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

[Shrinath Sundaram]

Hi Rachel,

Your analogies between the traffic chaos here in India and the Social media are quite spot on. The keep is to adapt and evolve accordingly.

Having said that, when in Los Angeles, I avoid the 405, especially southbound.

P.S.: I am pretty sure that driving without an auto insurance in India is an offense.

[Mayank Dhingra]

Interesting(and a bit exaggerated) post but I loved the Social Media lessons you drew from Traffic in India.

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

Hi Rachel,

Interesting observations, but must make one correction:

There is auto insurance in India! In fact, it is mandatory, and the cops out here in Bangalore at least make a habit of pulling over random vehicles to check for papers.

That said, the process of settling insurance can take months, and making a claim disqualifies one for the "no claim bonus" discount on the next premium (which is what they do in India instead of raising rates for the accident-prone), so most prefer to settle with the other person on the spot and move on.

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

Incidentally, I'm unable to post comments from Safari. I had to open Firefox just to post the above. Something to look into?

[Dawn]

Great analogy! I wish I had your post to reference with my staff when we started in on the social media plan. It was overwhelming to a lot of people and this would have put some perspective on it for them. Thanks for sharing. I also found it humorous because the traffic is the same way in Cairo and I tell my friends stories about the traffic from my trip there.

[Senthil Kumar]

That was nicely written and a very insightful analogy to social media! Having grown up with the traffic in India, I love the fact that the only rule is that there are no rules. With that acceptance, one stops being annoyed at other drivers because they are no longer breaking any rules! Being very comfortable driving in the US, I also find it easy to switch my internal set of rules - for business, for life and of course, for the road. But a lifetime of driving in this controlled chaos enables me to drive very defensively everywhere else - or so I like to think!

P.S. As others have pointed out, third-party auto insurance is, and has always been, mandatory. And with the privatization of the insurance sector some years ago, the settlement process is certainly fast and efficient

[Rachel Happe]

Thanks for all of the comments - and for the correction on Indian auto insurance. We got in an accident while there and the subject never came up so... maybe the other driver just didn't see the need.

[Priya Florence Shah]

I love this post and the analogy. I live in Mumbai and, though traffic here is a tad more disciplined than other cities, it's chaos for someone new to the country anyway. If you relax and go with the flow, it can be quite a ride.

[Bobby B Singh]

Hey Rachel:

Interesting Post..was in India for a few months..and it reminds me of a Seinfeld quote 'it all evens out in the end'. In the context of social media the Parallel Parked cow can present a bit of a nightmare..In my dealing with clients I find that a well mapped out strategy, needs policemen(trained staff) pretty much 24x7 to mind the customer interaction.
Control vs. Minders vs Self-sort chaos. Where do we fit?

ps. I saw a gentelman carrying a moped in his lap..on a cycle rickshaw(where was my damn camera?)

[pradeep vashist]

i want to work with you