My first day at work and as I hurry towards office, worried that I may be running late, I come across my two bosses at the corner tea-stall, sipping tea at leisure. My warm welcome to work begins right there! As I step into the two-room office space in the basement, I am greeted with a whole lot of cheerful “Good mornings!” by bright, excited young people. A few jokes are cracked and laughter echoes through the office. One second. Is this really a ‘Monday-morning-at-work’?!! Where are those typical gloomy ‘Monday-blues’ faces?
As all laptops and PCs whir into action, each screen tunes into… Facebook!! Oh yes, it takes me a minute to remind myself that I’m in a Social Media Marketing office. No more secret rendezvous with social media websites: this is our bread and butter! I smile as I think of the average private firm, where every employee invariably masters the art of ‘Alt+Tab’ every time his boss walks past his desk, to cover up his networking tracks. Now MixORG, on the other hand, is just a little different. One of the first things I am inducted into at office is MixORG’s own private Facebook community: MixStories. “This is where we keep in touch; share resources, ideas and collaborate”.
A quick scan through MixStories and the value of a medium like this begins to sink in upon me. I can instantly access all links and resources that were shared among members even 6 months prior to my joining office. “How Higher Education uses Social Media”, “Infographic: The Social Network Decision Tree”, “How to Get More Likes on Facebook”… and my induction has already begun! Not just that, it’s all documented in a perfectly chronological sequence, ensuring that old and new employees know all about MixORG’s projects and campaigns, without the hassle of assigning someone the dreary task of documentation. It all happens on the go and that too, leveraging on the power of Social Media Networking! We guys surely practice what we preach!
Suddenly, someone shouts from the other room, calling everyone for the cake-cutting ceremony, in honour of MixORG’s birthday. As their baby turns one, pride and joy is visible on each face in the room. A fancy Standy wishing MixORG ‘Happy Birthday’ and declaring that “We Can Because We Believe We Can”, makes its way into the centre of the room. A random guy from the road is dragged in as everyone crowds around the Standy waiting to be captured in a single frame. Picture perfect indeed!
The day gets on and everyone immerses themselves in their work. ‘Work’ actually does not seem a very appropriate word for what seems more like a way of life to ‘MixORG’ians. Discussions range from new business opportunities to mythology, and from online retail to fashion blogs. Occasionally silence descends as people tap away onto their keyboards. And when least expected, the office erupts in a flurry of activity and noise, until one guys has to literally shush us with the threat that the landlady upstairs will descend onto us to avenge the chaos!
So as I sit on a half-broken big red couch in the middle of a hap-hazard office with people milling in and out, I gear myself for three more months of being at MixORG… true to its name, a place where people and ideas mix. Only one thing brings a frown on my face: by the end of my internship, I fear, I’ll be too spoilt to fit into a corporate job with its crisp suits, formal round-table meetings and confined-cubicles!
