What's 'Really' up with Instagram?

Instagram will sell your photos without your permission?

Instagram will share your data with Facebook?

With so much news doing rounds on various tech blogs, news sites in the last couple of days, a quick overview and recap of what’s going on and really find out what the confusion is all about and hopefully clear it out for all of you.

So here’s what exactly happened and is happening with Instagram?

Why the outrage against Instagram by users?

On 18^th December Instagram updated its blog with its Privacy and Terms of Service Changes on Instagram. As it is known, no one ever reads the Terms and Conditions down to the tee, but obvious. This was again evident a few weeks ago when a really inane chain of Facebook posts was doing rounds on Facebook about Privacy, which really meant nothing as Facebook Privacy changes that had been released were really about the voting issues and certain semantics that people didn’t care to read. People started to abuse, outrage, curse and a lot more… on twitter, on Facebook, basically everywhere else they could. Tools popped up which helped you to back up your Instagram photos and delete your account. Some articles showcasing how some went back to Flickr, cause of this ‘supposed’ move by Instagram.

Here are some quotes that may have been ‘misinterpreted’:

“We may share User Content and your information (including but not limited to, information from cookies, log files, device identifiers, location data, and usage data) with businesses that are legally part of the same group of companies that Instagram is part of, or that become part of that group (“Affiliates”). Affiliates may use this information to help provide, understand, and improve the Service (including by providing analytics) and Affiliates’ own services (including by providing you with better and more relevant experiences). But these Affiliates will honor the choices you make about who can see your photos.”

“Instagram, its Affiliates, or Service Providers may transfer information that we collect about you, including personal information across borders and from your country or jurisdiction to other countries or jurisdictions around the world.”

Due to which, there were many blogs, general news sites that put up ‘tangy’ and ‘sensational’ news stating ‘Instagram now has right to sell your photos (Ownership changes)

What do you expect then? Outrage was evident, but of course…

Read the rest of the article here

Srinivas has been a communications professional for over 10 years, and has been blogging since 2005. He has worked with the likes of Social Wavelength, now Mirum India, (A JWT Group Company) for four years and now Heads Learning and Development & Analytics at Social Kinnect: A Digital Marketing Agency in Mumbai. His passion for Advertising, Creativity, Social & Digital Marketing helps make a difference for the brands they work with. 

Communities Launched on Google+

Yes, we’ve been wondering about this for a while now… With so many options and alternatives around, why and when would Google+ introduce communities? Recently one of my colleagues told me, that it’s here… And immediately he created a few groups and invited me to a couple of them.  I personally am not an avid user of Google+ as of now. Have explored it in the past and was there even before it launched to everyone. (Read: beta invites) But most of my time goes in tinkering around Facebook, Twitter and most recently, Quora. Yes, I shall of course write another post that’ll detail my passion and love for Quora, but for now, I’m pretty happy that communities on Google+ have been introduced.

We all know, Google+ as a whole has a good level of traction from ‘The Geek’ community. Having said that, introduction of Google+ community is quite a blessing! Of course there are a lot of pros and cons about communities existing generally, but having said that one’s handling technology based websites, technology in general or for that matter niche groups and in fact product companies like SocioFi themselves… will appreciate the existence on Google+ for such a feature.

While Google+ says this

“Today Google+ is the fastest-growing network thingy ever. More than 500 million people have upgraded, 235 million are active across Google (+1′ing apps in Google Play, hanging out in Gmail, connecting with friends in Search…), and 135 million are active in just the stream.”

I’d tend to say it’s a little different from what it looks like… One has to but agree that a lot of traction in terms of numbers is from Gmail as well. Also number of users vs. number of active users is a question one must answer. However, with the introduction of the Communities, aspect, the ballgame is a little different now, especially with Google+ having a Hangout feature, which can be explored well on the community front.

Read the rest of the article here

Srinivas has been a communications professional for over 10 years, and has been blogging since 2005. He has worked with the likes of Social Wavelength, now Mirum India, (A JWT Group Company) for four years and now Heads Learning and Development & Analytics at Social Kinnect: A Digital Marketing Agency in Mumbai. His passion for Advertising, Creativity, Social & Digital Marketing helps make a difference for the brands they work with. 

How is the blogosphere like a giant social network? How can Bloggers benefit?

Read Quote of Srinivas Kulkarni's answer to Blogosphere: How is the blogosphere like a giant social network and what might bloggers do to benefit from this? on Quora

What are Facebook global pages? How does one set it up?

Answer to a question I asked on Quora while doing some research for Facebook Global Pages! I intend to write a blog about my findings later on. But thanks to Jack Lindamood, Software engineer at Facebook who worked on Global Pages at Facebook. Thanks Jack for the detailed answer. It was very helpful!

Read Quote of Jack Lindamood's answer to Facebook: What are Facebook global pages? How does one set it up? on Quora

What's the best way to market yourself (or myself)?

Read Quote of Srinivas Kulkarni's answer to What's the best way to market yourself (or myself)? on Quora

What does a non-celebrity have to do to get famous on Twitter?

Read Quote of Srinivas Kulkarni's answer to Twitter: What does a non-celebrity have to do to get famous on Twitter? on Quora

Why should I bother investing time in Quora?

Read Quote of Srinivas Kulkarni's answer to Social Media: Why should I bother investing time in using Quora? on Quora

Is social media ROI calculation even possible?

Read Quote of Srinivas Kulkarni's answer to Social Media: Is social media ROI calculation even possible? on Quora

Why should I provide my knowledge to Quora for free?

Read Quote of Srinivas Kulkarni's answer to Why should I provide my knowledge to Quora for free? on Quora

In what ways is writing for Quora more fun than writing for Wikipedia? Or vice versa?

Read Quote of Srinivas Kulkarni's answer to Quora vs. Google and Wikipedia: In what ways is writing for Quora more fun than writing for Wikipedia? Or vice versa? on Quora

What are the best designed mobile apps?

Read Quote of Srinivas Kulkarni's answer to Mobile Applications: What are the best designed mobile apps? on Quora

What should every Indian know about Indian Mythology?

Read Quote of Srinivas Kulkarni's answer to India: What should every Indian know about Indian Mythology? on Quora

Why do we have only few temples to Lord Brahma?

Read Quote of Srinivas Kulkarni's answer to Indian Culture: Why do we have only few temples to Lord Brahma? on Quora

Asuras drank alcohol (Sura) and Suras (Devas) stayed away from it. In that sense wasn't Indra (Sura being his favorite drink) a defaulter?

Read Quote of Srinivas Kulkarni's answer to Hindu Mythology: Asuras drank alcohol (Sura) and Suras (Devas) stayed away from it. In that sense wasn't Indra (Sura being his favorite drink) a defaulter? on Quora

What are the basic lessons from Mahabharata?

Read Quote of Srinivas Kulkarni's answer to Mahabharata: What are the basic lessons from Mahabharata? on Quora

What is the significance of Nandi Bull in Indian temples?

Read Quote of Srinivas Kulkarni's answer to India: What is the significance of Nandi (the bull) in Indian Temples? on Quora

What are some fascinating stories about Lord Shiva?

Read Quote of Srinivas Kulkarni's answer to Indian Mythology: What are some fascinating stories about Lord Shiva? on Quora

Why is Lord Shiva called the "Destroyer" of cosmos?

Read Quote of Srinivas Kulkarni's answer to Indian Mythology: Why is Lord Shiva called the "Destroyer" of cosmos? on Quora

Cinthol Alive is Awesome – App Review

One of the things that I’ve always been very keen on and interested in working with during my tenure in the social media industry as a community evangelist has been working on application development for various clients to drive engagement towards the Facebook page and most importantly get direct access to the community and to be able to interact with them offline as well.

While there have always been various application development companies that most of the times we’ve outsourced our work to, most number of times, they have used certain custom application creators e.g. Wufoo and the types. Off late post the Facebook open graph and overall development of the ecosystem a lot of engagement has been driven through various apps… Some simple and some complex. One of the reasons having the need for the same was of course, the Facebook guidelines on contests and engagements of course. Secondly and most importantly the ability to create something of value add while giving us better opportunity to create assets ourselves.

Considering that, I thought one such application that I recently played while looking for interesting apps on the Indian Social Media ecosystem was Cinthol – Alive is Awesome.

Home Page for the Contest

Thought about giving my two cents and sharing my experience about the application and its user interface. It’s powered by SocioFi and I’ve been following them on Facebook and Twitter. Something like this in the Indian space is certainly useful especially since there’s a demand in a lot of agencies to have products of this sort and direct support for service out here, rather than depending too much on developers per se. So here’s my review.

I’ll try to give a fair bit of understanding of how easily it would fit the context and shall give a fair bit of relevance as to how it is extremely good to have an in built application builder for such applications. One of the great things about applications and contests / engagement based on these lines is the very good response it drives especially if there’s a good pull in terms of gratifications that is available to the users.

Read More on the SocioFi Blog

The Social Hour 86: Email Tweets, Pinterest Brands, EverySignal

Sharing my favorite podcasts! Must watch/listen for sure.




Amber & Sarah chat about Home Depot's curious cat mascot, EverySignal for friend updates, Hootsuite collaboration tools, Twinkie sadness, & more!

The Social Hour 85: Instagram on the Web, Secret Pinterest Boards, Foursquare's Ratings

Sharing one of my favorite Podcasts! Must watch/listen for sure.



Amber's in studio for the 1st time ever! Can we handle it? Plus, Instagram's going web, Facebook building your Friendship pages, secret Pinterest boards, & more!

The Social Hour 84: Monogram's Kristen Slowe, Sandy's Social Power

One of my favorite podcasts



Amber & Sarah chat with Monogram's Kristen Slowe about the new lifestyle app, how social shines in Sandy's wake, Facebook's new Timeline, Gmail's new style, & more!

The Social Hour 83: Unroll.me, BlackJet, Changemakrs

Sharing one of my favorite podcasts! Must Watch/Listen for sure!



Eventbrite's giving you perks! Twitter doesn't want your favorites, Yahoo buys Stamped, a tip for email overload, Uber for private jets, and more.

The Social Hour 82: Pheed, Klout Passbook, Yelp Crackdown

Sharing one of my favorite podcasts! Must Watch/Listen for sure!



Amber & Sarah chat about Pheed's future, Twistory's demise, beating social negativity, The Taploid for Facebook, & more!

The Social Hour 81: Facebook's Collections, Twitter's Vine, Bad Zagat?

Sharing one of my favorite podcasts! Must Watch/Listen for sure!

Amber & Sarah on Tweetdeck's new look, Facebook and eBay going Pinterest, smart tips for speaking socially, Tumblr scams, & more!

An Open Letter to Dominos Pizza India

Dear HEAD/s OF Domino's Pizza India,

• A Sunday afternoon, I ordered for Pizza and I live in an area which is a secure area and most often than none, your guys deliver the pizzas in say about 45 minutes, which I don't mind at all... They also clearly say that 30 minutes offer only stands valid till the gate... Not that I really care about, in fact I tell them it doesn't matter, just send me the pizza...

• Now this Sunday, the Pizza didn't come for 2 hours. Which again is not the core issue, I was wondering and probably assuming it might have been an order mismatch or order didn't go through issue as it was an online order. So out of curiosity I called in and realized that the person had left a while ago... So I waited.. After a while I get a call from the store manager, who was genuinely concerned about the delivery and the well being of his employee as he wasn't able to get through to him. I immediately figured, there might have been some problem... Maybe a flat tire, could be that he did not find his way or he might have gone to the wrong address or even the worst....an accident.

• And after a while when I called, I found out, that was the case... The delivery guy was in an accident. Who knows how and why or was it cause of the speeding as he wanted to deliver the pizza on time or was it cause of a reckless driver or some other issue. But all I knew was that he was in an accident... Must have hurt himself... Thankfully, the guy who finally delivered the pizza said that he was okay, which I presume he was telling me the truth.... Nonetheless, before I ask you my question here's some of your own History for you:

• "Starting in 1973, Domino's Pizza had a guarantee that customers would receive their pizzas within 30 minutes of placing an order, or they would receive the pizzas free. The guarantee was reduced to $3 off in the mid 1980s. In 1992, the company settled a lawsuit brought by the family of an Indiana woman who had been killed by a Domino's delivery driver, paying the family $2.8 million. In another 1993 lawsuit, brought by a woman who was injured when a Domino's delivery driver ran a red light and collided with her vehicle, the woman was awarded nearly $80 million, but accepted a payout of $15 million."

• And you still continues to offer "30 minute or Free" guarantee for orders placed in its stores situated in Malaysia, Mexico, India, Singapore and Turkey. Now I don't know what the scene is on ground in other countries, but certainly in our country the offer still holds true... Sad... very sad

• So my real question isn't this particular or similar such issues and neither is it targeted towards the store or the delivery boys and girls, who I must say are real gems in your organization... They are the ones who put two and two together, pun intended. Neither is my question about whether you guys do this to maintain an internal discipline among your employees so that your customers are happy. It's not like this is a life or death situation for the customer. But it could be for your employees and many other people involved. My fundamental question to you is 'Why would you want to risk peoples lives? Why?

• Is it cause the people and the legislation in our country is so flawed that you exploit this to your advantage?

• You don't expect me to believe that people like this guy pushes the accelerator tries to get to the delivery only cause he has high standards in your so called 'Domino's family' And they are trained well enough to protect / take care of themselves and others, just like say cops get trained or any other professional does for his job. Also don't tell me that this is an occupational hazard.

• You use The 'Dominos Family' campaign so well in your stores to show the people that you care about them and eventually might be a recruitment benefit to potential future employees.You don't expect me to believe that it's about maintaining or exceeding expectations of customers which by the way is nothing but a product of your own marketing imagination way back in the 70s only to gain you more profit. Or don't tell me it was just an accident and accidents happen... The fundamental question is why create that 'risk opportunity' especially when lives are involved, period.

• Or are the people in this country so easy to convince that a free Pizza probably costs potentially more than, say, 'a human life?'

• Is this really 'Khushiyon Ki Home Delivery?' I agree Customer is the King, so aren't your employees your 'Internal Customers'?

Disclaimer: I have never worked for Dominoes neither have I been a delivery boy or speaking on behalf of them... I'm just asking a question as a rightful and concerned customer.

Do share this if possible and see if we get a response...

Social Samosa - Built in ‘Facebook Like’ for integrated mobile apps

Continuing from my last article on Facebook’s big boost towards exploring mobile markets, this article will focus upon Built in ‘ Facebook Like ’ for integrated mobile apps. Last time I talked about one of the most recent developments at Facebook with its product on location based Mobile Ad Product. A product that will allow brands and institutions to reach out to users with real-time data showing their whereabouts. Now everyone who’s using Apple iPhones, iPads or Android devices are weary of the sensitivity Location services being turned on brings with itself.

So going along the same lines, recently Facebook announced a new built-in “Facebook Like” feature for its open graph integrated partners. Now it will allow mobile developers with third party apps to share “Likes” or their version of “Likes” from apps on mobile devices with facebook’s website.

It isn’t as complicated as it looks like. Let me try and explain that to you.

Read the rest of the article here

Social Samosa - Facebook Mobile going BIG – Location based mobile ads

In continuation with my previous articles on Facebook, one thing I’d like to explore is how Facebook is shifting its focus towards mobile. In retrospect, it certainly looks like something they should have done a long time back. Will it make a difference now? Are these moves going to help in the long term or are these just quick temporary measures to boost its current standing overall. With Google IO coming up soon, is Facebook trying all it can to ensure that it keeps up with the latest developments in Silicon Valley and offer its users a lot more all across the world, especially with its user base touching one billion soon!

In this two-part article I will focus on two important mobile products that facebook is developing.

1. Location based mobile ad product
2. Built in ‘Like’ for integrated mobile apps

Location based Mobile Ad Product

So what good is being one of the largest social network if they can’t put their money where their mouth is! With rigorous developments right from mobile acquisition to latest developments on the mobile front, facebook is certainly making sure that they go ‘All In’ on the mobile front. Especially when more than half of the 900 million users are using Facebook on a mobile device. More than 425 million active users access Facebook through mobile devices across 200 mobile operators in 60 countries.

One of such developments is Facebook’s location based Mobile Ad Product. A product that will allow brands and institutions to reach out to users with real-time data showing their whereabouts. Now everyone who’s using Apple iPhones, iPads or Android devices are weary of the sensitivity Location services being turned on brings along with itself. Some chose not to turn it on, others decide to, because they don’t mind the data being used and rest of them just simply don’t know what it’s all about and they go with the flow.

As Carolyn Everson, Facebook’s vice president of global marketing solutions told Bloomberg “Phones can be location-specific so you can start to imagine what the product evolution might look like over time, particularly for retailers”. She is right in saying that because from a brand or a company perspective this is something great and will help reach out to the right demographics, in the right way as much as possible.

Read the rest of the article here

Social Samosa - Facebook Allows Editing Comments

Many times your friends have posted a status update on their profile/timeline. Many times you have commented on it. Many times in excitement or say thanks to the T9 dictionaries or the Swype keyboards on your phones, you have ended up with a typo when you’ve commented on the updates… How many times has this happened to you guys?

All of us have done it I’m sure A while ago facebook had already allowed you to correct the comment, if you click on the x mark when you want to delete the comment. For many it would just be having to delete the comment and type it over again.

Now, facebook allows you to directly edit your comment with an option right there when you click to delete the comment. It gives you an option to delete or edit your comment directly. Instead of the ‘x’ it is now a small pencil with the dropdown as edit or delete. Gives you a clear indication that you can go ahead and change the comment and not have to delete it.

Read the rest of the article here

Social Samosa - Facebook launches ‘Find Friends Nearby’ for Mobile

While I was talking a lot about new features being launched by Facebook for mobile, this option certainly takes the cake! Till now we’ve seen this as part of Google’s Latitude option. Imagine something like that being clubbed with one of the biggest Social Networks of the world. This was something that was certainly needed and is going to be something that people will find it useful, unless of course, you are skeptical about location and geotagging your location. Especially when you want to avoid some of your ‘friends’ !

Now we all know about apps like Foursquare and Facebook Places itself telling you locations of Friends nearby, but this feature will take this a notch up. Facebook’s Find Friends Nearby will help you find people in your vicinity, directly on your Facebook mobile app. And of course it’ll be handy when you go to meetups / tweetups etc. That is if your friends have also on turned this feature on.

You can access this new feature called “Friendshake” through this URL http://fb.com/ffn. An abbreviation of “find friends nearby”

As I’ve been observing through my previous articles on facebook, certainly another step in Facebook furthering its reach into mobile providing more services to people to connect! As is Mark Zuckerberg’s vision through Facebook, when he started off!

Read the rest of the article here

Social Samosa: Facebook Exchange – That’s the way the ‘cookie’ crumbles!

In the last article I wrote about Facebook, I talked about how Facebook is doing a lot to spruce up things at their end especially after the Facebook IPO crackdown… Even before the IPO was launched, facebook had made its intention clear about mobile platforms and of course advertising on mobile is something that they have started working on already. Its current shortfall in advertising revenue has prompted it to take further steps in that direction.

Facebook plans to introduce a new service called Facebook Exchange! It will give the option to its advertisers to bid in real time for ads on its platform. The feature will allow advertisers to reach out and target specific types of Facebook users / potential customers based on their browsing histories. This will be based on cost per 1000 viewers.

Facebook Exchange will only be allowed for conventional Facebook sidebar ads and not sponsored stories or mobile.

In the last article I wrote about Facebook, I talked about how Facebook is doing a lot to spruce up things at their end especially after the Facebook IPO crackdown… Even before the IPO was launched, facebook had made its intention clear about mobile platforms and of course advertising on mobile is something that they have started working on already. Its current shortfall in advertising revenue has prompted it to take further steps in that direction.

Facebook plans to introduce a new service called Facebook Exchange! It will give the option to its advertisers to bid in real time for ads on its platform. The feature will allow advertisers to reach out and target specific types of Facebook users / potential customers based on their browsing histories. This will be based on cost per 1000 viewers.

Facebook Exchange will only be allowed for conventional Facebook sidebar ads and not sponsored stories or mobile.

How does it work?

1. Let’s say a potential customer visits a shopping site that has tied up with a Demand side platform (a third party technology partner that will be a mediator for Facebook Exchange)
2. A cookie is captured on that page when they have shown purchase intent.
3. If the customer doesn’t make the purchase and just goes away as a non-sale or if the advertiser wants to target that user again, then typically they can contact the demand site platform and get the users anonymous user id.

Read the rest of the article here

Social Samosa: An Interview With Pinstagram Co-Creator

Just a month ago, Pinstagram was launched, a combination of the two of the amazing social media sensations on the internet. Pinterest + Instagram! As they proclaim, it certainly is a visual treat and most definitely the best way to view your Instagram photos on the web. Yes, that’s right, a complete experience of your Instagram feed on the web in Pinterest style. The beauty of Instagram photos with the elegance of Pinterest.

And, just a few days ago they also launched their iPad app. So if you haven’t already started using it on the web, we recommend you do and the ones who have an iPad, we recommend it as a ‘Must DO’ especially if you are an avid Instagram user and love Pinterest too!

So, on behalf of Social Samosa, I decided to speak to the Co-creator of Pinstagram and Managing partner at FireSnake labs, Pek Pongpaet and figure out what their plans are for this very interesting mashup product of theirs.

What is Pinstagram?

It’s a combination of Pinterest and Instagram with the best of the both interfaces. Most importantly it’ll allow you to view your instagram feed on the web and now on your iPad. Pinstagram lets you view your feed, popular photos, and more.

How did it start?

Pinstagram was created by Brandon Leonardo and me as a weekend project. We were jokingly throwing around ideas and thought a Pinterest for Instagram would be a funny concept. What would happen if you combined the two of the fastest growing, and hottest web properties?

With Pinterest and Instagram being one of the hottest properties, did you anticipate similar services already existing, as your competion?

I think there is always room for more or better. If you think you have a better idea or a different take on an idea you should do it. Just because the Ford Model T was around does that mean Ferrari, Porsche, BMW should not be making cars?

Read the rest of the interview here

Social Samosa - Social Blogging: Facebook integration for WordPress

If you thought that Facebook is doing a lot to spruce things up after the IPO, well you thought right. Besides a lot of acquisitions and announcements on the mobile front with news for developers on Facebook, it has recently announced the launch of a WordPress tool. An integration for the WordPress users that will allow users to cross post content from their WordPress blog to their Facebook Timeline or Facebook pages at the click of a button.

Social Publishing is what the developer blog states this to be. One of the most important features is that it helps WordPress publishers to easily integrate Facebook features, such as Social Publishing, mentions, tagging friends etc through this new plugin. Which would also mean hassle free update of their content directly on Facebook and since it’s originally on their WordPress blog, the whole worry of content ownership is taken care of. While there have been third party apps like Networked Blogs which gave this option or Facebook’s Note which lets you pull RSS feed of your Blog directly to your Facebook, this one’s a different ball game altogether.

The primary objective of the “ Facebook integration for WordPress ” is to help you make your content Social with just a click. What’s more, the plugin will also work on mobile. Once the content is published on your blog, it can be posted to your Facebook timeline.

Read the rest of the article here

Social Samosa - New Foursquare Design Here

Finally the long wait is over. The new foursquare design is here. All this while, we’ve been hearing the buzz especially from Foursquare who has been talking to us through their social networking platforms about the New Foursquare to be launched, and many of us have been waiting for it in anticipation. The wait is over. Yesterday evening, Foursquare rolled out it’s update.

Now checking in virtually to places has become spicier. A lot more than what it was before. Besides the look and feel, some of it’s features that it rolled out makes it more social as opposed to what it was earlier. Not only does the new look seems great design wise, but also encourages people to interact more on each other’s check in’s especially with the photographs being accompanied with their checkins. The layout and dimensions of the photos that you can upload now, gives the whole foursquare timeline an Instagram like feel, assuming a lot of people would add more photos to their checkins. But that’s not all that is there to the New Foursquare!

Profile Page

The profile page design looks neat, it features user’s pther social network urls, photo, short bio, the friends he/she has, the badges he has explored, tips he/she has left and the lists that he/she has subscribed to. All this makes profile viewing a value creating activity. Love the look and feel and the intuitiveness of it all.

Home Screen

The home screen layout itself is more appealing, even with or without photos being put up by the users, it kind of makes you want to interact with them especially with the comment and ‘heart’ sign screaming there in front of you… Again, something that is borrowed from Instagram. The experience of interactivity increases, be it with people whom you may personally know or just have been acquainted on via other social networks (read: twittter.) Certainly encourages the users to stick around for a lot longer than before.

Read the rest of the article here

Featured Image: Courtesy: nan palmero