Communication is an art that every Indian has mastered!
We in India communicate in numerous ways; Every Indian loves to converse, mingle, network and socialize. In spite of being the most linguistically diverse country in the world, India has no barrier to communication. Our communication pattern in India is unique and uniform throughout. For instance, people are taught to welcome others with warmth and affection; the Indian hospitality is unique, reflects our reverential culture and is beautifully spread across the country.
In India, communication viz Media has been relentlessly evolving, giving us newer and wider options. We have been lucratively encouraging, emotionally engaging and precisely leveraging every media until today.
“Evolution of Media in India”:
In our very olden days, our ancestors used homing pigeons as messengers. (The very first eco- telecom service, isn’t it?)
Postal services in India began in 1764. The foremost postal service was initiated in Bombay, Madras and Cacutta. Today, there are around 1, 55, 333 post offices (1). A whole lot of people still continue to make use of postal services. With those stamps, envelopes and red post-boxes Indian postal service is still close to heart.
In 1780, Bengal Gazette, the first newspaper was published in India. The Indian Newspaper industry flourished and eventually grew to become the 2nd largest newspaper Industry in the world with a whopping 99 million copies every day in 2007. (2) Newspapers are still our great admiration.
In 1882, India got its first telecom services. In 1997, Indian telecom had 14.8 million subscribers. In 2007, there were 269 million subscribers. Within 2010, Indian telecom leaped to more than 723 million subscribers. Today, telecom is an integral and inevitable part of our lives.(3)
The first radio 7BY was launched in 1927 in Bombay.(4) In 1970, there were 14 million listeners, 1n 1994, there were 65 million listeners5 and in 2010, there were 140 million listeners in India. AIR boosts one of the largest networks in the world. With 231 radio stations, the radio market promises to grow. (5)
In 1960s, television entered Indian homes. Today, over 130 million homes have TV sets and more than 95 million access cable networks. India stands 4th in TV broadcasting.(6) TV has been our regular dose of entertainment.
Can you guess the cost of the first computer in India in 1955? The cost was Rs. 2 lakhs and had just 1k memory; (7) but 5 decades later, the number of computers in India rose to 15 million and there were 5 million internet connections.(8) By 2009, India had more than 81 million internet users(9) , comprising 7.0% of the country’s population.
The Social Media Revolution in India, a promising beginning:
In India, every media has had a humble beginning but over time they grew stupendously. Every media has been a super hit in India and carved its success story. We sent doves, we wrote letters, we listened through radios, we watched through televisions and started networking through computers. WHAT NEXT?
With an astounding technology support and the desi zeal imbibed in every Indian, we have welcomed and are nurturing yet another media! This media enables us to chat, write, listen, watch and network on a single platform – yep it is “The Social Media”
Socializing is not new to us nor is networking new to our culture. Hence, Social media had no other option but to grow terrifically in India. We socialize everywhere, everytime; we love chatting, discussing, gossiping, sharing opinions, masala, and entertainment. We always trust the power of mass!
Around 33 million users visited networking sites in July 2010, representing 84% of the total Indian Internet population.(10) No wonder India is the seventh largest market for networking sites. (11)
Social Media Milestones that India witnessed:
• Reality shows watched on TV are discussed on Facebook, Twitter, Orkut, Youtube. People enthusiastically comment and share their views on these shows.
• The ‘3 idiots’ movie recognized Social Media as their communication partner. Facebook, Youtube, Twitter and other Social Media tools were mentioned in the list of Media Partners. In fact, movie shows one of the actors using blog to share his knowledge with the world.
• Orkut growth since 2004 is 500 % year on year. Orkut spread like a wild fire and gained huge popularity among youngsters.
• Fascinating Facebook success story: Facebook saw an overnight success in 2010. In 2001, Facebook had just 1 Million Indian users; in 2004 the number of Indian users grew to 4 Million. In 2010, there was a remarkable growth in the number of Indian users to a whooping 17 Million.(12) There are more than 300 Indian brands on Facebook. Facebook has opened its Indian office in Hyderabad.(13)
• Until 2008, India was not even in the top 50 twitter using countries. Thanks to the extensive Twitter usage by Indian politicians, authors, celebrities, cricketers and journalists, Twitter soon grabbed the attention of Indians. In 2009, India was the 9th largest Twitter using country in the world.(14) In 2010, India was the 6th largest Twitter using country in the world.(15) There are more than 200 Indian brands active on Twitter.
• Twitter is not just online anymore, the tweets find their way through traditional media too. Tweets are discussed on news channels and are also published on newspapers. ESPN picks up a commentweeter along with a commentator.
• Youtube attracted about 15.5 Million Indian users and Flicker attracted about 1.91 Million Indian users in July 2010.(16) People no longer click pictures and print, they upload and share.
• Bollywood tied up with Youtube as their channel partners for old movies and new trailers.(17) IPL 2010 was most subscribed and viewed on Youtube in India; it had more than 50 million channel views and 1 lakh subscribers. (18)
• Blogs are used by individuals and companies to share knowledge and to gain thought-leadership. There are more than 25,000 bloggers in India registered on indiblogger. Today, blogging is a raving phenomenon in India.
• In October 2009, 3 million Indian users were registered on LinkedIn.(19) In July 2010, 6million Indian users were registered on LinkedIn(20), a growth by 100%; And LinkedIn opened its Indian office in Mumbai.(21)
Come, Be a part of Social Media:
The revolution has begun. We have come to an age in which, how and where we communicate, matters as much as who we actually are!
LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Orkut are not just sites but statements!
Yes, the revolution has already begun. Join the Social Media India Revolution now, else you will regret sooner or later!
Sources:
1. Wikipedia
2. Wikipedia
3. Wikipedia
4. Indian Government
5. Country Data
6. KPMG Report
7. DQ India
8. News: Spirit of Chennai
9. Wikipedia
10. ComScore
11. News: The Hindu
12. Social Bakers
13. Inside Facebook
14. Sysmos
15. News: Pluggd.in
16. Youtube.com/IPL
17. Wikipedia
18. LinkedIn Blog
19. LinkedIn Blog
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