I agree that 'new media' in India is coming of age. But if I analyze how the youth of the country are looking at social networking websites, or the 'Youtubes' of the world, business networking, branding and marketing is the last thing on their mind. To understand it's intrinsic value, I think they need to look beyond only dating. While these websites are a great place to pursue romantic interests, capitalizing on the business value they can bring is yet to reach maturity. Also, misuse is another big concern. Having said that, ishare sounds good and certainly has tremendous potential for the more evolved users.

To site an example to Neeta - When Fropper was launched in India, they launched it as a Dating site... and then they sifted their positioning to Friendship site.

Nice post Rajesh!
Here is another interesting take on iShare: http://www.pluggd.in/2007/07/rediff-ishare-indian-media-portal-zapak.html

"Rediff is investing in the area where it matters - streaming media. How many times have you simply given up on a media portal, because of the video/audio download speed?"

I just don't think Flickr/Youtube clone gonna survive anymore. They are verymuch localized and u can easily find localized content. ( what happened to DesiTube?)

FB ! Interesting things happening yeh!
I'm just counting how many cool applications u've added since monday :-)

Guess ur aware of Facebook-Apps-Only Fund by Bay Partners.

Facebook 's strategy of 'Key open' is working - 40,000 developers have requested keys from Facebook to create applications, and over 1,600 have already launched on Facebook.!

Rajesh, Some people question the intelligence of entrepreneurs who build their new companies entirely on the back of another startup. Your call?

Neeta- Hi. You are right that the primary concern of the youth will be entertainment and networking. However, as social media becomes mainstream serious usage will evolve. Brands and Corporates are the ones who should worry about branding and marketing anyway - it is for them to figure out ways to reach the consumer through the new mediums :).

Moksh- Thanks. Keep writing.

Rajesh - Thanks. Yup, worked fast and smooth for me too :). Keep writing.

Kris - The big portals like rediff have great existing traffic and careful management can give them critical mass. It doesn't seem impossible to me but depends on what content. Yesterday I was at the Maxim channel of Zapak - don't think of the genre - think possibilities. The Maxim channel will work, I think. So what goes up will matter - bollywood deals, previews, trailers, behind the scenes, sport... I could play with so much. Let's see.

FB has got my attention at the moment, like nothing else before. Will write a post about it soon. Try some of the apps - Truemors; Slideshare and the Crush one - cool ;)

Will check out the app you mentioned - haven't seen it yet. I anyway test many and then keep what is really relevant. You need to know but need to keep junking too :).

I don't know about 'build' but launch on the back of another 'successful start-up' should not be a problem, I think. In the sense I could use that as a vehicle to promote my product and gain traction. For example many of the applications that I see on FB are not NEW in the market - they have merely found a place to find critical mass customers. On the other hand sometimes success stories can lead to entire new industries - the IPod accessories being a case in point ( on a fun note, I remember I saw a magazine give away an ipod dock with toilet paper. That was differentiated I thought :). What do you think?

Rajesh - Thanks for sharing info on iShare.

Although some of the applcations on FB are not new in the market, the adoption from the developer community is on the rise and we can probably expect more compelling applications in the near future:)

Sometime back, I had heard that almost 50% of facebook users log-in daily which is way ahead of myspace at 15%.

The emergence of all these applications is driving a larger integrated network, larger than probably one can ever imagine.