By Sanjay Pinto
Stories that make for dinner table conversations usually find their way
to walls, or timelines for those who, as a post lamented, have been “tricked”
into the new format. A tale of two events that played out on the social
media; one tragic and the other emotional, in some measure, betrayed our
obsession with ‘glamorous issues’. Rahul Dravid putting his willow up in the
loft most definitely deserved all the adulatory ‘we will miss you
Mr.Dependable’ comments, the likes and the threads. While I don’t for a nano second,
grudge the ‘About the Wall On the Wall’ references in cricket crazy India,
the murder of a young IPS officer by the mining mafia in Madhya Pradesh
did not seem to provoke enough outrage to find the kind of expression on
facebook that it should have. An aberration or a convenient ‘mine’ our business
stance? There were the odd tweets ‘When will we get fed up? When will we give
ourselves a deadline?’ but this was way below the minimum support posts. Or do
we need an Anna Hazare fast again to clear seemingly clogged sensors? Is
activity on the social media sometimes directly proportional to
mainstream big brother coverage? Not quite. At least, not in this case which
was front page news and a top story on television bulletins, with ample scope
for the ‘post at site’ syndrome.
That it could well be the other way around is no longer an exaggeration.
These sites are where the pulse of the common man is felt. This is what often
gives arise to a surfeit of story ideas; hard news and offbeat. Facebook and
twitter are like manna from heaven to most journalists – not just because of
the source of information and many a tip off . It is a magic platform to
post story links, even video links, as bonus readership or viewership!
Not just for working journalists but for NGOs too. ‘Dow Shall Check
Facts’ – a hard hitting rebuttal by an environmentalist to an article on
the Bhopal Gas Tragedy has got considerable traction. The responses to a
facebook link would usually far exceed comments on the original piece. That is
because the medium lends itself to more convenient interaction.
Don’t ignore the angst fast forwarded! Our dear old Finance
Minister has a sea of prescriptions for the economy. And oodles of free advice,
perhaps even prophylactic doses from the common man desperate for real
relief from inflation, rather than mere placebo steps. Brace yourself for
stinging limericks on the budget! On this subject, a whacky comment against the
picture of an actor, well known for item numbers, outside Parliament caught my
attention: "Now Ministers don't have to watch stuff on their
phones!"
A picture of the Indian Kabadi team standing on the road with their
trophy, allegedly without Govt provided conveyance to reach their homes has
been widely commented on. What the mainstream media may have missed or not made
a big deal about, mercifully got some attention on this space.
And finally, “I’m leaving facebook. The ride here has been a blast. I’ve
made tons of friends. I’ve enjoyed the wit and humour on the site. But I’ve
decided to spend time with the family. So see you after lunch.” The sort of
shared post that sets apart an addict from a user. A survey had once revealed
that an average youngster spends upto 6 hours on facebook; many ‘chatting the
night away’; some logging in before brushing their teeth every morning. The
urge to put out personal information at way too frequent intervals, quite like
a radio jingle ‘I am eating a burger. I think I added too much mustard. I
burped’ is beyond my ken. I heard of a facebook status message on a
rollicking time a person was having at a beach, that was used by an
insurance company to turn down a medical related claim by its customer
who pretended to have sustained a fracture ! Let minute by minute updates
remain the preserve of news channels! Don’t we have enough of that anyway?
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