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On April 23, I’ll be leading a full day NASSCOM workshop For B2B marketers in New Delhi.

In the workshop, I’ll share hands-on tips on how B2B marketers can use social networks and standalone communities for brand building, lead generation, and customer support.

Here’s the program schedule:

9:00am to 9:30am: Registration
9:30am to 11:00am: Introduction to social media for B2B businesses
11:00am to 11:30am: Tea/ Coffee
11:30am to 1:00pm: Strategy, tactics, measurement
1:00pm to 2:00pm: Lunch
2:00pm to 3:30pm: Social media tools for advanced users (focus on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter)
3:30pm to 4:00pm: Tea/ Coffee
4:00pm to 5:30pm: Tying it together: using social media for brand building, lead generation, and customer support.

The registration fees is INR 6000 for NASSCOM members and INR 7500 for non members.

For companies that send groups of 5 or more, I will also lead a 4 hour long customized workshop at their office (only in NCR).

Please confirm your participation to Ms. Ranjita Kamat at ranjita@nasscom.in along with the following details: Name, Company, Designation, Email and Phone.

Forbes India named nominated Facebook for 2010 Person of the Year in its December 2010 issue and asked me why it should win.

In a recent post, I shared five reasons why Facebook is good for your soul, so my love for Facebook is no secret.

In the interview, however, I highlight the fact that Orkut, not Facebook, is the default social networking platform for Indians. Orkut introduced Indians to social networking, it’s still much bigger than Facebook in India, and with its recent redesign, it might have more staying power than most people give it credit for. Speaking for myself, I have started spending much more time on Orkut after the redesign than I have in the last year or so.

I also highlight the difference between LinkedIn and Facebook in the interview. Most people use LinkedIn like a rolodex, exclusively for professional networking. On the other hand, Facebook reflects our real world relationships better, where we switch between the personal and the professional, almost seamlessly. LinkedIn too offers a vastly improved user interface after its recent redesign and I expect myself to spend more time on LinkedIn in the coming weeks.

So, yes, Facebook is great, but the other social networks have a lot going for them and the battle for the Indian social networking space is far from over.

Here is the full text of the Forbes India story –

Bitten by The Zuckerbug
The Facebook effect: Why a billion people like this
by Rohin Dharmakumar
Jan 2, 2010

Account information
Name: Rohin Dharmakumar
Network: Network18
last update: is watching newbie twitter CEO Rajeev bajaj take on questions from random people on twitter
personal info: self critic and cynic with mild OCD

Rohin Dharmakumar is wondering if there is anything or anyone that scares Google?

5 people like this.

Rajesh Lalwani Facebook? I think it’s the most significant threat to Google. Google represents the Internet of yesterday when we searched for information…information that had to be indexed first. With Facebook information finds you, right here and now.

What is happening to search? Earlier when you heard an announcement you went to Google and did a search, but now you see a video and share it on your Facebook page…and half a day later it’s on all of your friends’ profiles and everybody is talking about it. Put simply, earlier you sought news, now news finds you!

Prashant Mehta While seeking answers people like us will trust information from friends on Facebook a lot more than Google. Facebook is people while Google is just a machine.

Alok Kejriwal I don’t think so. The biggest challenge for Facebook is this: Facebook = Friends whereas Google = Information. I will never think of Facebook while searching for information about, say, rheumatoid arthritis. Besides the average number of connections on Facebook is 100-150, and you cannot get a wealth of info from that small a network.

Rohin Dharmakumar Hmmm, interesting thoughts. But isn’t Facebook more of a Western phenomenon?

Prashant Mehta When 2009 began Facebook’s ranking among the most popular Indian Web sites was in the 20s. It is now Number 7. No Web site has moved that fast in a market like India.

Rohin Dharmakumar wants to know how big the Facebook phenomenon is in India?

Alok Kejriwal I would say no Web site has ever had such an impact on Indians! Two girls from Dehradun will spend 5 hours a day on Facebook because there’s nothing else to do. Though in cities it’s a conversational medium, in smaller places it’s an entertainment medium…which means that’s where the games and apps are getting played and explored.

Gaurav Mishra Facebook was not the first platform to become big in India, Orkut was. And what Facebook does is fundamentally most of what Orkut does too – connect with friends, share interests. But Facebook does have more applications, a more sophisticated user interface and better privacy controls.

Rajesh Lalwani Though Orkut is currently Number 1 in terms of numbers, Facebook is probably growing much faster. It is also poaching a lot of Orkut users through its Import Profile feature.

Rohin Dharmakumar Thanks for those comments folks. I thought of checking on some figures around Facebook’s popularity in India, just to be objective, you know Data from both comScore and Vizisense says 10.3 million Indians, or roughly one in four Indians with an Internet connection used Facebook in October 2009. But the data also says Google’s Orkut had like 15.5-17.5 million Indian users. But Rajesh is right on the growth aspect – compared to Orkut’s annual growth rate of 43.4 percent, Facebook grew at a whopping 229.7 percent!

Prashant Mehta Orkut might not be #1 by 2010!

Charles Assisi These are fantastic figures Rohin. Can we consider Facebook as a contender for our Person of the Year awards? Let’s talk once you’re in office.

Rohin Dharmakumar commented on Forbes India’s page – 2010 Person of the Year

Rajesh Lalwani wants to know what makes Facebook special for you? (via Rohin Dharmakumar, who’s writing at article about it for Forbes India)

3 people like this.

Gaurav Mishra I was a typical IIM MBA working in a 9-to-5 job. Then through Facebook and Twitter I came upon writing book chapters, articles, a fellowship (at Georgetown University) and finally a new company (20:20 Social)!

Rohin Dharmakumar Not everyone is going to be as lucky as you, Gaurav!

Alok Kejriwal You know about the famous “Speaker’s Corner” in London’s Hyde Park? You know the one where anybody can stand and address the world? Well Facebook is my Speaker’s Corner to the world!

No other medium has ever existed where I could broadcast my thoughts to 5,000 friends at the click of a mouse. Thoughts that everybody notices, whether or not they react doesn’t matter.

Prashant Mehta Some Facebook apps have completely consumed us. My nine-year-old cousin comes home to get online and use Facebook. My 65-year-old mother-in-law connects with me from the US. There is no other medium that has an impact on such a wide segment of society.

Rohin Dharmakumar Interesting! But I’m curious to know if Prashant’s experience is isolated, or if it is more widespread in India?

Rajesh Lalwani I have my 12-year-old niece and 65-year-old former boss on Facebook. Everybody is a wire agency today!

Alok Kejriwal Rohin, my 13-year-old daughter has a Facebook account. Initially I and my wife were concerned, but then we found out that she is connected to five of her school teachers too! My daughter also plays Facebook games with my Mom. Sure they could have played together at home, but the point is they don’t.

Rohin Dharmakumar created a poll.
If you could be on only one social network, which one would it be?

Facebook 78% (7 votes)
LinkedIn 22% (2 votes)
Orkut 0%
BIG Adda 0%
IBIBO 0%

Rohin Dharmakumar Surprised that LinkedIn isn’t more popular among my “working class” friend list?

Rajesh Lalwani LinkedIn is static. I don’t know my LinkedIn contacts well enough because it tells me yesterday’s biodata, not what you’re doing today.

Gaurav Mishra True, LinkedIn has this very tight business networking context due to which you can’t really get to know people. Besides if you choose to then Facebook can be used primarily for professional networking, or personal, or both simultaneously. I think that ability is unique to it. I think that’s because of Facebook evolution from US Ivy League colleges where personal and professional contexts merged. And when those students grew out of college Facebook evolved with them, but it has its roots in that context.

Alok Kejriwal LinkedIn is like a large auditorium of business folks, all dressed up and not willing to talk to each other!

Charles Assisi is wondering if Facebook kills office productivity…at least this research says so

Study: Facebook use cuts productivity at work

Survey finds 77 percent of Facebookers use the social networking site while on the job

5 people like this.
Rohin Dharmakumar There should be a dislike button on Facebook!

Alok Kejriwal I don’t agree. I think Facebook relaxes the workplace, making it less stiff and formal. Besides, the Indian work culture is moving from disciplinary to results-based – everybody knows what they need to do. I use it for work too. I link to my blog posts on Facebook and get around 1,000 additional hits. Every job offer I post on Facebook gets me 20-30 responses. I found my current PR agency through Facebook.

Prashant Mehta People are using Facebook at work to connect with colleagues. And given that we spend most of our time at work, it helps us bridge that gap there.
I was in Dubai recently and set my status message to “In Dubai for 4 days”. In those four days I ended up having four meetings with professional contacts from my Facebook friends list.

Rajesh Lalwani Facebook has further blurred the boundary between work and personal lives. On Facebook I manage communities, engage with business contacts and connect with friends and family. It has beautifully ensured that people are connected to it every second…I know people who log in every 30 minutes just to check status messages.

Rohin Dharmakumar is going to vote for Facebook as Forbes India’s 2010 Person of the Year!

14 people like this.
Prashant Mehta In the social media space, both momentum and trust are important. It’s amazing to see people putting up pictures of their kids etc. on Facebook, which I feel they would not do unless there was this trust that Facebook will not misuse my information.

Alok Kejriwal The other day I met someone interesting on a flight and quite naturally said to him, “Let’s Facebook each other?” In return he said my name is so-and-so and I am from Pune. Our lives are about people and memories, and discovering people is why Facebook is important.

Rajesh Lalwani Just a few years ago who would have thought you would connect your girlfriend from 15 years ago, family and friends all together on the same platform?

Notes

Facebook was the 3rd most popular online destination, after a Google search and Windows Media Player videos, for US citizens aged 65 and upwards – Nielson

The Wall Street Journal recently estimated Facebook’s 2010 revenue at $710 million, up 40 percent over the year before

To test Facebook members’ willingness to trust complete strangers, IT security firm Sophos sent out 100 random friend-requests from two newly created accounts, “Daisy Felettin” and “Dinette Stonily” – anagrams for “false identity” and “stolen identity” respectively. In both cases 95 out of 100 accepted the requests.

According to Bloomberg, Facebook is valued at $9.5 billion, up 42 percent over July 2009, but down 36 percent over its October 2007 peak valuation of $15 billion

Microsoft invested $240 million in October 2007 for a minority stake in Facebook, according to the Wall Street Journal, beating out rival Google

Only 15-20 percent of Facebook users have ever modified their default privacy settings, according to the company.

Cross-posted at 2020 Social: Because Business is Social.

The Experience Ecosystem

Companies are beginning to realize that their brand is now realized on the Social Web, in conversations between strangers, who amplify, quash, or otherwise reshape each others’ opinion on the product or service, often based on first-hand experiences. These messages play off against marketing messages pushed by advertising agencies in the mind of the customer, and increasingly, customers are listening to their peers, instead of marketing messages.

The Social Web exposes any misalignment between implicit or explicit expectations set by the CMO in marketing messages and the actual experience delivered by the organization run by the COO. It is therefore critical that the CMO and COO be in absolute alignment, so that the organization (over-)delivers on what the brand has promised, leading to customer delight, loyalty and advocacy.

At the core of this approach is the idea that conversations are driven by experiences. If you want to drive positive conversations about your brands, you should start by creating an experience that is worth talking about.

The Experience Ecosystem provides the framework for creating talk-worthy experiences. It consists of all the touchpoints between the organization and the customer, including products, services and partners, sales and support channels and interactions, and the values for which the organization and its individual brands stand for.

At 2020 Social, it is our belief that the best way to create an experience worth talking about is to design it collaboratively, with your customers, employees and partners.

Deconstructing the Experience Ecosystem

So, the obvious question arises: How do you collaboratively design an Experience Ecosystem that drives conversations and results in close-knit communities?

You start by listening. Your customers, partners, and employees are talking to each other about you, often in public, and their conversations include a treasure trove of feedback about your Experience Ecosystem, along with ideas to improve it. In short, they offer clear signals as to how they will take ownership for the experiences and conversations that will drive your brand.

However, listening is only the first step. You also need to respond to these people and participate in these conversations, not with the intent to direct them in one direction or another, but with the intent to engage them and learn more. Over time, as you track these conversation threads, you should seek ways to build profiles for the people who are participating in these conversations, and identify which conversations, and which people specifically, are the most valuable to you.

Some of these conversation threads will involve responding to and converting prospects who are considering your products or services. Other conversation threads will relate to supporting existing customers seeking an explanation or a solution. Still other conversation threads will be about customers, prospects, partners or employees giving you feedback on your Experience Ecosystem.

In each of these cases, you should try to tie together related conversation threads to unleash the power of collaboration. A prospect considering your offering may benefit from the reviews and experiences of other customers. An existing customer might find that other customers have already shared useful tips on how to solve common problems. Finally, your customers, partners and employees can collaborate to find the best ideas to improve your products, services, and sales and support processes, or design entirely new ones.

Once you have collaboratively designed a talkworthy Experience Ecosystem, you should build community platforms to catalyze the formation of communities, and transform customers, partners and employees into evangelists.

The Social CRM Toolkit is Still Evolving

The toolkit to create an integrated talkworthy Experience Ecosystem is still evolving, but it’s already possible to connect the various activities described above, as my colleague Dave Evans recently pointed out in his October 2009 ClickZ column.

Social media monitoring tools like Radian6 and Visible Technologies already incorporate workstream elements. Not only that, Radian6 connects with Salesforce CRM, apart from Twitter. New tools like Buzzstream are designed for profiling and responding to influencers, and not just listening.

With Facebook, Twitter, OpenSocial and now LinkedIn offering robust APIs, it’s now possible to find or build powerful social applications that connect with other solutions in the toolkit and make sharing easier than ever before.

Collaboration solution vendors are an integral part of the mix because they enable your customers, partners and employees to collaborate and co-create innovative products and processes. I expect enterprise collaboration solutions like SocialText and Cynapse and ideation platforms like Accept Ideas and WebStorm to start offering integration with other applications.

Social commerce solutions like Bazaarvoice play an important role in the ecosystem by converting and cross-selling to customers and we should see such solutions offering more integration too.

CRM tool vendors are also expanding in both directions and introducing social media analytics and community features. Salesforce and RightNow now offer a full suite of community features including ideation, support and knowledge sharing and even connect with Twitter and Facebook. Apart from the integration with Radian6, Salesforce also supports integration with the Lithium community platform and customer support applications like Helpstream.

At the other end, community platform vendors like Jive, Lithium and Neighborhood America are also aggressively introducing social media analytics and social CRM features.

In Summary

It’s more important than ever to create a talkworthy Experience Ecosystem and the tools to enable it are quickly coming together. Organizations that develop the end-to-end view described above will use these tools in an integrated manner and win on the Social Web, while those who implement disconnected solutions on an ad-hoc basis will struggle. Integration, then, is the key to winning on the Social Web.

(This is an edited version of a guest post I wrote for the Marketing Practice Blog in October 2009.)

Update: Social CRM Resources

Since I wrote this post in October 2009, I have come across several interesting conversation threads about Social CRM. Here is a selection of some of the most useful resources I have found so far:

- Paul Greenberg puts a stake in the ground on Social CRM.

- Jeremiah Owyang starts a list of Social CRM vendors.

- Fabio Kipriani explains the benefits of social CRM.

- Lithium’s Chief Community Officer Joe Cothrel gives a great overview of the evolution of Social CRM.

I’ll be grateful if you will help me understand the Social CRM space better by sharing your favorite Social CRM resources in the comments.

Cross-posted at 2020 Social: Because Business is Social.

(Gaurav’s Note: This guest post is written by Karishma Daswani who is a human resource consultant. You can connect with Karishma on Twitter or LinkedIn. The copyright for all guest posts on Gauravonomics is help by the guest author.Write to gauravonomics@gmail.com to write a guest post on Gauravonomics.

I am a big believer in social recruiting myself. At least 4 people in the 12-person 20:20 Social team were recruited online, on social networks and blogs.)

HR professional are beginning to use social media in various ways, ‘Social Recruitment’ being the most prominent of them. Blogs and social networks have turned into fantastic recruiting mechanisms and organizations that are adept to change (management) have been quick to adopt these tools due to ease of use and low cost. Example: Ernst & Young uses Twitter and Facebook to hold public chats with candidates and Deloitte woos potential recruits through YouTube videos.

Social Recruitment is a two-way process which involves an online dialogue between the company and the candidate. Hence, the first and most important step to develop a successful social recruiting strategy for any organization is to analyze, build and monitor its online employer reputation. Several social media analytics tools like Radian6 allow companies to track conversations about them with ease. It is necessary to know the opinion in the market of an organization and also any issues that exist as these are considered more credible than the information found on the corporate career site. Job Vent, Jiibe, Jobvite and Glassdoor are other popular sites for understanding the expectations of people and how the HR practices of the company are fared in the candidate community.

Companies even cultivate a great employer brand that may be different from the corporate brand and reach a targeted audience of younger applicants. This helps attract the best talent as it establishes a transparency and gives candidates a fair idea of the ideals & culture of the organization. An excellent example of the use of social media in this case is ‘Microspotting’ – a blog for Microsoft which encompasses videos, a Twitter profile and a Flickr photostream.

After online reputation management, the next step for an organization’s HR practitioners is to form a team of Employee Brand Ambassadors. This team consists of people who are not just tech savvy but also ’social savvy’ . They are trained on understanding RSS, content portability and distribution, blog participation, creating and responding to forum threads, encouraging comments, microblogging effectively and understanding user patterns, site analytics and effectiveness .A Candidate Community Manager is responsible for how communication takes place for career opportunities, company culture, promotion of career events & highlighting of awards and news items.

The most basic, low cost and effective way to get to the ideal employee via social media is to have a creative job description on the company’s website and use email and social websites to share it, as nine out of ten times the best candidates are already in the employees’ network.  To add a personal touch to this it is apt to implement a Live Chat feature on the careers page so that candidates can contact the hiring manager directly incase of any questions. It’s also possible to do a quick background check before a face-to-face interview, using search engines, Facebook or LinkedIn.

Finally, Social Recruiting also helps promote diversity in hiring practices as a heterogeneous mix of candidates is present online and can be chosen on the basis of their experience, age and other factors.

Clearly, social media has proven to be a boon to HR practitioners making recruitment more convenient, effective and time-saving than ever before.

According to a Comscore report on social networking sites in India, visits to the site category increased 51 percent from the previous year to more than 19 million visitors in December 2008.

Orkut is still a strong #1 with 12.8 million visitors and a 81% growth over December 2007. Facebook is far behind with 4.0 million visitors, in spite of its impressive 150% growth. BharatStudent is a surprising #3 with 3.3 million visitors and a 88% growth.

Other international social networking sites Hi5, MySpace and LinkedIn also did well at #4, #6 and #7 with 2.0 million, 0.7 million and 0.5 million visitors and growths of 182%, 110% and 71% respectively.

The Indian social networking websites Ibibo and BigAdda, however, didn’t do well and fell down by 50% and 25% to 1.0 million and 0.4 million visitors respectively.

I’ll look at the Comscore data with suspicion because it excludes traffic from cyber cafes, an important venue for internet access in India.

Still, the data is mostly consistent with my analysis of search trends for social networking sites in India, with the exception of BharatStudent’s surprise #3 position. I knew that both Ibibo and BigAdda were struggling, in spite of refocusing on entertainment, but I thought BigAdda was struggling more. Part of the reason may be that Comscore has only released one month’s data but the traffic for Ibibo and BigAdda fluctuates based on their ad campaigns.

I expect the trend of international social networking websites gaining ground from Indian social networking websites to continue, because most Indian players in the space are mere me-too clones. As I said in my social media predictions for 2009, several Indian social networking websites will shut down in 2009, unless they reposition themselves as niche player.

Cross-posted at International Values and Communications Technologies.

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 –

– 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).

Why is Social Dynamics a Dimension of Differentiation?

I have already illustrated in my previous post how an offering that reflects the unique Indian social dynamics is likely to be well-adopted by Indian users –

Matrimonial sites like BharatMatrimony, JeevanSaathi and Shaadi are the Indian equivalent of international dating sites. A lot of my Indian friends who wouldn’t risk being seen on a dating site, use matrimonial sites basically to meet interesting people they can date (and, just maybe, marry).

In this post, I’ll share some numbers with you to illustrate how language and access are the other two dimensions of differentiation for Indian social networking sites.

Why is Language a Dimension of Differentiation?

According to various sources, the number of Internet users in India is estimated to be between 20mn and 30 mn. According to NRS 2006, the readership of English language newspaper is only 26 mn, less than 10% of the overall readership of newspapers in India. Given that English is the predominant language on Internet in India, is it any surprise that English language newspaper readership in India and Internet usage in India are in the same ballpark? Also, if you flip the numbers, vernacular language newspaper readership in India is ten times higher than English language readership in India. It’s probably reasonable to project that, if vernacular language Internet was to become popular in India, Internet usage in India will potentially increase tenfold.

Why is Access a Dimension of Differentiation?

According to TRAI, there are 250 mn mobile phones in India compared to only 3 mn broadband connections. It is also estimated that there are 38 mn mobile web users in India (note: I’m still searching for a reliable source). Even if we leave alone mobile web, 250 mn Indians have access to SMS compared to the 20 mn to 30 mn Indians who have access to Internet and the 3 mn Indians who have access to broadband. Not only that, mobile phone access is more widely distributed across both urban and urban Indian than Internet access. It’s quite a no-brainer, therefore, that web usage in India will be driven by the mobile web (with SMS integration) and not the PC web.

Early Signs: Micro-Blogging and Mobile-Blogging in India

While Twitter is still very niche in India, Indian micro-blogging networks like MyToday MOBS and Webaroo SMSGupShup have wide user bases –

‘We expect users in excess of 20 million before the end this year,” says Webaroo vice president Chirag Jain. (HT)

I’m sure that a large percentage of these 20 mn users will be passive users, who only receive messages instead of sending them. However, it’s no laughing matter that one micro-blogging service in India claims to have almost the same number of users as the entire Internet user base in India.

Expect more action in the micro-blogging and mobile-blogging space with Reliance and Nokia entering the space.

The Killer Indian Social Networking Site

So, what will the killer Indian social networking site be like?

I’m sure that the killer Indian social networking site will be differentiated along all the three dimensions of language, access and social dynamics –

- It will offer users a unique value based on Indian social dynamics beyond friending and following people.

- It will offer users deep content in a wide range of vernacular languages and not only English.

- It will offer users multiple access points, including PC web, mobile web, SMS (and maybe voice), so much so that most users won’t even think of it as a “website”.

What will the killer Indian social networking site be like, in your opinion?

Quick Summary: To 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.

- X – X – X -

According to a recent cover story in the Outlook Magazine, there are almost 10 mn users of social networking sites in India. Orkut has 7.1 mn users, Facebook 1.6 mn, BharatStudent 1.7mn, Fropper 1.0 mn, BigAdda 1.4 mn, Minglebox 0.6 mn, adding up to 13.4 mn (tweet). Add smaller social networks, factor in duplication across social networks, and the total user base for social networks in India may be ~10 mn (tweet).

As the number of Internet users in India is estimated at between 20 mn and 30 mn by most sources, at least one third of all Internet users in India now use a social network.

However, according to the IDC Value Web Matrix study, there are only 1.5 mn users for India focused web 2.0 startups, including social networks (you can find a good list of Indian web 2.0 startups at Prabhu’s blog). As the study includes enterprise-focused web 2.0 startups like Zoho, the number of users for social networking websites in India may be closer to 1 mn. I know that BharatStudent in itself claims to have 1.7 mn users, but that number looks overstated to most people I have spoken to. In any case, we can safely peg the number of users for Indian social networking sites between 1 mn and 2 mn.

Therefore, out of 10 mn social networking users in India only 1 mn to 2mn (only 10% to 20%) are on Indian social networking sites. Which begs the question: what’s wrong with Indian social networking sites (tweet)?

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

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 (tweet).

To illustrate my point, let me plot the 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 (tweet) –

Quadrant 1 (Global social dynamics and global user appeal): These are original concepts and tweaks with broad international appeal, Indian only because they are started by Indians (tweet). Examples include: Slideshare, Like, and my friend Shweta’s Criticat. Please note that most of these startups have a mix of Indian and foreign founders.

Quadrant 2 (Indian social dynamics and global user appeal): I couldn’t find an example of such a social network, but a yoga-centered social network based on the guru-shishya tradition would probably fall in this quadrant.

Quadrant 3 (Global social dynamics and Indian user appeal): These are India-focused Facebook/ MySpace/ Orkut/ LinkedIn clones. Most of the well-known Indian social networking sites would fall in this quadrant.

Quadrant 4 (Indian social dynamics and Indian user appeal): These are original concepts & tweaks with niche Indian appeal. So far, I have been able to find only two examples. BabaJob – a Bangalore-based professional social network for household help – taps into the unique Indian dependence on household help (tweet). Sumitr allows you to create a password-protected, closed-wall private network for family members and close friends.

Over time, such social networking sites that reflect the unique nature of relationships in the Indian society are more likely to build an unique identity and a broad Indian user base for themselves. Otherwise, most of the Indian users of social networking sites will continue to flock to Facebook/ MySpace/ Orkut/ LinkedIn and not their Indian clones.

Do you know of any other Indian social networking sites that are built on uniquely Indian needs and sensibilities (tweet)?

- X – X – X -

Update: March 12

Ideasmith raises a very important point regarding Indian matrimonial websites in the comments section –

I’ve a suggestion for Quadrant 2 – the matrimonial sites. Or don’t you consider them social networks?

In fact, when I started writing this post, my starting point was that matrimonial websites — like BharatMatrimony, JeevanSaathi and Shaadi — are the Indian equivalent of international dating sites. A lot of my Indian friends who wouldn’t risk being seen on a dating site, use matrimonial sites basically to meet interesting people they can date (and, just maybe, marry). Ideasmith has a valid point. Matrimonial websites are also social networks — you create a profile, you browse or search for other people with similar interests and you connect with them online or offline. Except that I’ll classify matrimonial websites in quadrant 4 (Indian social dynamics and Indian user appeal), which means that my case that Indian social networking sites need to reflect the unique nature of relationships in the Indian society just became stronger.

Quick Summary: A number of good quality marketing, public relations & social media blogs in India form a mature niche now.

- X – X – X –

I recently compiled my list of social media agencies in India to highlight the high level of activity I’m suddenly seeing in that niche.

Another related area where I’m suddenly seeing very high level of good quality activity is in the marketing, public relations & social media blogs niche in India.

Not very long back, I had mentioned that Gauravonomics Blog was one of the five Indian blogs on the AdAge Power150 list. Today, as many as fifteen Indian blogs can be on that list.

The blogs included in this list are not only written by marketing, public relations, or social media practitioners, they are also focused on these topics. Blogs on unrelated topics written by marketing, public relations, or social media practitioners are not included in the list.

The main objective of the list is to develop a sense of community in the niche. This is the reason why I have added blogger profiles on Facebook/ LinkedIn/ Twitter wherever possible. This is also the reason why I have structured this list alphabetically (by author name) and not as a ranking. Agency blogs and multi-author blogs are listed separately.

At the end I also have a list of marketing, public relations and social media practitioners who should blog on these topics, but don’t.

- X – X – X –

A

- No Man’s Blog

Author: Asi Sharabi, London. Creative Strategist at POKE. Facebook and LinkedIn.

Topics: Marketing, advertising, social media.

- Le Trou de Lapin

Author: Ajit Narayan, Bangalore. Dream Merchant at Bates Asia 141. LinkedIn.

Topics: Marketing, advertising, social media.

- X – X – X –

B

- X – X – X –

C

- X – X – X –

D

- Conversations with Dina

Author: Dina Mehta, Delhi. Managing Director at Mosoci. Facebook and LinkedIn.

Topics: Marketing, advertising, social media.

- X – X – X –

E

- X – X – X –

F

- X – X – X –

G

- Gauravonomics Blog

Author: Gaurav Mishra, Mumbai. Assistant General Manager (Brand Head Indica) at Tata Motors. Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Topics: Marketing, technology, social media.

- X – X – X –

H

- Marketing Practice

Author: Harish B Nair, Cochin. Assistant Professor at School of Communication and Management Studies (SCMS-Cochin). LinkedIn.

Topics: Marketing, advertising, social media.

- X – X – X –

I

- X – X – X –

J

- X – X – X –

K

- X – X – X –

L

- X – X – X –

M

- India Ad Rant

Author: Manish Sinha, Mumbai. Vice President (Strategy & Digital Initiatives) at Bates Asia. LinkedIn.

Topics: Marketing, advertising, new media.

- X – X – X –

N

- X – X – X –

O

- X – X – X –

P

- From the World of Media

Author: P V Harikrishnan. Senior Editor at OneIndia and That’s Malayalam.

Topics: Media.

- Social Media Munching

Author: Palin Ningthoujam, Delhi. Group Manager (New Businesses, Strategy & Creative Content) at Corporate Voice Weber Shandwick. Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Topics: Social media, public relations.

- X – X – X –

Q

- X – X – X –

R

- Free 2 Try

Author: Ravi Kiran, Mumbai.

Topics: Marketing, advertising, social media.

- Rajesh @ Blogworks

Author: Rajesh Lalwani, Delhi. Founder at Blogworks. Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Topics: Public relations, marketing, social media.

- The PR Educational Ramp

Author: Rajiv Harjai, Delhi. Student at Leeds Metropolitican University.

Topics: Public relations.

- Youth Curry – Insights on Indian Youth

Author: Rashmi Bansal, Mumbai. CEO, EURO RSCG India. Editor and Publisher of youth magazine JAM. LinkedIn.

Topics: Marketing, advertising, general.

- Tissue Issue

Author: Roop Mukhopadhyay, Bangalore. Strategic Planning Director at Bates David Enterprise. LinkedIn.

Topics: Marketing, advertising.

- X – X – X –

S

- Inquiring Eyes

Author: Saurabh Sharma, Beijing. Strategic Planning Director at Ogilvy & Mather. LinkedIn.

Topics: Marketing, advertising, management.

- Pixel Plans

Author: Shalabh Pandey, Delhi. Regional Director (Asia Pacific) at Zed Digital. Facebook and LinkedIn.

Topics: Marketing, advertising, social media.

- Sycamore World

Author: Saurabh Pandey, Delhi. Deputy General Manager (Marketing Communication and Portal) at Bharti Airtel. LinkedIn.

Topics: Marketing, advertising, social media.

- Just Thinking

Author: Suman Srivastava, Mumbai. CEO, EURO RSCG India. LinkedIn.

Topics: Marketing, advertising, agency blog.

- X – X – X –

T

- X – X – X –

U

- Desi Creative

Author: Unknown

Topics: Advertising, marketing.

- Branding Unleashed

Author: Unknown

Topics: Marketing, advertising, social media.

- Random Ramblings

Author: Unknown

Topics: Marketing, advertising, general.

- Random Ramblings

Author: Unknown

Topics: Marketing, advertising, general.

- X – X – X –

V

- Marketology-Emerging Trends!!!

Author: Vandana Ahuja, Delhi. Member of Advisory Council at Customerthink Corp. LinkedIn.

Topics: Marketing, advertising, social media.

- X – X – X –

W

- X – X – X –

X

- X – X – X –

Y

- X – X – X –

Z

- X – X – X –

Agency Blogs

- The Online Agency Blog

Author: Rage Communications, Chennai.

Topics: Marketing, agency blog.

- X – X – X –

Group Blogs

- India PR Blog

Author: Multiple authors.

Topics: Public relations.

- Thot Blurb – The Indian Planning Collective

Author: Multiple authors.

Topics: Marketing, advertising.

- WATBlog

Author: Rajiv Dingra (and team), Mumbai. Founder & CEO at WATConsult. Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Topics: Marketing, technology, social media.

- X – X – X –

Finally, here are some bloggers from the marketing, public relations & social media industry who I would like to see blogging more about this niche –

- Rama Bijapurkar, Mumbai. Marketing Consultant and Author.

- Dhivya Subramanian, Bangalore. Millward Brown. Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

- X – X – X –

Like any other list or directory, this list of marketing, public relations & social media blogs in India is also work-in-progress.

If you want to have a blog included in the list, please leave a comment below in the following format –

- Blog name and link
- Author name, professional background and Facebook/ LinkedIn/ Twitter profile links
- Blog coverage topics

Similarly, if you want me to add/ update/ correct any information in the directory, please leave a comment below.