Faking in Facebook

Its with sympathy that I write this blog. In matter of minutes a brand is getting hyped or destroyed on facebook and other social networking sites. Today I came across a poster on FB shared by my friends. Take a look for yourself.

Well on searching NDTV & Google News for the authenticity of this message, the results were surprisingly shocking. There is absolutely no News like this. Here take a look.

Here is my take. If people online who are "well educated" goes about posting fake information online, I have no idea were it will take us to. Today in marketing we believe that Word of Mouth is the most powerful . Imagine your best friend posting an image like this. It will take just 15 minutes to erode the brand value of something like Frooti which it took a painful 30 plus years to create.

I request people online to behave more responsibly. Passing around such fake news , erodes the trust in a product and brand. Imagine if some one does this to you. Doctoring of images and events online is a childs play and it could happen to you as well.

Lets not be naive while we post something online. Verify before you trust. 

Madras Midnight Massacare

The midnight massacre of 5 men in their 30's came as a brutal shock. These men were suspected of doing robberies in couple of banks in Chennai during broad daylight. Incidentally, these men were identified from the CCTV footage grab generated. And the police got information at midnight from a source who identified one of the suspected men. And quickly our policemen moved into the house they were staying in a move to arrest them. It seems the suspects started firing and our dear policemen,went bullet crazy. These are the supposedly facts.

Lets do a dissection.

1. A cctv grab was circulated and a person identified one of the suspect at midnight. Though we cant deny this, I strongly suspect the quality of the CCTV footage, and I am surprised that these men were "identified" at midnight.

2. Our policemen known not to maintain traffic or common law and order problems, suddenly became a dynamic encounter team, is it not a tall claim that policemen at the middle of the night could kill 5 people in an encounter ?

3. I do support, effective policing, but not eradicating policing. Police under public pressure, went onto become killing machines. And in an an encounter its surprising that the policemen could get away with minor injuries.

4. Per se there is nothing technically wrong in an encounter, but this habit of mere eyewash and claims of fearless policing should only create fear the minds of people. This encounter was uncalled for, when people like Ms Kanimozhi and Mr Kalmadi or Raja are getting a second chance despite their "daylight robbery".

While I cant be a good critic without giving my suggestions, here goes mine.

1. Killing is a last resort. While if the police knew exactly the location of suspects, and these guys being no international terrorists, why dint the police use softer means such as making suspects unconscious using tear gas, rubber bullets or other means. At any cost, they were not using humans as shields. Better training needs to be provided to our policmen, to handle such robbery.

2. While technology has greatly improved things, prevention is better than cure, why shouldn metal detectors or other precautionary measures be taken in each bank.

3. Last but not the least, this entire encounter must be investigated, and law should have the last laugh.