacola ;-)
— Prathamesh Shanbhag (@shanbhagp) May 2, 2013

@jess Coke: the official soft drink of billionaires bridge games.
— Jim Prosser (@jimprosser) May 2, 2013

For all these years, marketing has been my true love. I'm just so passionate about coming out with something that can instantly "wow!" my target audience. Sometimes its works, sometimes it doesn't. And when it doesn't then that's a challenge in hand where we may need to refine our messaging, enhance visuals and even figure out the best timing to send it out. This reminded me of a tweet by a well known Mumbai blogger Neha (@NehaT_) who pretty much summed it up in 140.

@arifkhan7 Kuch bhi bolo, I have immense respect for marketing guys. Dimaag kya chalta hai woh logo ka.
— NT (@NehaT_) January 17, 2013

Remember, real winners will be those conquer real-time.

Think fast,
A.

Image Source: iWallScreen

How to win twitter contests? Be yourself!

noreply@blogger.com (Arif Khan) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 21:04:00 +0000

April has been an amazing month of sorts. What started off with winning the GOI's hackathon prize ended up by notching a few twitter contest prizes. Now what are these? In simple terms, Twitter contests are a range of activities which facilitate engagement between brands and individuals in form of contests on twitter. There are several types of contests, the most popular ones being replying to the question with a dedicated hashtag, retweet & win type and then photo contests. While there are many posts on how to run a successful contest, I am going to share how to win them as I've seen both sides of the coin. I've handled several twitter prize contests and have also won some in the past, 3 to be precise in the month of April 2013 itself! The secret to win is BE YOURSELF. That's all!

Contest #1 by @Office_Yes
OfficeYes is India’s largest office supplies company who launched a range of school and learning products based out of Gurgaon. They conducted a #SchoolMemory hashtag contest where the participants were asked to tweet something about their cool memories from school days. I don't know how my tweet got picked up but somewhere it resonated well with their contest theme and I got lucky! I hope they send the Batman school kit as it'll go straight to my Batman collection shelf.

@arifkhan7 That statement takes you 10 years back ;)Like our favourite #SchoolMemory @ankitagaba @romykosta
— OfficeYes (@Office_Yes) April 18, 2013

#SchoolMemory RT @arifkhan710h @ankitagaba Gave my cape for dry cleaning so Batman couldn't fly today to work, hence took a train!
— OfficeYes (@Office_Yes) April 18, 2013

Oh did we tell you who won yesterday's 'School Is Cool' Combo? Congratulations @arifkhan7 :) DM us your Address & Phone for it to reach you!
— OfficeYes (@Office_Yes) April 19, 2013

Updated (May 7, 2013):

Thank you @office_yes for sending me the wonderful Tom & Jerry set as the "#SchoolMemory tweet of the day" prize! :) twitter.com/arifkhan7/stat…
— Arif Khan (@arifkhan7) May 7, 2013

Contest #2 by @OttoInfinito
Otto Infinito is an all day Mediterranean restaurant in the commercial precinct of Bandra Kurla based out of Mumbai. I saw their hashtag #8PlacesToVisit trending in Mumbai and just liked the idea to mention a place where I would like to visit. I looked up the hashtag and many folks were tweeting photos of common landmarks with the hashtag. But, the first place that came to my mind wasn't any of those landmarks. Instead I tweeted a photo of something different, something that I would really like to visit if I ever can - The Wayne Mansion! Little I knew that this original thought would bag a prize a few days later which made mt feel good.

Wayne Manor. ^oo^ #Batman #8PlacesToVisit @ottoinfinito twitter.com/arifkhan7/stat…
— Arif Khan (@arifkhan7) April 26, 2013

The winners of our #8PlacesToVisit contest are @stuffednstarved, @rojitatiwari, @arifkhan7 & @danceeatrepeat Congratulations!
— Otto Infinito (@OttoInfinito) April 29, 2013

Hey @arifkhan7 kindly DM your contact details with postal address! So that we can send you the vouchers at the earliest.
— Otto Infinito (@OttoInfinito) April 29, 2013

Contest #3 by @BigRock
BigRock is a company who sells domains, websites and web hosting based out of Mumbai. I've always found BigRock taking a different path & coming up with creative web properties and this time they did it once again by announcing their Dunk The Corrupt Neta (politician) interactive game in support of the anti-corruption movement. I had just come back from lunch at work and played this game for 5 minutes. It was no rocket since, just pure fun and the best part? I dunked the Neta fastest in 00:07 seconds! Haha. You too should give it a try and try to beat my score.

@bigrock No link to the game itself? Missed out?
— Arif Khan (@arifkhan7) April 29, 2013

WOHOO FASTEST!! Dunked the corrupt Neta in 00:07 secs on @bigrock's game! Play dunking the Neta (anit-corruption): bit.ly/11PAeio
— Arif Khan (@arifkhan7) April 29, 2013

I love #7. Just dunked the Corrupt Neta (bit.ly/11PAeio) in 00:07 seconds flat! Lol. @bigrock @deshmukhwafa twitter.com/arifkhan7/stat…
— Arif Khan (@arifkhan7) April 29, 2013

So you see how businesses are using twitter to build engagement through contests in their bigger pursuit to build the brand. If you offer positive experiences, then you are essentially creating brand advocates who are very likely to recall you and even recommend to others. Whether it's the plain question answer hashtag contest, or the photo contest or the interactive game contest, businesses look for genuine responses to choose their winners. In all the 3 twitter contest mentioned above, I just answered what I really felt like and was simply being myself. It's not easy when you have thousands of responses coming through. Ask me, it's crazy but some detailed analysis goes in picking winners. Now, with all these contests, there's a little problem. I almost ended up exposing my other identity which I've maintained since childhood! Sssshh, please don't tell anyone, even if you know it! ^oo^

@arifkhan7 I think you are the 'Batman' !! Bcoz I haven't seen you both together as yet.;-)
— Danish Khan (@danishkhan_30) April 26, 2013

Be yourself,
A.

Image Source: Dribbble

Career workshop with municipal school kids

noreply@blogger.com (Arif Khan) — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 23:40:00 +0000

It has been a month full of creative satisfaction till now. If by any chance you happened to read the maktion turns 5 post, then you would have come across my 4 diverse activities planned for April 2013 in order to keep the creative juice flowing. Apart from the exciting work at office, I had a great time attending a social meetup, then came GOI's hackathon where I created an infographic on Education in India which received the first prize! This was followed by a website UI review to bring out the researcher in me and finally conducted a career workshop on April 16, 2013 for 37 students from standard V of Shivri Cross Mumbai Public School at Sewri, Mumbai. In this post, I'm going to share my interaction with the very bright municipal school kids to discuss "career".

I came to know about this opportunity on twitter through Alison (@albarrett09) who retweeted someone's tweet asking for volunteers for various activities for Teach For India class in Sewri.

Anyone who would like to conduct an art/craft/music/drama/career workshop for a @teachforindia class in Sewri between 8th-18th April?
— Himani (@greenrains) March 29, 2013

Most of these opportunities show up on twitter through some connection. Like in this case, it was because of Alison whom I have been following for her education related tweets. In the past, I have happily volunteered for art workshop and puppet play at Municipal Schools and so it didn't take me even a minute to respond to Himani (@greenrains), a Teach for India fellow and told her that I would like to take the career workshop as I like interacting with students on education and career related topics. I believe that if each one of us who are supposedly stable can give back to the society then we can collectively bring some change. What students lack in municipal schools today is adequate guidance and this was a good opportunity to cultivate minds. Having said that, it was a challenge this time as here I had to interact with 37 Standard V students who barely know the world at large. I knew I had to keep it simple and do something creative and captivating for them. I decided to conduct an interactive game session which was based on my color question cards for PowerPoint training. If that game could work with grown-ups, then I had no reason to believe that it won't work with students who are considered more creative and outward. The planning had already started in my mind from that moment and I shared the flow of the career workshop with Himani a day in advance:

General chat with the students about their studies and ambitions. (15-20 mins)
"I want to become..." career activity where all 37 students will be provided a Career Color Card and they have to mention:
- Name of the student
- Subjects they like
- Subjects they don't like
- What do they want to become?
- How can they fulfill their ambitions?
Interactive Game

Arranging the color cards for tomorrow's career workshop for Std. V students. This is going to be 3 hours of extreme creativity & fun!
— Arif Khan (@arifkhan7) April 15, 2013

The basic idea of the Career Color Card interactive game was to build excitement and enthusiasm among the students as a topic on "career" could have been boring for some. I was clear that I wanted all 37 students and not just the academically bright ones to listen well and actively participate. Once Himani and her co-teacher introduced me to the class, I started talking about people, education and jobs. I was impressed with the students as all of them could understand English and were even giving replies in English. I went on to ask "What is career? Has anyone of you heard the word career?". I could see blank stares and knew that this was the objective of my next 3 hours - to give them some idea about what career is. Now, some of you may question that aren't Standard V students too young for discussing about career? Yes, they are. I've always felt that in our education system we are not guided well at the right time. Everyone things that the student will become an A or a B, but do all become A or a B? No. But, if you provide some guidance or even a pep talk about a different profession, and you never know it might just click and the student can consider that as a career option. In today's hyper-connected world of multiple opportunities, it's advisable to give guidance from early on. At least try, there's no harm in talking.

I explained the term "career" in simple terms and told them that career is your life's journey which connects your education, qualification and job. It is never-ending and will stay with you for life. I could see confused faces and switched to a lighter discussion. I asked "Why do you all study?", and got some very good responses. Collectively, they told me that they study to:

Become knowledgeable
Get a job to meet new people
Get a job to go to new places

Fair enough! These kids had some idea about how education and jobs are linked and it was a signal that now I should start the Career Color Card game. We randomly distributed the cards and then asked all the students to fill in the details on their card. I went bench to bench to see if they had any difficulty and they need assistance. It was overwhelming to see how bright those kids were and everyone wrote an answer. Once they did that, they were grouped together as per the color on their Career Card and I asked them to choose their team leader by consensus. So, the four teams were - Green (Team 1 led by Ayan), Blue (Team 2 led by Nausheen), Yellow (Team 3 led by Sajida) and Red (Team 4 led by Rinaaz). Every team had almost 7 or 8 students and sat in the same rows. After 10 minutes, the team leaders were asked to collect the Career Cards and the responses were collated. Their aspirations (what they wanted to become) were classified into broad categories to arrive at a holistic overview of all the different fields the students could think of. This categorization helped address career related discussions per profession, instead of talking to every student individually. I started with the Green team followed by Blue, Yellow and Red and we listed down all the non-matching professions per team. It came out that among the class, there were 11 unique professions the students listed down. This was incredible as it was the first time they were doing such an exercise and could actually think about what they would like to become. I talked on each profession for 2-3 minutes sharing what kind of subjects they should like (also tried connecting it with their subject responses), how many years it takes and what kind of exams (government, colleges, NDA, etc) they will have to take up. Some of the students really paid good attention and asked me questions. I felt very good adding value to them, and they opened up well by half-time. I asked them to note down the points they like on the back side of their cards and keep it safely at home to refer to it whenever they feel like. Take a look at the 11 job categories mentioned by them, aren't they interesting?

Police
Engineer
Pilot
Teacher
Painter
Artist
Soldier
Doctor
Prime Minister!
Doctor
Air Hostess

I was told that they have one more activity after my career workshop, hence had to cut down the game (I were to ask them to come with a friend's card and then share with the class how s/he could become that). Before the actual session, I had tweeted asking for career tips for these students.

What 3 career tips would you give to some enthusiastic Std. V school students? I'll be meeting them tomorrow, planned an interactive game :)
— Arif Khan (@arifkhan7) April 15, 2013

I got the following responses which I compiled and gave as a printout to Himani so that she can distribute to the class:

Value of books and friendship.
Never compete with others. Simply be what they are and strive for the best.
Do only what you think you can be passionate about, every single day of your life. Discard any other career option.
Gain knowledge, be passionate in what you do and focus on what you do. Team spirit is a fourth dimension added.
Be honest to yourself, learn from each other and focus on application of knowledge.
Honesty (most imp), focus, and hard work! Rest all is taken care off!

These are small things but in these formative years, it can inspire a few. Students really value such inputs. Below are some photos of the Career Color Cards and the classroom. I really like the last team photo, scroll slowly to glance through the curiosity and energy in those little eyes.

Once the class workshop ended, I said Goodbye to everyone and left. Their next session didn't happen so Himani did something exciting. She took all the students upstairs for the movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and they were extremely excited. Before going, they all said a big thank you! It was a nice feeling and I hope they really do well in life as they are our future.

Had a good time with students at a school today. They were really bright kids. Challenge was to give them a message & some inspiration.
— Arif Khan (@arifkhan7) April 16, 2013

@greenrains I hope they took their Career Cards back home, and if even 1 students keeps it till 12th, I'll be more than happy. :)
— Arif Khan (@arifkhan7) April 17, 2013

Four days later, I took part in a twitter chat #edu4all where we were discussing about education for the girl child and I shared my experience with all. It felt nice when Meera Sanyal (@meerasanyal) who was the panelist read my suggestions and appreciated. Many more folks read it and my only intention was to tell that it's possible to contribute in our own little way when we're passionate about something and want to create a better India.

#edu4all @arifkhan7 @roadhound : Arif you are right and well done - country needs youngsters like you. Teach for India also doing a gr8 job
— Meera Sanyal (@meerasanyal) April 20, 2013

#edu4all @arifkhan7 @idf4all : spot on !
— Meera Sanyal (@meerasanyal) April 20, 2013

I hope some day these wonderful students read this blog and share with me what they'll become in life as I'm confident we have a bright India ahead. I will wait for their response here as that feeling will be priceless. If you have any comments or feedback, then please leave a comment below as I would like to hear from you. And, if you are from some school and would like me to come and interact with your students, then contact me here.

Keep educating,
A.

Impact: Infographic Education in India #12thPlan

noreply@blogger.com (Arif Khan) — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 08:35:00 +0000

It's been more than 10 days since I blogged on the infographic and the response has been thrilling! A quick look at the numbers (April 8 - 19, 2013):

820  Blog Pageviews
601  Infographic Downloads
143  Times Blog Link Shared
138  Comments on Blog, Facebook and Twitter
96  Likes on Facebook and LinkedIn
2  Press Coverage

On any other day, my regular blog posts receive 100 or maybe 200 pageviews at the best in a week's time but the previous post on the Infographic on Education in India received a phenomenal response. I'm used to seeing much higher numbers at work, but this leap on maktion is special for me in many ways. It reinforced that size doesn't matter, what really works on the web is good content. You must've heard 'content is king', well that's really true! The underlying objective of every post that I write here is to add some value to you, and maybe even inspire you to be creative. Maktion was started with the idea to spread creativity and I'm glad it's spreading it in the right way. Trust me, it feels satisfying to see the blog grow and catch everyone's attention for the right reason. For me, the positive word-of-mouth is a greatest achievement and it motivates me to give even more.

Here's the analytics scorecard to briefly illustrate the impact:

Blog's traffic spiked on April 8 and 9 and the average time on page went up
Blog link was shared heavily on twitter & liked by many on their Facebook wall
Infographic was downloaded 600+ times from 17 countries and still counting

These are numbers just from this blog, the actual number of infographic views and downloads are likely to be much higher as the Planning Commission has put it up on their website and had also informed us that they would showcase the infographic at various Government bodies and seminars.

Voice on Twitter:
The string of congratulations and the feedback on the infographic from folks from India and around the world was very encouraging:

1st! :) #12thPlan Hackathon
— Arif Khan (@arifkhan7) April 7, 2013

. @arifkhan7 nailed it. Congrats dude. twitter.com/sgaurav_baghel…
— Gaurav Singh (@sgaurav_baghel) April 7, 2013

@arifkhan7 yeyyyy congrats!!! :)
— kalpana chauhan (@kalpanachauhan) April 7, 2013

@arifkhan7 congratulations! :) !!!
— Vasundhara Bahuguna (@finallyhereiam) April 7, 2013

@arifkhan7 wow
— Wafa Deshmukh ♡(@deshmukhwafa) April 7, 2013

Whoaa!!! Awesome!! :-) :-)RT "@arifkhan7: 1st! :) #12thPlan Hackathon"
— Nirali Hingwala (@NiraliHingwala) April 7, 2013

@arifkhan7 Awesome! Congrats!
— Ashwini Mishra (@AListRap) April 7, 2013

@arifkhan7 Congrats! Is the viz up somewhere for everyone to see?
— Rasagy Sharma (@rasagy) April 7, 2013

@arifkhan7 congratulations.
— shruti (@flirtingshadows) April 7, 2013

@arifkhan7 dude congrats! Where was this?
— महाफ्रीद ईरानी (@mahafreed) April 7, 2013

@arifkhan7 @sgaurav_baghel @tcs_news That's Great.... TCSers Rock... :-)
— Danish Khan (@danishkhan_30) April 7, 2013

@arifkhan7 nice job!
— Carl Malamud (@carlmalamud) April 8, 2013

@arifkhan7 amazing - congratulations!
— Kalpesh Shah (@IamKalpesh) April 8, 2013

@arifkhan7 and you grabbed the opportunity with both hands - well done!
— Kalpesh Shah (@IamKalpesh) April 8, 2013

@arifkhan7 Arif,I am proud of you who had a high goals and had ambitions!
— RIEKO (@my_name_isRIEKO) April 8, 2013

@arifkhan7 wow! Awesome :-D
— Nirali Hingwala (@NiraliHingwala) April 8, 2013

@arifkhan7 Really well made. Keep it up!
— Sooraj (@zipview) April 8, 2013

@arifkhan7 Thanks, love the detailed post! Congrats again! :)
— Rasagy Sharma (@rasagy) April 8, 2013

@arifkhan7 LOL Interesting...#Congrats :)
— KELLY(@kelzkhaleesi) April 8, 2013

@arifkhan7 Saab is the flag bearer of this group of 5 musketeers. @harshbpatel @rakeshthekumar @iamkalpesh @scdelhi
— Sumit Chakraborty (@scdelhi) April 8, 2013

Hum atti utsahit hai, aap ko samman karne ke liye. Padahro mare city @arifkhan7
— Sumit Chakraborty (@scdelhi) April 8, 2013

@arifkhan7 Thank you for sharing post with us. Nice insights. Will forward to those in education field/sector. Congrats. Proud ofyou.
— Rajvardhan (@cybercalci) April 8, 2013

@arifkhan7 brilliant work Mr. Khan.
— samraatkakkar (@samraatkakkar) April 8, 2013

@arifkhan7 Amazing stuff Arif, many many Congratulations, Way to go :)
— तनवीर(@Tanweeer) April 8, 2013

@arifkhan7 wonderful work, you deserved first place.
— Najam Ansari (@najamansari) April 8, 2013

@arifkhan7 Wow bro, this is a tremendous achievement. I'm so impressed & convinced that you're gonna go places in life. #Congrats & godbless
— ZORAN SAHER (@zoran24x7) April 8, 2013

@arifkhan7 good stuff. Glad you were selected!
— FAISAL FAROOQUI (@faisalMouthshut) April 8, 2013

@arifkhan7 your inforgraphic is so beautiful and simple at the same time. so easy to understand. therefore even more wow! congratulations :)
— Vasundhara Bahuguna (@finallyhereiam) April 8, 2013

I am sure!If the tweets while you were at it were anything to go by,it must have been a beautiful experience.Keep going @arifkhan7 #1manTeam
— Vasundhara Bahuguna (@finallyhereiam) April 8, 2013

@arifkhan7 Massive Congratulations! Kudos and what a super genius work, much appreciated!!
— Zainab (@ZainabNaeem87) April 8, 2013

@arifkhan7 hey, congrats on the win :)
— Ankita Gaba (@ankitagaba) April 8, 2013

@arifkhan7 Super stuff, Arif! Superb!
— 〜 ⓜ ⓘ ⓣ ⓐ ⓛ 〜 (@mitaldubal) April 8, 2013

@arifkhan7 :) Proud to be working with you. And well done!
— Rimjhim Ray (@GlobeSlother) April 8, 2013

@arifkhan7 dude you just rock.. How do you get time for all this? I must learn time management skills from you
— Rakesh Kumar (@RakeshTheKumar) April 9, 2013

@arifkhan7 OMG BHAIYYAH, this exactly the reason why I've always told u that u're the master of creativity! Never give up !
— Zuha Khan (@Zuha25) April 9, 2013

@arifkhan7 well done, bhaiyyah! Well done! So proud, so happy 4 u.This is the just the first step to ur major success... Govt recognition!
— Zuha Khan (@Zuha25) April 9, 2013

@arifkhan7 Awesome! :)
— PennyKinned (@PennyKinned) April 9, 2013

@arifkhan7 Congrats dude..
— Nishith Mathur (@Nishith23) April 9, 2013

@arifkhan7 @sgaurav_baghel That is SO SUPER AWESOME guys!!! so so proud of you both.. yaaaay!!! My friends are the smartest people in India
— nishtha dixit (@BaraatDance) April 9, 2013

@arifkhan7 Just read your blog and saw your inforgraphic.... No wonder you won.. It was simply awesome! *pat on the back* @sgaurav_baghel
— nishtha dixit (@BaraatDance) April 9, 2013

@arifkhan7 Many Congratulations Arif on your first national award :)
— Amar (@BuckTheFad) April 9, 2013

@arifkhan7 Congrats man!
— engineeratlarge (@engineeratlarge) April 9, 2013

@arifkhan7 OMG!!!! This is huge!!! National level... Woohoo .. ;) congratulations .. You are awesome & so is @maktion :)
— TheHappiness Manager (@SamanthaSinghi) April 9, 2013

@arifkhan7 Congrats Arif! Good work!
— Youth of the Nation (@AnkitKhandelwal) April 9, 2013

@arifkhan7 wow! Extensive work u did there. Congrats again Arif
— Tara S Basu(@here_incognito) April 9, 2013

@arifkhan7 I still haven't gone through the infographic indetail but hatts of to what u have done as a 1 man team. Will soon read in detail.
— Hemal Majithia (@hemalmajithia) April 9, 2013

@arifkhan7 that's awesome.
— Adam Singer (@AdamSinger) April 9, 2013

@arifkhan7 @hubspot WOW. Looks awesome!! Nice job! Very professional and informative.
— Brittany Leaning (@bleaning) April 11, 2013

@arifkhan7 Congrats!
— Code4Cause (@Code4Cause) April 11, 2013

@arifkhan7 Whoa! Super interesting!! Best of luck :))
— Amira Salah (@amira_salah) April 11, 2013

@arifkhan7 congrats that's a good number!
— Haroon Bijli (@bijli) April 11, 2013

@arifkhan7 Awesome! Many congratulations, keep the class going :)
— Fahbin(@Fahbins) April 11, 2013

@arifkhan7 Great work! Nicely done :)
— Jeremy Waite (@jeremywaite) April 11, 2013

@arifkhan7 Congratulations :)
— ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (@UmeedWaliDhoop) April 11, 2013

@arifkhan7 The infographic is brilliant! Besties for hackathon matey! @cocacola
— Sonal Kapoor (@ArtForCause) April 12, 2013

@arifkhan7 just realised your project got first prize in the planning commissions hackathon!! CONGRATS!! :D
— Vaibhav Singh (@vaibhavssays) April 13, 2013

And this was epic - even some brands congratulated on the achievement:

Thank you @arifkhan7 We enjoyed having you over as well
— TISS (@TISSpeak) April 8, 2013

@arifkhan7 Congrats Arif! ^Mar
— Microsoft India (@MicrosoftIndia) April 9, 2013

@arifkhan7 Yay, First Prize! Congrats, Arif! So happy we could play a part. What's next?
— Office (@Office) April 9, 2013

@arifkhan7 Can't wait to follow along with your future successes. Cheers and have a great day, Arif! :)
— Office (@Office) April 9, 2013

A lot of folks saw, read and generously shared the infographic with their followers on twitter. I would like to thank each one of you for taking the infographic ahead, that meant a lot to me:

Read! RT @arifkhan7 Here's my blogpost on the #Hackathon experience & the Infographic: Education in India in 12thPlan maktion.com/2013/04/12thpl…
— shruti (@flirtingshadows) April 8, 2013

my friend @arifkhan7 writes about his #GOI 12th Plan #hackathon experience & his winning infographic bit.ly/14ZwZZz
— Priya Iyengar (@TweetAPriya) April 8, 2013

Take a look at this infographic on Education in India in 12th Five Year Plan by @arifkhan7 for #12thPlan bit.ly/12thPlanEdu
— Vasundhara Bahuguna (@finallyhereiam) April 8, 2013

A #fantastic read and experience by @arifkhan7 maktion.com/2013/04/12thpl…The Winner of this Challenge.
— Vasundhara Bahuguna (@finallyhereiam) April 8, 2013

Education in India in 12th Five Year Plan. Maktion wins in GOI's #12thPlan Hackathon! maktion.com/2013/04/12thpl… via @arifkhan7 #Infographic
— kalpana chauhan (@kalpanachauhan) April 8, 2013

Good Stuff!! Take a look at this infographic on Education in India in 12th Five Year Plan by @arifkhan7 for #12thPlan bit.ly/12thPlanEdu
— Omkar Mishra (@CSharpDFlat) April 8, 2013

Maktion's Infographic on Education in India 12th Five Year Plan by @arifkhan7 for bit.ly/12thPlanEdu Vision for 2mrw wins 1st prize :)
— Ashwini Churi (@Ashuwrites) April 9, 2013

So proud of @arifkhan7 for winning GOI's #12thPlan Hackathon. He did it all by himself! Read his success story here - bit.ly/147yTYx
— NT (@NehaT_) April 9, 2013

Infographic: Education in India in 12th Five Year Plan. Maktion wins in GOI's #12thPlan Hackathon! maktion.com/2013/04/12thpl… via @arifkhan7
— Wafa Deshmukh ♡(@deshmukhwafa) April 9, 2013

Infographic: Education in India in 12th Five Year Plan. Maktion wins in GOI's #12thPlan Hackathon! maktion.com/2013/04/12thpl… #Vote4AK
— feluda (@feluda) April 9, 2013

Hackthon Infographic Winner: Education in India in 12th Five Year Plan by @arifkhan7 docs.google.com/file/d/0BzATTX…
— Guruchandraprabu.R (@guru_idiot) April 11, 2013

Infographic: Education in India in 12th Five Year Plan. Maktion wins in GOI's #12thPlan Hackathon: goo.gl/PsCZ2 (via @arifkhan7)
— Adam Singer (@AdamSinger) April 9, 2013

Infographic: Education in India #12th5yrPlan (2012-2017) doc-00-54-docs.googleusercontent.com/docs/securesc/… @akshay37 @jkmadathilvia @arifkhan7
— Yograj Patel (@YograjCS) April 12, 2013

Even the folks from Government of India and those related with the Education sector appreciated and told me that they will be sharing it among their circles:

Excellent entry and blog! Maktion wins in GOI's #12thPlan Hackathon! maktion.com/2013/04/12thpl… via @arifkhan7
— Vikas Bagri (@vikasbagri) April 8, 2013

@arifkhan7 @pitrodasam @plancomindia Absolutely on track! As you said - 'India is us. We are India'. Keep up the good work!
— Vikas Bagri (@vikasbagri) April 9, 2013

@arifkhan7 Brilliant - congratulations!I am giving a talk in the UK on Thursday, so can I use this as one of my slides?
— Alison Barrett (@albarrett09) April 9, 2013

@arifkhan7 latest updates on Maktion comes out as single window of the two-day mega event #12thplan (cont) tl.gd/n_1rjlpsg
— Pallavi Nayek (@poweretics) April 9, 2013

@arifkhan7 that's awesome congratulations!! What a neat infographic-I plan to share it w/friends working in education, and generally!
— Mahima Sukhdev (@MahiTuna) April 10, 2013

Infographic: Education in India in 12th Five Year Plan. Maktion wins in GOI's #12thPlan Hackathon! maktion.com/2013/04/12thpl… via @arifkhan7
— Avnita Bir (@avnita) April 12, 2013

And then:

@arifkhan7 can I have the honor of having you on #ZuhaKhanRadio so that u inspire the many creative minds out there to do something as such?
— Zuha Khan (@Zuha25) April 9, 2013

@arifkhan7 I work for DNA we would like to feature your views on Hackathon on our e-paper. Will that be all right to you?
— Akansha Pandey (@Ziggy_Wiggy) April 10, 2013

Press Coverage:

DNA | April 11, 2013
Mumbai hackathon decodes 12th five year plan

AOne of the winners, Arif Khan who received the first prize in the visualizations category for his infographic 'Education in India in 12th year plan' wrote about his experiences on his blog: "We were given 32 hours to go through all the reports and PDFs, analyze, do whatever we wanted in order to use for our submission. It was tough as with no prior knowledge we had to first read those documents (Excel spreadsheets, PPT and PDF), then understand the flow followed by some analysis and finally create a story out of it." Khan created the infographic after reading through the documents provided. "I chose to showcase the current scenario of education in India and connect it with the 12th Plan objectives."

Firspost India | April 11, 2013
Planning Commission's hackathon: Good start, but what next?

In infographics/visualisation, the winner was Arif Khan, from team ‘macktion’ His visualisation called Education in India, highlighted the key issues plaguing India’s education, and also showed what the 12th Plan hopes to achieve in terms of targets. The Planning Commission will be using all the winning entries from the various institutes as part of its efforts to disseminate the 12th Five-year Plan.

The 12th Plan Hackathon was indeed a wonderful experience right from the word 'Go!' It wasn't easy to stay awake for 35 hours continuously and dig through data and PDFs to come out with a simple communication. Data alone can be boring and my challenge that night was to convert it into something which was easy to comprehend, consume and share. In the end, it was some energy, creativity and your wishes which allowed me to create a captivating story. I really enjoyed the experience and all I can say it's been a good journey for maktion in last 5 years and it continues to be admired by old and new readers alike and even got mentioned on the Government of India's website!

@arifkhan7 Adore maktion.com and your posts! Perfecto instant connection =)
— Sonal Kapoor (@ArtForCause) April 12, 2013

(: Today, the name #maktion makes its way to a GOI website (see under TISS Mumbai, Visualizations). Big for me!data.gov.in/hackathon/winn…
— Arif Khan (@arifkhan7) April 9, 2013

Some folks asked what'll I do with the prize money? Well, that wasn't a tough call as I'm committed to spread creativity in whatever way I can and I've decided to use the entire amount for organizing a creativity content here on maktion. For those who're new, we had a great contest@maktion back in 2011 with a judge from Canada and real prizes were given to 4 winners! After the contest, two creative guys approached me to sponsor some contests for encouraging creativity among the youth. I was very touched by their gesture. Coming back, the How? When? What? will be shared later but the core theme remains to spread creativity. I'll share more on this once things get finalized. If you have good ideas or would be interested in sponsoring a creativity content, then feel free to contact me. And, if you have a minute, then I would like to hear from you in the comments section below.

Click here to see the Infographic | Download the Infographic | Tweet to share the infographic

Finally in all this, I once again re-learnt what I have always believed in - to make it happen.
I leave you with this tweet, retweet if you like it.

It’s good to think.And think awesome.But don’t just think, make it happen. - #Asays twitter.com/arifkhan7/stat…
— Arif Khan (@arifkhan7) April 11, 2013

Be creative,
A.

Infographic: Education in India in 12th Five Year Plan. Maktion wins in GOI's #12thPlan Hackathon!

noreply@blogger.com (Arif Khan) — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 05:15:00 +0000

The week that went by has been amazing of sorts for me. I had sleepless nights but also opportunities to ignite some sparks of creativity. Last Friday, I went to a social meetup #ssmeetup and had a great time and I'm still receiving some amazing feedback on the twitter card that I had created in short time. Over the weekend I went to Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai to participate in a national level creative competition - the 12the Plan Hackathon. I first heard about the hackathon on twitter through Samraat (@samraatkakkar) and then it was through Gaurav (@sgaurav_baghel) that I came to know the registrations were closing on April 4 midnight. I just had 30 minutes to register and could not form a team of four in such short time. I had to register as a one man team as this really seemed an exciting opportunity. Twitter once again helped!

The 12th Plan Hackathon

The Planning Commission under Government of India organized a two day "12th Plan Hackathon" on April 6-7, 2013 across 10 major cities and also had a separate window of online submissions. This crowdsourcing event idea open to people from all walks of life regardless of professions was the brainchild of Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission and Mr. Sam Pitroda, Adivser to the Prime Minister on Public Information Infrastructure and Innovations. Their website mentions the objective of this entire event in very simple terms:

While the 12th Five Year Plan endeavors to change India, we invite you to help us change the way we see the vision for the nation. Hack the Plan over a 2-day period, create out-of-this-world visualizations of the future, tell the next big story in a myriad ways and build apps to fuel the change.

You read those words? The "out-of-this-world visualizations.. tell the next big story" - that won me! I knew I had to participate in this competition. They added the in this two day event show your supreme innovative skills with your knowledge of the 12th Five Year Plan and created visualizations, short films or applications which will blow them away. Ever thought a Govt website would talk like that? Well it is, and that's cool! You can watch the recorded webcast of the inaugural address where Dr. Ahluwalis and Mr. Pitroda shared the vision and the principle objective of this hackathon. I'm sharing some tweets on the principle objective:

Objective: To take the #12thPlan to the people. What's your SOCO (Single Overiding Communication Objective)? - @pitrodasam keynote.
— Arif Khan (@arifkhan7) April 6, 2013

This exercise will help us communicate, collaborate. You may be the next genius we are looking for. #12thplan #hackathon
— Sam Pitroda (@pitrodasam) April 6, 2013

Arunish Chawla: 3 big goals of the 12th Plan : Faster, Sustainable, and More Inclusive Growth #12thPlan #Hackathon
— Planning Commission (@PlanComIndia) April 6, 2013

We had to register in one category among the following three:

Visualizations
Short Films
Mobile Applications

In the first two categories, the participants were asked to visualize the benefits of the Plan and communicate the benefit. While in the third category participants had to create apps which will support the initiatives outlined in the Plan or educate about the focus area of the plan. There was also a fourth category called Uncover in which one had to act like a journalist and interact with the participants and write about it. I opted for Visualization in form of an infographic which simply put are graphical visual representations of complex data intended to present it quickly and clearly. I'm sure you must have seen a lot of these on social media. Well even if you haven't, you'll see one here as you keep reading. I must have seen more than 500+ infographics and even made a handful, so was quiet comfortable in choosing the category visualizations. I knew this was a great creative opportunity and it was time to do some maktioning! Once we chose our category, we had to pick one sector among the following seven:

I chose the Education sector as I've been quiet involved here in whatever way I can. I go to Municipal Schools to volunteer for creative workshops, puppet shows, etc whenever I come to know about it and also have the informal Cultivating Minds project going on. I keep receiving emails from students asking about career opportunities, what should they take up, how to be creative, etc. Some of their questions fascinate me! The hackathon was an opportunity for me to know about education in India at a deeper level and maybe one day use it for a big idea. Who knows?

The judging was made on the basis of a 3 minute pitch to present their solution to a panel of 3 judges on the second day of the hackathon. The criteria for selecting the winners was:

Creativity
Visual appeal
How well it communicates to audience
Relevance to the 12th Plan

The winning entries received cash prizes (Rs. 15,000 for first prize under visualization categorry) and GOI certificates of appreciation signed by Dr. Ahluwalia and Mr. Pitroda. Overall, I was very impressed by the hackathon's flow and the extensive use of technology in organizing this event.

I must say the #12thPlan #Hackathon is very well organized. Google+ Hangouts for delivering talks, FB Groups to answer question, Twitter.
— Arif Khan (@arifkhan7) April 6, 2013

There is a young team (under @pitrodasam) who're managing the entire online experience for the #12thPlan #Hackathon. Very impressive.
— Arif Khan (@arifkhan7) April 6, 2013

But the reverse feeling came when I started accessing the education report, ppts and files.

Seeing Govt's ppt given for references is painful - data, data! Converting into a cool infographic is challenge of my life today. #12thPlan
— Arif Khan (@arifkhan7) April 6, 2013

After seeing 3 ppts from @plancomindia my eyes are paining w/ data overload! Dear @pitrodasam, I can train your guys to make good ppts. Yep.
— Arif Khan (@arifkhan7) April 6, 2013

We were given 32 hours to go through all the reports and PDFs, analyze, do whatever we wanted in order to use for our submission. It was tough as with no prior knowledge we had to first read those documents (Excel spreadsheets, PPT and PDF), then understand the flow followed by some analysis and finally create a story out of it. All this in merely a day's time. And, I was alone in my team which meant I had to do everything on my own. Read. Think. Create. I read through the documents provided, skimmed through the spreadsheets and finally zeroed down on the theme for my infographic. I chose to showcase the current scenario of education in India and connect it with the 12th Plan objectives. Although I know quiet a lot about infographics, I thought it would be a good idea to quickly ask what people really look for in an infographic? I got some quick responses and kept them at the back of my mind during the entire preparation period.

@arifkhan7 1) directions to a good pub 2) a good pie recipe 3) classic disco music.
— Ed Fowler (@edz314) April 6, 2013

@arifkhan7 colour, flow of thought- how easy it is to understand (perhaps one element that stands out), the caption
— Vasundhara Bahuguna (@finallyhereiam) April 6, 2013

@arifkhan7 Caption/ headline, flow of the info and colours. Goes without saying that infographics which have minimal text.
— 〜 ⓜ ⓘ ⓣ ⓐ ⓛ 〜 (@mitaldubal) April 6, 2013

A customer's voice is the most important thing for a Marketer and you should always listen and observe well. Man, I realized this was like a Marketing opportunity for me where the 12th Plan reports on education sector were the crude product and I had to refine it into something presentable and which can be consumed easily in short time. Easy task? Nope. Enjoyed? Very much!

In my pitch to to the judges, I talked about:

The need for a visually powerful infographic to generated curiosity and create awareness.
Who were my target audience? In this case, youth from the age group 15-35 who prefer to access content from the digital medium over hardcopies and long PDFs. I emphasized how people on social network share infographics when they find it interesting and that helps in the social spread.
I mentioned that this was a customized infographic for the Planning Commission made with attention to detail. Every design element, text, image, style was carefully thought to come out with a branded product - the infographic. The use of pencil as an image to symbolize Sarva Sikhsha Abhyan, the tricolor pattern in the header, the flow connectors.
Highlighting relevant facts by the proper usage of different font sizes, shapes and colors - the elements of a good infographic.
Finally, all the elements put together had to tell a story. Otherwise it would become one more among the many.

And now it is Team Maktion presenting an infographic on the education sector. #12thPlan #Hackathon twitter.com/TISSpeak/statu…
— TISS (@TISSpeak) April 7, 2013

And then came the time for result announcement! I was excited throughout but the suspense at the results time reminded me of my exam days. I kept my cool and then suddenly they announced "maktion"! Wow, I couldn't believe it at that moment. And someone from the Government body calling out "maktion" made it a double treat. Was so happy that I didn't know what to tweet so just put a smiley...

1st! :) #12thPlan Hackathon
— Arif Khan (@arifkhan7) April 7, 2013

And the winner at Govt. of India's #12thPlan #Hackathon infographic is "maktion!" (Yes, that's how they called me!) twitter.com/arifkhan7/stat…
— Arif Khan (@arifkhan7) April 7, 2013

The Govt of India's #12thPlan #Hackathon Certificate. Thank you everyone for your wishes, meant a lot. :) twitter.com/arifkhan7/stat…
— Arif Khan (@arifkhan7) April 7, 2013

I'm happy and as promised to many of you, here's the infographic highlighting education in India at the grass root level under the 12th Five Year Plan. If you like it, then do take it ahead to create awareness. You can take a print out, tweet about it or even use it on your blog. You're completely free to use this collateral in whichever way and medium you prefer to.

Infographic by maktion

Not able to view the infographic? It might be a browser issue. Click here to view in a new window.

Take action:

Tweet to share with your followers!
Download directly on your desktop
Embed on your blog (copy-paste the code below):

<ahref="http://www.maktion.com/2013/04/infographic-education-in-india-12th-plan-hackathon.html"><img src="http://bit.ly/12thPlanEdu" alt=Infographic: Education in India in 12th Five Year Plan" title "Infographic: Education in India in 12th Five Year Plan" width="580" height="2831" /><a><br/><a href="http://www.maktion.com">Infographic by maktion<a/>

Closing Note
In my opinion, the Government is opening up to new things and had a more inclusive approach in this entire exercise. The 12th Plan Hackathon was a good medium for idea-exchange and going ahead I hope to see more use of technology and other mediums to communicate and collaborate effectively with all the stakeholders. To stay updated with Planning Commission's activities, you can:

Visit Data Portal India for all kinds of data and other information resources
Follow Planning Commission on twitter @PlanComIndia
Join their Facebook Page facebook.com/PlanComIndia

We can all take some time out of our busy lives and do something constructive for the country. I've been saying this to all the students that I interact with and I do see a lot of hope. Let's get up and let's contribute in our own little ways with whatever skills we have to make a better India.

Remember, India is us. We are India.

Lastly, I want to thank my Father and Mother who gave me tremendous support. And, also to everyone whom I know in person and on social channels. On a lighter note, as this prize is from a Government body, I too can say that like Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan and Ajay Devgn this is my "National Award" of sorts in the field where I love to perform from my heart - creativity!

Updated (April 20, 2013)
820 Pageviews, 601 downloads and counting. Click here to see the impact of the infographic

Jai Hind,
A.

Social Samosa Mumbai #ssmeetup & my twitter card!

noreply@blogger.com (Arif Khan) — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 18:28:00 +0000

Hey there! As I mentioned in my post yesterday about maktion turning 5 (wait, you still don't know that? Then first go and read that!), in order to keep my creative juice flowing I have some activities lined up for April and today was Social Samosa Mmbai Meetup #ssmeetup at Mocha Mojo in Bandra (West). Now, I've known Social Samosa since its inception and have been a regular reader of their posts. While some posts are short and fun to read, some are simply fab. I often read their social media strategy reviews and interviews as it gives an in-depth analysis which helps you learn and pick up sound ideas. I often tweet their posts which I feel would add value to others. I think I am their fan! *chuckles*

Coming back to the meetup, I had a great time today evening connecting with the founders of Team Social Samosa, two of whom I know since long - Ankita (@ankitagaba) and Rakesh (@RakeshTheKumar). Their spirit is commendable and the desire to make Social Samosa India's #1 social media blog is fab. I really wish them good luck. I was told that more than 300 folks registered and I could see almost 130-150 folks in person which I think is huge for a first meetup. There was no agenda as such and Ankita announced that the meetup was being held to bring everyone together so that you can know who's who of social media in Mumbai and eventually help this industry grow. An impressive vision!

Conversing face to face with twitter handles at the @social_samosa Mumbai meetup. Good fun! #ssmeetup
— Arif Khan (@arifkhan7) April 5, 2013

I met a lot of folks from different agencies (almost 18-20) and I could feel how the pulse of the new breed of social media professionals in my interaction with them. Some of them discussed digital marketing, while some talked about what they're doing in social media and a few asked me good practices in SEO. It was a good opportunity to converse and cross-learn. That is one reason why I enjoy such meets as it gives you a casual environment to talk, discuss and learn from one another. Some folks also told me that they know me on twitter and follow my blog closely which brought a smile and one went on to say I look like a researcher! Plus, I got my hands on Rakesh's new Nexus 4 - boy it was such an awesome smartphone with an excellent UI and some amazing camera capabilities. Hope it comes to India soon as has been reported.

Like every time, I thought of doing something different for this meetup. I always believe that the best ideas are simple, creative and direct and so quickly designed a small visiting card before leaving office and took print outs on the way to have them ready in my pocket. I gave this card after conversing with many folks there and everyone loved this card. Some even looked back at me awestruck! I met the guy who's handling Pepsi India's social account and he said to his friend "While we are giving creative cards to do networking, this guy is one step ahead. He's doing business, he's conversing!" (Note: these may not be the exact words as there was loud music playing there but this was the essence). A guy even said "Dude, you've nailed it!"

Updated: The two tweets below were embedded on April 6

@arifkhan7 I was the Pepsi guy. Now your fan. "@ankitagaba: @jackinchief check this. has mentioned you @pratikgupta maktion.com/2013/04/social…"
— PrashanthChallapalli (@JackinChief) April 6, 2013

@arifkhan7 @jackinchief @ankitagaba and I was the one who said "nailed it"
— Pratik(@pratikgupta) April 6, 2013

So, what exactly ran in my mind during those 15 odd minutes in which I designed the card? Simple - I believe in the power of conversations and with over 70,000+ tweets, I have spent considerable time observing and understanding the deeper layers of social media and how things really work. Trust me, I can talk on this and won't bore you a bit. I didn't want to give my company card as I was attending this meetup in my personal capacity and so, I asked in my head what are the important things for this event and how can I pass a simple message so that the person opposite can remember me? The answers were pretty simple:

The event hashtag #ssmeetup was the common connector among all tweeting about it
The message idea "let's connect and converse"
My twitter handle @arifkhan7.

I combined all three in a visual and came up with a simple card. It was easy for me as I've done many such quick activities in the past. The moment I saw the color printouts at the store, I smiled as I knew in 30 minutes I came out with something that differentiates and was worth remembering. In one of my earlier posts on the Thank You card I had mentioned that make your final moment a little memorable. Do something that will be remembered. I live by that code. Just like real-time marketing, this was my attempt at real-time networking! Take a look at the card below:

Thanks @ankitagaba, @rakeshthekumar, team for the awesome @social_samosa #ssmeetup! For those, whom I couldn't meet: twitter.com/arifkhan7/stat…
— Arif Khan (@arifkhan7) April 5, 2013

Lastly, I must share that I am blogging all this from an auto on my way back home. I had to blog quickly as tomorrow I'll have to rush to Government of India's 12th Plan Hackathon #12thPlan at Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai at morning for a 31 hour hackathon. I have participated in the category: visualizations / infographics and will blog about that separately.

I would like to hear about your experience at the meetup in the comments section below. And did you like my twitter card? You are most welcome to replicate it and use but I hope you picked up some cues on how to think creatively in quick time. That's more important.

Keep meeting and tweeting,
A.

Maktion turns 5! Thank you for your support.

noreply@blogger.com (Arif Khan) — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 18:26:00 +0000

Today, maktion turned 5. That's special for me as maktion is not just a blog, it's much more. I spent almost two months coming up with the name maktion which readers have now started remembering. Two days back I met my French college friend after six years for dinner and among the first 3 questions he asked me, one was "How's maktion going? Tell me more about it!" We live in a world where folks forget other's names yet there are some who remember my blog's name. That feeling was priceless. Here, I blog about diverse things like marketing, digital, twitter, education and some personal notes but the underlying theme of all post is creativity. To me, maktion is a medium to make others experience creativity.

I read all the comments posted here, receive separate emails and even mentions on twitter. It's a nice feeling when folks remember and share what they feel, and how has maktion helped them? It gives me an opportunity to improve this blog and my posts. I won't add much and will leave you with some of the 'prized tweets' across cultures and countries to share what maktion has achieved in the last 5 years:

@arifkhan7 You have put a brilliantly creative blog: maktion.com !!! Congrats!!! Well done!!!
— KABIR BEDI (@iKabirBedi) November 13, 2011

@arifkhan7 : your passion is infectious, keep going :)
— K V Sridhar (@kvpops) August 16, 2011

I like @arifkhan7 (Arif Khan) blog. Easy to understand and I can refer them to others without any hesitation. Most importantly I can comment
— Sumit Chakraborty (@scdelhi) August 16, 2012

@arifkhan7 I read your blog yesterday and i liked how you write about the simple things in life which most of us overlook. Easier to connect
— engineeratlarge (@engineeratlarge) January 27, 2012

@arifkhan7 Sometimes it worth it n it seems as 1 of those times Arif! I like creative stuff n will recommed #Maktion to my friends in brazil
— Gabriel Casals (@casalsgh) January 1, 2011

lol this guy's blog has pulling me towards it and I'm forgetting my books :D cc @arifkhan7
— Rosy Meridian (@rosymeridian) November 12, 2011

@arifkhan7 Roti kappa aur @maktion will soon be a reality, inshallah
— Amar (@BuckTheFad) November 3, 2011

What lies ahead? Apart from your job (or studies), in order to keep your creative juice flowing, I always encourage folks to actively take part in as many diverse activities as possible. Whether it's a competition, a volunteering activity, a nature camp or simply helping someone for free - all these opportunities allow you to revisit your creative capabilities and trust me, they give immense satisfaction. This is what maktioning has been all about since the last 5 years. I am sharing some of the activities lined up for April 2013:

Social Samosa Mumbai Meetup #SSMeetup (April 5)
Government of India's 12th Plan Hackathon #12thPlan (April 6-7)
Detailed UI review of someone's website (April)
Conducting career workshop for 37 students of Standard V for Teach for India (April 16)

I hope with these small stories on maktion, you find some inspiration and listen to your inner calling. Go on, look for something that really excites you, that makes you more creative and take part. Take that step. Lastly, I thank you all for your continuous support! This means a lot and motivates me to give more here, and something back to our society.

Stay creative,
A.

Image Source: KRMR

Before and after #Tweet70000

noreply@blogger.com (Arif Khan) — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 17:46:00 +0000

It's the last day of the Financial year and tomorrow we'll all start off with some light jokes on Fool's Day. In all this, today I crossed a small milestone on twitter - my 70,000th tweet! If you're not on twitter, then this number may sound BIG and you'll think how much time has he been wasting there? Haha. I can understand. Well, all I can say is that the 60k tweet series has been the longest for me here on twitter among all previous 10k series. I think it took me almost 10 months from 60k to 70k tweets and that's long considering there was a time when I tweeted 10k tweets within a month! Anyways, keeping all the numbers aside I asked myself - is there something that has changed before and after #Tweet70000?

My 10,000th tweet was two years back where I shared 5 points on how has twitter helped me? More or less, those points remain the same but I will try to add some more points based on my recent experience on twitter. In random order:

I tweet less now but read more and over time I've matured by becoming a sharp observer. My focus has been to learn first-hand from marketing champions and it has been satisfying till now.
Started following more folks and accounts from my field to learn new and latest stuff in the #digital field. I read and remember their Bios well and make it a point to read their blog or website to understand them a little better. It helps while you're conversing with them.
My rate of starring tweets (Favorite) has dramatically increased and unlike earlier I make it a point to read them within a few days. I find the links shared very useful and often end up taking new ideas at work. They also triggered the concept of creating a +Resources page here.
A lot of young professionals and students ask me questions related to digital, social media, education, career and even SRK! As much as I enjoy seeking answers from others, I equally enjoy answering to those who look up to me. It somehow completes the cycle of learning.
Lastly on twitter, being cynical and playing down every act can bring instant popularity but I've kept myself away from being cynical. Come what may, I'll remain an optimist.

So, to sum up the experience in 140 and what am I looking forward to in my next jump, see below:

#Tweet69999: It's been a great 60k tweet series here. Met good folks, interacted, learnt new stuff. Thank you all. | Now, time for the jump!
— Arif Khan (@arifkhan7) March 31, 2013

Then. #Tweet69999 --- Jump ---> Now. #Tweet70000 twitter.com/arifkhan7/stat…
— Arif Khan (@arifkhan7) March 31, 2013

If you've come to this post via a link on twitter and also know me, then thank you for being kind and helpful. I will continue to tweet in my style and hope it adds value to you. After all, no one deserves unnecessary noise on their TL. If someone does, then don't hesitate to hit the Unfollow button as you are the owner of what you consume on twitter. Stay wise. Leave a comment below to share your experience on twitter

Keep tweeting,
A.

Digital resources: LinkTally, Moat and Kurrently

noreply@blogger.com (Arif Khan) — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 17:23:00 +0000

Last month, I started a project here on maktion called +Resources which is a living document and lists down useful links at one place under 5 categories: Digital Stats, Trends & Reports, Digital Marketing, Social Media, Analytics and SEO. The purpose of this page is to be a one-stop link resource for good digital content. I keep adding new links on a regular basis based on what I read, others share and some even email me. It's like my online bookmark folder and I keep going back to it to refer to either some stats or some best practices. On the web, there's a simple philosophy which says 'sharing is caring', and I ask myself if maktion won't add any value to you, then why would you would ever come to this blog in the first place, right? I'm glad that some of you appreciate the effort in maintaining the +Resources page. That means a lot to me!

@arifkhan7 :) Thank *you*, especially for the Resources page maktion.com/p/resources.ht…
— bhatnaturally (@bhatnaturally) February 21, 2013

Usually, I just update the +Resources page and then leave it as it is. In the last few days I came across some good digital resources and I thought to write a little about them. Plus, you will see the sources which might help you to understand that you really can gain a lot out of twitter by simply following the right people from your chosen field. I've always been a strong advocate of using twitter not just for fun but also for your polishing your skill sets and staying ahead of the curve by being informed.

The 3 digital resources that I found useful are LinkTally, Moat and Kurrently. Can't make out anything from their names? Don't worry, I've explained them below.

LinkTally shows how many times was that URL shared? I tried this online tool and although I'm not sure whether it's accurate but you can try it considering it's from HubSpot. Try some URLs whose stats you have and if it shows less than 10% deviation from those numbers on a consistent basis, than I would say this is a good tool to know how many times was your URL shared. AddThis also provides a similar feature but there you have to place some codes which appends a crude code after your URL making it appear ugly.

Easy tool to find out how many times that URL was shared: linktally.com
— Dan Zarrella (@danzarrella) February 25, 2013

Moat shows website banner and display ads which can be searched by brands. I am aware one of Nielsen's paid product shows you your competitors display banners but that's a paid tool. I found Moat to be useful because it's free and whatever brands I searched for, it gave me the latest results which were considerably alright. Just make sure you spell the name of the brand correctly.

Site that shows websites' banners & displays is moat.com Thanks everyone!
— Rand Fishkin (@randfish) March 4, 2013

Kurrently shows real-time social search and monitoring across Twitter, Facebook and Google+. Although I won't say this is the most extensive tool available as there are big names out there but for simple real-time social search you can consider this online tool. I tried some keywords and it gave me a fairly good listing across all 3 networks.

Checking out kurrently.com Real Time Social Search & Monitoring...pretty cool so far!
— AJ Ghergich (@SEO) March 4, 2013

If you found these digital resources useful or if you recently came across something useful which others might benefit from, then do leave a comment below.

Keep sharing,
A.

Image Source: AZIPL

Kids taking center stage in technology marketing?

noreply@blogger.com (Arif Khan) — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 13:20:00 +0000

Last week, I came across 2013's most awaited smartphone - the Samsung Galaxy S4's first teaser video on YouTube. Like every time, they stunned me once again and it wasn't about highlighting technology or any product feature. This time in an attempt to build up some curiosity before their mega unveiling on March 14, Samsung adopted a different route to market their flagship. In their first teaser, they show a kid who is driven to the Samsung Office and gets delighted upon seeing the Samsung UNPACKED box. There's a 'wow' moment and I don't remember such a concept used for any mobile phone unveiling before. Samsung have gone a step ahead and are clearly looking to create an emotional connect that its nearest competitor has managed to build since several years. Clever ad!

I discussed this ad with my friend Romy (@RomyKosta) and even he liked it and asked me back if I had seen the Microsoft Windows 8 ad? I said 'No' and he shared the link with me and boy, another impressive technology ad with a kid taking the center stage. Have a look at both the ads below:

Samsung Galaxy S4

Microsoft Windows 8

What do you think? Are kids taking center stage in technology marketing? Leave a comment below, and also mention which other brands can you think of on similar lines.

Enjoy,
A.

Happy Women's Day: special twitter-women's logo!

noreply@blogger.com (Arif Khan) — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 15:37:00 +0000

Today is March 8 - International Women's Day. It's a symbolic day to appreciate a woman's presence in our lives and remind ourselves that women are equal and deserve equal opportunities, respect and admiration. Although it's celebrated on this particular day, I feel it's women's day today, and everyday. Right from your mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, cousin to your friends, colleagues and associate - every woman is unique and special. It's imperative for us men to really appreciate their presence in our lives and treat them with umpteen respect. There should be absolutely no second thought on this if we have to collectively build a society free of gender inequality, disrespect and even crime against women. You can start from yourself, and make sure you respect every woman that you come across.

I saw Happy Women's Day trend on twitter and a lot of folks wrote some good things. In an effort to contribute, I too made something quickly based on the concept of twitter hashtag and tweeted to my followers. Happy Women's Day, today and everyday!

Made a special #twitter-women's logo: Happy Women's Day, today and everyday! twitter.com/arifkhan7/stat…
— Arif Khan (@arifkhan7) March 8, 2013

If you liked it and are on twitter, then do hit the retweet button above to spread the message.

Be respectful,
A.

Image Source: International Women's Day

Set password recovery before your email is hacked

noreply@blogger.com (Arif Khan) — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 18:29:00 +0000

Imagine you are in the middle of something and your friend emails you an important Word doc which you badly need. You quickly open your email (for me, it's gmail), enter your user name followed by the password and kaput! It shows a 'wrong password'. You enter your login credentials again and once again get the same message. One more time, and one more time - still the same message! Frustrated? Well, there are only 2 possibilities, either you're typing with Caps Lock on or someone has hacked your email. The first option is still fine but if the second is true then your heartbeat will stop for a minute especially if this is your primary email and linked with all your accounts. Now what? Only one thing can save you - if you paid attention to those small yellow snippets in your gmail which asked you for a password recovery details.

You might have ignored the password recovery notification earlier, but if you're reading this post and still haven't set it then please do it right away after reading this post. It's very important to set password recovery before your email is hacked! You really won't get any second chance. In my case, gmail always sends me notifications after 3 or 4 odd months to confirm my phone number and alternate email address to inform me in case my account gets compromised. A lot of folks ignore this and simply click the 'remind me later' tab but that one minute of activity can save you hours of frustration later. Although this information is available on Google's support pages, I thought to put it up here on maktion so that you can protect your valuable email.

Below are three ways to set password recovery options for your gmail account, in case you ever get locked out:

Go through the above links and follow the simple instructions to ensure that your email is safe. It's a small thing but you'll appreciate it when you come across a hack-like situation.

Email safe,
A.

+Resources: useful links at one place

noreply@blogger.com (Arif Khan) — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 21:07:00 +0000

We are just one month down in 2013 and there has been a plethora of changes in the digital marketing space. The biggest being twitter's vine which inspires you to capture creativity in 6 seconds (watch out, this'll be a a game changer). In this dynamic industry, one really needs to keep pace with the latest stuff else you'll remain behind. So how do you do it? Well, you can follow some websites, subscribe to blogs and identify specialists on twitter who frequently share good stuff in the field of your interest. These will eventually be your 'sources' for staying ahead!

Over the years, I have identified some really good folks on twitter who are pioneers and accepted leaders in their field. They tweet in simple language and often reply to your questions which enriches my knowledge, fosters some new ideas and keeps me updated in everything digital. If you really want to make the best use of twitter then follow some knowledgeable folks from your field who share good content as cross-sharing ultimately drives conversations which in turn leads to idea generation. I end up consuming a lot of content on digital marketing, social media, analytics, trends, etc and this really helps me in many ways. Sometimes it's difficult to imagine an alternative 'source' besides twitter and google! In the last one year many questions have come to me too asking for trends, reports, etc and sometimes I'm not immediately able to answer back as I have to look through my favorited tweets which unfortunately doesn't have a categorization feature yet (that makes life difficult for someone who likes keeping things organized). Let's hope twitter introduces this feature in future!

@arifkhan7 india ka latest digital trends/data figure ka source batayein pls
— तनवीर(@Tanweeer) January 18, 2013

@arifkhan7 Arif if I want a log of things happened in digital world recently say in Jan so far and highlights of 12 where do I go?
— Amar (@BuckTheFad) January 24, 2013

Since my student days, I've developed a bookmarking habit where I save and categorize valuable content so that I can go back and find it whenever I need it. It just required 10 seconds of effort but is worth. One day using the same bookmark, I shared a link with one of my connections and got a reply:

@arifkhan7 Thanks Arif. You are my first stop for digital right now. Hope I am not bothering you much. @hblodget
— Amar (@BuckTheFad) January 24, 2013

It feels good that some folks look up to me for quick help on valuable content and Amar's reply "You are my first stop for digital right now" triggered an idea - as I read a lot of stuff on digital, I thought of creating a resource page here on maktion where I will list down handpicked content not only for myself, but for the readers. To start off, the content links will be categorized into 5 sets with regular addition of latest content and simultaneous removal of old content. So, it'll be a living document and not one more link holding page on the web. Even you can suggest some links in the comment section of the resources page. The aim is to make it a useful resource page here on maktion.

So guys, I'm calling it +Resources, where the plus sign signifies that this page will give you something more than the regular posts. I invite you to visit the page and explore the following 5 categories:

+Digital Stats, Trends & Reports
+Digital Marketing
+Social Media
+Analytics
+SEO

Do leave a comment below to tell me what do you think of this initiative? Ultimately, the aim of this blog is to help you in some way or the other through these posts and I hope they add value to you for the time you've spent here.

Happy resourcing,
A.

Image Sources: Nickcerda & Future Fundraising Now

Find inspiration around you

noreply@blogger.com (Arif Khan) — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 13:55:00 +0000

Hello there! It's been a long time since I put some thoughts at one place and blogged about it. 2013 started off with lots of work and family stuff. Sometimes inertia creeps in and I was simply not able to push myself to write that first post of 2013. It happens, doesn't it? 2 weeks back, I was conversing with someone on new ideas in digital and was asked "How do you inspire yourself to keep going on & on?" I answered what came to mind and thought it'd be a good topic to blog about. First of all, I'd ask - when was the last time you looked for inspiration? And what was it for? If you have an answer to these 2 questions, then you're doing it right.
I've often seen folks mix up motivation, encouragement and inspiration. According to me, the first two are external factors while inspiration is something that can only come from within by observing something, someone, some where. Simply put, inspiration is to get inspired. Many times, we go through some odd phases but are not sure whether we just need a mere motivational pat from someone or really need to look inside for some inspiration in order to take ourselves to the next level. Inspiration is not something that happens everyday. It's more like 'flashes of inspiration' that come at different phases of your life, and it doesn't always have to appear 'when you're down'. It can also come to you when you're doing very well and simply want to elevate your performance to a new high. I cannot standardize what inspiration means for everyone as we all live different lives and have much to learn along. However coming back to the question of what inspires to keep going on & on, you don't have to go to the mountains or a consultant to get inspired. Inspiration is all around us and we just need to find it. I do it, and over the years they have proved fruitful for me.

1. Inspiration from your family
Our Father and Mother always provide motivation and encourage us on our laurels. Take some time to look back and visualize how much they've done for you throughout their lives. I find this absolutely inspirational and the capacity to keep going on & on comes from them. And you know what's the best part? Whenever you need to consult on anything, test some new idea, validate your thoughts or simply feel happy - you can simply pick up the phone and talk to them. That always gives you small bits of inspiration. Apart from your parents, your brother, sister, relatives, cousins - almost anyone can inspire you if you keep in touch with them. That's why it's important to stick together, to listen to others and help them when they are in need. You never know your one act can serve as an inspiration for someone else and vice-versa.

2. Inspiration at your workplace
At workplace, our colleagues can be a source of inspiration for us. This really holds good when you're working on team projects and require effective collaboration. Everyone in the team brings some expertise, some skill on the table that you might not have. Observe well, ask how it's done and pick up those little nuggets of learning from them. The more the variety of your observations, the more you'll be confident in handling big projects as time rolls by. I've really learnt a lot of different things from my colleagues and some have really inspired me through their approach, thinking and work. And it doesn't end till colleagues, having a good rapport with your Boss is always a plus. One of the best advice I've got from him "Think like an entrepreneur" - this one line has really made me to look at work differently. Somewhere it's these little bouts of inspiration that build you into a better professional. Always appreciate and put it to good use. As they say, the more diverse folks you interact with, the more ideas propagate in your mind when you need it the most. So far it's been true for me.

3. Inspiration from experts - online and in person.
I work in Digital Marketing and this field is changing so rapidly that if you don't keep yourself updated with the latest on web, you'll stay behind. So how does one keep himself updated & find inspiration? In my initial days, I used to follow selected websites to keep track of the latest stuff but then realized they were focusing more on the technical aspect of new developments rather than discussing a marketer's viewpoint and take on it. And then twitter happened for me in 2009 where I started following some really good folks from the digital field. These guys have a solid understanding of digital, add a human element to their views and offer much more to learn. All you need is to identify these experts, have an open mind, and converse with them when you have a question. Of course, finding them has been a task, but once you stick around for some time, you gradually start discovering them. This year, I gave a #FF to one of my favorite Mr. J. Owyang, who is a web strategist and tracks the industry. I can't list everyone here but they all add value to me and some them provide a truly inspirational experience.

#FF Follow @jowyang, he's one of my fav here on twitter since early days. There's just so much to learn from him.
— Arif Khan (@arifkhan7) January 25, 2013

Similarly, you can find such folks in person and meet them to discuss your common areas of interest. Although with everyone having a busy schedule this option is not always feasible, I feel if the understanding is strong then you can reach out to him/her through other channels. Remember, communication is facilitator of inspiration. If you want it, you have to speak for it. Don't feel shy.

4. Inspiration from faith and yourself.
This point really depends on your personal preference. I am an Indian Muslim and I pray as much as I can as it brings me closer to the Almighty and allows me to share my problems, concerns, achievements and wishes in duas apart from asking for forgiveness. In reality, you are talking to yourself but somewhere you have the faith that he's listening and understands you. All the attributes I put in this point - commitment, discipline and consistency ultimately inspire you to adopt these in your real life tasks. Trust me, prayers can reaffirm your belief in yourself, your strengths and your capabilities. Whichever religion you practice, try praying whenever you can find time. Hopefully, you might experience change for good.

One can find inspiration from many sources, but for me these 4 points work the best. Once you are inspired and do good work, it's imperative for you to pass on inspiration to others. That will be the real decider whether you're doing good or not. When different folks - young and old, male and female, friends and cousins email me through this blog, tweet, DM that somewhere they picked up some inspiration from me, my blog, it feels like a complete cycle. It just brings a smile and inspires me to do more and better. My 11 year old cousin, Basma Khan started blogging since July 2012 as a result of some inspiration from maktion and till now has published 25 posts! She is thoughtful, writes very well and has inspired a few of her friends to blog. Do read and leave a comment on her latest post: Another new year, another fresh start.

Remember, it all starts with you and the inspiration around you. So, go on, find your inspiration in 2013 and make it happen. I would love to hear about your source of inspiration and how it helped you in the comments below.

Stay inspired,
A.

Image Source: Photo-Dialogue

Focus

noreply@blogger.com (Arif Khan) — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 18:17:00 +0000

2012 was a special year. Be it your family or career, I'm sure you had a lot to take from this 'end-of-the-world' year and have some good memories to take along with you ahead. As the year comes to an end, many of us make resolutions for the new year. Even I did back in Dec 2011. Some things I did exceptionally well, while in some areas I need to continue to focus. And that tells me that my last post in 2012 should be on 'focus' as that's one attribute that I value a lot and try to cultivate in myself. It has always helped me. Focus. What does it means to you? If you do a google search query: define focus, it will show you that focus (noun) is the center or interest or activity.

We are always taught to work hard, learn new things, develop our skills, give more but I've seen many folks fumble despite having all these good qualities. Why? Simple (reason) - they lost focus half way. They were no longer interested in the activity and started finding an escape route on the pretext of something better. It doesn't work like that. If you are passionate about something, you have to keep yourself focused towards delivering against the odds. I know it's very tough to stay along with something which may not be giving you immediate results but if you know you are doing it right, giving your 100% percent, and have the right attitude - you should just continue to focus on that. It's extremely important to not give up on yourself and not allow others to distract you. At the end, you will come out with a way and trust me, it'll be great. I've come across such situations often in my life and a lot of times it was my inner belief and focus which guided me in the right direction. My personal experiences make me strongly vouch for the need to 'focus'.

This post is a little offbeat and different than what I usually write but I thought it would be good to share so that in case you are making your resolutions for 2013 then you can consider adding 'focus' to your list. Try it this time, and if you find it beneficial then come back and share with me in the comments section below.

Here's me, signing off for 2012!

Stay focused,
A.

The art of tweeting in 140 characters

noreply@blogger.com (Arif Khan) — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 17:38:00 +0000

Source: Flickr: Shawn Campbell

Hey there, first some good news - last month, maktion crossed 50,000+ pageviews mark (see here).
I thank you for spending time to read the posts here! As the title of this post suggests, I don't intend to give you one more dose of 'How to tweet?' success tips already covered by hundreds of websites. Instead, I just want to share what I consider as the art of tweeting in 140 characters. With over 66,000+ tweets at the time of writing this post, I feel I have acquired considerable experience by being an avid observant of how, why and what people tweet.

In other words, I look out for patterns and try to connect the dots which brings in a lot of fresh ideas and even help validate existing concepts. If you've been on twitter for some time then you'll find that every individual has a unique style of tweeting. Some may be tweeting content related to their professional field, some about their day to day activities, travel, etc; some about movies and celebrities, while some tweet as subject matter experts who also help you when you need some assistance. There are many more types which you'll only get to know once you jump into the twit-pond! Ever since I joined twitter in 2009, I've experienced traction in my thinking skills, reasoning and most importantly the ability to craft crisp and to-the-point messages. This also helps me in my professional field as in Marketing, we often have to deal with communication assignments and cutting down 500 or 1000 words to 140 is seriously no joke. Now I've understood why we had those Reading Comprehension lessons in English back in school. Without adding much, I'll put down some tips for tweeting well, or as they say - the art of tweeting in 140 characters:

Be Yourself. On twitter, people like to follow and interact with those who are original and remain themselves. Maintain your unique identity, you don't have to copy anyone. Just tweet naturally as it comes along.
Follow good people. How you define 'good' is up to but you should follow a few good folks either with common interests, knowledge experts or location based. They have their own style and you will automatically learn from them.
Talk sense. Try not to tweet every single detail of your life, no one really gives a heck. Also, people like jokes but not non-sense. Occasional wise-cracks are alright but common sense should be evident through your tweets.
Read and share. While there's no written rule, it's a good practice to read an article before sharing it. Don't blindly retweet. It's ideal to do a native retweet but if you opt for a manual RT, then add a line before to share your perspective.
Respond to replies. When people converse with you, converse. Don't ignore their replies to you, respond to their tweet as you would in real life. Just take care that you do not disclose more than required. Draw a line.
Add value. The way you respond, share and help others adds to your credibility. Add value by sharing experiences & quality links, answering queries and giving correct advises. Be careful to not spam other's TL in excitement.
Don't showoff. There's a thin line between sharing your happy moments & showing off. Smart folks can make out who's genuine, so don't always thump your chest. That doesn't mean you totally ignore accepting accolades, do thank people.

Based on these 7 points, here are a few tweets that I received in response to some of my tweets which I am sharing them with you just to show that yes - people do appreciate and value your tweets if you are doing it right!

And then once in a while you bump into someone who makes Twitter seem like an interesting place again.#nowfollowing @arifkhan7
— Rashmi (@rush2mee) November 29, 2012

@arifkhan7 how about something we like? I like your optimistic attitude that shines through your tweets.
— Kalpesh Shah (@IamKalpesh) December 5, 2012

@arifkhan7 how to thank you... forsharing such useful and informative stuff, always:)
— Shweta(@VSShweta) December 5, 2012

@arifkhan7 I like reading your wonderfully crafted tweets. Kudos!
— Mitesh Sanghvi (@MrMiteshSanghvi) October 22, 2012

@arifkhan7 gotta learn the art of tweeting from you.
— Vani Taneja (@vaanitaneja) November 1, 2012

Remember, there is no defined art of tweeting but you can always create your own unique style in 140 characters. Through this post, I hope you get some direction in understanding the art of tweeting in 140 characters. Do leave a comment below about your experience. And, if you're on twitter, then say a hi to me @arifkhan7!

Tweet wisely,
A.

TWITTER: Your advice needed pl.

noreply@blogger.com (Arif Khan) — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 14:47:00 +0000

Today one of my MBA batch mate from NMIMS, emailed me asking to help her school friend who had some questions on twitter. And why did my friend email to me? She thought I'm the ideal person to reply and called me as 'Twitter King!' haha. Okay, so without naming anyone I thought why not blog on this as there may be many more who would have the same questions when it comes to considering twitter. In this post, I've answered based on my personal experience on twitter. Hope it's helpful.

Q1: I started Twitter, mainly with the intention of promoting my blog site There can be many reasons to come on twitter, it's good that you decided to start! - I've enabled public settings, made my public profile, with details & shd I also enable the email setting (so that people can find me by email too)?
A1: Yes, although practically the chances of someone searching thru your email is very less but you can opt for that option. There's no harm.

Q2: If I have a favorite blog, how can I mark it at the top of the list of my tweets? (do I mark it as a favourite?)
A2: The favorite button under every tweet lists that specific tweet under Favorites tab on your profile page. It saves your favorited tweets in a chronological manner with the last favorited tweet appear at the top, so whichever was the last tweet favorited by you will show up at the top of the list. You can scroll down to see the entire list of your favorited tweets here.

Q3: How do I promote blogs/tweets, so a lot of people can view/comment on them?
A3: This is on the wish list of many bloggers but as one spends more time on twitter, one realized that in order to get a loyal set of readers, you will need to build a community around some common interest. This involves time and required personal effort in form of conversations, interactions and even reading other people's blogs. It's basically like farming, you have to do the hard work to see the crops grow!

Q4: How do I locate friends - through name/email? I presume that once I find them I have to mark them as 'following'?
A4: You can use the Find friends feature to find your friends by their name, email, or if you know their twitter handle from either their facebook account or blog, then you can just prefix it with twitter.com/, type it in a browser and hit enter - this will take you to their twitter profile. Once there, just hit the 'Follow' button below their bio to receive their tweets on your timeline. Apart from the friends you know, you can follow other people too based on some common interests. Try out these too:

Who to follow - twitter recommends folks based on your tweets, interests, etc.
Browse Categories - a list of folks classified by topics of interest.

While there are no rules, you should consider following new people if something in their bio interests you, or maybe they are from the same field, tweet things of your interest, are helpful, made you laugh, etc.

Q5: What else can one do on Twitter? What activities do most people normally undertake on Twitter?
A5: This is my favorite question! The possibilities on activities on twitter are endless. From simple conversations, to DM (Direct Messages sent one to one), to being the first to know breaking news, twitter chats around a common hashtag - one can do a lot! My advice, you might find things slow initially but once you build a good set of followers and follow diverse people, you'll self learn what happens on twitter.

Q6: Do you have any other advice to give me pl?
A6: Yes! Twitter is a very simple microblogging network, give some time to it. You'll like it. If you have any more questions, then leave a comment below or follow me on twitter @arifkhan7 and tweet to me!

I hope the advice mentioned on this post is helpful and you have a good experience on twitter. Every day brings something new with some fun, learning, and conversations. So go on, tell everyone 'what's happening?'

Good luck!
A.

Hexaflexagons - kids must make this! (by @vihartvihart)

noreply@blogger.com (Arif Khan) — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 18:26:00 +0000

Today I was preparing some reports at work and it was a relatively easy-going day as the real analysis could start only I finished capturing all the data. Meanwhile, in between I checked my twitter timeline and saw @khanacademy retweet a tweet by Vi Hart who is a full-time 'mathemusician' (ever heard that? neither have I but read the whole post), and a member of Khan Academy. The tweet mentioned something called as 'hexaflexagon' and had a video link. I went on to watch it and it was simply mind blowing! The video has already created some kind of rage on the web and is about to touch a million views in just 2 days!

As I constantly look out for creativity, I would recommend you, and especially all kids to watch this video once and make a hexaflexagon for yourself. Go on, it's really fun! Plus, Vi Hart's narration is very simple and makes you feel she's sitting across the table guiding you at every step. She adds that the video is based on a true story in honor of Martin Gardner's Mathematical Games column - 'Hexaflexagons' (1956).

People seem to like this hexaflexagon thing. Like, a lot of people. Climbing up towards a million views in two days! youtu.be/VIVIegSt81k
— Vi Hart (@vihartvihart) October 3, 2012

If you want to see some more cool stuff, then visit her blog too, which she has funnily called as 'Neglected Website'. Explore it well, it's a treasure chest full of creativity! The last I saw, Vi Hart tweeted she's happy about this video and how she feels she's improving. Well that's another message for you all - be creative but at the same time, always strive to improve and give something better than your last time.

"Hexaflexagons" will soon be my most viewed video. Nice to have something new overtake 2-year-old videos---makes me feel like I'm improving.
— Vi Hart (@vihartvihart) October 3, 2012

If you liked this video, then do leave a comment below and share with your friends. Remember, creativity happens when you share it with all.

Happy hexaflexagoning!
A.

Power searching with google - classes

noreply@blogger.com (Arif Khan) — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 18:28:00 +0000

Source: +GoogleOnlineCourses

How many of us would go back 10 years and re-learn the way we 'search' on google today? One, two, or maybe three of us? It might be my personal observation but I feel many folks either don't use Google properly or are sheer lazy when it comes to searching for 'exact' information. You type in once, search, see the results, and if it doesn't match you may try once again and then give up. Well, if one continues to search like this, then it's natural you won't ever know that there are smarter ways to search right from the moment the question pops in your mind. Really, I'm not kidding!

I often read on how to search, mixing keywords, trends, image search and topic search. It's a part of my professional life now and comes quiet naturally. Of course it takes some experience and time but once you understand all the available options, you end up with better options to do the same task effectively. Earlier this month, I saw one my favorite Googler Matt Cutts from the Webspam team tweet about the second Google power searching class:

First Google power searching class was so popular that we're doing it again! Sign up at goo.gl/pJwa0 It's free!
— Matt Cutts (@mattcutts) September 12, 2012

I remember they had it last year too but somehow I couldn't find time to attend it. This year, I've enrolled for these classes to re-learn what I almost do daily, and I strongly recommend you to enroll too no matter how smart you are! It's always good to learn something formally from the experts as you never know you might have been missing something all these years before you hit the 'Search' button. The medium of learning is online - through slides, video and Google+ Hangouts for live interaction. Plus, at the end of the course, you'll get an official Power Searching with Google certificate upon completion.

Source: Power searching with google - Class 1 slide-set

The Power Searching with Google schedule is as under:

Pre-class assessment from September 24
Class 1 - Introduction
Class 2 - Interpreting results
Class 3 -Advanced techniques
Class 4 - Find facts faster
Class 5 - Checking your facts
Class 6 - Putting it all together
Post-class assessment till October 10

So, without wasting any more time, do the following to be my course-partner:

Step 1: Register yourself here: powersearchingwithgoogle.com/register

Step 2: Go through the Announcements to understand the course structure and note down the dates and timings: powersearchingwithgoogle.com/announcements

Step 3: Make sure to fill your Profile correctly as that name will be printed on your Certificate (provided that you get clear the pre/mid/post-class assessment): powersearchingwithgoogle.com/student/home

Step 4: By the time you read this, it's likely that you would have already missed the Pre-class assessment and Class 1 - Introduction. I have completed them and found them very helpful. No worries, just go and quickly take these two online classes before the next Class 2 on September 26 evening 10.30pm Indian time.

Step 5: And finally, share this blog post with all your friends, cousins, or someone whom you think might benefit from this one-time course!

After all this, if you're still not able to search for something on google, then just follow Mr. Sumit Chakraborty's tweet advice, haha:

@vaibhavssays when Google stops responding Switch to @arifkhan7
— Sumit Chakraborty (@scdelhi) May 11, 2012

So gear up, it's time to become a smart searcher!

Updated: October 10, 2012

I attended all the six classes and have just one word to describe it - fab!

What I've learnt thru this course is immense and I can do a lot more with Google Search. I'd like to thank our teacher Dan Russell and the entire Google team for organizing this course. On the right is a pic from one of our Google Hangouts where Dan (in blue shirt) answered our queries on advanced search.

If you also attended these classes, then I'm sure you can connect with my excitement and satisfaction from this course and in case you missed out then keep a tab for the third set of classes, just don't miss it. Don't.

It's been almost 4.5 years since I studied during late hours for something I liked so badly. As I was managing a lot of things at work, plus some personal commitments, it was hard for me to sit at ease and take the classes. However, I did manage to find time for attending all the classes, appeared for the Mid-assessment and Final-assessment tests and it gives me immense pleasure to share with you that I scored a perfect 100%. Personally, marks have never meant anything to me but this time, I just wanted to score a 100 for something that I have loved since 14 years. Thank you Google!

Happy power searching,
A.

The New Responsive Maktion - simple, clean, inspired by Windows 8 metro style

noreply@blogger.com (Arif Khan) — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 18:27:00 +0000

Windows 8 Metro | Source: 4sysops

If you've been following maktion closely then you would have noticed that I was away for quiet some time and couldn't blog much. It's not that I forgot about it, in fact I can never forget my blog maktion as it's a part of my identity now. Some people know that I blog at maktion, while some know that maktion is me. Either ways, it's a good feeling as maktion in my baby and like any parent (better than being called the owner), I would like to see it grow and add value to you - the wonderful readers. Yesterday was a special day as it was my Ammi's birthday and I chose to change the look and feel of my blog - maktion in her honor. This one's for her!

Okay, what are the ways by which a website or a blog can add value to you? What kind of website do you like? Some place with multiple ad units, cluttered information, overflowing social sharing buttons? Right now, I can think of Yahoo and feel Times of India is also catching up fast in this league. Or, would you like to see some website which is clean, have an intuitive interface and is self-explanatory, like Google for search and twitter for social networks? I'm sure you'll choose the latter. We all love simple things in our lives and translate that experience into the digital landscape - we like simple, clean websites which focus on good content. Such websites will eventually shine in the long run and have a respectable share of visitors traffic coming from organic search (primarily, google). I've been reading a lot on the future of the web and understood that in the coming years, the font style and size of the website will matter a lot. There was a Design expert who questioned that why do we have small fonts and force users to shrink their eyeballs into the white screen? Why can't we have easy big fonts so one can read in comfort? I kind of liked the argument and that's one of the main reasons you see the new website design right now! Bigger fonts. Like anything, it may catch up or go away into junk, but for now I've adopted this idea and am a part of the experiment of those category of folks who want to make the web a better place and provide you a better, pleasing experience. So, I will focus on writing more stuff which will add value to you in some way or the other through good content and the new fonts style may help achieve this cause. Well, I hope so.

Windows 8 Metro Style Sidebar

Till now, I've visited more than a thousand websites, both for personal and professional use and observations. Apart from the core utility of the website, I look for patterns and scribble a line or two on a post-it or cluster them in my mind to make something better and meaningful in order to create the right impact. This habit of mine's has helped me a lot in my college days, then my first job and now in Digital Marketing. I believe that if done well, then visual stimulation can leave a long lasting impact. Remember the last time you went to a mall and saw some stunning huge ad? Something that grasped your attention and you wished there was some association? Something which made you either buy it, or admire the style, or simply take a snap in front of it to quickly upload on facebook? That's visual power and the after-effects only come when it's studied in detail, observed well and implemented effectively. Likewise, the second important element of a good website is it's basic design. Ever since Microsoft Windows 8 came out and showcased their Metro Style Apps for the desktop version, I became a huge fan. These are nothing but square shaped intuitive apps which function like a jigsaw and visually appealing. I just love it for its neatness. Although there are reports that Windows has now dropped the idea of Metro Style Apps, I took inspiration from it to create the sidebar that you see on the right to hold the 'Featured Posts'. I think instead of putting 20 links and confusing the reader, I can selectively display 5 featured links through a simple metro style manner. And the early responses that have come in have been positive. Here's a short and sweet conversation between me & Windows 8:

I had tweeted on September 22 when I was in the process of conceptualizing the Metro Style sidebar for the new design:

The @windows 8 Metro style has inspired me a lot. Gona show something that I've been building on the same concept. Simple coding. :)
— Arif Khan (@arifkhan7) September 22, 2012

Today, on September 24, Windows replied to my tweet (I always tell they listen!):

@arifkhan7 That's great, Arif! We'd love to check out what you're building.
— Windows (@Windows) September 24, 2012

And it was fun to see to some gentleman add on top of that! haha

@arifkhan7 that's good....so ur our future Steve Job:D
— Pathan imran (@Imran552) September 24, 2012

Along with a focus on content and design, I also scanned through at least 300 blogger templates to arrive at this responsive template which basically means that it can adapt to any screen, whether you're viewing on a desktop, on your smartphone, or on your tablet/iPad. It auto-resizes to ensure the website feel is rich and intact. Responsive websites are definitely the future of web. I don't know which blog has tried this all this packed in one, but for now I'm enjoying this new responsive design with a simple, clean look inspired by Windows 8 Metro look! It's only when you readers give me feedback that I feel the effort was worth. One of the regulars at maktion, Mr. Sumit Chakraborty had once tweeted the following feedback which pretty much sums up my intention of spending time and effort on maktion. In the end, it should add value to you.

I like @arifkhan7 (Arif Khan) blog. Easy to understand and I can refer them to others without any hesitation. Most importantly I can comment
— Sumit Chakraborty (@scdelhi) August 16, 2012

I hope you like this post which narrates the how and why of the new design and would love to hear your feedback in the comment section below.

Till next time,
Ideate, experiment, implement,
A.