On an average, a person probably reads about 5,000 books in his lifetime.

So why are we incessantly creating more content every day. Often – in various fields, mankind has gone to the depths of knowledge and grappled with some of the most important questions and yet, often; most of us love to air our opinions on everything under the sun – speaking without listening and observing. Speaking for recognition, speaking to just oil the mental machinery, speaking almost always – just for the heck of it! (possibly this piece of writing comes in the same category – it does, actually)

Maybe speaking and being heard is a desired necessity. Something that sparks off a sense of importance, a sense of instant immortality – a chance to be remembered. So you have about one blog or more being born every half second!

The result is content that is churned out – most of which bases itself on pop culture crap or conventional wisdom. While a lot of the content that blogs churn out is interesting, useful – very little of this content actually has lasting value.

So should we be blogging? Or should we trying to gather more information and contemplating more than the average human being – listening more, observing more – and ‘doing’ (observing and listening is also ‘doing’ – but people conventionally think of the 2 as extremely passive) ? Should we be reading few more of those 5 crore books in the New York Library!?

Wavering a bit – just looking at the sheer numbers is humbling – 5 crore books in one library = millions of hours of contemplation – much more than we can imagine. With the lower barriers to entry and the blog – as a – book phenomenon; i seriously sometimes question the value in what most of us consume. The social media/ web 2.0/ blogging revolution has most certainly made us poorer readers (note, i am completely aware that we read faster and that we read more) and we often cannot determine the depths of value in pieces of work.

I guess blogging has it’s place in the mass media spectrum – and it satisfies the inherent need that everyone has. With respect to value, i think people will place more value in the future (near future) on ability to collate and piece together information and make sense of it – in the larger perspective.

Blogging i think for all at some base level is a means of expression and more. So a few got on board. But what about the others who couldn’t do so on a consistent basis. Well for them, the stuff they shared is now being compiled as a feed and being made into a life blog. Sharing options are easier – feeds are easier to access. So one part of blogging is moving towards just a compilation of expression.

While this is great, it still probably does not hit the sweet spot of the lowest common denominator. So lo and behold – before you know it – we’ll probably have an aggregator that makes a big deal out of every click we make out fingers perform on that mouse (which is soon to be obsolete btw). The result will be a ton of senseless information and too many inflated egos trying to make a point with every click.

Have we gone any further?

I think i’ll read one of those books now. Or maybe sit still, and think. I rarely do that these days.

Web 2.0

An International Study that revolving around teens recently conducted by PEW Internet says this:

Girls Blog More than Boys.

Girls Post more Photos than Boys.

Boys post more Videos than Girls. (Almost twice as Many)

The %’s are given on the PEW Report. I doubt these statistics are very relevant for an Indian context primarily because the Socio Cultural differences. (To get an insight into Indian Customers, have a look at my post on Pop Cultural trends in Internet India).

What’s relevant however is the motive behind the actions that young boys and girls are taking.

About 47% of all teens interviewed said that they had put up content in public places at least once and 89% of all teens said they comment on content atleast “some of the time”.

The key to note here is that content uploaded by teens is almost never about professional appreciation. Its mostly for creation of conversations.

Marketeers need to realize this in order to capture eyeballs on the Internet. They key is to create content that allows users to create conversations.

FoxySights will hopefully release a report soon on the Social Media Usage trends of the sexes and also age groups in India.

Marketeers must also realize the value of qualitatively tapping and participating into these ‘conversations’ that young boys and girls are creating and leverage value. The key is to be specific and target the right conversations in the right way.

For more information contact FoxyTact – A Division of FoxyMoron.

Technorati Tags: commenting, conversation, PEW Report, social media, social media optimization, uploaded content, foxymoron

The Internet is quickly becoming a ‘cultural index’ – it is starting to represent us as a culture with its scope getting broader every single day.

I had written quite a bit about the number of Internet ‘users’ and about the number of people accessing the Internet online – and it would be safe to say that so far, the Internet has not really percolated into the Indian psyche. So it does not really yet qualify as a cultural indicator – it does however indicate what is on the mind of India’s moderately rich and moderately educated.

Over the years however, with more penetration and enough integration with the mainstream media coupled with its razor sharp accuracy, I think the Internet will be able to tell us how Indians define Pop Culture. Popular culture (or pop culture) is the widespread cultural elements in any given society. It comprises the daily interactions, needs and desires and cultural ‘moments’ that make up the everyday lives of the mainstream.

Google has released a Report called the Zeitgeist Report (Zeitgeist literally translates as the ‘moral and cultural climate of an era’). The most popular and fast-rising search queries submitted to Google by Indian users is the criteria considered whilst deciding on the Google Zeitgeist list.

“In compiling the 2007 year-end Google Zeitgeist, we studied the aggregation of billions of search queries people from India conducted on Google. To come up with this list, we looked at several thousand of 2007’s most popular searches, and ranked them based on how much their popularity increased compared to 2006.

“For example, Deepika Padukone’s popularity online soared in 2007. We also gave a proportionately higher score to searches with more traffic increase. Separately, we also computed the most popular queries in 2007 by volume,” Google said.

In terms of the ‘fast rising’ search queries, Orkut topped the list – cementing its position as the youth icon. We have written a lot about Facebook and its innovations, but for now, among Indian users, Orkut wins because of its simplicity.

2007 Zeitgeist list for India (Fast- Rising Search Queries in 2007)

01. Orkut

02. YouTube

03. Gmail

04. Map

05. Google

06. Indian Railways

07. Yahoo Mail

08. Technology

09. Yahoo

10. Zapak

The key to note is that Indians are networking online.

YouTube is in second place – which shows our affinity for the idiot box. Again YouTube is content in a social context. Social Internet Media can be identified as one mega trend atleast for Indian users.

One can also say that since Orkut and YouTube are higher than Gmail and Yahoo Mail, Web 2.0 seems to be slowly gaining precedence over Web 1.0.

The Indian Railways is interesting – what is more interesting is the absence of any airline. It really does seem that the Railways are successfully defending their market share.

Zapak is another extremely interesting name there. Skeptics have questioned Zapak’s spending strategies – I’m a firm believer that the spending on Zapak is justified and it will have innumerable cross media benefits for Reliance ADAG once it becomes a sizeable brand.

Here are the Individual Category Lists

Category Lists

Top 10 Bollywood Celebrities

01. Aishwariya Rai

02. Salman Khan

03. Hrithik Roshan

04. Katrina Kaif

05. Shahrukh Khan

06. Mallika Sherawat

07. Priyanka Chopra

08. Kareena Kapoor

09. Rani Mukherjee

10. Deepika Padukone

Top 10 Movies

01. Spiderman

02. Sivaji

03. Dhoom 2

04. Om Shanti Om

05. Chak De India

06. Saawariya

07. Harry Potter

08. Ghost Rider

09. Bhool Bhulaiya

10. Jhoom Barabar Jhoom

P.S. Spiderman at No.1 – Bollywood needs to take note and learn a little more bout targeting the Internet Generation.

Top 10 Places of Interest

01. Kerala

02. Singapore

03. Goa

04. Australia

05. London

06. Dubai

07. Rajasthan

08. Jaipur

09. Kashmir

10. Ooty

Indian Places are the megatrend

Top 10 political leaders

01. Mahatma Gandhi

02. Abdul Kalam

03. Sonia Gandhi

04. Indira Gandhi

05. Rabindranath Tagore

06. Pratibha Patil

07. Subhash Chandra Bose

08. Rahul Gandhi

09. Sarojini Naidu

10. Mayawati

Top 10 Sportstars

01. Sania Mirza

02. Maria Sharapova

03. Sachin Tendulkar

04. John Cena

05. David Beckham

06. Cristiano Ronaldo

07. Rahul Dravid

08. Mahendra Singh Dhoni

09. Sourav Ganguly

10. Anna Kournikova

Anna Kournikova as a ‘sports’ star :p? Sania Mirza at the top comes as a surprise – considering our affinity for cricket – and we won the 2020. Does this indicate something?

Technorati Tags: gmail, google zeitgeist report, internet in india, orkut, pop culture, web 1.0, web 2.0, yahoo, youtube

In the previous 2 parts we briefly touched upon branding innovation and how that is essential to the longevity and revenue capitalization capability of an innovation. We also touched upon the dangers of over branding innovation. Let’s now get back to the product development aspect and try and dwell further into the World of Generic Benefits.

In today’s post I am going to try and outline these ‘generic benefits’ that consumers would probably want with respect to technology. Obviously my list will not be the last word and I would appreciate it if you can add to the depth and quality of the article.

At the most fundamental level, I think the three benefits that are generic in nature especially with respect to New Technology Are:

Freedom of Choice

Cost Minimization

Help

Freedom of choice fundamentally refers to choice with respect to the number of options in a marketplace. Technology, especially service led technology has the option of providing multiple choice enabling the risk perceived for a potential consumer to fall since the possibility of finding the best ‘fit’ is more.

Cost Minimization refers to the reduction of three kinds of costs. Switching Costs, Risk Costs (those were dealt with in ‘freedom of choice’), and attention costs.

Switching Costs are costs associated with changing technologies. From existing technologies to new technologies. So essentially from the point of view of a technology company there must be forward integration.

If one takes the example of the Mac OS, which is built on a Linux platform, there was a significant effort taken to ensure that there was compatibility of programs and applications.

The efforts included a tie up with Microsoft for key Windows related programs such as Office, Messenger, Outlook etc. The result was the creation of an extremely strong brand called Mactopia (love the word play!) developed by Windows.

There has also been an advance in terms of the Mac’s ability to run Windows on its hardware. Thus if someone wants a Mac for its design but is slightly apprehensive about its OS, he can use the Mac OS as well as the Windows OS simultaneously.

The Apple Stores across the World take great pains to educate potential users about their OS – the way it works, its benefits, features etc. At most stores, they have video tutorials and also ‘Genius Bars’ where consumers can talk to Mac Experts. All these efforts are brand building efforts but more importantly they are efforts to reduce the ‘switching costs’ associated with buying a Mac.

Switching costs exist primarily in the mind and that’s where they must be dealt with.

Under cost minimization, there is also the existence of attention costs, which need to be minimized. From a purely usage perspective, a user may need to pay a lot of attention to detail in dealing with information supplied by the firm.

The trick is in managing information provided to the consumer and also intuitively addressing the problems that a user might anticipate before hand.

In such a scenario – simplicity is the key. Especially if a technological innovation has an interface.

Orkut is a great example with respect to reduction of attention costs. Because of its simple interface and “everything is accessible” approach, a person who is barely literate can sign up and use the site with relative ease. Compare that to Facebook, where there is still a lot of confusion with respect to how to go about things (at least for the average Indian Consumer).

One needs to remember that ‘attention costs’ are extremely culture specific and they depend on the socio economic demographic of the target audience.

Attention costs then also overlap into the concept of Help. Help is inclusive of the actual process of adoption and induction of the innovation into everyday life. In a sense it encompasses switching costs, choice, and attention costs. Help I think is something that happens post purchase.

So in the case of Mac, help effectively comes through existing customers who are passionate loyalists. For companies that are not as fortunate, the investment may need to be huge. Processes need to be put in place. The best ‘help’ however, I think comes from loyalists and actual users themselves. So it may not be a bad idea for innovative technology companies to invest heavily in their users to make them loyal – they quite obviously have benefits for processes as well.

Help – and attention costs, i think will be the biggest costs to be paid by Indian Innovators especially because customers will be toe stepping into New Technology and probably need to be encouraged all the way – just like a swimming coach encourages his/ her student to get into the water for the first time.

Freedom of Cost and Cost Minimization then translates into:

1) Customization/ Personalization

2) Convenience

3) Participation

4) Anticipation (intuition)

5) Compatibility

6) Easy trials

7) Easy use

Benefits that can be learnt while being seen

I will deal with these off shoots in the next part.

They key to note from this part is that the greater the freedom of choice for an innovation, the lower its costs (everything included), and the more comprehensive and intuitive the help, the greater ‘seem’ the generic benefits to a consumer. And as a result – the more likely it is that an innovation will succeed.

Technorati Tags: apple, facebook, generic benefits, Innovation, leadership, mac, orkut, Technology, windows

In the previous part we raised the Shakespearean question – to Brand or Not to Brand?

Well here are some insights on how that answer could be dealt with – and hopefully prevent Innovators and Brand Managers from meeting the same fate as our dear friend Hamlet.

The 1^st Criteria – is it a significant advance?

The innovation should be one step ahead of the next best – and it should also REPRESENT a significant advance, Representation of the advance is key. It has to be directly tied to the use experience. The innovation should also be News Worthy. This will adequately generate a word of mouth buzz for the brand, which is essential if the brand wants to build equity. Thus again going back to our Google Gears example – no other application allows you to club the world of Online document applications with your desktop. So essentially it’s a clear generic benefit – something never seen or perceived by users in the marketplace. Something that effectively becomes newsworthy as a result. Notice that the representation aspect here is key.

Zapak games is another company which has quite a few innovations. Again understand that their innovations are culturally rooted and hence have a clear newsworthiness in built if the company gets it even marginally correct. Consider the Bipasha game – there are games, there are games, and then there are games with Bipasha. Not saying that there haven’t been games with film stars in them but Bipasha touches the cord of the Indian on 2 levels – the cinematic as well as the sexual. So it stands out and thus has the opportunity to become an effective brand. So even tough their games do not really have a ‘significant advance’, they do have an advance with respect to the user – they REPRESENT an advance for the user – touching his emotional, psychological, and cultural chords.

The 2^nd Criteria – Do the Customers care?

The innovation needs to be an advance that is meaningful to customers. Meaningful enough to change their buying behaviour and loyalty patterns.

That can be best done by the creation of a new category altogether.

Again we go back to Google Gears. It addresses the heart of the online document application problem. It WILL alter the way people view document applications.

There will be online document applications, offline document applications, and there will be applications that work online and offline as well – a new category.

Zapak here should take some flak for its ZapakMail. It did not have any relevance to new customers – it was supposedly fast. But so what? Gmail is fast as well. And so is Hotmail. And users already have accounts on other services; why in the World would they migrate to Zapak. In a sense Zapak did not pay the switching costs of consumers.

The other problem with Zapak was that its Media Planning was primarily targeting the existing email user. That is what came out of the media planning atleast.

They had one ad for the new user – the one that compared Zapak to a Postman. But that ad was shelved because of protests. So they only had the ads that target existing users running on TV.

Ideally they should have been growing the pie because they are not really innovative – they are ‘me too’. And pushing a ‘me too’ benefit is never the smartest idea.

The 3^rd Criteria – Will it merit Investment over time?

An innovation worth branding often warrants investments over time to extrapolate more benefits, build the brand, and engage users. The investment that a brand receives, more often than not is directly proportional to the revenue stream. In some cases there may be exceptions when the brand is to play a key strategic role. This is particularly true for media and business conglomerates where there is a lot of cross business activity.

In general though, the input a brand receives will often be based on its current and potential business size.

So if the numbers do crunch well enough then then the innovation is simply not worth branding. Quite obvious isn’t it?

This kind of a decision is often the most difficult to make and is often based directly on criteria 1 and 2. I think the best position for an innovation to be in is one where it creates a sub category and provides an active benefit to the customer. The revenue making potential then automatically comes with the building up of loyalty however businesses must make sure that they can capitalize soon enough before other “me too’s” flood the marketplace.

Technorati Tags: branding innovation, generic benefits, google gears, innovation in technology, rocket raja, zapak games, zapakmail

I read my first blog about 4 years ago. A few of my friends had signed up on MSN Spaces and Blogger and decided that it was incredibly funny to put in anecdotes of their personal lives – be it their girlfriends, their drunken escapades or just some random football match, which they thought was ‘newsworthy’.

A blog is an ongoing narrative – updated by a user or a group of users.

To continue my story – I noticed that the blogs my friends had were extremely restrictive in nature – they had a niche audience, niche content. That essentially led the immature me to believe that blogs did not really have the potential for too much reach.

That was till I accessed what is think is the richest blog in terms of political content – www.riverbendblog.blogspot.com. I was directed to the blog by a friend – who himself had been directed by a friend. Soon all my friends were recommending the blog to anyone they knew who was remotely interested in the Internet.

There were a few learnings I took back from Riverbend Blog:

- It was consistent in content (quite different from the randomness I experienced on the other blogs I read)

- It was something that concerns individuals

- I actually felt like I was gaining something (generic benefits – for all those who may be reading my ongoing series)

- It was extremely personal, yet in a sense objective.

The key to note here is that blogs have the ability to connect with users on a very intimate level.

There are other macro social changes that blogging has brought about in terms of the Media Space:

- Content is not top down anymore. Not only do news makers, the news media, and ‘the big guys’ create content.

- There are no barriers to entry if you have a brain, a computer, and an internet connection.

- The consumers will essentially be as big creators of content as the ‘creators of content as we currently know them.

– The ‘control’ in terms of who owns the share of voice in the media is changing.

The Blogging revolution must not in no way be confused with the Social Networking phenomenon.

The obvious similarities between blogging and social networking are that both are platforms where consumers are the creators of content.

Social networks however, work on a platform where that content automatically becomes a property of the Owner of the network and hence they can generate data about existing users, target them with ads, and keep all the revenue.

With blogs however, the content rights lie with the creator. Ads can be placed by the creator – and the revenue is also all for the creator.

With blogging, Corporate Blogging too has taken precedence. Corporate blogs are giving established companies and obscure brands alike the ability to connect with their audiences on a more personal level, build trust, collect valuable feedback and foster strengthened business relationships. More importantly, these companies are enjoying tangible returns in their blogging investment in the form of increased sales, partnerships, business opportunities, press coverage and lead generation.

In a sense, the blogging revolution has also created the marketing sub category of Viral Marketing. As I said earlier – a genuine blogger writes with the enthusiasm and orientation to provide value and connect with his or her audience. The blogger shares useful and engaging content —the latest information, help, discussion topics and ideas. The way audiences responds to that content is key. When customers start commenting, posting or tracking back to a blogging community, it can have a viral effect —spreading out across the blogosphere. And trust me – the unique engagement that blogs provide essentially spreads to all corners of the World.

Here are what I think are the Most Key Technical Developments in the Blogging Scenario so Far:

- Content Management – making it easier to upload content, making it quicker, enabling, the posting of video, photos, and other value adds that make the user hooked.

- AdWords – Quality MUST be paid for.

- RSS Feeds – Synchronize what you read. Get more from one location. Know what blogs are doing without taking the time to actually visit them.

- Trackbacks – people who link to your article can be tracked down – you can connect with people who think on similar lines. Creating a virtual mesh of individuals.

In the future, I think there will be a few changes in the Blogging Scenrio:

– Blogging as we currently know it may have a complete overhaul. There will be less text – theres a certain amount of tediousness with text – I see more multimedia related content.

- We already are seeing ‘video blogs’ on platforms such as YouTube where people have their own shows.

- One may also see a lot of MoBloggers – people blogging from their mobiles as mobiles generate capability – random observations, pictures, videos perhaps. I also think that with the advent of MoBlogging, blogs will become even more personal and interactive than they ever were.

- I think there will be 2 ends of the spectrum. 1 of the casual mobile bloggers or casual internet bloggers, and 2^nd of the Specialized bloggers such as WATBlog, TechCruch, Alootechie etc. So that differntiation between specialist and generalist will be even more clear in the future and you may even have tools to differentiate the two.

I think the trends of team blogs for specialized blogs will multiply.

Technorati Tags: blogger, blogging, bookmarking, corporate blogging, moblogging, msn spaces, RSS, social networking, the future of blogging