Powering communities

BANGALORE: The surge in social networking usage on the Internet, has also harvested numerous communities having various hues and traits. Then again, not all of them are able to hit the right chords.

The question that crops up is what makes a community successful. The second and concluding day of Web Innovation 2007 made an effort to address this query as buzzword shifted to creating networks and communities. Rohit Varma, vice president (Internet Services), Aptech Limited, before offering his tips, threw open his notion of social networking.

“It’s not about social networking. It’s about social networks,” pointed Varma. Seed, weed and feed, this is what Varma preached. Use moderator, but don’t be in a hurry, added Varma. Varma advocated leveraging the power of social networks - trust and interest. “We need both. Use social networks to make decision-involving trust.” Speaking about social network opportunities, Varma proposed communities on finance, health, and traffic congestion. “Social networks strengthen weak ties more than creating new ones. But framework exists to create new ones,” he said.

He also said that big players have become dinosaurs, who can’t move any more. “They can only acquire small companies.” Before building a community, think of offline behavior, said Rohit Agarwal, CEO, techTribe. “Look for problems to be solved. Don’t be a network looking for a problem. Think of what value people can get. Why would people come back?” Agarwal, who is also the founder of the one-year-old techTribe, also said that most of Web 1.0 sites in India have not innovated. He asked social networking sites to be open for innovation.

Rule books revisited

Pradeep Gupta, chairman and managing director, CyberMedia Group, said that the way communities are viewed has taken a 360-degree turn. “The rule books have changed,” quipped Gupta. “Earlier the community used to judge you. Now, you are judging the community,” said Gupta. Speaking about incumbent media, Gupta said that they have not been able to adjust to change. Detailing the challenges in front of the incumbent media, Gupta said that they are not used to the aggregation model. Most of the incumbent media saw online as an add-on, he said. “They are not able to leverage the existing communities,” felt Gupta.

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