Social Media readiness workshop by Gunjan Aggarwal for Times of India online

PRLog (Press Release) - Oct. 30, 2012 - Gunjan Aggarwal, a former graduate of ISB, Associate Dean – 9.9 School of Convergence and Director of E-squared conducted a workshop for Times of India Internet editors and Managers, to facilitate understanding of Social Media and Pinterest.  

Real-time reviews and news is the need of the times. In 2012, Social media emerged as the most powerful source for news updates, a fact validated by data released by Facebook and Twitter. This has led to publications investing in building knowledge around it in their teams.

“Individualism has been a global trend since 2010 and this has manifested itself in technology and content generation as well. Users are more and more involved in content creation and sharing, leveraging interactive platforms. Unless publishers understand the changing content consumption behavior of the users, they will continue to feel the negative impact on bottom lines”, said Gunjan in her opening notes.

She said that the user today is more demanding and ‘real-time’ news, reviews and updates is a given. However, credibility is sorely missed by this reader and brands like ToI can infact have a captive audience in this new media user if they can get their Social Media strategy and policies in place, along with right skill sets in its employee base. “It is now imperative to understand that news is not linear. With social media, the role of an editor has evolved. He is now more a ‘curator’ of news, his job is to validate and publish much more quantitatively and qualitatively from amidst the incredible amount of noise created by user generated content”, explained Gunjan.

Gunjan also interacted and helped the participants understand Pinterest, a virtual pinboard that allows the user to organize and share everything that interests her on the web! The platform allows users to browse boards created by other people to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share interests. What makes Pinterest successful today is its amazing ability to support e-commerce. Several e-commerce websites are using it as a virtual storefront to drive consumer to their website. “Several early reports are indicating that Pinterest may emerge many times more commercially effective than Facebook for driving customer and creating a buzz around the product”, informed Gunjan.

The workshop was interactive given the technology savviness of the participants. Gunjan appreciated the eagerness of the audience, “They seemed excited and absolutely ready to absorb new information and that itself is a strength new media requires.”

About Gunjan Aggarwal

Gunjan Aggarwal, who is a Charted Accountancy (CA) with an MBA from one of the top B-schools in Asia - Indian School of Business, Hyderabad – comes with a huge management experience bank. She has worked in an advisory role for Arthur Anderson and Citibank, and helped assist Fortune 500 companies to develop business strategies for entering the Indian market. As a consultant, Gunjan has helped set-up processes for quite a few educational institutions, including the corporate relationship team for North India of her own alma mater, the Indian School of Business.

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