Socially Inspired!

Food for thought for all futurists who have a passion to drive change and want to pursue personal as well as professional growth through social media.

I was stunned when I heard a unique Social trading cards bridge Meet-Meme Director Jonathan Brewer saying, “I started my first company when I was 17.” How often you hear that in India, I thought. We don’t start up our own firms when we are just teens. Jonathan is 31 now and has already founded 3 firms till date. His newest company is the result of his social inspiration!  

 For those who don’t know, at 17 we (people in India) are expected to prepare for entrance exams to get through IIMs, IIMCs or such. Our educational background should be strong enough to help us land in an Indian or a global multinational firm, which is capable of offering us an onsite opportunity after a couple of years of hard work—that only Japanese or Chinese can surpass. Even then, we switch jobs as Yankees, and replace our iPhones with its most updated versions. In the modern Indian culture, we don’t intend to stick to an employer for more than 3 years. Our next overseas jobs could be offered by our employer’s biggest threat or competition. We don’t mind taking that up.

Social doesn’t inspire us to become entrepreneurs yet. For us, it’s just an entertainment platform, a stress buster, and a job finder [Linkedin is good!]. We will probably get into it completely if one can prove us that Social can help us earn brownie points during our appraisals.

Having said that, the future of Social for Indians will be around what we see in the western world today. We are Social. Do stuff online. But if you ask us to buy gifts for friends on Facebook, as Jonathan did for one of his friends, we won’t do that. Give us few more years, we will be there!

Social amazes me every day. From cultural to individualistic behavior, the impact of Social can be sensed everywhere. For example, it’s easy to notice the Facebook effect on our day to day life. We have stopped ringing our friends at 12 am on their birthdays; we see the birthday notifications on our Facebook page and immediately post something on our friends’ walls to wish them birthdays. On the other hand, we wish almost everyone who is part of our mini Social world on Facebook. We never used to do that before; I don’t remember wishing my friend’s ex boyfriend! Anyhow, I wonder what will happen when the Facebook addicts take the charge of the future corporate world.

My First Meme Trading Card.

Thanks Jonathan!