sahil parikh's work+life stream - Filed under 'social-media'

insights on life, technology & SaaS while nurturing a web business

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I love web apps, everything Apple, post-work martinis, good seafood, dark chocolate, coffee, Mumbai city and living well.

I am the founder of DeskAway, a simple yet powerful web-based work tracking tool. DeskAway is ranked in the top 30 hottest startups in India by TataNEN.

Things have worked out kinda well, for instance...recently, I have been named a Paragon 100 Fellow (Asia’s most inspiring young entrepreneurs and social change makers), shortlisted in BusinessWorld's Top 30 Young Entrepreneurs in India, featured on the cover of India Today Aspire (The Young Guns), showcased on CNBC's prestigious TV show 'Young Turk Innovators' and interviewed in VentureBeat and NYTimes by a prominent Silicon Valley journalist.

I am currently working on a book on Web 2.0 & SaaS to be published in late 2010.

I often reminisce about the best 7.5 years spent in Chapel Hill, NC.

When not in front of the computer, I spend my time reading, writing, playing golf, tennis (am a Federer fan), doing yoga thrice a week, and traveling to distant places (love Mykonos and the rest of the Med. coast) with my wife and family.

I believe in doing what you enjoy even if it is different and doesn't pay you well in the beginning. Setting off on your path is more important than following the herd. It is extremely important to be happy at the end of each day.

This is an updated stream of my work+life activities of a life in progress.

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Filed under

social-media

April 19, 2010

Content is still king

As everyone moves their online strategy to social media, this space is going to get commoditized and noisy. What is going to differentiate one biz from the other is their message a.k.a content. Content has and will always be king. Social media, just like billboards (one-way though) is a transportation mechanism to get your message through.

You will see results only if your content is worth engaging with. So, go out and produce some amazing content. You will automatically see your social media strategy at work.

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Filed under // social-media thoughts

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March 24, 2010

Search engine marketing vs. social recommendations

I have been thinking about whether to start a SEM campaign for DeskAway using Google Adwords. We ran a few campaigns last year but were not too happy with the conversions and the cost of keywords were really expensive. A part of me is telling me to try this out again with banner ads. Another part of me thinks that out target audience who are people that are web-savvy might not click on these ads. These people are innovative when it comes to finding stuff online. If they are searching for a PM tool, they would search for "reviews of top PM tools" or "popular PM tools" and scan blog articles for reviwes or they might and ask their connections on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn - "can anyone recommend me a good and reliable PM tool?"

When it is so easy to get a recommendation by people you trust then why would you trust a link paid for by the company? Are the days numbered for SEM?

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Filed under // adwords marketing sem social-media

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March 18, 2010

Do you act differently on Twitter and Facebook?

I hardly use Facebook these days. I hang out more on Twitter. Even though Facebook is my closed network of people I know, I feel more comfortable to post updates on Twitter and not think about what people will think. Maybe I am a bit conscious of the people in my Facebook network - mostly close friends, some family and acquaintances. Or maybe this is the way the services have branded themselves - Twitter is all about status updates and Facebook is not.

It is as if people who are following me on Twitter find my updates interesting and have given me permission to update them with anything, even if it is sitting in a coffee shop doing nothing. My Facebook network might think this as ridiculous.

Do you see a clear distinction between your social networks?

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Filed under // facebook social-media twitter

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October 6, 2009