The rise of social media sites in the US impacted the use of Internet in India too. You Tube was the first major Web 2.0 site that caught the attention of Indian Internet users. Wikipedia was the next one. Orkut became a rage in 2006-07. By 2009-2010, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn began capturing Indian mindspace.
Every major Indian organization and many Indians today have a page on Wikipedia, and almost all of them are trying to use Facebook and Twitter to build a fan base. The objective is to reach out to the Indian users who have set up accounts on these two major social media sites. The media has also started mining Tweets and Facebook conversations to build news reports.
The media also scans blogs written by celebrities to develop news reports. Several publications like The Hindustan Times, The Economic Times and television channels like CNN-IBN encourage their staff members to write blogs. They even promote these blogs aggressively through onsite and offsite advertising.
It is not clear if this strategy is paying or not because unlike newspapers or television channels that have captive audience, the Internet users have a choice. They will visit only those blogs whose content is riveting or exciting.
Indiatimes, the web portal of The Times of India Group, also offers free blogging facilities. The Hindustan Times group increased its exposure in social media by buying DesiMartini. The objective is to create stickiness, and build loyal traffic.
3G revolutionizes mobile content
An area where the traditional media is increasingly getting involved is mobile or wireless content. The Times of India was the first newspaper house to acquire a short code (58888), and launch mobile content services. It was followed by India Today, The Hindustan Times and several other media houses. Today, the majority of media houses have either their own dedicated short code or are using a shared short code.
Initially, the short codes in India were four digit numbers. However, the digit 5 was prefixed to all short codes in 2007 following a government order. Today, all short codes are of five digits and start with the digit five.
Most of the short codes are being used to move a range of pull and push-based news services for mobile phones. These include SMS-services like news alerts, forecasts, cricket scores, stock rates etc. There are several value-added services also that are being provided by media houses. These include ringtones, wall paper, dating, gaming etc. The television channels have also been experimenting with moving videos on mobiles.
The media interest in mobile content was driven by two reasons. One, unlike web content, the mobile content could be monetized. The telecom companies shared 20 to 30% of all revenue arising out of mobile offerings. The second was easy conversion. Media houses found it easy to leverage their strengths in news management to develop content for mobile industry. The auction of 3G spectrum in 2010, and the continued growth of mobile phone connections has further powered the movement of content on mobile phones.
WAP sites turn leaner
The state of WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) sites too has undergone a transformation after the arrival of 3G. The first WAP sites came up as early as 1999 or 2000. But at that time neither the handsets were advanced enough to handle mobile content nor was the availability of bandwidth for news content to be moved on mobile phones.
Most media houses revamped their WAP sites around 2008-09. These are now leaner, and more suited for being viewed on mobile phones. The web address of these sites too has now become standardized. However, there is no attempt to write content for these sites. Newspaper or wire copy that goes on the Internet sites of media houses also goes on WAP sites. This approach needs to be changed if the WAP sites are to take off in India.
However, what is becoming clear is that more and more Indians are accessing content on wireless and mobile devices. This is posing a fresh challenge to content creators.
Part I: The first ten years of Internet in India
Part II: The Web changes lanes in India
Part IV: Chronology of Internet in India
Leave a Reply