Tangy Taglines

Picture Courtesy Wikipedia

Like names, taglines stick. Crisp and clear ones are the most adhesive.When I christened my blog Freebird, my idea was to soar beyond the constraints of deadlines and word limits. However, the name Freebird was suggested by my son who had higher things on mind – like the song FreeBird by American Rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, which is one of the most-requested songs in the history of rock music.

Thereafter, a friend chimed in with an interesting suggestion, 'Alkaline – The basics'. I quite loved the idea inspired by my name. But like most parents who obey their children, I went ahead with Freebird.
The second, more difficult step was to coin a unique tagline. A true sentence. Something that worked in conjunction with my blog. Something that was memorable and witty.
Unlike professional blogs, taglines are not mandatory for personal blogs. Many bloggers stick with their blog name. Their blog name tells the story. Nevertheless, a catchy tagline helps. Such is the power of a memorable tagline that it becomes synonymous with the product.

Utterly Butterly Delicious, Just Do It, Connecting People, Thanda Matlab – Yes, you guessed it right.

Since the idea was to write and recharge my brain dead slapstick cells, I contemplated on Freebird: A Loose Cannon. But 'Loose Cannon' is Manas Chakraborty’s column in The Hindustan Times. Moreover, the tagline was not in conjunction with Freebird. Sometimes I wonder if there is anything from domain names to taglines that is not taken. As it happened, my search to fish out a perfect tagline led me to some interesting ones on the net.

Crisp and Clear

If you blog about technology or design, a crisp and clear tagline works well. For example, simple phrases like Gadget Guru, Venture Specialist, Copy writing Tips or A Social Media Guide are short but substantial. However, photography, food and travel blogs allow you to play with words - Eyes Travel Emotions Live, Eyes Like Shutter Mind Like Lens, Love Bites, Zen Habits and Life is Beautiful are short and sweet.

Clever and Whacky

You are witty. You know it. And you show it. But there is a danger of being too clever. It can fall flat with a section of readers. However, it is your blog and you have every right to play around with whatever fascinates you. Peddling with humor works well if you are young and phunny. For example: News for Nerds, Almost Worth It, Everyone Is Entitled to my Opinion, Theater of the Absurd or Because you are Ugly (Doubt if I'll ever read this blog).

Loaded and Powerful

Taglines that display verbal pyrotechnics go well with reputed professionals and intellectuals. They are like modern art. The creator leaves the ‘figuring-out’ process on the reader's intellect. For example: Cacophony Colonnade, A Joyous Alchemy, Snatched Vignettes.

Despite my dogged search, I was unable to coin that perfect tagline. It isn’t easy. Try defining yourself. It is like biting your own teeth. So digressing from the task at hand, I began relating following product taglines with celebrities. 

Rahul at Bedtime: Have I made it Large. (Royal Stag)

Modi Abroad:  Think Big (IMaX)

Media:  Gas and Beyond (Essar), Imagination at Work (GE)

Yogi A:  Stop @ Nothing (A Star)

Irrfan Khan: High Performance Delivered (Accenture)

Arnab: Prepare to get assaulted (Euro Innerwear)

Ranveer Singh: Born to Perform (Jaguar)

Raghuram Rajan: Yeh to Bada Toing Hai (Amul Macho)



Finally, a tagline that sums the nation's current mood has to be - Overwhelmed by a Relentless God.

Is there any tagline that defines your current state of mind?
Life’s Good ?
Good.
Happy Holidays.

Physics Unplugged

After P3 (Politician, Philosopher, Physicist) successfully applied the concept of escape velocity for social justice, politicians are hiring Biologists, Physicists and Geologists as their speech writers. Moreover, a survey revealed that more than 90% of web-savvy urbanites will vote this time. As a result scientific oratory has gained huge momentum.

In his latest speech, P3 tried his hand at Biology when he used Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection to bust the myths around dynasty. Addressing hawkers and rag pickers, the young leader explained: Boss, let me make it easy for you. Natural Selection is about natural process of survival. A rabbit that runs faster than his peers is likely to escape from predators. And I am the rabbit here. Do you get it? 
 
Crowd: Umm..Yes.

P3: Okay, so keeping Physics in mind let me tell you that our leader Dr. Singh is a firm believer of the Murphy’s Law.

Hawker: Murphys’ Law?

P3:  The law states that ‘If anything can go wrong, it will’. 

After this speech, an impressed reporter asked: Since you have deep understanding of the subject, what do you think about the Theory of Relativity?
In a Eureka moment the young leader said: When I am traveling abroad, an hour seems like a second. And when I am interacting with you, a second seems like an hour. That’s relativity! 
 

Terms used in Physics are resonating with politicians of all wavelengths. Another Haryana leader was seen explaining water woes on the basis of Archimedes Principle. Addressing a Khap Panchayat he equated water with alcohol and Haryana Water Supply Department with ‘Theka Desi Sharaab Ka’. No one quite understood the connection, but the political rivals are likely to sink by the weight of the argument.

Leaders in Andhra Pradesh are using Pascal's Law to exert pressure on the Centre which is being transmitted equally in all the directions. 
Likewise, Mulayam Ji addressed a rally in UP. Rather intelligently he used Fermat's Principle - The Principle of Least Time. Mulayam equated a ray of light with his ministers. He said that the path taken by a politician between any two points in a system is always the path that takes the least time. This essentially meant that government officers between two postings can be dismissed within fourteen minutes flat! After this brilliant analogy, Mulayam was invited to write the script for the new season of The Big Bang Theory.

Apparently, scientific jargon has gained such momentum that Diggy used Newton’s Law of Motion to explain the reasons behind the malaise which afflicts  his tongue. 
He said: I can't help it. Neither can Azam Bhai. My tongue continues in its state of constant motion unless it is acted upon by an external force. 
When the General Secretary was asked about his reactions on the Nagpur based organization he said:The action and reaction are simultaneous. It does not matter which is called the action and which is called the reaction - neither force exists without the other.

Meanwhile, when Namo was asked about theories of Physics he said: I study myself more than any other subject. That is my metaphysics.

(This is a work of fiction as imagined by the writer. Picture is from Google Images)

Web Wars

Polling and Social Media

Will you accept a friend request from your local MLA? Will you  read his manifesto on his Facebook page? Above all, will you watch YouTube videos of your local MLA addressing a rally?

With elections on the horizon, presence on ‘Social media’ seems to have caught the attention of political parties like never before. But the stench emanating from political cesspool is so nauseating that barring a few national leaders, voters are least interested in  those  who have suddenly discovered the power of social media.

Obama as an Inspiration

Obama tapped social media including podcasting, MySpace and YouTube for his political campaign. During the 2008 presidential campaign, Obama’s official website was run by Chris Hughes, one of the three co-founders of Facebook. Members of ‘my.barackobama.com’ created blogs, posted photos, and formed groups through the website. According to Hughes, thousands of events were organized through the website and nearly 400,000 articles were written in blogs. YouTube was flooded with videos that supported Obama.

The BJP think-tank is following the same model. While not many are interested in http://www.bjp.org/ , there is a certain buzz about the official fan page of Modi. Recognizing the need to address first-time voters, Modi is tweeting in more than a dozen languages. https://www.facebook.com/narendramodi  But I feel that irrespective of the trending topic or the number of followers, voters are unlikely to be swayed by tweets alone. Most may have already made up their minds.

On the other hand, it is too early to say whether hits on ‘HamaraCongress.com’ will translate into votes. For a balanced view, I logged on http://www.hamaracongress.com/. Notwithstanding the  views by their foot soldiers, I was disheartened by the video of Sanjay Jha dispensing gyan. Sadly, those who matter in the party were  conspicuous by their absence. No wonder, perception plays an important role in the virtual world.

Urban Phenomenon

We may be the third largest user of social media after US and China, but owing to the low density of internet access, social media usage remains largely an urban phenomenon. Less than seventy kilometers away from Delhi, in Bulandshahar, religion, caste and creed are the decisive factors. On the micro level, elections are fought on local issues facing each constituency. God forbid, unless there is a war, national calamity or a sympathy wave, it is the availability of water, electricity, affordable food, housing and jobs which play a major role on the voters mind. Policies like MNREGA, Food Security Bill, Land Acquisition Bill can be advertised via social media, but unless the voter experiences the positive outcome of such schemes, mere advertisement via digital armies is unlikely to sway the voter in a big way.

Timing

Undoubtedly, the first mover advantage goes to the BJP. Their PM nominee and his think-tank went on an overdrive much before the UPA woke up from slumber. Given the price rise, skyrocketing corruption and the dwindling economy, the social media blitzkrieg by the UPA 2 is perhaps too little, too late. Communication is an ongoing process. Once your overall image is dented, there is precious little social media can do to change perceptions. No wonder, UPA 1 managed and survived despite the marginal presence on social media.

Main Target - Smartphone Wielding Voter

With slow broadband connectivity and dismal internet penetration, the smartphone-wielding voter is the ideal target audience for our political parties. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) pegged the number of Internet subscribers in India at 164.81 million as of March 31, 2013, with seven out of eight accessing the Internet from their mobile phones. No wonder, Shivraj Singh Chouhan of the BJP is reaching out to his voters via an app called ‘ShivRaj’. Arvind Kejriwal of the AAP has downloadable apps to reach out to more lower middle class voters who own smartphones. 

If the political parties are luring the 12 crore first-time voters by sending friend requests, then they should have begun early. Now is perhaps too late! As for me, I haven’t met or heard my local MLA. I am unlikely to accept his friend request or follow his tweets. I am happy following national leaders on television. Which is why the presence of local politicians on social media may not be a game changer, yet. However, there is no denying that online trends are creating a huge buzz for national leaders.



Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8o1tmDXAJY

Link:http://blogs.reuters.com/india/2013/09/25/arvind-gupta-bjp-it-cell-head-on-partys-social-media-plans/

Link:http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/technology/internet/india-is-now-worlds-third-largest-internet-user-after-us-china/article5053115.ece



(This article is originally on Friday Gurgaon) 
Pictures- Google Images