The BigAdda of social networking

Shivanandan Pare, Bigadda's COO, talks to Pankaj Maru of CyberMedia News and shares his insight on social networking domain, audiences for social sites, the features of portals, business models in India and much more.

What is the objective behind Bigadda.com?

Seeing great business potential in the social networking domain, Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) has launched yet another ambitious venture in the digital space. Bigadda, true to its name, is set to be the largest youth network connected on one single platform of friendship. As per the brand promise, 'Let’s Catch Up', Bigadda would bring in the Indian youth across all genres, seamlessly through the ethos of Indian values and the pride of being Indian.

Since the Alpha launch (testing phase) Bigadda has grown enormously to a registered user base of three million. The site is unique with user-friendly navigation, unlike other international sites, which are cumbersome in navigation and complex in structure. The vibrant colors used in the site make it look very lively and youthful. What sets BigAdda apart from other networking sites is that it has community and social media drivers, which are relevant and important to the Indian youth. The rationale being that the target audience looks up to these as inspirations and influencers.

Bigadda spans the genres of communities (addas) like sports, fashion, photography, books, art, apart from just music and movies. It does not focus only on one genre, thereby making it a site catering to all tastes and interests across categories. Bigadda intends to build India’s no.1 youth networking site with 10 million users offering media sharing (photos, videos,music) and self expression (identity creation, blogs, forums, addas)

What is the kind of audience that Bigadda.com caters to?

Bigadda lives up to its promise of being the number one youth network, by attracting a large section of young visitors. Almost 85 per cent of the registered users are between the age group of 18 to 30 years with almost 32 per cent being between 21 to 24 years.

What's the theme used for Bigadda that is unique compared to other social networking sites? As Bigadda is oriented for youths, the theme is based on life style of the young generation. For today's youth listening to music, sharing photos, messaging friends, chatting etc are part of their life. Hence, the site has special features likes sharing of music/videos, create video matches/uploading pictures on communities and scribble/user home page personalization, with community likes movies, music, sports, fashion and books and celebrities. Also it has free reference library, unlimited space for multimedia and free bin and mobileadda, used for accessing the site on mobile phones.

Along with social networking, how is Bigadda.com useful to the user?

Apart from the global networking sites, India never had its own social networking site like Bibo in UK or for that matter Mixi in Japan which are so popular because of their strong bearing with the local culture. Bigadda bridges this gap in India and is definitely on the path of tremendous popularity among the Indian youth.

Tell us some of the key features of Bigadda.com? Also, discuss how the site protects ones identity in terms of user's privacy and its content?

In Bigadda, any browser cannot see profiles of registered users, we are not into selling of database, only registered users can send invites to their friends, whatever content is uploaded - be it pictures, video, music – it is screened beforehand.

What is the revenue model of Bigadda?

Our revenue model is through advertisements, namely targeted advertisements, sponsored stories and of course banners.

How do you evaluate the future of social networking portals in India?

Social networking world over is becoming the first site to be logged into right in the morning. About 17 million people are into social networking in India, and social networking will soon be the first choice of advertisers and marketers to target different segments of users.