News

Reliance ADA Group launches BigAdda.com

BigAdda, a part of the Reliance ADA group, recently announced the launch of its Indian youth networking site bigadda.com. Following on the heels of the massive success in the United States of Facebook and other social networking sites, BigAdda.com attempts to do the same in India. It enables networking and self-expression by creating, uploading and sharing of videos, photos in a public online environment with some privacy options as well. Some of the features of this youth destination include blogs and scribbles, addas (communities) and forums which help the users express, comment and connect.

BigAdda plans to garner a user base of 10 million customers by 2010 it has already taken a significant step in this direction by acquiring over a 100,000 customers over the past six weeks. The company plans to introduce a feature for uploading, streaming and sharing user playlists. Web Instant Messenger (IM) and a wireless interface will also be introduced shortly.

Rajesh Sawhney, President, Reliance Entertainment says, “According to the 2007 NASSCOM report, it is estimated that there will be 20 million broadband subscribers by 2010, up from one million and 100 million Internet users, as compared to 40 million today.” His reckoning is that as the number of Netizens has grown, so has their need to socialize online and gain acceptance in the virtual world. “Virtual hang-out plays a key role, because these give them the space to be amongst friends and peers,” adds Sawhney.

As communities are a key component of social networking, five youth icons from varied career backgrounds have been selected to drive their communities online. Atul Kasbekar, Shankar ahadevan, Irina Brar, Madhur Bhandarkar and Dia Mirza will steer the photo, music, sports, video and movies categories respectively.

“Music, fashion, movies and sports are something that cut across segments and age groups. The idea was to create a platform where the fans or users can talk or share with their icon. Going forward, we plan to enhance our community drivers and supplement it with innovative marketing and promotional activities,” adds Sawhney.

According to Siddhartha Roy, Chief Operating Officer, BigAdda, photos, video and music are the key drivers of online consumption today. He adds, “We wanted to let our users upload content of their choice, as one of the many features on BigAdda.com. This lets them showcase and express their personalities.” In its first six weeks, a test phase, 12,000 videos have been uploaded.