Apna Circle Revamp: New look is better and faster

Apna Circle Pvt. Ltd. JV with Viadeo-Tianji runs a career networking site “apnacircle“. Apna Circle has been revamp today. Now its faster and sleek. The look is more organized and easy to use interface is implemented. Earlier we need to discover new features by surfing which earn a point but in return we loose time, but now they all are in front of our eyes and very handy to use.

LinkedIn which is the global best in career networking is very heavy to use but have plenty of features that make it the best. Since Apnacircle is Indian local site will not make that big impact globally but if given good features then it may gain share in India because of being lighter. Indian has lesser penetration of broadband and hence faster up-loadable sites are preferred especially in colleges where the speed is very low. Remember that career networking start from college so it can be very important.

ApnaCircle when launched in 2006 was advertised and later 2008-09 when it merged with Viadeo-Tianji, after that its not so very few know about it and its profit. Ibibo which has gain a name because of its aggressive advertisement on television. Even Google, Yahoo and Bing use TV as an important medium to advertise in USA. Here in India, Yahoo, Rediff, Ibibo and Zapak has used it and hence they are popular in urban areas in India and make money. In.com also because of its aggressive marketing gain market share over Rediff in India. Thus marketing is the best way to earn. Till the time you do not invest you will not be paid for that.

ApnaCircle and other indian start-ups need to realize this and should start marketing there product and get listed to stock exchange like InfoEdge, TIL etc

Green Ganesh - A new spirit of festival

When people say that the grandness of the festival is reduced because of the environment ministry. I ask them that they like Ganesha statue going in dirty water. I ask them that they like the sea to be so bad that not only fishes dies but also Ganesha says that he do not want to go inside that. I feel that no one want to make the sea dirty and will follow the go green revolution.

Environment is very big issue today and is even bigger to food security. As food security can be achieved by increasing the productivity but saving environment requires a long term planning and measures have to be taken today to save tomorrow. So, effort of making festivals green is surely a good step and should be appreciated.

Earlier we do not use to have such a large population and damages to the environment can be heal itself but now due to large population damages to environment are bigger so we need to take measure to heal them and also to control any further damage. So, making festival green not only bring a new spirit but also makes us secure from any environment trouble.

Ozone layer is healing its hole by himself as 200 countries have band the CF gases. Such steps are appreciated and give benefits to society after sometime. Hence the steps taken today to celebrate festivals in a greener way will make future more brighter and better.

In the end, I will say that celebrate festival in a way that the happiness last long and that can be achieve by taking the steps that helps to make Earth a better place to live in a longer run.

Zorpia - Emerging Social Network OR Spamster

Zorpia is the social networking site of China now going global. Its the site that is gaining market in India. Last month, according to Comscore PerfSpot was top 10 social network in India which was a surprise for all internet news networks. I feel that this time its going to be Zorpia.

Tactic used by Zorpia:

1. When ever you invite any of your friend Zorpia start spamming there mail boxes by sending invites more than trice a day.

2. Several people (more than 5/day) will send you request whom you do not know.

These all tactics look like use by a spammer.

I am writing this blog as Zorpia gets most of its traffic from India. Since India is the key market for them and Indian cares a lot about there privacy and security, they need to be more careful.

Since it is the startup by a youngster Jeffrey in 2003 when he was in college (Like Facebook story but not a similar success story) and now he is 27. But the team managing it looks litter bit weak and needs to work harder to reduce spams and upgrade security to make there site a better place to have a social networking.

Country and Percent of Site Traffic

India 64.7%

Pakistan 5.1%

United States 3.0%

Nigeria 1.7%

Indonesia 1.7%

Egypt 1.4%

Qatar 1.3%

China 1.3%

Sudan 1.2%

Bangladesh 1.2%

SaudiArabia 1.1%

Iran 1.0%

Libyan Arab Jamahiriya 1.0%

United Arab Emirates 0.9%

Japan 0.9%

Kuwait 0.9%

Sweden 0.8%

United Kingdom 0.8%

Iraq 0.7%

Philippines 0.6%

Romania 0.6%

Myanmar 0.6%

OTHER 7.5%

Indiatimes' mail service shut down for two days because of security update

Indiatimesmail is undergoing some security update which is good but because of that reason it is not working properly for last two days and this problem will continue till 19^th as the official mail by indiatimes says. Due to this reason if someone is using it as a primary address for work or searching job, these days will be nightmare for them. This shows it is not serious about its mail service as other which are more popular as they are more serious about the mail service and hence trustworthy.

I would recommend that primary mail id should be on that site which has uptime 24X7 and do not shut down for any update. I would recommend that make primary id on one of these: Gmail, Yahoo mail, Hotmail, Aol, Rediffmail. Now a days in.com has emerged as the new serious contender so you can even have an id on this site as primary mail id.

If Indiatimes is not able to manage their email service well then they should outsource it like Sify had a partnership with Google to manage its mail service. This will help Indiatimes to concentrate on the news section which is the main base for them.

It was a surprise that they shut their mail service for two days for updating security as it was not expected from the third largest Indian internet company in terms of unique visitors. Indiatimes in the past have been in the race with Rediff to be India’s best internet company but they didn’t succeed in doing so and now Rediff and Indiatimes both declining together. I just don’t understand that why Indiatimes which is a lifestyle brand in India become a serious internet company in terms on email and social service.

Itimes have a flop because of the lack of publicity even being the largest selling print media. They had the potential for a good and cheaper publicity as being the best in print media but they didn’t went that way and lost somewhere in the race and is now weaker contender.

Indian Internet Industry needs to be social and mobile to make a global impact

We talk about broadband, 3G, 4G for better speed and internet in rural for better communication so that may also become a part of Indian growth but we do not talk about Indian internet industry. We are the best in IT sector but we do not have that place when it comes to internet companies. We have Banglore, Pune, Chennai, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, etc as the IT city but these cities do not have much internet startups.

We have internet companies like Rediff, Web18, Indiatimes, Sify, Infoedge, 160by2, freshersworld and few more which are major Indian Internet companies but none of them had that global presence as US internet companies do like Google, Yahoo, AOL, Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, LinkedIn and many more. Government should now work in this sector also as there is a huge scope for new startups in this field. This field also has a huge potential to give jobs and also help in growth of the nation.

I still remember that four years back Rediff use to be popular and compete with Yahoo and Google to get the unique visitors. But with the launch of Orkut, Gmail and GTalk, Rediff start losing its users. Rediff never realize the importance of social networking and now do no stand in front of Yahoo and Google, even Indian web company Web18’s in.com giving a huge competition to Rediff. Rediff and all other Indian companies still needs to understand that mail service is important to add new users who visit them regularly and social networking is important to make them spend time on your site and get the user visit your website several times a day.

Indian Internet Industry needs to understand that now mail and social both are very important to stand in the market and also they have to be innovative. Mobile apps are also very important as youth prefer mobile apps more than surfing through browser.

Indiatimes revamp its mail service

On September 17, 2010 indiatimes will revamps its mail service and will be interesting to see whats new they have. Indiatimes with itimes has shown interest in the social field but its not popular as lack of aggressive advertising which ibibo do.

Indiatimes is most popular for news at Times Of India and Economic Times portal. In.com is giving a tough fight to them at the news front as they are more popular in email category. In.com also put a aggressive add campaign like rediff and ibibo. Indiatimes has loose on that front even they have the leading newspaper which might help them to attract users.

But i am looking forward the new features that it will bring to its mail service. And lets see how they compete with other Indian web companies like Rediff, Sify, In.com, Ibibo, Zapak, India.com and others. I also wanna add that there is no chance that it can compete with giants like Google, Yahoo, Facebook and Twitter in India.

Revamps: Trend among most of the email services

These days most of the popular email services are getting their service revamps to attract the users and also move with the latest and current technology.

G Mail: It is the mail service that gets regular update. Every week a new feature is added. Latest is the Priority Inbox where the mails are sorted in real time as of importance or not. It is the first of its kind and very innovative idea.

Yahoo Mail: Its getting revamp soon to "minty" and will integrate twitter and facebook so that you can access such service from your inbox. Yahoo tried Pulse and Meme which were not so popular and do not have anything to attract the user. So finally yahoo has decided to use its popular mail service which is on the decline to attract user and hold them by giving facebook and twitter facility from their mail boxes.

Hotmail: Microsoft had a search deal with Yahoo to fight against the search giant-Google. Also MS has plan to stop the growing GMail by revamping hotmail this year. MSN has revamp hotmail to provide better facility and a faster email service. Earlier its use to have two version Full and Light. Now it has combined both together to give mix of speed and facility to its users. Hotmail being the world most used email service needs to be more advanced and provide regular update else Gmail like android will gain the market share.

Rediff Mail: Indian biggest internet company and its very popular email service Rediffmail was also revamp but i was unsatisfied as its really lack features and needs to be better to compete with other email services. Once its use to compete with Google and Yahoo in India but now its even struggle in front of indiatimes, sify and in(web18). Rediffmail needs a big revamp to attract new users and hold the existing.

Sify Mail: Sify had a deal with Google to power its mail service so it had all the facility that gmail has except the recent priority inbox but will soon get that also.

In.com: World shortest email id @in.com is becoming very popular in India as its has a different design and got revamp this year. Its fast and easy to use. Has a feature of Gmail, Ymail and Hotmail Preview. Also has a facility of providing the future date and time to the mail for delivery, this way your mail will be sent even if you are offline that time. This is call as "future mail".

India Mail: India Mail is the new to the market but is getting revamp and has stopped any new registration.

In the end i will say that it is always great to get revamp as its provide freshness to the users and also match up with the latest technology.

Yahoo! MeMe - new tool to compete with Twitter

Yahoo! Meme is like twitter but do not have anything special that it can get the market share from twitter. Twitter which has a simple interface and we can give 140 characters message. Meme is more complex and i prefer Pulse over Meme. So when Yahoo already have a better product i.e. Yahoo! Pulse, why they need to create Yahoo! Meme. Before launch i thought it be like a combination of Social Networking, Blogging and Gaming but i am disappointed that it is not so.

If Yahoo want to have a fight with Google, Facebook and Twitter, they need to be more creative and also aggresive else being only the best web based email service cannot save them for long.