• 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?

  • Paradox

    There are times, usually on those starlit nights, when one realises the insignificance of his own self in the context of the cosmos’ vast expanses. But then one sees events around him, considers his own actions, the effects it has on others, and the butterfly effect that starts from then on, and realises his significance.

    until next time, signatures in the annals of time

  • Social Icing

    Continuing from what i wrote earlier, the social networks we’re familiar with (assuming you don’t use our friendly neighbourhood sites – cyworld, qq, mixi) have a revenue mix of ads and virtual goods. However, as the chart below will show you, this is not the only way to monetise a social network, as the chart below will show you.

    clipboard01.jpg

    Courtesy – http://www.plus8star.com/ 

    Now, should that make our familiar networks hmm, disoriented? :D. Not exactly, because the population is there, even if its lesser than the other sites. The word of caution, is that the audience reaction to monetisation can never really be predicted.

    Social media is indeed popular, though it is felt that it lacks metrics which are so important for monetisation.That however, has not stopped brands from using the networks in a variety of ways. From making groups to building applications and so on, brands have cashed in on the network’s popularity to hook the customer on one more platform. This, for example is a post on social media marketing strategies.

    The common newspaper ad sales motto is that they lease their relationship with their customers to paying third parties. While the digital scene has diverged from traditional media in a lot of ways, I’m not quite sure why this can’t be made true for social media. I agree that a lot of applications are also a value addition to the site since they keep the visitors glued, but that can’t be the case always.

    For instance, look at this application on Facebook by Coca Cola. I doubt if Facebook is making any money from Coke. But the basic questions are ‘Whose platform is Coke using?’ and ‘Whose audience is Coke using?’. And so, why can’t this be a way for Facebook to make money? By all means, allow developers to make applications, but if brands are involved, no harm in asking them to pay. Use part of the revenues to keep users happy by providing better features. That’d be the icing.

    until next time, socialism 2.0

  • Evolution, or is it?

    I read a couple of posts which made me think about this issue – social media’s role in the human mind’s evolution. What started out on  a tangential note here (tangential only because of the context change, on its own its definitely a compelling thought) was given this direction here.

    The idea as expressed quite clearly in the first post’s title is ‘has asking become a substitute for thinking?’ The second post takes it on further and explains how asking for information, that otherwise ‘almost redundant’ info which could have been easily gathered anyway, is asked for, and not gathered, thanks to the proliferation of networks like Twitter.

    Well, this ‘asking’ has been a common phenomenon in the workplace for quite some time, in the garb of ‘info sharing’ and otherwise, only with the advent of the web, the questions are now asked to a collective, the vast expanses of the www. It reminds of something I’d read a while back which basically said that if God could be equated to a collective consciousnes, then perhaps the internet is our first baby step towards reaching God.  And if that is the case, then (like i commented in the second post) this outsourcing of info collection to a collective is perhaps a way of evolving i.e. by crunching the time for ‘lower’ level problems, we will find more resources to tackle the bigger riddles of life. But that could be just wishful thinking,eh?

    Meanwhile, if the crowd is going to supply the info, then it becomes all the more important for brands to be tuned in and be able to ensure that the crowd has enough data, and the right emotions towards the brand. Because going by this trend, the new age consumer will stop doing what he does these days – painstakingly gather information about his next purchase.

    until next time, click away

  • Thus began April

    She answered the doorbell, and told him he was wanted. In his foggy early morning state, he reached the door and found a woman blinking at him. He blinked right back. To diffuse the stalemate he asked what she wanted. She said his wife had told her to wait while she sent the waste outside.

    until next time, not fool’s proof