Levels of social participation in Social Media

As per the Social technographics report published by Charlene Lee of Forrester Research, there are six levels of social participation in social media in the U.S.This comprises creators, critics, collectors,joiners, spectators and inactives.Interesting comparison of Apple and Dell users and relevant from the point of view of marketers who can identify their target market and which rung of the ladder they are on, thereby creating appropriate strategies towards using web 2.0 for onlime marketing and branding, developing customer relationships, and using customers from a CGM and customer evangelism point of view.
However, if we consider the case of a country like India, where the total population is something like 1,129,667,528 and 40,000,000 web users , with a .035% web usage, the majority of the population would be in the inactive segment.How relevant something like this would be in an Indian context is something for only the urban population to decide.

Leveraging CGM for understanding Consumer Behaviour

As consumer generated media reflects the voice of the consumer in a huge way, the study of Consumer Behaviour has now got a new source of information that can be tapped.
Wikipedia defines CGM as
"Consumer generated media (CGM) originated as a reference to posts made by consumers within online venues such as internet forums, blogs, wikis, discussion lists etc., on products that they have purchased. Shoppers who are researching products often use other consumers' opinions when making buying decisions."

As huge volumes of User generated content floats around, organisations need to sit up and take note of the voice of it's empowered consumers.As prospective consumers rely on the opinions of the already existing consumers, leveraging CGM and channelising it appropriately has become critical for organisations to understand and manage market performance.This creation of social media is now influencing consumer behaviour, affecting product positioning and driving brand reputations in such a big way, that the power of the ordinary content creator can no longer be ignored.

As per reports published by Nielson Buzzmetrics, there were as many as 25 million blogs, 90,000 Bulletin Boards & Online Review/Feedback sites, 45,000 Usenet newsgroups, in end 2006, and the huge volume of daily postage data( daily postings for blogs:1,500,000, the online sites: 3000,000 and the newsgroups: 225,000) generated by the above has made CGM a force to reckon with.

The message is clear-These new social media tools , by giving birth to CGM have changed company relationships with their consumers from a unidirectional "attract customer" strategy to a culture of participation and co-creation. As consumer voices start echoing, the need is to establish a meaningful interaction with them and use them as advocates for the company.

A miniature case study on Dell shows how CGM has started raising it's head...well the head can be ugly too at times....

Dell has a blog called Direct2Dell, which it claims is for one-to-one communications with DEll. With over 800 inbound links, the site can boast a respectable Alexa traffic rank of 72,529.

Further a Trend Result by the keyword "Dell" on Blogpulse indicates that in May'07, the word 'Dell' found place in almost 0.475 percent of total blogposts.
Also, a technorati search reveals that the total no. of blog posts about Dell is 688,024 and 3025 blogs have already written about Dell.

Sounds interesting. But is it?

Consider what this dissatisfied user posted on the Dell blog-

"I use other social networking sites with a much broader reach than most blogs... the videos, discussion groups and online postings are just as anti-dell as ever and this is creating an impression (negative at the moment) on the entire generation of purchasers dell needs to win over. Dell needs to watch carefully what is going on in those areas of the internet as well.
Me? If I am unhappy with dell and shop elsewhere, Dell will miss selling me probably 5 more computers in my lifetime, add in 5 for my wife too... (we won't calculate friends who learn of our nightmares and also choose not to shop Dell, the figures are too hard to quantify here), so no big deal in the grand scheme of things, BUT if they also lose (for example) my daughter, her friends, their friends, etc. they stand to lose a further 12 sales (for each person based on a purchase of one computer every 5 years) in their lifetime! On Facebook alone she has 162 friends! This should be setting off alarm bells across the board."

...And if this was not enough, the concerned gentleman maintains a blog called Dell Hell revisited....A quick read tells you that it is clearly a 'I Hate Dell' Blog.

To further take a look at Dell's woes, courtesy CGM, A video on Youtube, supposedly called the 'My PC is on Fire-Dell Laptop Tribute Video( Numa Numa Song) which is apparently a parody of a pop song, and is aimed at Dell has as of now attracted 229,076 views. It has 463 comments and has been favourited over 1200 times. The power of replication of data and how it travels virally across the internet is better left unsaid.

And the impact Dell is facing courtesy this negative CGM drive is eventually something that Dell needs to measure and understand. In a business universe where Customer Collaboration and Advocacy are the new found norms, it is time Dell wakes up to these new challenges to face its 'EMPOWERED CONSUMERS'.

Employee communities in the web 2.0 space

Sandeep Dadlani's post on Linked-in across the extended flat world enterprise reiterates the need of an information structure within an organisation wherein the offerings of Web 2.0 can be leveraged to gain access to an employee database with personal information and probably employee photographs to get a personal feel of the entire setup. He sites geopgraphical locations as the primary cause for organisations to feel the need of sucha set up. This is very relevant with respect to developing an employee community where employees can communicate and collaborate with others with si,ilar skillsets and objectives and at the same time giving them a forum to voice their views. Communities are important not only as they provide employees a sense of belonging, but also an opportunity to showcase their achievements. Networking helps them develop affinity with other members at the workplace while simultaneously increasing the approachability of the members at the higher level.The ease of access provided by this model definitely makes it a viable option for organisations.Several organisations have already developed such communication models-The Sun Microsystem blog system is a case in point and the site statistics are impressive-
Total weblogs: 3200
Total users: 3557
Total entries: 67200
Total comments: 63417
The ideology behind floating the blog is aptly reflected in the fine print on the first page:
"This space is accessible to any Sun employee to write about anything."
Well, employee opinions matter...don't they...and as the 67200 entries show, it looks like...employees do have a lot to say!!!!

Infosys Blogs...contd....

Mohan Babu, who blogs at the 'Managing Offshore IT Blog ' at Infosys tells me that Infosys has several more blogs. Thanx for the info Mohan.
The other blogs are
IT Matters:A blog for IT professionals interested in improving corporate IT performance and making IT needs evolve to support the business in a flattening world.
Livewire: An infosys blog for the emerging communications industry.
Infosys-Microsoft Alliance
Managing Offshore IT-Offshore Management Framework: The key to managing projects across time, distance and cultures
SOA–Snake Oil Applied?: An infosys blog on the application of SOA.
Think Flat
Web 2.0:Web 2.0 is about harnessing the potential of the Internet in a more collaborative and peer-to-peer manner with emphasis on social interaction.

As i ventured into the Web 2.0 blog, the archives made interesting reading. However the number of posts are few. Started in October 2006, the blog can boast of only 7 posts. Ain't that too less for a company the stature of Infosys?

The posts obviously are impressive. I like the post on
Dimensions of differentiation in Web 2.0 Business Models". The dimensions drawn include Differentiated User Interfaces, Differentiated peer-to-peer interactions and collaboration mechanisms, Differentiated Network participation,Differentiated collective intelligence creation and Differentiated aggregation mechanisms...Interesting.

Corporate Blogs and their objectives

Corporate Blogs are now becoming authoritative sources of information regarding a company. There value and importance can be gauged when a simple technorati search on the word ' Corporate Blogging ' yeilds more than 19000 results. Considering the amount of buzz generated by the same, their importance with respect to leveraging consumer intelligence and magnifying success stories is now undeniable.

As Linkedin launched its corporate blog , the objective they stated was interesting-
"Linkedin was started with the goal of helping you manage your professional relationships better, and today we’re launching our corporate blog to not only help you leverage LinkedIn more effectively but also to provide you a sounding board for all things LinkedIn. So, if you’re looking for a singular information source on LinkedIn with regular updates on upcoming product features, tips-and-tricks, and events or if you’d just like to hear about all the fun stuff associated with working at LinkedIn, you have reached the right place."

A query on the objective behind the Corporate Blog of Bill Marriott, CEO , Marriott Hotels states the following blog objective-
"The purpose of the blog is to create a forum for people to interact with Bill Marriott. We're proud of our culture, history, service excellence, and especially our 143,000 associates whose Spirit to Serve makes us so successful. Part of what makes us great is our belief in service to the customer and Success is Never Final.This blog allows us to hear from you and build on the community that we've nurtured for 80 years."

The DellBlog-
"Our goal is to build Direct2Dell into a community that’s driven by direct communication. We hope to provide you insights into Dell and the employees that drive the company forward."

Digital Straight Talk is a blog produced by Cox Communications. It's a source of views and news on the many issues affecting broadband providers and consumers.
"High-speed Internet, cable telephony, HDTV and a whole host of related innovations and issues in the digital space have created intense competition among providers. And, where there’s competition, there’s no doubt info overload for consumers and others trying to make sense of it all. With Digital Straight Talk, we want to make sure those in the industry, consumers and others who care have a clear understanding of our vision, direction and opinion."

Corporate Blogs are set up by companies to-
1.Build Product Brands.
2.Create a customer-centric approach for the company.
3.To give people a contact point by attaching a face or name they can interact with, hence catering to the concept of relationship building.
4.Create a buzz about New product/project launches.
5.Act as a source of consumer redressal.
6.Act as a source of viral marketing. Its a place where people chat about the company and the products and if they talk well, well you've got a word of mouth campaign already started.
7.Create communities for communication, collaboration,customer-interaction.
8.Image building purposes by showcasing any good work done by the company.
9.Showcase any achievements by the company and any recent successes...

At the end of the day it all boils down to securing more customers and retaining already existing ones....broadly....add to the value perception of a company's customers!!
Don't you think Customer Relationship Management is the ultimate goal of any corporate blog?

Internet etiquette_How to practise listening while communicating online

Effective use of interpersonal skills in communicating online is an essential component in making and keeping the internet a positive and useful force, as technology ushers in newer features with each passing day.

Online communication is limited in its capacity to convey non-verbal meanings and relies on symbols, acronyms, abbreviations and formatting styles instead.

Active listening-
Listening is the process of receiving and constructing meaning from and responding to verbal, non-verbal or online communication.

In a typical imterpersonal interaction, Social Psychologists state that usually 40-50% of meaning is lost in the transmission of messages from sender to receivers.While Language, noise related issues, misinterpretation of body language, ineterpersonal issues along with receiver distortion, defensiveness and distorted perceptions can be identified as the common barriers to listening, the same multiply in the context of online communication in the absence of face to face contact.
Hence it becomes important to be very careful in communicating online and the first step in this direction can be identified as Effective Listening.

1.Paraphrase and summarise comments made by others.Simply responding to other people's messages by an 'i agree' creates a feeling that reading or listening in this context has not transpired.
2.If you need to quote from the sender's message for clarity, select only the most relevant statements foloowed by your comments.
3.Ask questions. Empathise.
4. Do not immediately interject your own thoughts and feelings, while listening to(reading) thoughts and opinions of others.
5.Use online abbreviations , contractions, emoticons and acronyms sparingly.While a smiley may soften a comment, too many are a clutter.
6. Avoid perceptual biasisand stereotyping.

Hence to be able to communicate effectively online , one must do away with self fulfilling prophecies and concentrate on seeking intent, focussing and trying to analyse the written matter-Because at the end of the day 'the most basic human need is to understand and be understood.The best way to understand people is to listen to them.'

Indian Firms enter the Blogosphere

Abhijit Bhaduri at the Frito Lay Blog sent me an interesting link on an article on Blogging which appeared in Asia Times in HongKong.Indian Firms enter the BlogosphereThanx Abhijit...

Eric Kintz's response to Corporate Blogging and CRM

As i pursued my quest on Corporate Blogs as a tool for CRM, I decided to query a few writers behind these blogs...Response from Eric Kintz, CMO, Hewlette Packard, to my query on Corporate blogging as a tool for CRM

“As HP is substantially into corporate blogging (am an avid reader of these blogs), do u think it has been successfully able to levearage these blogs from a CRM point of view?Vandana”

“I think that blogging is still unproven, but is a great way to provide a personalized dialogue with customers. The vast majority of my readers are HP customers and they have through my blog a personal interaction and personal dialogue about what HP is trying to accomplish in the marketing space. Eric”

Corporate Blogging and Infosys

Infosys has a corporate blog, “ Think Flat’ launched in 2006, after CEO Nandan Nilekani had discussions with Stephen Pratt, Head of its Consulting unit. Contributors include infosys board members, unit heads and executives.

In the words of Nandan M. Nilekani, “ You can’t run companies the old fashioned way anymore.The new challenge facing companies is a combination of demographics, emerging economies, globalization, technology, flat world and regulation” With this thought in mind, Infosys launched Think Flat( Source:http://thinkflat.infosys.com)

Infosys exceedingly believes that there existed a role for a trusted partner who could provide advice, guidance, consultation to help customers make a transition. Hence there existed a huge potential for commencing a dialogue with the clients, instead of simply sharing the perspectives of several of its senior executives, thereby lending greater credence to the thoughts behind Infosys.This thought process gave birth to the Corporate Blog- Think Flat

The blog increasingly talks about the concept of a flat world and discusses strategies on winning in a Flat world. Thomas. L. Friedman's paper on 'The World is Flat' made interesting reading. as he focussed on how a series of technological developments have contributed to globalisation and hence the concept of a flat world, his take on Globalisation 3.0 highlighted how the collaborative web had allowed individual's to work on a global scale.

As he talked about 'Flattening Technologies' , a couple of them were very relevant in changing the workplace climate and contributing to the evolution of workplace habits and relationships. Flattening Technology no.6 where he talks about Uploading and the impact of Open Sourcing, Blogging and finally Podcasting, is indicative of how web 2.0 has affected the typical corporate ambience.

His take on Flattener no. 10 where he says that VoiP, file Sharing and Wireless have put all the collaborative technologies on steroids is very true as these new technologies have provided such an ease to data-sharing that it has clearly changed workplace relationships from exclusive vertical ones to horizontal inclusive ones.

Truly web 2.0 has changed the environment in a typical workplace and also contributed to newer virtual relationships, between employees, between organisations and prospective clients, between organisations and current clients, between employees and management etc. etc. etc.

Web 2.0 Datasharing applications

The File Sharing Applications of the Collaborative Web have emerged as very important tools by creating synergistic atmosphere at workplaces and enhancing performance through transparency of data. In fact, as everybody moves forward to share their work, they have gradually emerged as resource pools of information, which can be tapped to improve productivity levels.

Youtube- Upload, view and share user generated videos

Flickr- Store, search, share and sort photographs

Slideshare- Host and share slideshows

Web 2.0 and politics

Web2.0 has proved itself as an excellent communication tool. If it's being used for marketing, then how can politics be far behind....if we take a macro view of the situation, politics to some extent is a form of marketing...marketing the candidate, marketing the political party etc.

Interesting evidence is available from overseas about the usage of this communication tool in politics...India of course cannot claim to be part of this...why would the Indian politicians bother... their vote banks lie in those lands where web 2.0 is of no consequence.

An interesting case in point is that of Barack Obama, a presidential candidate in the U.S elections. He started his own network My.BarackObama.com. Such networks help in-

1.Giving Visibility
2.Showcasing the entire campaign
3.Highlighting all good work towards social causes
4.Can generate online contributions and hence be part of the entire fundraising activity.

Hillary Clinton posted a message on Yahoo Groups -"What do you think we should do to improve health care in America"and got thousands of responses. She thus opened a new avenue to showcase her commitment to the welfare of the people, while at the same time opened up a discussion giving her own cause substantial visibility.
These tactics may not help a candidate win an election in totality, but they definitely open up a new avenue to reach the end-customer, who is the voter in this case.As more and more people join an online political network , courtesy the social causes they talk about, the volume of people a prospective political candidate can reach out to, at the click of a single button is amazing.

With Hillary already experimenting with online advertising, the time is not far when advertising on blogs,community sites and other high traffic websites will become the norm every election season.....

Web2.0, Networking and Image Building

Sat through a very interesting lecture by Bethany Cheney, the Marketing head, U.S.A. of Techtribe-an online community established courtesy Web 2.0. She spoke on
" Building the Brand of a Leader" and brought out how increasing visibility, networking appropriately and developing charisma were the key ingredients to a successful image building exercise, which inturn would be very useful for individual growth and success.

Her interesting observation that 'there are only six degrees of separation' highlighted the power of networking and how connectivity can be established between total strangers to accrue benefits for the others. Web2.0 in turn has opened a plethora of options to leverage this understanding of networking to build relationships.

These online communities have been setup for developing contacts with other people as well as sharing information and knowledge for growth,as also forge vital business associations. A valuable outcome of this new phenomenon is that senior corporate honchos, who could be well established names in their respective domains can service the community by functioning as mentors to the youth.The youth in turn can have the dual advantage of developing rapport with established industry names, as well as gain vital information through participation...

From SEO and SEM to SMO and SMM.

How will the big brands react?

Internet marketing, once upon a time talked about Search Engine Optimisation and Search Engine Marketing. Now it talks about Social MediaOptimisation and Social Media Marketing.Social Media Optimisation or SMO, a term recently coined by Rohit Bhargava,Vice President for Interactive Marketing with Ogilvy Public RelationsWorldwide, aims to "Leverage all the links and marketing value you canget from social and business networks".

Rohit Bhargava's 5 rules on SMO, which eventually got converted to17 rules, courtesy other readers, showcases how the power of online contentcan be used from a business development perspective.SMM, coined by SeoMoz also aims at reiterating the impact of social networking and itscontribution towards marketing.

In the Indian context, the foray of broadband into the houses of averageconsumers has made internet a pervasive influence in users' lives. As unexpected outcomes emerge from unanticipated dimensions, the time is not far when big brands will end up using Social Media to promote theirproducts and use Web 2.0 as an integral part of their marketing strategy.

Online Communities and Brand Building

Image Building and Increasing Market Value

A virtual community or online community is a group of people that primarily or initially communicates or interacts via the Internet. The dawn of the "information age" found groups communicating electronically rather than face to face. A "Computer-mediated community" (CMC) uses social software to regulate the activities of participants. An online community such as one responsible for collaboratively producing open source software is sometimes called a development community. Significant socio-technical change has resulted from the proliferation of Internet-based social networks.

Participation in online communities and forums is the new tool for exchange of ideas and information.
The forums provide multifaceted opportunities to members. Not only do they provide information on latest technological happenings, while anticipating reciprocity and learning as an outcome, but also are the upcoming breeding ground for triggers for innovation. As like minded people converge together, these are new cliques where networking among individuals serves to build strategic mutually beneficial business associations. Also as individuals share ideas, their skillsets come to the fore and they end up building a reputation for themselves, while having a sense of community and efficacy andgaining recognition for their work.

Now how do they affect the marketing process?

1.Brand building through contribution to blogs, comments, articles and chats and by getting featured in related events and publications.
2.Connect, transact, and collaborate with other members to create or participate in new opportunities
3. Gain knowledge towards competitor products and services.
4. Build relationships and gain introductions to prospective clients or associates.
5.Increase website visibility through globally syndicated feeds.

Am gonna try and identify how online communities act as useful tools for Brand Building...not only building brands of products, but will try to focus on how they are instrumental in creating suitable images/brands of individual participants, thereby adding to their market value!!!!

Attrition:Are the good ones leaving?

As people make career choices and leave their current workplaces to explore newer horizons, one tends to think...who are the people who are leaving-the good ones ar the average workers?

A bit of research into the same shows that average workers are broadly content working in a routine kind of an atmosphere with the same roles to perform over and over.Besides as time elapses, they build a resistance to change and the 'fear of the unknown' stops them from contemplating any change in their careers.
So...seeing it from that angle, it is the good people who are leaving...so lets see..

Why do good people leave?

1.People get stifled 'coz of insufficient growth avenues.
For instance how do you grow in an organisation where the designations above you are already booked by aging people who plan to probably retire from the same seat!!!

2.Monotony on the job profile leading to boredom.
Can we all eat the same food everyday? Besides what happens if the juniors and seniors have the same job profiles....

3.More potential than the current organsation can use..
In times when value addition at the job is what people look forward to...so if they end up doing work below their current potential, there is no alternative but to move..

4.Excellent career prospects outside the current job.
This goes without saying...simple career management tactics...

5.Money...not necessarily
Unless the difference is stupendous!!!

6.Some reason for conflict at the current work place.
If one is capable and opportunities abound..then who wants to stay in an unfavourable work environment?

Hence, if organisations are interested in checking attrition of the good employees, maybe they could sit back and analyse which of the above factors is causing the departure!!!

After all a trained, processed employee is anyday better than a new raw material ,who has to start afresh with the induction process day one!!!

Are happy employees more productive or are productive employees more happy?

As i read this line in an article written by a professor from IIM, an interesting point of discussion emerged...what increases an employee's longevity in an organisation...his happiness in the organisation or his level of productivity?For that matter, what makes an employee happy?...Lets try to tabulate a few points...

1.Remuneration?
My personal opinion is that though money may be an important component in any decision making process, it assumes a much lower weightage when it comes to deciding an individual's happiness on the job.

2.Productivity?
I would rate this the highest factor contributing to happiness...every individual has a very important need of self-actualisation...a productive job not only caters to that particular need...but also increases self-confidence and raises self-esteem...it goes without saying that these traits automatically alleviate the happiness quotient!!

3.Work-place environment?
Phew...sensitive topic...environment at the workplace is important..if there exits a positive environment...happiness level goes plus-plus...a negative environment....level goes minus-minus...

4.Good leadership?
Difficult to find...but a good role model...creates smiling faces...strongly recommended for happy workplaces...

5.Politics at the work place?
Ouch...strictly negative implications on the happiness quotation...too much energy wasted on stupid stuff....

6.Good Learning environments?
Learning is an ongoing process and very satisfying at that...if a job environment provides some value addition regularly....well...it gives one a reason to be happy...

Maybe we can all sit back and evaluate..how happy we are at our jobs....lets start rating ourselves on a scale of one to ten...and maybe we could figure out more ways to be happy at our jobs!!!!

After all, we all have only one life...so choose....

The role of a senior in managing his team is of paramount importance...primarily because it strongly affects the members of his team..not only in terms of their productivity and emotions, but also in terms of developing their attitudes towards life. As i read ' One night at the call centre' by Chetan Bhagat....an interesting tale of how six employees of a BPO lead their lives and jostle with the routine grind along with their live's problems...there emerged a very nice picturisation of how a team leader's inappropriate handling of his team can have repurcussions on the team members' motivation, confidence level and above all...their approach towards life.

As the team leader tries to take credit for the work of his juniors, the submissive approach leaves them with 2 choices...one...the usual attitude of helplessness to combat the senior and the other...that of tackling the situation head-on...

Each individual has a choice...either to flow with the system and take the former passive approach, thereby significantly lowering one's own self-esteem or to choose the latter and go by identifying what one really wants in life....while not compromising one's own ideals.

At the end of the day, the message is clear... Intelligence,imagination,ability to face failure and above all self confidence are the 4 ingredients of success...to be really successful one must taste failure...for once one has tasted failure there is no fear...for this one must believe in one's own self and be willing to stand up for it, whatever be the consequences..

Just live life on your own terms...after all..we all have only one life....

Headhunting made easy using Web 2.0

The quintessential technique of writing to share information in relevant media and fora has finally come of age.

Online Communities, networking sites and online blogs are the latest resource pool being used by headhunters for recruitment. A large number of Manpower Consulting Firms are now actively browsing these sites to secure the right candidates.

As people participate in online forums and discussions, their talent comes to the fore ; also key knowledge areas are exhibited, henceforth giving the recruiters greater insight into the right people for the job.

Similarly, organisational blogs also play a pivotal role.They give a good peep into the culture present in an organisation and hence help the recruiter build a path between a prospective employee and the organisation

Many organisations like Baxter India are also using Video Conferencing through Reliance Web world to connect to faraway geographical regions,and not only reducing the talent hunt cost substantially, but also streamline the recruitment process by carefully evaluating the body language of the interviewee.

Five point someone-What not to do at IIT.

Reading this book by Chetan Bhagat is bound to send everyone on a nostalgic trip down memory lane, reminiscing their college days-or what you call the best years of one’s life…

This story of three friends and how their average GPAs propel them into the throes of mediocrity, an abyss from where there is no return…Their 5 point GPAs come in the way of everything-their love, their friendships, their future.

Bordering on humour at times, the book dwells on four years of college life and how securing high grade points can take a toll on the quality of the best years of campus life known to mankind.

The message is clear-having a low GPA does not make anyone a low performer, nor does excessive access to books and hence higher grades, create a better human specimen.What life offers one eventually is a function of the right opportunities at the right time, the willingness to take risks coupled with a significant level of hard work and above all…a GOOD MEASURE OF LUCK!!!!!.

Musharrafology

This is the latest marketing technique in town.I call it Musharrafology.

1.Read your ace rival's book....Seeth with anger...and decide to publish your own!!

2.Compile a set of experiences and truths??? and create a book,supposedly a biography and name it strongly as the 'Line of Fire'.

3.Secure a publisher from as far as New York and getpaid a handsome amount..

4.Tell the whole world...IT CONTAINS SECRETS!!!and start leaking them.

5.Grab headlines in all print media.Get interviewed on TV Channels and radio stations.

6.Appoint...guess who??? GEORGE BUSH as your publicity incharge...

7. Now isnt Musharrafology gonna be successful? You bet...keep a look out for the sales figures...

Anexcerpt from IRISHBLOGS-
"
I watched a White House news conference in disbelief last night. Lots of mention of this in the news world. Questions from reporter to President Q Mr. President, after 9/11, would the United States have actually attacked Pakistan if President Musharraf had not agreed to cooperate with the war on terrorism? He says that the United States was threatening to bomb his country back into the stone age. PRESIDENT BUSH: First, let me — she’s asking about the Armitage thing. The first I heard of this was when I read it in the newspaper today. You know, I was — I guess I was taken aback by the harshness of the words. PRESIDENT MUSHARRAF: I would like to — I am launching my book on the 25th, and I am honor-bound to Simon and Schuster not to comment on the book before that...