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The big daddy of all social networking sites has arrived! MySpace officially launched its website in India recently to vie for a share of the pie.

The sudden surge in the number of Indian social networking websites is backed by the fact that they are beginning to attract investor attention with start-upsMinglebox.com, Ibibo.com, Desimartini.com, Nookkad.com, and Yaari.combuilding online user bases frenziedly focusing on generating content thats relevant for a local audience.

Gauging the immense potential within this space, even large industrial conglomerates such as Reliance have entered it. Reliance ADA launched Bigadda.com last year with a model similar to that of Orkut and Facebook that are presently the most popular networking sites in India. Fropper.com, which initially started as an online dating website, is the oldest social networking service in the country. But in the last one year, sites such as Yaari.com, Humsubka.com, and Desimartini.com have begun offering local content related to education, career, Bollywood and local cinema, besides services such as messaging, photo sharing and blogging, with an aim to retain users for more time than on conventional websites.

And MySpaces foray into India is based on the similar model adopted by Desimartini and the rest where it aims to create desi content and embed it into the inherent trademark features of MySpace. Having localized in 29 different territories, created translations in 15 different languages, and establishing a worldwide user base of 110 mn, MySpace has taken the task of localizing the content for India very seriously.

Being a late entrant in the game, MySpace has realized that the only way it can gain ground is by establishing specialized on-the-ground teams and dedicating core marketing, sales, and technology teams to achieve the task. We have honed all the team members to ensure that the elements on the website are completely relevant and engaging to the Indian audience, says Amit Kapur, COO, MySpace.

Still in Transition
Though the website has officially announced the launch, it is presently in the transition period, and all the translations, cultural elements, and editorial content are being screened for quality before transferring it online.

We have honed all the team members to ensure that the elements on the website are completely relevant and engaging to the Indian audience Amit Kapur, COO, MySpace

According to Kapur, the key differentiating feature of MySpace in India will be the self expressive and cultural elements on the site. Apart from the common elements that are present in other networking websites, Myspace introduces an expressive cultural element.

MySpace feels there is a lot of opportunity for fresh talent to log on to MySpace and use it as a springboard to facilitate discovery.

On the other hand, Orkut has already introduced a special feature for the enterprise community where members having similar email ID extensions can form a community and invite others with the same email extension to join in. This has created a platform for enterprises to encourage employees to network in a secure environment quite similar to a private chatroom or community.

Social Networks
An important area where MySpace scores over the rest is that users can customize their profile pages on the website. But more often than not, it has proven to be a double-edged sword. It is common knowledge that because most MySpace pages are designed by individuals with little HTML experience, a very large proportion of pages does not satisfy the criteria for valid HTML or CSS laid down by the W3C.

Securing Users Identity
Mired in controversies in the past over similar format errors, phishing and hacking, MySpace has taken care to secure the identity of users and the content on the site. We have given users the freedom to customize their page and profile to a great extent. But we do have policies in place where the user cannot interfere with advertisements and upload security vulnerabilities. We have a core security team which is dedicated toward maintaining security standards on the website, explains Kapur.

A key development at MySpace is its recent launch of the Developer Platform, which is a set of APIs that are standardized using MySpaces partnership with Open Social, which was pioneered along with Google and Yahoo to set Web standards to connect social platforms.

MySpace Developer Platform helps developers to tie into the MySpace network and gain access to the user. It enables third party developers to build rich features, applications, and services on the top of the MySpace platform on a global scale and reach out to MySpaces 110 mn users.

In addition, Developer Platform has opened up the space for the third party Web space developers who earlier faced entry barriers in setting up an Internet business on a global scale. It has significantly reduced the costs of distribution and marketing for developers.

In an attempt to enhance user engagement, MySpace has also introduced applications and widgets on the India version of MySpace. In addition to Google search and Youtube video streaming facilities, the other widgets that will be available are Slide.com, RockYou, and Photobucket that provide photo slideshow facilities.

There are also many websites that have their foundations on MySpace and have distribution through embedded widgets like HTML and Flash embeds. MySpace has now officially recognized these widgets with Developer Platform where developers are given a home on MySpace. As a result, the system has become frictionless. In addition to these features, the site also plans to introduce MySpace TV in India, where local filmmakers and artists can upload their work and showcase their work on a global platform.

Indianized Format
Services such as MySpace Classifieds, Instant Messenger, and MySpace News through RSS feeds will also be available in an Indianized format. On the other hand, Ibibo.com has already introduced some innovative mobile applications to further catalyze discovery of people and help users make new friends on its website. Tools such as Call for Free enable users to speak to each other over their mobiles for free and without the need for sharing their mobile numbers, says Ashish Kashyap, CEO, Ibibo.com.

Apart from localizing the content, MySpace will also offer content in multilingual platforms as and when the team in India witnesses a demand for such services. It will also identify sensitive areas, and content and screen it to achieve mass appeal.

Generating Revenue
The revenue model of MySpace is also based on online advertising just like that of other websites such as Ibibo and Bigadda.com. Its user model possesses no paid-for features for the end user.

Indias online advertising last year was Rs 218 crore and is estimated to grow to more than Rs 2,050 crore in the next five years. But as it is still an emerging space, Kumar believes that it will be a while before it picks up as a revenue generator for MySpace.

Despite having probably the largest and most sophisticated set-up among the social networking website space, MySpace has not tapped into exciting concepts such as second life and individual tracking or mapping. With the second life concept becoming popular within the Asian market, even Indian users are willing to experiment with it. Though MySpace has not explored this area yet, the website is willing to experiment with this feature, provided it does not compromise on the security features of the website.

It is quite evident that MySpace is being very careful about its service offerings in India. It is going to apply its tried and tested model in India too, with the localized content being the only exception. But is that enough, especially when the existing local websites have developed innovative mediums to connect to its users.

The biggest challenge for MySpace is to establish the kind of penetration and user base that Orkut and Facebook have created for themselves. While Orkut became a rage with the growing popularity of Gmail, Facebook simply piggybacked on the Microsoft brand name. So it remains to be seen what MySpaces strategy will be in the wake of tough competition in the social networking space. While it scores hugely over the competition by collaborating with developers, there are still many areas that MySpace needs to actively explore and learn from to tap the Indian market.

Priya Kekre with inputs from Stuti Das
priyak@cybermedia.co.in

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