Media Exploits Internet 'Social Networking'

Published in the Press Institute of India's quarterly magazine Vidura (Vol 44, Issue 1, Jan-Mar 2007), this article explores the global phenomenon of "social networking", which - according to author Dinesh C. Sharma - is "spreading like wildfire on the internet."

Sharma details the history of this communication trend, explaining that, from the time of the internet's "birth", the concept of social networking has been central. In short, people have been sharing opinions, information, photographs, and (more recently) video clips, with their families, friends, and people at large. Recognising the "vast number of communities [that] developed on the internet", and realising that "some of these online communities started growing and their websites began attracting millions of hits, the biggies in the new media business woke up to the business potential of 'social networking". Sharma points to a number of examples of this trend, tracing a timeline that involves Google's 2004 launch of its own social network called Orkut, Yahoo's launch of Yahoo!360 in March 2005, as well as the creation of user-generated websites like YouTube ("a leading social networking site, where people can upload and share video clips through websites, blogs and electronic mail"), MySpace (which also allows members to share videos and music), Tribe.net, Facebook, and Hi5.

Sharma claims that this "new media landscape was shaken when Google announced in October 2006 that it had decided to acquire YouTube for a whopping $1.65 billion. Google has its own video service, Google Video, which continues despite Google's acquisition of YouTube." (At the time of this purchase, YouTube was apparently delivering over 100 million video views every day with 65,000 new videos uploaded daily.) As further evidence of the popularity of this type of communication, Sharma cites valuations in the market of other such user-generated sites, noting that they "are beginning to attract big bucks, as has happened with previous innovations on the internet such as music sharing, blogging and podcasting." For Sharma, the success of these sites, particularly those that facilitate uploading of user-generated videos, can be explained by the fact that they are attracting "huge numbers" of users between the ages of 18 and 34. "This is a generation, which marketers feel, is spending less time on cable and satellite; and more time on the internet." In addition, the "easy-to-use tools on these websites let ordinary people, companies and others create social networks tailor-made for their friends, customers and employees."

Sharma discusses the increasing intersections between social networking websites and other types of technology-based communication - "new" and "old" media, alike. For instance, since video uploads is a major attraction in social networking, websites such as YouTube are collaborating with music and media companies to upload their content on social networking websites for a fee as well as for adverting (attracting what Sharma describes as "considerable" revenues). Also, in March 2007, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) announced a partnership with YouTube that will let the website's members access BBC content. The partnership, which will build over time, enables YouTube users to be able to see clips of new shows and specially commissioned promotional content linked to popular series, and about 30 news clips per day will be offered (with analysis from around the world). Users will be able to comment on clips, rate them, recommend them to friends, and post their own video responses. Under a similar partnership, CBS Corporation in the United States uploads daily feed of news, sports and entertainment clips on YouTube. In the first month of this partnership, which started in October 2006, CBS uploaded 300 clips that got a total of 29.2 million views, averaging 857,000 views per day. Ratings of some CBS shows have improved since the posting of clips; Sharma stresses that, although YouTube posting is not the sole cause of the rise in ratings, both companies believe that YouTube has brought a significant new audience.

While social networking facilitated by information and communication technology (ICT) can connect people, it can sometimes divide them, this article suggests. The author points to cultural challenges that this trend has engendered, highlighting a controversy spurred by the airing by several television channels in India of a video clip which had been uploaded to YouTube. In the particular case in question, a non-resident Indian based in America had uploaded a video of a clown dressed like Gandhi doing a pole dance; the man had reportedly posted the clipping to market himself. "But broadcast of the clip led to a furore in India....The demand was made that Google should withdraw the 'offensive' video clip from the website owned by it."

Perhaps for this reason, Sharma explains that, whereas American networks are "fast catching up with new media innovations such as online communities, Indian media largely remains aloof to the potential of some of these emerging technologies and trends." He elaborates on this trend, suggesting that the public broadcasters Doordarshan and All India Radio have "remained cool to possibilities of expanding their audience footprint through new digital technologies." He suggests, however, that private television channels are a bit more "alive to the potential of using viewer-generated videos." Some channels, he says, have regular slots where they show unusual videos sent in by viewers, while others provide a slot on their websites for similar offerings.

In Sharma's estimation, "...the internet is truly an international phenomenon and a forum of free speech. It knows no national boundaries and respects no national laws. It is not practical to even think of policing or censoring the content on the internet, as governments in different countries would very much like to do."