Indiatimes Launches Social Networking Site – itimes.com
So it’s been well over a year and a half in the making, and the in the meantime the bloom appears to have gone off the social networking boom in India: finally Times Internet (Indiatimes) has soft-launched its social networking site – itimes.com.
Take a look around here (screencap). itimes users are given an email address separate from Indiatimes. Considering the media push around Indiatimes Mail, I wonder why they went ahead with a login and email separate from Indiatimes. A screencap of the profile page here. There’s also a gaming zone, much like Indiatimes has a gaming zone. The site has blogs, but again – what about O3? itimes has a classifieds section/marketplace, similar to YoList. Why not incorporate existing Indiatimes properties and content, and have a social network around it, instead of running two separate ecosystem with fairly similar features? Perhaps there are legacy issues with Indiatimes…
More after the jump, and in the comments.
What’s most interesting? itimes appears to be ready to open up its API from the word go (screencap) – I’ve requested for a developer guide via the site, and am awaiting a mail with details (been 20 minutes, no mail). Some details here. They’re also allowing users to upload videos and photos here. Well, that’s that then – so far, in beta, it appears to be a fairly basic social networking site. What’ll differentiate it from the rest are the users that Times Internet is able to get on board with a media push. Any plans for integration with 58888?
I wonder how much they paid for the domain name itimes.com (any guesses?)…over the past year that Indiatimes has taken to launch this site, there were a bunch of odd names doing the rounds – including some as vague as “bickering”.
Update: It’s been around 15 hours, and I still haven’t received the developer guide. Maybe it’s something they intend to introduce later.
oh no……….! another one?? not ANOTHER one???
I get an internal error while trying to register.
P.S. Observe the captcha on the registration page.
Indiatimes seems to be following many and not heading any-significant-where.
I know how much the domain cost… :) It was quite a bit.
LordHawHaw: since you're using an anonymous ID, maybe you can tell us how much. :D
Seems Indiatimes is lossing its focus with each passing day :) Even the brand name iTimes they are using sound like an online mag or some content based site…seems it will fade out soon is BTW Network 18 is following a diversification strategy too ….now they want to open a cinema chain …Nikhil, whats ur take on Network 18 approach towards media diversification ..
From what I can make out, this looks like a classic camouflage… Rommel tried this in World War 2 and distracted the Allies by opening up another front. Looks like Indiatimes is being clever and not as stupid as we think. I'd wager that they're opening up another brand… and while they may have lost focus in the past, this is one area they understand best: marketing and brand building. By the way, the product isn't bad – where else can one find an email inside a social networking site. I also hear that BigAdda is shutting down.
@Jack
BigAdda has had it… The writing was on the wall months ago…
PS: Rommel was on the losing side… Haw Haw Haw…
@Nikhil
As my marketing prof used to say… if you don't know or have nothing to say. say pass…
Pass…
Rommel didn't lose his battle. Hitler lost the war because he tried another diversion in Russia that failed. Get your history right milord. And read Sun Tzu too. I've been checking out itimes a bit more and I like it. And that's what matters. So there!
i like the interface… and the fact that it has more to do than just become victims to "frandship seekers" … i have imported my blog from blogspot and its working pretty well… not bad for a start i'd say….the blue is too orkutish though, i hope more colours are coming soon.