Kiran Rao & Baby Boy Trending On Twitter Trends

Twitter apparently was trending Kiran Rao, Baby Boy and IVF. I was curious about these trending topics until I found that Aamir and Kiran have been blessed with a baby boy through surrogate. The power of social media, yet again. 

The news trickled through a tweet from the producer, Kunal Kohli, which said "Congrats Aamir and Kiran. Lots of love to you and your lil baby boy. So happy for all 3 of you." The couple have been very open about IVF as the method of conception through a surrogate mother which has been appreciated by media. The news took the whole industry by surprise, especially because Kiran had been spotted at different events without the least hint of a baby bump. The couple announced that they had to chose this method because of medical reasons. Kiran had gone through a miscarriage before this.


"It gives us the greatest joy to share with you the good news of the birth of our baby boy. This baby is especially dear to us because he was born to us after a long wait and some difficulty. Due to medical complications, we were advised to have a baby through IVF-surrogacy, and we feel very grateful to the Almighty that all has gone well. We are humbled by the greatness of God, the miracles of science, and the kindness and love of our families and friends in being there for us while respecting our privacy. We seek your good wishes and blessings for our child," said the statement from the couple. 


Congratulations Kiran and Aamir. God bless your little one.

TheNewMedia Byte for NewWeek - 12/5/11

1. Kapil Sibal wants to completely curb the freedom of communication of internet users in India. According to a post on the blog of NY times, Kapil Sibal - India's telecommunication minister, met the high officials of all the internet majors - Microsoft, Yahoo, Google and Facebook to discuss the issue of pre-screening the user content from India before it is published online. The companies seem to be reluctant on this because it  would be very difficult to pre-screen every post from India. Google has 100 million users from India and Facebook has 25 Indian million users. The Indian government is planning to set up their own monitoring agency to pre-screen the online material. They are also planning to make policies for screening the content.

This raises many question on freedom of speech and transparency on the world's largest democracy. 


2. Google over-protective about its core business - search. 

Google is launching its product shipping business. 40% of Google revenue comes from retail stores. Amazon has become a very strong search engine for product search. Users say that they only go to Google for product search if they don't find a particular product on Amazon. Google is strengthening its product search and providing its users shipping in a day or two. It is tying up with third - party retailers (they have contacted Macy's) for products and is planning to create its own shipping.








Google is doing this to prove itself in product search. When YouTube became the ideal for searching videos, Google bought it. Yelp became the search engine for local places, it launched Google Places. The Android phone is majorly invented to cover the mobile search market. This time its going to compete with the biggest online retailer - Amazon.

TheNewMedia Byte - 12/3/11

1. Condom Ads coming as friend request on Facebook. Olla condoms adopted a clever viral marketing strategy to reach their target audience. They created fake Facebook profiles of their unborn sons.  The son then sends a friend request to the soon-to-be freaked out guy with a little message that says “Avoid surprises like this one. Use Olla condoms.” A very creative idea which seems to be very labour-intensive and voilates facebook's startegy.

TheNewMedia Byte - 12/2/11

1. YouTube's New Look is Out!

You Tube has presented the new channel system. You will see all the videos posted on the channels of your interest on your homepage. They have made connecting with people easier with integrated Facebook and Google+ tabs. Enjoy the videos on the new YouTube.

2. Narendra Modi is the most popular social media political leader. He has been nominated as the finalist in the fifth annual Mashable awards for the category of the "Must-Follow Politician on Social Media." Click here to read more. 

TheNewMedia Byte - 12/1/11

1. A gist of Flattr's history. The idea started in 2006 was about giving the right of equality to the people on the internet and giving everyone credit for their efforts. The copy of information being shared needs to have price tag. It was 'Share Donate' till 2010 when it was re-branded into 'Flattr.' Click here to read the official blog post.


2. Twitter partners with Mixi - Japan's biggest social networking site. Japan is the second biggest market for Twitter after US. Twitter has created a big impact in Japan . Twitter had the maximum number of visitors (14.3 million) in Japan in October. Facebook was had 11.3 million visitors and  Mixi ranked number three in the number of visitors (8.4 million) in Japan. 
To read more - Click here.

3. The New Media celebrates World Aids Day. Lets become more aware and support the cause - http://www.worldaidsday.org/. 
Be a part of http://www.crowdoutaids.org/crowdmap/