Will H'bad change the face of India's social networking?

By Vishwanath Pilla /CNBC-TV18

 

Mark Zuckerberg's success with facebook has inspired many young entrepreneurs in the Charminar city.

 

For 29-year old tech-savvy entrepreneur Kalyan Manyam, internet is more than a passion. Kalyan is currently building a first of its kind entertainment-based social network called Indyarocks . Communities can interact, post comments, play games and discuss movies. Indyarocks, which started just eight months ago, is already making waves on the online scene with over 2 million members. Now Kalyan wants to extend Indyarocks on to mobile platform as well.

 

Kalyan Manyam, Founder, Indyarocks said, "If you see a social networking site, it is driven by users. All that you worry about is building right platform ensuring that you built right interactivity, attractive features and give users freedom to express themselves."

 

Another platform created for students is Hyderabad -based social network Bharatstudent.com . In a year, this network has managed to become the world's top 20 most accessed sites with a 3.5 million user base. Students communicate on the website on everything from entrance exams to admissions and choosing universities to even education loans.

 

Venkat S Meenavalli, MD & CEO, Bharatstudent.com said, "We are planning of a campus event of universities. These are lead generation process. All these students on my social networking site are our audience. We deliver our audience to brands, advertisers and agencies."

 

Currently the Indian online advertising industry is pegged by experts at USD 100 million. Hyderabad's entreprenuers are tapping in by building local search sites like Tolmol bol and Metromela.com.

 

It doesn't require a great deal of investment to build a social network, but what is required is imagination and an enterprising spirit. That's what these young entrepreneurs from Hyderabad are trying to tap.