Holi Twitter backgrounds – Rang Barse on Twitter!

Celebrate the festival of colors on Twitter, this year. With these colorful holi twitter backgrounds.  Splash a dash of color on your twitter page to spread good cheer among friends and followers.

So, before you take your pichkaris and head out to drench your friends in color; before you start splashing those non-toxic gulaal powders on the little ones; and before you get high on bhang and jive to a holi Bollywood number, add these cool holi twitter backgrounds to your twitter profile and get into the holi spirit of exuberance.

This holi, herald the dawn of spring, twitter style. And celebrate the colors of life on your online social space!

Download holi twitter backgrounds here! (click on the thumbnails below to open the image)

Instructions on how to setup your holi twitter background:

1. Click on the thumbnail given above to view the full image
2. Right click on the full image and save
3. Login to your twitter account
4. Click on the Settings link at the top right hand corner
5. Click on the Design link in the Settings page
6. Click on Change Background Image Icon and add the downloaded holi background
7. Click on the Save Changes button. Your holi twitter background comes up on your twitter profile.
8. Depending upon the screen resolution, you might have to tile the images.

Happy Holi!

50 interesting social media terms!

Social media is very much a part of our cultural mosaic. Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter have changed the way the world communicates. And blogging has given everyone an opportunity to express their views on anything under the sun. What’s more, these new-age media channels have affected all aspects of our life and have created a parallel universe in which people converse, connect and network across geographical boundaries. So, it’s fitting that social media has generated several interesting terms that best describe the social media lifestyle.

Here are 50 interesting social media terms, have fun reading it!

1. Social media butterfly: Someone who moves seamlessly from one social media site to another, conversing effortlessly with new and old friends from different backgrounds, cultures, nationalities and with different interests.
2. Social media addict: Anyone who logins into twitter first thing in the morning,; can’t help but check and reply to tweets even when there is an important deadline to meet; has trouble falling asleep without saying Good Night to his twitter followers; and can’t take a break off twitter even if he is on vacation in an exotic island.
3. Social media celeb stalkers: Twitter users who do nothing else than spend their day monitoring tweets by celebrities and bombarding their fav stars with annoying tweets, hoping to get a reply or their “ 140-characters of fame”.
4. Social media recluse: Anyone who joins Facebook or Twitter with great enthusiasm; adds friends, follows several people and suddenly stops communicating. There are no messages, no updates and no tweets. It’s like he/she just goes off the radar. Only to return after sometime with short bursts of information before vanishing from the social media scene, again. A social media recluse communicates sporadically, annoying friends and followers.
5. Ghost twitterer: Very similar to ghost writing, ghost twitterer is someone sending out tweets in the name of someone else. It is often alleged that celebs use ghost twittering to continuously send out tweets to their followers.
6. The quotterer: Someone who spends most part of the day tweeting ‘inspiring’ quotes to his followers.
7. Social media spammer: You’re right. The spammer is very much here on the social media scene. He can be spotted on high-traffic pages, giving out continuous stream of messages to the point that he becomes highly irritating and you simply choose to ignore him.
8. Social media gyan guru: He is Mr.Know-it-all. Talk about anything and he will join the conversation right away and offering his very own ‘pearls of wisdom’. Sometimes what he says does make sense, but for the most part, his tweets/messages are better ignored.
9. Friends/Followers Collector: Somebody who takes pride in his growing friends/followers list and works aggressively to add people to his list. He may even yearn to reach targets like 2500 followers in a month or so.  That’s the primary rush he gets from social media.
10. Social media bore: Anyone who bores people out of their mind with mundane updates. I got up at 5; brushed my teeth with colgate super whitening; ate cold cereal for breakfast; am wearing sneakers instead of slip-ons. Come on, who needs this information?
11. Lurkers: People who regularly read your updates, take a look at your photos but rarely comment or contribute to the conversation. They are the silent spectators – listening and viewing and lurking in the social media space.
12. Media-to- Media Followers: The breed of people who religiously follow their favorite television anchors, shows, favorite brands and news channels in the social media scene, as well.
13. Social media anxiety: Fear of communicating on social media sites like Facebook and twitter. It’s even recognized as a serious disorder, crippling the person’s ability to interact with others via social media channels. It’s very similar to social anxiety where the person fears being judged in a bad light.
14. Social network exclusion anxiety: The fear of being left out of important conversations, the fear of your views being ignored, the fear of being uninvited to exclusive events in the social media scene.
15. Post-posting traumatic stress disorder: This is what bloggers, Facebook and twitter users experience after posting major entries. Symptoms include racing heartbeat, sweating and extensive typing errors due to extreme nervousness.
16. Obsessive compulsive refresh disorder: Where the user feels compelled to refresh the Facebook page so very often to see new messages or to look up what’s happening, right now on social media sites.
17. Twitter rage: Anger induced by twitter. Frustration caused when you’re tweets are continuously ignored or resentment caused by over-use of twitter. Slow network connections and time delay between tweets can also cause twitter rage.
18. RSS reader sisyphus complex: The inability to deal with over-whelming amounts of information coming through the RSS reader. No matter how much time is spent checking RSS reader, there are still 5,549 posts unread.
19. Tweet Guilt: The guilty feeling experienced by a user when he cannot reply to all the tweets sent to him
20. Six degrees of separation syndrome: The delusion that he or she is just one friend removed from anyone else in the world and compulsively adds friends on social networks
21. Post-traumatic update disorder: This is caused by a failure to update your status on Facebook and other services, which leads to generalized anxiety.
22. Social media schizophrenia: Extreme mood swings and  disturbed behavior because of the over-use of social media and the inability of the user to distinguish between his real life and his online interactions.
23. Twitterhoeia: The uncontrollable urge to share mundane experiences with Twitter followers
24. Digital depression: Feeling of helplessness, a dip in confidence levels and low self-esteem caused when unfollwed, unlinked or unfriended on social media sites.
25. Invitation phobia: The fear of opening Facebook and viewing 501 invitations to mundane causes, uninteresting games and crazy quizzes
26. Twitterer’s Syndrome: Related to Tourette’s syndrome, an involuntary, sudden, rapid, recurrent 140-character typing tic.
27. Digital bipolar disorder: Swinging between excessive love and excessive hatred towards social media. The periods of highs and lows depend on the nature of tweets or messages received by the user.
28. Binge surfing disorder: Consuming more page views in a single sitting than most average people could in a two-week period.
29. Captcha rage: The irritation that one experiences every time one needs to decipher badly spelt words or add simple numbers in order to get on with one’s work.
30. Tagged shame: The feeling you experience when you see an unauthorized, tagged image of yourself – very drunk and kissing your shoes.
31. Blogstatitis: The constant urge to check Alexa and other status result sites for the ranking of your blogs.
32. Ninnyhammer: An idiot. It’s also a term of endearment. Statutory Warning: Use it at your own risk!
33. Avatar: Of course, it’s not related to the huge blockbuster by the same name. Avatars are graphical images representing people. They are what you are in virtual worlds. You can build a visual character with the body, clothes, behaviours, gender and name of your choice.
34. Twitterdreams: Dreams (even nightmares) that you may have of tweeting to followers, re-tweeting texts or adding a twibbon, etc. Extensive use of twitter while awake may result in twitter dreams at night.
35. Social media ego searches: Monitoring social media sites and blogs for mention of your name, your company’s name, your brand’s name in order to see what’s being said about you and things related to you.
36. Social media openness: It’s being prepared to share and collaborate, like offering share-alike copyright licenses, tagging content and linking generously to other people’s content. A great way to make friends and attract followers in social media!
37. Web 2.0: A term coined by O’Reilly Media in 2004 to describe blogs, wikis, social networking sites and other Internet-based services that emphasize collaboration and sharing.
38. Twitterature: Classic Literature in twenty tweets or less that recreates classic literature in a micro-novel format.  Eg: Romeo loves Juliet. Juliet loves Romeo. Families fight. Both die. Now how is that for Shakespeare!
39. Twibes: Group of twitter users interested in a particular topic.
40. Twitterati: Yes…the elite are everywhere, even on twitter. The twitter elite, whose feeds attract thousands of followers and whose 140-character spews capture the attention of the social media community.
41. Tweetaholic: A person who is addicted to tweeting usually wanting to tweet about anything just to feel relieved. If you are one, join tweetaholic anonymous!
42. Flogs: Flack blogs or fake blogs.
43. Klogs: Knowledge blogs; usually refers to intranets of companies or technical blogs
44. Vlogging: Blogging using videos and not text.
45. Blogosphere: No its not a term from a sci-fi movie. It’s a term used to denote the world of blogs.
46. Eye rest: Using ‘gifts’ like images, bold text, bullets or lists to take a break from monotony in your blog ( and also a way of hoping that your reader will at least take a look at the above mentioned images, bold text, bullets or lists in your blog!)
47. Hat tip: Publicly acknowledging someone for giving valuable information to the blogger
48. Meme: An idea, an event or a piece of information that is passed on from user to another till it becomes totally viral
49. Social media calendar: A schedule of events that a social media user maintains. Eg: Saturday, Feb. 14^th : Update blog with a post on Valentine’s day; send a birthday gift to Keerthi from Facebook; update resume on linkd’in; tweet up the cute girl from school.
50. Social media rockstar: Yeah…u read it right! These rock stars fiddle with the keyboard and not with the guitar. They have huge fan-following on social media sites, some running into tens of thousands. When they tweet, the social media world reads, replies and re-tweets. You can see the fans thronging to their pages. Being a social media rockstar takes you to the height of social media popularity. A coveted place where most people yearn to reach!

Please feel free to state your comments and add social media terms that you may find interesting.

References: [Online Journalism Blog] [Socialmedia@Wikispaces] [Urbanictionary]

Why it’s social media over super bowl for Pepsi

Top super bowl ad spender, Pepsi stays clear of super bowl commercials, this year, and instead focuses on social media.

It’s the first time in 23 years that Pepsi commercials haven’t appeared during the super bowl. Instead, Pepsi has decided to focus on social media marketing. Pepsi’s social networking campaign probably costs a lot less than a full-blown super bowl ad. But the company expects to reach out to more number of people over the course of several months, through Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites.

Pepsi’s Refresh Everything Project on Facebook has more than 350,000 fans and seeks to donate more than $1 million to worthy causes in February alone. The Pepsi Refresh project is a huge hit and has given the brand mileage that can equal even a super bowl commercial. And the great thing is the campaign can extend over a period of several months and is not restricted to 30-odd seconds.

Has social networking come of age, in such a short span of time? Can Twitter and Facebook take on the good-old Television? Perhaps it’s too early to say to make such sweeping assumptions. However, we cannot deny the mass appeal that these social media sites enjoy, across varying time zones and differing cultures. And advertisers cannot ignore the commercial viability of these social media platforms.

So, what makes social media such a great brand promotional vehicle – in fact, a bigger vehicle than the super bowl itself? Here are a few reasons why:

• A high level of interactivity. Active user participation makes the brand relate to the consumer on a more personal level

• The users themselves are the promotional media – conveying the brand experience to their friends and followers

• There are no time constraints in social media. You don’t have to tell it all in 30 seconds as in the case of a television commercial. The user can choose to stay as long as he wishes on your social media page.

• Unlike a television commercial that loses its newness once it is viewed 10-15 times, the advertiser can post interesting content on the social media pages, to keep the visitor coming back for more. So, the brand gets sustained visibility over a period of time.

• It’s more cost-effective than a mass media campaign. Marketers can get more value for the advertising buck with social media marketing.

Please feel free to share your views and opinions on Pepsi’s approach.

Did you hear the Save Our Tigers roar on social media?

The tiger is roaring loud and clear, all over Facebook and Twitter.  And the reach and extent of its roar, within just a few days is simply amazing. Right now, Stripey the Cub (saveourtigers’ Facebook profile) has 20,702 fans and the saveourtigers twitter profile has 1,461 followers.  And the numbers are growing exponentially. Plus, what’s really amazing is the extensive user participation in the form of comments, discussions and re-tweets. Facebook fans have even gone ahead to form saveourtigers local groups! And to think that hardly a few people knew that our national animal was facing extinction, until a few days ago, the buzz created by this campaign is amazing.

Saveourtigers campaign is a fine-example of how mass media and social media advertising can be successfully synchronized to produce overwhelming visibility and active user participation.

Here are a few reasons why the saveourtigers cause has received tremendous response on social media, right from the word go:

1. The television campaign and  the use of celebrities has given the much needed visibility to the website
2. The saveourtigers website design not only informs but also involves users. It urges users to act – by reading about the cause in the blog (which has just one post now but we are sure more will follow), viewing videos on youtube,  by donating or by joining the cause through Facebook and Twitter
3. What really hooks the visitor on to the website is the Join the Roar application, where the user can pledge his support and help unravel a part of the tiger’s image.
4. Facebook allows for active participation and initiates action through  discussions, comments and even creation of local groups
5. Twitter keeps followers posted on latest developments happening on the blogs/Facebook profile/website.
6. There is a seamless flow of information across both media – mass media as well as social media, one directing the user to the other
7. Active exchange of information, views and ideas across all online channels, especially across social media networks – Facebook and Twitter, initiating greater audience participation.
8. Both mass media and social media complement each other, lending maximum mileage to the cause.

We’ll be watching to see how the saveourtigers campaign unfolds over the next few weeks. We would love to hear your thoughts and opinions on this cause and the channels used for promoting it. Please leave your comments.

Top 7 romantic ways to celebrate Valentine’s Day on Twitter

Cupid’s all over twitter. With hot background picks, cool deals on Valentine’s Day goodies, contests and what not. So, get the romance going this Valentine’s Day on Twitter. Show your love with sugar-coated tweets and make someone feel very special, twitter style.

Here are 7 romantic ways to celebrate Valentine’s Day on Twitter.

1. Get a romantic background: Start the Valentine’s Day Celebrations by sporting hearts for your profile background. Take your pick from sites like Twitrounds and Twitterbackgrounds. It’s the best way to get into the romance mode.
2. Win a diamond necklace for your love: Cinemablend has announced a contest on twitter to celebrate the release of the movie The Valentine’s Day. All you have to do is log in to your twitter account and follow @cinemablend and then tweet this message: “@cinemablend Happy Valentine’s Day! Enter me to win the prize pack.” The lucky winner gets to win a diamond necklace, the perfect Valentine’s Day gift for your loved one.
3. Follow the love and win gift cards: American Greetings’ “Follow the Love” contest lets you win cool retailer/cash gift cards. Follow @AmGreetings, submit a tweet based on the question of the day, and tag your submission #LoveAG. Win a gift card and splurge on a romantic treat!
4. Get some romantic ideas: Looking for some sizzling ideas to boost up the romance quotient, this Valentine’s Day? Then, look up Feb14th Ideas for some red-hot gift ideas, decoration themes and a lot more.
5. Book a candlelight dinner: Look up great deals on Valentine’s Day dinners and book ‘em in advance. TrioPalmSprings offers a great dinner package. So, do a host of other resorts and restaurants. You can even win a free dinner giveaway. Harbormagic offers one, right now.
6. Get a taste of some Twitter love: Give your loved one some Twitter candy. Now, those little heart-shaped Valentine’s Day Sweetheart candies come with messages like ‘Tweet me’ and ‘Text me’. Your love has a one-in-80 chance of getting such a tweet message on her sugary treat, this year.
7. Send love tweets by the minute: If nothing else works for you; if you are a little hard up for cash or if you haven’t had the time to prepare the perfect Valentine’s Day dinner, fret not. Simply send love-struck tweets, say every 10 minutes, round-the-clock on Valentine’s Day.  You can even pick up some messages from sites like Romanticmessages and send them as tweets. After all, what’s more romantic than reading tweets like this: “Falling in love with you is the second best thing in the world. Finding you is the first,” all through the day!

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