Social networking in India is rapidly rising with adoption from young professionals and students.

1. Analysis & Outlook
Social Media in India 2012 – User Base & engagement expected to increase
Similar to the global phenomenon Social media in India is driven by young and
educated in the cities and towns across India and 2011 saw a tremendous rise in the
number of users and their activity in terms of time spent, engagement levels and quality
on various social networking sites. According to Telecom Regulatory Authority of
India there has been rapid rise in the number of internet users in India and has reached
121 million users in 2011. Broadband too has seen significant growth in 2011with
13.30 million users (22% YoY) compared to 10.92 million users in 2010 and is
expected to reach 15.9 million users by end of 2012. 80% of the internet users are urban
users and 20% are rural users in India and educated young people and professionals
across industry verticals like IT, BFSI, Retail, Automobile, Pharma, etc are driving the
social networking sites usage in India. Indians migrate to United States (US) for
education and jobs and most of them will be in constant touch with friends in India
which led to the rise in usage of social networks and it was even more increased as US
companies set up offices in India employing thousands of people here, Indians using
more technology products like mobiles, laptops, other computing devices like PCs,
tablets and finally the voyeuristic appeal with open networks drove the usage further.
Most popular social networking site in India is Facebook as recently it has dethroned
Indonesia from the number 2 slot with 46 million monthly active users in February
2012 on the site, an increase of 132% from the prior year. 75% of Facebook users in
India are male and metro cities dominate the usage in India. Google+ has a total user
base of 12.3 million in India with 86% of the users being male and dominated by
students and young professionals. Twitter has a total user base of more than 14 million
in India and is the sixth largest country in terms of accounts and the micro blogging in
India has not risen in India when compared to other social networking sites as Indians
are not comfortable with a 140 character limit. LinkedIn the professional networking
site has more than 14million user base in India and is one of the rapidly growing social
networks in India. Orkut was the initial dominant social networking site in India until
Facebook entry and it has around 18 million user base in India but the network which
was acquired by Google is fading into oblivion as Google is more focused on Google+.
Indian social networking sites too have significant user base in India and Ibibo has
around 12 million users base and BharatStudent has around 7 million users base.
Urban cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune,
Ahmedabad and other tier 1and 2 cities and towns dominate the social networking
usage in India. 75% is dominated by male and mostly the young students and
professionals in the age group of 18-24 are dominating the social media usage followed
by the 25-34 age group. They spend hours every month on the various social
networking sites and actively engage with friends and others. Most of the users are
using social media to stay in touch with friends, track and update their activities, social
gaming, follow groups and communities, discuss social, political cultural and
entertainment topics and also look for information about brands, products and also
provide their feedback. People are actively voicing their opinions on the social
networks as was evident during the Jan Lokpal movement by Anna Hazare and his
team in 2011 and the movement was supported by people actively through the various
social networks. Accessing and using the social networking sites through mobiles is
Rajesh Prabhakar Analyst Bio @ http://socialmediacases.blogspot.com/

2. Analysis & Outlook
also on the rise as most of the cell phone manufacturers selling in India are selling
handsets that are easy to use for social networking and are having inbuilt social
networking applications of the popular social networks at low prices.
There has been rapid rise in the number of ecommerce portals in India and also
businesses selling their products and services online. Most of these businesses are
actively engaging their consumers on the various social networks through games,
contest, and other content. Telecommunications services providers like Tata Docomo,
Airtel, Vodafone, Mobile handsets makers like Samsung, LG, Nokia, HTC, Automobile
manufacturers like Ford, Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra & Mahindra, Volkswagen,
ecommerce sites like Flipkart, sports goods manufacturers like Nike, Adidas, beverages
like Bacardi, Pepsi, Coke and consumer products like Nestle Maggi, etc are all very
active in India and many Indian users are actively engaging with these brands and
companies. Content focused at Indian users both by businesses and individuals is being
created and Indian users of the various social networking sites like the content and
making the content viral like the recent song Kolaveri Di. Most of the celebrities
belonging to the cinema world, sports personalities, politicians, artists, business leaders
and activists are all actively engaging and participating in the various social networking
sites. Indian Users are also actively engaging in the global issues and events on the
social networking sites and voicing their opinions.
There also have been some issues with social networking sites in India and the
government had issued notices to all the major players in the country in relation to the
derogatory content and content that is hurting the feelings of certain sections of the
people. The government has instructed the social networking companies to sensor such
content and remove it immediately failing which strict penalties and legal actions will
be taken against the companies responsible. The rapid rise in the social media usage in
the recent years has forced the government for regulating the usage and the policy was
framed last year in this regards. There were protests against too much regulation by the
government as the users were concerned about their right to express themselves freely
but due to certain incidents over the various social networks that hurt the sentiments
and feelings of people government were forced to act and frame the policy.
With increasing penetration of the internet and improvement in the technology
infrastructure in India, the social media usage in India is expected to increase and this
will be even pushed further with significant rise in the sales of the mobiles, laptops,
tablets and other computing devices in India. With availability of more information
about brands, companies, issues, hobbies, interest etc and increase in presence of
companies, governments, politicians, celebrities etc the social media usage across all
the age groups is also expected to increase in near future. There is also significant push
from the social networking companies and social gaming companies focusing on the
Indian User base will also see growth in user base. These companies are localizing the
content, providing language supports in local languages and also improving the
underlying technologies so that the users can use these sites easily. Privacy issues in
terms of individual privacy, personal data security, government and regulatory policy
issues in terms of content and the issue of targeting the ads based on personal sensitive
information are the significant negative factors that may hamper the growth in near
future. 2012 will be interesting and exciting year for social media in India.
Rajesh Prabhakar Analyst Bio @ http://socialmediacases.blogspot.com/