Community interactions on the basis of SMSes and voice-based services have a huge following now, especially in small towns.
He could easily have been the most talkative student in his class. But that did not stop Md Shafeeq Khan’s teacher from always choosing him for reading sessions in school. Gifted with a clear, deep voice, he was also popular for the impromptu commentaries that he gave for local cricket and football matches. These experiences led Khan to believe that he could one day become a TV reporter or an anchor, or at least a radio jockey. But his family’s economic situation forced him to start a small business in Moradabad, UP.
Today, this 27-year-old has not realised his dream of having a regular show on a TV channel. Still, at 7:30 pm each night, no less than 30,000 people tune in to listen to his shayari (poetry)!
This happens over a community ‘mehfil’, on a mobile networking platform called RockeTalk. In fact, a new term — Mobile Jockey — has been coined for people like Khan, who often also holds talk shows with famous poets like Padma Bhushan awardee Bashir Badr and Urdu poet Waseem Barelvi, and even Ehsan Khureshi from the Laughter Challenge show on Star One.
“I like this platform because it allows for live feedback from listeners. The audience for the ‘show’ exists across countries. When I fail to log in sometimes, I have people calling in from Israel, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh and even from West Asia,” says Khan.
It’s because of self-made stars like Khan that the mobile networking platform, RockeTalk, now has 2.1 million members in just 17 months. Unlike other popular websites, RockeTalk facilitates audio- and video-based social networking, by using the mobile phone as a platform. Members can leave recorded voice messages or videos, in addition to text messages.
The video-based networking has even thrown up a few surprises. An NGO from Baroda used it to help deaf and dumb children find friends online by posting their video messages in sign language. The site has also become popular for its antakshari community, where members play the game in real time by singing songs in their own voices.
“This is a rich form of communication, as the power of expression is very high in their natural language, as opposed to typing in one’s mother tongue in English script. The mobile phone is the best device for it because it is primarily a voice-based device,” said Rajiv Kumar, CEO, RockeTalk.
Socialising through SMSes
SMSGupshup.com is yet another mobile networking site that uses SMSes as a platform for groups to communicate with each other. This network, which has 32 million users, allows members to form groups and communities and stay in touch through SMSes, for free. The range of topics include shayari, jokes, finance, religion, business, technology and education.
Jatindra Dash, a reporter from Orissa, uses this platform to push his news portal, Odisha.com. The website, which was aimed at keeping expat Oriyas informed about developments in the state, never received any real recognition till Dash decided to push it through SMSGupshup.com. Now, the community has 180,000 members.
“Those who live in rural areas have no access to the internet and, hence, don’t get useful information that easily. We send news via SMSes on such topics as government policy and decisions, daily temperature updates and forecasts and even disaster-related information, like during heavy rains,” said Dash.
A non-elitist method...
Experts point out that SMS-based networking reaches a much larger audience, especially in rural areas and smaller towns, where conventional and supposedly popular social networking methods are considered elitist.
“Facebook and Twitter are a very urban online phenomenon. The SMS is a mass medium and it reaches every part of the country, unlike the internet. We have seen users from remote areas stay connected like tribal communities from Nagaland, farmers from Maharashtra, and the traffic police in Mumbai and Delhi,” said Beerud Sheth, founder and CEO of SMS Gupshup.
Around 75 per cent of users of mobile networks belong to B- and C-class towns. “One of the reasons is that people in smaller towns have fewer sources of entertainment and most of them do not have access to internet or even a personal computer. They use their phones for entertainment and connect with people. The only other entertainment is the movies,” said Kumar.
Moreover, this form of networking comes at a lower cost to the consumer. SMSGupshup.com charges Re 1 for a user to join a community and all the information sent and received henceforth is free. Even video- and voice-enabled mobile networking does not require a high-end mobile handset.
“You do not need a smartphone to use these services. One can use any Java-enabled phone, which typically costs as little as Rs 3,000,” said Kumar.
...that has an urban following, too
However, this form of networking, which adds around a million users a month, has variants for the urban consumers as well. Delhi-based mobile media company Affle recently launched Pinch, a messaging application for smartphones. The application allows smartphone users to send messages over data across platforms without incurring SMS/MMS charges.
“It is location-aware and you can see where your friends are and get access to location-based services related to your profile. The application also looks for contacts through the phone book, Facebook, Twitter, Blackberry, Android and e-mails,” said Anuj Khanna, CEO of Affle.
Pinch has already become one of the top 10 paid applications in India, and is the second-most popular social networking-based application in Apple’s app store. It also claims to have 475 emoticons and animations, which adds colour to messaging.
