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Messages of please come back and we miss you are undulant on the scrapbook of a youngster months after his tragic death in an accident. An NGO was started after a set of like-minded people came together for a cause they felt so passionate about on a social networking group. A successful software engineer chucks his job to direct a film after he is convinced, inspired and supported by a few people on another social networking community who he had never met before. Such is the life-altering power of social networking that labeling it as a craze or wave would be undermining the depth of involvement, means of indulgence and astuteness of attitude that the phenomenon has entitled us to today.

We have come much beyond the point of introspecting whether the social networking concept in India has been a success or not. If there is a debate at all, it has to do with the limited penetration of the Internet, but even that has been no real bottleneck to its growth in India, primarily attributed to the young country tag India has. Marked by their zealous nature and characterized by the need to be known and heard, youth were the obvious target audience and continue to be the most aggressive users of social networking sites. But the growing number of the 35 plus on the social networking space cannot be ignored as networking is going beyond general interest to become more specific, targeted and subject-oriented as well.

The working is simple: you create your online identity, virtually befriend people, and pour your hearts out on anything your feel even remotely close to. And the sites provide you the means to do that through various functions, apps, and features. Nothing said or heard between the HTML pages is too open, personal, or sensitive; it is justifiably a prototype of freedom of speech with a new qualificationexpression meets action on the same platform. From presidents to purses to parental pressure, social networks began to echo the sentiment of millions, and that too with certain sincerity. Change and activism, propagation and assimilation, consciousness and conviction, frills and thrills all became synchronous.

(L-R) Winner of Sonys Indian Idol 4, Sourabee; Shahrukh Khan at Nach Baliye 4 Grand Finale; and the hosts of Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 3. Viewers tuned in for more excitement on the shows social communities on websites like Orkut, Facebook, and MySpace among others

With networking sites growing beyond a place to chit-chat with peer groups, though that still remains a primary attraction, it caught the attention of those looking to turn the freewheeling thoughts of a few hundred million into an opportunity. The offshoots were many but the most conspicuous was social networks becoming a medium of promotion and marketing; not as we have known it traditionally. It is becoming a convenient and simple platform for enterprises, brands, and even traditional media to reach a large section of people in a short span of time. The differentiator is engagement.

Social networking provides a critical mass of consumer attention. TV branding was about reach. Search marketing was about looking to convert result into salesRoI. But now a third front of marketing is emerging through social networking, ie, engagement. This engagement is about depth. Marketers are now looking beyond 30 seconds advertising to 24x7 advertising through social networking, says Shailesh Rao, MD, Google India.

Small in Size, Big in Reach

If the fan following of the wonder-car was not enough already, there is a new level of excitement among Indian and those following its launch internationally on Tata Nanos official page on Facebook. It has more than 5,000 members, videos of the launch, information for booking, and words of appreciation for members who have left comments on the page about the car and company, from the company. This campaign exemplifies how well targeted the social networking site for the worlds most awaited car is. The aim was not gaining more popularityits status of the cheapest car in the world already got it enough of thatit was about winning the loyalty of prospective Nano owners even before they grab the steering wheels. And later, as the car starts rolling into some of them driveways, the Nano pages would become a way to directly talk to Tata Motors officials, leave suggestions and seek answers to their car-related queries. And you need not necessarily be an owner to do that. Interestingly, according to a survey done by Juxt Consult, 46.4% of social networking users (projected base of 15,050,165 and sample of 4,037) have two-wheelers. And wouldnt Nano be their ultimate inspiration? Oh! and the latest discussion on Nanos page is, What are the chances to get Nano in America? Our very own Nano is a car of international repute already.

Social networking is increasingly being used as a platform to launch new products, familiarize about new trends, and seek user feedback to better products and services through official communities, groups and blogs. The level of engaging the audience interest on a sustained basis, thanks to social networking, is such that it is impossible to switch off and disassociate.

Into its sixth season, and MTV Roadies continues to receive cult status by the millions of youngsters in India. The popularity of this show on MTV and the unending quest of its viewers to live the Roadies experience, made the channel extend the experience on the web by creating an official MTV Roadies community on Orkut. The community has grown to having close to 3 lakh members and now is live and kicking with discussions, debates, videos, chats with stars and events around everything thats happening on MTV.

We believe in talking to our audience and not at our audience. Our social networking community allowed us to do just that. We have utilized people well. The moderators of the group are handpicked and there is an owner of the community popularly known as Webbie. There are one-on-one discussions on the MTV community about the shows, anchors, issue related to youth, etc. This is helping us grow and learn by realizing what our audience wants, says Vaibhav Vishal, associate vice president, shows, MTV India.

This whole new component to marketing is a change from where you were talked down to or told people about a product or brand and how good it is. Participants are not test subjects anymore rather are being asked about their views. This helps to play upstream in marketing, engage audience on a sustained basis, and is a way of marketing that helps on the product development side too, adds Shailesh Rao of Google.

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