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A couple of days back, my 10 year old daughter received an email from a stranger asking her: “Why are you creatingspam??” And this seemed to be in response to an email she’d sent (Fwd:) to some of her friends, and not him!

She showed it to me wondering what spam was, and why this person who she’d never heard of before, was writing to her email ID and asking this question?

Well, she echoed my thoughts exactly (except I knew what spam was). How and where did this guy get my daughter’s “Forwarded” email, and her ID? I checked the email in question in her “sent mail” folder, and I discovered she sent it out three months back – and no, she hadn’t sent it to this guy’s email ID – just nine of her friends, all of whom she had BCC‘d.

It was one of those “FWD: Sad Wa____t Story! Please read!!!” type email which we as adults and veterans of email over the years had learnt to ignore as fake or junk, but my daughter and her ten year old friends believed and were forwarding to each other in good faith.

Since I hadn’t been able to convince (or force) her to stop forwarding these kind of email to all her friends, I had taught, and convinced her to use BCC, and clear all the other email addresses in the previously emailed versions of any email, so at least she wasn’t also sharing half a dozen email IDs with people all around!

Keen to get to the bottom of this mystery mail, I first “googled” the guy’s name, and email ID. The results showed him out to be some guy in a north Indian city, who posted loads of blustering-and-trying-to-be-clever comments on consumer forums, and review sites. Then I did some more investigation into his email history (I can’t tell you how) and traced the sending IP back to where his ‘mouthshut’ profile said he lived.

This confounded me further, because with every search I did, I couldn’t figure out the connection between him and us.

Then on a whim, I googled my own daughter’s email ID – and boom! there it was ~ my daughter’s forwarded email ~ result 2 of 5!

It turned out to be someone’s Google Buzz, and although the original page had been deleted, the cached version still existed online!

I went through the thread, and there it was – the route from private email to public spam, via Google Buzz!

From my daughter’s email ID to her “sixth floor in our building friend”, who sent it to 12 of her friends, one of whom sent it to someone, who “Buzzed” the email as worth a read!

And since my daughter uses BCC now and deletes the previous email routing , the trail started (or ended) with her and her email ID – indicating her as the source of this “spam” email!

Scary, eh? Well, this is what happens online. And if we’re not careful, we could end up in a lot more trouble than being accused by an self-righteous individual accusing you of spam!

So here are a few facts about email you probably don’t know:

Email Is Not Private Sending email, is like telling someone a secret. Once you’ve passed it on, it is no longer a secret, and its future is in the hands of the recipient – to respect and keep safe, or forward as is or even append suitably to suit their purpose.

Email Can Be Traced Back To Source There is no such thing as anonymous email. Every email ID is unique, and contains loads of information besides what you added to it – domain, travel route, source, etc. Some email routes can be tracked using freeware available online, and almost any email history and original sender can be traced by legal and extra legal experts.

You Are Liable For Your Email You Send Sending out an email, is like making a public statement, or putting something out in print – you become the owner of the statement, and are liable for the content contained therein – original or forwarded – rumour, slander, misrepresentation, abuse, confession, complaints, cribs, whatever. In many countries email is also admissible as proof in a court of law, and can be used against or for you depending on the case.

Official Email Can Be Read By Your Company, Officially One, since your “official” email ID is provided to you by your employers for the purpose of carrying on your “work” they have a right to access or read your email, as they can access your files on your official computer. Second, since they are the “service provider” and the email goes out under the company name, the company is liable and responsible for all email that goes out from their domain. So (mis)use official email at your own risk.

Email Is Permanent and Non-deletable So if you read this article and go back and delete some mail you’ve written, here’s more bad news – email is permanent in many ways. Deleting it from your computer or email account online, only destroys your copy of  it (visibly, that is). But copies of it exist with the person you sent it to, if it was posted/shared on the internet it exists there, and even if that page is removed, its likely that search engines like Google have cached it and will throw it up in searches!

So there you have it. Think before you email. Use it well, and it will serve you well.

Possibly Related Articles (Auto Generated)

• How do you define spam? (blogs.constantcontact.com)

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How about some #BlackbirdPie? My experiment with the #Wordpress – #Twitter integration? http://t.co/zjtuewA

November 9, 2010 2:38 am via Tweet ButtonReplyRetweetFavorite

@noshtradamus

Mehernosh Shapoorjee

I’ll say it again, if Taylor Swift put on black eyeliner and flushed her head in a toilet full of glitter she’d be Ke$ha.

November 8, 2010 4:17 am via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@kellyoxford

kelly oxford

Yes, I agree that a stable Pakistan is good for India. But who would send the horses there? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stable

November 7, 2010 1:27 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@fakingnews

Faking News

Five smart brands and innovations from ‘emerging’ markets — http://bit.ly/exceptionall

November 3, 2010 8:21 pm via bitlyReplyRetweetFavorite

@springwise

Springwise

The stairway to Heaven is now closed. An elevator is currently in progress.

November 6, 2010 3:52 am via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite

@jesus

Jesus Christ

hmm

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Festive Digital Excitement

I am not complaining, but yesterday I received 38 SMS on my mobile, 11 wall comments on Facebook, 19 direct messages to my Inbox, 49 email,  and 7 e-card greetings – all wishing me a very Happy Diwali.

Last month, on my birthday, I received – and again, I am not complaining – over 80 wall posts on Facebook alone, besides the countless SMS and email, wishing me countless happiness and success.

While my mobile phone constantly buzzing can be a bit annoying, the posts on my wall, and the sheer number of greetings certainly got my ego whizzing.

How nice ~ so many people took the trouble to wish me. And I took the trouble to reply to every one of the over 100 people who wished me on my birthday. And I will eventually get down to replying to everyone for the Diwali messages!

So much effort, despite the so little time we have spare in our lives today. But then I realize, thanks to the new digital media we have at our disposal today, people actually love doing this!

People love sending out those SMS and wall posts, letting you know they remember, and letting you know they care. What’s more, its effortless, takes less than 30 seconds to think and send, and costs virtually nothing!

This leads to what I will now call FDE: Festive Digital Excitement

Festive Digital Excitement is quite simply defined as festive excitement fueled by digital media – and it manifests in five different ways:

1. Pavlovian FDE
This is FDE that’s prompted by technology and the medium. Example, you sign into Facebook and notice on your right “Events – Oneofmy Friendski’s birthday”, or you see an update that says “Another Postwalla wrote on Friendski’s wall for his birthday”… and you click on the link, and it takes you to a form where you enter “Heyy happy birthday! have a good one!” ~ Tada!! there’s your Pavlovian Festive Digital Excitement!

2. Faked FDE
This is FDE indulged by people you don’t or hardly know,  but have somehow landed up on your “friend” list, or on their “mailing list”. This includes people like the headhunter who’s never met you, but has heard of you and managed to get onto your facebook; this includes the property dealer who got your email off your RWA address book;

3. Relationship FDE
This is the FDE exhibited by your bank, your insurance agent, your travel agent, your AC, TV and mobile phone manufacturer… basically birthday or festive greetings sent by whoever you filled up a form for – Warranty Card, Visitors Book, Feedback Form, etc. Always automated, you can bet your life this is one of those made-by-machine-untouched-by-man “warmest greetings from ColdCorporation” Yeah, right. Like my bank has a heart, and its feelings are overflowing from both email and sms servers!

4. Wtf FDE
This is the really bizarre Festive Digital Excitement, and usually comes to you via SMS: “Dearest Nosh, Wishing you and your family a very happy diwali!” …and then blank… no name, and no, you don’t have this number saved. So you go “who the f* is this??” I even get similar sounding email with no names at the end, only an address like clevercatsomething@gmail… or somethingboilercompany@hotmail… Hello! if this is a personalised email, at least put down your real name!! As I said before: *wtf*

5. Hearfelt FDE
Okay, this is the real deal, the real McCoy. Personalised SMS or Email on festivals, starting with your name “Dear Nosh…”. Posts to your wall with interesting, or insightful greetings “Hey, Happy Birthday… And don’t worry, life begins at 40!”. Messages to your Inbox with a note and other news and questions. The birthday SMS at the stroke of midnight or thereabouts. And of course, the most heartfelt of all… the ones with voice – “Hiii Nosh… Happy Birthday… I hope I am not interrupting your party, but I had to wish you in person. I wish I could have been in India this year too, like I was for your birthday last year!” Of course, one can always tell when the greeting qualifies for this category, and clearly, it is the most preferred and treasured of the lot!

So there you have it, my own take, on my own new term: Festive Digital Excitement. The truth is, its all around us, and it is spreading.

PS. My dad, who is a complete technophobe, spent all of last week figuring out if his mobile phone (he finally ditched his landline for a ‘cell’ this year, at age 76!) allowed him to send the same message to different people. And after I showed him, he started at 7 am on Diwali morning excited as a child – he composed, added numbers, and sent his SMS greetings to 12 of his buddies across the country! Now that’s excitement!

Continue reading »]]> Here’s a post I first wrote exactly five years ago to this date, on 4th November, 2005! And yes, I’ve been blogging since before most people had internet in India!

I am republishing it today, because I think it is still very relevant here in 2010, as it was in 2005. Because while technology has evolved, people haven’t as much since then. And it is always good to get back to timeless basics every now and then!

Continue reading »]]> Yes, I am MasterChef in the House with Desperate Housewives… and I am having a Flash Forward about C.S.I  which is in the Amazing Race against Bigg Boss 4  who refuses to recognise How I Met Your Mother over LA Ink on one of our MTV Kickass Mornings.

Well, this article in Adage.com says You Are What You Watch… so tell me, who am I?

I think there is a lot of merit in this article, but, is it so easy to ‘categorise’ people by what they watch? and then target them with ads accordingly?

Well ho bhi sakta, aur nahin bhi ho sakta… (maybe, maybe not).

I think there are two larger type of audience classifications we need to recognise, before we break them down into further sub-types. It’s like landing at a website’s homepage and being given the option of surfing it in ‘hi-bandwidth flash’ mode, or low ‘bandwidth html’.

I think we have to first choose if we want to target the “typical” consumer, or the “atypical” one.

The typical audience is the simple and predictable one: It consists of people who watch the same genre of shows, have very obvious likes/dislikes and values, and are very loyal to their viewing habits.

So you have “housewives” watching ‘soppy afternoon soaps’ and Oprah. Then you have “guys” watching ‘action’  shows and Baywatch. You have “old men” watching only the news. And you have “youth” watching MTV and [V] Dare to Date.

Within these its easy choosing your audience, based on your stated brand personality and objectives.

The atypical audience is complex and unpredictable: It consists of more evolved, multi-faceted people. Women who are as comfortable with C.S.I Miami and 24, as they are with Frasier, Masterchef, and Koffee with Karan. Men who are as comfortable with Anthony Bourdain and Desperate Housewives as they are with NCIS, Alias and Fear Factor.

Actually with rising awareness, gender equality, emotional intelligence, and both men and women showing interest and enjoying things previously reserved for the opposite sex, the quality and complex texture of shows today has dramatically increased to everyone’s advantage.

Shows like Lie To Me, Boston Legal, Numb3rs, and countless other shows cut across gender, SEC and other traditional classifications and have evolved an audience of their own.

So “media buying” isn’t as simple anymore. And of course, TRPs and other archaic ratings are just an indication of numbers, not the quality or character of the audience. Which is why, to me the article is a great starting point, but nowhere near being an authority on “media planning” and/or “audience classification”

A New Web Of Understanding Audiences

I have a theory I strongly believe in. Traditional media planning will be greatly enriched, if we understand online audiences better.

Because the web is free floating, unscheduled and always on, and everywhere – people roam and consume it freely, and in a way that’s not only comfortable to them, but also reflects who they really are and what they really like.

This adds to my conviction that the internet is a great learning tool and a treasure-house of ‘people-watching’ and consumer understanding.

Unfortunately, most of the industry involved in the internet today is still old school, especially when it comes to online media buying and consumer engagement. We still carry the baggage of traditional media, thanks to “online media planning” being done today by either tech-geeks or traditional media buying drop-outs.

But that’s another story.

Until then we will continue to debate the merits of audiences and what they watch. And how what reflects what.

Meanwhile, the show(s) must go on!

Ps. Here’s the link to the article on Adage.com

Continue reading »]]> hello anusha remember me?

say hi to your hubby… i knew him too, once. and he’s next on my ‘add’ list

Continue reading »]]> There’s a lot of buzz around twitter and how its the next big thing in marketing… here’s a comprehensive and useful piece by Ann Handley

“AdAge calles twitter assinine.
Is it for everyone? No.
But twitter has real use for media companies
and social-media-savvy brands”

7 Ways Marketers Can Use Twitter >

And when you are done reading the above, check out this video via BarelyDigital

Continue reading »]]> Contrary to popular perception (and current brand behaviour all around) you don’t pussy-foot around communication when you’re in the middle of hard times.

In Hindi there’s a phrase ‘bolti-bandh’ which is quite like the English one ‘the cat got your tongue’. Which leads me to say brands that lie low in tough times, stand the risk of behind seen as a ‘scaredy cat’.

Don’t get me wrong and think I am saying that we should indulge in the loud-mouth, open-wallet communication like a lot of brands have done in the past 4-5 years.

I think we need to find the right balance between verbal diorhhea and communication constipation.

These tough times are forcing us to do what we should have been doing all along – going through a rigorous process of finding the right thing to say, and the right way to say it. They are forcing us to define a more focussed and definitive position for ourselves, and work the media planning machine like it has never been worked before.

“To whomsoever it may concern” type of communication has to give way, and the “to you, to whom it concerns” approach has to step in. And “media reach” has to give way for “media relevance”.

I know folk representing or selling mass media channels will either laugh at this perspective, or throw some ppt slides at you talking about how their mass media channel actually reaches your audience!  Sure it does, like buckshot.

Which brings me to new media and the power of narrowcast communication.

And the beauty of it is new media and narrowcast communication works whether you have loads of money, or very little of it!

New Media, New Focus.

Admittedly most new media conferences do nothing to build a case for new media. The usual suspects gather to make the usual presentations on the usual case studies which they’ve been talking about for the past 3 years!

I believe no one in this industry really talks of the complexity of new media and the dynamic roles it can play in influencing and persuading audiences.  Perhaps no one really knows.

Perhaps peope are all selling the wrong case studies as I mentioned above. I for one would like to talk of something more basic – how approximately 30lakhs spent on print advertising in one month, got a client of mine approximately 300 enquiries. At the same time, 30thousand spent on Google AdWords in the same month got the same client almost a 1000 enquiries. And the conversion rate was higher among the AdWords call-ins!

The point is, if we can focus on getting new media right, we can get a lot of focus on our brands.

New Dogs, Old Tricks.

The trick lies in layering time tested marketing techniques, with new media technology. The trick lies in using traditional best practices of advertising and public relations, and applying them to the internet and mobile communication.

New media strategy is not about building websites online, but about building a web of insights online. New media campaigns are not about fancy virals, but about creating a fever pitch of focussed communication. New media is not about clicks, but about clicking with consumers.

That’s the basic simple truth of the matter.

PR kiya to darna kya?

Another great tool in tough times is public relations. I believe if done right, public relations has far greater and longer term value than most people (including its practitioners) give it.

Public relations can helps you make the right point to the right people, who in turn can put out the right message. You use it to educate and influence the influencers.

PR is the only media which actually allows you to even put across a 10,000 word sales pitch to an audience should you so require. How’s that for talking tough and straight?!

Getting it right

I believe recession is one of the final nails in the coffin of euphoria over mass media advertising. The recession is telling you stop wasting money on buckshot, and find new ways of getting your audiences in the bag.

Lesser budgets literally mean “focus your communication, and keep is simple and effective”.

Which brings me to digital media, activation, and public relations. The perfect tools for getting it right.

But in order to use the above effectively, you have to talk tough with yourself and change decades of conventional media conditioning.

Then you will have to talk tough with your ‘Clients’ who will still demand ‘cover-my-ass TRPs and Reach’, since that’s the only RoI most Marketing Managers know…

Communicating for “closure”, not “ask me for a brochure”.

Communication in digital media, activation and public relations is different and works differently from print and television ads. When used correctly, they can put your brand in the right place at the right time like no other.

Communication in these new media/methods put more pressure on you, because they place your brand right up in the face of your audiences in a relevant context. Which means your message better be right and to the point.

And when you’re up so close to your audiences, they will be more demanding and less forgiving. Which means when you get your one shot at the audience, it better be the right one.

Which essentially means, when you talk tough, you must also be ready to walk the talk. If not, then tough luck.