(18 February 2009 7:30 pm)

MUMBAI: Global social media network Bebo will launch in India next month.

"The aim in India will be to look for partnerships with Indian broadcasters and content creators," says Bebo general manager Australia and New Zealand Francisco Cordero.

Bebo, which specialises in creating business models around social media, has 650 partners.

Bebo's Open Media Platform, created a couple of years ago, allows broadcasters to bring in their content along with their ad server technology. All revenues generated from this, says Cordero, goes to the broadcaster, a practice which Youtube does not follow.

Says Codero: "The creators of The OC and Charlie's Angels have worked with us. This is one of our USPs."

The fact that broadband penetration in India is limited is not deterring new media companies from entering this space.

Bebo is entering India that is already crowded with other global social media giants. Google India MD Shailesh Rao notes that its social network Orkut as well as Youtube India have experienced exponential growth.

"When I spoke with Youtube co-founders Chad Hurley and Steven Chen over a year back we knew that there were challenges in terms of lack of broadband penetration. At the same time though the appeal of interaction is strong. Online video can bind the country and it does not face the challenge of linguistic diversity. We at Google look to facilitate online interaction."

What does the emergence of social media mean for traditional media? Will traditional media fade away? The resounding answer at the session was no. Both can co-exist.

Representing traditional media was Hugh Stephens, Time Warner Senior VP international relations & public policy. Stephens says traditional media brands have a role to play in the new media. A known brand can be effective in letting people do new things. He offered the example of iReport. This is a CNN initiative that invites consumers to become a reporter using their mobile phone or video camera. CNN had also tied up with Youtube for U.S. Presidential debates. Time Warner has many ooline properties, including TMZ and Engadget.

Stephens says as per deal done with Youtube the video sharing site has 'sniffers' which allows it to detect if the videos on the site have clearance or have been posted illegally. If the video is legal, then any revenue they accrue will be shared with the poster / content owner.

MySpace Asia VP Sung Lee notes that social media allows advertisers to engage with users on a different level. For instance, Adidas had done a tie up with MySpace for the launch of two new shoe products. It created an interactive community involving two teams. Fan could choose which team they supported. 21 million visits were generated by recommendations from friends and colleagues.

Social media also generates brand empathy. For example. in the US McDonalds encouraged people to create a remix of a Big Mac song. The winner was featured in an ad.

"It created evangelical behaviour by users; people got attached to Big Mac," says Lee.

Social media, Lee notes, also allows one to create media products such as films in a new way. For instance, MySpace tied up with Film Four in the UK for a user generated film called 'Faint Heart.' All aspects of production including music came from users. The company is looking at doing something similar in India.

A point was also made that people who use social media belong to the lean forward generation. Globally, social media has 700 million users. 30 million photos are uploaded daily. There are 184 million blogs and hundreds of thousands are added daily. Blogging has allowed for the decentralisation of power of expression.