Tag: MySpace

  • Spacing Out

    So, MySpace is planning a formal launch in April. I had written about them earlier, when they were doing the Campus Star thing with Channel V. Maybe the idea was to get in the seed users from the audience category they expect/want. This is also a case of going after Youngistan then 🙂 But this is a neat way of doing beta testing.

    Not a bad start then, because they have apparently got some 62000 users registered on IndiHub, which is a community they’d created. From what i saw, it mainly had to do with the music scene, and what has been called ‘Indian programs’. The site does have quite some Indian bands’ videos and songs. I checked Thermal and a Quarter, which is a popular Bangalore band, and it already has over 200 comments. I also happened to check for Galeej gurus, another well known Bangalore band, and found them too, though with lesser comments. Similar with Motherjane.

    With Orkut and Facebook having a major presence already, MySpace will have to find radically different ways of reaching out to their core audience, and college/other music bands definitely fit the bill. If they take over this space, which currently has no owners, they could swing a good and loyal audience their way. The other good part is, it is a good way to become a part of college fests. eg. If Galeej Gurus are going to play at IIM-B’s fest, (and they’re going to know that well in advance), MySpace can actually have communication at the venue saying visit Galeej Gurus at My Space, blog about your experience at IIM-B, connect with other fans, find out where they’re playing next and so on, instead of going about the ‘online partner’ logo way. The idea is obvious- build communities around stuff which evoke passion. The brand then becomes very contextual, relevant, and therefore something which one would immediately want to asssociate with.

    I wonder if they’re also planning the same trick with a more mass commodity – Bollywood, because in the videos’ space, i saw an exlusive interview with Ranvir Sheorey, and a Mithya trailer. This can be another great community builder. Imagine the movies’ trailers having a mention of MySpace in the same ‘Galeej Gurus’ fashion above. Exclusive interviews, trailers, chats with actors, more importantly actresses :D, downloads of wallpapers, ringtones etc – in essence, a Bollywood Hungama in a social networking milieu. Do this for every major movie that releases, actually the non major ones too, after all, its Bollywood and I’m waiting to see how Himesh’s Karzz will turn out to be (hope that numerology funda in the end doesnt turn out to be a preview)

    I wonder if this is what they are planning. If so, social networking in India will be fun because this is a good answer to Facebook’s applications, and while junta will flock to this latest offering purely because of the novelty factor and snob appeal, its important to build users and communities right, so they dont flock towards the next entrant.

    until next time, this is my space 🙂

  • Social Responsibility

    And the mother of ’em all is finally here- My Space. I wonder if the promos happening on Channel V for its campus star is My Space’s idea of an Indian launch. I hope not, because i kinda liked Big Adda’s efforts, and hope to see a good brand campaign from My Space.Meanwhile, i read this article recently, which talked about social networking fatigue.

    While it did make interesting reading, and gave what could be a popular perspective about the sites, i would tend to disagree on the fatigue factor.While I admit to being a more recent convert to all the sites, i’ve been on orkut and facebook long enough to have come across fatigue if it was lurking there. In fact, the case could be true of orkut where my involvement has perhaps seen a downturn after i joined facebook. But thats because Orkut doesnt have enough meat (IMHO) to keep me interested, and that’s precisely what differentiates Facebook. Its not just about messages and photo sharing, vampires/werewolves and forwards, its also about applications which cater to your interests in life – be it word games like scrabble, Tv shows like Heroes, or the philosophy of Ayn Rand, or a simply super group like ‘I love trashy Hindi movies’, the list just goes on.

    I can’t see fatigue setting in when i’m playing scrabble with friends, while buying and selling in the fantasy stock exchange, and doing a likeness test with my friends and so on. In fact, the kind of fatigue i see is in the number of sites that keep cropping up. While (with the entry of My Space) we have three globally recognised networks, we also have the local clones like minglebox, yaari, Big Adda etc. And here’s were the fight will happen.Thats because there are users, and quite possibly the majority, who are into the social networking sites because its the in thing, and offers the (by now) plain vanilla benefit of connecting with friends. Once that connecting is done, their attention span becomes fleeting, and they’d hop, skip and jump to the newest site before you can say ‘Scrap’.

    So every new site launched and every new campaign for them would create a ripple in that market.But then, there’s also the user who’ll try to derive value from a network which offers such avenues for him, and for him there’s no fatigue. If the site keeps adding stuff that will add to the user stickiness, then they would have to worry only if a better product comes into the market, not because of the wannabes that appear from time to time.

    In essence, social networks, as every other commodity, will be solely responsible for how long they keep the user, depending on the value they create.So you see, the writing, as they say, is on the wall 🙂

    and i bid adieu, wishing you all the best in your socialising efforts..