Social media has made us a different generation: Anand Pillai

Social media has made us a different generation altogether, according to Anand Pillai, Senior EVP and Chief Learning Officer at RIL. Speaking at the Nasscom Forum here today, Pillai added that about half of the internet users around the world were on atleast on one some social network.

Portraying the power of the social media, Pillai elaborated on how several brands across India were using it to leverage their brand image. “About 42% of people had connected to their brand via the social network. This becomes important, especially because the responses from customers in this medium are far more in number,” he said.

He illustrated through data that 61% of employed social networkers were proud of the company that they worked for. Also, only 13% of employees, according to Pillai received social media training.

Adding to his thoughts, R Elango, Chief Human Resources officer at MphasiS said, “Social media is helping to get the message out in the public. The individual has a place, thanks to social networking.” He, however, added that the medium needed to be taken with a pinch of salt. Elango also opined that it was advisable to express what others wanted to hear, rather then what one wanted to say.

Elango, who is also the author of the management book ‘You Don’t need a Godfather’, informed that it was difficult to find a publisher for his book. “Thanks to the social media, that when I started blogging about the book and had attracted quite some followers, that people started noticing me,” he said. Elango was later invited to write for the Wall Street Journal and soon found a publisher for the book.

Speaking about the company’s initiatives towards the social media, Elango explained that though social media should be part of the company strategy, it cannot be there only strategy.

In conclusion Pillai quipped, “Let the social media be used as a proactive measure. The quicker you get on to it (social media), the better it is for you.”