Tag Archives: Internet

Check It Out: I Love Alootechie’s New Magazine-Style Look and Not-Only-News Focus

Tuesday, March 18th, 2008

Quick Summary: With its new magazine style look and not-only-news focus, Alootechie will strengthen its position as the dominant authority on the Indian digital media industry.

- X - X - X -

Alootechie, which has established itself as the Indian online industry’s news monitor, has a new look and a new focus.

The New Alootechie Homepage

I have known about the revamp for a few weeks now through conversations with Sidharth, Ravneesh, Saket and Asfaq, so when Ravneesh told me today that the new website was up, I knew what to expect.

Apart from the staple Indian and international digital industry news, the new magazine-style homepage displays a featured news story, an interview of the month, job and event boards and several guest articles. Inside, Alootechie has extended its coverage to include mobile and gaming.

While the present website is still work-in progress (watch out for the newsletter, podcasts and vidcasts), I must congratulate the Alootechie and Webchutney teams for the really cool revamp.

My favorite part of the revamped website are the guest posts, which are basically expert opinion pieces written by industry insiders. While each topic covered in the first set of these guest posts deserves a separate post on this blog, here are my top of the mind thoughts on some of them –

Read More

Filed in Desi Blogging, Desi Web 2.0, Internet, Marketing, Mobile, Reviews, Social Media, Trendspotting | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink | Comments (5)

Three Dimensions of Differentiation for Indian Social Networking Sites

Thursday, March 13th, 2008

Quick Summary: Read why language (English vs. vernacular), mode of access (Internet vs. mobile) and social dynamics (global vs. Indian) will be the three dimensions of differentiation for Indian social networking sites.

- X - X - X -

In my previous post, I wrote about why Indian social networking sites need to differentiate themselves –

Most of the Indian social networking sites are basically India-focused Facebook/ MySpace/ Orkut/ LinkedIn clones. Such clones would only be popular amongst a small set of twenty-something Indians in metros who won’t want a clone anyways.

I also presented a typology of Indian social networking sites on a 2X2 matrix with Indian-vs-global social dynamics on the X-axis and Indian-vs-global user appeal on the Y-axis –

A Typology of Indian Social Networks

– and suggested that –

To really build an identity and a broad Indian user base for themselves, Indian social networking sites need to reflect the unique nature of relationships in the Indian society.

Three Dimensions of Differentiation: Language, Access and Social Dynamics

Based on the discussion in the comments section and on Twitter, Facebook and e-mail, I have realized that there are, in fact, three dimensions of differentiation for Indian social networking sites — language (English vs. vernacular), mode of access (Internet vs. mobile) and social dynamics (global vs. Indian).

Read More

Filed in Desi Web 2.0, Graphs, Internet, Mobile, Noteworthy, Social Media, Trendspotting | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink | Comments (7)

Next Big Thing: Social Media Outsourcing (SMO) (Part 2 of 2)

Tuesday, March 11th, 2008

Quick Summary: Read a soon-to-be-real scenario featuring imaginary Indian Social Media Outsourcing (SMO) company BuzzPundit to understand why SMO will be the next big business opportunity for India after BPO and KPO.

- X - X - X -

If you found it difficult to believe my assertion that social media outsourcing (SMO) will be the next big business opportunity for India, let me present a soon-to-be-real scenario featuring imaginary Indian SMO company BuzzPundit.

Imagine a sprawling corporate campus on the outskirts of a large Indian metro (take your pick from Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Gurgaon or Pune). Imagine 10000 twenty-something Indians sitting in front of their computer screens. If you must, think of a call center. Except that these twenty-somethings are not making call after call to customers in the US; they are reading articles, posts and comments and tagging them, or responding to them.

Welcome to BuzzPundit. You are at the corporate campus of one of India’s many social media outsourcing (SMO) companies.

Read More

Filed in Case Study, Graphs, Internet, Marketing, Noteworthy, Social Media, Trendspotting | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink | Comments (11)

Check Out My Friend Aalaap Ghag’s Really Cool Link Aggregator LinkBunch

Friday, March 7th, 2008

Quick Summary: LinkBunch is a nifty new service that allows you to bunch multiple long links into one tiny link.

- X - X - X -

Over the last few months, I have met many interesting people through Twitter, and the two @MumbaiTwit tweetups that I organized (1 and 2) and I’m amazed by some of the cool things these people are doing. Take Aaalap Ghag (Blog, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter), as an example. Aaalap, a developer at Web 18, is also India’s most prolific Twitter user (3400+ tweets!) and the creator of the really cool link aggregator LinkBunch.

LinkBunch

LinkBunch is a nifty new service that allows you to bunch multiple long links into one tiny link like http://linkbun.ch/3ox (which is a bunch of all my blog, feed and social network profile links). You can then share the link over IM, Twitter, email or even a mobile phone SMS. When the recipient clicks on the LinkBunch link, it opens up into a page that contains all the links that you have put in the bunch. They can then open one link at a time or all the links, all at once.

LinkBunch Gaurav Mishra Profile

Read More

Filed in Desi Web 2.0, Internet | Also tagged , , , , , , | Permalink | Comments (1)

Indian CEOs/ CMOs Still Don’t Understand Consumer Engagement in a Networked World

Thursday, March 6th, 2008

Quick Summary: At the Effective Consumer Engagement conference organized in Mumbai by the World Federation of Advertisers, I realized that Indian CEOs/ CMOs still don’t understand consumer engagement in a networked world.

- X - X - X -

World Federation of Advertisers

I had great fun yesterday live-tweeting the Effective Consumer Engagement conference organized in Mumbai by the World Federation of Advertisers (tweet). I must have received 20+ reactions to my WFA conference tweets yesterday (tweet) and we would have had some great conversations if my mobile phone had tabbed browsing: one for typing tweets on Twitter, the other for tracking @gauravonomics replies on Terraminds (tweet). My friends Ashish also live-tweeted the conference, making it probably a first for a mainstream non-tech event in India (tweet).

As WFA has its Executive Committee, AGM, and Board meetings in Mumbai today, more than half the speakers and delegates at the conference were from outside India. This provided me an opportunity to experience first hand if CEOs/ CMOs in India approach consumer engagement differently from their international counterparts. It turned out that they do.

Read More

Filed in Events, Internet, Marketing, Mobile, Social Media, Trendspotting, Twitter Threads | Also tagged , , , , , | Permalink | Comments (1)

Microsoft Wants to Give (Your) Office a Makeover

Wednesday, March 5th, 2008

Quick Summary: Participate in Microsoft’s Makeover My Office contest and get a free makeover for your home office.

- X - X - X -

Microsoft India Makeover My Office Contest by Webchutney

Microsoft India is running a really cool web 2.0 (-ish) contest called Makeover My Office, where the first prize is a free home office makeover package. The makeover package will include one Office 2007 Professional Edition, one Tablet PC with Vista Ultimate, one All-in-One Printer and (depending upon the winning entry) design services, flooring, paint, furniture, fixtures, and minor remodeling. There are also attractive prizes for the other entries.

But the prizes are not the only interesting thing about the contest. The contest’s web plus mobile plus television multi-media reality show format is also unique.

The contest runs in four stages –

Stage 1: Contestants upload an image of their cluttered home office and submit a 50-200 word essay describing how a makeover will improve their personal productivity and help their business. The last day of submitting entries is March 7th.

Read More

Filed in Contests, Desi Web 2.0, Internet, Marketing, Social Media | Also tagged , , , , , , , , | Permalink | Comments (0)

How To Run an Effective Blogger Review Program

Tuesday, March 4th, 2008

Quick Summary: Read about how to run an effective blogger review program across a wide variety of product and services categories.

Background: While blogger review/ blogger relation programs have become popular internationally over the last two years, they are virtually unheard of in the Indian context. At the @MumbaiTwit tweetup last Sunday, I was speaking to a friend about setting up a blogger review program, and decided that it will be useful to put down my thoughts in the form of a how-to guide.

Scope: In this how-to guide, I’ll focus on running an effective blogger review program, not a blogger relations program. A blogger review program is typically a tactical, short-term, time-bound campaign focused on getting bloggers to review your new product or service. A blogger relations program involves building more strategic, longer-term, open-ended relationships with bloggers who are influential in your product or service niche. In terms of applicability, blogger review programs can be effective across a wide variety of product and services categories, including books, music CDs, movie DVDs, websites, gadgets and restaurants.

Step 1: Set up the blogger review program

Read More

Filed in How-To Guides, Internet, Marketing, Noteworthy, Novice Blogger, Social Media | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink | Comments (4)

Google’s Quest to Own the Internet

Saturday, April 14th, 2007

Google’s Doubleclick acquisition for $3.1 bn is not only about the consolidation of online advertising; it is another step in Google’s quest to own the Internet.

Filed in Internet | Also tagged , , , , | Permalink | Comments (0)

The War for Technology Supremacy

Wednesday, March 28th, 2007
war-room.jpg

At the Internet Marketing Monitor War Room, Google is still kicking ass, but Yahoo is fast catching up.

Filed in Internet | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , | Permalink | Comments (0)