#DialogLKVerified
That little blue check mark is a big deal.
Years ago, I worked at Dialog. At that point we were struggling to push a modern website through multiple stakeholders when management noticed that Dialog TV was getting hammered on blogs and ElaKiri. I started commenting as Indi, Dialog employee, which only went so far. Then Mili setup Dialog Blogs and we started interacting through there. Now Mili’s running a whole social media team and DialogLK was just verified on Twitter.
Check
What this means is that Dialog is ‘official’, like Ashton Kutcher. I think it’s the first Sri Lankan Twitter account to be verified, meaning that they get a blue check mark by their name. They’ve essentially earned the only badge Twitter offers, and they offer it to very few. Twitter is only one part of the presence the social media team has setup, they also intelligently use Facebook, just ran a FourSquare promotion and just generally show up online.
Which is harder than it looks. Many management teams are either oblivious or overbearing, and Dr. Hans, Nushad and the whole marketing department (including Hetti of course) have let the team flourish and grow. When we started we were just putting out fires, then we were doing customer service, and now they’ve moved on to actual engagement and recognition.
The Social Media Team
This is all possible cause Mili set up a great team, comprising Nazly, Himal and Lenard that I know, and Anu as well. Mili was hired to do something else, I think that was print mag time, and Nazly we really pushed to hire as an open-source web developer, but they’ve all morphed into something much more adaptive. Mili and Nazly are geeks and pillars of the community, helping organize monthly Refresh meetings and using social media cause they like it, not cause it’s their job. Himal is a character from Community and a social media animal.
It’s also important to remember that the social media team isn’t just part of the marketing department, they also work closely with customer service and senior management to actually reflect and improve the character of the company. What I mean is that they’re not just doing PR for the company, they’ve actually changed the company, for the better. Today people are almost uniformly congratulating Dialog and taking pride that they’re the first Sri Lankan company to be verified.
Not Easy
Believe me, creating change within a big corporate is not easy and it’s rarely satisfying, so I hope that Mili and Nazly and the team can enjoy this moment. You’ve earned it.
Posted on Thursday, December 1st, 2011 in Business, Dialog, Tech.
Mohsin Hamid, author of How To Get Filthy Rich In Rising Asia, has a nice 
I’m happy to be featured in Echelon magazine’s 40 Under 40 feature, profiling young people who contribute to the economy in some way, mainly in business but also in terms of innovation and thought leadership. It’s an interesting article not just in that I’m in it (mainly for work on indi.ca and 
I won’t add too much commentary, but just read I guess. The youngest Rajapaksa, Rohitha (Chi Chi) has given an amazing interview to the 
In 2009 this strange character appeared on the Sri Lankan Internet scene, getting angry, flaming, trolling whatever. Then he started naming anonymous bloggers, posting comments as people’s kids, nasty stuff, for which I removed him from 
I keep saying this to Mili everytime, none of these would have been possible if you didn’t initiate it.. So we owe you a big Thank You for guiding us at the initial stages and Mili did the rest.. Thanks again..
You lit the path for us mate. All we did was simply follow it.
Back in the day.. all this seemed like an experiment, dabbling in this and that, defining the rules as we went, getting burnt on both sides…
Your vision and that cocky attitude to just pile-drive through constantly Inspires the rest of us. You are fondly remebered by all of us.
Kudos to you, Indi! We owe you big time. :D
(On behalf of the Dialog Social Media family)
I’ve said this over and over on twitter and facebook but can’t say enough so now I’m on Indi’s blog lol saying I’m so happy and proud of you guys!! (I had no idea that Indi was part of the team some time ago. Great to know) And this, coming from someone who has never used Dialog you guys know I honestly mean what I say hehehe.. and not just to win a gadget on Twitter either lol cuz this is Indi’s blog. Like what Indi says, it’s SO not easy to make a difference in a large corporate. And to make a difference with something like social media, is like phew! It’s tiring, it’s tedious and agonizing and even when you do make a huge leap, half the people don’t even get it, like, so what.. aaah.. :D so guys, I hope things were different for you and in case if not, do know that there are a bucket load of people on Twitter at least, who are really really proud of you guys!! So, Nazly, Mili, Himal and of course Indi and the rest of the team. Awesome stuff! Your names will be written in social media history books..er blogs! :D :D
Thank you, Indu, for your kind words.
Congrats to the team and now that I read the other comments, to you as well.
Just saw this. You know I’m not that big on cheese. So, I’m just gonna say, as Mili and Nazly have already pointed out, none of this would’ve been possible if it weren’t for you. (And that includes landing my job).
Muchas gracias, man! Much love.
Hmm Himal, when we were in primary school, I never thought you’d grow up to a blogger.
Actually on second thoughts, you wore shorts and bata slippers until you were 20, so it kind of makes sense.
Ah, the scion of the Kotelawalas in the Wala.
Thanks, dude. Care to mention your first name? :D
This confirms that @Dialoglk is a ‘celebrity’ in Twittosphere!
w00t w00t! :D It’s really an honour to know so many of the Dialog peeps personally, and you guys really are breaking ground in our traditional-minded business environment by embracing technology at this level. All the best for your future endeavours. :)
good works guys (: