Big adda - or big anda?
Social networking is the next big thing. Correction - the current big thing. Anything ‘big’ and naturally, an Ambani needs to get into it. And I mean literally.
After the Big 92.7 FM stations, we now have a ‘big adda’ - an orkut-myspace clone from Reliance ADA. This is something like Rupert Murdoch deciding to create a myspace - instead of buying it out from some dudes.
Can it work? Hell, no.
When you join Myspace ‘Tom’ is your first friend. He is a real guy, a cool guy. Someone I want as a friend, if only in a notional sense.
When I register at Bigadda, I get this slob as my first friend. No kidding! And a message that reads:
“Hey friend! Welcome to Bigadda. Boss here, the dude of this wonderful place. Any queries, comments or feedback - Just scribble me and I will take care of it. Enjoy!” Sheesh.
The second problem is Bigadda is a free for all. Although they claim ‘the website is accessible to internet users only via invitation’ that is so not true. Anyone can join. In fact, you don’t even have to be a member to see the profiles on the site.
Lastly, myspace caught on with young people. The average age of the recent Bigadda registrant appears to be 28. The age distribution is something like this (each page contains 24 profiles)
Males:
Age 16-20 - 4 pages
Age 20-25 - 17 pages
Age 25 -35 - 22 pages
Age 36-50 - 4 pages
Age 50-59 - 8 profiles
Females:
Age 16-20 - 14 profiles
Age 20-25 - 3 pages
Age 25 -35 - 3 pages
Age 36-50 - 6 profiles
age 50-59 - 0 profiles
As anyone in the s-n business knows, like attracts like. With tons of middle and aging folks on Bigadda which young people would see it as a cool hangout??
Now maybe Reliance figured that cool young Indians are on orkut (and now a bunch of them is moving to Facebook). So instead of weaning them away - too much hard work - let’s just attack a different set of people. Bored office workers.
In fact who says a s-n site is for the young only? People of any age should be free to join. Why should Bigadda discriminate against people over the age of 59?? Let a hundred profiles over a hundred bloom. Let this be the site where the lonely octogenarian finds people with whom to swap tales of lost and found dentures…
Considering the user generated content on the site right now, that sounds seriously interesting!
May 14th, 2007 at 5:34 pm
Hi,
Yes Rashmi, network ahs become now a challange key from lower level to upper level and it also depend on which type of channel your are owing You only see how you have develeop your network i fail because i do not have developedp such network from. Person to person machine to machine nature to nature all the key of sucess is network
May 14th, 2007 at 5:42 pm
Well, this is a lame attempt to compete with orkut. I guess, at least in India, no one will be able to surpass orkut in terms of popularity. From other point of view, this step is a part of the attempt by Anil Ambani to control all the Indian Entertainment industry, he already has stake in adlabs and a radio station BIG fm. Let’s see what he can do…..
May 15th, 2007 at 1:16 am
Anil’s not gonna earn this time round..
neway
I’m a 19 year old College Student, and would love to write for the magazine and really love writing..
May be you could check my blog and judge for yourself..
I really wanna write for Magazines and stuff..reall would appreciate if you could do something for me..
Miraj
May 15th, 2007 at 1:19 am
is it me or does that fat slob resemble anil+50kgs?
May 15th, 2007 at 2:37 am
Extremely funny and so damn true.
Anil, daddy is no longer here to take care of you I hope you don’t go wasting all the resources now…
May 15th, 2007 at 10:47 am
Ummm and the copious copyright violations in their video and pictures?
We don’t have a Safe Harbour provision.
Let’s see how this goes…
May 15th, 2007 at 4:16 pm
Even this site can be a big hit if it is embeded with a software to bypass the internet filters in the offices…
May 15th, 2007 at 4:45 pm
hi Rashmi!
YouthCurry is tangy,twitchy,delighful and mind-boggling!
A first time Inquisitive visit later turned into a daily ritual coming to YC like a mandir n dargah!
I like your no-nonsense,entertaining yet informative style of writing.
Keep it up! you R inspiring a lot many potential talents and lousy yet ambitious writers like me:)
P.S-wrote a review on Metro-would b thrilled out of my wretched bones to get your feedback! trust me its not that bad! tc buddy:)
May 15th, 2007 at 7:27 pm
Reliance doesn’t understand technolgy. These folks are known for providing commodities(Brands) at most dirt cheap prices. You can’t ask them to have great website that could target cool people to network. They know how to manufacture and sell a product at cheap price. So don’t review them on technology stuffs. They don’t know anything about that.
May 16th, 2007 at 3:13 am
Hey, read this about IIPM??
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/IIPM_spent_49_cr_on_ads_paid_no_taxes/articleshowcnews/2049903.cms
May 16th, 2007 at 12:07 pm
Hi Rashmi, covering social networking, can you post an article on how minglebox managed to be a hit even though orkut was there,college communities are there in orkut too?,
i see minglebox as a copy of facebook + orkut, i remember someone from JAM doing review of these orkut clones and dismissing them telling the USP of orkut is “You meet people you have lost contact with so people go to the site where the probability of finding lost contacts is more.”, i wonder if minglebox heavily used orkut(only orkut) as the launch vehicle how they managed to pull all college guys there.
May 16th, 2007 at 4:55 pm
hi i like ur blog
May 16th, 2007 at 5:05 pm
hi,your blog is nice
May 17th, 2007 at 9:45 am
if reliance keeps growing bigger and bigger (sounds like guru.. ahhh!!)and jumping in every field than it would become world’s biggest company….if it in hands of Reliance than one day will come tht it would start purchasing countries …..
May 17th, 2007 at 10:02 pm
yup sooo true…. the ambanis cant resist the temptation of tryin out new things…. Its a very long shot for them…
May 18th, 2007 at 2:57 am
yes rashmi… it really seems like a big anda..
i just cud not stop laughing after reading the tale of ur first frnd on bigadda.. thank God i did not make an account there..
May 18th, 2007 at 4:58 pm
Hi,
I like your blog.
May 18th, 2007 at 7:04 pm
with so many social n/w websites coming up, or may be i should say,clones of myspace n orkut coming up it just feels like we have so many pencils n which one a user would opt for,does it offer the value proposition for the user or is just at the origin of the value/innovation graph,I donno,
May 18th, 2007 at 8:36 pm
Well..whats the brouhuha about this site. Anyone heard of capitalism and survival of the fittest? Whether Orkut survives or Bigadda, hardly matters to the public. They shall go where they get the best deal and the site that satisfies them shall sustain. This world has 6 billion plus people..just imagine even if one billion people decide to use orkut on a daily basis…that site shall crash..one billion net connections is not a joke…Therefore there is room for more social networking sites.
Anyway, Orkut has the first mover advantage and while the market share it enjoys may not go down, but it may not see the exponential increase that it could’ve if more social networking sites didnt come up.
Just because Anil Ambani is launching the site many people are judging it accordingly. Anil probably sees it as a good business investment and believe me that site shall get a reasonable number of subscribers as will sites like HI5 and desimartini..and yahoo 360. Each shall in some time build up its brand.
There is also a saying that warns us not to put all our eggs in one basket. Maybe BigAdda is not so bad after all
May 20th, 2007 at 3:01 pm
Orkut says “You are connected to 53,856,022 people through 223 friends”. Proof enough there is a God. Google.
Nice blogging, me much pleased by the first page’s posts. Easy on the mind too. Curry!
And you seem to be oh-so-very popular too. 42,000 visits? I have less than a percent! Me V envious and jealous.
Now, please let me write for your magazine? e-zine? Pretty please?
May 20th, 2007 at 9:30 pm
Hi Friend…..
We have just released an Indian Blogs Directory. We plan to develop the largest online Indian Bloggers Community. So please go ahead and include your blog into our directory. You can link to us or write about us on your blog. Not mandatory for submission though.
You can submit your blog here:
http://indiacounts.com/
Regards
India Counts
May 20th, 2007 at 9:37 pm
Hi Friend…..
We have just released an Indian Blogs Directory. We plan to develop the largest online Indian Bloggers Community. So please go ahead and include your blog into our directory. You can link to us or write about us on your blog. Not mandatory for submission though.
You can submit your blog here:
http://indiacounts.com/
Regards
India Counts
May 21st, 2007 at 12:31 am
I totally agree with you, Networking sites are the current big thing with the internet.. though they are a great way to get in touch with old friends and make some new friends or to simply keep in touch.. at the same time, networking sites are being misused to a great extent.. afterall everything comes with advantages as well as disadvantages.. but i dont understand the reason for sooo many networking sites.. and I think currently, facebook is ruling amongst the teenagers whereas for bigadda, I think its gonna b a failure since the looks are not very pleasing. In addition the site does not seem to be too user friendly either..
May 21st, 2007 at 10:56 am
There are a lot of social networking sites coming up these days. Myspace and orkut has the best market share, but what about the newly added social networking site, people are running behind these sites getting registered.
Once upon a lifetime in kerala
May 21st, 2007 at 6:20 pm
For those who have missed out on Internet history, the bulk of the Internet has always been about social communication.
Social networking is new to the web, not to the Internet. The big thing about current “social” networks is that they allow advertising.
The value of a network is a power function of the number of connections that the members can make. Also see Reed’s law.
Facebook became big, because it needed a @example.edu address. Orkut got a headstart because of Google’s mystique. Myspace got popular with US teens.
The old ones amongst us still to IRC, email and Usenet. Orkut is amongst the least important of my social networks. even though I have quite a few people I know there.
May 21st, 2007 at 7:14 pm
i haven’t even heard of this web site. Can’t imagine why I would go over there.
May 21st, 2007 at 7:26 pm
Hello Friends,
Ved Vrat Giri is here. I am a journalist by profession. I am operating a Citizen Journalism based Web Portal http://www.mynews.in where every world citizen is reporter. In http://www.mynews.in you can write whatever you think is newsworthy around you, in your neighbourhood, in your state, in your country. This is a website of the people, by the people and for the people. Visit this website and click on ‘Send Your Contribution’ button at Home Page, make your log-in name & password by filling up a form and start sending news items. You can choose to write in Hindi or English.
Write whatever you think is newsworthy around you-politics, civic issues, education, health, religion, sports, events, accidents, films….and everything imaginable. We will try to send your news items to the concerned authorities and try to get back to you through http://www.mynews.in with their response in the shape of follow-up news. I will be pleased, if you accept my humble request to use this initiative. Thanks with regards. For more… you can visit http://www.mynewsindia.blogspot.com.
May 21st, 2007 at 11:59 pm
Though offtopic, in the context of user-generated context check it out dealmaadi.com to find and share the best shopping deals across India.
May 23rd, 2007 at 6:51 pm
Hi Rashmi~ I wanted to reach out to you for some research that I am doing on new media in India. I have also recently started my blog on marketing, culture and media~
http://chaturvedipreeti.wordpress.com/
Please let me know your feedback on the same.
May 24th, 2007 at 11:56 am
BigAdda is interested in making some quick and fast bucks by way of hying their registered User’s base. IN Mumbai i myself have seen people from Big Adda visitign cyber Cafes and prodding ppl to sign up in lure of 30 minutes fee extra surfing time..
May 25th, 2007 at 12:38 pm
Nice post Rashmi. Social Networking indeed has become a fast growing culture all over the world.
Slightly deviating from Social Networking one more terminology that is picking up is Social Tagging.
http://www.offersforshoppers.com is a website which is taking this term really well.
I would love to read your reviews about that site.
Thanks,
Linu
May 25th, 2007 at 5:21 pm
hi
May 27th, 2007 at 3:33 pm
Bang on the day I get my H1’s status out of the lottery system, I find an amazing post from you!
( If you are wondering, my luck didnt desert me this time, and I did get lucky with the Lottery system ).
Does H1 really matter to me? The answer is NO!
Does does an interntional exposure matter and the Answer is Yes!
Not all people who apply for a H1 in an Indian IT company want to leave Good Old India forever. It is more of the fact that you get to see the world beyond India, and along the way you get to earn some quick money in dollars.
When not every employee in an IT co is working everyday ( the so called bench is very much a reality even today) , why do these companies hire like mad? The reason is Expected Business in the coming years.
Likewise, not every H1 holder travels to the US of A and settles down there.
Maybe getting to actual numbers would startle many that out of the 65 K h1’s not even 50% would ve travelled. In the end everyone wants to play safe and that is what the It cos are doing.
May 28th, 2007 at 2:55 pm
Hi Rashmi
I saw Bigadda.com and i agree with your views that its another attempt to be the next orkut of india, but it will fail. the ‘virtual’ youth of today’s india are definately more mature and know how to select which S-N sites they wanna view and join, so for us, orkut and facebook are enough, dont have time to join more random sites !!..
Something interesting is , that i was in Malaysia attending a conference last week, and the people were university students, and none of them knew about Orkut there!!.. its not popular at all in SE Asia… !!
Anyways, will keep reading !!
Cheers
Nikunj
May 28th, 2007 at 8:01 pm
Girls and Guys no matter what we discuss and yap yap yap, Big Adda will succeed Big Time, as Zapak did! They have insane budgets for marketing / ads….
Strong financial backing, never ending deep pockets that will allow them to last….
What I am interested in knowing is what’s the story on
http://BigAdda.in
or
http://BigAdda.net Rashmi or anyone any clue pls?
June 8th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
Hi
Today for the youth they can face challenge and can do anything for the sake of India
July 4th, 2007 at 4:16 pm
Hi,
I dont really think, we can write- off BigAdda, it comes with a lot of added features that could be very useful, like private scribble, unlimited photo storage, video storage, privacy options and loads more, its fun and i think, there is a bit of misunderstanding in knowing the age of the members here, i found more 18-24 crowd here then the elder lot, wouldnt deny that they are there too!
I say check it out…its awesome
Rejoy
September 9th, 2007 at 1:18 am
Hi,
Even i aint no supporter of Big Adda,but just a 1 factual error in the post above - i dont think one can view the members on the site without being a member(atleast the link dint work for me). Kindly correct me if i am wrong, or edit the post to set that fact correct.
Thanks,
Prateek
October 18th, 2007 at 2:48 pm
You asked for “a committed and creative writer”.
Here I am.
deeshim4ever@yahoo.co.in
October 29th, 2007 at 7:56 pm
Big Anda lol hilarious rashmi u r kool!
http://bigadda.in/
http://www.bigadda.net/
Both go to:
http://bigadda.in/
and they have more then 150,000 + jokes by 10,000 + users aI personally find Bigadda.in more kool and sexy compared to http://bigadda.com