Social Networks on the Rise in India
Both portals qualify as social content sharing platforms, allowing users share videos, music, pictures, and more...
The year 2007 has seen the launch of several new social networking Web sites targeting the youth in this country.
Two such newbies: iShare, launched by Rediff in July, and the very recent BigAdda, launched by Reliance ADAG.
Both portals qualify as social content sharing platforms, allowing users share videos, music, pictures, and more. They combine elements of various sites including Orkut, Youtube, Flickr, and Limewire, to name a few.
Yet, they aspire to be more than just platforms for people to catch up with pals or find dates online. An increasing number of people are actually looking towards these sites as more than just meeting ground.
One such aspect, video sharing, is gaining currency the world over. For instance, aspiring music artists get to showcase their work by uploading their videos. Others in turn, get to know of the existence of diverse and varied talent.
Portraying their Web site as one such multi-faceted destination, Manish Agarwal, vice president of marketing, Rediff, said, "Rediff iShare, unlike most of the social networking sites, does not depend on "boy meet girl" or "missing friend"; rather, it connects users sharing the same passion. After finding the content they like, users can connect with users who've uploaded that content or viewed that content to share some kind of connect."
Rediff iShare claims it has managed to hook nearly 1 million users in just a month and a half. BigAdda meanwhile, is looking at hooking close to 10 million users by 2010.
Both iShare and BigAdda claim to exist for an Indian audience. However, that does not take away from the competition they face from international players like Google and Yahoo!.
What Nikhil Soman, chief technology officer of Bigadda, had to say about this is: "As an Indian Youth Network with Indian sensibilities, allowing identity creation, self expression, and community building through text, photo, video, and other multi-media platforms and devices, we focus on the available Indian population, which itself is a global market."
Meanwhile, Google's YouTube, which is undoubtedly the most widely used video sharing Web site in the world, allows users not just to upload and share videos but also to download them onto their PCs. This feature is lacking in our home-grown social networking sites, for oft cited copyright reasons.
All said, online social networking is becoming increasingly popular across the globe and across India, and is increasingly driving time spent on the Internet.
Rediff's Manish Agarwal believes that the entry of new players in the market will only help further accelerate growth of Internet in India.
Reportedly, the Internet user base in the country is poised to grow to 100 million from a current base of 40 million, and the percentage of users adopting social networks is also expected to rise from the current 13 percent to nearly 25 percent.
USER COMMENTS
VIEW ALL LATEST
iPhone 3G Price Revealed
Vodafone has revealed the official price of the iPhone 3G. You are not going to like it ...
Coming Soon: IE8 With 'Porn Mode'?
Microsoft has reportedly included a private browsing mode in the Beta 2 version of Internet Explorer 8, referred to as the 'porn mode'. ...
Intel Adds 22nm CPUs to Processor Roadmap
Intel has revealed plans to release 'Ivy Bridge' as the first 22nm chip in 2011, and follow it up with the 22nm microarchitecture, codenamed Haswell, carrying 8-cores in 2012. ...
Solar-Tie for Charging Cellphones
Iowa State University researchers have developed a solar-powered tie that can be used to charge cell phones. ...
RComm Enters the DTH Business
Reliance ADA Group has entered the DTH business in the country with its DTH venture Big TV, which promises to bring 200 channels to customers in the initial phase. ...
MOST REQUESTED REVIEWS
Internet NEWS
|
Google, Others Keen On 'White Space'Google believes opening up the white space spectrum to unlicensed use could... |
|
Magazines Are Passe, Try Mygazines.ComEven before the peer-to-peer sharing site could make a splash, lawsuits have... |
|
An Online Revolt in TurkeyTurkish bloggers are staging a virtual revolution to condemn cyber censorship... |
Internet REVIEWS
|
Opera 9.5 - Now leaner and meaner!Reviews | Software | Internet | 13 Jul 2008 Opera is more than just a browser. It's a browser, email client, rss reader,... |
|
Firefoxing away to Version 3Reviews | Software | Internet | 06 Jul 2008 The enhancements to the latest version though not revolutionary are certainly... |
|
Tata Indicom Plug 2 SurfReviews | Peripherals | Networking | 11 Oct 2007 One internet connection device for your laptop as well as desktop PC |
Internet USER REVIEWS
|
BSNL Broadband Service BSNL Broadband ReviewInternet | BSNL Broadband Service | Sun, 24 Jun 2007 If you're contemplating on getting a new broadband service for yourself, and... |
|
TATA INDICOM BROADBANDInternet | TATA INDICOM | Tue, 27 Mar 2007 |
MOST POPULAR NEWS
MOST POPULAR REVIEWS
MOST POPULAR GAMES
MOST POPULAR DOWNLOADS
|
MiniLyrics... |
|
Sony Ericsson update| System Tools | ... |
|
Satsuki Decoder Pack| Multimedia Tools | ... |
Just read all the comments & went through sites mentioned on this page, but what i liked most was the new concept by ravi frm Chandigarh about pencilji.com a different concept targeting the same audience but in a different way. atleast not "JUST ANOTHER SITE". it seems that a lot of stuff needs to be uploaded on the site but i liked the new concept.
Neha | Bangalore | 10/12/07 09:50 AM | Report abuse Reply
Well apart from ishare and bigadda, there is gokut.com which is completely best out of these two. I just came across and i couldnt stop myself from being a member because of great looks and nice interface.
Raja | Delhi | 28/09/07 04:17 AM | Report abuse Reply
youtube does not have that feature upfront to download the videos!!!
Akela | Pune | 28/09/07 01:11 AM | Report abuse Reply
big adda a complete crappy site ..cant imagine how long they will spend on ads and imagine to be challenging orkut
desi buddy | hyderabad | 10/09/07 02:41 PM | Report abuse Reply
I would prefer the new startup www.pencilji.com, that allows students to sell, buy, request used books, notes and papers. It seems more relevant and attempts to fills in a void that existed.
Ravi | Chandigarh | 05/09/07 09:06 AM | Report abuse Reply
crappppppppppppppppppppppp
B007 | mumbhai | 02/09/07 07:48 PM | Report abuse Reply
What is the use of such social networking, if you don't have rapport with folks at home and do not even know the name of your neighbour??????
Ulhas | Nagpur | 01/09/07 11:58 AM | Report abuse Reply
tell me about it, b4 u know u get spammed by some1 about some new stupid indian social network website. How much more cliche can it b. I hate these websites. TOTALLY !!!!
ORB | Hyd | 31/08/07 08:18 PM | Report abuse Reply
hmmm ..ok time to try new one .. :)
sanjay | pune | 31/08/07 05:58 PM | Report abuse Reply
but will they be able to replace charm of orkut?
gaurav | pune | 31/08/07 05:56 PM | Report abuse Reply