It is a fact often discussed in Indian Social Network environment of how Orkut if number 1 in India even though it’s close to dead elsewhere in the world. This might have certainly weighed heavy on a lot of heads at Facebook, for they knew they had a better product and still couldn’t capture the huge Indian online base (let’s not debate about huge for now). And now in a bid to push Orkut of the top spot, Facebook has launched content in 6 regional Indian languages including Hindi.
- Readwriteweb’s image of the feature announcement
The first reaction for a lot of us net creatures would be – it won’t make any difference, we prefer English. And of course, it is not that Orkut is the premier SNS because it offers regional content or is localised better. In fact MySpace and Bebo which ‘launched’ in India (though they had a a decent Indian user base before they came here officially) have tried local content to bring in the local users, but it hasn’t clicked well at all. The basic thought that Indians want to use the web the same way as an average American would do isn’t really far fetched. India unlike Europe holds English and its usage in prestige.
But that’s just the first thought. Here at WATBlog we have covered localisation and regional languages and content quite comprehensively. And the results that most studies show cast a different light on the picture.
An IAMAI report on consumption of vernacular content had these points to say last year:
- The consumption characteristics of the Indian populace towards media in general is localised and regional in nature. English seems the less preferred choice among the un-adopted mass.
- There is difference between the usage and the demand for regional content on the web. The reason for the difference being lack of infrastructure as well as existing regional content for those demanding vernacular content.
Another survey reported this :
According to the survey the overall Rural Literate Population around 368 Million while the Rural English-Speaking Population is pegged at just 1/6th at 63 Million. Which means that 5/6th of the literate population speaks their own regional language. Also the report pegs the number of computer Rural Computer Literates at 15.1 million.
It meant that the next 50 million Internet users in India would consist of a large chunk of regional language content consumers.
Also, Tata Indicom launched its website in Hindi recently, and Rediff had introduced 22 languages in January. Gmail introduced emails in 5 languages not so long ago.
So is Facebook off the mark with this feature?
I still think so.
Firstly this move is clearly an attempt at gaining users from Orkut, and I feel very sure about it because of this message that greeted me today morning. And Orkut is not winning or hasn’t won on the basis of language, it won because it was a Google product and went viral the same way as FB went in USA in its early stages before FB could gain weight here.
- Facebook inviting me to invite Orkut friends
Also, even if we go about accepting that Facebook isn’t concerned about Orkut, and this is a ploy to target the 60% of the population who would prefer vernacular content and who aren’t on the web, even then this move does not give a lot of leeway for FB. For more than language the essential barrier for regional users is poor infrastructure and systems to be online.
Basically, this move might not create any big impact initially, however, as more people join the web bandwagon in the interiors of India, they can certainly expect a Indianised Facebook [chehra kitaab - reminds me of SRK's song in Baazigar 
] to greet them with a namaste, vanakam, etc.
Hey Maneesh, Orkut didn’t win in India because it was a Google Product. Mind you that Orkut got acquired later by Google. It got famous in India prior to that.
Also, Orkut got famous solely because of its simplicity that it presented to the Indian users. And, then it got viral and now, its messing up with simplicity but still its OK.
So Faceboook is following myspace foots to spread it’s wing in India. Few months back myspace started giving a personal touch for Indian users by launching an Indian version of myspace and teaming up with MTV. Finally these social networking websites realize the potential market for their social networking websites.
Though Till not Orkut Rules the Indian Social networking market.
@Krish
Google never bought Orkut, it was developed by a Google engineer Orkut Buyukkokten. And it in fact did become popular because of Google because it was an invite only program (like Gmail) in the beginning and only people who knew someone in Google had invites earlier and thus went viral as more people jumped on. Of ocurse what it ffered as a product made sure that a lot of people began using it a lot and inviting more…
@Harsh
Yep.. I have linked to the MySpace bit in the post as well…
1. Orkut and google’s vernacular success is because of its Indic Transliteration engine, that makes typing in the vernacular language so very easy. Its ideal for a web 2.0 scenario where the user is given a comfortable tool to create content in the respective language. This is in contrast with what facebook has to offer where only those equipped with fonts and exceptional typing skills would transmit, rather than converse.
2. Orkut would be very difficult to unseat as number one .. leave alone being “kicked”. The reason.. (a)The site is far more easy to navigate than facebook, it is faster too (b) Orkut has far more easy avenues for intelligent discussion for particular topics of interest, apart from scrapping between contacts.. Facebook environment more of games, quizzes and microblogs, which is a different space and prone to fatigue. (similar to whats observed on orkut communities playing just games)
There is a very simple difference between orkut and facebook.
I go to orkut to scrap my friends. Whereas in facebook I am more interested in updating my status or playing a game or commenting on my friend’s status or photos.
There is a stark difference in how these two services are used. I believe facebook is far more engaging and is actually unique. Because scrapping other friends is very similar to emailing or smsing or calling or tweeting…
But playing games, commenting, poking, etc makes a user get more involved. It entertains the user to an extent that he is instantly hooked. Which is missing from orkut.
On top of that facebook is accessible via a million other web application and easy to integrate everywhere I go. Orkut is completely closed.
Orkut has a very big user base, but that user base will see it more as a tool to contact respective friends.
Facebook on the other hand is a platform which brings in a lot of activities for the user to do and share with friends… and thus network.
It also has a far more useful features like: groups, profile pages for companies and communities. And more importantly it is open and visible every where I go. Whereas orkut is only restricted to Orkut.com
I suggest you read this article to understand the critical differentiating factor between facebook and orkut
10 Ways To Put Your Content In Front Of More People