Hasta La Creative!

Digital Marketer from Google, Bharti Airtel and Zdnetindia.com; Saurabh Pandey is a technology and media enthusiast. Saurabh runs his own blog at http://www.atomthought.com and is currently writing a book: ‘Social Media Marketing-Illustrated and Actionable Steps for Digital Marketers’.

Why are we on Linked-In but not on Apnacircle or brijj?
I guess it’s not just one single ‘thing’ but a mix of many factors that influence us to join a specific social media site.
In a nutshell, and in a more organised lingo, we choose to be on a social networking site largely because of:

1. Presence of Opinion Leaders
2. Presence of a large no. of Our Type of people,
3. Opportunity to Collaborate and Co-create or achieve an objective   and
4. Tools to collaborate and co-create efficiently and effectively

Once we are comfortable with the above we then slowly create our own network, and reputation within that Social Platform.
Now, creating a network and reputation takes time and effort. Remember how much time it took you to reach that 500 contacts landmark in LinkedIn?
That’s precisely why anyone would think twice before just latching on to just another social network. This makes things really difficult for any new entrant. And that’s why it’s important to be either the ‘first’ or the most ‘disruptive’ in order to win members.
So, what happens now in India? Now that there are already so many of Social Networks, how does a new Social Platform survive?
Needless to say Indian Social Networks have largely been ‘followers’ and have failed to create need driven technological innovation or disruption. This is sadly true in most of the internet verticals.
Anyways broadly I have always maintained that Social Networks should excel at making the conversations among users most efficient-through the use of tools, technology, applications and co-creation opportunities. There is still a gap here, and there is still an opportunity here!
We shall understand the above in slightly greater detail as we move further.

So what’s the story of Big Adda and Ibibo?
(more…)