FACTS ANF FUTURE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN INDIA

                  Be it any social media of digital marketing channels, people are usually obsessed either global data or the data of the western countries. So now we have tried to bring some light facts about the social media in India.
1.     India has 125 million Internet users
2.     On an average, Indian web users spend 26 minutes online each day
3.     87.1 million users experience Internet on their smart phones and this number is expected to grow to 165 million by 2015
4.     Top social media networking sites are Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Orkut, BharatStudent.com, Zedge.net, Ibibo.com, hi5.com, Shtyle.fm, Indyarocks, Fropper.com and Myspace.com.
5.     Facebook has 45 million, twitter has 15 million and LinkedIn has 45 million users in India.
6.   Pinterest gets 4.8% traffic from India who gives 3.9% of page views
7.   60% of social networking traffic comes from non-metro cities in India. However the highest traffic comes from the metros i.e. Mumbai
8.   The male to female ratio in terms of social media usage is 60:40 indicating that males are the top users
9.   Social media is available for only 60% of the entire Indian audience
10.   Age group of 15-24 are the highest number of social media users
11.   On an average Facebook is visited atleast thrice a day
12.   Major chunk of the time spent by Indian audience is on Facebook games, apps and viewing photos
13.   Facebook is the only social media network that has seen tremendous growth which two times in the last six months
14.   In the next six months, twitter will have 25000 Indians joining every day
15.   Salman Khan, Indian Bollywood actor, is declared the King of social media with 7 million fans on Facebook and 3million followers on twitter.
                  Technological changes are rapid and Bandwidths of 100 Mbps in all  households is not far away where  you could be watching all your favourite shows but not on the TV but on your computer either live with streaming TV or later on the youtubes and its likes .Media consumption is changing and even Media itself is changing(From TV to online media). A scenario not too far away will be when Mobiles will have the bandwidth and the capability to make it the preferred choice of Media where you could be watching your favourite TV shows not on TV, not even on the computer but  on your mobile phone. (Already a lot of Facebook users are online not on their computer but over their mobiles-a trend which gain more)All in all it is technology and ease of use of that technology with mass availability at reasonable cost  which is going to drive media usage  in the future and anybody who can combine all of the above has got a sure shot winner.The question to be asked is – for how long? Before something new replica handbags comes in and catches your fancy. Rest assured you the consumer is definitely going to get what you want.

THE FUNNY SOCIAL MEDIA

                 Since the first tweet was tweeted on March, 21, 2006, the infrastructure of Twitter social media website has not only changed the way the world communicates (frequently, and in short bursts), it has also changed the way customers interact with businesses (individually, and transparently). With a billion active accounts in its sights, businesses in general, and the retail industry specifically, cannot afford to not have a presence on Twitter because social media sites like Twitter make it too easy for customers to actively ignore while choosing to pay attention to what strangers are eating for breakfast. What follows are funny and inspiring quotable quotations about Twitter and social media and how it has changed the nature of business and customer relationships in the U.S. The quotes are arranged in no particular order. The quote authors identified with "@" names are tweeters (famous or unknown) who published their quote on their own Twitter account. Funny and Inspiring Quotations About the Business Value of Twitter and Social Media:
· “Twitter provides us with a wonderful platform to discuss/confront societal problems. We trend Justin Bieber instead.” ― Lauren Leto   · "On Twitter we get excited if someone follows us. In real life we get really scared and run away." ~Unknown via @mozusa
· “LinkedIn is for the people you know. Facebook is for the people you used to know. Twitter is for people you want to know” ~ Source unknown
· "On Twitter, you get 140 characters to be worth paying attention to, no matter who (or what) you are." - @graemem
· “Social Media is about sociology and psychology more than technology.” – Brain Solis Principal of FutureWorks · "Twitter is not a technology. It's a conversation. And it's happening with or without you."- @charleneli                  
                 WhatsApp is proving to be the killer app for huge diasporic communities like Indians, and (surprise, surprise) Indian women are driving that growth. There are currently 20 million Indian users of the service and women use the WhatsApp Messenger three times more often than men. Why is this important? Social media offers the unprecedented possibility of amplifying voices that were simply not heard in the past. Women, who have not had the opportunity to shape their own image in the media, will now play a huge role in dismantling and reinvigorating a media culture that will more accurately reflect people’s real desires, interests and fears. As powerful traditional media companies in the US, India and all around world increasingly turn their attention to social media to tap into the zeitgeist, they will increasing hear the voices of women who dominate those social media conversations.   Of course I look forward to the day when we Indians won’t need to use social media channels in order to secure justice for rape victims, or to shame corrupt politicians out of office. But even Twitter haters should find some place in your heart for any new technology that makes it possible for ordinary citizens (albeit those fortunate enough to have an Internet connection) to test their voices, engage in public debate and find like-minded souls in this big ol’ networked world.

Social networking: A boon or bane for youth

                  Over the last decade the popularity of social networking sites has risen to a massive scale. People seem to love the idea of communicating with each other through pictures, videos, messages and voice mails than talking face to face.
                    It was mostly teenagers and young adults who used the social media but now, even our grandparents are catching up with the trend of following celebrities on Twitter and regularly updating their profile pictures on Facebook.Nowadays, most of the youth spend hours on popular social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, etc. Our private space has been invaded by social media, there are very few things that others cannot find out about us with a click.
                  Similar to the characteristics of a young child who wants a new toy after he gets bored of playing with the old ones, the youth is also looking for new things to keep themselves busy and discard anything that is outdated.Hence, the changing trend of social media! Earlier, a social networking website like Orkut was a fad amongst the youth. But slowly the interest of the youth developed and they wanted something new, that is when Mark Zuckerberg saw an opportunity in the social media market and invented a new social networking website called Facebook, taking the world by storm. His website gained popularity like an epidemic, making other social networking websites bite the dust.
                  Though social media has revolutionised the world by bringing us closer than ever, it should be used to stay connected with our family and friends i.e. for necessary conversations.The future of social networking sites look promising but people will have to deal with the problems associated with it.

The Role of Social Media

Social Media in Indian Politics
Social media is not only confined to you and me but to politicians as well. Through different activities politics and politicians in India have brought social media into the limelight. It is expected that social media will play a huge role and influence the coming general elections to a great extent. The study by IRIS Knowledge Foundation and supported by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) has indicated this fact. Social media will be real game changer with political leaders having millions of fans on Twitter and supporters on Facebook as well as Google+. In order to build a certain image, most of the politicians also have their own websites. A few examples: All the recent lectures by Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi got huge social media attention. He even hosted a political conference on Google+ hangouts and this makes him the third politician across the globe to do this after Obama and Australian PM Julia Gillard. Ajay Degan hosted his Google+ Hangout in which the common man was free to ask live questions from him. He has a strong presence on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.Shashi Tharoor is very active on Twitter and his tweets are quoted in mainstream media. Few months back, you must have seen a page on Facebook seeking Dr. Abdul Kalam as president of India. Then there is Anna Hazare’s Social Media Campaign against corruption in India. Many researchers have indicated that social media would be stronger and more persuasive than television in influencing people.
Social Media and Business
Role of social media in business and consumer market in India cannot be undermined. It is the change in consumers’ behavior that is changing the role of social media in India. With time, use of social media has seen a drastic change from just used for fun to fun plus knowledge and marketing. For business purposes, Facebook is the most important social media platform as there is customers’ engagement, followed by Twitter, YouTube and blogging. Social media is used by brands to build communities for interaction and spreading news. So not only individuals but every organization, be it big or small, has an online presence on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube channels and other related social media platforms. 95.7% of organizations in India use social media to build communities, 76.1% for highlighting brand news, platform specific parameters such as number of likes, share, comments, people taking about the company are considered by 81% of the organizations to measure their success. As far as the budget is concerned, most of the organizations set budget below INR 10 million on their social media spending that makes 1-5% of their total marketing budget. Social media interaction provides useful information about the behavior of the customers to the organization on regular basis.
Social Media and Recruitment in India
Social media and recruitment go hand in hand with social media becoming an integral part of recruiting firms. These firms are using LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter to find new employees and skills. So, gone are the days when for employment recruiters as well as employees used to rely on employment exchange and classified ads in the newspaper. Hiring through traditional media was based on gut feeling whereas through social media, it is based on interaction, communication and direct response. Most of the organizations have well planned strategies for talent acquisition through social media. Social Media and IPL Social media is also playing an active role in the Indian Premier League (IPL) by providing up to date and live information on sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Youtube. Teams are in constant touch with their fans through social media and there is  great interaction. For IPL sponsors and brands, such an interaction and reach of social media is a boon. Thus there is no way to ignore social media for business and entertainment purposes.

Introduction: What isn’t new media?

Wikipedia defines New Media as:

 “… a broad term in media studies that emerged in the latter part of the 20th century. For example, new media holds out a possibility of on-demand access to content anytime, anywhere, on any digital device, as well as interactive user feedback, creative participation and community formation around the media content. Another important promise of new media is the "democratization" of the creation, publishing, distribution and consumption of media content. What distinguishes new media from traditional media is the digitizing of content into bits.

                    Wikipedia, an online encyclopaedia, is an example, combining Internet accessible digital text, images and video with web-links, creative participation of contributors, interactive feedback of users and formation of a participant community of editors and donors for the benefit of non-community readers. Facebook is an example of the social media model, in which most users are also participants. Most technologies described as "new media" are digital, often having characteristics of being manipulated, networkable, dense, compressible, and interactive. Some examples may be the Internet, websites, computer multimedia, computer games, CD-ROMS, and DVDs. New media does not include television programs, feature films, magazines, books, or paper-based publications – unless they contain technologies that enable digital interactivity."

                    A good question to ask instead of “what is new media?” is  “what isn’t new media?” To be sure, there are some definite signposts to guide the twenty-first century user’s query.The term “new media” seems to escape its very definition. Loosely, new media is a way of organizing a cloud of technology, skills, and processes that change so quickly that it is impossible to fully define just what those tools and processes are. For example, the cell phone in the late 1980’s could be thought of as part of new media, while today the term might only apply selectively to a certain type of phone with a given system of applications, or even more commonly, the content of those apps. Part of the difficulty in defining New Media is that there is an elusive quality to the idea of “new.” The very prospect of being new denotes an event just beyond the horizon, something that has only just arrived and which we are just beginning to get our hands on. Perhaps in searching for a suitable characterization for this network of tools and ideas is the idea of limitless possibility. Limitless possibility for communication, for innovation, and education is certainly a fundamental element that shapes our conceptions of new media usage from now on.

                    New media has had a profound effect on three of the most essential categories of society in the twenty-first century: economics politics, and the exchange of ideas. Economically, new media is the globe’s commercial skeleton.Every time a customer goes online to shop for that rare book title, or that overstocked iPod, or even the digital camera from a large retail store available down the block, new media is on both sides of that transaction. New media is not only the product but helps to mould the process of electronic commerce.One thing is very clear: New Media is experiencing the growing pains of “the Wild West.” New Media itself is neutral new technology evolving all the time. It is up to the user as to whether it is good or bad.Perhaps the potential of new media is a function of its intermediate development and our social, political, and economic transition within and outside of it. Either way, it remains to be seen whether or not it really is up to us to define the digital frontier. Regardless, new media and new media communications is continually evolving and as a result, its definitions evolves as well.