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India waking up to blogsphere
By agencies
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Monday, 06 June 2005, 19:30 IST
NEW DELHI: Is India missing the bus by ignoring blogs? The answer may be yes and not.
Carat Media Services, the advertising and media shop, is chewing over the gains and losses of focusing on and ignoring gains.
According to group CEO, Charles Jenarius, Carats interactive and digital media arm ISOBAR will soon be launched in India. ISOBAR is active in the blog scene in the U.S. and UK and some Asian markets. ISOBAR may not take the plunge into blog business immediately, but it goes without saying that blogging is a significant territory and we are keeping close tabs on it, Jenarius adds.
With only around 2-5 million Internet users, Indian blogsphere is quite small, especially if one compares it with the U.S., where around 10 million blogs are already in existence and 40,000 new ones pop up every day.
Yet marketers feel that Indian bloggers are gradually assuming a role, which might impact businesses.
Says John Goodman, CEO, O&M: India is a typical market where informed opinion, specially that of the peer group, is taken very seriously. Blogs, thus, will emerge as a platform for generating collective opinion on businesses.
His argument finds resonance in Jenarius observation that Indian bloggers may be small in numbers, but they are well-informed and highly opinionated consumers. Hence, their views will have to be taken seriously.
Search the Net for Indian blogs and youll be bogged down by the results. While a majority of bloggers are independent groups and people mainly delving into topics like politics, travel, mundane life activities, issues like globalization, economy and corporate practices are also generating a lot of heat.