The internet business needs to go local in order to thrive in an increasingly condensed digital world. End users will look for real world solutions to internet based initiatives and applications. This will determine the true potential of the social web.
Regional language content, the politically correct and probably more accurate term to what is otherwise known as “vernacular content” will determine the pace at which Internet penetration will grow in India. As infrastructure spends are increased by telecom companies and the GOI in order to spread the internet pie across the board, it will lead to early adoption in Tier – II and Tier – III cities.
Also, increasing literacy rate in India, will create a media hungry mass which would look to interpret the world in languages they best understand their surroundings in. Coupled with increasing internet penetration, as a medium it will not only decrease the cost of connectivity but also instill a culture of engagement and interactivity in users using regional content.
The future of internet as a medium for information exchange in regional content is decisively robust. But, the real challenge for marketers and social media evangelists is bridging the divide. The capability of an urban bred, tech-savvy maven to understand regional sensibilities and connect with audiences in a language that they have remotely come across is yet to be proven. Again, the limitation lies with us.
In this scenario, I foresee a rise in localized content created by people from these very centers who will excel on their own turf. To make sense of this new wave, it would require language proficiency and adaptability on the part of marketers looking to communicate and transgress to a different kind of social web and its emerging contexts.
Some important links which give an overall perspective to the regional content market in India:
IAMAI research on vernacular content market in India [Link] December 30 2008
Rajesh Lalwani’s hindi “word for the day” tweet [Link] is quite refreshing. I suspect he too agress with the potential of localized content being the next big market.
Kiruba’s Wikimedia initiative wherein along with an emphasis on educating users on various features of wikis, there is a focussed effort on dveloping and sharing content in Tamil.
Under the aegis of Wikipedia Academy, Chennai a workshop on Tamil wiki content is being held on Jan 18 2009. For details, visit [Link]
Amit Agarwal lists 20 odd blogs in Hindi on his Indian Blogs directory-search engine which I feel must be visited to get a flavour of conversations in this space.