Sudatta Mukherjee: Twitter

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Five Things That Will Happen in 2015

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The year 2014 is almost over, and with it all the things that happened in the past year will be forgotten, as we enter a new dawn, filled with new possibilities.

Let us see, what are five things that will or can happen in 2015...

1. YouTube will be the new Television Set

We have already seen how YouTube has dominated the web world in 2014, when it started full-fledgedly live streaming major events around the world. Even if YouTube didn't live stream the Fifa World Cup 2014, don't worry it will the next time. I am already expecting the Oscars being live streamed followed by ICC World Cup 2015, etc.

YouTube or major live streaming networks across the globe have finally realised the importance of being there 'live' on the internet. People do not have time to sit at home and enjoy a show as much as they could five years back. Blame the busy work life but that is it. We are travelling long routes and it would be awesome if we could catch the live streaming of our favourite team's match on the move.

So yes, be it mobile or desktop or laptop, or your iPad, YouTube is the new Idiot Box.

2. Mobile users will slowly start taking over Desktop and Laptop users

Most of us spend 12 hours of our life in the office, in front of our desktops or laptops. After that, if we have to come back home and sit in front of the same machines for important personal work that needs to be attended, then it becomes really irritating.

Now imagine the cellphone in your palm, with which you can buy stuff, transfer money, book tickets, and even do PowerPoint (even if it hurts your eyes). That is the power of the palm, errr, the cellphone.

Gone are the days, when you would find people working with their heads inside their laptops, trying to put things together. You have the simple mobile system — be it your iPhone or iPad or a tablet — life has become too easy and comfortable because of these machines.

They are lite and easy to be carried.

If you are in website business, you would know how much mobile and tablets already dominate compared to desktops or laptops. For example, if I check my Google Analytics, 63 percent are desktops/laptops users and the rest 37 percent are mobile or tablet users. The 63 percent can be understood because, again, 12 hours of our life is spent in office, where I am guessing people are likely to use a desktop or laptop.

3. Twitter will become the new News Agency

According to Google, crowdsourcing is the process of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people, and especially from an online community, rather than from traditional employees or suppliers.

We are already in an age when journalists keep an eye on Twitter 24x7, like literally, 24x7. Breaking news like Osama bin Laden's death, Boston Marathon attack appeared on Twitter first rather than news channels. Journalists were seen using pictures, videos for their stories from Twitter. That is the power that Twitter holds right now.

The third season of The Newsroom also shows how the new management of ACN tries to implement the fact that in this digital age, Twitter and social media will rule the news circuit rather than news channels and newspapers.

What Twitter breaks now, news channels break 30 minutes later and newspapers, a day later.

4. News aggregation sites and mobile apps will take over individual news websites and apps

All of us have by now got used to Flipboard, Reddit and other news aggregation apps. Why would someone download numerous news channels or magazine apps, when one click can give access to various websites. Rather than going through 10 different sources, readers can click one app and check the news on their favourite and selected topics.

5. Marketing will be the new Editorial team

Marketing has always played a vital role in the running of the business. And now it will dominate how the way a newsroom work. Reporters will be made to work on the guidelines of marketers, who endlessly try to impress the advertisers and earn more money for the company. Terms like Journalism ethics are no more valid in this fast-paced, competitive world. The year 2014 saw the slow rise of marketing gimmicks; 2015 will be the year when the marketers fully take over the proceedings of the newsroom. Good or bad? Time will say (no hard feelings; that's how businesses run).

Twitter – The new search engine?

By Sudatta

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I have a tendency of Google’ing everything on this Earth. Be it lipsticks, shoes or mobile phones. I Google about movie timings, ongoing sale offers, sunglasses, people, technology, just about everything. Whenever I need help I just Google. So much so that I don’t find it necessary to ask anyone about where to head for a nice lunch or where to watch movies. Although there is one problem that I face continuously. That is the numerous search results it returns. For example if I Google ‘movie timing of Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster’ it returns about 9,330,000 results to me, enough to confuse me and scroll and read through most of them. It is a tiring and time consuming process. Not only a tiring process but something that really irritates me.

The next best option is to ask people. However your buddies and your acquaintances won’t have the correct answer of your every query. It is impossible that they will know each and every matter. So what to do? Ask random people! That is what I do.

Twitter is a micro-blogging site. Although it is more powerful than large blog sites. One tweet can change the world. Change views. Become news. In the last one year every major news channels and newspapers have entered social networking with Twitter. Recently Delhi Airport registered itself. Then there are celebrities and country heads.

I found Twitter really helpful when it came to enquiring about different stuff. In the last one month I have enquired about mobile phones, books, movies, beer bottles, people, places and what not. I have never been disappointed with the suggestions and replies aka mentions. I didn’t have to go around and Google about them. In between the numerous replies I selected the ones that seem quite to the point and went ahead with it. What did I gain? Time and the trouble of going through each and every link that Google return, to know which will be the most helpful to me.

Yes there are times when I Google twitter replies too but my search gets narrowed. For example if I tweet about “which is the best android phone, budget 10k”; plus I add the technical term “Plz RT.” In minutes, although not seconds, I get my replies and reasons too. These reasons are short and to the point. I then know which can be trustworthy and influential. If I feel there is a need of doing a bit more Google search on the given replies, I do but by that time I have already got my answers.

There are limitations. Just like I don’t expect my friends to know the answer to every query there are matters which random people cannot answer also. That is where these search engines power over social networking. Also the way SEO folks work on making their results visible to the extreme level, it is expected that twitter or any other social networking site may not live to defeat them.

Still, imagine Twitter, a site where people are answering to your queries and not mechanical search engines where people are hired to work on improving search results. Imagine the power behind such a site which if they try can overpower the search engines.

One would argue that different firms are recruiting men to open their social media accounts, mostly twitter accounts and promote themselves through it. But there is a difference. When HCL replies to my random query about icore5 based laptop reviews, I will instantly know it is because they want themselves to be promoted. However at that moment if someone I don’t know or even know and is using such a product replies to me and updates me some reviews I will know which one to follow. Again the difference of Social Media folks is there main job is to attract visitors through socializing with them on different social media platforms, here Twitter.

Now it depends upon Jack Dorsey (Executive Chairman), Dick Costolo(CEO), Evan Williams (Director) and Biz Stone (Creative director) how they creatively use Twitter and how tweeters use this platform as a search engine. Whatever may be the future, Twitter and tweeters surely seem to help people in deciding about holiday plans, vacations, mobile phones, books, movies, etc. more than Google or any other search engine these days.

P.S. Google has a Twitter account. And Google’s reply to Twitter is Google+ which hit off quickly only to disappear slowly.