Dispatches from those who know how to increase your digital influence.
I work in education. I was recently asked to “tweet” in order for our department to gain visibility within our own organization,something I have been consciously avoiding. I quickly discovered three previous Twitter accounts which I started and abandoned after my ADHD kicked in and I got bored. I started a new account. I have 38 followers.
Suffice to say, I do not have a lot of digital influence. I’m not a digital native—I’m old enough to remember when if you wanted a loudspeaker for your opinions, you needed to get on television, the radio, or write for newspapers. Media was in the hands of professionals, and you had to know someone or be someone to get access. I can even remember when email was novel, rather than being the norm of business and personal communication. Things have changed.
When the editor asked me to do a piece on Digital Influencers, I hesitated. Was she aware of how unsavvy I was at this sort of thing? Since I’m a science person, I wondered if she made the not-unreasonable assumption that I had some amount of tech literacy, something that is patently false.
Still, though, I was curious. I did need to beef up my Twitter numbers. Maybe I could learn something if I could converse with somebody who did know something about this world wide web that the kids are all on these days? And who wouldn’t want a little more digital influence? I decided to say “yes.”
Then I was asked to talk to some pretty important people. By pretty important people I mean people who attended or work with premier universities, who podcast, who manage global networks of communication online. They have their own Wikipedia pages. These people count followers in the thousands or millions.
I’m not sure what to ask them exactly. But I decided to give it a shot.
Denne historien er fra September 2017-utgaven av India Currents.
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Denne historien er fra September 2017-utgaven av India Currents.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Elephant and Donkey Tribes of Politics
The Motorcycle Guru Speaks.
On Feminism
It has been eight months since I started my MFA at Bennington College. In the last eight months I have cooked half a dozen meals. I pack my children lunches and I clean up the kitchen after my husband when he makes dinner for the family after he comes home from working in a Silicon Valley tech company. Cooking has never moved me. Motherhood has—but not the baggage of social dos and don'ts that accompanied it. I have done fewer play dates than the meals I have cooked in the past few months, and I rarely go to a birthday party. My husband takes the children to their social engagements. “But is this fair?” you might ask and I answer, “It is not about fairness, it is about what moves you as a person and how to keep that flame of what keeps you alive, burning within you, while negotiating roles in an adult world that still largely favors men over women.”
Of Wedding Bells And Hospital Bills
Not another invite,” I groaned, picking up a thick cream and red colored envelope.
A New Lease Of Life
How an Indian grandmother started making heart-healthy choices.
A Mother Loses Her Child: Fact And Fiction Coalesce
LUCKY BOY by Shanthi Sekaran. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, an imprint of Penguin Random House, New York. 472 pages. Hardcover. $27.00
From The Hood Without A Loo
TOILET: A LOVE STORY. Director Shree Narayan Singh. Players: Akshay Kumar, Bhumi Padnekar, Anupam Kher, Sudhir Pandey, Divyendu Sharma, Subha Khote. Hindi w/ Eng. Sub-tit. (Viacom).
Life, Liberty, And The Pursuit Of Happiness
A LIFE OF ADVENTURE AND DE- LIGHT by Akhil Sharma. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.: New York. 202 pages. wwnorton.com $24.95 hardcover.
Who Was Enid Blyton?
Raised in and out of India, I don’t remember reading too many Enid Blyton novels—barring those from the Noddy series. I knew, though, they were all the rage among girls—mostly girls. They’d spend hours reading them and like fish in a school, prattle over what they’d read over their lunchboxes.
Victoria And Abdul: It Looks A Lot Like Love
VICTORIA AND ABDUL. Director: Stephen Frears. Screenwriter: Lee Hall, based on book by Shrabani Basu. Cast: Judi Dench, Ali Fazal, Eddie Izzard, Adeel Akhtar, Tim Pigott-Smith and Michael Gambon. Focus Features, 2017. MPAA Rating: PG-13
Looters, Schemers And A Curse
Koh-i-Noor: The History of the World’s Most Infamous Diamond.