Essentially, both Alok and Avnish are saying the same thing, notwithstanding the attention-grabbing headlines. Certain Web 2.0 applications, when customised for India, will work, while their mindless clones may not. Web 2.0 is a collaborative, open and empowering platform, and it’s my belief that by co-opting the proverbial man-on-the street into the creative process, may radically alter the newmediascape. We need to keep watching this space.

From Venturewoods:

I told Alok on a separate thread that there is no point getting into debates when one has been quoted as making a headline grabbing radical statment :-), but out of respect for Alok and this forum let me state a few things:

1. SN is but one application of Web 2.0 - which also includes new technologies like AJAX, usites (C2C sites like craigslist etc.), UGC (user generated content) etc.

2. Some of these - e.g. AJAX etc. - are fundamentally better ways of structuring Internet sites and absolutely should be adopted

3. Others like UGC and usites are also very compelling since they are essentially community driven applications - which is what refers to my comments on creating a community around strong vertical “pull-based” product applications which has been interpreted as a shameless plug for seventymm :-)

4. What I don’t think works (FOR NOW) is pure SN style models which don’t have a “pull” element. Key is that this is based on current levels and type (non-broadband) of Internet penetration. This will change in 3-5 years

5. So key is to build “made for india” models rather than “me too” models like youtube and myspace. Key is to ask yourself the question as to why in an English speaking country, the global english site is not good enough already? Key example would be that Orkut is more successful in India than any of the Indian SN sites

6. It’s sites which don’t have this “India” filter that I don’t think will work. Having started Baazee and funded Seventymm, I am clearly not one to bag the “me too”’s without thinking :-) - the question is whether the model needs and has a unique to India flavor

Cheers & Over and out!
Avnish

I agree that if the Internet doesn't spread like wildfire then a lot of these 2.0 apps won't have much of an audience in India. 

Cellphones in India are everywhere, everyone seems to have one - drivers, cooks, maids….  When people talk about penetration I think people are talking about how cellphones are everywhere and some have 2-3 phones.  Whereas the internet, is reserved for the few. 

The report from TRAI that was released last week said 20.54 lacs have broadband in India. What, barely 2.1 million users? come on that is so low it's scary.

Indian internet sucks.,

Hi,

I think in next couple of years internet penetration will go to the next level. Also the government has started taking aggressive steps towards that.

I think there is lot more coming up in job space with social networking features in Indian market.

Hi,
It seems futile to discuss that whether Web2.0 will catch-up in India. The issues are not with the 40mill users but rather with Indian mindset. All of us who have grown up in small towns know the benefit on social networks that evolve out of Paan/Tea shops. Taking it forward look at the engagement level at Orkut has among gen-X. Though personally I think the Web2.0 or SMM is going to short lived but it may be the only way to move to semantic web application marketing or Web 3.0 as we will know.