If you’re a regular at MissMalini’s blog (of course you are, you’re reading this!), Like her Facebook Page and follow her on Twitter, you know she is a #geekchic Internet junkie. So, last week, ArtistAloud.com organized an #indiemeet at WTF, Khar and invited MissMalini as a speaker (more pix here). She was to share her expertise on social media and how it can help entrepreneurs, especially musicians. While we were waiting for the place to fill up, tweeters were trooping in. They would scan the place, locate any empty chair, sit and start tweeting from their phone. But they were too shy or awkward to initiate conversation with another person in the room. To add to the hilarity, everyone’s tweets were showing up on the screen set up to show real time results for #indiemeet. We were all sitting in the same room but using twitter as a means of communication. It was quite funny.
MissMalini had some really interesting things to say. She spoke about the emerging role of twitter as a source of news or happenings in the world. She recounted finding about Michael Jackson’s and Osama Bin Laden’s death on twitter. She has tried all the social networking platforms and is now only on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and FourSquare. She even mentioned some useful tools like Wibiya, TwitterCounter and UseQwitter that will help you develop your website and give you necessary feedback. MissMalini herself is very interested in music and not very long ago, she started Bombay Block Parties. The Bombay Block Party is a jam session for the band at any time, any place and a way for listeners to interact with the band. If you’re a musician or have a band and want to do a Block Party, write in to MissMalini at malini@missmalini.com If you’re a listener and want to come for one, follow MissMalini’s Blog, Facebook, or Twitter @MissMalini.
Mihir Joshi spoke after MissMalini. He goes by @MusicmanMihir on twitter. He spoke about his experience with ArtistAloud.com and how musicians can use social media to promote himself or herself or their band. For instance, he records his jam sessions on his mobile phone and shares them on social networking platforms. He stressed on how important it is for newbie musicians to generate awareness about their music using social media.
After the humble speeches delivered by MissMalini and Mihir, Ishita (of HungamaDigital) told us “God” was going to speak to us. Some people thought she was referring to RajniKanth but she actually meant Carlton D’Silva (Creative Director, Hungama Digital) who goes by @theWordofGawd on Twitter. He put together an interesting presentation introducing us to musicians who use social media intelligently. He mentioned @kevinfigs on twitter, Lady Antebellum’s channel on youtube featuring their interactive webisodes and the virtual experience that the band Sour can take you through. Content coupled with innovation can take you a long way.
By the time Carlton finished, everyone had warmed up to each other and the #indiemeet turned into one big party. 🙂