Indian Social Networks - who will win?
Posted by Ashish on September 19th, 2006
The Indian Internet space witnessed a lot of activity in the Travel domain a few months back when as many as 5 companies got funded with almost identical services (and some more which are not funded). Now, more recently, it’s the social networks that has started to see similar activity (though not yet there). Social Networking sites have been made popular by MySpace, Facebook, Orkut, Bebo - that are general purpose social networks and LinkedIn, aSmallWorld as more focused networks targeting specific verticals.
India has typically relied upon global companies for its online needs, other than Shopping, News and now Travel. And the same is true for social networks with probably Orkut being the most widely used site currently. But the last few months have seen more than a few social networks targeting the Indian market entirely and I am going to write my thoughts on those and their pluses and minuses.
By far, Orkut is the most popular social networking site in India right now. It’s difficult to meet any Indian internet user aged below 35 years who hasn’t heard of Orkut and don’t have an account. This is the first social network that I really used because most of my friends were on the site. The beauty of the site lies in its clean and simple interface, even when it lags behind in the features. Scraps, Connections (Friends), Community form the core of the site. People flock to Orkut because it helps them to keep in touch with their friends and finding new friends and dating is just subtle and incidental.
Verdict: Impressed. The challenge in front of them will be to keep the site clean, when the others are adding a lot many features. Of course, they will lose out on the fact that it’s more ‘global’ and not that ‘Indian’.
Jhoom! is one of the first social software targeting Indian market completely, unlike Orkut. It has most of the features that the popular sites like MySpace has (minus the excessive customizations that MySpace offers). It has blogs, groups, forums, photo albums, blogrolls, polls, avatars, back-of-the-house administration tools and are adding many more features in the coming days.
Pros: Feature rich, Focused Target market
Cons: Primitive Design and UI, Overload of features that needs more thought
Verdict: Good beginning but needs more clarity in thought and expression. Marketing has to be more than just the one-time iPod contest which happened when the site opened to general public.
I got my invite to minglebox a couple of days back and logged into the site then. The idea is very similar to Jhoom! The difference is in the design and the UI. I dont know much about the founders and can’t comment convincingly on the new features but it looks that these will compete on the design and marketing.
Pros: Feature rich, Focused Target market, Cleaner UI
Cons: Still in private Beta and doesn’t offer anything new so far. I don’t have a strong reason to use this site and not Jhoom or Yaari (described below)
Verdict: Good beginning but they will have a tough time getting into the market with existing players offering exactly the same service.
Yaari! is the 3rd social network, after Jhoom and Minglebox, that has a very similar offering. It’s not public yet but a release is expected soon. The differentiator will again be the design, UI and marketing.
Pros: Feature rich, Focused Target Market, Product Blog that is being updated by the founders. Domain name - it’s a beautiful domain name for the market it is catering.
Cons: Late entry to the market, as compared to Jhoom and Minglebox.
Verdict: They stand a chance as much as Jhoom or Minglebox. The fact that they have maintained a product blog and are trying to involve the users and show them the roadmap makes them a little more transparent. I also get a positive feeling about their marketing because of the same reason.
Fropper isn’t exactly a social network by definition but it comes close to catering to the same market that the other sites are targeting. It’s inspired by the ’old school of thought’ where users are charged for even the basic use of site and has over a million registered users, as claimed.
Pros: It’s backed up by the same guys who run Shaadi.com and has built some good intelligence to keep the users interested. The day I signed up, I got buzzed by many girls and the number of buzzes decreased drastically with time. Reason: the daily email that they send to every member with the list of last few users who joined the site. I was impressed by the fact that the email they sent out to me had all girls and I assume that the email that goes to the females has all males. Now, that’s definitely a good way to get people visit the site again. When I signed on to the site after a month later, I got buzzed again in similar capacity. So, I believe that they have more intelligence than just the ‘Newest Members’ logic. They also have a lot more marketing moolah which is evident from the fact that I have seen their ads in the radio and televisions already.
Cons: They charge users a fee for the basic use of the site, like contacting users with a custom message. This is so ‘old school’. They also brand themselves as just a dating site and not a socializing site, which will create problems with adoption and repeat-traffic, once there is a decent alternative
Verdict: Unless they change their business model, the site will keep losing its members to the other networks who provide the same services at no cost. Not impressive, overall!
To summarize - Orkut.com is the most impressive social network in the Indian market currently. With the arrival of Jhoom, Minglebox and Yaari - Orkut is most certain to lose out on its market share as the other 3 will capitalize on their Indian presence and more ‘Indianized’ marketing. It’s very difficult to choose one over the other amongst Yaari, Jhoom and Minglebox currently - the one with the better clarity, UI, marketing and passion will win. I wont give much of a chance to Fropper despite its marketing muscle - any site that can’t think of making money other than charging their users for the basic use, when others are giving it for free does not even deserve to win.
My recommendation for the existing and new players in this market will be to give some more thoughts on what the Indian audience will require. Here is what I believe:
- A site that presents themselves as a dating site will not be very successful. Indians are still a bit conservative when it comes to finding dates through Internet - dating has to be made incidental with emphasis on ’socialization’
- I will not join any social network because I want to write a blog or I want to upload photos in album. If writing blog was my primary purpose, I would have chosen Wordpress.com or Blogger. So, blogging is an important part but that shouldn’t be highlighted a lot. The emphasis has to be on providing tools to interact with friends and finding friends based on common interests. Think why Orkut scraps are so widely used. A blog wouldn’t be as popular.
- Don’t overload the site with features. It’s good to provide features but not at the cost of trying to become a one-stop site with all the features. Historically, the applications with a more focused user base have been more successful. Don’t try to be everything for everybody. If you give me a few features, I will likely use those more than the cumulative use of all the features in a site overladen with features.
- Work on the design and UI - please please pay more attention on the design and UI. Almost all the sites have the potential to do much better here.
- It’s not easy to maintain your lead in this market. Any new player can come and displace you from your position if you stop innovating - Friendster lost to MySpace for the exact same reasons.
May the best team win! I, sure, will be keeping an eye on this market.
Disclaimer: Tekriti is involved in the implementation of Jhoom! but the above post does not hold any bias for / against anybody to the best of my effort.
September 19th, 2006 at 9:08 am
Isnt Jhoom! being developed by Tekriti ?
September 19th, 2006 at 11:08 am
Ashish you have written about almost all popular social networks, And i’m sure last paragraph gives a better idea how the networks should be to attract more and more people.
By the way Ashish there is a quetion for you. Why haven’t you written about PeopleAggregator?
Hope i’ll get my answer.
September 19th, 2006 at 12:04 pm
Ankur - that’s right! Let me put up a disclaimer there - so that there is no confusion regarding any bias.
Naveen - PeopleAggregator is not targeting Indian market and so was not mentioned here. The idea behind PeopleAggregator is less to be a standalone social network and more to be enabler of social networks.
September 19th, 2006 at 8:09 pm
From a user point of view I would like to say, why would I join too many social networking group. If someone is existing member of Orkut from past 2 years why do switch to others, as a big amount of friends circle is already made there. Making more profile means inviting friends to join that too. And don’t forget most of companies blocked such sites.
Other imp. Thing I found if someone has so many profiles means what his/her personality is reflecting (It’s a very normal mind set that person is desperately looking to make new friends).
When friends told that they put just ok kind or distorted pic to avoid 100 of be my friends invitations every morning.
And I might not like to publish my blog on a social network. As soon one removed the link back to blog started getting less invitations it means people can read more info and get more interested and get a chance of emailing too by saying same thoughts etc.
As you rightly said too many features means too much mix up and a novice will only get confuse. Indians are still catching the blog, networking sites and confuse either to put too many details with photo on profile.
Read old articles of last week (TOI & HT news paper) where it was said, pseudo or true data, safe or unsafe.
Whatever One thing I really admire about it- as now I am off campus I m still in touch with lots of people as they started talking on Orkut. With whom I was not in touch when was there. That’s the way, it bring people to the same platform called –Social networking!
BTW some such sites do some trick, without sending authentic invitation you receive mail -Like Yahoo 360 and Zorphia, I asked to people did they send invitation all said No.
September 19th, 2006 at 10:16 pm
Indian Social Networks - who will win?
Indian Social Networks - who will win? posted at IndianPad.com
September 20th, 2006 at 2:29 pm
I was just forced to join Orkut, everyone in India seems to be logged on, i have 3 active social networks, with quite a few of the same people in all of them. I really don;t get the attraction people have with these networks.
September 20th, 2006 at 3:51 pm
Does it make any difference that Orkut is not an Indian site? I think success of site only depends upon the features and ease of use.
September 20th, 2006 at 6:39 pm
You have missed out on Ryze.com, one of the popular social networking site
September 21st, 2006 at 9:47 am
@Paavani - You made some really interesting remarks and they are worth a thought.
x) As a long time user of a particular social network, why would I want to switch boats?
Yes, personally even I wouldn’t. I can’t afford the time to start building my network all over again at another site for no reason. I simply don’t want to go through the hassle and so wouldn’t my friends.
So, who wins? The one with first mover advantage that being Orkut IMO.
x) Blog on social network site?
Surely, the person that first thought of this must have been crazy. How many places would I expect my friends to read me. Scraps are OK but blog…hell, no.
x) Tons of features.
The site which goes full throttle on features definitely don’t know what they are doing.
See the first rule for startups
Ashish, looks like the fairer sex on Fropper digs you. You shouldn’t have been so harsh at the site that facilitated it all
… take my advice and be a regular to their site. 
BTW, am surprised to learn that Tekriti is behind Jhoom and yet your verdict says “Primitive Design and UI, Overload of features that needs more thought”. Ahem… What’s cooking?
September 21st, 2006 at 3:13 pm
Get Connected
Ashish reviews some of the global and Indian social networking sites that are popular in India. Orkut seems to have a lead as a result of its headstart. Indian players seem to be customizing their sites to suit the local market and they could catch up …
September 21st, 2006 at 7:30 pm
Hello,
) I guess the databases of these sites should have an open interface. Which any other website can use. It means all database of such sites all compatible with each other. They can search in each other’s database and create uniform social networking envoirment. This will be very useful to the consumers.
Here is a technical thought, People don’t switch because of better features in the other sites they want to be in the site where they find more friends. So, largest database site will automatically win the game. I don’t think features would control the market.(like windowsOS
September 22nd, 2006 at 2:35 pm
Paavani - excellent comment. you are right that if you are already a member of a social network, you wouldn’t bother switching. This statement is true - when the network that you are committed to is keeping the users happy and is giving them enough to keep coming back. but if they stop innovating and people start getting lot more ‘comfort’ (based on features, control, UI, etc. or a combination of the same) in another application - they will migrate. typically, the migration happens in groups - it’s also a mass exodus. That’s what happened to friendster in the US when people switched to MySpace.
Jatin - that’s true when the application doesnt give you much control. Getting the first time users is much easier than getting repeat traffic and this is where innovation, unique approach / marketing comes in. Just take the example of Orkut - they didn’t add any features for a long time and suddenly they added the functionality of “Who has seen my profile” and that increased the traffic to the site. The application always has to give us users reasons to keep coming back.
Amit - no, it doesn’t depend upon whether it’s an Indian site or not. But it does help a lot if you are closer to the market that you are catering to. Orkut is focusing on the world market and so they cannot do ‘indianized’ things that the other companies can. It’s always much easier to target a smaller and homogenous market.
Kishore - yeah, actually I deliberately didn’t cover the business networking sites.
Nagendra - the first mover doesn’t always win (friendster, for an example) - but they definitely have a lot of advantages. Aha - yes - only if Fropper was not charging money for initiating contacts
It’s not about the money but more of my ego that I had to pay money to initiate contact when I can do the same without money at other places. I just think that Fropper is hurting themselves for a short-term gain. I said we are involved in the implementation of Jhoom but not the design 
Jhoom is backed by another company - we are just helping them in a client-vendor relationship. Nothing is cooking - I am just vocal about things that I dont like 
I feel that the moment we improve the design / UI of Jhoom - it will make a lot of difference.
Ashutosh - that’s right! That’s what Open APIs will make possible. Stay tuned - the world is moving in that direction.
September 22nd, 2006 at 7:31 pm
Well that’s a good review about social networking sites. what is missing in India is a business networking site. One that purely caters for:
1. Winning potential clients on the supplier side
2. Finding the best supplier quickly and confidently (it is easy to find a reference for the company by looking at the contacts of the person)
3. Jobs, Imagine a better more powerful naukri.com You can easily look for people working in areas similar to you and find great opportunites (Believe me it really works)
4. Make friends but in a better atmosphere (more intellectual would be right word).
I have tried many but found www.openbc.com to be the best. It was started by Germans and its google like interface (simple and uncluttered), user centric design (you never have to look for something), great degree of user control (you can hide whatever information you want)has caught on with so many people. I love it. It is being used by many Indians but I still feel there is a huge potential to make something more out of it by assesing the Indian psyche and market. What do you think?
September 22nd, 2006 at 10:15 pm
Hi Ashish
I’ve been on Orkut since it began many years ago, long before it was taken over by google. I was on ryze then, and once ryze began degenerating a few serious networkers shifted to orkut, which at that time still passed of as a ‘business’ networking site. A few years later I got an(other) invite to Orkut, and I saw that not much had changed except that it had become popular as a dating site (may not be the case in India), which completely put me off. The concept of ‘fans’ is so school-ish. In the Indian context, you would have ‘friend/ good friend/ sibling/ relative’, etc.
It is painful to ’scrap’ people after they’ve scrapped you. You have to go to their page and then to their scraps to add your own. This is 2006, and web 2.5483 is just around the corner. There has got to be a simpler way.
The sites that I’ve found to be both professional and useful are LinkedIn and OpenBC, the latter has a fairly clean user interface. Of course both of these are too business-like to attract the teenagers and speed-daters.
September 25th, 2006 at 8:48 am
Great - I agree. There is a good opportunity there - it’s not that easy to understand that market which increases the chance to success that much more, if done well.
Vinay - right! Orkut is not even catering to business users, IMHO. A good business networking site is the need of the hour and I feel that somebody or the other will make it big there - pretty soon!
September 25th, 2006 at 10:31 am
Hi all,
With the above discussions, I would also like to give my inputs. Yes, orkut and all these sites are great to keep in touch with friends. You can even find friends who are now lost and have become acquaintances. But what about the other friends that turn up and want to meet you or are looking to get your number. Well thats the only problem that is too grave to these sites.
Also I visited profiles of some people who have condemned religion, spoken against gods. Even if you do not believe in Shiva, Sita or Ram, I do not agree that you can speak ill about them.
Even for professional networking sites I am surprized no one mentioned Siliconindia Network, which is a professional networking site with an Indian Focus. And they even do the useful feature of mentorship. With proper guidance and advice you can do much better work. And yes, the concept of global world does make sense of it.
September 26th, 2006 at 7:23 pm
Shivani - good points and I agree that you do get unwanted friend requests and stuff like that with Orkut. That is a problem with most open social networks.
And, quite humbly, I believe it will take SiliconIndia a bit of time before I can consider it to be a really useful business networking site. May be I will pen my thoughts on the business networking sites some time.
October 4th, 2006 at 1:14 am
Hi All,
We have also launched our India focused Social Networking site called SaffronConnect (http://www.saffronconnect.com) in Beta. SaffronConnect.com is a music and social networking destination focused on serving the global South Asian market - it is a platform that creates a hybrid of “MySpace” and “iTunes” for the South Asian market – allowing independent artists, music labels and video content owners to upload, share and sell their content to a community of users with interests in South Asian media. Users, in turn, will be able to sample, hear, download and share songs among their friends and other members. Some key artists whose content is currently available on Saffron Connect include Bally Sagoo, Rishi Rich, Gunjan, Karmacy, and Bohemia. Content from Saffron Connect will also be distributed to services such as iTunes, Yahoo Music, and more.
Woudl appreciate yout comments on the site.
Thanks!
Krishna
October 10th, 2006 at 9:51 am
Seems like India is at the stage of MySpace-style social networking applications… the recent upsurge is in more 3D communities “virtual worlds” like Second Life and Habbo Hotel. Is India catching up?
October 11th, 2006 at 11:08 am
I got the following link today about Orkut:
http://www.mumbaimirror.com/nmirror/mmpaper.asp?sectid=2&articleid=928200623757703928200623638859&pubyear=2006&pubday=29&pubmth=9
Before this I was told by a friend working for an Indian news TV-channel that they had exposed a racket in Kolkata where a group of students were selling photographs of girls on illegal sites for money. Later those girls were contacted through mail by fake marketing agencies and somehow their telephone numbers taken which was then displayed on illegal sites.
Personal info is easy to access if displayed on net or it is just a password away. In this light, what do have to say about the openness of the social networking sites.
I don’t know if I should be posting all this here, and if you think it is not appropriate here, pls delete my comment.
October 11th, 2006 at 12:46 pm
Seema - that’s definitely very sad. I had also read this and a few similar articles. I dont know what can be done other than stricter cyber laws and a bit of restraint in not providing the personal details.
Internet is a boon as well as it can be very nasty - which is true for many other things in life. Nuclear energy can be utilized to power the equipments in a genuine way as well as it can be used to create nuclear bombs - nothing much can be done there.
Privacy is a challenge in the internet and will continue to remain so, in the near future. Social network relies on the community - so its also up to the community to keep it clean.
Your comment is very well suited - in fact, it’s worth a separate blog post.
October 15th, 2006 at 8:08 am
Ashish - I’m with a small technology company that supplies some technology to existing social networks in North America and I read your views on the Indian scene with great interest.
Do you see social networking going mobile in India?
Given the current low penetration of PCs in India coupled with the fact that a lot of times access to certain sites is blocked from workplaces in India, mobiles make a natural fit for social networking in India. Of course mobiles present a special set of constraints…
October 15th, 2006 at 2:03 pm
Vikram - all these indian social networks will go mobile in the next 2-4 months time period. There is no way that they can avoid doing that. Mobile based social networks are the future in India. Of course - this needs to be done really well. Let’s see who emerges as winner there.
October 28th, 2006 at 9:29 pm
IndiaGrid.com is one of the earliest Indian Specific Social Networking site to hit the web. It maintains a clean content. Everyone gets their own home page, blogs, articles, classifieds and much more. Users get to contact other users who are logged in using the Ajax based IM (requires no downloads).
October 31st, 2006 at 5:18 pm
Meet me at www.onlineslambook.com.
Hi,
The next big hit will be www.onlineslambook.com in this area.
Onlineslambook.com is hoping to take social networking to a new realm. It is comprised of all aged people from all over the world coming together and sharing the gift of emotions and sentiments in social networking. Here is an interactive network of photos, blogs, user profiles, groups, and an internal e-mail system. We provide heartwarming free onlineslambook also for you to reach out to your friends and let ‘em know how special they are and also what they think about you.
November 2nd, 2006 at 2:29 pm
Hi Ashish,
Nice article…
Hope you know about http://connexions.rediff.com. I have seen a good success there.
Kamal
November 3rd, 2006 at 12:37 pm
Wow! There are a bunch of more social networks and I have come to know about more than a few after I published this post. May be it’s time to write another post on the subject.
November 4th, 2006 at 8:20 pm
Dear Ashish,
I’m fascinated by your article, didn’t realise the social networking sites were active in India, will be checking them all out. My question is related to something completely different. I was interested in your point that social sites shouldn’t be seen as a blogging space - would you say people are blogging a lot in India? that it’s a growing phenomenon?
November 6th, 2006 at 12:23 pm
Hi,
Nice job Ashish , this will really help Indian peoples to choose best website..
I think orkut is more popular in India..
I think u can include this one also, where u can create you own blogs, poems, etcc..
www.Sulekha.com : Most popular member-generated community and social/professional networking hub integrating social media and local commerce services.
www.Desidirectory.com : Desi-hub for the global and local desi. Global Indian Community Portal offers a great way to connect indian people. you can post your Events, can create your blogs, can post poems, jokes…
Regards
Niteen
November 6th, 2006 at 1:32 pm
Chiki - blogging is also becoming big in India. But I will say that it still hasn’t become a commodity - but the rise has been phenomenal. The quality is questionable - is my take. I also hope to see a sharp improvement in the quality over time. But my point was that social networks aren’t seen as blogging platforms in India - there are a lot of common users but the platforms have to be different. Any attempt on combinign the 2 will have to make users un-learn a lot of things and then making them learn new things.
Niteen - thanks! I knew about Sulekha - incidentally, that was the first platform I created my blog on. Will check out DesiDirectory.
November 16th, 2006 at 5:16 pm
Ashish,
very informative analysis of the social networking space in India. I’m interested in knowing the business model of these sites and also how well they are doing. Is there anyway to know the same.
December 9th, 2006 at 5:59 pm
Hi Ashish,
Wonderful information on Indian social networks. Perhaps you can give some insights on this new entrant I came across . They don’t say that they’re Indian, I think, the a majority of members are of Indina origin.
Ciao.
December 12th, 2006 at 10:48 am
Indian Social Networks - who will win?
The winner should ideally have the following features first to survive and then maybe Win!!
1] Security
2] Customer Service
3] Free and Premium membership model
4] Basic features such as Chat, Messaging, Photo sharing, Communities, Forums and Blogs.
5] Simple User Interface
The one site that has all the above features is Fropper.com..I have posted this information based on experience and extensive use.
Regards,
Hemant Kumar
January 15th, 2007 at 8:20 am
U r website r fabulous iam in a very big mess i wana contact one person and iam just having his email id and iam not allowed to go internet parlours 4rm now plz help me in finding his number his id is shab2001_el@yahoo.Com plz help me i wil try n open ths website 2moro itself plz find his number but dont disclose him about me dont tel him bout ths all wil b very thankful 2 u ashish
January 18th, 2007 at 8:07 pm
Social bookmarking is a different way of promoting interest-centric social networking. Indian Social bookmarking sites like www.rambhai.com are pioneering this concept in India.
February 25th, 2007 at 9:45 am
Looks like the social networking space is thickening in Indian market. Rediff is coming out, pretty late i might add with
connexions. Not sure why it took so many years for them to figure out social networking is a real thing. Then there are Independent social networking sites like http://www.IndiaPage.com , which are also interesting to watch. I agree, its going to be an interesting match to watch.
March 9th, 2007 at 4:16 pm
I found OnlineSlambook.com is the best among these social networking site
Here people can create a profile about themselves, and go searching for people that they are interested in talking with. sending them a site message (which is basically an e-mail), or by posting a chitchat on their profile page. You can ask people to be your “friend”, which means you will be linked to their profile page. On the site you have the choice to make chitchat available to the public, or you can just keep them private so that only you and your friends can see them. You can also post pictures of yourself, view other people’s pictures, and learn about people. In addition.
this will link you up to many people that share the same interests as you, and serves as an easy icebreaker to get to know some new people.
And the best feature of the site is its slambook where you can know your friends better.
March 13th, 2007 at 8:05 am
I was looking for an Indian site that can combine news, movies, cricket and also social networking aspects such as forums, blogs, private messages etc. I stumbled upon http://www.hangoutwith.com [http://www.hangoutwith.com] and found to be great! Hangoutwith.com is a good social networking site especially for Indians and it is much cleaner that other sites such as orkut, tagged etc. I agree that it is still in Beta and need to get fine tuned. But I am sure that people at hangoutwith.com are doing their best to get there!
Give it a Spin!
March 28th, 2007 at 8:08 am
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April 2nd, 2007 at 11:44 am
Interesting overview of all the social networking sites out there….was wondering if you have had a chance to check out Facebook and how that compares to somethign like Orkut?
April 5th, 2007 at 7:04 pm
The site looks great ! Thanks for all your help ( past, present and future !)
April 10th, 2007 at 6:27 pm
Have a look at this site http://www.neoows.com its a RSS + NEWS + Social Networking. For India try this, http://www.neoows.com/?loc=06-02&cat=
I liked it keep me in touch with whats happening around.
try it.
April 16th, 2007 at 9:35 pm
These guys are assholes.
they ran a contest, MOST Dost, where people need to invite 50 people , to win ipos shuffle, 2 month to go all 10 winners didnt got their ipod delivered..
They are a cheater, and I suspect seeing failed delivery, they are selling ur email id and ur friends ids,
please stay away, use orkut, or yaari.com
April 16th, 2007 at 9:36 pm
please stay away from Minglebox.com, they will cheat u , and sell ur e-mail ids.
April 17th, 2007 at 11:14 am
heyy deepti, Reliance Entertainment is coming up with this new soon to be launched site called ww.bigadda.com, which promises 2 be the next adda for indian people…n u can also go to the site and check out different logos n vote 4 which 1 u like
April 21st, 2007 at 7:48 am
If it is Social Networking with a meaning you are looking out for then wait for the soon to be released Bechums.com
Yes,it is planning to redefine Social Networking to Social Cause Networking.Here the concept of Social Networking will be used to carry on charity deeds.So next time your single scrap could mean education to underpriveleged anywhere in the world.And yes surprise! surprise! This website is from India.So watch out for its release on June 20 2007.
April 27th, 2007 at 1:32 pm
Yaari is a horrible site. Its founders have no idea how to grow a community. First of all, they spam a lot on Orkut which is stupid. Second, they have that popularity ranking system which pisses me off. What kind of idiotic site has a popularity ranking system?!?!! And now they require you to invite 10 friends before you can login to the site. What kind of moron is running that site? The site is also slow as hell. And I mean very slow. Pages take forever to load.
As for Minglebox, its run by the wrong people. They have lost tons of traction and will keep loosing it. And they got almost all their users from Orkut by spamming. Their site has no substance to it.
DesiMartini is a joke. It runs like crap and looks like crap. It has tons of users because of a national TV campaign but those users will not stick to the site. They are not even worth talking about.
May 7th, 2007 at 4:55 pm
Altough not a social networking site, www.sukip.com is an interesting site giving info on many things (called items). If they add a user section, they can very well be on this list as the item pages on sukip are really impressive
May 8th, 2007 at 9:52 pm
What can i tell about these stupid social networking websites?I’m part of literally all the sites like Orkut,Zorpia,myspace,xanga,friendster,friendcircles,desimartini,tagged,minglebox,gather and facebook(netlog).But i’m an active member of orkut alone!The rate at which the no. of these networking sites increases is indeed frightening.Every now and then, a friend sends a stupid invitation and man,the worst part in life is creating your profile every time you find a new website.
I reckon none knows about zorpia.zorpia is like okay,not bad.Check that out.I was once an active member but no longer am due to consistent dumb friend requests.I just hate it when people nag you with their frd requests!
Orkut sounds fine with me,as of now.Lemme see what becomes hot and happening after a few years!
May 12th, 2007 at 6:52 pm
Orkut - I think the back-up of the brand ‘Google’ and a strong userbase in initial years keeps it growing.
Fropper - it was a crap but now they’ve designed some cool layouts.
Gazzag - they spam! stay away guys…
Hi5 - I was a regular member of Hi5 once but somehow got my interest off now.
Yaari - so here is a site which advertises on orkut by scrapping everybody. And the scrap comes from the founder herself….give me a break lady! Boring layouts and slow like hell.
MetroJoint - its more of a mypage than a social network…some cool features have been able to stick me with the site so far, can’t say of future.
Tagged - boring.
MingleBox - Yawn!! spammers…
Friendster - not for indians
Myspace - No fun for indians
I think all others are not even worth giving a look.
May 12th, 2007 at 11:28 pm
Excellent review. We’d like to introduce India Social Network
What is India Social Network? It’s about hanging out with people who are cool - online and in real life. Join the site to participate in funny questions/answers, chat with cool people, and vote for popularity amongst your peers. 100% Free.
May 19th, 2007 at 10:10 am
Nice blog. add another site which is launched by priyanka chopra recently(bharatstudent.com). That is nice social networking site.
May 28th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
Also checkout Socify - http://in.socify.com another social networking site for India.
June 13th, 2007 at 9:43 am
There seems to be quite a few entrants in the India social networking space. Another one that might be worth looking at is Yaars.com
It has some pretty cool Indian related web 2.0 features. The name is pretty cool too
June 20th, 2007 at 5:06 pm
Share your experience
Hi all,
I just came across this webiste http://www.desidirectory.com and thought about sharing this information with you too.
It says :
This site have valuable information about world across Indian people Connecting Indian people, Desi Blogs India Travel Designation , India Travel guide, Local city event, Indian festival information and much more included - http://www.desidirectory.com.
Yash
June 20th, 2007 at 10:08 pm
Why not join an Indian network which connects Indians Globally, rather than regionally?
Indomeet - Connecting Indians in US and Beyond!
Divided into sections titled Health, Wealth, Social and Family, IndoMeet (available online at http://www.indomeet.com) is designed to enable Indians to connect with each other online. The web site also caters to specific Indian tastes and interests, whether it involves tips for investing in India, finding the nearest temple, starting a family, or the latest yoga technique.
The new social networking section allows members to create their own web site, network, blog, and post photographs and videos online. They can create special interest groups and maintain an online calendar. Members can invite others to join the community, growing it organically and drawing the network even tighter.
IndoMeet features a comprehensive Yellow Pages section as well as a travel guide. Members can sign up to receive free e-newsletters about India-related news as well as new updates and offers on the web site.
IndoMeet’s charity section allows members to enhance the lives of others by featuring Indian social work organizations that could use a helping hand. The web site also has a shopping portal with secure online billing as well as a section on Indian entertainment news.
June 23rd, 2007 at 1:42 pm
India’s Largest Free Social Community Networking Site for Indian friends & Indian student.Friends,Gangs,Film News,Gossips,Photo Galleries,Wallpapers of Actor&Actress,Information On Study Abroad,free admissions,Upload Videos&Earn Money@Campus TV,Girls Only,Earn Part-time&Win Gifts
July 3rd, 2007 at 11:26 am
There seems to be quite a few entrants in the India social networking space. Another one that might be worth looking at is Yaars.com
It has some pretty cool Indian related web 2.0 features. The name is pretty cool too
Regards,
career2k2@gmail.com
July 10th, 2007 at 8:02 pm
hey there,
A friend of mine is planning to launch a dating website. I notice your comment that India isnt ready for it yet. What do your readers think? What are some of the features of a winner? Please let me know, would greatly appreciate any inputs!
Cheers!
Kavitha
July 19th, 2007 at 9:09 pm
india Travel Guide
Hi all,
I just came across this webiste Desidirectory.com and thought about sharing this information with you too.
This site have valuable information about world across Indian people Connecting Indian people, Desi Blogs India Travel Designation , India Travel guide, Local city event, Indian festival information and much more included - Link to Desidirectory
July 19th, 2007 at 9:14 pm
Send online invitation and e-cards..
Plan, Create & Manage all of your party events online with DesiEvite, send online invitations and e-Cards, it is free at DesiEvite.com!
August 13th, 2007 at 9:05 am
I think the site www.IndianKarma.com should have been included in this list
August 14th, 2007 at 12:18 pm
hi all
At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance….. We end today a period of ill fortune, and India discovers herself again.
The nation arrived at its destination, after surviving many calamities
and after several centuries, celebrated the freedom by throwing coloured powder
We (the older generation) have steered this ship during the terrible storms,
You, my children, keep this nation safe.
Happy Independence Day !
October 2nd, 2007 at 9:51 am
I think MyIndoSpace.com will win. It has the best features and live video chatting. Great site. MyIndoSpace.com
October 4th, 2007 at 7:35 am
Hello,
I came to this post while looking for Indian websites that offer social interaction.
I’d like to thank Mr. Ashish Kumar for writing this post and getting lots of information feedback which is useful to others ( like me, for instance.
There are so many sites mentioned in the replies that I would like to ask if anybody could help further by detailing which site would have the maximum interaction from Indian housewives and working women, or elderly Indian citizens from all over the world?
Also, I had recently tried to create my account on Orkut, but found that I could not register the account because India was missing from the list of countries that pops up during registration.
October 30th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
Hello Everyone,
A very interesting Post that Mr. Ashish Kumar has initiated here. I came across it while looking to connect with like-minded people in India who are interested in joining one or the other Social Networks I am in. Dr. Jayashree Joshi, in these Networks you can meet people of all ages from all over the world.
In additon, at last - Socialize and Earn! Unlike FaceBook or MySpace, for example, where you do NOT get paid.
Friendswin, Free to join, with the option to upgrade, to get paid for referrals: http://www.friendswin.com/?sponsor=5059
Yuwie is totally free and pays:
http://www.r.yuwie.com/globalady
And last but not least, one of the Hottest Tips on the Internet:
http://www.gibline.com/globalady
Giblink is a Company that could bring all the best elements of MySpace, YouTube, GoDaddy and Google under one roof with a primary focus on a Business Social Networking Community, designed for (but not only) small, medium and home business entrepreneurs. Giblink is creating a Global Phenomenon.
There is a Fee to join, but with Great Recurring Earning Potential! Be glad to send detailed information. Get Giblinked!
Until soon!
November 17th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
nice dear i liked it
December 4th, 2007 at 6:31 am
Add this to the list of new entrants - Corners.in at http://www.corners.in - This site has taken a different route to networking. It places content at the center, and users network around content. Has a well integrated user interface.
fyi
Sanjeev
December 7th, 2007 at 12:19 am
Hello….
You have written a nice article….but i wanted to ask you one thing….
Is there any social networking site in India which is for a particular city?
I’m asking this question because i’m launching one soon for a city Fazilka of Punjab.
December 9th, 2007 at 8:32 am
For some time now I was considering starting a social networking site for India. The site would basically be something like myspace.com, but it will cater to Indians. It will be a place where all Indians can meet and socialize with each other. In this regards I Google searched for “social networking site for India” and this thread came up on the top position. I have gone through this thread and My God! What a treasure of information on the subject. It is a good read.
The site I am considering starting will cater to Indians not only for Indians in India but all over the world. It will try to fulfill the social networking needs but also the business needs. Most of the social networking sites I have seen are may be focusing from a different view. In this age of internet, you do not need to pay for being a member of a site. It should be free, in fact members should never need to make any payments at all.There are dozens of ways to monetize a site.
Will be grateful if readers could provide their views on what all features we want from such a site. It would be a great help.
Would be grateful for comments.
And Ashish thanks a TON for bringing up such a wonderful thread. People with such insight are the need of the day. Such information would definitely go a long way in educating we Indians where everybody does not have adequate information about the latest trends and concepts in websites (the Web 2.0 ones), marketing, monetization and the works.
Anil Pandey
December 9th, 2007 at 9:37 am
I am looking for info about online dating and was shown here, maybe you can advise me - do you really think online dating works ? .
December 9th, 2007 at 10:33 am
Hello…plz tell if there is any indian social networking site for a particular city…
December 9th, 2007 at 11:06 pm
well cannot say a lot about how this is being discussed as many pin holes are still lying in the fact that whether Indian or outsider is there we still do not understand the meaning of social network. Is it not supposed to solve the purpose of social responsibilities and providing social service. Well may be i think of saying that none of the sites listed above provide anybody good help in terms of when they need something or some help regarding their social responsibilities. Why i am saying this is because Social Networking is not only about sharing blogs photos and copying videos from youtube, it’s about socialising people and bringing a community so that they can help each other while making new friends. Try kncok18.com and it’s services which will offer many services to common man as well as to friends in the network. Any comments anybody
December 16th, 2007 at 10:22 pm
Just like social networking sites - social bookmarking sites are flooding in India.Find all the indian social bookmarking sites at http://www.paidglobalsurveys.com/Social-Bookmarking-Sites.htm
December 27th, 2007 at 10:00 am
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December 31st, 2007 at 1:15 am
YouMint is a unique social utility that connects you with people around you. Only real people!
YouMint pays you to invite friends and to receive SMS promos! It might just pay your Mobile bill
Join Me Now n Send 450 SMS free every month
January 1st, 2008 at 6:39 pm
Visit http://www.shahenshah.in/
Indias No.1 Social Netwroking Site
January 9th, 2008 at 2:14 am
Hi,
Visit AreYaar.com
You can meet & greet friends here.
January 14th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
Hi Friends
I had arrived at this site around one month back while looking for social networking sites for India. I had also mentioned that I was planning to launch a social networking site for India.
Finally I have launched the World’s First Social Networking Site For Orissa. The main focus of the site is less on the history and geography of the state, but more on its people. Oriya people are very gentle and hard working. People are so gentle in their approach to others, especially outsiders, that it more or less comes as a shock. You go to any big city of the country, people are out there to cheat you, dupe you, and extract the most out of you. Most will not even bother to reply properly if you ask some help or advice from them. Whereas it is totally the opposite here. If you forget your luggage or belongings, it will be still at same place even after hours. When one of my friends reached here from New Delhi by Puri Express on transfer, he didnt find anybody to receive him. After waiting for 1-2 hours, he had to go out for hiring a transport. He went out with little hope of seeing his luggage after coming back. To his surprise, he saw his luggage exactly same when he got back with transport after around 45 minutes. It is simply not possible elsewhere.
I agree with a member’s views that social networking sites have more to it than simply uploading photos and videos. It is a place to reach out to others, to share views and opportunities and look for the betterment of the society as a whole.
We as creators and as members must appreciate that we ought to give something back to the society which has made us capable of doing so.
I just hope that I am able to contribute some thing in this endeavour, howsoever minuscule.
Regards
Anil Pandey
Admin
www.utkalbandhu.com
January 16th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
Visit http://www.shahenshah.in/
Indias No.1 Social Networking Site
January 22nd, 2008 at 11:54 am
Hi
Yesterday a funny thing happened. I got an invitation from a close friend to join yaari.com networking site. Since it was a friend, I naturally went ahead to join. During sign up I was asked to input my usual details like name, email and password etc. The funny thing happened on the second page. I was instructed (not advised but ordered) to provide my Gmail account password (with an assurance that it will not be used to store in any records!). But I did not want to give my email password. How could I. I have been using it for years and it has so much data, in fact more than my PC.I have to take help many times when I cannot find some info in my PC. I tried to find out a way to continue without having to give the password (something like Skip It, or Do this Later type buttons) but did not find any. The situation was that if I wanted to join that site, I should share my password with them, other wise they will not let me join their site. Tomorrow they could even force me to provide my bank account number, or my credit card details and what not.
The experience was really frightening. I would have run away from all social networking sites in future if I myself was not an owner of a social networking site. This is exactly what I avoid doing to the members. I also provide the joining members an option to log in to their Gmail, Yahoo, AOL and Hotmail accounts. But at my place it is optional and you are not forced to do it. You can still join even if you want to send the invitation to your friends mannually, which is advisable since the member and the site don’t know each other well at that point of time.
You never stop learning about new incidents. But you must take lessons from them, so that people in general are benefitted.
Happy Networking
Anil Pandey
Admin
www.utkalbandhu.com
March 2nd, 2008 at 6:12 am
Ashish,
There is a new one in the world of social networking sites in india… www.nookkad.com. What do you say about this one?
March 2nd, 2008 at 6:13 am
The link does not seem to work above.. it is http://www.nookkad.com
March 5th, 2008 at 12:03 am
Hi,
I would like to suggest a growing social network which matched Ahish’s recommendations. Ashish I would like you to check it out and grade. It is named Gapuchi http://www.gapuchi.com . I have found it interesting, may be you too. One of the best features is Chat with Audio Video, Customizable profiles, sharing Youtubes, Games, Videos, Music and Pictures.
regards,
Akash
March 13th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
Yes Ahsish I agree that Orkut has an edge but its a bit informal in nature and privacy is something which is not taken care by orkut properly. FaceBook on the other hand I feel is more formal and private
I am a research anlyst at EmPower Research. We are writing a research paper on Indian Social Media. For that purpose I would like to have telephonic interview with you, if you spare few minutes
My mail id is nshekeb@empowerresearch.com
Thank You
March 13th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
Hi,
have you seen another good social networking site http://www.hamaraadda.com. Here you can interact with you friends, add photo, send greeting cards, event management etc
I like it
March 25th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
Hi ashish.
Good post. You have posted this article in 2006. Now its 2008 & most of the sites listed in so called comments are closed. (It seems that, they are marketing their own site to know ur feedback
)
I need to mention some points.
Yes, I do say, Orkut is playing well in India. Also, Linkedin for business n/w is Good. But I don’t have any enthusiasm to join one more s/w networking sites. Just visit homepage carefully, check for features & about us page AND u can easily decide, whether to join any new social n/w site or not.
(1) Usability of the site can play important role here.
(2) The social n/w sites, which claims themselves as Indian Social n/w sites, have no proper presentation for their motive to launch the site. Most of the sites are launched, because they want to be in market in either way.
(3) What features should be there in ideal social n/w site and why? (specific to Indian social n/w sites)
(4) No major difference in listed sites except domain name
March 27th, 2008 at 2:12 am
Hi,
Have you tried IndiaStudyChannel.com ? This is more like an Indian educational website, which has most features of a social networking site, but the most attractive thing is, it shares it’s revenue to the members in the network.
April 5th, 2008 at 11:27 am
I couldn’t understand some parts of this article Indian Social Networks - who will win?, but I guess I just need to check some more resources regarding this, because it sounds interesting.
May 15th, 2008 at 7:39 am
One of the social networks which is specific for indians in US - www.rhyo.com