ARE YOU A CONVERSATIONALIST ON LiNKEDiN?

As part of my social media monitoring research I have also analyzed the conversation activity on LinkedIn. Conversations happen at Group, Poll and Answer level. For groups I focused attention on certain groups to find out how good a tool LinkedIn is to leverage the knowledge of the crowd.

Here are some remarkable results:
Groups: 78% of all discussion posts remain UNANSWERED. 15% have less than 5 answers.

Polls: 71% of polls get between 1 and 20 votes. Only 2% remain unanswered!

Answers: Only 12% go “Unanswered” while 44% get less than 5 and 35% between 6 and 20 answers.

The group statistics intrigued me and asked for some more explanation. I challenged a few groups by posting a discussion about the fact that LinkedIn Groups are a waste of time. I got 12 answers (in 5 groups – proving my point?). I want to share the content of these answers with you:

There are the non-believers (and I am NOT one of them) because of their lack of persistence or success and they gave up.

LinkedIn is really a tool used to CONNECT with other people which explains why the post “Who will directly connect with me and I will not reject you” is the most popular discussions in a large number of groups (even worldwide!).

People are TOO BUSY to read and react to the posts or they get too many mails with updates from the groups they below to.

Discussion topics are started in the WRONG GROUP and with the wrong audience.
People feel the point of the discussion topic is either to SELL you something or to be proven right and thus refuse to react.

People do not feel comfortable SHARING their ideas or COMMENTING on ideas with strangers.
So the conclusion is really that LinkedIn is the perfect business tool to connect with other people who you might meet face-to-face to sell your product or service to but not to share ideas with on large scale online.

Enough of the negativism and let’s be positive…

In order to improve the quality of LinkedIn for you and your peers, it is my recommendation that every time you login to LinkedIn you take the time to comment on and contribute to at least one post, vote on one poll and answer one question – total time investment: 15 minutes! There will be a return on this investment by more people connecting with you which is why you were there to begin with.

Just imagine if in a group of 800 members that log on once a week and follow the recommendations from above, the wealth of information we would have access to? Is that to much to ask?

I love to hear from you with comments, feedback, push back and suggestions. You can also reach me by mail (sekrajc@yahoo.com).
How REALLY use Linked In . get real results when working with Linked in

S.SEKAR
Contact: sekrajc@yahoo.com

TEACHING METHOD

We will see the Teaching Method of scriptures from a Guru to Sishya. It should be borne in mind that a Teacher be not only adept in his subject knowledge but also be pure in his thought and mind, a person who is alive, and should have practised the same for a certain period of time. This is very important for every student while selecting his Guru.

Spiritual knowledge has been disseminated traditionally through the Guru – Sishya (Preceptor-disciple) lineage as it is not intellectual but experiential in nature; the Sishya has to realize the truth for himself. The manner in which this instruction is given is individualistic as only a Guru will know the level of his disciple and tailor the teaching according to his capacity to understand. Besides, it was through argumentation that the disciple was lead step by step to get an intellectual grasp of the truth before he was instructed to reflect and meditate on it.

Even great sages who were self-realized engaged in debate (Vada) for the sake of clarifying their own understanding of the truth. This is similar to testing the purity of gold by rubbing it against a touchstone. Hence such debate was not engaged in to counter the opponent’s standpoint or just for the sake of dialectic. In the Bhagavad-Gita, Lord Krishna approves logical argument by asserting, “Of all types of knowledge I am the knowledge of the self, and Vada of disputants.”

In the Prasna Upanishad the questioning method is adopted to impart spiritual knowledge. Each topic taken up for analysis is called a Prasna (meaning “to question”) and there are six questions, each posed by a disciple. That they were not lay seekers is made clear right at the outset as the six disciples who approached Pippalada, the Guru, were sages from distinguished lineages known for learning and austerity.

Pippalada told them that he would answer their questions after they had spent a year with him in his hermitage with total sensory control, celibacy and faith. This is to underscore that the Guru has to be convinced about the Sishya’s sincerity of purpose, ardent desire for liberation and faith in the teaching of the scriptures. After answering all their questions Pippalada finally told them that he had taught them all that he knew and that this knowledge was so simple. Therein lies the catch because the teaching may seem very easy, yet it is very profound and liberating – a life-transforming experience. For a man of Self-realisation it may seem very simple but the process of striving is very difficult.

Let us also have a Guru who is an Acharya of the highest order (Who is pure, who is alive, who has mastered reading and knowing the Scriptures and practised the same for a certain period of time by himself ) under whose guidance we will seek the truth and knowledge of the Self. It will take time but the knowledge should gradually transcend from the Guru to the disciple over a period of time. Hope this happens sooner than later.

S.SEKAR
Contact: sekrajc@yahoo.com

THE TRIANGLE THAT WASN'T

Rajesh and his wife Chandrika are happily married and living together and enjoying every moment of their life. Rajesh is a writer who starts writing a story for a movie and is fully involved in the same. Chandrika on the other hand is not interested in his work but enjoys his presence every moment. She has been brought up in a different society and she is bubbly and vivacious. She mixes very freely with both the sexes. Rajesh is conservative and is not appreciative of Chandrika’s behavior.

Chandrika is ignorant about this aspect of her husband moves freely with one and all. Rajesh is a good story writer and approaches a film producer Sethu who is well known in the industry for his past productions which are well received by the audience and the public, with a promise of a good script. Rajesh’s past work wins him this project. He starts preparing a story line.

At this point of time, his wife’s cousin Ganesh, who is very close to her, comes from Mumbai and lands in Chennai at their house on an official work. His arrival makes his wife very happy who insists on his staying in their house with them. Rajesh is stunned to see his wife’s reaction and her offer to Ganesh. She doesn’t even think twice to take his consent. Rajesh is torn with jealousy seeing his wife’s behaviour. She seems to be a totally different personality in the presence of Ganesh – Vibrant and lively.

Rajesh who basically suffers from an inferiority complex can’t bear to see these lively souls romping about him. Chandrika who had never been out of bed before 9 A.M. now got up early to prepare bed coffee for her cousin. How could she be so blatant in flaunting her relationship with Ganesh? Rajesh is appalled. Their images keep haunting him. He is mentally disturbed. He suddenly gets an idea. Why not weave a story around these two! Rajesh gets going. He begins his story. In the meantime the producer wants to know how far his story has proceeded. Rajesh narrates to him the beginning of his story. The producer is impressed with the beginning and asks him to complete the story at the earliest with little knowledge that the story could proceed on a day to day basis only, as it was his life story.

One fine day Ganesh remarks to Chandrika that he would have loved to marry her. It was the Family feud that came in the way. Chandrika laughingly tells him that she would have never accepted his proposal as their relationship was a friendly one. When her husband enters the house she laughingly tells him that Ganesh had once wanted to get married to her. Her husband is upset and leaves the house without informing. The next day he goes to give the script prepared by him and asks the producer’s office assistant to inform his residence that he is very busy completing the story and hence will be staying in a hotel for the next few days as he required a quiet atmosphere. This is conveyed to his wife. The producer’s assistant narrates his story to Rajesh, where his wife had actually deserted him and had run away with her lover. Soon she realized that the lover was a fraud and had come back to her husband. He had accepted her back without questioning her and this action had a profound effect on his wife who changed herself radically and had totally surrendered herself to his love. This incident lingers in Rajesh’s mind.

Rajesh comes home after a couple of days only to find a note written by his wife mentioning that she is leaving with Ganesh for Mumbai. Rajesh’s fear is complete. His wife had deserted him and gone off with her lover. His mind is in turmoil. Incidents where his wife and Ganesh frolicked together, flash in his mind. He begins to weep inconsolably. He is unable to think coherently. While he hates his wife for deserting him, he realizes that he is missing his dear wife and wants her back but he doesn’t know how to go about it.

A knock at his door jolts Rajesh and he his surprised on seeing his wife . She tells him that she had to leave for Mumbai all of a sudden with Ganesh to see his father who was on his death bed. She couldn’t inform Rajesh about this as his cell phone was switched off and the producer too was not in town. She asks Rajesh the cause for his tears. Rajesh discloses his unfounded fear to her. She tells him that he doesn’t have any faith in her which is the reason for his baseless fear. She once again reiterates that she loves only him. This makes Rajesh happy.

The next day Ganesh comes back to Chennai and tells them that he has come to the city for good. Rajesh immediately invites him to stay with them.

A Story by S.SEKAR written for IndiBlogger Contest "Soch Lo".
Contact: sekrajc@yahoo.com
NOTE: Wherever the name of Rajesh is mentioned to be interpreted as myself so that the narration of story will suit the purpose.

WHAT IS LOVE

Love is never having to say that you are sorry. There is a distinct difference between the words Love and Lust. If you get instant love for someone then it is called lust and will not last long. Lust will create negative thoughts where as love creates positive thoughts.

It’s always better to tell your love to someone with whom you are really in love. Then only you can never say sorry about love. It can be seen that a relationship is based on trust and honesty. However, being honest in a relationship can be a challenge.

The famous psychologist Dr Eric Berne has written a book on “Games People Play” using transactional analysis. Most people call love the game that people play, but it is more than that. It is the strength of all relationships and the weakness too. It’s all about one’s ability to maintain the relationship. In addition to love in the relationship the two pillars that hold them (people) together are ‘Trust’ and ‘Honesty’.

One should have the will power to forgive and forget about happenings as you might have to let go many things to sustain a relationship. To what extent that you can give up to maintain a relationship has to be decided by you as there is always a doubt about how much is more or less.

As one gets into a relationship, there are a lot of things that you begin to discover about your partner and at the same time you can disclose about yourself to them for creating a good understanding. This is the most crucial stage as acceptance of who you are as well as your partner, happens at this stage. Once the relationship gets stronger, it becomes easier to bond and your love becomes the strength of the relationship.

Relationships have to be built on trust for love to ever be a part of it. Trust is an action of love. When you love someone you are willing to trust them with little things and it is also necessary as it helps maintain the relation in the long run.

The thought of love has infinite letters. The truth has only four. Often, in Love, the letters are heavy, the feeling is not. And the lightness is palpable. Our Indian films have ingrained that in our system. So have our Swamis. This is why we laugh through every rejection. We even love the rebuffs.

Let our love for others be a true love so that it is enduring. Love is bliss. Be blissful.

S.SEKAR
Contact: sekrajc@yahoo.com