Indian blogging to take to new heights

Mumbai. 19 February 2007: With over Sixty million blogs floating around in the cyberspace, what difference could another blog make? Quite a bit, if you’re to go by what industry analysts say. India, still new to the blogging phenomena, is poised to take off in this sphere too opines communications expert, N. Chandramouli, CEO of Blue Lotus Communications, a leading communications group.

‘Blogging is about connecting & sharing with your own sub-cult, a sub-group, something more akin to a Special Interest Group. Subjects as varied as technology, healthcare, personal finance or shopping, or a specific geography, dot the list of the most popular blogs in the world. The influence of blogs in India too is increasing rapidly following closely on the lines of the TIME magazine’s list list of bloggers who are impossible to ignore today!”, said Chandramouli while elaborating on how influential blogs are becoming in communications strategies of companies in India.

Management of the internet blog environment with relation to a company’s image has become even more essential because left unmanaged such mass movement blogs can fuel and propel negative perception. Managing the blog ecosystem requires organizations to monitor what is being said and to attempt to present the organization’s point of view in blogs of relevance.

While no studies exist for estimation of Indian blogs, a recent BusinessWeek report puts the number of Chinese blogs at 3 million. Considering the number of active internet users at 25 million, rough estimates put the number of Indian blogs between 100,000 to 150,000. ‘The blog force will multiply 10 to 15 fold in the coming months’, predicts Chandramouli.

‘Everyone sees e-initiatives as a major area of focus of the PR campaigns, and we have professional bloggers who facilitate the clients needs. Blogs give an enormous opportunity to express oneself without restriction. Therefore the huge potential”, added Soumitro Mukherji, a marketing veteran with over 20 years of experience leading consumer brands like Sony Entertainment Television, Pepsi & Airtel.