A couple of times now, my Google Talk status has said 'link love'. All my contacts have at least once pinged me to know whom am I linking up with ;) With equal jest I punch vague answers that blur all possibilities of any further topical discussion. But I smile to myself. For I have just seen the first signs of - what a lot of us are very skeptical about- a Community!

I could build a case for virtual communities and cite several examples even from our very own Orkut. But I’d rather share a live instance that may help validate.

We were recently approached by our friends who run Radio Schizoid, an India based Internet music station that plays trance, for a possible assignment.

Just as an experiment one morning, we linked Schizoid to our respective Google talk status. Consequently, even my Orkut profile was happily advocating- 'Trance @ Radio Schizoid'. Add to that my love for psychedelic art- my profile could have well been of someone from Goa. In a couple of days I get this curiously casual email from Anirudh (no-one I knew then) who called himself a ‘trance addict'. At first I junked the email as yet another random friend request, but I did make a note of the trance bit and checked his profile when next on Orkut.

Even as more of us from 'Team Blogworks' get ready to launch our respective, purposeful, blogs, I have been encouraging them to start contributing here. So here we are, Bidisha shares her conversation with a younger cousin, regarding social networking. Enjoy! Do share inputs and your own experiences.

1. Happy Conversations!

They say the proof of the pudding is in its taste - read on...

Social networking is one element of the Web 2.0 environment that sure has the Indian youth hooked. Even though detractors have been predicting the tempo to fizzle out, but a look at the latest statistics may suggest otherwise. Infact, I think social networking is not restricted to just the big cities and metros, a good chunk of profiles from the tier- II cities and small towns. And I state this not on the basis of some third party research, but based on several conversations that I have had on such sites.

Just the other day, during one of my Orkut sessions, I had an interesting conversation with my cousin in Allahabad: Tanay has just been promoted to the 11th standard. Right now he is enjoying his post-board exam break and his favorite hobby these days is not a sport or films or even spending time with his girlfriend… but 'Orkutting' and spending time on several such sites like – Tagged, Desimartini, Hi 5 and Facebook. His peers are there (and so am I) constantly exchanging notes, following each-other. To be denied entry into a 'group' is the worst affront anyone can show you (being dumped is Passé).

Just how much are the youth into social networking? Judge yourself from the fact that many don't exchange telephone numbers or email ids, they ask instead... Are you on Orkut? (or Facebook etc.). They live these networks.