Shiv Bhaskar Dravid
Shiv Bhaskar Dravid, 26, is the founder and creator of The Viewspaper, a citizen journalism based youth media company. He was an early entry winner of the Changemakers and Google Citizen Media competition, and many other awards for his leadership in giving a voice to the world's young people through new media.
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Want to know about how to meaningfully engage and empower citizens through social media and the web? Ask Shiv!
Join a conversation with the founder of The Viewspaper, India’s largest youth media outlet. It crowd sources the views of young people from around the world and makes effective use of social media to grow readership, generate content and engage citizens. The Viewspaper started in India and has now gone global.
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368 days ago
Dani Matielo
Hello, Shiv. What is the biggest challenge faced by innovators intending to engage a broader audience in their websites and social networks?
372 days ago
Tsega Belachew
What was the inspiration behind The Viewspaper? Why did youth take to it so quickly?
sdravid
The inspiration behind The Viewspaper was a personal experience that made me realize that young people are not taken seriously in todays society and that only experience and age is respected. People think that wisdom and knowledge only comes with age which is not exactly true especially in todays technology age.
372 days ago
sdravid
Youth took to The Viewspaper quickly because there is an important need in young people to be taken seriously and be involved in the decision making processes of society.
372 days ago
372 days ago
Sarah Mintz
Hi Shiv! I’m a fan of your work and enjoyed the insights you shared during the Citizen Media competition. Could you speak to the key ingredients enabling your work to scale outside of India and now globally?
sdravid
Hi Sarah. Scaling outside India has not been an easy task and i have tried a bunch of things. Some have worked and some have not.
However the one thing i have realized is that in order to scale internationally we will need at least one anchor edition which will support the international editions with money and resources. Dedicated focus on each edition is the key as each country is unique with its own unique set of problems.
372 days ago
Sarah Mintz
This is great feedback, Shiv. Thanks so much.
352 days ago
372 days ago
Keith Hammonds
Shiv, we know that young people get, share, and use media in ways that are *very* different from older folks. So, what do you need do to engage a 20-year-old that you might never try with his/her parents?
sdravid
Hi Keith..I apologise for the delayed response. I was traveling.
One of the things that i think has happened over the years is the increase in overlap between media and technology. The older folks are used to consuming information given to them, like in the case of a newspaper.
The 20-year-olds are more interested in creating media either on their own or as a reaction to the media that they consume. The reason for this is the amazing ways young people use technology. So to connect and engage with 20-year-olds we need to co-create with them. They are no longer information consumers. They are information creators and influencers and as important to a media company as any other journalist or partner.
372 days ago
373 days ago
Pandey Donthi Rachna
Hi Shiv, We’ve seen with Facebook the emerging trend of ‘Slackvitism’. Do you think there are strategies that activists can employ, and sites like yours could promote to encourage positive action beyond the talk?
sdravid
I think Slactism has always been around. There were always people who would sit on the fence and not participate physically or in a more involved manner. Facebook and twitter have definitely increased the number of people who talk about things but i don’t think it has reduced the number of people who act.
In fact, talking itself is also helping as it is building pressure on people and scaring them that some big action could happen. Also we have seen how it has resulted with action on the ground as seen in the arab springs and the anti corruption movement in India..
372 days ago
Lauren Parnell Marino
Hi Shiv, I really like this analysis and I think it’s one we haven’t heard much. Thanks for sharing your perspective on it!
351 days ago