IndiaInteracts is a recently launched social media website with a twist. Instead of taking the ‘Web2.0esque’ (not sure if that word exists) user contributed route, it is attempting to break the stereotype and aggregate content from three disparate sources- self generated, user contributed (or generated) and from other online media. Initially I had trouble understanding the website’s positioning, but on thinking through, I would describe it as something of a ‘news centric social media platform, that is operating at the crossroads of the traditional and alternate media‘.

IndiaInteracts is the effort of Subbu Murugan and his friend, Srini, both of whom are US returned techies. They run a software development firm in Chennai called VentunoTech. They wanted to create an internet based platform that leverages the good points of both, the traditional reporting oriented media, and the burgeoning socially generated online media. Time will tell how successful they finally are, but their creation looks like an interesting experiment to me, for I can’t recall seeing anything quite similar to this.

The website was launched in September and is currently getting about 1500 unique visitors daily. The site’s design is geared to provide an internet platform, which allows user interactions by blogging, rating or commenting on content created by them (i.e the IndiaInteracts team), content created by the users themselves (in the form of text, video, images, audio) and content created by traditional online media. Accordingly, it has different sections featuring the popular rages of the times– news, videos, movies, blogs, and gossip. The homepage is reserved for news and it has a heavy flavor of current affairs. The news section has a contiguously boxed layout, that is a departure from the typical ‘title-hyperlinked’ format. As you scroll down the homepage, the rationale behind this layout hits you instantaneously. The movie section features video trailers for popular current blockbusters besides various movie reviews. The video section is quite interesting; you will find a host of videos featuring contemporary South Indian politicians & news makers, that have been shot by the IndiaInteracts team. Besides these, you can upload your own videos, and even embed Youtube videos into various channels. The blogging section contains a bunch of news/politics centric blogs. And the site is now available on the mobile http://indiainteracts.com/mobile/index_pc.php.

Subbu thinks that the site’s revenue model in future will be based on charging advertisers for product placements, transaction charges based on users ability to sell/rent content on the site, besides platform licensing to other geographies and communities.

Overall, IndiaInteracts comes across as a hybrid of the Web1.0 & Web2.0 paradigms. There is certainly something new in their approach to social media. Designing such a hybrid site is also not an easy task, and I quite like the site’s overall character and its look/feel. One specific feedback I have for them pertains to the strong South Indian focus in their content. Nothing wrong in it, except that it inherently narrows down the site’s appeal and makes the content less relevant to a wider Indian audience. I am not sure if this is intended or it is the outcome of current geographical exigencies. But this factor is unlikely to help them when they try to monetize the site though PPC based internet advertising or they approach investors for funding. I hope the other parts of the country are not excluded from this very interesting ‘social media experiment‘.