“Rick Desai, You’ve Been Invited to MyDailyFlog.”
That makes three invitations this week alone. A popular social networking site among Indians, MyDailyFlog promotes photo-based interactions among friends. However, I wasn’t invited by my Amdavadi friends (all four of them); members of the Livelihood Resource Center befriended me. After helping each member register for g-mail (just for p&e) and requiring them to send one email per visit, we figured we would help improve their typing speeds and written English. We didn’t expect their staggeringly quick adoption to social media. Social networking, job sites, cricket and bollywood chats and live news feeds are just some of the sites frequented daily.
Flogging.
This market should prove very attractive when considered in the context of the global growth of social networking, facebook widgets and iphone apps. I wonder if Max Zuckerberg includes urban slums when projecting new membership. He should start. This just hammers home, again the untapped potential that rests here. All that is needed is an opportunity…or an internet connection.
Today, Raju Bhai introduced me to a Bangalore based NGO that utilizes networking as part of an e-learning suite targeted to this market. Aakash from QUEST Alliance (http://quest.eeaonline.org) explained how through distance learning, visual teaching and social networking, education and vocational training at the low income level can be done, well frankly, better, specifically in terms of enduring effect, time and quality.
Per usual, I am now obsessed with the company and its mission. Quest plans to implement some of their programs at Umeed over the next few months and I’ll share more then.
finding rickshaw. 