What I Learned About Social Media from the Streets of India

If you are a social media or community manager and have the chance to go to India, GO. I found many lovely things there but what really fascinated and alternatively freaked me out, was the traffic.  First there is such a wide range of things in the flow of traffic: cars, people, bullock carts, pedicabs, buses, cows, mopeds, camels... you name it, the sea of humanity is on the streets of India. Secondly, there are no lanes and few traffic lights on the majority of city streets - the sea of humanity moves along like an amoeba. Thirdly, it is a total cacophony of sound - mostly incessant honking.  Fourthly, drivers do insane things - our driver actually hit someone (albeit mildly) who would not get out of his way. To my western eye, it was total chaos.

After two weeks of this - in cities from New Delhi to Goa -it actually sort of started to make sense to me. Thinking back on it now, the lessons translate well to social media because, like Indian traffic, it looks like complete chaos to the untrained eye.

The good news is - it does self-organize. Here's how:

• One person has no hope of managing it which means everyone has to play their part. In traffic, everyone identifies gaps and fills them. If you tried to put a western traffic cop in Indian traffic, they would get run over.
• By understanding cultural cues, the noise starts to make sense. The honking in Indian traffic actually has patterns, for example three short beeps is to indicate that you are right behind someone and passing. By understanding these cues, you can avoid accidents.
• Cows are sacred and unpredictable. Just go around.
• There is no auto insurance in India so if you screw up you are going to get hurt. You pick yourself up, wipe yourself off, sort it out with the other driver, and move on.
• Suspend your disbelief. It all kind of works... go with the flow.

All good advice for those of you tackling social media and online communities. There are patterns and there is a culture but you'll be better off if you adjust to it. If you try and force your expectations on to it, you'll get a lot of friction... and you may even get run over. In particular, follow these rules and you will learn to:

• Build an educated army - everyone needs to be on the look out for opportunities to educate and respond. Are you still trying to do everything by yourself? You may get run over so what are you doing to make everyone able to identify and fill gaps?
• Have a sense for what cultural signals trigger problems. The better you understand what activities or topics may trigger blow ups in your community, the better you can nip things in the bud.
• Identify people and organizations who will not budge on the social media issue. Don't waste too much time trying to move them. Just figure out how to go around.
• Not dwell on accidents - they happen, especially if you are learning how to navigate the new environment.
• Not to spend too much time trying to organize things.Your community will self-organize if you let it - and it is actually more powerful that way.

Good luck. Be careful out there!

There is nothing like seeing it for yourself but @JoeCascio inspired me to go find a video on YouTube. Here is a little sample:

Comments

[Stuart Foster]

This is very much inline with everything that I have heard about India from friends and previous bosses (I worked with an outsourced office over there).

The traffic pattern is surreal but somehow it makes sense...it's the ultimate crowdsourcing/human experiment in chaos. The only landmines you have to worry about are the occasional cow.

[Vijay Rayapati]

Good analogy, while the traffic problem in India was mainly due to over growth of cities while infrastructure didn't keep growing at the same pace.Also on funny note, if you can drive on Indian roads then you can drive any where - basically we train folks for worst conditions:)

I hope, My India will soon have good infrastructure.

[Rachel Happe]

Hi Stuart/Vijay -

Thanks for stopping by. Indian traffic doesn't seem to be a problem - as long as you know how to deal with it!

My favorite traffic experience there was seeing a cow who parallel parked itself in the middle of a busy New Delhi street. Hilarious!

[Abdul Qabiz]

Nice write up. Yeah like any other cultures, one has to learn a few things to get going with things here in India.

There is a lot of diversity, so it's kind of constant learning, if you move across different cities. Bangalore and a town in North India might be totally different in many sense.

It's chaos, once you start liking it, it's hard to adjust in one of the cities in California - where things become very predictable and monotonous (no offenses meant).

I couldn't stay more than one week in San Mateo because I was used to of India (specially Pune - Koregaon Park).

Glad you could experience these different things and figure out the secret to live with it, not many get to do that.

-abdul

[Rachel Happe]

Hi Abdul -

Thanks for stopping by - all the way from India - and leaving a note. And I'm kind of with you on San Mateo (not to knock it in particular) - I lived out there for a while but found everything a bit too 'perfect' and not quirky enough too :)

[Jamie Favreau]

I am trying to generate an army of influencers but it is harder then I thought. I just need patience and a better strategy.

[Joe Cascio]

Hi Rach..
Wonderful, wonderful analogy. So insightful. I am going to use this for sure with newbies, especially the ones in suits that want everything planned and no mistakes. The notion of it being self-organizing chaos is so important to understand. Twitter works like that, so obviously.

[Ann Handley]

I love this post, Rachel. Great analogy, and apt. Vijay's comment above is telling, as well.. "If you can drive here, you can get along anywhere!" (Love it.)

@marketingprofs

[Sonny Gill]

Glad I found your blog and definitely loving this analogy.

My trips to India had no shortage of crazy Indian driving, but it somehow just worked. From the outside looking in, you'd think there was absolute insanity. But being immersed within that 'community', makes you realize that it's an organized chaos that just works somehow.

Nicely written :)

[Rachel Happe]

Joe & Ann & Sonny - Thanks for stopping by and commenting. The self-organizing, organic nature is a very important thing to understand. Trying to disrupt it is really hard and usually doesn't work out well.

And yes, I tried driving in India and I don't think I'm quite ready to drive anywhere because it was a bit harrowing (we were on a moped)... but I'm working on it!