In search of wisdom...

Recently, I carried out a survey on ‘Social Media’ scene in India and the results are mixed. Some are expected and some are very strange. For ex: Among the sample size of 248 respondents, not even one person is active on Fropper and 100% of them are on Orkut.


Anyways following paragraph is a summary of the entire survey.
“A young Indian netizen has been active on the social media scene for more than an average of 4 years. She/he joined social media because of an invitation to join from a friend. The most common social media website for her/him is Orkut and Facebook follows the trend. A Netizen visits these websites at least once a day. On an average, she/he has an average of 120 friends on each of the social media website they are registered. The most visited blog genre is Movies followed by world news/politics, incidentally only 11.8% admitted to be visiting sex blogs on a regular basis. The activity which they enjoy the most over the social media platform is Scrapping.”


SAMPLE SIZE- 250 Respondents (248 responded)


Because it was an online survey, these respondents are essentially people who use internet quite often. The questionnaire had 10 questions.

Based on the number of daily active users, here is the list of top 10 facebook applications..
Cheers!! If you like this, feel free to use the data but dont forget to 'Digg' it. :) Here we go...

THE WINNERS ARE: -
1. Pet Society 1,925,740
2. Facebook® for BlackBerry® smartphones 1,453,600
3. Causes 1,345,760
4. Texas HoldEm Poker 1,318,050
5. Bumper Sticker 1,070,930
6. Top Friends 995,946
7. (Lil) Green Patch 975,549
8. Slide FunSpace 959,516
9. Mobile 952,264
10. We're Related 852,071

I know many of the marketers would have their own thoughts and ideas to make use of this information, however, my suggestion is to analyze these applications and understand the reason for their success.

Cheers!

A Comprehensive list of Social Media and Web 2.0 businesses that are changing the way internet was ever used. Here is the list,

Advertising
Google AdSense
Advertising management
Google AdWords
Search advertising
Microsoft adCenter
Online advertising services
UrlTrends
Link tracking and search optimization
Wordtracker
Search engine optimization services
Yahoo Ads
Online ad management
Yahoo Search Marketing
Search advertising platform
Answerbag
Questions and answers service
Blogwise
Blog and feed search service
SplogSpot
Database of spam blogs


Blog Search
Blogwise
Blog and feed search service
SplogSpot
Database of spam blogs
Tailrank
Blog search and news aggregation service
Technorati
Blog search services


Blogging
Akismet
Blog spam prevention service
Blogger
Blogging services
FeedBlitz
Blogs by email service
FeedBurner
Blog promotion tracking service
LiveJournal
Blogging software
Performancing
Blog management
TypePad
Blog management
Weblogs
Blog ping service
Windows Live Spaces
Blog services


Bookmarks
Blogmarks
Social bookmarking
del.icio.us
Social bookmarking
linkaGoGo
Social bookmarking service
Ma.gnolia
Social bookmarking service
OnlyWire
Social bookmarklet service
Shadows
Social bookmarking and community
Simpy
Social bookmarking


Calendar
30 Boxes
Calendar service
Google Calendar
Calendar service
Spongecell
Online calendar service


Chat
AOL Instant Messenger
Instant messaging chat service
AOL Presence
Online presence service
Google Talk
Chat application
IMified
Instant messenger buddy
Lingr
Online chatroom services
MSN Messenger
Chat and messaging
WebAIM
Web based instant messaging
Yahoo Messenger
Instant messaging


Community
Blue Dot
Content sharing community
coRank
Distributed user reviews service
Facebook
Social networking service
PartySpark
Social events service
RockYou Super Wall
Content sharing platform within Facebook
Twitter
Community site


Email
Email Address Validator
Email address validation service
ExactTarget
Email delivery services
IntelliContact
Email marketing service
JangoMail
Bulk email service
Mailbuild
Email forms and templates service
Publicaster
Email marketing management
StrikeIron Email Verification
Email verification service
Vertical Response
Email management services
Webmail.us
Email hosting service
WhatCounts
Email management services
Yahoo Mail
Web based email system


Enterprise
Employease
On-demand human resource management
Google Provisioning
User provisioning for Google Applications
Lokad
Time series forecaster
NetDocuments
Enterprise document management service
NetSuite
Business application suite
Salesforce.com
CRM services
WebEx
Conferencing and collaboration services


Events
Eventfinder
Events calendar
Eventful
Events discovery and demand
Spraci
Events and clubs database
Upcoming.org
Collaborative event calendar
Zvents
Local events search and community


Financial
Blinksale
Online invoicing services
Currency Rates
Currency rates
Dun and Bradstreet Credit Check
Credit check
FreshBooks
Online invoicing and time tracking
KashFlow
Online accounting software
Moneytrackin
Expense tracking
NetAccounts
Online accounting service
Prosper
Peer-to-peer network
StrikeIron Historical Stock Quotes
Stock price quotes for US equities
StrikeIron Mutual Funds
Historical mutual funds
StrikeIron Stock Quotes Basic
Real-time stock quotes
Wesabe
Personal finance management and community


Government
Cicero
Lookup service for US elected officials by address
Civic Footprint
Political geography lookup for Illinois
Democracy In Action
Advocacy services for nonprofits
FedSpending.org
Database of US government spending
Follow The Money
Database of US campaign contributions
GovTracker
Rhode Island state data services
LOUIS
US federal documents database
Open Patent Services
European Patent Office web services
Sunlight Labs
US Congress database service
TheyWorkForYou
Track the UK Parliament
Who is my Representative
Database of US congressional representatives


Internet
Alexa Site Thumbnail
Thumbnail images of web site home pages
Alexa Top Sites
Web site traffic rankings
Amazon EC2
Elastic Compute Cloud virtual hosting
Clicky
Web site analytics
Compete
Internet web site metrics and analytics
Cordurl
Geo coordinate translation
Dapper
Service for API creation
Domain Tools
Internet domain name lookup
Durl.us
URL shortening
Ecommstats
Web analytics
Hostip.info
IP lookup
HTML2PDF
HTML to PDF conversion
Internet Archive
Non-profit Internet library
IP Address Lookup
Determine IP address from domain name
Mint
Web site metrics and reporting
Mon.itor.us
Web site monitoring services
MyNotify
Feed publication
Nenest
Web forms and application framework
Outune
Web map engine
Pingdom
Web site monitoring and reporting
Qurl
URL redirection
SoftLayer
Systems management and monitoring
UnAPI
Proposal for web clipboard
W3Counter
Web site metrics tools
Webride
Attaches discussions to any site
WebThumb
Thumbnail image generation
Windows Live Custom Domains
Web site administration
Yahoo Site Explorer
Web site analysis service


Job Search
Indeed
Job search services
SmashFly
Job board posting service


Mapping
ArcWeb
Mapping and GIS services
BigTribe
Location based advertising
deCarta
Location-based services
EarthTools
Web services for geographical information
FeedMap
Blog geo-coding
Garmin MotionBased
GPS services and mapping
geocoder
Geocoding services for US
geocoder.ca
Geocoding services for Canada
GeoIQ
Geospatial analysis and heat mapping service
GeoNames
Geographic name and postal code lookup
GetMapping
Aerial photography and mapping service
GlobeXplorer
Mapping services
Google Maps
Mapping services
HopStop
Mass transit and walking directions
iShareMaps On Demand
UK Postcode Geocoder
Map24 AJAX API
Mapping services
Mappr
Photo mapping
MapQuest
Online mapping service
Mapstraction
Mapping API abstraction layer
MetaCarta
Location and geotagging services
Microsoft MapPoint
Mapping services
Microsoft Virtual Earth
Mapping services
Multimap
Global online mapping service
NASA
Satellite mapping images
Naver Maps
Korean mapping service
Nearby.org.uk
Geocoding service for UK
Ontok
Geocode any US address
OpenLayers
Mapping API abstraction layer
OpenStreetMap
The Free Wiki World Map
Platial
Collaborative geographic service
Plazes
Location discovery service
Poly9 FreeEarth
3D mapping service
Pushpin
Mapping service
Urban Mapping
Urban geo-spatial data services
USGS Elevation Query Service
Determine elevation based on latitude and longitude
ViaMichelin
Mapping, directions, and travel booking
Wayfaring
Map creation and sharing service
WHERE GPS
Mobile GPS widget platform
Where Is Tim Web Service
Location tracking
Where2GetIt Geospatial
Non-mapping geospatial services
Where2GetIt SlippyMap
Online mapping service
Whereis
Australian and New Zealand mapping service
Wigle
Wireless network mapping
Yahoo Geocoding
Geocoding services
Yahoo Map Image
Map image creation service
Yahoo Maps
Mapping services
ZeeMaps
Embedded maps and international geocoding
ZoomIn
Australian mapping service


Media Management
BBC
Multimedia archive database
Grouper Video
Video sharing service
Orb
Digital media remote access and management
Phanfare
Photo and video sharing service
Streamload
Online media storage


Medical
cPath
Medical database lookup
Kegg
Bioinformatics data services
NCBI Entrez
Life sciences search services
SeqHound
Bioinformatics research database


Messaging
411Sync
SMS, WAP, and email messaging
Aql
SMS solutions portal
Clickatell
SMS Messaging services
Jaiku
Social messaging service
Mobivity
SMS marketing messaging service
Movil
SMS messaging
PartySync
Messaging services
Sabifoo
IM to RSS conversion service
SmsBug
SMS messaging services
StrikeIron Global SMS Pro
SMS messaging services
StrikeIron Mobile Email
Mobile email messaging service
Textamerica
Moblogs
Trekmail
Messaging services
Twittervision
Location based data for the Twitter service
Userplane
Communication software for online communities
Vazu
SMS messaging service


Music
AOL Music Now
Music playlist management
Digital Podcast
Podcast search
Faces.com
Photo and media sharing service
Feedcache
Feed caching service
Freedb / CDDB
Online CD catalog service
Last.fm
Music playlist management
MP3Tunes
Music services
MusicBrainz
Music metadata community service
MusicDNS.org
Music fingerprinting service
MusicMobs
Social music service
OpenStrands
Music recommendation and discovery
Rhapsody
Online music services
SeeqPod
Music recommendation service
SNOCAP
Digital music marketplace
Soundtoys
Visual artists works repository
Tunelog
Music metadata management
WebJay
Music playlist management
Winamp
Customizable music player
Yahoo Music Engine
Desktop music player


News
AmphetaRate
News aggregator
ClearForest Semantic Web Services1
Natural language processing tools
Daylife
Online News Service
Digg
Crowdsourced News Service
Findory
Personalized news aggregation
Macromedia News Aggregator
Data access service
Moreover
News delivery
NewsCloud
Social news service
NewsIsFree
Online news aggregation


Office
Backpack
Online information manager
Big Contacts
Web based contact management
EditGrid
Online spreadsheet
Google Documents List
Document management services
Google Spreadsheets
Online spreadsheets
Numbler
Online spreadsheet service
SlideShare
Presentation sharing community
Zoho
Online office suite


Photos
AOL Pictures
Online photo management
Buzznet
Photo sharing
Flickr
Photo sharing service
Fotolia
Royalty free stock photos
Google Picasa
Photo management and sharing service
imageLoop
Animated slideshow service
Panoramio
Photo upload site with organizer
Pixagogo
Online photo services
Riya
Photo search
ShutterPoint
Stock photography service
Smugmug
Photo sharing service
Snipshot
Online photo editing service
WebShots
Photo sharing service
Yahoo Photos
Online photo service
Zoto
Photo sharing service


Recommendations
Criteo
Distributed recommendation service
EasyUtil
Recommendation service
RapLeaf
Portable ratings system
Yelp
Local user reviews and city guides


Reference
Aonaware Dictionary
Dictionary lookup service/td>
City and State by Zip Code
Address lookup service
Dun and Bradstreet
Research company background data
Bussines Verification
Business research services
FUTEF Wikipedia API
Third party Wikipedia web service
ISBNdb
Books database
Library of Congress SRW
Information database search
Microsoft MSDN
Technical reference library
OpenDOAR
Academic research repository
PhoneVal
Phone number validation service
RealEDA Reverse Phone Lookup
Lookup address and name via phone
SRC Demographics
Demographic reference data
StrikeIron Address Verfication
Global address verification service
StrikeIron Do Not Call
Telephone number verification
StrikeIron Insider Trading
Insider trading transaction information
StrikeIron Phone Number Enhancement
Adds address and statistical data based on phone number
StrikeIron Residential Lookup
Residential directory lookup and validation service
StrikeIron Reverse Phone Lookup
Reverse phone lookup services
StrikeIron Sales Tax Basic
Sales and use tax data service
StrikeIron Super Data Pack
APIs for variety of reference data sources
StrikeIron US Census
Census data information service
StrikeIron Zacks Company Profile
Corporate profiles web service
Talis
Library 2.0 reference services
UrbanDictionary
Slang dictionary lookup
US Yellow Pages
Telephone directory
Yahoo Answers
Community driven reference service


Search
Alexa Web Information Service
Web site information and traffic data
Alexa Web Search
Web Search Engine
Amazon A9 OpenSearch

Gigablast

Google Ajax Search
Web search components
Google Code Search
Code search service
Google Desktop
Desktop search and gadgets
Google Search
Search services
Kratia
Democratic search engine
Naver
Korean search engine
Vast
Structured web search
Windows Live Search
Internet search
Wink
Social search service
Yahoo Image Search
Image search services
Yahoo Local Search
Local search service
Yahoo My Web Search
Personalized search services
Yahoo Related Suggestions
Search suggestion service
Yahoo Search
Search services
Yahoo Term Extraction
Contextual search service
AOL Open Auth
Authentication services


Shopping
Amazon eCommerce
Online retailer
Amazon Historical Pricing
Historical product sales data
Authorize.Net
Internet based payment gateway services
AvantLink
Affiliate marketing network
CNET
Shopping services
Commission Junction
Online affiliate programs
DataUnison eBay Research
eBay pricing and sales trend data
Direct Textbook
Book price comparison service
eBay
Online auction marketplace
GoodStorm
Online retail ecommerce
Google Base
Platform for structure and semi-structured data
Google Checkout
Shopping cart services
PriceRunner
Shopping comparison engine
Shopping.com
Online retail shopping
SwapThing
Community driven swapping site
UPC Database
UPC lookup service
Windows Live Expo
Online classifieds service
Yahoo Shopping
Shopping services
Zazzle
On-demand product creation service


Storage
Amazon S3
Online storage services
Box.net
Online file storage
MoveDigital
File delivery and management services
Omnidrive
Online storage services
Open Xdrive
Online data storage service
Openomy
Online file system
Tagalag
Email tagging
TagFinder
Tag extraction service
Tagthe.net
Tag recommendation service
TagTooga
Tag based Internet directory


Video
Truveo
Video search
Blinkx
Video search
Dave.TV
Video distribution network
LiveVideo
Video repository and user community
Revver
Video services
Veoh
Virtual television and video network
Video Detective
Film trailers, cast, images, and related information
Yahoo Video Search
Video search
YouTube
Video sharing and search


Widgets
ClearSpring
Widget creation, distribution, and tracking services
Google Gadgets

Netvibes
Personalized home page with widgets
Pageflakes
Personalized start page and widgets
Serence Klip
Desktop gadgets
SpringWidgets
Widget platform
TagWorld
Social web services
Windows Live Gadgets
Online gadgets service
Windows Sidebar Gadgets
Desktop gadgets
Yahoo Widgets
Desktop widgets
Yourminis
Personalized start page


WIKI
DBpedia
Structured query interface to Wikipedia
JotSpot
Wiki-style collaboration tools
PBwiki
Consumer wiki farm
WikiMatrix
Wiki search and comparison service

Future of Social media it seems... When we grow old, our grand children shall ask us to tell them stories of how any person with a 'hep' website or blog could claim their fame to the SOCIAL MEDIA...

Cartoon Source: Rob Cottingham

Because I neva gave it a thought... I met a nomad at the downhill who tried to download the following GYAN unto me.. Might as well work for you...
o Never underestimate the resources, time, dedication and passion it takes to engage and cultivate relationships across multiple communities. It’s just not the same for any two networks.
o Just like other marketing medium, Social Marketing requires a dedicated strategy, goal, metrics, and a tactical plan.
o Always remember to ask yourself two questions, “Why do we want to participate?” and “What do we want to achieve out of it?”
o Not the entire social media shall be relevant to you, instead there are hubs across social media that should be of prime focus to you like in case of a Bollywood celebrity the prime focus can be Facebook, MySpace, Orkut and their own blog whereas Digg, BigAdda and others can be taken care later.
o Social Media marketing is not an overnight process; it takes time, sincerity, focus and cultivation.
o Participate as a member and not a marketer.
o Relationships are based on mutual benefits, so think about what you bring to the table and why before you jump in.
o Social Media isn’t a catalyst to summon marketing for marketing’s sake. It’s an opportunity to engage with groups of people by tapping into conversations that mutually serve the benefits of the very people we wish to reach.
o This isn’t broadcast marketing. This is one-to-one discussions that can provide incredible value back to you and your company as long as the rules of engagement are clear and not manipulated.
o It takes time, patience, sincerity, and value. This is about relationships and it’s much bigger and more relevant than just you and the company you represent.
o Conversations are taking place online and it will continue to take place with or without you. It’s better to be there and take active participation in it.
o There are tools available to do so; these tools are more than you would ever know, with more tools introduced every week.
o Social Media is much more than user-generated content. It’s driven by people in the communities where they communicate and congregate. They create, share, and discover new content without our help right.
o In Social Media, communities take the form of social networks and the communal groups within them. People establish associations, friendships, and allegiances around content, objects, products, services, and ideas. How they communicate is simply subject to the tools and networks that people adopt based on the influence of their social graph – and the culture within.
o Many have incorrectly viewed the process of social media as “build it and they will come.” Companies simply create profiles on Facebook and Myspace, blogs on wordpress, upload videos to YouTube and images to flickr, and simply hoped for a mass wave of friending and interaction. We can’t simply walk into the CP inner circle, plant a sign behind us with our name, interests and affiliations and expect real people to come up to us for meaningful and long-term dialog. This is the equivalent of setting up camp next to a village because you have the tools to do so and expecting the village to integrate you into their society.
o Advertising over the routine spots on Facebook and Orkut won’t help you attract much of eyeballs, instead focus where every user focuses on, the News Feed section. A single ad in the news feed section will grab more attention and also you wont have to fight with competitors for attention.
o As marketers you need to decide who you want to concentrate on, the Influencers or the easily influenced.