There are 2 articles that you may want to refer to:

1.) Stragetgy for Social Networking Platforms: http://www.desicreative.com/?cat=4

2.) Social Media Marketing and RoI: http://www.atomthought.com/dls/SOCIALMEDIAMARKETING.pdf

Please do let me know if there’s still trouble accessing, I will send the same via email attachment

thanks

atom thought does not have that article any longer
can you pls let me know how to read the full article

regards

I absolutely agree on the fact that many ‘Indian’ startups are merely replicas or me-too products. I am personally disappointed on this turf myself.

But I get solace when I see startups like Slideshare, who are doing so well and have Indian blood in them

Let me also point out that as Indians we have not done enough in terms of creating infrastructure (remember we have been harping about 50m internet users since the last 5 years, and even till today I am not sure if we have really reached that figure).

Secondly, if you look at content- we don’t have enough depth- we cannot count beyond 3 or 4 portals in most of the categories.

To my mind we have a massive opportunity and challenge to expand infrastructure and invest in content (both of these areas will not give you direct RoI, and one cannot calculate any RoI in short term tjrough these investments anyways)

So while I agree with you absolutely, I also feel the reason why investments are happening is due to an awesome opportunity in content and infrastructure

I have also echoed your thoughts in an article ‘Social Network Platforms’ Strategy in India’ at http://www.atomthought.com.

What’s important to realize is the method of measuring the impact of digital. If one thinks, this is traditional marketing, wherein people are going to run after freebies and get a buy in… then one dealing in a very superficial world that is short term. The real world of buzz marketers i.e. social media is where people meet, discuss, decide and come back again and again to contemplate their own decisions.

Songita B Verma
Bloggers’ Mind
(www.bloggersmind.com.)

The Internet as a medium is good, and its for the long run……….thats for sure
And lots of ideas are indeed te manure for a few to succeed.

but on your comment on investors, i will rather reserve my comments on the investors. For example they have invested tons of money in an Indian Social-Networking company ….but whats the USP of that company….whats the new thing…why will consumers latch on to this site.

investors have at times to invest the funds they have raised, as the funds have a time-frame in which money needs to be invested

what deepak is pointing out is true also…..that most of the internet startups are “me too’s” and even if they are not, very very few of them have a consumer-need based model ……hence the need for good techno marketeers…………….and not the typical hyperbole’s that usually internet companies have become

in social networknig, as an example….there has always been a migration fron one fad to another. From early generation SNS to Friendster to Facebook / MySpace ……..and now you hear niche Social Netowkring which is donig better

Bang on!! Actually this medium has been driven by hype more than pure business sense. and another aspect is that while some players are making money, what needs to be observed is what are their costs — it will be a surprise that most of them are deep in the Red.

the problem with multitudes of channels in internet is that all of them follow the same formula which has been beaten to dust by now…………………..

some of the smaller ones tha make money are catering to niches, and servicng the niches make the costs lesser. but cross-market offerings are still in red…………except only one prominent example – the big daddy – google.

Internet Startups need to keep iin-step with needs/wants of markets……..i loved the term “Techonopologists”

Seeing everything from a single lens can never be the way forward. interruption driven monies/value or rather advertising dependent solution may not be the solution one seeks. If millions congregate at a point does not mean they should be bombarded with unwanted advertising, there may be other ways to earn.

Why not if 2-3 players can be profitable, the one with sound value proposition for consumer and biz model will definitely succeed.

Actually digital biz is victim of its own, where lot of sprouting and mushrooming of products gave way to selling at CPC, CPL because of tight sales cycles and quick monetization and VC pressure.

No one has actually looked at the fact what is his expenditure per user acquired and what should be selling rate per user. We are just in a rat race to beat the other with lower and lower CPC and CPL. Wonder who is doing this exercise before starting sales of his properties.

-Manav

While I agree to the macroscopic view of very few digital giants making money, but this is no way takes away anything from the internet economy.

It is rare to find investors lining up (even in recession) to give away hundreds of millions of dollars to the likes of Twitter and Hulu despite the fact that both of them have not even started monetizing (and will not monetize for some time to come).

This confidence stems from a belief in the medium to perform in medium to long term. We haven’t seen such confidence of investors in any industry including telecom or broadcasting yet.

I am also appreciative of the intelligence of investors to understand that the fruits are not here in short term, but in long term.

The fact that it’s very easy to start a dotcom business allows a lot of trial and error and below average businesses to get started. To my mind this ease itself is the manure for growth. Small ideas (like Twitter, Google or Facebook) cannot come from board-rooms of giant organisations and consulting companies, rather these get started by enthusiasts who look at a simple idea and start off in a untraditional way.

I guess the marketers of today need to un-learn a lot before they can venture into digital marketing

I am not just hopeful but extremely positive and buoyant about the Digital state of affairs in the world and some part of it gets reflected at my blog: http://www.atomthought.com

I guess the real issue is that very few understand this medium – Till then the hyperbole continues.