Category Archives: Recent Events

Using Social Media To Make Official Communication Informal

Using Social Media To Make Official Communication Informal

Social Media is a buzz word that everyone wants the opportunity of being a part. But many people are very skeptical on the impression it may have on a serious customer about the positioning and image of a business. Social Media Websites are often seen as informal and unofficial hangouts for people and businesses alike. In the recent past more businesses are seeing social media as a tool to reach out to their target market where they are most likely to be noticed. This article highlights some ways in which businesses use social media in an official capacity, yet maintaining a friendly and informal approach.

Customer Support

We know many businesses who use Twitter and Facebook to provide customers with constant updates about their service. A world famous DNS and Proxy service uses Twitter to Report Service Outages across their global data centers. The company posts frequent tweets about maintenance and migration activities and also posts brief updates on server faults and restoration. Some Hardware and Laptop manufacturers now offer technical support on Social Media websites. They handle customer grievances and also provide contact details of their nearest service centers through tweets or posts. Many banks and financial institutions constantly provide safety tips and security reminders to their customers. While these reminders can be annoying for some, the constant nagging may really help people to take security of their account seriously. Although this type of support maybe limited only to forwarding the complaint to the concerned technical team, it offers the customer a quick and easy way to get support by short circuiting a lengthy support process. This can be pleasing for the customer, but can be quite a task for the company to manage.

New Product Launches

A famous Automobile Manufacturer has started posting inside updates and a sneak preview of their latest designer cars. In past years they used to “leak” this information only to a few car magazines which demanded a high price which only a few could afford. Running a teaser campaign for a new product can be done best on social networks, especially due to their brevity and instant nature. You can slowly release bit by bit of the campaign and let it unfold instantly. The beauty of it is that you will be able to get instant feedback about the response and how well it has been received so that you can plan your next campaign or next revelation accordingly. This can also be detrimental to your image if you run a lousy campaign or do a shabby job. You will immediately know whether your campaign was a success or a failure. This is something only possible with social media. In the past many companies have successfully created a pre-launch hype on social media to attract the attention of potential customers.

Informal Banter

Many companies indulge in small talk and entertain inquisitive visitors to their pages or feeds to keep their page active and buzzing. While a bit of such informal talk is fine, when businesses go on a tangent on Social Media, it can get quite intolerable for the people following or subscribing to their updates. Sharing a joke or running a riddle campaign can be quite interesting and may generate a lot of publicity for your business if done well.

Educative Material

Pushing out educative material or academically interesting content can give your business a well needed boost. It not only creates more content for search engines to index, but it also shows your customers and prospective clients how much of relevant knowledge you have about your business. Almost all large corporations either have a YouTube Channel, or Blog or Facebook Page or Twitter Feed constantly buzzing with useful information which is aimed at catching the eye of a potential customer.

Is An Online Petition As Effective As a WordPress Blog For Your Campaign?

With the advent of websites like change.org and avaaz, petitioning a government or local authority is just not the same anymore. But before these “petition platforms” actually came into being, a lot of campaigners and activists used blogs to publicize their demands and give exposure to their campaigns. It is a widely debated topic on whether petitioning through change.org is more effective as a persuasion tool or does a blog pack a bigger punch. We think that a blog may have more of an impact. Here’s why.

Make it bigger

A website or WordPress blog is more formal and more professional when it comes to trying to drive change. The setting up of a dedicated blog or website for your cause, shows people that you are more serious about it and have actually invested your time and money in it. The website or blog is scalable and can have different sections for different targets of your campaign. You can have a section for visitors from the Government, showing them empirical evidence of the need for change or have a simple explanation of the solution for the layman.

More Control and Automation

The website allows you to give your own contact details and description which will allow visitors to contact you directly. You can setup sub-campaigns or link to other campaigns in that area. You can also automate posts and pages to appear on a specific date or at a specific time coinciding with some event or anniversary. This adds greater impact and allows you to keep your website at the top of search results.

Dynamic Content

Petition platforms allow you to regularly update your petition and inform co-signatories about important updates and news. In your own blog you can add relevant RSS feeds to your blog pages and allow visitors to see real time updates from various other related sources.

Privacy Concerns and Feedback

Not all people maybe comfortable in putting their signatures on an unknown third party website. They would be more comfortable putting their signature on your own website, if you are directly connected with the cause. Eg: A petition on saving animals will have greater impact if it is made by a local NGO who is working in that field.

Having your own website or blog allows you to directly interact with your supporters, without going through a third party who maybe monitoring or filtering your mails. You can always send out a newsletter or mailer through the numerous plugins available on WordPress.

Reusability

Whether your petition finds success or not, you can always use your website to reactivate the campaign or for a similar campaign with a similar target. The website will always remain under your control and can be maintained as a showcase for future generations. Your website could also help persons in a similar situation, to follow the same model and use your experience to go about dealing with government authorities for their own campaigns.

Whether you choose to use a petition platform or start your own blog, keep in mind that effective communication comes with a clear thinking process. Plan in advance before submitting your petition. Do a bit of research on similar success stories or failures.

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The Conflict In Crimea, Ukraine And Russia

The situation in Crimea is grim. President Putin has sent troops to occupy the Crimea region, and recently the lawmakers in Crimea voted in favor of leaving the country for Russia and putting it to a regional vote in 10 days. The international community has deplored this opportunist expedition by Russia.

But this is understandable, Vladamir Putin is serving as the President of Russia for the second time. He was a part of the secret Russian police (the NKVD) in World War II. Any one who has been through the ordeal of that, and the break up of the Soviet Union most certainly has some feeling of regret and aspires to conquer territory to reestablish the greatness of Russia.

The break up of the Soviet Union was primarily due to these policies of Russia, in concentrating power extensively at the center. Russia should take a que from the UK, and India. The UK recently gave Ireland its own Parliament, and also greater power to Scotland. India is in the process of devolving a lot of power to the Lokpal. Such a large country cannot be micro managed at the center. The power must be devolved According to a 2006 poll by VCIOM 66% of all Russians regretted the collapse of the Soviet Union. 50% of respondents in Ukraine in a similar poll held in February 2005 stated they regret the disintegration of the Soviet Union.

Crimea is also very symbolic for the break up of the Soviet Union. When the Soviets tried to stop the break up, and attempted to avert it, they placed President Gorbachev on house arrest, who was on holiday in Crimea. On August 19, 1991, Gorbachev’s vice president Gennady Yanayev, prime minister Valentin Pavlov, defense minister Dmitry Yazov, KGB chief Vladimir Kryuchkov, and some other senior officials formed a “General Committee on the State Emergency” - which was basically intended to prevent the break up. The “Committee” put Gorbachev who was on holiday in Crimea, under house arrest, reintroduced political censorship, and attempted to stop the perestroika. The coup leaders quickly issued an emergency decree suspending political activity and banning most newspapers.

The U.S. has recently prematurely imposed sanctions based on the ongoing crisis and the events on the ground. The U.S. has imposed some travel sanctions. This aggressive approach by the U.S is also opportunistic. The US is rich in shale gas, and Russia is rich in Oil. The US has an interest in a rise in prices of shale, and easy distribution of shale, and the minimization of the use of crude. The US is not connected in any way this, and should not take a side. This is something for the people of Crimea to decide, and not for the US to pass judgment. The Crimea parliament has voted to join Russia, democratically and voted to have a referendum on March 16. This will of the people must be respected. That is the essence and core of a democratic state. The consent and approval of the governed is necessary to provide legitimacy to any government.

Various non profit entities are reaching out to keep peace and facilitate a peaceful settlement of the problem. Violence is deplorable at any time for any reason. We are part of a civilized society, and should not encourage any type of the use of force.

We are also trying to do our bit to help those affected by the crisis. We have volunteered to work with all our customers affected by this and we have agreed to extend their accounts and give them time to tide over the crises.

We are also trying to do our bit to help those affected by the crisis. We have volunteered to work with all our customers affected by this and we have agreed to extend their accounts and give them time to tide over the crises.

HostingXtreme is a web hosting company and we provide domain and web hosting solutions. We provide various windows and linux hosting plans, and unlimited hosting plans. We would be happy to work with people affected by this crisis and give them lenient payment terms and help them keep their websites alive.