Open Gardens

About Open Gardens

Open Gardens is published by futuretext

Rated 8/10 on Blogged.com

About The Open Gardens Blog

I (Ajit) founded the blog on May 26, 2005 based on my vision and philosophy of OpenGardens i.e. the philosophical opposite of 'walled gardens' especially as applicable to the mobile data industry.

Today, the OpenGardens blog is one of the few blogs that span both the Web and the Mobile domains.

The blog covers wireless/mobile applications, open networks and mobile web 2.0. My vision behind the OpenGardens blog has been :

The blog is about the Mobile data industry and Digital convergence('Mobile web 2.0')
Analysis is more important than story/controversy. I don't believe that bloggers are true journalists. The blog is not about the latest 'story' but it's more about independent analysis/viewpoint
The OpenGardens blog is broadly about opening up the networks, growing digital usage and digital businesses i.e. we don't advocate closed networks, broadcast media etc
It is about disruptive digital technologies

Founder & Chief Blogger Ajit Jaokar

Ajit Jaokar is the founder of the London based publishing and research company futuretext (www.futuretext.com) focussed on emerging Web and Mobile technologies -including Web 2.0 and Mobile Web 2.0.

His thinking is widely followed in the industry and his blog, the OpenGardensBlog (www.opengardensblog.futuretext.com), which was recently rated a top 20 wireless blog worldwide

In 2009-2010, Ajit was nominated as part of the Global Agenda Council on the Future of the Internet by the world economic forum. He hopes to use this opportunity to further extend the pragmatic viewpoint of the evolution of Telecoms networks in an open ecosystem.

(Note: The Network of Global Agenda Councils plays a significant role in shaping the global agenda by monitoring global issues and elaborating recommendations to address them. Each Council, comprised of 15-20 Members, serves as an advisory board to the Forum and other interested parties, such as governments and international organizations. The Global Agenda Councils also act as the intellectual drivers of the World Economic Forum's Global Redesign Initiative, an unprecedented international, multistakeholder and multimedia dialogue that aims to develop a 21st-century vision of global cooperation. Members of the G20, the UN and other International Organizations have pledged their support for this initiative. )

Ajit is best known for his books Mobile Web 2.0, Social Media Marketing. Two new books ('Open Mobile' and 'Implementing Mobile Web 2.0') are being released in 2009.

His consulting activities include working with companies to define value propositions across the device, network, Web and Social networking stack spanning both technology and strategy. He has worked with a range of commercial and government organizations globally including The European Union, Telecoms Operators, Device manufacturers, social networking companies and security companies in various strategic and visionary roles

His recent talks and forthcoming talks include: CEBIT 2009;MobileWorld Congress(2007, 2008, 2009); Keynote at O Reilly Web20 expo (April 2007);Keynote at Java One; European Parliament – Brussels – (Electronic Internet Foundation); Stanford University's Digital visions program;MIT Sloan;Fraunhofer FOKUS ; University of St. Gallen (Switzerland); Mobile Web Strategies (partner event of CTIA in San Francisco)

Media appearances include BBC – Newsnight – 3phone launch; CNN money; BBC digital planet

Ajit chairs Oxford University's Next generation mobile applications panel and conducts a course on Web 2.0, Social networking, Mobile Web 2.0 and LTE services at Oxford University.

Ajit lives in London, UK, but has three nationalities (British, Indian and New Zealander) and is proud of all three. He is currently doing a PhD on Privacy and Reputation systems at UCL in London. Ajit is a fan of animation especially Tom and Jerry, Tintin and Asterix and likes the music of ZZ Top and other rock bands

You can contact me at ajit.jaokar at futuretext.com

You can follow me on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/AjitJaokar

See a video of my talk at CEBIT in Hannover
(intro in german - presenttion in english)

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October 17, 2009

Of Twitter, Quentin Tarantino, Le Big Mac, pointless babble and advertising ..

Last week, when I chaired two sessions at CTIA in San Diego , I had the pleasure of meeting many interesting people.

I always make it a point to meet start-ups where possible and one such start-up talked of their product to me …

It was well funded and thought it had a great product ..

My feedback was .. it needed a ‘social change’ for viral uptake .. i.e. a behavioural change which people may not make .. and I said Twitter is so successful because it mirrors our behaviour ..

At which point ..they quickly pointed out the oft repeated statistic .. that Twitter is 40% babble ..

Although I was tired and jetlagged .. this was my response ..

I asked them if they had seen the movie Pulp Fiction ?

The question caught them by surprise .. but they said yes .. they had ..

Ok .. then I asked them did they remember the Mc Donald’s scene? (‘Royale with Cheese’ or ‘Le Big Mac’) i.e. the scene when John Travolta and Samuel L Jackson are driving at the beginning of the movie ..

Yes .. they said .. still not sure where this was going or how it was relevant to their start-up ..

My point it: That conversation has nothing at all to do with the REST of the movie .. but it is exactly the way REAL LIFE works i.e. small talk … (aka ‘Babble’). Babble it may be .. but that succeeds exactly because it mirrors existing social behaviour

And Quentin Tarantino is a genius to recognise this .. and I see almost no OTHER instance of such small talk in movies ..

So, this has everything to do with their social media service .. their product will be successful if it mirrors real life .. else .. its going to need a lot of money or a lot of luck and it is not likely to be ‘viral’ since that’s not the way people live ..

And that by the way is why Twitter is successful but some don’t get it and never will in my view because they are so focussed on a specific niche they understand but miss the big picture ..

Also, when people say .. something is babble .. they mean from a commercial/advertising perspective .. and I have a HUGE problem with advertisers having an inflated sense of their own importance ..

And .. how much of advertising is really relevant??(Babble?)

And here is the scene I refer to below ..

By the way, it has some strong language (After all this is Pulp Fiction – not the Sound of Music! Ha ha!) ..

But seriously, this advice is unorthodox but probably accurate .. there is a lot you can learn from it ..

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Filed under: Uncategorized — ajit @ 6:00 pm

Comments (2)

2 Comments »

As a veteran of traditional media, agency owner and Tarantino fan your article really spoke to me. Your advice to mirror life was great and holds true in any advertising that stands out from the pack. And i agree that very few achieve the “babble” distinction.
I couldn’t help but speculate on several other examples of cinematic babble: Rhett Butler “frankly my dear I don’t give a damn”, or Clint Eastwood’s”go ahead, make my day.” I could go on and on but when i try to think of how many ads met that standard my quick recall came to jolting halt.
I love the way you explain and build the value of “babble” please babble on.

Comment by Ric Haley — October 22, 2009 @ 5:50 pm

many thanks for your kind comments Ric rgds Ajit

Comment by Ajit Jaokar — October 27, 2009 @ 10:00 pm