This Sunday, 21st September 2008, we are going to see the first official Kolkata Bloggers meet AFAIK. I have signed in and will be glad to see you there too. I think the first session is going to be simple fun and get-to-know type but who knows, we may discover some gems and get to share some good ideas.
Please register at the bloggers meet signup page and do come over.
Did you ask for the venue? It is near Assemby of God Church school near Park Street and you can see the full details on the sign-up page.
Dr. Mani Sivasubramanian, a child heart specialist does a blogathon (blogs for 24 hours at a stretch) on September 15th every year. He won’t be doing the blogathon this year. Why?
Because this year, he is doing a Tweetathon 
In view of the popularity of the Twitter platform, he will be tweeting for 24 hours at a stretch, on September 12th. The primary purpose of this exercise is to raise awareness about the Congenital Heart Disease. While surgery for the CHD costs much more in USA and other advanced countries, a tiny sum of about $2,500 can cure one child of the dreaded disease.
While I have been cheering Dr. Mani from the sidelines for the last few years, this year I will be joining him more seriously. I will be a doing a mini Tweet-a-thon for 6 hours, along with Dr. Mani. Yes, I sincerely believe in his cause and strongly feel that we Internet marketers should contribute as much as we feel comfortable with (even $5 is ok, drops can fill an ocean) for such a noble cause. If nothing else, this spreads good Karma.
I intend to give out some nice reports only to my Twitter audience, so feel free to follow me at Twitter and cheer us up. Thanks for your support.
Update: A few people have asked me how they can contribute to the CHD foundation. You can visit this site and read more about the work that Dr. Mani is doing.
I recently watched a video by Frank Kern that shows how a subject line that says "bad news…" got a whopping 39% open rate. And that triggered a flood of emails from copycat marketers. Can you guess the subject lines of these emails?
You guessed it right! All of these emails had the subject "Bad news". Come off it friends. You missed the whole point. What Frank has done is used the "negative news is read more often than the positive news" psychological trigger to boost his open rate. We were all worried that something bad happened to Frank or his business.
But this has to be used in moderation. You cannot keep sending the ‘bad news’ every time and still enjoy the same open rate. People will get pissed off when they will realise that they are being taken for a ride and you will lose their confidence – bad thing to do for a long term perspective.
What do you say? Please share your most responsive subject lines with other fellow readers. Did you get similar response rates the next time you used this type of line?
Congratulations to Abhinav! He is the first Indian to win an individual gold for India at the Olympics. Several Indians like Milkha Singh, P.T. Usha, Anju Bobby George, Rajyavardhan Rathore have qualified for the finals but this is the first time an Indian won the Gold. India has won hockey gold medals earlier but even that is his history now.
I really hope Abhinav and others can do it again. I really wish this great talent will not be lost to the lure of modelling and other commercial attractions that will make him lose focus.
p.s. Abhinav is MBA, a blogger and runs his company, Abhinav Futuristics. Congrats Abhinav! Keep it up!!
I recently got frustrated by the really bad service provided by my ISP… I had been patiently complaining and bearing up with all the lame excuses for too long… and sent them a letter requesting cancellation of my account. I was curtly told that I have to fill up a form that required all sorts of attachments including the original receipt (given to me when the account was started).
"But I cannot locate that now – can’t you check your records?", I requested them.
I was again curtly told – "Sorry but we cannot cancel your account in that case."
Ok, so I located the original receipt and the allotment letter and all that and then I noticed a note on the form, a clause that says - Please get a confirmation from the bank manager or a court officer that he personally knows you." How the hell does this relate to me cancelling my account?
I have no idea – do you have any?
