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 –
– 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).
Filed in Desi Web 2.0, Graphs, Internet, Mobile, Noteworthy, Social Media, Trendspotting
|
Also tagged BharatMatrimony, Desi-Web-2.0, Facebook, Graphs, I-CUBE, India, Internet, Internet Penetration, JeevanSaathi, Like, LinkedIn, MingleBox, Mobile, Mobile Blogging, MySpace, MyToday, Nokia, Noteworthy, NRS, Orkut, Readership, Reliance, Shaadi, SMS, SMSGupShup, Social Media, Social Network, Social-Networking, Social-Networks, TRAI, Trendsotting, Vernacular, Webaroo
|
Permalink
|
Sunday, February 17th, 2008
Yours truly was quoted today in a very well-researched Hindustan Times article on micro-blogging in India.
Twitter, a popular microblogging service abroad, recently introduced an India number. Says Biz Stone, Twitter’s co-founder, “The people of India are very sophisticated when it comes to using SMS to stay connected.”
In Mumbai, Twitter recently inspired a ‘tweetup’, when Gaurav Mishra, a marketing professional and an “early adopter of technology”, wrote out a post saying “Blog meets are so passé. I want a Mumbai Twitter meet.”
The article covers the entire spectrum of the micro-blogging space in India, from Twitter to MyToday MOBS and Webaroo SMSGupShup to the Reliance m-blog and Nokia N-Series m-blog.
The article also has quotes from Ideasmith, Veer, Kiran, Rajesh and Biz Stone.
Here is the full text of the article —
Blogging by SMS, new rage in cool India
Neha Tara Mehta, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, February 17, 2008
Filed in Mobile Blogging, Noteworthy, Press
|
Also tagged m-blogs, Mainstream-Media-Mentions, Mobile Blogging, MOBS, MyToday, Netcore, Nokia, Noteworthy, Rajesh-Jain, Reliance, SMSGupShup, Twitter, Webaroo
|
Permalink
|
Wednesday, November 7th, 2007
Dave Winer hits the bull’s eye on Twitter’s business model –
Twitter’s destiny is, imho, to be acquired by a phone company and sold as a feature that gives users a reason to use one brand of phone over another.
Imagine if Nokia offered a cell phone with Twitter built-in, a checkbox for SMS users (default on?) — “Do you want to send SMS messages to your buddy list?”
Don’t you think the kids would go for that?
I agree with Dave that contextual tag footers on Twitter will be lame. All mobile companies I meet tell me that tag footers work, but I’m far from convinced.
What do you think? About tag footers on SMSes? About tag footers on Twitter?
Filed in Internet, Marketing, Trendspotting
|
Also tagged Asides, Contextual-Ads, Dave-Winer, Mobile, Mobile-Advertising, Nokia, SMS, Tag-Footers, The-Next-Marketing-Guru, Trendspotting, Twitter, Wannabe-Web-Millionaire
|
Permalink
|
Sunday, November 4th, 2007
People who have been following me on Twitter know that I’m semi-addicted to it (in bursts).
I totally love the scope of what Twitter allows me to do; what I don’t like is that it doesn’t allow me to send updates from my mobile phone using an Indian number.
Enter chittR, India’s own micro-blogging service, with broadly the same set of features that Twitter started with. You can send and receive updates from web, IM and mobile. You can also follow other people’s updates and track who is following your updates.
It’s only a start, however and the team behind chittR needs to ask themselves three questions -
- How to give people who are already using Twitter a reason to start using chittR?
One reason can be the ability to send updates to an Indian mobile number. The other reason can be a very cool Indian themed design. The third reason can be the presence of lots of friends who are not on Twitter.
- How to improve user-experience, especially for those who are already using Twitter?
Tuesday, October 30th, 2007
Photo by Edtya
If you read marketing blogs, you couldn’t have missed the recent buzz on MediaSnackers.
MediaSnackers are (mostly young) people who snack on media, or consume it in small chunks. The 90 sec video on the MediaSnackers website serves as a good introduction to the idea. While the idea itself is not a new one, the packaging - and the catchphrase - is great, and has been rewarded with a meme dedicated to it.
The “Do you respect MediaSnackers?” meme started by Jeremiah Owyang asks bloggers how they are dealing with the low attention spans of their audiences. The meme has spread wide with the participation of many marketing and PR bloggers.
Here are my three quick thoughts on MediaSnackers:
- First, MediaSnacking is about attitude, not about age.
We snack for various reasons: because we don’t have time for a full meal, because snacks are easier to digest, because we simply like snacking. While MediaSnacking may come more naturally to the young, older people who are starved for time and weighed down with information are as likely to turn to it.
Filed in Internet, Marketing, Novice Blogger, Trendspotting
|
Also tagged Facebook, Google-Reader, MediaSnackers, Memes, micro-blogs, micro-media, Novice Blogger, photostreams, podcasts, The-Next-Marketing-Guru, Trendspotting, Twitter, vodcasts, Wannabe-Web-Millionaire, YouTube
|
Permalink
|
I met up with my old friend Aditya at Prithvi Cafe yesterday evening. Aditya and I have been friends since our IIM-B days, and I’ll always think of him as one person who didn’t disown me when everybody else had, during a particularly painful period involving (what else?) a bad break-up.
Aditya has become something of a technology evangelist since we last met and spend his time judging business plan contest at IITs and participating in seminars on technology and entrepreneurship.
Over yummy aloo paratha rolls, I had the most stimulating time talking with him about how Google is going to transform traditional advertising with AdWords (my plug) and how mobile search is going to be the cause of Google’s downfall (his plug).
We also ended up talking about why podcasts haven’t taken off in the same way as blogs have and here’s my theory.
Podcasts are to radio what blogs are to newspapers and the only way to answer the “why podcast over blog?” question is to answer the “why radio over newspaper?” and “why blog over newspaper?” questions.
Filed in Internet, Marketing, Novice Blogger
|
Also tagged AdWords, Audio-search, Google, IIM-B, Mobile-Search, Podcasting, Prithvi-Theatre, Twitter, Video-Blogging
|
Permalink
|