“For Home Buyers, investors, Brokers or Builders, iConnect is the perfect interactive platform to share information and offer free advice which makes good business sense and builds trust among community,” say Murli Ramkrishnan, COO of iProperty.com, “iConnect is a great social media platform to educate potential buyers and helps raise confidence investing in real estate.”
iConnect is a social media platform yes, but is it a great social media initiative or a great platform?
I don’t think so.
iProperty.com which took over Realacres.com last year to set its business aspirations in India on sail yesterday announced the launch of iConnect a social media platform for those interested in Real Estate. It is a QnA platform on the lines of Simply Ask which was earlier run by Real Acres. According to the release:
iConnect Features include:
- A group allow like-minded members within your community to build their own little group
- Create and join groups, Create group discussion
- Keep up to date on what is happening within your social circle and receive real estate updates
- Seek advice within the community and ask all your queries
- Subscribe to group activity stream
- Add applications to grow and expand your network
- Create own identity badge
I don’t want to slander reputations or new initiatives but this just isn’t social media. Connecting, making friends, user generated content, sharing media everything are aspects fo social media yes, but putting them altogether in a platform doesn’t make it web 2.0 or a social medium.. in their inherent sense.
Social media to put crudely is being where your crowd is, to join the conversation and not pull them all up on a new island and ask them to talk. And finding just press releases as the only mention when I look for iConnect from iProperty on social and search media certainly isn’t social either. It would have been great had we come to know of this from a blogger who covers Real Estate, or some forum, or someone tweeting about this. That’s social. I am afraid perhaps this time the property behemoth got it wrong.
Great rajiv, Iconnect is yet another example of India trying to learn meaning of social media or web 2.0 or digital media. there are number of such cases where initiatives are launched without really doing soul searching on what is the sustinaed value they create.. More often, start ups are launching initaitives which are very flimsy and it is difficult to seprate them from any existing initaitive in same category… besides, there is too much focus on news and information which by now after google is just commodity.. if social media has to be built then its basic premises is delivering value to customers which gives them peace of mind…. real life issues and end to end e services is where social media is now demanding to be in and consumers are ready but businesses do not often get it right…
but nonetheless it is better scenario for India. First generation entreprenuers are going through their own learning curve to mature…
Yet another social networking! Waoh….I cant just imaging all verticals starting their own social networking community…say jobs or matrimony …people just getting connected to each other…
Well its for sure everybody is going to follow this say makaan, 99acres or magicbricks….
Pleazzzzzzzzz no more social networking….we have enough….
Btw I just checked iConnect, is exact replica of facebook!
I am not sure this would work. Connecting is one thing but what about the consumer? Not a lot of folks are on the internet. However, if this was expanded to the point like a kiosk or something, maybe a good thing.
Great Idea! Think it will work! Thanks iproperty!!! I’ll try…