Are we Indians innovating enough on the Web?
I’ve been thinking about this question a lot lately. Something tells me that the answer is NO.
We’re still mostly stuck in the Web1.0 world and even what were are doing in the Web2.0 space, is just not unique enough - but plain simple rip offs of the “main” global models.
I mean - look at the travel area. Everyone is just focusing on the standard model. Same with Matrimonial and Matchmaking. Same with Social Networking. Again with Property sites. More with Job Sites (apart from a couple of new ones like Reffster).
There is so much more one could do with clever spin-off models… that are happening overseas in each vertical niche, and they are making money.
Clever Web2.0 spin offs like Jobster, Mixx, Ning, Redfin, Metacafe, Flixster, Mahalo, etc etc. Just read Techcrunch daily and you know what I mean.
I do see a handful of these new spin off models … but most of the ones being promoted in the media and that netizens are aware of, are the standard non-innovative, by-the-book models.
The initial reasons that come to mind, are that maybe Indian Net users are not ready for these niche models… and are still just discovering the basic Web1.0 and Web2.0 models. They’re still trying to understand and grasp what User Generated Content is, what social bookmarking is, what Tags are, what Backlinking is, what a Blog is, etc etc.
Are we ready yet for these models? Is it time the tech entrepreneur community took the plunge and started spinning off, better models - rather than the same old Classifieds, Matrimonials, Property sites and Job sites ?
— Vishal Lamba Filed under: Social Media, Portals
In IT space, we are acting like slaves/copy writers. But Indian professionals who are working abroad did innovative things especially for Google, Intel and Adobe.
“Indian Net users are not ready for these niche models”
Right on the spot! What does a regular (not an Internet techie) Indian net user do on the Internet?
The answer is here - http://www.alexa.com/site/ds/top_sites?cc=IN&ts_mode=country&lang=none
Communication (Email/IM), Entertainment and News and P*rn.
Most of the users don’t understand the concept of Blogs and UGC. IMHO an unmoderated text box with a submit button seems like a chance to write whatever it comes to the mind or promote their MFA (Made for Adsense) site.
Users will learn slowly, that there is a difference between the ‘Add your comment’ on this post and any other post on this blog. Till then, Internet entrepreneurs have to innovate ways to use Web 1.0 apps as base and add selective web 2.0 features that can be digested by Indian net user. Don’t just lift ideas/business models from the US Internet industry, but create one that fits the users’ profile.