Category: India

  • Pro Social

    No, this is not about me being gung ho about social networks, this is more about job search portals and social networks for business, specifically LinkedIn.

    The context is that i saw a huge ad of Shine (HT’s new jobsite) in the paper today, and my inbox had a mail that asked me to check out ‘Where is my boss’. Shine has a contest running promising the winner a month’s salary. They’re also doing a salary survey, whose results are promised soon – finally, scientific proof that i am underpaid 😉

    I’m not sure where exactly WIMB is being pitched. The site says “Get instant interview calls from Bosses all over the world! Set your online status as Available for live interviews.” Wonder if it’ll actually happen. Otherwise, the features seem to be the same as what a naukri/monster gives.

    Like this post mentioned, I also wondered why HT would seek to create a new brand, especially when it has something running in the same genre. One possibility is that they want this to be seen beyond a normal job classifieds poral. This is perhaps validated by what they say on the page “We recognize that your job is an integral part of your career, but we believe that your career is far bigger than the job itself! It is more about gaining the right perspective, building your skills and enhancing competency. And that’s what Shine is all about! ” Hmm, that makes it a wannabe LinkedIn, but stopping short of networking.

    So, what works? I still think all of them serve their purpose. When one is looking for a job, any job in their category (and there are tonnes of people who do just that) the portals like naukri/monster would work fine. However, if one is pretty clear about the specifics of the job he’s looking for, then a site like LinkedIn will help him connect with the right people. LinkedIn’s ‘questions’ and discussions also helps air one’s views on topics of interest, thereby adding flavor to a normal resume.

    I’m not quite sure if the normal social networks can be a serious threat to a job networking site. To me, its a problem of context. I’m on FB to play scrabble, poke friends, join the Bollywood group etc. Yes, it does tell a person a lot about me, but is that the kind of info a person would be looking for while hiring? Doesn’t a LinkedIn fit the bill much better?

    Until next time, or is it social pro 🙂

    PS. If Yahoo decided to launch Shine in India, wouldn’t the existing shine take its shine off?

  • Interesting Times

    All my favourite sites absolutely trashed Indiatimes’ attempts at social networking – ITimes. I didn’t log into the site myself, and I doubt if i will, until either something drastic happens to facebook or itimes brings in such a revolutionary feature that it totally blows me out of my stasis. And from what I read in the Contensutra article, that has not happened, at least not yet. To be fair, though the reviews have been scathing, I saw some comments at Contentsutra, which gave iTimes a chance.

    I’m sure the Times group will soon launch a blitzkrieg to promote the site through print, radio, mobile, Indiatimes which pretty much covers media options. Oh, okay Times OOH, Zoom, Times Now also, happy? The possibilities are endless, from using social media as a platform to fight serious issues (and campaigns like Lead India) (Read this) to building Bollywood/fashion based communities based on Zoom content and everything in between. The only snag is how much of good integration have we seen with the existing properties?

    The WATBlog post mentions how internationally, its usually the tech guys who build web properties and the big media guys come in later. I think it has a lot to do (sigh, again) with interent access. The internet has been adopted by the mass there, and they can actually build a brand on the web. But lack of penetration here means that either the techies need huge pockets and backing (eg.Ibibo – Naspers) or they have to wait for a looong time for the critical mass – revenues. The alternate scenario is happening where a media company has the money and the media (reach) to promote a web property. The problem, i guess is when they use existing/sub standard resources, and apply learnings from other media, which just won’t work.

    In the larger picture, remember that HT bought Desi Martini, so we might see the same players fighting on a different platform. And so, while it does sound like an Apple platform for news sharing, we’re in for some interesting times.

    until next time, whats next twitimes? 😉

  • The future of the Internet in India

    is mobile. That’s a feeling I’ve been getting for quite sometime. Take a look at the figures

    Internet – 46 million according to the iCube report 2007

    Mobile – 250 miilion, according to TRAI

    I read two articles today which pushed me in this direction. One was Indiagames’ new mobile distribution deal, and the other was TringMe opening up its API for developers. While the first supports the title of the post, the second might seem contra, but i feel the development will happen more on the mobile front.

    From a consumer standpoint, i see a convenience factor. While I am more a web fan than a mobile one, the sheer fact that i always have my mobile with me as opposed to my broadband connection explains the accessibility parameter. Yes, the amount of stuff i can access, and the small screen are deterrents, but i feel its a matter of time before that gets resolved. And yes, Facebook’s on Blackberry too, so…. 🙂

    From a brand point of view, while the net does give a filtered reach, the population which would use the net on mobile would be just as filtered. Most of the stuff being done on the net, from vanilla contests to rich applications, I’m sure can be adapted to the mobile platform. And what better platform for a brand than an always on consumer’s mobile? Unlike the net, I can push stuff onto the consumer (all those malls now proclaim ‘Bluetooth Zone’. I dont think they’re aiming at my laptop, maybe because i wasnt carrying it?)

    A convergence will happen, and for now, unless broadband suddenly starts coming out of taps, in India, it sees like the offspring will look more like a mobile than a comp. Wht d u thnk?

    until next time, mob justice?

  • Sab Kuch Mobile main?

    A few days back, it was announced that Airtel and Google had come together to launch Airtel Live.  Since I’ve not been there myself, I’ll take their word for it in terms of quality and the value for customers. Sometime back, the launch of  Google search on Airtel had helped a lot of TV channel sales guys meet their targets. 🙂

    Around the same time, there was also the news of Yahoo and Reliance continuing their association with oneSearch being made available on Reliance. Yahoo Mail and Yahoo messenger were already available. Other services that users can avail of are financial news, Yahoo Answers, Flickr, Wikipedia etc. Its relevant to note that Yahoo also has deals going on with Idea, BSNL among others. At this stage, I’m guessing that this is only applicable to GPRS sets. Meanwhile, its also interesting to note that Reliance’s IPTV dreams will be powered by Microsoft’s platform, though with the dismal broadband penetration, this is a very long term game.

    So, what we’re seeing is good old convergence, not just of content and platforms, but the providers also.  AOL, Rediff- anything happening yet? Reliance has been releasing its blog ads for sometime now. Its quite a neatly made ad, which keeps the message simple. And for the last couple of days, I’ve seen a new ad being aired (damn page refuses to load, though), one thats co branded- Reliance and Yahoo, and thats for messenger. Its again a very simple, neat ad, which clearly succeeds in communicating the message. There’s also some (though not very large) push being given by Yahoo online though a contest where you can win Moto handsets by logging on to YM through your Reliance mobile.

    So Reliance will blog on its own and use Yahoo for services, for which Yahoo has already made a name for itself. Smart. I wonder where all this is going though? Moblogging has been on for quite sometime, without any of these guys being involved.  While this may help broaden the base of bloggers (thanks to the Reliance reach), is there a value add that I get by choosing Reliance blogs over say, blogger? The SMS, MMS also cost a bit, anyway. So, I wonder… Anyone care to educate?

    until next time, a digital maze

  • Fooling around

    Other than the regular dose of pranks that say, the print medium does, the digital medium is also becoming quite a treasure trove. The stuff thats being done on print is becoming quite stale which its bound to be since people are expecting a prank, so its really a creativity or more aptly an imagination issue, and since today’s papers leave very little to it……. (Incidentally, Bangalore Times attempted a Saif-Bebo marriage prank, which, during the day became a confirmed fact. To asli fool kaun hain?)Before we get to the point, here are a few links –  this is a very good take and this and this, i’m sure are pranks, though one can never be sure with these guys.

    Now, i got mails from two digital entities on this auspicious day. One was from Contests2Win and the other from Times Jobs. Going by past records, I would’ve expected C2W’s efforts to easily upstage those of Times, who except for the ‘upload CV directly from the banner’ ad have not done anything spectacular. But i was in for a surprise, but I’ll let you judge. This is the C2W video – Ravan ki Kahani, and this is from the Times – Foolmaal.

    Ravan ki Kahani took potshots at everyone’s favourite target – Rakhi. It was exactly what they wished – a very stupid April Fool’s day, though i wonder if they really wished for that. The problem was that there was no context, perfectly valid on the day, if the work itself attempted to fool you, and the end result was the context, but this was just an almost funny video, but yes, they did make an effort, there are loads of entities who didn’t even attempt. Incidentally it is also “Today’s Top Video” on Rediff’s iShare. Definitely not bad publicity 🙂

    Foolmaal is based on the old Golmaal *ing Utpal Dutt and Amol Palekar. In this take UD tries to fool AP in many ways on April 1st using income tax raids, throwing a belt and screaming ‘snake’ among other things. AP doesn’t fall for any, and when UD screams at him in frustration, he shows him his salary cheque and says ‘what to do, sir, ever since i’ve started working in your organisation, being a fool has become a habit’. The execution has been done very well with the voices and character expressions mimicked very well. More importantly, it ties in extremely well with the ‘Stuck in a low paying job’ communication line that Times Jobs is following. The context is there, the humour is good, and the characters are ones which have already stayed in your memory for sometime. Even if you are not Bollywood lovers, and dont know the characters, the humour still works, though at a layer lower. But for a nation obsessed with Bollywood, its a safe bet. And thats why i think its a great effort from Times Jobs.

    until next time, foolfilled 🙂