From my experience with social networking, globally and with extensive work with Indian users, any kind of social application for the Indian market needs to take into consideration the local needs which are very different from the classic social networks that are meant for the ‘West’ and rely heavily on the proven success ‘formula’ of the Web. The nuances, the user behaviour, cultural hot buttons are so different and vary widely from region to region even within India. Very different, certainly a challenge but really fun and a pleasure to participate in and watch grow.

That said, it does need special handling. I suppose it is OK to start a basic mobile application that targets the metros- where one can cut and paste the ‘formula’ to make it somewhat work but we cannot forget what Bollywood learnt decades ago- that for India the true key to success is the B, C and D cities. The key here is to balance the ‘formula’ and the cultural needs.

India is a weird combination - still stuck in the 70s and 80s with the music and movies on one end and with the super trendy nightclubs on the other. And even though people are really tech savvy- they may not know how to read or write but can work the mobile phones with really advanced features- they are most comfortable talking in the language they are most comfortable with. Yes, even the Post-Docs. Note: I said talk. NOT text. It is not to say they cannot learn to text- that too using English characters for writing in Hindi or Tamil or… but why not simply let them use their voice and talk. It is amazing to see how quickly they walk away from text chat if they can use voice - in the language of their choice.

Eagerly watching the social networking space heat up with voice and video along with better connections for data services for the phone. I’m not a fan of the text connections. It is already getting warmer in there… Watch out for new comers like RockeTalk. This is a really exciting time for this space.