Being Social: The Game Has Just Begun

Narayanan MadhavanJuly 19, 2012

Is there anything left out? Personal, social, spiritual, political,

economic. Blah. Blah. It’s global, it’s local, it’s historic,

it’s hysterical It’s most certainly desi –

technology just right for Argumentative Indian

Where exactly is India? 100+ million Internet

users 10 million 3G connections

within 6 months of launch, almost equal to the base of wireline broadband connections

The 2nd largest user base for Google+ and Orkut in the world

900 million mobile connections

Close to 50% of music revenues in India comes from mobile downloads

Even the Sarkar wants it 28% of travel gets

booked online; 117 million transactions on IRCTC alone

47% of the classifieds business is online

7% of bank users in India access their accounts online

25% of IT returns were filed online in 2010-11

India Story, Mobile Glory India’s economy is

cruising at 7.5% inflation-adjusted, says RBI

1.2 billion Indians – 800 million ABOVE poverty line

R1,000 cellphones will turn smart

India on par with other countries in terms of reach on social, email, news

Get the social concept

“Social media is perhaps one of the single most powerful instruments for empowerment of the individual. It gives us the right to speech, the right to make friends with whomsoever and whenever we want, and the right to learn new things,” –Pritish Nandy

The CatWe're all mad here. Alice

What is the use of a book, without pictures or conversations?

The numbers are there

55 million Indians registered with leading social networking sites

20 million Indians spend time on networking sites everyday

Unique visitors Facebook – 48.1 million

Twitter –16 million YouTube - 31 million LinkedIn – 14 million

Expect more sizzle The number of Indians

connected to the Net is expected to zoom from 104 million now to 222 million by 2015

As much as 71% of online Indians visit social networking sites – an estimated 60% of them through smartphones or mobile devices

Image: Watblog

The money’s going there, too About 10% of digital media

advertisements (currently around R 100 crore) is being spent on social sites and this is only going to grow

As many as 40 million users rely on online recommendations to help them make purchases

60% of Indians on social media are open to being approached by brands

It has changed the world, already!

Arab Spring Twitter Revolution in

Molodova Guwahati campaign

against molesting Anna Hazare

Movement “Facebook is the new

café, Twitter is the new parliament” – Me ;-)

What this means…1.        For politicians, a chance to debate in

front of the public and directly talk to them2.       For bureaucrats and activists, a chance

to spread awareness3.     For companies, an avenue to build their

brands and tackle rivals4.   For celebrities and small biz, an opportunity

for low-cost self-promotion 5. For students, corporate workers and

citizens, a chance to interact with influential people and turn influencers themselves.

What’s up next Opinion polls on

steroids –Surveymonkey.com

Flashmobs as social tool Mashable apps –

apps, apps apps

Live data updates make reliable information

Issue-by-issue vote

Video power (think Guwahati again)

Opportunities emerge Apps, apps New paradigm for

creativity – “Confusion is opportunity”

New services New research

What consumers want from social media

     Product information

   Sales announcements/ discount news

       Industry trends         Tips and tricks

on products/services

Brand Wisdom Reputation, not

recall Fuzzy logic:

Advertising, PR, Journalism in a Grand Mashup

Old Rule stays: Break the clutter

Are you ready?Madhavan.n@gmail.com Twitter: @madversity

Data sources: comScore, Socialbakers.com, Neilsen-Absolutdata, IMRB-IAMAI, Ipsos