Catalyst Labs Blog

How to Make Your Video Go Viral? – Smactivate

Catalyst Labs — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 13:42:05 +0000

Over at CNN Tech, Pete Cashmore has written a few pointers on why we watch videos on YouTube. While the list is far from comprehensive, it does dwell into some of the reasons why videos go viral. Adding to his list here are a few more:

Cute Factor
Adorable videos with babies, grown-ups doing baby acts (or vice-versa) etc. always seem to work with efficacy. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OBlgSz8sSM)

Humour Element
If shows like ‘Candid Camera’ continue to have a loyal viewership offline, then understandably humour based video clips have a higher probability to go viral. Video with the most basic form of humour always works. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svEPX2GpoXY)

Emotional Bonds
Any video which can evoke a strong emotional response has a good chance to go viral. Whether it’s shock, dismay, sadness or utter disbelief; videos which summon such responses move people to hit the share button. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY)

Musical Interludes
Music has always been the cornerstone of propagation. Whether it was ‘The President’s Speech’ in Independence Day or Martin Luther King Jr.’s, ‘I have a dream’; music has the property to propagate any video to fame. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRGUqd_M6Mg)

Platform Push
Plenty of videos can always fall under this category. If videos stumble into the most watched section or the popular category, then little can be done to stop them from going viral. Irrespective of the content, such videos will continue to rise the charts.

Contrast Effect
Kids lip-dubbing to ‘Macarena’ or actresses singing ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ are video contrasts which can create interesting programming. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQcVllWpwGs)

Faux Pas
Pageant queens blundering, personalities tripping and falling and more such blunders caught on camera can go viral. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYTq33gl6PQ)

Controversial
Controversy caught on video always makes for interesting viewing. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S61Z1EYlhSE)

While there could be more reasons why a video goes viral, the above seem to do the trick. If you have more to contribute, please do so in the comments.

Posted in Smactivate, Social Media, Social Media Activation

Twitter for Mobile Indians – Smactivate

Catalyst Labs — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:30:35 +0000

With Airtel now supporting Twitter for all subscribers, using short code 53000, the Twitter space in India got a lot more exciting. 110 million ready mobile subscribers (and counting) for Twitter integration. Indians are compulsive text-ers and Twitter will automatically enable them to communicate better.

Indians with mobile phones can be categorised into two basic kinds; those who use Twitter and those who will use Twitter. At the moment, the latter category seems to be in the majority. While this could be because of myriad reasons, Airtel and Twitter’s lack of big-bang messaging doesn’t seem to have helped the cause either.

The ability to use Twitter without access to the internet or even a computer, is what makes Twitter ubiquitous and successful worldwide. But how does one get started? We have outlined a quick step-by-step guide to using Twitter (with the right commands) from your mobile phone. Remember, Twitter (in India) is presently enabled only for Airtel mobile phone subscribers. Also, please note that the Twitter command are NOT case-sensitive, feel free to use them any way you want.

If you are new to Twitter:

[text to 53000] Hi Twitter
- twitter sends instruction message -
[text to 53000] SIGNUP
- twitter sends instruction message -
[text to 53000] username

If you’ve signed-up for Twitter from your mobile phone and want to access your messages (as well as your profile) on the web, then you can do so by accessing this link – http://twitter.com/account/complete

If you are on Twitter but haven’t used it from your mobile phone:

[text to 53000] Hi Twitter
- twitter sends instruction message -
[text to 53000] username
- twitter sends instruction message -
[text to 53000] password

Once you’ve completed the sign-up process, you can start tweeting.

Sending your first tweet:

Once you’ve registered your mobile phone on twitter:
[text to 53000] message

Each time you tweet, you’ll need to ensure that your messages are less than 140 characters (including spaces and special characters), otherwise they will be truncated by twitter.

Commands from your mobile phone:

[text to 53000] @username message
- directs a twitter at another person, and causes your twitter to save in their “replies” tab – [text to 53000] @CatalystLabsInc Thank you for introducing me to twitter!

[text to 53000] RT username
- retweet’s a users latest tweet – [text to 53000] RT CatalystLabsInc

[text to 53000] D username message
- sends a person a private message that goes to their device, and saves in their web archive – [text to 53000] D CatalystLabsInc I love your idea!

[text to 53000] SET LOCATION placename
- updates the location field in your profile – [text to 53000] Set location India

[text to 53000] WHOIS username
- retrieves the profile information for any public user on Twitter – [text to 53000] Whois CatalystLabsInc

[text to 53000] GET username
- retrieves the latest Twitter update posted by the person – [text to 53000] Get CatalystLabsInc

[text to 53000] NUDGE username
- reminds a friend to update by asking what they’re doing on your behalf – [text to 53000] Nudge CatalystLabsInc

[text to 53000] FAV username
- marks a person’s last twitter as a favorite – [text to 53000] Fav CatalystLabsInc
(Hint: reply to any update with FAV to mark it as a favorite)

[text to 53000] STATS
- this command returns number of people following, followers, and your bio – [text to 53000] Stats

[text to 53000] INVITE phone number
- will send an SMS invite to a friend’s mobile phone – [text to 53000] Invite 80 4094 9020

Mobile phone update settings:

[text to 53000] ON
- you will start receiving all tweets from all users you follow, on your phone -

[text to 53000] OFF (STOP / QUIT / END / CANCEL / UNSUBSCRIBE)
- you will stop receiving all tweets on your phone -

[text to 53000] ON username
- turns on tweets from a specific person on your phone -

[text to 53000] OFF username
- turns off tweets from a specific person on your phone -

Following (and unfollowing) others:

[text to 53000] FOLLOW username
- follows the new user and his/her tweets from then on -

[text to 53000] LEAVE username
- unfollows the user and stops his/her updates from there on -

Interesting users we recommend you follow on twitter:

[text to 53000] Follow ideasmaverick
[text to 53000] Follow catalystlabsinc
[text to 53000] Follow mcpreetham
[text to 53000] Follow venkkyol

Written by Preetham Venkky

Posted in Smactivate, Social Media, Techvangelism

Steve Jobs Presentation Secrets – Slidesign

Catalyst Labs — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:53:44 +0000

Slideshare, in their weekly newsletter, introduced us to a book titled – The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs, by author Carmine Gallo. In an interesting interview with Business Week, Gallo discusses the reason why Steve Jobs presentations are as mesmerising as they are. While a few of the reasons have already been discussed in our previous posts, there is plenty more one can gain from the points highlighted by Gallo.Meanwhile, I’ve taken time out to compile a few points as a downloadable document and a photo-slideshow for a quick understanding of the ‘secrets’ better. Click on the links to download the same:

1. Steve Jobs Presentation Secrets [PDF]
2. Steve Jobs Presentation Secrets Slideshow [PDF]

(Content assimilated from article by Business Week)
Written by Preetham Venkky

Posted in Evangelism, Keynote, Presentation, Presentation Design, Slidesign, Technology Evangelism, Techvangelism

TEDIndia, live – Smactivate

Catalyst Labs — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 06:59:29 +0000

Dear TEDsters -

We’re thrilled to announce that Day 1 of TEDIndia and the closing session on Day 3 will be webcast live, to the world, for free. The webcast is hosted by the Times of India, TEDIndia’s online media partner.

On Thursday, the first day of the webcast, you can watch at ted.indiatimes.com (note that this page is not yet live).

Read more about the TEDIndia speaker program.

Webcast schedule (all times are India Standard Time , GMT+5:30):

Thursday, November 5

Session 1: Fast Forward — 11am-12:45pm
Session 2: Not Business as Usual — 2:15pm-4pm
Session 3: Wonder. Wonders. — 4:45pm-6:30pm

Saturday, November 7

Session 9: Within You, Without You — 11am-12:45pm

Want to watch the stream on your television screen? Download instructions for connecting your television to a Mac or a PC.

Follow @TEDNews on Twitter for real-time coverage. Use #tedindia in your tweets.

And find photos and news from the conference once it starts at conferences.ted.com/TEDIndia.

Best,

The TED Team

Received the above via e-mail a few days back. TED India is being streamed live. Hurray! So, why should you watch it? Well, because you can hear from the best innovators and thinkers India and the rest of the world has to offer. Two days (Day 1 & 3) of the three day event will be streamed live. Though these are working days, I’m sure you can work something out with your boss to ensure you don’t miss this live stream.

Written by Preetham Venkky

Posted in Design, Smactivate, Social Media Activation, Technology

140 Conf – Twitter and ATC – Smactivate, Slidesign

Catalyst Labs — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 05:41:20 +0000

On 27, 28 Oct 2009 a conference on twitter titled 140 Conf was held at Los Angeles. India’s Mahesh Murthy (of Pinstorm) spoke at the conference and shared a unique insight (in 140 char. slides) on understanding twitter as a radar for businesses and marketers as ATC officers. While the presentation itself could’ve been better, I think the points made were valid and had a very refreshing angle to them.

Written by Preetham Venkky

Posted in Evangelism, Power Point, Presentation, Smactivate, Social Media, Social Media Activation, Technology Evangelism, Techvangelism

Dear Undercover Economist – Smactivate

Catalyst Labs — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 02:00:10 +0000

I’ve always been a fan of Economics and Tim Harford just makes that subject that much more interesting. While most economists are boring, Tim tends to be more social media friendly. In the video below, he tries to answer problems that occur to us in our day-today lives using economics and discusses his latest book – Dear Undercover Economist.

Written by Preetham Venkky

Posted in Evangelism, Smactivate, Social Media

Flock Away – Smactivate

Catalyst Labs — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 07:11:11 +0000

Now that our corporate blog was ready, it was time to integrate the cloudware with offline desktop software. Since all of us predominantly use Macs while the interns and new joinees use Windows, I was searching for a cross-platform blog editing tool. In the beginning, I didn’t find any.

An extensive search resulted in throwing up a result for a ‘Social Media Browser’. I know what you are thinking, not another browser. I already use – Safari, Chrome & Firefox simultaneously, so wasn’t looking for another. Curiosity got the better of me and I downloaded Flock, only because it claimed to have an independent blog editor.

(via Flock Website)

As with all things great (read free) on the web, I got so much more. Flock is probably the best browser out there for those who are Social Media friendly or who are integrating Social Media for their organisations. Using a single sidebar, the user can integrate all his/her social media under one roof. This helps you avoid opening new tabs or windows for the new sites that you use. Give flock a try, I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

Written by Preetham Venkky

Posted in Evangelism, Smactivate, Social Media, Social Media Activation, Technology, Technology Evangelism, Techvangelism

Michael Jackson Presentation Style – Slidesign

Catalyst Labs — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 20:53:38 +0000

It’s been less than a week and I’ve already seen the Michael Jackson movie – This Is It, twice. A beautifully edited movie put together by the behind the scenes action while he was preparing for his final concert tour with the same name. Needless to say, I did enjoy all of MJ’s music and deeply mourn his death.

But what caught my attention was the style with which he was presenting himself. I have broken down the elements of his presentation into the following:

(Image via Michael Jacksonfan)

1. Movement: MJ utilised the area on stage very effectively and moved from right to left and back. This helps a presenter engage with different sections of the audience better and reduces the audience eye fatigue caused due to staring constantly at a subject.

2. Interaction: MJ ensured he interacted with elements on stage and off (the audience). Whether it was encouraging the guitarist or the female singer; he did it with passion and genuineness.

3. Video: Videos in a presentation should be planned such that it weaves into the storyboard seamlessly. Video-Presenter Talk-Video as a delivery module can be utilised for maximum impact.

4. Intro: It’s always flattering to have a piece of music to introduce you, but make sure it suits your personality and the theme of the presentation. Playing Hindi film music at an automobile conference is not going to get you anywhere.

5. Props: Whether it was a hat, or his shades or his jacket; MJ used each of these props to bring maximum impact.

6. Practice: This one is a no-brainer but if you’ve seen the movie, then you’d know that MJ never missed a rehearsal.

In your next presentation, try and incorporate a few (or all) of the above elements and let us know how your audience responded.

Written by Preetham Venkky

Posted in Presentation, Presentation Design, Slidesign