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Web2.0 and India feasibility

April 26, 2007 · Posted in India Web 2.0

There was a small debate that took place between Alok Mittal and Avnish Bajaj on the feasibility of Web2.0 in India.
While my intention is not to rekindle the debate, but I’d like to continue the thread of discussion related to the same - feasibility of Web2.0 in India.

To begin with let’s revisit the definition of Web 2.0:

Web 2.0, a phrase coined by O’Reilly Media, refers to a perceived second-generation of Web based communities and hosted services â€” such as social networking sites, wikis and folksonomies â€” that facilitate collaboration and sharing between users.

The definition of Web2.0 is so imprecise that if one were to ask 10 different people to define Web 2.0, it is very likely one would get at least 7-8 different responses.

In my opinion, Web2.0 encompasses two main features:

1) Collaboration, community, user-generated-content, openness

2) Uncluttered UI, greater usability, visually appealing

I think that the 2nd point about UI is of equal significance when it comes to defining Web2.0.

To illustrate my point, consider the following:

1) The Rediff Movies section has a significant fan following and user participation. It also has all the UGC you can ask for. If you exclude point (2) above, Rediff could be classified as a Web2.0 site. But fact is that Rediff is not remotely Web2.0 - based on how I equate Web2.0

2) MouthShut has thousands of reviews on all kinds of consumer products. All of these reviews would fall under UGC. Would you say that MouthShut is a web.20 site ? Probably yes - probably not.

Web2.0 in the US has been the culmination of a constantly evolving Internet landscape. First, there were the first generation websites and portals. As people started spending more and more time online, the concept of online community and collaboration emerged. In fact, I think one of the key success factors for YouTube was that they had the right idea at the right time. Would YouTube have been so successfully back in 2001 ? Hmm..I doubt it.

Now, can Web2.0 be successfully applied to the Indian market ?

Yes..I think so. We are still missing a large chunk of the first generation websites - a point that I’ve tried to capture earlier (I’ll try to refrain from rehashing the same thing again). At the same time, We’ve had the benefit of observing the evolution of websites in the US. Based on these observations, one of the lessons we can learn is that the Web2.0 paradigm is a better way of connecting with users, increasing usability and building an online community. So, if and when these missing online services emerge in India, we can apply the Web2.0 paradigm to these services. Note that when I talk about applying the Web2.0 paradigm, I imply the above (2) points - usability and interactivity features. I dont mean that we can fast forward directly from portals and news sites to video sharing sites. We still need an online payment system, a WebMd, a TicketMaster, a citysearch etc..

Apply the Web2.0 design principles (and I dont just mean graphic and web design, but program design as well), but dont necessarily clone what ever is currently ‘hot’ in the US market - for the simple reason that the Indian market is not mature enough.

So, the reasoning boils down to the fact that your perspective on Web2.0 in India is entirely based on how you define Web2.0. I definitely believe that services such as webmd, citysearch, ticketmaster etc.,remixed with a Web2.0 flavor, are surely feasible - and actually waiting to happen in India.