Geographies of the heart: How ‘digital’ is transforming the Indian Immigrant Experience

Jinal Shah

Geographies of the heart: How ‘digital’ is transforming the Indian Immigrant Experience

30 May 2014 05:00PM

In November 2013, Google India’s “Reunion” ad about a granddaughter’s effort to reunite her grandfather with his long-lost friend in Pakistan went viral in America, moving the entire immigrant and specifically, Indian diaspora to tears. While it was a brilliant campaign for Google, the ad also highlighted how digital and social technologies are redefining the immigrant experience. It reaffirmed that digital behaviours are universal. 

Content and experiences transcend geographic boundaries and policies. Every brand is a global brand and even the most nuanced stories are now for the entire world to embrace and understand. As India gets ready to host the largest Facebook population by 2016, how will it influence the shape of the future immigrant relationships with the ones they left behind and the country they call home?

Jinal Shah, a Mumbai native, an American national, a digital strategist and a consummate student of human behaviors in this special Change Talk - Friday Funda, traced her journey through the digital innovations in the last decade and how each one of them helped redefine her relationship with India and with America. 

About the Speaker

Jinal Shah is the Global Digital Director at J. Walter Thompson, New York. Shah was named one of The Guardian's Ten Digital Strategists to Watch in 2013 and has been called a "rising star in the world of advertising" by TED. She is also the recipient of the WPP High Potential Leadership Award and made iMedia's list of 25 Internet Leaders and Innovators for 2013.