Browsing: Twitter

There’s information overload on the Internet and many great stories are missed altogether! So every week I’ll do a roundup of the must-reads, the controversial stories, and the fun posts that I have found across the Net.

Check this one out! All your Facebook friends – are they really who they seem to be? With photos floating all over social media, how do you know who people really are? What would you think if you found your photo on diverse social media sites with a different name and a different life story?

When is social media too much? When can we call it enough? When does social media become invasive and when do we start de-friending people? Are we just violating each other’s privacy or are we getting what we always secretly wanted – an insight into other people’s lives?
On the blog Sex and the Single Desi, Monica Marwah looks at the good, the bad and the ugly aspects of social media.
(Photo – Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com)

“So I am relatively new to this 140 characters world. Been there for a bit but just can’t figure out what to tweet about.

When I do find something fun to tweet about, I spend 5 minutes trying to get rid of the negative character count .. aaah … how frustrating!! Do you know how hard it is get interesting thoughts across in less than 140 characters?

Imagine if Twitter existed in the Elizabethan era! I think I need to enroll in a ‘Twitter Short Form Writing’ class right after I get done with ‘What Do I Tweet About?’ ” – Ruchi Kalra

“Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and Friendster have definitely made the world a smaller place but they’ve also made it more open for everyone to peek into our lives. Today we are defined by the number of friends we have on FB, by how many people follow us on Twitter, and how many people subscribe to our blog, rather than by the number of true friends that we can sit with and have a cup of chai.” GUEST BLOG

At 21, Rahim Fazal was the youngest CEO ever to head a publicly traded company. He was the celebrity entrepreneur whose face was splashed in newspapers and who at 16 had already sold another company for $1.5 million. But within a year his new company was in trouble, and he had to walk away from it – to study in a community college since he had hardly finished high school. Talk about ups and downs!

Rahim, who was named amongst America’s top 30 entrepreneurs under 30 by Inc. magazine and amongst the top 25 digital thought leaders by iMedia, has had enough twists and turns in his life to be worthy of a Hollywood – or Bollywood – movie!

In a world where the computer is king, the Internet is all-powerful and Facebook and Twitter reign, social media is the newest and hottest turf to be conquered.

For each of these innovative entrepreneurs, who are in their 20’s and 30’s, the world to be conquered is virtual but the treasures to be won are very real – millions of dollars for successful start-ups, fame, fortune and fans globally.

Meet the creators of five start-ups everyone is buzzing about – Foursquare, Involver, MyCityWay, Occipital and Radium One. In our increasingly interconnected world where Mumbai and Manhattan are just a click away, you will soon be using their creations if you are not already…

I-Phone, I-Pad, I-Meditate?

It was bound to happen! The practice of meditation may be thousands of years old but it is perfectly suited to our very stressful modern times, when in order to go fast, you have to learn to slow down. And the buzz of the moment is that the power of social media is being harnessed by a group of high achieving young professionals to get the word out about the value of meditation, and the upcoming I Meditate NY event, one of the largest meditation gatherings ever to be held in the Big Apple.

Over 2700 New Yorkers, from all walks of life and all religions, will come together to listen to and meditate with the renowned spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar who heads the Art of Living Foundation, with music by Grammy nominated Chandrika Tandon and world music band Bhakti. This unique event will be held at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall on April 10, and leading up to it are free meditation classes at the Art of Living Center in Manhattan, a chance to get a first-hand taste of meditation.

If you want to see Padma Lakshmi break into a smile, all you have to do is ask her about her little girl, Krishna. “She’s wonderful, she’s healthy!” she beams. “We went to the zoo today – it was such a beautiful day! She’s the light of my life and I am very thankful to have her!”

She adds, “And I might not have had her if it wasn’t for the fact that I was diagnosed by Dr. Tamer Seckin and I got the help I needed. I can’t stress that enough – I was told that I wouldn’t be able to have a baby and the fact that I have her is a gift of God and this is just my way of saying thank you.”

‘This’ was the Blossom Ball at the New York Public Library to raise awareness and funds for the Endometriosis Foundation of America, and Padma Lakshmi, who is the co-founder with Dr. Seckin, was on the red carpet at the gala, looking stunning in a Sabyasachi saree.

When the iPad was first announced I predicted that it would be a game changer. I really believed that this cool new device would solve the world’s technology problems and reduce the number of electronic gadgets I had to carry around.
It just doesn’t do its magic for me any longer. Here’s why…

Tired of your desk job and longing to take on the world? Love food and want to follow your culinary dreams? Yes, it can be done. Take a page or two from the game plan of Divya Gugnani, a New Yorker who chucked her day job to create her own nascent start-up, Behind the Burner.

Pop artist Anoop Desai has been on everybody’s radar ever since he became a finalist on the eighth season of “American Idol.” Now his first independently released EP ‘All is Fair’ has hit the airwaves. His new single is titled ‘My Name.’

Was growing up in North Carolina with a name like Anoop difficult?
“Kids made fun of it all the time, in the school bus, and I remember coming home from kindergarten and demanding that my mom change my name, because I wanted to be a Bill or something,” he recalls.

“I cringe at that now because I am lucky to have my name, lucky to have my culture. That’s what makes me unique and a lot of people don’t have that.”

Folks, be careful. Is that a piece of spinach sticking to your teeth? Is that safety pin holding up your hemline showing? You’re on candid camera – for ever and ever! Today came the news that Twitter is donating its digital archive of public tweets to the Library of Congress. Your 140 character masterpieces are immortal now.

Guess what, Lassi with Lavina is being followed on Twitter by someone from the White House!

No, not the President, not even the First Lady. Not even the First Children but by the First Dog, Bo Diddley Obama! Of course, I wasn’t aware that dogs could read or keyboard, much less get on to Twitter. But then again, you have to remember it’s the Obama dog and he probably has a great IQ to match the rest of the Obamas.

All you fans of Twitter, Facebook and MySpace, looking for a job that satisfies your passion for social networking? Well your country needs you, President Obama needs you! Organizing for America, the successor organization to Obama for America, is looking for a Tweeter-in-chief.

What’s the buzz right now? Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol and their much anticipated movie ‘My Name is Khan’ is what everyone’s talking about.

Well, the buzz is about the film – but also about what could almost become a drama in its own right – the Shiv Sena’s clumsy attempt to muzzle free speech. By now everyone knows about the Sena’s threat to sabotage ‘My Name is Khan’ in order to punish Shah Rukh Khan for his comment about wanting to include Pakistani players in the IPL. The Sena has threatened distributors and theater owners in Mumbai for having the temerity to show the movie, and by association, movie-goers who would dare to watch the film.

I have a new respect for Twitter since I started following Bollywood celebs – it’s the democracy of interaction and the immediacy of hearing the news from the horse’s mouth without the intervention of gossip magazines. The complete lack of punctuation and slaphappy grammar makes it even more laid back and buddy-like.

Well, guess what – Shah Rukh Khan is the next celebrity to succumb to Twitter! Doesn’t he know from Shashi Tharoor that it can get you into trouble? Seems he was pushed into it by Karan Johar who is an avid tweeter. So is Shah Rukh really tweeting himself or is it a PR exercise for ‘My Name is Khan’? Only time will tell!

Looking to find the perfect restaurant in your area online or via mobile phone? Searching for videos to check out the best tips from celebrity chefs?

Well, there’s good news – behind each of these culinary experiences, there’s an innovative company launched by young Indian-Americans who probably have food and hospitality etched into their DNA! Sidestepping traditional careers, these entrepreneurs have followed the pungent aroma of spices and flavors of food to start their own businesses.

Are you LinkedIn? Do you Twitter? Do you Youtube? Indian-Americans are a growing part of the social networking phenomenon that is sweeping the world.