A take on how India's mobile phone service companies use Facebook, and other social media networking channels to engage customers.

1. India Co-creates: A Status Update 2011-12
A cursory look at the official social media networking sites of India’s top mobile
phone operators can show how customers are desperate to get their issues escalated
and resolved using social media, and how mobile phone service providers find it a
challenge to use social media as an effective customer co-creation channel.
Sample the following “conversation” between a customer and an Indian mobile
phone service provider, in its official Facebook page.
Nivedita Datta
(December 26, 2011 at 12:11pm)
“Dear (Operator), Hope u get back to me soon else I shall shift from (Operator) to
some other provider & will recommend others also nt to go to (Operator) for their
poor service. Regards, A (till now) loyal (Operator) cust.”
Operator
(December 26, 2011 at 3:53pm)
“Hi Nivedita, We tried calling you but the number was switched off. Please share
an alternate contact number for us here http://bit.ly/something to help you better.”
Nivedita Datta
(December 26, 2011 at 6:58pm)
“I called at the toll free no for assistance & was put on hold forever... seems u ppl
don't anymore care about needs of your customers or u hav too many customers
so u don't care about losing a few...!”
Operator
(December 27, 2011 at 9:48am)
“Hello Nivedita, Thanks for speaking with us, do let us know whenever you need
our assistance.”
Author: G Sankaranarayanan Page 1

2. India Co-creates: A Status Update 2011-12
Nivedita Datta
(December 27, 2011 at 9:50am)
“seems u did't read what I wrote... No one picked my call to help me out...! N I m
freaked out with such service...! and very soon i'll move out of (Operator) as I am
losing trust on ur services...! :/”
Operator
(December 27, 2011 at 12:04pm)
“Hello Nivedita, We request you to write to us at customercare@(Operator.in) for
further assistance.”
Nivedita Datta
(December 27, 2011 at 12:05pm)
“I hav done that as well bt no reply...”
Operator
(December 27, 2011 at 3:24pm)
“Hi Nivedita, Thanks for speaking with us, trust we were able to assist you with
the info needed.”
This is not an isolated incident pertaining to a particular operator. One can take
out any number of such cases of poor corporate social communication from the
Facebook pages of almost all operators.
Until social media emerged, there is no way for the customers to interact with
operators openly or the public to watch the interactions real time. Needless to
say, this is an opportunity, as handling of a problem situation better would have
made not only the concerned customer but also others who are observing the
scene feel better. A good ending to a social media conversation equals to a crore
worth of advertisement.
It’s time that operators trained their social media team in social communication,
and importantly, empower the team with more power to resolve customer issues.
To begin with, the social media team should be not an exclusive social media
team, but a team that is comprised of heads of different functions - from product
development to marketing to customer care. So, when there is an issue, the social
media team does not have to ask the customer on Facebook to write to
customercare@mycompany.com, but simply solve issues.
Social media for business value
Author: G Sankaranarayanan Page 2

3. India Co-creates: A Status Update 2011-12
It also becomes clear that the operators are yet to focus on co-creating business
value using social media. They want to simply boost the number of likes, trigger
more comments on aimless conversations around frivolous current affairs. As
Jason Falls, Author of No Bullshit Social Media says, “We’ve had enough of the
hippie, tree-hugger, Kumbaya nonsense and want to start using social media as a
strategic business driver".
Social media is a numbers game - but the
numbers are not only about the quantity of the
following (see Table 1), but also about the
quality of business results. Tata Docomo have
huge, huge number of fans - over 50 lakh and
counting, an enormous feat! But how they are
being tapped for generating new product idea,
service offering, or a corporate social
responsibility project is a big question.
For instance, Idea Cellular is running several
engagement projects such as “Give us Your
Idea Mantra”, “Idea Frames”, and “Citizen
Journalists” that go well with the promotion of
its “idea” brand. Idea Frames is a good example
Source: Younomy Research of engaging people for brand promotion. Idea
Frames features interesting photographs shared
by its fans and followers, who “can grab your day of fame by uploading
interesting photographs”. Idea’s Citizen Journalists project, which promotes video
content posted by general public on serious civic, social issues, is another case in
point.
However, many a times, such crowd-sourcing projects are embarked upon
without providing a road map as to how the user generated ideas would be used.
Recently Idea Mantra asked the fans and friends to contribute their ideas for
reducing the crime rate against women, and tips to Indian cricket team to win a
tournament. There are hundreds of idea submissions that most probably would
go down the social media stream unnoticed and unused.
Operators need to think about a specific value that can be co-created with their
followers, and if needed, have to partner with organizations to ensure that the
crowd-sourced ideas see the light of day.
Author: G Sankaranarayanan Page 3

4. India Co-creates: A Status Update 2011-12
Mapping the Distribution of Dandelions
Facebook or Youtube or Twitter is not just for companies to push latest
promotions, and offers to customers. They give opportunities for them to convert
customers into co-creators of a more strategic business value.
Consider Fujitsu’s truly inspiring “Dandelion Front Map” project. Launched in
February, 2011, Fujitsu’s "Let's Make a Nationwide Dandelion Front Map
Together!" project aims to crowd-source photos of dandelions, Japan’s famous
flower, taken by its employees, their families, and general public so as to map the
distribution of these flowers in Japan. Fujitsu is partnering with Aichi University
of Education.
This is how it works: Anyone
with the mobile phone
having a camera, can take
part in the project. The
participants have to take
photos of nearby dandelions
in bloom using the camera
function of their GPS-
equipped mobile phones, and
send them to a designated e-
Source: Fujitsu
mail address. Fujitsu stores
the information in a database
and plots them as a map,
which would show the nationwide distribution of dandelion species in Japan. The
company expects the project to contribute its bit to biodiversity conservation, and
raise awareness of the importance of the issue among employees and public.
With their growing, active, and intelligent following, India’s mobile phone
operators too have opportunity and responsibility to conceive co-creation projects
that aims at a business, social or environmental value.
Author: G Sankaranarayanan Page 4

5. India Co-creates: A Status Update 2011-12
Highlights of Operators’ Social Media Projects:
Notwithstanding shortfalls, there are many interesting things to note from the
way the operators manage their social media initiatives. Some of them are:
Tata Docomo’s Facebook Page Rules
With the daunting task of managing a community of over 50 lakh fans, Tata
Docomo has done a great job by coming up with a Facebook Page Rules. The
Rules provide instructions related to what type of content is welcome, and what is
not, among others. When the posts violate the rules, the company can remove
them.
Tata Docomo’s Promotional Schemes:
Tata Docomo’s contest 'Jeet Ki Ghanti' rewards (though not a social media-
exclusive one) its loyal customers with bikes and cars. The pan India contest had
generated a huge response. “We had expected 3-4 per cent response from our
current base, but it had exceeded 10 per cent," said a company executive. The
participation from across the country crossed over 9.5 million - the company’s
subscriber base is about 90 million, proving to be “a testimony to the brand for
leveraging digital media for driving connect and creating a strong and unique
position in the digital world”.
Airtel & Idea Cellular’s Exclusive Customer Complaint Page
The customers number one priority appears to be solving issues they face with
the mobile phone services. Like what Airtel and Idea Cellular have done, there
can be an exclusive page for “customer complaints”, and they should be duly,
effectively sorted out. The social media team of many operators simply do not
respond to neither customer complaints nor the compliments in a genuine,
human-like voice.
Author: G Sankaranarayanan
Mail: sankar@younomy.com
Author: G Sankaranarayanan Page 5