Here is yet another platform for all you social networking enthusiasts; a platform that is existent in one of the smallest devices you could imagine – the mobile phones. Socializing has never been this simple, reasonable and easy. Mobiles look like they are, and will be, the best device to connect to people for some time to come.
RockeTalk: Md Shafeeq Khan is one such Mobile Social Networking enthusiast who would back the statement – “Mobile Social Networking is the latest mantra for socializing“. His aspiration towards owning a TV show could not be realized because of a dire economical situation at his household. Albeit, he now owns and manages a community called ‘mehfil’ on a mobile networking platform called RockeTalk, wherein his shayaris (poetry) are intensely listened to and applauded through valuable feedback by more than 30,000 people. RockeTalk is a free downloadable application that provides several multimedia services that are user-friendly ensuring easy audio and video-based social networking. Along with Khan, an NGO based in Baroda has also effectively exploited the services of RockeTalk. The NGO helped children who were sound and sight impaired to make friends by dispatching video messages in sign language.
SMSGupshup.com: Short Message Services (SMS) will also facilitate social networking. Members of SMSgroup.com can keep in touch with each other and have fun by way of participating in forums or discussions that include shayaris, jokes, finance, religion, business, technology and education. And all this can be done through text messages. This service has proven especially beneficial for those living in rural areas who do not enjoy internet access and are deprived off valuable information. Jatinder Dash, a reporter from Orissa sends SMSes to civilians staying in rural areas, delivering news relating to government policy and decisions, daily temperature updates and forecasts and even disaster-related information, like during heavy rains.
Apart from the above mentioned networking communities, there also exist other mobile networking sites like Foursquare, JuiceCaster and Gowalla. But these more or less require the services of internet.
What these mobile networking services have accomplished is something that even popular social networking websites would find difficult to achieve. RockeTalk & SMSGupshup.com in particular have tapped into the rural market, whereas Facebook and Twitter can boast little about their rural market reach. The array of entertainment services at the disposal of a rural consumer is quite minimal, and this represents a major rural market potential for these mobile networking services to grab. 75% of the mobile social networking users and more belong to B and C class towns. The cost is also quite reasonable; download of RockeTalk, Foursquare, JuiceCaster and Gowalla is free and membership at SMSGupshup.com costs INR 1. Quite reasonable indeed! Elaborating further, the urban consumers are not far-away either, with one million and more users added to mobile networking every month.
To gratify one’s social networking need it is no longer a mandate to avail internet services and sign-up to major social networking websites like Facebook, Twitter, or MySpace. To socialize, all one requires is to own a mobile phone that is Java-enabled, which often costs around INR 3000.
dejavu i guess its 4th time this week that i have heard about RockeTalk, i am persuing telecom Engr in pune and i saw some of my friends using it to send voice messages to their Girl friends and now that i am here in delhi i found that my neighbourhood uncle use it stay in touch with his daughter in singapore and some of my friend in delhi r using it too , its nice but i am yet to figure it out completly just wondering y is not that popular
Rocketalks popularity is souring for sure in india, what is more interesting is that in smaller towns of india it is fast gaining a iconic status of default space to meet and talk to friends, i think the whole Voice messaging is the key here as people talk in thier local language totaly bypasing the Texting and i guess voice invokes the emotional response of connect which is very important in the sub regions. also what i find intigung is RockeTalk’s communities are not browse based communities which are passive in nature but actually live conversation forums which fits perfectly in the indian context of chopals and addas where friends hang out togather and chat it more of a group dailogue verses singular interactions, naturally that leads to chios sometimes but then thats how they roll in india
Completely agree @Smrity
That’s how Things Roll in India 
@Saurabh – It sure is popular. Suggest, you change the age-segment you are taking as a basis for your opinion
though every body is talking about growth in mobile social networks across the world my observation is that we are yet to see any home grown sucess stories and this is true acroos the world it is only facebook and twitter which have been able to get popular in india in complete hype value. for example there is lot of hype in indian press about twitter but how many ppl are actually using it, i know lot of people who use rocketalk and are die hard loyalist but this is the first time i have read somebody actually writing about them, what i amquestioning is the sense of launching products in india when we know that majorty of indian press will not talk about you as indian players dont capture their imagination