Man is a social animal. We all need networking to communicate and to live. I believe that Social Networking is present in the homosapian cult even since man learnt to talk. Only difference is that the medium to communicate is changing. Orkut is one such social institution to communicate with long lost friends.
When I reached my college life phase, little I had idea about my old classmates. I had no contact numbers, no e-mail IDs of theirs. Now thanks to social networking sites such as Orkut and Myspace I am now in close friendship with even those people whom I had almost forgotten in course of time. There are people I've met who have helped me in one or the other way.
Because of the nature of the medium, social networking sites such as Orkut have their own set of strenghts and weaknesses. The recent murder case of Adnan Patrawala is just another example. The 16 year old Mumbai resident met three persons on Orkut. These three "friends" of Adnan kidnapped him for ransom and had to kill him when the police got close to them. There is another instance where some people in Brazil are planning to bring out a defamatory campaign against a leading MNC. One fine day, one of our famous politicians woke up to find her fake profiles on Orkut, some even mentioning objectionable contents. These are not just the only incidents but one of the many cases. Making fake profiles of girls and posting obscene material about them is "the thing" of the day among the teenage revengers.
Well, I am not here to criticize Orkut and MTV culture. These are not the areas I intend to go. For this purpose, I assume that our self proclaimed "moral politicians" are best suited. Our own Pune police, after getting fed up in failing to control the situation, had recommended to ban Orkut in India. Their take was that Orkut is unknowingly providing a platform for anti-social activities. Please someone tell them that such incidents have happened not because information is freely available on the internet, but because of the misuse of information.
It is very easy for us and the moral police to put blame on Orkut and walk away. But why are we ignoring the fact that the misuse of information is prevailing in our culture many years before anyone even conceptualized internet. How do the thieves steal? How are the scams done? Is there not any misuse of information by the police officers themselves? Orkut is just a small medium which is being exploited Mr. politician!
Who is crossing the line: the social networking sites or the people who misuse them? I believe that social networking sites are just the other version of people networking without which no culture can exist. They are only the messangers. Do we prosecute weapons because they were directly responsible for someone's murder? It's only the intention of the person holding the gun which determines the intention of the gun. Can't we say the same for Orkut? I say why not?
24 year old Manish Thakur, a naval officer based in Goa, has been arrested because of Orkut, the same social networking site. The police say that he was behind the killing of his girlfriend Kaushambi Layek. Meanwhile those self-sufficient netas were busy in critisizing the murders of Adnan and Kaushambi, Hundreds of people offered their "online condolences" through the same social networking site. Majority of the people were those who never knew the victims before the news was brought in the media. Without being irrational, I want to say that Orkut is definitely bringing our own culture in a new form. Every culture has its own pros and cons. If our Indianness is being digitalized, so are our weaknesses. Hence, the onus should lie on us to correct our behaviour.
I am not championing for the status quo but what I suggest is to adapt our system to tackle such incidents. What about a full fledged IT police? Most of our population is technically illiterate when it comes to internet. As a result even the internet offenders leave a lot of clues unknowingly on the network which can be a bounty for the police. So the debate should shift from banning orkut to adapting to the new technology in a way to harness the freedom of speech on the internet.
We are already fortunate enough to witness the important shift from socialist economy to consumer led economy in India. Understanding the Indian mind is going to be an important career to most of us. We cannot afford to narrow down our thinking by discussing on how to ban these social networking sites. Marketers believe that the best suited strategy to tap in the consumer driven economy is to understand the psyche of Indians. The prime factors that directly influence on consumer's buying decision are:
1) Firm's own marketing efforts
2) The socio-cultural environment in which the consumers operate
Social networking sites such as Orkut provide the second factor to the served and the potential market. The social networking model is still evolving as a revenue model. The order of the day is not of slow and continuous improvements but of smart and rapid developments. Orkut and Myspace etc. are turning their members into brand advocates. The members gather themselves to form communities and social circles. This way, people segment themselves based on their likes and dislikes. We can find many survey reports that clearly suggest that online marketing is going to beat the conventional marketing techniques. What a best way to tap the pitch of your target!
In the end, I would also like to request all of those shouting to ban the social networking sites to see the clear picture and to adapt themselves. They should take the lead to guide the next generation to walk on the path of morality. Blocking the path to progress isn't the way to do things. And for Orkut, the very strong brand equity of Google will make the closing difficult.
When I reached my college life phase, little I had idea about my old classmates. I had no contact numbers, no e-mail IDs of theirs. Now thanks to social networking sites such as Orkut and Myspace I am now in close friendship with even those people whom I had almost forgotten in course of time. There are people I've met who have helped me in one or the other way.
Because of the nature of the medium, social networking sites such as Orkut have their own set of strenghts and weaknesses. The recent murder case of Adnan Patrawala is just another example. The 16 year old Mumbai resident met three persons on Orkut. These three "friends" of Adnan kidnapped him for ransom and had to kill him when the police got close to them. There is another instance where some people in Brazil are planning to bring out a defamatory campaign against a leading MNC. One fine day, one of our famous politicians woke up to find her fake profiles on Orkut, some even mentioning objectionable contents. These are not just the only incidents but one of the many cases. Making fake profiles of girls and posting obscene material about them is "the thing" of the day among the teenage revengers.
Well, I am not here to criticize Orkut and MTV culture. These are not the areas I intend to go. For this purpose, I assume that our self proclaimed "moral politicians" are best suited. Our own Pune police, after getting fed up in failing to control the situation, had recommended to ban Orkut in India. Their take was that Orkut is unknowingly providing a platform for anti-social activities. Please someone tell them that such incidents have happened not because information is freely available on the internet, but because of the misuse of information.
It is very easy for us and the moral police to put blame on Orkut and walk away. But why are we ignoring the fact that the misuse of information is prevailing in our culture many years before anyone even conceptualized internet. How do the thieves steal? How are the scams done? Is there not any misuse of information by the police officers themselves? Orkut is just a small medium which is being exploited Mr. politician!
Who is crossing the line: the social networking sites or the people who misuse them? I believe that social networking sites are just the other version of people networking without which no culture can exist. They are only the messangers. Do we prosecute weapons because they were directly responsible for someone's murder? It's only the intention of the person holding the gun which determines the intention of the gun. Can't we say the same for Orkut? I say why not?
24 year old Manish Thakur, a naval officer based in Goa, has been arrested because of Orkut, the same social networking site. The police say that he was behind the killing of his girlfriend Kaushambi Layek. Meanwhile those self-sufficient netas were busy in critisizing the murders of Adnan and Kaushambi, Hundreds of people offered their "online condolences" through the same social networking site. Majority of the people were those who never knew the victims before the news was brought in the media. Without being irrational, I want to say that Orkut is definitely bringing our own culture in a new form. Every culture has its own pros and cons. If our Indianness is being digitalized, so are our weaknesses. Hence, the onus should lie on us to correct our behaviour.
I am not championing for the status quo but what I suggest is to adapt our system to tackle such incidents. What about a full fledged IT police? Most of our population is technically illiterate when it comes to internet. As a result even the internet offenders leave a lot of clues unknowingly on the network which can be a bounty for the police. So the debate should shift from banning orkut to adapting to the new technology in a way to harness the freedom of speech on the internet.
We are already fortunate enough to witness the important shift from socialist economy to consumer led economy in India. Understanding the Indian mind is going to be an important career to most of us. We cannot afford to narrow down our thinking by discussing on how to ban these social networking sites. Marketers believe that the best suited strategy to tap in the consumer driven economy is to understand the psyche of Indians. The prime factors that directly influence on consumer's buying decision are:
1) Firm's own marketing efforts
2) The socio-cultural environment in which the consumers operate
Social networking sites such as Orkut provide the second factor to the served and the potential market. The social networking model is still evolving as a revenue model. The order of the day is not of slow and continuous improvements but of smart and rapid developments. Orkut and Myspace etc. are turning their members into brand advocates. The members gather themselves to form communities and social circles. This way, people segment themselves based on their likes and dislikes. We can find many survey reports that clearly suggest that online marketing is going to beat the conventional marketing techniques. What a best way to tap the pitch of your target!
In the end, I would also like to request all of those shouting to ban the social networking sites to see the clear picture and to adapt themselves. They should take the lead to guide the next generation to walk on the path of morality. Blocking the path to progress isn't the way to do things. And for Orkut, the very strong brand equity of Google will make the closing difficult.
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