Web Social Network spreads across Indian community
What is your mobile number used to be the common question when you met new acquaintances in social circles. This has been replaced by the question “Are you on Facebook or Orkut?” and lo a new whole world opens to both and they happily spend looking at each others pictures, interests, scraps, messages, friends and soon realise that you have common friends. In the process you have already made new friends and discovered lost ones.
Parammatta resident Anuj Kulshreshta, a neo convert to social networking had interest in Shayari and would forward his sharayi (poetry) to his friends using SMS which caused a hole in his pocket every time he wanted to share his work. When somebody suggested ORKUT to him, he was not convinced. Relunctantly he created his own listing, added a couple of pictures and made few friends. He also started putting his shayari and started “Indians in Australia” sending scraps to some of his close friends. Soon he was getting Friend Requests from all across the globe and now has 210 friends in the virtual space. Life has not been the same for Anuj as he has started dishing out shayari at an astounding pace and then sends them as scraps to people. It is his way of conquering the Internet and life has never been the same for him. He is as addicted to the Internet as his morning cup tea. The last thing he does before sleeping is checking his Orkut page and when he wakes up he is eager to find the response of his friends to his shayari. He recently opened a listing in the popular Facebook as well.
Admits theatre personality, Aishwarya Nidhi, “One of the best advantages of the internet is Facebook. Facebook is addictive and quite useful too. It’s a way to connect with people that you have forgotten or left behind. I’ve randomly come across a number of my old college friends, which is exciting and wonderful. We live such busy lives that we often find we don’t have time to communicate to our family and friends, some which live seven seas apart. Facebook changes all of that. I can send messages and know how my old friends and acquaintances are doing whether they live in India, America, Canada, UK or anywhere else in the world. It surely is a great way to connect with them at your own convenience.” Aishwarya has also been using Facebook to invite people for her upcoming play Gandhari and also her theatre workshops and is happy with the response.
Shitty Rail is another group on Facebook formed by members of Indian community who want to voice their frustrations about City Rail. Pallavi Sinha joined the group Shitty Rail: We hate Rail Corp with 262 members on Facebook, as she found an instant empathy with the group members as it was frustrating her too. Now she no longer had to call her friends to whinge and express frustration. She had found a medium and let all her friends know as well as she changed her What Am I doing right now status. Sympathetic messages have been pouring in since then. When another city girl Swati Shukla had to undergo the recent Sydney chill she updated her “What are you doing right now?” status to : Swati Shukla is frozen.
Raj Khanna who has started the ClubInn community in Sydney says, “Facebook has been a great tool for me to organise social events during the past few months. Facebook Pages and Groups are free and an effective medium of communicating with everyone. The CLUBINN – Sydney’s Multicultural Clubbing Community Facebook Page I created a month ago has around 573 young generation Indians in Sydney. Just by staying active, and networking with others, we’ve seen a lot of growth. “ He adds, “Everyone knows about Facebook, even my Dad is on it. It is the hottest new social networking service. One can easily communicate by sending short message to friends in your network, more over, it provides a running commentary of your life to your friends and vice versa. “
Sonia Sadiq who has started GoWyld community on Facebook now uses Facebook events to inform everyone about her new events. Responses come automatically to her as her friends RSVP directly to her Facebook events and she uses the time to better plan her events. With 293 friends already and increasing daily she is hooked on Facebook.
Banking expert, Gautam Mathur says, “I would probably be one of the few people who are not ‘hooked’ , yet. I know people who use it (like my better half), do seem to enjoy the regular connection they can feel with not one, but a number of friends and relatives living across the globe. It is quite handy to get in touch with people and share news and updates regarding your personal life or gossip about people you know in common.” Pointing the irony he says, “Its ironic to think that the reason such sites came about was to help professionals connect and network to gain mutual benefits or free lancing opportunities, but alas the only thing that does not get discussed on orkut or facebook is ‘work’ or professional academia. I guess more and more people are using these sites as an escape from it.”
Indian businesses down under have still not warmed up to advertising on these social networks and are more keen to see their advertisements in traditional media space. The online communities like Indians in Australia on Orkut have large numbers and have captive members who can be targeted for advertising. Around 170,000 Indian community members are living in Australia and yet there is no credible database of Indian people which can be used by marketers. Talking on a condition of anonymity a well known advertiser confided, “There are so many people out there trying to sell you a list of Indian community people. The maximum list I have seen is around 5,000 and even that is not accurate. I have burned my fingers every time I have used such databases.”
Ashfield resident Jyoti Shankar says, “I do have a Facebook account but there is nothing on it as I opened it only to view the photos of a trip made with another friend. “ She blames social networking sites and says, “
I dislike these sites as I have had a very bad personal experience, rather my daughter has had a bad experience on My Space and it has affected her intensely. They might be good for networking with friends and family who are not close but whom we know in flesh and blood but it can be a place filled with human predators looking for prey too, all those claiming to be your virtual friends. I would say to them, get out of your homes and make real friends. Parents should be very careful about their children using these sites and educate themselves about them though they may not use it themselves. I feel very strongly about this.”
Even Aishwarya says, “I must admit that sometimes it can become a nuisance too, a lot of random people I don’t know want to be friends and send me messages. I personally don’t like to receive comments from people I don’t know. I hesitate to make friends with them and deny but if I get a message or a comment from a person I know, I feel I’m in touch and love it.”
There are around 10 million Indian community members logged on to social networks. Indians historically have been great networkers and always want to talk and know about their neighbours and communities. The fact that such mingling can’t be done on the streets of Parramatta and Harris Park means that Indians are turning to building such communities in the virtual world. In the absence of a proper community support mechanism, discussion groups and forums and communities are filling the gap and addressing the needs of the community. Most of the Indian community members are internet savvy and most students have access to broadband networks and absence of cable TV forces them to seek refuge in web social networks. These social networks and messaging boards are also used by a large number of prospective and new immigrants who ask questions in there and then get a feel of what Australia is about.
INDIANS IN AUSTRALIA – ORKUT COMMUNITY
This community is one of the most prominent Australian Indian communities on the Internet and was created by Achint Kishore in early 2005 when he came to Australia as a student. Realising the need for a social community for the Indian community he created this group and invited his close friends to join and soon he had members coming in droves. Achint is single and at 27 years of age is very satisfied with his creation. Says Achint, “New students find it very helpful. The topics in the discussion forum are basic and simple related to everyday issues of new migrants – How to find jobs and rental accommodation, being the most common ones. Achint says he actively monitors the forum with few of his close friends to check for spasm and has become a bit tedious. Admits Achint, “I never expected it to grow so big. Even now there is no other Indian centric community on the web as this.”
Prominent Australian Indian communities on Orkut
Community Name Members
Indians in Australia 10,195
INDIAN Students in Australia 5,743
Indians in Sydney 3,943
Indians Living In Australia 2,809
Melbourne Indians 2,782
Indians in Brisbane 1,609
Latrobe university indians 955
Indians in Melbourne 672
Adelaide Indians 842
Indians dating in australia 975
Indian Events In Australia 575
Indians in Australia 448
Sydney Indians 377
Indians in australia 239
Indian dentists in australia 204
Indian gay men in australia 188
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