How businesses are using Web 2.0
How businesses are using Web 2.0: A McKinsey Global Survey
By and large, executives are satisfied with their previous investments in Internet technology, and most are investing in trends that promote automation and networking online.
Web exclusive, March 2007
Table of Contents
• Introduction
• Successful investments so far
• What’s next?
• Why Web 2.0?
• Respondents’ discussion
The rising popularity of user-driven online services, including MySpace, Wikipedia, and YouTube, has drawn attention to a group of technological developments known as Web 2.0. These technologies, which rely on user collaboration, include Web services, peer-to-peer networking, blogs, podcasts, and online social networks.
Respondents to a recent McKinsey survey show widespread but careful interest in this trend.1 Expressing satisfaction with their Internet investments so far, they say that Web 2.0 technologies are strategic and that they plan to increase these investments. But companies aren’t necessarily relying on the best-known Web 2.0 trends, such as blogs; instead, they place the greatest importance on technologies that enable automation and networking.
During an online discussion convened to dig more deeply into these results, it became clear that companies using Web 2.0 technologies have developed a new way of bringing technology into businesses. And, according to many participants, this new approach is easier to implement and more flexible than traditional top-down approaches. Discussion participants are seeing some business impact from these technologies and seem generally optimistic about their benefits, particularly in how they help a company refine its strategy.
Successful investments so far
More than half of the executives surveyed say they are pleased with the results of their investments in Internet technologies over the past five years, and nearly three-quarters say that their companies plan to maintain or increase investments in Web 2.0 technologies in coming years. (A mere 13 percent say they are disappointed with previous investments.) Companies that acted quickly in the previous wave of investment are more satisfied than late movers. Less than a fifth of all those surveyed say they are very satisfied with their returns. Of those who rate themselves as very satisfied, 46 percent are “early adopters” and 44 percent “fast followers” (Exhibit 1).
Asked what might have been done differently to make the previous investments in Internet technologies more effective, only 18 percent say they would not have acted differently. Forty-two percent say they would have strengthened their companies’ internal capabilities to make the most of the market opportunity at hand (Exhibit 2). Among the 24 percent who say they would have moved faster, many describe their companies as fast followers or early adopters—a strategy consistent with the view that speed is of the essence in technology investments.
What’s next?
Among the executives familiar with the nine Web 2.0 trends cited in the survey (see the sidebar, “What’s in Web 2.0”), more than three-fourths say that their companies are already investing in one or more of these trends. The most frequently cited investment is Web services, being used or considered by 80 percent of the respondents familiar with the tools. Peer-to-peer networking also is popular; 47 percent say they are using or considering it (Exhibit 3).
Few executives say that their companies are using more than two of these technologies. But nearly two-thirds of those whose companies are investing in them think they are important for maintaining the company’s market position, either to provide a competitive edge or to match the competition and address customer demand. More than one-third labeled them “experimental.”
Executives from some industries and regions that were slow to invest during the past five years are poised to move more aggressively now. For example, retail executives, whose companies were more likely than the average company to invest cautiously in the past, now overwhelmingly say they will step up investment in Web 2.0 technologies in the coming years (Exhibit 4).
Similarly, while executives from China and Latin America typically say that their companies are late followers or had invested cautiously, they now plan to invest at the same rate or even faster than companies in Europe and North America. The level of investment in each of the Web 2.0 technologies cited in this survey varies across regions, with China being a fast adopter. The use of and plans for Web 2.0 technologies in general are well balanced globally (Exhibit 5), although some locations (such as India) stand out for their enthusiasm.
What’s in Web 2.0
Blogs (short for Web logs) are online journals or diaries hosted on a Web site and often distributed to other sites or readers using RSS (see below).
Collective intelligence refers to any system that attempts to tap the expertise of a group rather than an individual to make decisions. Technologies that contribute to collective intelligence include collaborative publishing and common databases for sharing knowledge.
Mash-ups are aggregations of content from different online sources to create a new service. An example would be a program that pulls apartment listings from one site and displays them on a Google map to show where the apartments are located.
Peer-to-peer networking (sometimes called P2P) is a technique for efficiently sharing files (music, videos, or text) either over the Internet or within a closed set of users. Unlike the traditional method of storing a file on one machine—which can become a bottleneck if many people try to access it at once—P2P distributes files across many machines, often those of the users themselves. Some systems retrieve files by gathering and assembling pieces of them from many machines.
Podcasts are audio or video recordings—a multimedia form of a blog or other content. They are often distributed through an aggregator, such as iTunes.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) allows people to subscribe to online distributions of news, blogs, podcasts, or other information.
Social networking refers to systems that allow members of a specific site to learn about other members’ skills, talents, knowledge, or preferences. Commercial examples include Facebook and LinkedIn. Some companies use these systems internally to help identify experts.
Web services are software systems that make it easier for different systems to communicate with one another automatically in order to pass information or conduct transactions. For example, a retailer and supplier might use Web services to communicate over the Internet and automatically update each other’s inventory systems.
Wikis, such as Wikipedia, are systems for collaborative publishing. They allow many authors to contribute to an online document or discussion.
Why Web 2.0?
Executives say they are using Web 2.0 technologies to communicate with customers and business partners and to encourage collaboration inside the company (Exhibit 6). Seventy percent say they are using some combination of these technologies for communicating with their customers. For example, about one-fifth of them say they are using blogs to improve customer service or solicit customer feedback.
Respondents report that to communicate with business partners and, secondarily, to achieve tighter integration with suppliers, companies are using Web services, peer-to-peer networking, collective intelligence, RSS (Really Simple Syndication), and peer-to-peer networking.
Companies are using the same technologies to help manage knowledge internally. Just over half of respondents say they used one or more Web 2.0 technologies for that purpose. Just under half use these tools for designing and developing new products—for example, setting up systems to gather and share ideas.
Finally, among the executives surveyed, technologies for automation and collaboration appear to be gaining more traction than some of the technologies that have received more attention in the press (Exhibit 7). Blogs, podcasts, and mash-ups trail technology trends that allow people to contribute knowledge to a common effort or allow machines to exchange information more easily.
However, looking at companies that have invested in specific technologies, two distinct groups emerge. Some 43 percent of companies are even more focused on networking and collective intelligence technologies than the global average (Exhibit 8); these companies are likelier than others to be large, in high tech, and in Asia. And some 22 percent are much likelier to have invested in RSS, blogs, and podcasts than others; these companies are also likelier to be in industries such as media and telecommunications and located in North America.
Respondents’ discussion
During an online discussion convened to dig more deeply into the preceding results,2 it became clear that companies using Web 2.0 technologies have developed an easier and more flexible way of bringing technology into businesses, compared to traditional top-down approaches.
A key theme that emerges from the discussions is that many of these technologies start at a company’s grassroots level. Because many of these tools are easy to implement, small groups of interested individuals can launch informal pilots to test their viability. “We have been very customer driven and quite ad hoc,” one executive explains. “As we grow we are formalizing the process, but it is still driven by inspiration [and] passion from key stakeholders.”
Another central point is that although many of these technologies came into prominence as consumer services, discussion participants are using them throughout their businesses as tools and can already see some impact on the business. “Wikis are adding the greatest value,” one executive says. “Blogs and podcasts are more focused outside the organization, supporting sales and marketing efforts. . . . Technology is just the way of doing business.” In addition, some note that as collaboration tools spread through the organization, they help break down hierarchical and functional boundaries, since they facilitate passing information up, down, and around: “We use a CRM3 package where I can easily find out what my customers like and dislike and have suggestions from the help desk guy on how to improve our service. The message does not need to flow through layers within our organization to reach me.”
Discussion participants seem generally optimistic about the benefits of these technologies, particularly as they help companies refine their business direction: “The most valuable aspects today are providing a means for customers to have a dialogue with us. This provides benefits to both parties. If we get something wrong, our customers let us know very quickly and they expect to know when we are going to address it. This rich dialogue also brings us ideas and suggestions on future product developments, which is extremely valuable.”
Promising starts
In this follow-up discussion, wikis, blogs, and RSS technologies were the most commonly mentioned ones. Although these were not the technologies that executives cited in the original survey as the most used by companies across industries,4 discussion participants see them as having immediate value for their organizations. As one executive says, “Collaborative and communications technologies are clear winners.”
Several executives, for example, say they are using wikis (software that allows a group of people to contribute to an online document or collection) as a way to encourage collaboration within their companies, especially for knowledge development. “A typical example is the use of a wiki to get to a commonly agreed terminology set. . . . Users are able to respond to language and messages that emanate from the center and translate that into a set of terms that is meaningful in their own context.” This participant adds that wikis “capture a good deal of unstructured and anecdotal information that would otherwise have been lost.” Another notes that wikis are necessary because his organization has outgrown its ability to gather and share knowledge informally.
Other participants are hoping to take these technologies further, by using them to develop knowledge or software. “As a software integration provider, I think there are opportunities to use the collaboration techniques more actively in the software life cycle. We would be interested in harnessing collaboration tools built on Web 2.0 for developers.”
Blogs are also frequently mentioned as a channel to communicate with customers and, in some cases, critics: “We use blogs as a means of communication and engagement with our customers, but also to help engage our prospects and detractors in a positive and productive discussion. We find that it helps to manage our reputation.”
Mash-ups—combining two technologies to create a new and distinct application, such as displaying locations on a map—were the trends least referenced in the original survey, but several participants say they are using them to address customer needs. “We are using mash-ups based on customer demand to display physical locations consumers can interact at. Google has set the bar with consumers.”
Adoption and barriers
Most Web 2.0 tools are simple-to-use applications that are hosted offsite (for example, wikis, blogs, and social networking), which makes them easy to implement. Given that ease, it’s not surprising that many discussion participants say grassroots efforts are often as effective as formal pilot programs. One executive says, “These projects started at the grassroots level; however, the value was rapidly demonstrated. This led to projects being taken up by their ‘natural’ owners within the organization [who] continue to invest and develop the projects.” Another panelist goes further, asserting that top-down management would have been a hindrance: “The most effective efforts started as grassroots efforts. The role of senior management was to provide the support for this to continue and then get out of the way. Executives cannot mandate successful adoption of Web 2.0 technologies. Their role is to supply permission and resources—and set the boundaries—and [then] let intelligent and motivated teams run with this.”
The ease of exploring these technologies is cited as a factor in helping advocates avoid typical barriers to implementation (or perhaps just inertia) by quickly pulling together prototypes. “The ease of implementation can be used to overcome the usual resistance to trying things and taking risks. A simple [working] prototype and some data from the sandbox with real users is very compelling when compared to the traditional business approvals process.”
Some participants cite a difference between the way their companies implement more technical and integrated technologies (for example, Web services) and the more user-friendly technologies. “We committed to Web services as a long-term technology decision. . . . Our use of blogs has been driven more by teams tied to the customer relationships.” Others suggest that the grassroots adoption style reflects the novelty and availability of the new technologies. “We have been very customer driven and quite ad hoc in the past. As we grow we are formalizing the process, but it is still driven by inspiration [and] passion from key stakeholders.” Inspiration often comes from outside the company, sometimes even outside the industry. “An idea was seen that people thought, ‘Wow, that’s cool.’ That was the starting point for the discussion [about] how we could use something like that to help us.”
The discussion also highlights some difference in adoption styles between executives who are using many Web 2.0 technologies and those who are exploring few. The more prolific users show a tendency to leap into grassroots efforts, while the light users appear to take a more cautious and traditional approach: “Decisions on new technology have tended to be driven by one or two specialists in the technology team, generally led by the CTO.5 Other board members will be involved where significant financial investment is required.” Indeed, some executives report the same adoption barriers as those they face with more traditional or expensive technologies, including caution on the part of senior management and apathy among customers. “The old shareholders do not understand the use of IT and they think of it as a cost, not an opportunity.” A newspaper executive adds, “We are struggling to do the right thing to transform our business while trying to inform and engage the public who, frankly, don’t seem very interested.”
However, in other environments, one executive says, “No encouragement is necessary. The tools are simple and sometimes fun. The ability to click-and-drag graphics, videos, [and] sound bites into a forum provides different dimensions to information. What’s gone are the old BBS6 text boards.”
Measuring impact
While many panelists assert that Web 2.0 technologies are subject to the same scrutiny as other investments (specifically, do they return enough value to justify their costs?), a general sense emerges that it is, in many cases, too soon to tell. However, participants also assess these technologies by their impact on business performance, which they define in many ways—including better customer engagement, more efficient collaboration within the company, and an improved ability to manage its reputation online.
Some executives say the tools are already having visible effects, such as better communication with customers. “The most valuable aspects today are providing a means for customers to have a dialogue with us.” One panelist cites blogs and RSS as factors that are helping to reduce the customer churn rate. Perhaps even more important, several participants are tapping customers’ opinions and expertise to improve product design. “We now see customers, particularly the professionals and customer experts, as having a much greater role in the development of new products,” says one. Another adds, “Our success is based on allowing [clients] to participate in the process.”
There is a wide variance in how long panelists are willing to wait for the tools to demonstrate their value. This period is sometimes tied to whether a company is using more or fewer of these technologies. One executive from a company using fewer notes, “The key for us is to identify value . . . at an early stage.” Others, such as this participant from a company using several Web 2.0 technologies, say they are willing to give the tools more time: “These are still early days. The tools and technologies that we have today will evolve into what will become the next step. We are not necessarily at that point today.” And some warn against rushing to judgment: “You need to give people room to make mistakes and to shape it to their needs. You also need time. Without a commitment to those things, the command-and-control freaks will strangle it off with quantitative, mechanistic models. . . . Many of the old models for calculating return are either of limited value or simply destructive.”
Another participant notes that nothing resembling best practice has yet emerged for implementing these tools or measuring their success: “There is perhaps, at best, sound practice. Approaches are so dependent on context for success that slavishly following models used elsewhere will almost certainly restrict creativity and innovation.”
Competitive advantage?
Executives tend to invest in new technologies and processes because they hold out the promise of either increasing competitive advantage (for example, by enabling new services or improvements to existing ones) or reducing costs. While opinions differ among discussion participants as to whether Web 2.0 technologies have yet demonstrated any economic impact, some consensus emerges that the technologies are valuable internally (mostly by improving collaboration) and externally (by strengthening connections among suppliers, partners, and customers). “It’s too early to claim competitive advantage . . . but we have used blogs to strengthen our stakeholder communication and we are currently implementing wiki technology in our intranet and extranet sites. The main benefit seems to be the stronger sense of community that we can nurture through technologies that are more interactive, less push.”
The views of discussion participants on whether these tools can offer enduring competitive advantage differ significantly. The variance not only highlights differences between executives at companies where more of these tools are in use and other executives, they also parallel an ongoing debate among technology executives and other experts as to whether technology can offer enduring competitive advantage. Web 2.0 tools, participants who are using them the most suggest, may lead to a long-term advantage.
Some participants, especially those whose investments have focused on changes in their IT systems and who have invested less in Web 2.0, tend to view advantages as fleeting. “While we have been in the forefront of most technology upheavals over the past two decades, none of our investments have provided us with any significant competitive advantage for a significant duration. The technologies tend to get adopted by competing financial institutions with no meaningful time gap [and] tend to get commoditized very rapidly.”
Others see these technologies as enabling a different way of doing business, both internally (for example, by aggregating knowledge from throughout the company) and externally (by tapping customers for product-development ideas). These respondents, such as this executive from a company using several technologies, tend to expect a more sustainable advantage. “Web 2.0 tools are helping to encourage interest in collaboration across the organization and helping us to explore new and different ways of collaborating. In time this may bring us some form of competitive advantage, but it would be hard to quantify anything at this stage.”
About the Contributors
The contributors to the development and analysis of this survey include Jacques Bughin, a director in McKinsey’s Brussels office, and James Manyika, a director in the San Francisco office.
Notes
2 The discussion brought together senior executives, including CEOs and company owners, from Europe and North America. Participants were grouped into two categories: those who told us they are using relatively few of the technologies we asked about and those who said they are using three or more.
3 Customer relationship management.
4 These three technologies are more likely to be used by media and telecommunications companies, which have been quick to adopt Web 2.0 technologies for distributing content.
5 Chief technology officer.
6 Bulletin Board Systems.
Watch out for this promising startups "future gooogles :)"
Web video
Joost
Joost could potentially change the
way people watch television. The technology enables the broadcast of TV-quality
video over the Internet, and allows people to stream real TV programs from
networks like MTV and National Geographic. It also features search, chat and
instant messaging, built right into the interface. Much like TiVo, Joost does
not restrict you to schedules, allowing you to watch what you want whenever you
want. But unlike TiVo, Joost is completely free, and works with most PCs and
Intel Mac-based computers with a broadband connection. So far the
invitation-only, ad-supported service has more than 800,000 registered users.
CEO: Mike Volpi
Location: London, England
URL: joost.com
Launch: Mid-2006
Funding: $45 million (Index ventures, Sequoia Capital, Li Ka Shing
Foundation, CBS Corporation, Viacom)
Web video
Trivop
Trivop produces videos for hotels
through a worldwide network of filmmakers, allowing travelers to virtually
visit the hotels online before they book. Funded by individual investors, the
company plans to expand across 10 major European cities and is moving into the
United States, Asia, the Middle East and Africa by the end of 2007.The
ambitious plans make sense, considering that Trivop doesn't need to localize
content; video images don't need to be translated. The startup already has
videos of hotels in 173 countries and claims 30,000 unique views per month.
CEO: Thomas Owadenko
Location: Paris, France
URL: trivop.com
Launch: 2007
Funding: $82,000 (angel investors)
Web video
Babelgum
like another online TV-viewing outfit, like Joost. Unlike Joost, Babelgum isn't
just moving mainstream television to the Internet. Instead, it is also offering
niche programming, including independent and short films. In the near future
Babelgum also plans to allow professional independent producers to
automatically upload their videos to its site. The content is free for the
consumer, but the company intends to make its money through targeted
advertising. Co-founder Silvio Scaglia has already poured $17.8 million into
the company and plans to spend another $130 million or so of his personal fortune
to get the company up and running over the next few years.
CEO: Valerio Zingarelli
Location: Milan, Italy
URL: babelgum.com
Launch: January 2007
Funding: $17.8 million (co-founder Silvio Scaglia)
videos. So far, it's no YouTube -- in May, the website had just over 3,000
uploaded videos available in a dozen different categories. But we think this
startup has potential because it doesn't want to be a YouTube competitor. It
wants to be an alternative for those Slovak and Czech users who do not want
their creation to be lost in the tangle of videos on YouTube. Myubo already has
more than 2,000 registered users, and offers live streaming of TV content from
Al Jazeera news channel, Slovakian TV 3 and a Czech Parliament TV feed.
CEO: Igor Rintel
Location: Bratislava, Slovakia
URL: myubo.com
Launch: 2007
Funding: Not disclosed
mTouche captured a lot of buzz after it acquired mBit, which allows users to
download files, Napster-style, over mobile networks. Now the company has set
its sights on global expansion: CEO Eugene Goh wants 70 percent of mTouche's
revenues to come from overseas, compared to 50 percent today. The company
reported $15.6 million in revenues on $7.2 million in pretax profits last year.
CEO: Eugene Goh
Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
URL: mtouche.com
Launch: 2002
Funding: N/A
doesn't require customers to download special software or use a separate device
for making phone calls. You provide them an international number, they provide
you a local number. When you dial, Rebtel switches your call to the Internet,
allowing for cheap international, mobile-to-mobile communications. Rebtel says
users have opened "several hundred thousand accounts."
CEO: Hjalmar Winbladh
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
URL: rebtel.com
Launch: 2005
Funding: $20 million ( Index Ventures and Benchmark Capital and founders)
surfing on mobile phones obsolete. The company's mini Web applications, like
widgets, deliver blog feeds, news updates, Flickr photo streams, traffic
updates and much more directly to mobile phones. There are more than 1,400 free
widgets available and the company boasts close to 98 million downloads around
the world. Next up? WidSets wants to develop interactive widget services with
social networking and content sharing sites.
CEO: Olli Pekka Kallasvuo
Location: Espoo, Finland
URL: widsets.com
Launch: 2006
Funding: Nokia
provide the best prices for flights, hotels and cars in one place. An AJAX interface lets users sort flights quickly by price
or departure time without
reloading the page. It's a win-win for Bezurk and travel providers: Bezurk gets
traffic, and providers build direct relationships with new customers. Bezurk
has almost 50 partners, and ample airspace -- the online travel market in the
Asia Pacific region was valued at $20 billion in 2006.
CEO: Martin Symes
URL: bezurk.com
Location: Singapore
Launch: 2006
Funding: $1 million (founders)
individuals to create, sign and manage business contracts online. To deal with
the problem of online identities, Tractis plans to offer insurance that will
reimburse customers and help enforce contracts when there's a dispute. Tractis
plans to expand throughout Europe and South America -- mainly countries where
governments are issuing ID cards with digital signatures.
CEO: David Blanco
URL: tractis.com
Location: Barcelona, Spain
Launch: 2006
Funding: About $500,000 (angel investors)
other browser has in China: It has found a way around the Chinese government's
controls on what information is available through sites and search engines like
Google, Yahoo, MSN and Baidu.com. That's why Maxthon has quickly become China's second most popular browser after Internet
Explorer, with 98 million downloads so
far.
CEO: Chen Ming Jie
Location: Bejing, China
URL: maxthon.com
Launch: 2003
Funding: Not disclosed (WI Harper and Charles River Ventures)
businesses with freelance customer service agents, allowing small companies to
cobble together a call center without any investment in infrastructure. Each
agent costs only $10 per month. More than 7,000 companies have registered to
use its services.
CEO: Pascal Rossini
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
URL: sky-click.com
Launch: 2006
Funding: $4 million (Babytech Venture Capital)
dolls -- or choose from the site's ever-growing collection of celebrities --
and dress them in virtual fashions. Celebrity dolls like Avril Lavigne or
Justin Timberlake can be customized, sent to friends, or printed for free.
Stardoll counts more than 5.5 million users, mostly girls aged 7 to 17.
CEO: Mattias Miksche
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
URL: stardoll.com
Launch: 2004
Funding: $10 million (Index Ventures and Sequoia Capital)
consumers to search, review and recommend food and nightlife businesses in India. Users can sign up to receive hyper-local
alerts via SMS any time a new restaurant or
bar opens, closes or is reviewed in any neighborhood in their city.
In the future, Burrp wants to offer consumer listings in other fields such as
TV, movies and music, so users can make and share their own preferences in
those fields. Word-of-mouth marketing brings 80,000 visitors to the site a day.
CEO: Deap Ubhi
URL: burrp.com
Location: Mumbai, India
Launch: August, 2006
Funding: Not disclosed (founders)
write and report for this South Korean online newspaper, which now offers a
Japanese edition. More than 50 staff reporters in the newsroom edit content, a
mix of news reporting and commentary, for more than 750,000 unique users a day.
OhmyNews is considered influential among South Koreans -- the site was
recognized for helping President Roh Moo-hyun win the popular vote in December
2002.
CEO: Oh Yeon Ho
URL: ohmynews.com
Location: Seoul, South Korea
Launch: 2000
Funding: N/A
social bookmarking sites like del.icio.us and social aggregators like Digg are
great for separating the wheat from the chaff. Still, trolling those sites for
links about one specific topic for can be a pain. Enter Keotag, a beautifully
simple site that lets users easily search for tags across 14 different sites,
from Reddit to Ice Rocket.Keotag will also do the heavy lifting of generating
the folksonomy tags for a blog post, or submitting a bookmark to multiple
sites. Created by founder and sole employee Eric Jally, Keotag is an example of
a website you don't know you need until you begin using it.
CEO: Eric Jally
Location: Noumea, New Caledonia
Launch: N/A
Funding: N/A
people without programming experience to make real games. Download software
called Game Maker from YoYo, and you can create, upload, and share your own PC
or video games with thousands of other users. (You can't play the games online
-- you have to download them to your computer.) YoYo Games also has resources
for game developers, such as forums and downloadable software, to help users
make their own games. The company already has 25,000 registered users and
nearly 3,000 users.
CEO: Sandy Duncan
Location: London, England
URL: yoyogames.com
Launch: January 2007
Funding: Not disclosed (founders)
own storefront, design their own T-shirts and accessories, and sell them to
others. All they need to do is upload their designs, create products, and set
their commissions. Spreadshirt claims to be growing fast, supporting 300,000
designers and employing 230 people.
CEOs: Lukasz Gadowski
Location: Leipzig, Germany
URL: spreadshirt.com
Launch: 2002
Funding: Not disclosed (Accel Partners)
exchange where it tracks the occurrence of keywords in the news, and their
prices rise and fall based on how often they appear. As in the real stock
market, you build your portfolio with words that you believe will rise, and you
win if your predictions prove right. Swedish investor Peter Ahldin, whose
portfolio of Swedish startups includes Tradedoubler, is funding the company.
Trendio currently has 35,000 registered users.
CEO: Jens Agerberg
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
URL: trendio.com
Launch: 2006
Funding: Not disclosed (angel investors)
of space to upload everything from websites to photos to videos -- and share
them with friends. Users can create niche portals around subjects like
painting, photography or karaoke. eSnips, which boasts 12 million users, was
recently ranked on Web traffic-tracking site as one of the 500 most visited
sites.
CEO: Yael Elish
Location: Tel Aviv, Israel
URL: esnips.com
Launch: 2006
Funding: $3 million (Gemini Israel Funds and Greylock Partners)
1,000 Africa-related blogs, podcasts and news sites. Readers can rank
individual posts and read them online. In May, Afrigator began using OpenID, a
system that allows users to operate a single login at multiple websites.
CEO: Justin Hartman
Location: Johannesburg, South Africa
URL: afrigator.com
Launch: April 2007
Funding: $35,000 (angel investors)
location and post location-tagged photos from your computer or phone. If you
have a GPS-enabled cell phone, you can allow friends and other Bliin members to
track your real-time movements on a map. The fledgling company claims 4,000
members, and it logged 20,000 unique visitors in June.
CEO: Stef Kolman and Selene Kolman
Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
URL: bliin.com
Launch: January 2007
Funding: $100,000 (Digital Partners and DCIF)
pop up at the bottom of any Web page whenever other Weblin members are viewing
it, turning Web pages themselves into virtual worlds. The company hopes to make
money through advertising and premium memberships, and by selling virtual
items. Available in English and German, the site plans to launch in other
languages, including Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish.
CEO: Jan Andresen
Location: Hamburg, Germany
URL: weblin.com
Launch: 2006
Funding: $1.3 million (private investors and High Tech Grunderfonds)
lets users bookmark and tag any images they come across while surfing the Web,
put them in one place, search them by keyword and share them with friends.
Pixrat stores thumbnails of original images and when a user clicks on the
image, they are led directly to the original Web page. The company was acquired
last year by MIH India, the Indian arm of Naspers, a South African media
company.
CEO: Ashish Kashyap
Location: Bangalore, India
URL: pixrat.ibibo.com
Launch: 2006
Funding: Acquired by MIH, India
an idea for new software and put it to a vote. The network of developers,
entrepreneurs, and investors, among others, selects the favorites and works to
turn them into products. Even better, members who actively participate in the
community of ideas earn shares in Cambrian House -- simply by commenting on
business ideas, editing profiles or contributing code. So far the site has
35,000 members and some 5,400 ideas have been submitted.
CEO: Michael J. Sikorsky
Location: Calgary, Canada
URL: cambrianhouse.com
Launch: 2006
Funding:: $7.5 million (angel investors)
comfort food, Khichdee seeks to become the Craigslist of India, aggregating
both online and offline classifieds into a monster search engine. While the
site's content may differ at times from the listings on Craigslist -- ads for
arranged marriages are common, for instance -- the idea behind it is much the
same. Why place an ad in a local paper when you can post it on the Web and snag
a potentially larger audience? With an average of 4,500 new ads posted day, the
site is catching on.
CEO: Ashwin Sanghi
Location: Mumbai, India
URL: khichdee.com
Launch: 2006
Funding: Owned by the M.K. Sanghi Group
network centered on casual mobile gaming. The site uses free games and
customizable personal avatars to draw users in. Members can spend virtual cash
called Moba Gold on primping and preening their avatars, but there's a catch:
Moba Gold is earned from watching ads, many of which are for services and
products provided by Mobagetown parent company DeNA Co.The site's growth has
been meteoric, hitting 4 million users this March.
CEO: Tomoko Namba
Location:Japan
URL: mbga.jp
Launch: 2006
Funding: Owned by Japan's DeNA Co.
parents is a place where doting mothers and fathers can give each child a page,
photo album and friend connections. More important, it's one of the few sites
that also caters to parents, allowing them to network and get advice on
child-rearing and other family matters. The company says a million visitors
have checked the site out since its launch earlier this year.
CEO: Allen Wang
Location: Beijing, China
URL: babytree.com
Launch: March 2007
Funding: Matrix partners
articles and Wikipedia-like contributions, Vivapets is trying to catalog every
pet breed -- and it's a social network to boot. Unlike Dogster or Catster,
Vivapets is open to all pets, including reptiles and exotic animals. The site
allows users to create pages for their pets and add photo albums, then engage
with a network of friends through forums, chat, or personal messaging. The site
currently has 100,000 registered users and claims 220,000 unique visitors each
month.
CEO: Marcos Cerqueira
Location: Oporto, Portugal
URL: vivapets.com
Launch date: 2003
Funding: Not disclosed (founders)
discussion boards using the latest Web technologies, making it easy to keep
track of several discussions at once. Tangler is live, so the minute someone
responds to your thread, you're sent an alert -- even if you're not on Tangler
at the time. The 12-person site claims more than 10,000 active discussions and
is now in the process of raising a second round of about $2 million.
CEO: Martin Wells
Location: Sydney, Australia
URL: tangler.com
Launch: July 2006
Funding: $2 million (angel investors)
Mandarin, you can search for real information about 30 Chinese cities using
virtual maps. The company also hopes to add 100 more virtual maps by the end of
this year. Apart from allowing users to look for information on the existing
maps, eDushi lets them build interactive maps in basic 3D, adding comments and
information. For example, one user might write a map entry about hotels in Shanghai, and others might make comments that help
to build out the map. The website
claims nearly 200,000 visits per day.
CEO: Pang Xiaowei
Location: Hangzhou, China
URL: edushi.com
Launch: 2004
Funding: Not disclosed (founders)
organizes calendars, contacts and presentations, and even lets paying customers
do e-mail marketing. The site, which offers both a free version and a fee-based
professional version, claims more than 50,000 users. Although the services are
available only in English and Portuguese, Aprex plans to add 3 more languages
this year.
CEO: Guilherme Coelho
Location: San Paolo, Brazil
URL: aprex.com.br
Launch: 2006
Funding $500,000 (founders)
World of Web 2.0
Indian Web2.0- different strokes, different folks.. Whats your Say?
Social Networking a 'Waste of Time in India'
Sequoia Capital invests 7 million in Minglebox – Sequoia is a big name in venture funding of internet startups. They have internationally backed some of the biggest names in this business, so when their Indian arm invests a sizable sum in a SNS startup, that hasn’t really set the roads on fire (as yet) and is just one in an increasingly crowded space, you have to notice it. Personally I think this decision makes sense for them, for as an investor you have finite choices and if they have to bet on somebody in the Indian SNS space, Minglebox is a better choice than many of the others. But my main point here is that they are certainly not as skeptic as Avnish about Indian Web2.0.
Cannan Partners not too high on web2.0
Media/Entertainment industry hots up to internet (incl Web2.0) – One recent trend worth noticing is that the big Indian media companies (having huge reach through their TV channels)– Times, NDTV, CNN IBN, Reliance Entertainment are getting their internet act together. They obviously think that the internet is the next big medium after the television. In fact, its not just Indian media companies but foreign ones as well. Take the case of MIH India, which has been promoted by a South African media house, Naspers. MIH has made some high profile top mgmt hiring decisions, is committing serious advertsing money to their products- in general they are betting big on this space. I must add that the media companies are eyeing the internet space in general, but it’s safe to assume that they are partly influenced by the buzz around ‘web2.0’.
No dearth of VC money for internet space – You would agree that there is more venture capital money available for the Indian internet space that what the market can absorb. (in fact in India, that’s probably true not just for venture capital but for big ticket private equity as well); and the blame for this clearly lies with us- the startup guys, the entrepreneurs themselves, for not creating enough compelling products & services that can be considered ‘investment grade’ by owners of the capital.
So what do you think about all this? Are you confused about Indian web 2.0 ? I’d like to hear from you, specially if you are a Web 2.0 entrepreneur yourself. Or even if you are just a gazing onlooker….
I have my own point of view on this and a pretty strong one at that. but without being judgmental, I’d like to listen to what others have to say.
WebYantra and complete web2.0
Social Networking a 'Waste of Time in India'
Sequoia Capital invests 7 million in Minglebox – Sequoia is a big name in venture funding of internet startups. They have internationally backed some of the biggest names in this business, so when their Indian arm invests a sizable sum in a SNS startup, that hasn’t really set the roads on fire (as yet) and is just one in an increasingly crowded space, you have to notice it. Personally I think this decision makes sense for them, for as an investor you have finite choices and if they have to bet on somebody in the Indian SNS space, Minglebox is a better choice than many of the others. But my main point here is that they are certainly not as skeptic as Avnish about Indian Web2.0.
Cannan Partners not too high on web2.0
Media/Entertainment industry hots up to internet (incl Web2.0) – One recent trend worth noticing is that the big Indian media companies (having huge reach through their TV channels)– Times, NDTV, CNN IBN, Reliance Entertainment are getting their internet act together. They obviously think that the internet is the next big medium after the television. In fact, its not just Indian media companies but foreign ones as well. Take the case of MIH India, which has been promoted by a South African media house, Naspers. MIH has made some high profile top mgmt hiring decisions, is committing serious advertsing money to their products- in general they are betting big on this space. I must add that the media companies are eyeing the internet space in general, but it’s safe to assume that they are partly influenced by the buzz around ‘web2.0’.
No dearth of VC money for internet space – You would agree that there is more venture capital money available for the Indian internet space that what the market can absorb. (in fact in India, that’s probably true not just for venture capital but for big ticket private equity as well); and the blame for this clearly lies with us- the startup guys, the entrepreneurs themselves, for not creating enough compelling products & services that can be considered ‘investment grade’ by owners of the capital.
So what do you think about all this? Are you confused about Indian web 2.0 ? I’d like to hear from you, specially if you are a Web 2.0 entrepreneur yourself. Or even if you are just a gazing onlooker….
I have my own point of view on this and a pretty strong one at that. but without being judgmental, I’d like to listen to what others have to say.
WebYantra and complete web2.0
Meeting leaders and visionaries @ udyog bhavan
this month indus ent meeting was scheduled at udyog bhavan kbl chairmans office @ 5pm; have met Mrs.Kirloskar @ nasscom event and exchanged cpl of emails and ideas; but this was first time heading to her office and had no clue where udyog bhavan is on tilak road. with all auto and paanvala bhaaus help; reached udyog bhavan, meeting had just started with most of charter members in room. got to meet deepak fertilizer & petrochem big boss to kpit cummins founder to wharton stamford alumni rego to content and lms boss mr. datar. Most of leadership and management book always states bosses are always welcome for listeneing and knowledge sharing; how true it is.
dfcl boss shared thought on addiction of starting and growing business; Pratima shared on all great efforts Kirloskar Brother Pumps division helping in many parts of India and world in water management and conservation; ourpune was discussed too; shared my suggestion on same. Innovation was disccused with a suggestion of one round table by 2007 end. Gururaj Deshpande and Arun Shourie spoke in 2007's first meeting; its Arun Maira's turn to share some great tips in Aug meeting.
Will update on august meeting.
dfcl boss shared thought on addiction of starting and growing business; Pratima shared on all great efforts Kirloskar Brother Pumps division helping in many parts of India and world in water management and conservation; ourpune was discussed too; shared my suggestion on same. Innovation was disccused with a suggestion of one round table by 2007 end. Gururaj Deshpande and Arun Shourie spoke in 2007's first meeting; its Arun Maira's turn to share some great tips in Aug meeting.
Will update on august meeting.
165 million friends of mine
Who wont envy to have 165+ million friends; people whom you can reach heartbeats to have hearts beat. Community is growing rapidly on 2G 3G to 4G waves on GSM to CDMA.
China 13+ years ahead of India. Where is the competition
Every now and then Media and Politicians of India paint picture of Tiger vs Red Dragon. Year on year maharashtra CM states making Mumbai into Shanghai (it was New York then London then Singapore and Now Shanghai. Only those gandhi topi and khadi clads know which city is next).
Indian GDP doing good with year on year 8%+ growth; India IT country, blah blah.
OK Now lets get our statistics clear and understand India has just started walking; where as China is already in Marathon race.
Now some of you may call me un/non patriotic and peee pooo but Numbers and Source Code dont lie; Facts will Fact you. Somehow we in India always take critisim negatively; yes China has communism and we are a Democracy; over few decades we have turned it more into hypocratic democracy. Will all ignorant and proclaimed blind and deaf Politicians of India take note of.
Remember most of modern engineering wonders are painted in Red.
Indian GDP doing good with year on year 8%+ growth; India IT country, blah blah.
OK Now lets get our statistics clear and understand India has just started walking; where as China is already in Marathon race.
Now some of you may call me un/non patriotic and peee pooo but Numbers and Source Code dont lie; Facts will Fact you. Somehow we in India always take critisim negatively; yes China has communism and we are a Democracy; over few decades we have turned it more into hypocratic democracy. Will all ignorant and proclaimed blind and deaf Politicians of India take note of.
China | India |
| Life expectancy at Birth - 71 Yrs | Life expectancy @ Birth – 64 years |
| InfantMortality- 31 per 1000 | InfantMortality– 85 per 1000 |
LiteracyRate Age15+years–91% Age15-24years–98% | LiteracyRate Age15+years–61% Age15-24years–76% |
Without adjusting Purchasing Power GDP is $2600 billions | Without adjusting Purchasing Power GDP is $850 billions |
Per capita GDP 2.7X of India | Per capita GDP X |
Steel annual production 423MT | Steel annual production 42.3MT |
Cement annual production 1.24 billionMT | Cement annual production 168 millionMT |
Cars manufactured – 5.2 million | Cars manufactured – 1.5 million |
Produced 2830 billion kilo watt hours(kWh) Powersurplus | Produced 664 billion kilo watt hours(kWh) 14.5 percent peak power deficit |
45000 Kmof multi lane carriageways | 6989 Kmof multi lane carriageways |
463million Cell phone subscribers | 166million Cell phone subscribers |
Total value of Imports and Exports $1761 billion | Total value of Imports and Exports $307 billion |
Foreign Direct Investment $63 billion | Foreign Direct Investment $9 billion |
Foreign Exchange Reserves $1200 billion | Foreign Exchange Reserves $208 billion |
India will reach GDP of $2950 billion with a year on year China is expected to reach GDP of $3000 billion by year 2007 | |
Remember most of modern engineering wonders are painted in Red.
proto'se 2007 @ IIT madras
This years summer proto(http://www.proto.in/proto2007se/files/Proto.in_SE_07_Agenda.pdf
) event is happening at iit madras campus on 21st & 22nd July; its a much awaited fan fare of all aspiring to succesful enterprenuers and venture capitalist coming under same roof for experience sharing, giving away expert tips and most important Networking.
Most of chief strategists of Sun,Apple, Oracle have cried out Network is future of Coumpter and Applications during 90's; buzzword of 21st century is Professional Networking then be it orkut, linkedin, facebook to n no of forums on net; core is Networking; collaborating contributing and creating.
Very exchange of ideas and thoughts are at base of many new products and services. Areas which really interest me are Market Resarch, Education for everyOne, Human Resource Development and online entertainment.
Those who follow Web may have started getting hints that Web 3.0 will soon start taking baby steps as 2.0 is already at its peak.
Get Networked Get Productive
Air deccan touched down at kamraj domestic airport around 10am; came out of airport and got see Auto awtars of apna very own Anna log in Auto demanding exorbitant fare for taking you saar to the campus; so bargain started @ 200 and since knew tricks of Sivaji Fans; bargained and got deal for 125 rs.
Reached campus; this is by far most maintained campus of all IIT's; one get to see deer's roaming freely and unshy of motors now and then.
Who all I got to hear and Meet
Athir - Canadian citizen run a telecom soft dev company out of Jaipur India :)
Tumas - French citizen running web2.0 SN out of chennai
Murthy - Another big name & visionary in our Industry
anand - great slideshare guy
founders of tyroo, routeguru, inaasra, wifinance, vembu, neev, minekey, britesoft,
mocodile, tolmolbol, gingI,.....
Mahesh - Nexus
Ganesh - founder travelguru & greylock funds
Sandeep - Sequoa
lehman brothers, matrix partners
.....
Where did I lived for this 2 days; Chamiers Hotel on Chamiers Road.
Chennai is a clean and nice city EXCEPT Urinals; Almost all of them in Chennai stink be it airport or any other public place; they Stink and Stink despite of all good things in that part of world. One @ Airport reminded me of mumbai public ones by roadside.
Can Anna log keep them clean too or Rajni saar will say
Tumne Lungi Uthake yeah Kyaa Kar Dii.
) event is happening at iit madras campus on 21st & 22nd July; its a much awaited fan fare of all aspiring to succesful enterprenuers and venture capitalist coming under same roof for experience sharing, giving away expert tips and most important Networking.
Most of chief strategists of Sun,Apple, Oracle have cried out Network is future of Coumpter and Applications during 90's; buzzword of 21st century is Professional Networking then be it orkut, linkedin, facebook to n no of forums on net; core is Networking; collaborating contributing and creating.
Very exchange of ideas and thoughts are at base of many new products and services. Areas which really interest me are Market Resarch, Education for everyOne, Human Resource Development and online entertainment.
Those who follow Web may have started getting hints that Web 3.0 will soon start taking baby steps as 2.0 is already at its peak.
Get Networked Get Productive
Air deccan touched down at kamraj domestic airport around 10am; came out of airport and got see Auto awtars of apna very own Anna log in Auto demanding exorbitant fare for taking you saar to the campus; so bargain started @ 200 and since knew tricks of Sivaji Fans; bargained and got deal for 125 rs.
Reached campus; this is by far most maintained campus of all IIT's; one get to see deer's roaming freely and unshy of motors now and then.
Who all I got to hear and Meet
Athir - Canadian citizen run a telecom soft dev company out of Jaipur India :)
Tumas - French citizen running web2.0 SN out of chennai
Murthy - Another big name & visionary in our Industry
anand - great slideshare guy
founders of tyroo, routeguru, inaasra, wifinance, vembu, neev, minekey, britesoft,
mocodile, tolmolbol, gingI,.....
Mahesh - Nexus
Ganesh - founder travelguru & greylock funds
Sandeep - Sequoa
lehman brothers, matrix partners
.....
Where did I lived for this 2 days; Chamiers Hotel on Chamiers Road.
Chennai is a clean and nice city EXCEPT Urinals; Almost all of them in Chennai stink be it airport or any other public place; they Stink and Stink despite of all good things in that part of world. One @ Airport reminded me of mumbai public ones by roadside.
Can Anna log keep them clean too or Rajni saar will say
Tumne Lungi Uthake yeah Kyaa Kar Dii.
Indian women in Modern India
With steady to rising GDP more and more women are taking up to higher education and career. I am one of believer of 'Give correct exposure and Indian women are future of 21st century Corporates.
Career thing is so visible; as with every passing day US/UK settled indian grooms are finding it difficult and difficult to find there brides in india. A interesting and promising career is more sought after than cooking n cleaning with microwaves n dishwashers.
Again most of developed countries have a good 50%+ ratio of working women so Kudos to Nari Shakti of India.
Having said all raosy stuff; theres a transition as far as Male chauvinist society
goes; as traditionally women are bound to 4 walls of house looking after kids, cooking for family members,.... So its very natural and common for mens to hard digest independent n career savy women around. Even I see it in myself; though i help with cooking, shopping and small house hold things, but still Maleness is so much in me my wife end up looking after home and her office work to studies :) And what i do is like most of us work, spend time after my hobbies and if get still spare time spend time with kid.
This is a typyical story with most of Indian houses and with more urbanisation such households are on increase as well.
Elderly women who have gone throught this need to have counselling and socail networking events for todays women more than what is required in past.
But yes; with more girls topping in merit list to taking up higher jobs; Indian Women are marching alongwith Men towards a developed India.
Career thing is so visible; as with every passing day US/UK settled indian grooms are finding it difficult and difficult to find there brides in india. A interesting and promising career is more sought after than cooking n cleaning with microwaves n dishwashers.
Again most of developed countries have a good 50%+ ratio of working women so Kudos to Nari Shakti of India.
Having said all raosy stuff; theres a transition as far as Male chauvinist society
goes; as traditionally women are bound to 4 walls of house looking after kids, cooking for family members,.... So its very natural and common for mens to hard digest independent n career savy women around. Even I see it in myself; though i help with cooking, shopping and small house hold things, but still Maleness is so much in me my wife end up looking after home and her office work to studies :) And what i do is like most of us work, spend time after my hobbies and if get still spare time spend time with kid.
This is a typyical story with most of Indian houses and with more urbanisation such households are on increase as well.
Elderly women who have gone throught this need to have counselling and socail networking events for todays women more than what is required in past.
But yes; with more girls topping in merit list to taking up higher jobs; Indian Women are marching alongwith Men towards a developed India.
Coffee with freeman n gaurav
Was emailing freeman murray for quite few days on meeting over lunch or coffee. Today we could plan and meet @ coffee day north main road, 6th lane KP pune.
when i reached freeman and 2 of ananocast collegues were chating on some of cool services like facebook linkedin mixercast google adspace yahoo india intiatives ...
gaurav joined us in some time; discussion went on over what freeman plans to do in education initiative and since gaurav has worked as vc in sillicon valley we tried to find secrets of vcs assessment stuff in business plans.
discussions went on for close to 1 1/2hrs; coffee(it was virtual as we didnt ordered) with freeman n gaurav was quite interesting and knowledge increasing
when i reached freeman and 2 of ananocast collegues were chating on some of cool services like facebook linkedin mixercast google adspace yahoo india intiatives ...
gaurav joined us in some time; discussion went on over what freeman plans to do in education initiative and since gaurav has worked as vc in sillicon valley we tried to find secrets of vcs assessment stuff in business plans.
discussions went on for close to 1 1/2hrs; coffee(it was virtual as we didnt ordered) with freeman n gaurav was quite interesting and knowledge increasing
farewell dinner @ 505 eurotower
A small farewell dinner was arranged @ my stay 505 eurotower for vci colleagues/friends. since indian food is one of most favorite in gibraltar/uk; food was ordered from shamiyana restaurant. it was mainly naans; kababs; tikkas; chicken masala; malai kofta; poolav, rogan josh...... There were plenty of drinks carried by freinds bar had tequila; rum; rose wine; red wine; vodka, beer to name few.
Diego can be seen a happy man with lots of chicken tikka masala and naans; though he missed gulabjamun as Shamiyana were out of stock :(
Geff n Paul managed to make few nice mohitos :) After food poker was played which was won by Shiv making him waelthy by GBP 25 and geff came runner up with GBP15 :)
Diego can be seen a happy man with lots of chicken tikka masala and naans; though he missed gulabjamun as Shamiyana were out of stock :(
Geff n Paul managed to make few nice mohitos :) After food poker was played which was won by Shiv making him waelthy by GBP 25 and geff came runner up with GBP15 :)
Will be keeping colours brush and pallete away for sometime
Innocence |  |
Horizon |  |
Save World |  |
Flowers and Squares |  |
Kanhaiyaa Basuri Wala |  | Om Namah Shivaay |  |
He will be here any moment |  |
Nari - Different moods of a lady in day to day life |  |
Will be doing one more and will go slow with paintings.
But for sure will resume it in near future
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