Twitter Cricket Hashtags : Calling for a standard

Writing this with the overwhelming Sri Lankan victory yesterday against South Africa - The first test win after like one and half years. Increasingly the cricket updates in Twitter is becoming interesting and is a perfect way to keep updated on the match while you are on the move. Like my friend @Lishanw told me Twitter is a real fun way of following cricket because of all the hilarious comments.

Before i get in to the real call

What is Twitter?
Is a social network like Facebook (Second in popularity only to Facebook) based on text updates of 140 characters (Imagine a public SMS system). For more watch this video on Youtube.

What is a hashtag in Twitter?
The # symbol, called a hashtag, is used to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet. It was created organically by Twitter users as a way to categorize messages. Read

How you can track a match in Twitter is by following the match hashtag usually with the format countryVcountry. For e.g. #AUSvIND for Australia vs India or #SAvSL for South Africa vs. Sri Lanka.

There are two major confusions in Cricket hastags - 


1. Which country first
The problem arises when one countires' cricket fans put their country code first and the other country does the other way.

For e.g. Pakistanis tweet #PAKvIND and Indians Tweet #INDvPAK, The Sri Lankans (Always trying to make a balance between the two) tweet with both #PAKvIND &  #INDvPAK so both countries fans will read. This happens in every country in every match.

For this I recommend going in Alphabetical order. No matter how big

2. Just "V" or "VS"
Other confusion is whether to use VS or only V between the two country codes. For e.g. Some tweet #SAvSL while some tweet with #SAvsSL. Here I recommend using only one V, since it saves a character and time typing another letter S.

According to the above - The final hashtags to be used will be (Please ignore page formatting)

Country	Australia	Bangladesh	England	India	New Zealand	Pakistan	South Africa	Sri Lanka	West Indies	Zimbabwe
Australia		AUSvBAN	AUSvENG	AUSvIND	AUSvNZ	AUSvPAK	AUSvSA	AUSvSL	AUSvWI	AUSvZIM
Bangladesh	AUSvBAN		BANvENG	BANvIND	BANvNZ	BANvPAK	BANvSA	BANvSL	BANvWI	BANvZIM
England	AUSvENG	BANvENG		ENGvIND	ENGvNZ	ENGvPAK	ENGvSA	ENGvSL	ENGvWI	ENGvZIM
India	AUSvIND	BANvIND	ENGvIND		INDvNZ	INDvPAK	INDvSA	INDvSL	INDvWI	INDvZIM
New Zealand	AUSvNZ	BANvNZ	ENGvNZ	INDvNZ		NZvPAK	NZvSA	NZvSL	NZvWI	NZvZIM
Pakistan	AUSvPAK	BANvPAK	ENGvPAK	INDvPAK	NZvPAK		PAKvSA	PAKvSL	PAKvWI	PAKvZIM
South Africa	AUSvSA	BANvSA	ENGvSA	INDvSA	NZvSA	PAKvSA		SAvSL	SAvWI	SAvZIM
Sri Lanka	AUSvSL	BANvSL	ENGvSL	INDvSL	NZvSL	PAKvSL	SAvSL		SLvWI	SLvZIM
West Indies	AUSvWI	BANvWI	ENGvWI	INDvWI	NZvWI	PAKvWI	SAvWI	SLvWI		WIvZIM
Zimbabwe	AUSvZIM	BANvZIM	ENGvZIM	INDvZIM	NZvZIM	PAKvZIM	SAvZIM	SLvZIM	WIvZIM

But we need to find a way to communicate this standards to all Cricket fans. Please comment below with your ideas.

Best Credit Card in Sri Lanka - Whats best for you?

What is the best credit card in Sri Lanka? - HSBC, Sampath, HNB, COM or BOC? - None of them. Yes you read it right. Like i said in my post about best banks in Sri Lanka it depends on your needs and wants.

Brief History of Credit Cards in Sri Lanka
In the past the unarguable market leader was HSBC. They were the first to enter the business and the first to position as an  offers galore. AMEX and Standard Chartered were playing an up market game which no one won. But in the years to come - credit cards became an essential part of personal banking. hence all private banks started issuing credit cards and accumulating offers. At the moment Sampath and Commercial banks are doing quite well. And is giving a strong fight to HSBC market share. Final to enter the scene were the state banks. BOC is doing extremely well. Peoples bank just started and might prove successful with the low end - high quantity market.

What is a credit card?
Silly question, but people are having this wrong impression thinking a credit card is for online transactions. It is wrong. In basic terms asd the name suggests "Credit" - it is cash in advance on a plastic card, which you need to pay later (Usually within a month). Imagine you got a small loan, the size of your salary that you need to pay the coming month - Thats what a credit card is. How it differentiates from a ATM (Debit) card is that debit card is prepaid - And credit card is post paid.
I hope now you understand the risk - If you use the credit card heavily - you have to pay back the coming month and you might go to a level where you live totally on credit (Scary!). Hence i always suggest use it sensibly.

Factors to consider when choosing your credit card

1. Purpose - You might be wanting to do only online payments. In that case the Sampath web card is a better solution. I recommend using a credit card for following purposes - 
• Not wanting to carry cash (Can't use debit cards in all places,specially abroad) In this case go for a card thats accepted worldwide, usually VISA and Master both are accepted worldwide but there can be places where VISA is preffered. In Sri Lanka ive seen many small shops accept VISA and not Master. So VISA can be recommended in Sri Lanka.
• You want to save by going for offers (If this is the primary purpose - See no.3 factor)
• Emergencies (When you need extra cash in advance - For example when you are sick)
2. Cost of the credit card
• Includes joining fee, annual fee and interest rate (Usually the same for most banks). But heard cards like AMEX are quite expensive. And make sure they don't have hidden charges.
3. Type of offers you are looking for
• This totally depends on your taste. For e.g. Take shopping. If you are high class you might shop at places like ODEL, Romafour (Reminds me of my secret santa) like places. But if you are down to earth you might be comfortable with NOLIMIT or CIB like places. Some high end credit cards like AMEX, Std Chtd will offer this high end places and normal credit cards like Sampath or BOC will offer low end places. So go for what you want. For this - Go through some of the offers they have given in the past. Same with food joints and other products. Go for what type you want. In case you are hybrid - Having two cards cost you only Rs.1000-1500 annually. 

I haven't used all cards. So feel free to share your experiences on credit cards and what you recommend.

Metered Tuk Tuks in Sri Lanka - Opportunities & Threats (A SWOT Analysis)

Got the chance to have a chat with a tuk tuk driver from "Budget Taxi" company who had been with the service for a long time. Following is a brief situation analysis of such a company gathered from his words about the history and from what i learnt from customers of the service (Special thanks to Hasitha ayya - who shared his experience in using metered tuks) - The post is for the benefit of entrepreneurs in taxi business, for customers and business/marketing students like you and me to know.

Apparently the metered three wheel services had started about 3 years back. At that time which was only a differentiation factor from "badly looked upon" normal three wheelers. After that the "on call" tuk tuk companies started forming like Taxi services in the past Sri Lanka (There was a joke in a paper so many years back that if you dialled any pattern in a Sri Lankan phone - a taxi will come to you).


Strengths

• This company "Budget taxi" has build a very sustainable customer segment who travels daily. The driver said there are people who goes to office, travel during office hours, come home, go around for home needs all in the same tuk tuk. This is the biggest strength of the service as it protects the business,assures survival and creates growth specially by word of mouth marketing.
• Pricing model - is a big strength as it is a key factor when differentiating their service as compared below with the normal three wheel pricing mechanism (Bit of humour).

Weaknesses

• The current technology used to track tuk tuks is beneficial to the drivers side as he can switch off location tracking and go on private hires. This happened to me where i called the service & there was no tuk tuk but on the road i could find one who had switched off location tracking.
• No geographical presence is a weakness because you cannot find a taxi instantly. 

Opportunities

• Well seriously the economy is improving and the people are ready to spend on luxuries after the war. Living standards are increasing and thus people prefer to travel by tuks than in the past.  
• Technological advancements have enabled tuk tuks to have meters, have location tracking (Even manual tracking). But the advancements are great that companies can go for better technologies such as GPS tracking of tuk tuks. Even the customer end can be improved by better CRM systems such as an improved Taxico android app.

Threats 

• There are low cost cars like NANOs coming to the market, making travel by car less costly. And this can effect the appeal for tuk tuks. (Apparently NANO is only about Rs.10 more expensive).
• Threat of new entrance is very high. Already there are half a dozen tuk tuk services with the key word Budget, For e.g.Budget Lanka, Budget Three wheel.etc.
• Threat from the non-metered three wheels are very high as they are high in quantity and strong with their associations and influential networks.

Overall - It is a booming market as @vidic8d tweeted - NANO is already increasing their prices which means more profits for companies like Budget Taxi. On the other hand the market is becoming fragmented and it is tough to battle out.

Recommendations
It is recommended to move on to better technologies for tracking location and to come up with offices (Geographical service points) to fight normal three wheel services better.

Please feel free to comment below with your ideas and your points to be added to the SWOT. I will update the post with your name.

Siam House Thai : Restaurants in Sri Lanka

Had a good time yesterday - and thought of sharing it for anyone who wants a good dinner out.

Located in Melbourne Ave - Bambalapitya (The sea side road infront of St.Pauls girls school), place is really accessible both from Galle Road and Marine drive (Check the map below) and has lots of parking. Very peaceful place - We were always wondering whether we are being too loud. So if you want the "shout out party dinner" i would better recommend a more casual place like Dinemor.

Food is really good - has loads of varieties. I checked out the Foursquare recommendations - But one of them (The boneless crab curry) wasn't that good - Maybe it was over fried. Cashew salad is superb. Totally out of the place - Try it. The red chicken curry is good if you don't want to risk your dinner by trying new dishes.

The rice portions are very large. Usually enough for 4-5 people - so be careful when ordering. The staff is nice. But the serving is very late. In a way it serves the purpose in getting you more time to chat and relax. There is WIFI - Just saw on their web site. Couldn't use it.

Prices - I don't have a clear idea since i was invited and i didn't pay for it. But from comments i guess it's not so cheap. But not out of the world expensive also. I would say value for money.

Overall 8/10 - for a peaceful dinner out.

View Larger Map

Twitter in Sri Lanka : Sudden increase in traffic

Twitter is becoming a totally happening place recently (Last month) - jumping (from 50+ something? - If you have any historical stats let me know) to 13th most visited sites in Sri Lanka according to Alexa.  See below

Read the full list here http://www.alexa.com/topsites/countries;0/LK

Most important is what this surge in traffic might mean. Following are my thoughts on this,

Possible causes for the increase (Other than broadband internet penetration - which is natural) One i think the increase in smartphone sales has a high correlation with the increase of twitter use in Sri Lanka. There's a very high penetration of smartphones specially in the Sri Lankan youth segment. All this low cost smartphones comes with Twitter apps and buttons so the users automatically happens use them though they naturally didn't have much interest. 

Now lets look at the Possible implications. First of them will be more brands getting on to twitter. Following is a recap of the current situation of brands on Twitter.

• Last year it was only few like Dialog, Cocovarenda (Coffee shop in Ward place) and Perera and Sons active in Twitter
• Now most media  are here (News papers like Daily Mirror,TV like News first, ITN, Radios like Kiss, LiteFm, Efm) 
• Most food businesses like Cafe Pascussi, Keells Super are actively in twitter
• Many fashion chains like Odel, Nolimit and Fashion bug are in Twitter
• All mobile operators are here - Mobitel, Hutch, Etisalat and Airtel.
• Other brands like Elephant house, Perera and Sons, keells Super jumped on Twitter last month
• Dialog - Became the first ever Sri lankan brand to get verified (official twitter of a brand or a celebrity)

To follow all brands check out the list by @amisampath 

Second will be more politicians in Twitter. During the Colombo MC elections we saw @milindamoragoda doing well in Twitter. Right now we have @karuonline, General Fonseka and @sajithpremadasa active on Twitter. This numbers will drastically increase when they get to know that power is with people on social media.

Third is still anticipated - Celebrities getting on to Twitter. I haven't still heard of popular celebrities other than Ranidu and business personalities like Otara but looking at the global scene it is highly likely Sri Lankan celebrities like artists using Twitter well. 

Feel free to comment with your ideas about the causes and effects of Twitter traffic rise for Twitter in Sri Lanka. Few months down the line we can see how it all went.

Best places to buy Christmas deco in Colombo - Sri Lanka

I know im sounding crazy - But this is really helpful for someone looking for this kind of stupid things online. You may argue that you can buy stuff from Keells or Cargills - But believe me, you can't even compare the cheap prices of this kinda places.

Below is the map to the street full of deco during the Christmas season in Sri Lanka

Following are a list of things you can buy here

From China Street

• Christmas Tree (The one that comes small but can be erected - Stop you dirty mind!)
• Christmas swags - That you put in staircases
• Bells, Balls and other small things you hang ( එල්ලෙන සියල්ල පොලවට ලම්බක වේ :-P )
• Santa hats
• LED bulbs to put on the tree - Multi-colour and single colour ones

From Bankshall street

• Flowers - They call it some weird name (Will find out and update)

Below is an interactive google map to the place so you can even get directions from known land marks - 

View Larger Map

A big thank you to those who went before me and directed me to this awesome shops. (Not sure whether they like to be mentioned - If you like pls grant your permission xD)

Personal Banking in Sri Lanka : Whats the best bank for you?

I was inspired to write this after two conversations - one on how much young professionals save and the second about whats the best bank specially in terms of internet banking. This is a crucial decision specially for young professionals like you and me and i'm blogging for all of our benefit.

In my opinion - the best bank for someone depends on following personal factors which should be assessed individually.

Accessiblity

1. Location of branches
Even in the internet banking conversation i said - you cant do everything online. There are must-do in branches things like cheque deposits and better-to-do things like money transfer to other accounts. For this, the location of branches are key. And consider the two aspects like how close the nearest branch to both home and where you work/study. ATM network is also a factor - For e.g. Commercial bank boasts it has the largest ATM network in Sri Lanka. You can get money from any VISA ATM but it costs you something like Rs.50 extra. So better stick to a bank with a good ATM network.

2. Banking hours of the bank
It's really annoying when the bank is open only when you are supposed to be at work or classes. many banks have the holiday banking facility. For e.g. Commercial bank has holiday banking centres in super markets, Sampath has two 365 day banks which are open till 10PM. The state banks are usually open half day on Saturdays.

Services
The customer service and other features & facilities of service are also important in todays hi-tech era.

3. Customer Service
Customer service is very good in multinational and private banks and is relatively lethargic in state banks. But we see state banks like BOC improving over time. Alternatively - state banks have very low costs like banking charges and loan interest rates whereas private banks charge higher. Following is a chart of service vs cost of banking.

Good example is Pan Asia bank who charge me (I had to forcefully open an account to pay for an exam - Never used them afterwards) like Rs.50 a month saying account charges.

4. Facilities/features of service
New facilities like internet banking and mobile banking are really cool and you can save lots of time and money by using them. Frankly i don't know the features in other banks, but i find Sampath Vishwa really helpful. You can pay all your bills and can even transfer money to other Sampath accounts with a matter of few clicks. I heard with NDB you can even transfer money to other bank accounts. This kind of facilities are very important and you should do a thorough analysis depending on your needs.

5. Other needs and wants
Savings account is usually the most basic needs of a modern lifestyle. Many go for credit cards (Arguable - specially with @udithaumesh - Lets discuss in another blog post) and loans. Getting a loan from the bank you have dealt with is usually easier. And you have the option of repaying the loan with internet banking. Even credit cards can be paid by your savings account. So consider your future plans like getting a personal loan or a vehicle loan (In a separate blog post i will compare leasing products in Sri Lanka) or going for credit facility.

Let me come up with an analysis of the above factors in the current banks, But that needs lots of feedback from you all. All of the above, specially the chart carries lots of assumptions and was written with my knowledge only. I'm sure you can give lots of feedback on your own banks. Please feel free to comment below so someone reading can make an informed choice about his/her personal banking.