Category: Social Media

  • Facebook invites entries for FB Awards; small businesses to get special attention

    Facebook invites entries for FB Awards; small businesses to get special attention

    NEW DELHI: Facebook today invited entries for the fifth year for the best creative work being shared on its platform.

     
    More businesses are using Facebook and Instagram to connect with audiences and tell stories than ever before and the FB Awards showcase the power of Facebook and Instagram as creative canvases. 

     

    The 2015 FB Awards represented the biggest and most inspiring creative collection yet. Facebook reviewed over 2,700 submissions from 160 countries that offered a snapshot of the state of creativity and innovation across Facebook, Instagram and the entire industry. 

     

    With so many countries outside the United States submitting their work for the 2015 Awards, it was clear that the awards would have to be internationalised this year, a Facebook statement said. For the first time ever, the entry and judging process will be entirely mobile.

     
    Apart from internationalising the Awards Programme, all countries will now have the ability to be recognised for great work within their region, with local creative executives from each region as judges at the Regional Voting Events.

     
    The Regional awards being give are Best of APAC, Best of EMEA, Best of LATAM and Best of NA.

     
    The top winners from each Regional Voting Events will move to the Global Judging Event. The judging process is in three rounds this year due to the volume of entrants.

     
    In April, members of the Facebook Creative Shop will review the submissions and announce those moving on to the Regional Voting Events. In May, the Regional Voting Events take place and Best of APAC, LATAM, NA, and EMEA are selected; and in June the top winners of each Regional Voting Events will move to the Global Judging Event in NYC, where Global Creative Council will select the best campaigns in each category.
     

    For the first time ever, the FB Awards will recognise small business advertisers who have earned effective, eye-opening results. Winners of this category will also receive FB Ad Credits.
     

    The awards will recognise more aspects of creative excellence in marketing and effective business results and the best use of Facebook family of brands. In addition, awards will be given to the most creative, original and well-executed Facebook and/or Instagram campaign concepts. Innovation in the small business category awards will be given to those who successfully captured the attention of local audiences and gained results with creative thinking on Facebook and Instagram. The Social for Good award will go to charitable/non-profit organisation campaigns that creatively and successfully raise awareness and drive positive social change using Facebook or Instagram, while the Integrated award will go to campaigns that creatively use Facebook as part of a larger, overall media mix.

  • Social media & e-mail marketing top preferred channels for Indian marketers in 2016

    Social media & e-mail marketing top preferred channels for Indian marketers in 2016

    NEW DELHI: Customer acquisition will be the primary focus for marketing activities to be carried out in 2016 for 58 per cent of Indian marketers, a study shows.

     

    The study by Octane Research shows that Social Media (66 per cent) topped the list of marketing activities planned for 2016. 

     

    Email marketing was not far behind, with a 53 per cent share of Indian marketers. What’s more, according to the study, more than 50 per cent of marketers are planning to increase investment in all these activities.

     

    Social media updates are the top choice for achieving maximum customer engagement (46 per cent), followed by email campaigns (28 per cent). SMS marketing was the least preferred (eight per cent).

     

    A total of 64 per cent of Indian marketers believe that social media helps in improving brand reputation and increasing awareness. Social media also helps in extending the reach of email content to new markets and accelerating the growth of subscribers.

     

    As per the study, around 80 per cent of Indian marketers believe that integrated campaigns (email, social and mobile) can result in a moderate to significant increase in conversion rates.

     

    About 85 per cent of the Indian marketers are tracking revenues generated through e-marketing activities. A total 50 per cent of respondents shared that e-marketing activities are contributing to more than 10 per cent share of their revenues.

     

    Email marketing proved effective for over half of the respondents, as 53 per cent of marketers found email marketing “effective” or “very effective.”

     

    Reaching out to target audience (54 per cent votes) and acquiring new email addresses (50 per cent) surfaced as the top challenges faced by Indian marketers in 2015. Increasing the conversion rates was also a challenge faced by 35 per cent of marketers.

     

    For the 2016 issue of this annual state of online marketing in India study, India’s leading industry associations – Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), Retailers Association of India, Direct Marketing Association of India and Digital Defynd extended their support to Octane Research resulting in an active participation from 450+ Indian marketers from 400+ Brands.

     

    Referring to the Annual Industry Report, Octane marketing director and co-founder Punit Modhgil said, “2015 was the year that digital firmly established in India. With more than 400 million India consumers on the internet now, India CMOs have dialled up their investments in digital marketing. In terms of impact, Indian marketers have recorded Social and Email Marketing to be the top performing online marketing channels.”

  • Facebook’s Free Basics in a pinch in India; Zuckerberg comes to rescue with op-ed

    Facebook’s Free Basics in a pinch in India; Zuckerberg comes to rescue with op-ed

    MUMBAI: Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is on a mission – digital equality in the world. His means to achieve it? Internet.org that has been rechristened as ‘Free Basics’ in India. What’s standing in his way? The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

     

    The prolonged debate over net neutrality and whether Free Basic will be detrimental to it has not only led to the establishment of online communities such as savetheinternet and online celebrities like All India Bakchod (AIB) to release a three part series on the subject, but also caught the government body’s attention. TRAI has asked Facebook’s only partner in the project, Reliance Communications to cease all work on Free Basics till it takes a call on the fairness of operators placing prices on certain online content and services.

     

    A move that only egged on Facebook further and that’s when it came up with an extensive online campaign that asked users to sign a petition addressed to TRAI in support of Free Basics.

     

    To further abate the growing skepticism over the service amongst Indian netizens, the social media giant also went offline with their advertising campaign. From full page advertisements in leading newspapers to billboards across the country’s metros, Facebook has made its presence felt and motive clear: it will leave no stones unturned to make Free Basics a reality.

     

    The idea behind the campaign was to highlight the need for Free Basics in India, especially for the underprivileged.

     

    “Hundreds of millions of people in India use the Internet every day and understand the benefits it can bring. This campaign gives people the opportunity to support digital equality in India. It lets people speak in support of the one billion people in India who remain unconnected, and lets them participate in the public debate that is being held by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on differential pricing for data services. And it gives them the opportunity to support Free Basics, which is proven to bring more people online and accelerate full internet adoption,” a Facebook spokesperson tells Indiantelevision.com.

     

    The campaign did gain ground and as per a survey commissioned by Facebook, overall, 86 per cent of respondents support Free Basics when presented with arguments for and against the service

    conducted by David Binder Research in partnership with India’s Hansa Research, the survey was sampled from 3000 people in India.

     

    “At the heart of the results was awareness of the importance of the Internet in shaping India’s future. A majority (65 per cent) of Indians agreed with the statement that, ‘a connected India is a stronger India and connecting more people makes India stronger, more informed, and more competitive in the world’ and more than half support the Digital India initiative,” the report states.

     

    Nevertheless, questions were raised on whether Free Basics truly adheres to what the advertisement campaign claims —  internet for all.

     

    In fact, the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) received several complaints and petitions from netizens across the country stating that the advertisements were insensitive and only painted a one dimensional picture about rural India and its basic needs. Several argue that it is a very simplistic way to sell their product projecting Free Basics as some sort of a magic wand that waves away underprivileged India’s problems.

     

    While TRAI still awaits an official response from Facebook over the credibility of their campaign, Zuckerberg’s op-ed in one of India’s leading daily clearly addresses the subject.

     

    “More than 35 operators have launched Free Basics and 15 million people have come online. And half the people who use Free Basics to go online for the first time pay to access the full internet within 30 days. If we accept that everyone deserves access to the internet, then we must surely support free basic internet services. That’s why more than 30 countries have recognised Free Basics as a program consistent with net neutrality and good for consumers. Who could possibly be against this? Surprisingly, over the last year there’s been a big debate about this in India,” writes Zuckerberg,” adding, “Instead of wanting to give people access to some basic internet services for free, critics of the program continue to spread false claims – even if that means leaving behind a billion people.”

     

    One would argue that Zuckerberg is almost suggesting that India accepts Free Basics without any questions asked as it at least solves its problem of internet for all. The question of net neutrality is secondary to a developing country.

     

    Citing an example of a farmer in India, Zuckerberg highlights the power of internet in connecting India. “A few months ago I learned about a farmer in Maharashtra called Ganesh. Last year Ganesh started using Free Basics. He found weather information to prepare for monsoon season. He looked up commodity prices to get better deals. Now Ganesh is investing in new crops and livestock.”

     

    What is interesting to note here is that the example is in line with their campaign that speaks of rural India urging everyone to focus on immediate advantages of free internet for all.

     

    Regarding its long term effect on net neutrality and Facebook’s advantage over other players in market, the CEO argues, “There is no advantage because the platform is open to all developers. Facebook does not receive or give any money to developers, telcos or anyone else for their participation in Free Basics, nor does Facebook generate any revenue from the version of Facebook within Free Basics as there are no ads in it. Our connectivity efforts have brought 15 million new people online and is consistent with net neutrality because the actual results from the program prove it serves as a bridge to the full internet for people, and is non-discriminatory.”

     

    And while Zuckerberg rallies for Free Basics, even as he takes his paternity leave, a Reliance Mobiles’ TVC on ‘New Ways To Facebook’ has surfaced, adding an interesting angle to their partnership, and its impending impact on free competition in the market.

    Promising free access to Facebook even on offline mode through their specially designed ‘Go To Facebook’ button, which is available exclusively to Reliance Mobile users, the mass media campaign might not go down well with the ‘save the internet’ crusaders.

     

    Whether this will dent the progress Free Basics has had in convincing netizens in favour of it, or Facebook’s mission of Free Basics will be possible, one thing is for sure, it’s certainly made the space more exciting and started many a conversations.

  • Salman tops the chart for being most savvy on digital media

    Salman tops the chart for being most savvy on digital media

    MUMBAI: Salman Khan emerged as the most digital savvy celebrity with an overall score of 16.1, according to TO THE NEW Digital Celebrity Index for the month of September. Khan ranked as number one while Shahrukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan ranked at number two and three scoring 14.6 and 14.5 respectively.

    As per the TO THE NEW Digital data, Priyanka Chopra has emerged as the most active celebrity in social media, on the basis of highest number of posts on all the platforms including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Chopra topped the chart with a total of 531 posts. Amitabh Bachchan is the second most active celebrity after Chopra with a total of 168 posts.

    On Facebook, Chopra had 75 posts during the month of September whereas Bachchan was close second with 71 posts during the same month. Female celebrities are more active when it comes to Instagram as compared to males. On Instagram, Chopra has total number of 66 posts. Sonam Kapoor was the second most active celebrity with a total of 45 posts.

    Chopra had 704 tweets, most of which were about her American TV show Quantico, which was launched on 27th Sep. Amitabh Bachchan grabbed the second spot in the list with a total of 140 tweets which were more generic in nature.

    Madhuri Dixit emerged as the most engaging celebrity on the basis of highest number of netizens she had engaged with on all platforms including likes, comments and shares on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. The posts made by Dixit were found to be most engaging among all the celebrities with a score of 11.8 M. Shahid Kapoor remained the second most engaging celebrity with a total engagement of 1.0 M.  Shahrukh Khan was the most engaging celebrity with a total engagement of 694,913 for the month of September.  Most of the tweets made by Shahrukh Khan were generic in nature where 32 per cent of his total tweets were re-tweets.  

    Madhuri Dixit received the highest engagement ratio of 47 per cent with 25.1M of total fans. Shahrukh ranked at number two with 38 percent of engagement ratio with 18.2M of total fans. Alia Bhatt, Shahid Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor ranked at number three, four and five with 34 per cent of engagement ratio with 9.6 M, 3.2M and 1.6 M of total fans. .

    Deepika Padukone has the highest reach across social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook and Instagram) with total of 39.8 M fans. It was also observed that despite very high number of posts, Priyanka Chopra could not gather many fans and ended up securing only fifth position among all the celebrities with total fan base of 31.7 M fans on all the social media platforms combined. Padukone had the highest number of Facebook fans among all the celebrities that was close to 27.6 M while Salman khan was close second with a total of 27.1 M fans and Amitabh Bachchan was close to 21.9 M of fans and ranked at number three. Padukone also topped the fan base on Instagram with 3.7M fans. Alia Bhatt was a close second with a total of 3.5 M fans.  Priyanka Chopra secured third position with 3.4 M.

    It was noticed that male celebrities had higher number of fans as compared to female celebrities when it comes to Twitter.  Unlike Facebook or Instagram, Amitabh Bachchan has the biggest fan base on Twitter with a close to 17.3 M followers. Shahid Kapoor remained a close second with a total of 15.7 M fans. Even after having the biggest celebrity base on Facebook as well as Instagram, Deepika Padukone could only secure 4th place with respect to the fan base on Twitter.

    Salman Khan came up as the most searched celebrity by netizens on Google with a total of 4.5 M searches during the month of September. That also overlapped the other celebrities in a big way, since the second most searched celebrity, Paukone could only secure 2.5 M searches for the same duration. Anushka Sharma bagged third position with 2.4M searches, Shahrukh Khan secured fourth spot with 2.3 M and Akshay Kumar grabbed fifth place with 1.5 M searches.

  • Facebook activates Safety Check option after Paris attack

    Facebook activates Safety Check option after Paris attack

    MUMBAI: The world was struck with horror as Paris bled under the terror attacks that paralysed the city early morning on November 14.

     

    As news of the multiple attacks in six key places in the city spread through France and the world, family and friends of those present in the city couldn’t help but panic about the wellbeing of their loved ones. The attacks left 127 dead and over 200 injured including 99 that have been critically injured (as per the available statistics at the time of filing of this report)

     

    The situation further intensified as President Holland declared a state of emergency in France, closing its borders. Like every major disaster, be it natural or manmade, chaos ensued.

     

    Facebook did its part in abating some of the confusion with its Safety Check option.

     

    Thousands of users took to the application to send their safety message out to the world by checking ‘Safe Now’ on their profile pages. 

     

    As per the data Facebook shared with Indiantelevision.com,  4.1 million Facebook users marked themselves safe using the tool, which notified 360 million users of their friends’ safety since the service was activated.

     

    “We’ve activated Safety Check, so if you’re in Paris you can mark yourself safe or check on your friends and family,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg later posted on the social media earlier on 14 November, while condemning the act of violence in Paris. 

     

    According to Facebook spokesperson, 78 million people have had over 183 million Facebook interactions related to the attacks so far.

     

    Safety Check isn’t a new offering from the tech giant. It was launched in 2011 after the devastating Tsunami had hit Japan and surrounding areas. The option was also widely used after the earthquake in Nepal earlier this year.

     

    Interestingly this is the first time Facebook has activated the service for anything other than natural disaster.

     

    Explaining the reasoning behind the move, Zuckerberg wrote on Facebook, “Many people have rightfully asked why we turned on Safety Check for Paris but not for bombings in Beirut and other places. Until yesterday, our policy was only to activate Safety Check for natural disasters. We just changed this and now plan to activate Safety Check for more human disasters going forward as well.”

     

    Facebook is also allowing users to change their profile pictures in the blue, white and red shades of the French national flag in support of France and the people of Paris.

  • Facebook launches Agency Ambassadors Program in APAC

    Facebook launches Agency Ambassadors Program in APAC

    MUMBAI: With the ever-evolving nature of the digital landscape and millions of pieces of online content being created every minute, it’s never been more important for marketers to understand how to cut through the clutter to reach their audience.

     

    In a bid to keep its agency partners up to speed on its products and services as well as support the development of local agency talent, Facebook’s initiative saw top creative and media minds from agencies across Asia-Pacific took part in the very first Agency Ambassador program for the region.

     

    Facebook launched the Agency Ambassador Program in Asia-Pacific as a hands-on education session. During the three-day session in Singapore, Facebook’s teams worked closely with agency representatives from India, Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia on how to apply best practices to campaigns and client briefs so the knowledge sticks.

     

    Joining it for the Agency Ambassador sessions in Singapore were representatives from Amnet, Carat, CyberAgent, Dentsu, iProspect, OMD, PHD, Hakuhodo, Havas Media, IPG, Madison, Resolution Media, Septeni, Starcom Mediavest and ZenithOptimedia.

     

    What they did?

    A little bit of work and a little bit of play. Day one was kicked off with a tour of the new Facebook Singapore digs and a local goodies swap, agency reps sharing snacks from their home country as a ‘getting to know you’ icebreaker. The reps were then broken into teams for a Blueprint download, each group given a hypothetical client brief they had to bring to life using Facebook marketing principals they had learnt throughout the day. The session covered everything from dissecting a brief, putting up ads wireframes to align with business objectives, creative best practice, a targeting module as well as campaign measurement and reporting.

     

    It was a full day of planning, executing and reporting, where participants soaked up knowledge not only from Facebook but also from each other.

     

    “We found agencies and clients learn more efficiently when they take concepts and apply them immediately so they stick. It’s not just about listening to someone talk—it’s about interacting with your team members and putting what you learn into action as the day goes on,” shares Facebook APAC agency development lead Matthew Drury.

     

    Day two was a mix of deep dive learning sessions from Facebook and Instagram experts like Fergus O’Hare from the Creative Shop, Amit Chaubey from Marketing Science and Swati Rai who chatted about Atlas and what it means for agencies and brands.

     

    Participants had the chance to ask questions after each session to better understand how Facebook can help them achieve the best results for their current clients as well as win new business.

     

    But it wasn’t just work—it was also a chance for agency teams from around the region to connect with each other, mingling and networking over drinks in the Facebook Singapore beer garden before heading out to dinner.

     

    What’s next?

    Facebook will continue to work closely with the agency representatives that took part in the Ambassador Program, helping them to hand select Blueprint courses relevant to their agency. The agency ambassadors will head up Facebook and Instagram product learning within their agencies so other team members are brought up to speed on the marketing products available to them.

     

    “We will continue the conversation now that everyone has gone back home. They are part of our Facebook and Instagram community so we want to keep the dialogue flowing. We will work with our ambassadors to get feedback on our products so we can tailor them to better suit their clients’ needs and ultimately collaborate to produce more stand out, award winning work,” added Facebook APAC agency development lead Edel Horgan.

  • Q3-2015: Facebook YoY revenue up 40.5% to $4.5 billion; net income $1.63 billion

    Q3-2015: Facebook YoY revenue up 40.5% to $4.5 billion; net income $1.63 billion

    BENGALURU: Social media major Facebook Inc reported a 40.5 per cent hike in YoY revenue to $4.5 billion in the quarter ended 30 September, 2015 (Q3-2015) as compared to the $3.2 billion in the corresponding quarter of last year.

     

    The company’s non-GAAP net income rose 41.7 per cent YoY to $1.6 billion (36.2 per cent margin) in the current quarter as compared to $1.14 billion (35.9 per cent margin) in Q3-2014. Facebook’s GAAP income increased 11.2 per cent to $896 million in the current quarter as compared to $806 million in Q3-2014.

     

    “We had a good quarter and got a lot done,” said Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. “We’re focused on innovating and investing for the long term to serve our community and connect the entire world.”

     

    Operational highlights

     

    Daily active users (DAUs) – DAUs were 1.01 billion on average for September 2015, an increase of 17 per cent YoY

    Mobile DAUs – Mobile DAUs were 894 million on average for September 2015, an increase of 27 per cent YoY.

    Monthly active users (MAUs) – MAUs were 1.55 billion as of 30 September, 2015, an increase of 14 per cent YoY.

    Mobile MAUs – Mobile MAUs were 1.39 billion as of 30 September, 2015, an increase of 23 per cent YoY.

     

    Financial highlights

     

    Growth in revenue was driven by a 45.4 per cent growth in Advertising revenue to $4.29 billion in the current quarter as compared to the $2.59 billion in Q2-2014.

     

    Mobile advertising revenue – Mobile advertising revenue represented approximately 78 per cent of advertising revenue for Q3-2015 2015, up from 66 per cent of advertising revenue in Q3-2014.

     

    Capital expenditures – Capital expenditures for Q3-2015 were $780 million.

    Cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities – Cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities were $15.83 billion at the end of Q3-2015.

    Free cash flow – Free cash flow for Q3-2015 was $1.41 billion.

     

    Zuckerberg also took to his Facebook page to say, “Our community now has more than 1.55 billion people, including more than 1 billion people active every day. Through Internet.org, more than 15 million people now have access to the opportunities of the Internet who didn’t before.”

    “In the last three months, we’ve also announced our first aircraft to beam down internet access, our first satellite launch to deliver connectivity, an AI-powered digital assistant and our first Oculus virtual reality consumer release. Our community has a lot to be proud of. Thank you for being a part of our community, and for helping to connect the world,” he added.

     

  • Olivier Legrand to succeed Hari Krishnan as LinkedIn APAC MD

    Olivier Legrand to succeed Hari Krishnan as LinkedIn APAC MD

    MUMBAI: LinkedIn has appointed Olivier Legrand as its managing director for the Asia-Pacific region, effective 1 January, 2016.

     

    He will succeed Hari Krishnan, who is incidentally LinkedIn’s first employee in Asia. Krishnan, who has been managing director for the Asia-Pacific region since January 2013, is leaving the company after a stint of six years. Prior to his most recent post, he served as LinkedIn country manager for India from November 2009 to December 2012, Krishnan is slated to join PropertyGuru Group as president and chief business officer.

     

    Krishnan oversaw business in the region that continues to post healthy growth, including a member base that more than doubled to 78+ million (as at Q3 2015) in less than three years. This includes 33+ million in India, 7+ million in Australia and 15+ million in S.E. Asia.

     

    The Asia-Pacific region, home to some 40 per cent of the world’s professionals, is a key growth region for LinkedIn. More than 1,000 LinkedIn employees in 10 offices (across Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan and Singapore) serve members and clients such as Singapore Post, Toshiba, HCL Technologies, Li & Fung and ANZ.

     

    “The Asia-Pacific region continues to be a key economic player in an increasingly connected and digital world where new opportunities emerge every day,” Legrand said. “I am excited about the opportunities for LinkedIn to help our members and clients become even more successful. While LinkedIn has come a long way in the region since establishing our presence here in 2009, there’s still a long runway for growth ahead for us.”

     

    Legrand will have a dual role, continuing to serve as head of marketing solutions for LinkedIn in the region.

     

    Singapore-based Legrand, who joined LinkedIn in 2012 to drive the marketing solutions business in the Asia-Pacific region, is a senior executive with more than a decade of leadership, marketing and business development experience in the region.

     

    Before joining LinkedIn, he was General Manager of The Wall Street Journal Digital Network for Asia.

  • Jombay and Pearson TalentLens unite to launch HiVE

    Jombay and Pearson TalentLens unite to launch HiVE

    MUMBAI: One of the biggest challenges in corporate India is leadership identification and development.  A recent global survey concluded that two thirds of all companies rank leadership identification as their biggest corporate hurdle.

     

    In a scenario like this, Jombay and Pearson TalentLens have partnered to launch their one-stop online leadership identification and development product, HiVE.

     

    HiVE combines behavioural and cognitive assessments to help corporate identify and develop leadership in a scientific, objective, and transparent manner. This product sees Jombay’s expertise in behavioural and psychographic analysis join hands with Pearson TalentLens’ expertise in cognitive science.

     

    Jombay co-founder and CEO Mohit Gundecha said, “As Jombay evolves its expertise from talent assessment company to a people-first engine to support the entire employee life cycle, we are excited about officially introducing the HiVE with Pearson TalentLens. A large part of our country’s workforce is young and aspires for fast-track growth, and this product will help companies make unbiased decisions to identify and nurture leadership within their organisations.”

     

    HiVE was launched to a closed group of 25 companies across BFSI, Pharma & FMCG, Pharma & Retail, ITeS and Hospitality sectors before its formal launch. The closed group helped HiVE to collaboratively test and fine tune the product for a full launch to corporate India.

     

    Pearson TalentLens India country head & director Philip Kurian said, “Jombay & Pearson and Talentlens’s HiVE is an interesting amalgamation of behavioural science, cognitive science, and technology. Its online identity will allow managers to use the product across the country significantly reducing the need for a face-to-face interaction. Moreover, it is easily customisable to any company’s competency framework.”

     

    HiVE provides the company leadership a quantified evaluation of strategic outlook, execution capability and people skills of the employee. The cognitive and psychographic evaluation helps companies in making smart decisions on leadership – it will enable them to confidently select the queen bees of their HiVE.

  • Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg on India, Internet.org, net neutrality

    Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg on India, Internet.org, net neutrality

    MUMBAI: Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has set his sights on the Indian market in a big way, which according to him is one of the key markets for the social networking company.

     

    In his second visit this year to the country, the young entrepreneur visited the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, where close to 900 students attended the Question & Answer session.

    Zuckerberg addressed issues such as Net Neutrality, internet access as well as Facebook’s initiatives to invest in India.

    Speaking at the event, Zuckerberg said that his mission was to connect everyone in India to the internet.

    According to a UK based consultancy We Are Social and Facebook India, of the 1.49 billion people who check Facebook at least once a month, more than 130 million are in India. It is more than anywhere outside the US and the number has been rising in recent years.Facebook had 118 million users in 2014 as compared to a year earlier, which was 93 million.

     

    Zuckerberg explained that Facebook’s initiative Internet.org has nothing insidious but aims to provide connectivity for access to education, health care and financial services to millions of Indians. Internet.org was launched in 2013 for a global effort to provide web access to unconnected users in the developing nations.

     

    Speaking on the investment on Artificial Intelligence Systems, Zuckerberg said, “AI is really exciting. We will be able to see smarter computers being built. With AI, it’s going to be less about products and making the existing ones smarter. We are working on a project where AI can describe photos to blind people. Second example, right now the best way to let people know you are safe in terms of a crisis is by yourself or through your friends. In the future maybe satellites and other technologies can help with this.”

     

    He said that almost three million people said they were safe by using Facebook’s safety-check feature after the recent earthquake in Afghanistan. “When there’s a disaster all you want to know if your loved ones are safe,” he said.

     

    He further spoke on Net Neutrality saying, “Most of the people pushing for net-neutrality already have access to Internet. But those who aren’t, can’t sign an online petition for an increase in the Internet. We all have a moral responsibility to look out for those who don’t have access and make sure the rules don’t get twisted to hurt those who don’t have a voice.”

     

    Later, taking to his Facebook page, he posted an update about the Townhall Q&A in Delhi saying, “We just wrapped up our Townhall Q&A in Delhi! People asked great questions about how we can connect everyone in India to the internet, how we provide everyone with a great education and how to build a strong company. I really appreciate these Q&AS. Hearing what you care about makes Facebook better. Thanks to everyone who asked a question or tuned in!”