Group-3



Group-3

India is currently among the top three fastest growing Internet markets in the world, and also has one of the youngest online demographics globally (around 75 percent of its online audience is aged between 15-34 years). Social media plays a huge role in the life of Indians. As we can see nowadays, everyone and their grandmum seems to be glued to their smart phone, tablet, or computer, constantly checking for updates on all their social media networks including; Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus. Social media effects Indian culture with the Advancements and globalization of digital platforms and social media technologies. It is empowering people across the globe to participate, and share content online. India has experienced technology as a vehicle in aiding social change through social media. The growth of social media outlets is changing behaviors, perceptions, and attitudes as the ease and growth of online social technologies induce audiences to become digital activists; changing user behavior from passive to active, non-participatory to avid participation, and enabling users with a voice that was otherwise unknown or untapped. The power of social media and its impacts on individuals, businesses, and society in India has provided an equal opportunity to voice thoughts, opinions, and share information. The increase of usage and ease of entry provides an attractive interface for anyone to become a creator or advocate of information and ideas by using blogs, micro-blogs, social sharing, and networking sites. Social networking is one of the most popular online activities, alongside emailing and entertainment such as watching videos and listening to music. In addition to personal use, it is widely used for recruitment and is also the single biggest source of news. Social media has empowered people in Indian society to spread perspectives on social causes and change, participation in digital activisms, and support and information sharing in crisis situations. The popularity of social networks has created a new trend of social sharing where individuals can recommend to groups of people products, services, information and ideas. The online peer-influence factor virally spreads as visible feedback channels engage, encourage and promote peers to be more participative and interact. For brands and marketers, social media introduces both opportunities and challenges. Brands are now able to listen to and address both compliments and complaints made by fellow or future consumers enabling the brand or marketer to respond to and interact with the public. Mobile text and application capabilities, such as SMS and Twitter, are becoming more affordable and available, thus adoption of mobile social networking across India increasing. Subscriber growth in India will continue, driven by rural expansion, entry of newer operators, 3G and cheaper handsets. Flat-rate data plans will also accelerate the use of mobile media. Social media, online and mobile, will serve as an inflection point in the general elections in India. Interaction with the younger generations in India has launched a popularity and engagement to get out the vote. As seen in the media source ( [] ) India has beat out Indonesia for the most amount of people on social networks, percentage wise, per country. Mr. [|Sreenivasan] states that Indians are in general curious people and they always want to know what’s going on; they always want to have the upper hand, knowledge wise. However, he states that India needs to be less contained and more open to current day policies and trends. Though Indians are very up to date with technology, he states that instead of being the first to jump on the bandwagon, they need to test the waters and see what is good for them as a culture, and what isn’t. Mr. [|Sreenivasan] states “…Too much cyber openness is not a good sign…”, though India needs to be more open, they also need to be more careful.He seems to think that, if anything, Indians need to go out and educate themselves about the proper use of social media. Putting our own two cents in, being born and raised in an Indian household that had so many American values, when I see my relatives on Facebook, I tend to avoid them for the sole reason that they have no internet etiquette. I’ve had a couple uncles and aunties ask me in caps locks, why I wasn’t married yet. In all honesty, I couldn’t agree more with the fact that the Indian society is making great leaps and bounds with technology to the point where we outsource all our technical support issues to them, but they need to learn how to deal with the media properly and gain a proper understanding of how to utilize this media for their own good. Many communities have been created thanks to social networking sites, including many activists who have taken to various platforms to promote their good causes. But on the flip side, social media has also become a channel for propaganda; a recent incident of unfounded rumors was spread by social media, and warned of attacks by Muslims against North Eastern migrants, which prompted widespread panic. There are some key differences between India and the rest of the world in terms of online behavior. Firstly, India is a multi-cultural society; even the rural and urban areas have huge cultural and behavioral differences. This plays a large role in both current and future social media use. Another difference is that India is a country with many languages, and therefore text-based social media is not as popular as it might be in the rest of the world. This is why social networking sites like Facebook are more successful, as they allow users to upload and view images, which can be easily shared and understood, across the country’s different regions.  The main challenge for brands is the consumers Internet access. Internet penetration is still only 10.2 percent in India, therefore the majority of the population probably don't know what the Internet is, let alone how to use social networks. With more than 60 percent of India’s population living in rural areas, and Internet penetration at 4.3 percent in rural India, the task is very difficult for brands. Recent reports, however, suggest that more and more consumers are accessing the Internet on their mobile phones. Every brand wants to enter into the social media space, but sometimes they don’t have enough knowledge or reason to use social media. Brands are also confused about how to use social media channels as part of their wider strategy, and are applying traditional marketing tactics rather than focusing on the social element.