Why Indian Social Media Companies Failed?

[@backstagewithmillionaires]

In your opinion, what else is the reason for failure of apps like Sharechat, Moj and Josh?

[@akkiup]

Bad tech

[@OOOOtttaaakuuuuuuuuuu]

​@@akkiup They never thought of the future all they did was spend money as much as possible to gain users

[@aryaneal1]

One of the main reasons for their failure is that they didn't work on their RecSys. Lack of this must have technology will never let them be on the top.

[@Mr.Coffee576]

In my opinion, building a social media app isnt about copying existing trends but looking at future trends. I remember back in the day, every social media company was like "we want to build the next Facebook", yet no one thought the answer to that was a short form video app. Instead they copied Facebook thinking it would work. So the answer to building the next Social media app isnt a short form video app. Perhaps the answer is in VR or Metaverse or whatever the next trend is.

[@backstagewithmillionaires]

100%. The way chinese understood that mobile is the future and video will become huge, and came up with Tiktok to merge these two future trends. I guess live-commerce could be the next big trend in social media. - Pankaj

[@devagarwal3250]

i have high hopes from spatial computing social media app that's going to come

[@stealthoverflow]

On point.

[@indian9632]

Periscope was shutdown by twitter way before short video explosion (for worse). so many smart people came up with so many smart and innovative ideas but thats not enough for success. Its all about timing. Even users dont know what they really want or good for them

[@devagarwal3250]

@@WE-ENZO for that they have to survive this crisis

[@shuvampargal4754]

I can still say that hike was much much better and was advanced than whatsapp at that time. It just they not able to market it properly among old and mid aged people

[@Easypieanimation2]

I used hike but no one was there so I delete it you know facebook & whatsapp have become tradition its not a app anymore

[@Gouri.Rishishwar]

yes i used also

[@prakash302]

- Network effects : This is most underrated aspect which the apps failed to create among mixed user segments in India (confined to limited segments which aren’t revenue generating) - Quality content (the algorithms are shuffled to focus on entertainment rather than insightful , users lack inspiration without authenticity in the content) - Brand building (When a user thinks of any foreign developed social media apps, the notion is different as opposed to desi apps. Strictly talking about social media)

[@tamanna4697]

Majority of us in tier1 cities find these short video platforms very 'cringe' and cause tier 1 netizens spend the most on online ads, they were unable to capitalize on us. Social status also plays a huge role.

[@Skyrise120]

That is definitely true

[@iitn8437]

variety and personalization is key like on youtube also cringe exists but we see based on our profile

[@zach_Yaegerist]

this one

[@LostinMango]

Majority of India is cringe

[@Skyrise120]

@@LostinMango example: free fire India :)

[@rohitk4544]

Monetisation is the biggest problem. Indian spending power is very less compared to us and china, so these apps not able to make money even after having so many users

[@Lalit-yw2tb]

This is partially correct. FB+Google do cumulative about $5B in Ad sales from India. That is not a small number. FB and Google have way better tech to target customers which gives them an edge against any newcomer to this space. If companies start seeing ROI as good as FB/Google from some new entrant, that app will shoot to the moon. We lack the talent to build such an Ad targetting system. Also, imo the other problem is that of misaligned incentives of founders who don't want to build for a long time, just sell your shares in secondaries and retire to some european country/dubai as we see in the news. With about 500 crs and 6-9months of time, I'm pretty sure you could build something comparable to FB/Google's ad targeting. It's just that Indian companies don't want to innovate. When was the last time you saw some Indian company in the news for their breakthrough or new product? No, right? There's your answer.

[@RikMahanta]

We have money but 90% of money is going to big institute and college for studies 😞

[@LostinMango]

​@@RikMahantaNo Go find our GDP per capita

[@lakshparekh2411]

One of the reasons also being how tier 1 and tier 2 city residents want to adapt whatever what the westerners are doing, although there are exceptions but still people feel a better sense of status among others

[@Nopee395]

This.

[@ronitmahawar1193]

I disagree with that There are no indian apps that have unique selling point are all just ripoff of western apps Why would any one use abibas instead of adidas And social media is a medium to connect people Why would anyone use only indian specific app

[@iitn8437]

No indian companies are not innovating you see mostly indian entraupenours mindset is they want fast money they lacking dedication required . for example Paytm been great in innovating they really made quality app that everyone uses zomato did similar but that thing missing in other many startups . if someone build anything that is so better than their western counterpart they will succedd

[@pawanraj8248]

Simple answer :- We don't have soft power and economy power. When these will grow, it'll happen

[@krnkbabu]

Still. Why did hike fail? With all AI Natasha and sticker chats, Hike in 2017 is still far far better than WhatsApp in 2024 or wechat for that matter

[@Ishantyagiofficial]

we indians dont like desi products idk why people fantasize all foreign things

[@devagarwal3250]

Hike was a good product but it was too advanced for many customers to use and the mb size of the app was also large . Whereas whatsapp was simple to use and was very small in size

[@krnkbabu]

@@devagarwal3250 True!!! Back then we had phones with 16, 32 and upto 64GB storage

[@namastehindustan9879]

​@@devagarwal3250 how hike was complicated?

[@devagarwal3250]

@@namastehindustan9879 Basically for Indian parents it was really complicated to use and large in MB size . whereas whatsapp was very simple to use and was low in MB size

[@JAT_77]

Main reason hai ki Indians fully original apps ya websites nhi bna rhe Jaise Flipkart amazon ki copy h Moj etc. Tiktok ki copy h Koi bhi 100% orignal and diffrent cheez nhi bna rhe h

[@navneetmishra5181]

True

[@yashag]

Still Ola, Flipkart, Oyo are profitable

[@JAT_77]

@@yashag bhai tum Mere Matlab ko nhi samjhe Bdi cheez ke to duplicate bhi hit ho jate hai Pr vo duplicate Sabse bda kabhi nhi bn sakta

[@yashag]

@@JAT_77 Windows... Copied from Mac

[@kunal6096]

​@@yashagwindow different hai mac se

[@founderbar]

Let me tell you a story. I’m a social media founder and this video is gold for me. I just realised what legendary shit I just pulled off. I have been passionately involved in building an innovative social platform for like last 2-3 years and was not aware of the all these cases. Although I knew the names of these companies but never took interest since I hate copying others. My motivation was a statement by Steve Wozniak who said Indians are not creative. That fired me up and that fire is still burning like lava. It’s been infinite nights of coding and brainstorming. I am sure we would be able to pull it and put an Indian social network on a global level. Love you.

[@vinaytiwary3960]

Hi Anshul, As an Indian, I resonate with the shared concern for our community. I am currently developing an app with a comprehensive customer acquisition and monetization model, along with a well-prepared overview. I'm interested to learn more about your app and its trajectory. Could you please provide insights into the nature of your app and whether it aligns with short-form content platforms like TikTok, or if it serves a different purpose? Looking forward to your response.

[@watchtv5812]

@@vinaytiwary3960 hay mai bhi ak app bna raha hu pr kya aap mujhe bata sakte hai ki aap kis tarah ka app bna rahe hai kya wo ak short video app hai like tiktok or insta reels or something innovative aapke reply ka wait karunga

[@Gouri.Rishishwar]

@@vinaytiwary3960 can we connect together to make some Big? I'm just also makiing a indian social media app

[@anilraghu8687]

Reacting will not work

[@vinaytiwary3960]

@@anilraghu8687 can you elaborate?

[@Nitesh_Bhagat]

to sum it up in one line: BUILD SOMETHING PEOPLE LOVE, NOT LIKE

[@indian9632]

Nah. Solve others painful problems

[@rtg69]

They should focus on new ideas and quality of the social media.. Normal sane people find moj chingari to be utter cringe..

[@SumiNaga19]

Even the names are cringe😂

[@rtg69]

@@SumiNaga19 yes

[@shobhittodi9540]

insta reels and youtube shorts are also cringe. Apps have no controls on what content is popular.

[@sa34w]

The problem with Indian apps isn’t building the apps but using the data to help advertisers to get optimal customers. FB isn’t a Social media company but an advertising agency that runs a social media to find customers for Advertisers. Data mining should be the top priority of any social media company.

[@namanydv_garud]

Great insights, bro. Innovation and sustainabile business model are a must eventually.

[@fact-e8k]

why govt is not supporting this indian social media revolution ?

[@J.A.S.S.]

Best part is that at the end these companies had to be creative and bring something new on the table

[@bhumit070]

bro in my opinion no one can build social media companies as popular as you shown in intro because people do not wish to leave existing ones because they might migrate to those new apps but what about the content creators who uses existing apps, they are not gonna migrate so there is no content, so people will eventually go back to exiting apps and apps like sharechat and Moj are heavily used by people of tier2 to tier3 or elder people and no new generation would like to use these apps because of content they have.

[@saloni379]

In my opinion, there's a lack of proper utilisation of human resources in India. Because certainly we have largest population in the world, largest youth in terms of numbers. But yet we're unable to utilise the human capabilities. For eg India has one of the highest numbers of engineers graduating every year in the world. But on the other hand this situations can be reversed and can be used as an opportunity to solve a new problem.

[@calculate.]

That's because the ideas are not solving a problem or are not innovate enough and cannot retain users. The founders also did not employ any effective marketing strategy as well that's the problem.

[@Thenaveensanthosh]

social media is inherently global. the biggest reason a lot of indian companies failed and will continue to fail is because they want to build social media for indians. build for the global audience, indians will be there too.

[@udhayakumarMN]

this ...

[@zach_Yaegerist]

this

[@lionelmessithegoatLM10]

W

[@reubennelson4086]

Im in thailand and they have thier own local apps. So youre point doesnt work.

[@reubennelson4086]

Im in thailand and they have thier own local apps. So youre point doesnt work.

[@fact-e8k]

world needed Indian social media

[@magicofletters]

Indian users want to earn... doesn't want to buy..they want to earn with anyhow

[@indrabhatt5997]

I think it's AOL that initiated the Social Media wave in Late 1990s thanks to AiM _(AOL instant Messenger),_ followed by MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger _(email services were there starting from Hotmail in 1996 but its doubtful whether Emails were ever really considered social media)._ Second, WhatsApp and Instagram were launched in late 2000s (2009).

[@aaronirony]

I remember hike being a prominent figure in IMs

[@avirupsinha]

Even if the apps failed it is still ok. Eventually after trying some business will survive. According to me there are a few reasons why the apps failed: 1. Indians want what westerns use. There is a status and ambition attached to using Instagram and TikTok. 2. The apps lagged and do not have features to compete like Koo doesn't have reactions to messages or stickers. 3. Inability of Indians to produce good quality content. The equipment used by Indians for videos are budget phones which significantly lack quality unlike iPhone. So the viewers were more attracted to KZbin or TikTok for high quality content.

[@utkarshshukla]

Dude.. right problem wrong analysis. 1) network effect.. true that. 2) app features.. no this does not matters.. have you seen apps like reddit or even irc apps. The interface does not matter. 3) poor quality content... Sorry this is not the case. These same people are creating content that works on KZbin etc. The primary issue is that social media needs an area where it can grow internationally to get network effect. Koo did not fail because it did not had stickers or emoji... It failed because it did not had Joe Biden and trump. The power of twitter is not that it has a good interface, but that it has modiji and meloni both on the platform. Koo might get modiji, but without Biden or meloni, it cannot compete with twitter. It's a winner takes all market. And if you are not able to dominate globally, you will be wiped out.

[@scch4056]

Because American startups have access to more funds...Indian vc market has a long way to go

[@shrutis_talk]

Amazing video

[@sanjeeva_krishna_official962]

Please make a video on Ludo King and their growth in lock down

[@aksingh3167]

I love hike. But sadly it failed.

[@arjuntyagi5860]

We have quantity of population, not quality of population

[@KomalaR.Prasad]

We do have quality of population but not good habits

[@post2seth]

Is that a bad thing?? everything has its own specialty, you buy cauliflower in single & measure many things, but people buy spinach in a bundle, not a single string.

[@AbhinavKulshreshtha]

The revenue is biggest factor in my opinion for the failure. The ad revenue in India is not as high as similar ad statistics in us/uk. Also that unlike the US mentality of focusing on valuation over revenue, Indians are at core thinking about making revenue to survive the infrastructure cost, which is all in us dollars.

[@Lalit-yw2tb]

Bro, Google/FB does cumulative ad sales of $5B and it is growing every year by 10%. That is not a small number. As they say in tech, it is a skill issue. We lack the talent to build an ad network like FB/Google.

[@fact-e8k]

Indians are still in dilemma whether the Indian social media will start or not why this dilemma ?

[@kshitijsingh8061]

KZbin recommendedme one of your video And I am so thankful really great stuff man, Btw I waswondering do you need an video editor for editing your videos than. I Wouldhelp you in editing the videos If you are interested do respond

[@HONEYsharma977........]

Indian education system needs to change !!😞

[@KomalaR.Prasad]

Sure

[@bob-nw2cn]

It is changing

[@HONEYsharma977........]

@@bob-nw2cn But the implementation is weak...Ground reality is far different than the orders , Laws

[@mayank_singh_0969]

I am going to change that.

[@igagankapoor]

how ??

[@Gouri.Rishishwar]

can we connect?

[@Amoghavarsha.]

-9 year old

[@AnA-xx1vx]

Koo??? And what about lack of money. Vcs, angels.

[@shivachaturvedhi8840]

basic core question is, who is stealing the money earned at earlier stage? are they registerdand using some third party for maintaing any thing? are they stealing continuously some regular money? this is the key

[@sathyashrayan]

I miss hike Natasha..!!

[@sanjeetsingh-iz1rb]

one key thing to note here is the lack of branding. Chingari , Mauj all of these names doesn't sound classy and something which can be used to build global platforms

[@SumEarth]

Tell in Comments what would work then, Indian Social Media App. What it should have different from Insta and FB.

[@mt-uk1eh]

Can you do a video that how can a company get funding and what criteria what all thing need to be good to get

[@SamhithKashyap]

Next Big Thing is Blockchain, Metaverse, NFT, Cloud Computing, Distributed GPU Rendering. But Because of High Crypto Tax All Innovators are Moving to Dubai. India Will Lag Behind US and China in the Web 3 Era Also.

[@ak2005]

Need more interesting casestudies

[@AshishSinghh]

Hike was really nice but it was really slow and UI became really poor

[@sauravkumarjha2838]

Our home grown innovations like zerodha should look for its global presence ? just curious.

[@nishantchhalani373]

It can't because usa has Robin hood

[@shobhittodi9540]

In finance sector, every country has strict local regulations and business model has has to comply with that. No US banks or brokers succeeded in India for same reason.

[@venkateshlingampally7220]

we loast battel because we dont have qualiry content & additive content on our social media platforms. also, dark pattern are needed to keep users in the platform.

[@fifamobile-xx2ef]

i just create same twitter clone with some update back in 2012 on collage time but don't know how to promote these type of website only my friend are there and they chat and boys message

[@ujjvalpurani2791]

Is it still there

[@fifamobile-xx2ef]

​@@ujjvalpurani2791 no after 2 year move on other project, but at least UI is same in some case but better than "koo app" and my main focus on backend database and connectivity

[@neolentechnologies6331]

your lessons are good but not real reasons for these app's failure. The only reason is money. It takes a lot of VC funding to run a social media company.

[@playhard719]

I think the problem is that Indian companies are trying to create social media platform for Indians but not the global audience, social media fundamentally a global phenomenon, unless until you can have global influencers in your platform you cannot going to succeed in social media space, Tik Tok is successful precisely for that reason it is a global platform with global content, clever AI is only part of the solution a small part in that.

[@akbrahma7739]

I wonder why they didn't hook up film stars to do ads and cook up a brand following. These things work on stimulation and mental dopamine. Raunchy, cringey, content stands out. There are no ethics in this business just raw pragmatism and the drive to win big money.

[@NothingHear-kp7yh]

It's good

[@niranjanvasudevan8957]

I love paytm. I am really worried about the payment bank news😢😢😢😢

[@rahulshakyaval9006]

Why could'nt these apps make money? What is the cost of running and mainainting a social media platform. Can you give a break down of cost for a social media platform with let's say 1million users in india

[@umeshfav]

As per share chat founder complete spend is 1 dollar per person per year. God knows the truth.

[@rahulshakyaval9006]

@@umeshfav yes but where do they spend the money?

[@Sid_this_side]

Simple answer is the users are not the top tier citizens and so they lack spending power.They dont have residual income to spend and so if there is no spending on user's part then there is no revenue for these social media apps ✌

[@narayansingh9407]

When India will become atleast big economy, then we won't see that happening

[@shobhittodi9540]

we are already 3rd biggest in PPP terms

[@bluesapphire7548]

Before FB we were crazy about Orkut.

[@shobhittodi9540]

Orkut is an american app

[@Chetan_Natesh]

What is the best way to spread a new social media app in India?

[@ujjvalpurani2791]

R u building one

[@Chetan_Natesh]

@@ujjvalpurani2791 yes

[@ujjvalpurani2791]

Is anyone want to discuss and want to be part of the new social media concept kindly connect

[@crystalclear2315]

​@@ujjvalpurani2791Yes I want to discuss how you would rethink the social media which is solely under the umbrella of one man.

[@rahulshakyaval9006]

How musicaly was so popular before tiktok. Why cant it be replicated?

[@Mrvillain134]

The day foreign apps are stopped in India, the day apps will be made in India. It is like when people grow crops themselves when they are hungry.

[@Fariza2000]

Q&A Reason: ❤ 1. Must Join Illuminati. 2. Auto Rich $ 3. Must be control by government.

[@aniketkhote9]

Wisperly is new age made in india social media app

[@pranjalpathak4498]

Where is Caleb :(

[@backstagewithmillionaires]

Hey Pranjal, I'm still here 🙂 just focusing my efforts on news videos and Top 10 videos for now, while Pankaj handles case studies and shorts. We're dual-hosting so that we can output more content and grow faster, rather than the previous schedule average of 1.5 videos per week when I was the only host of BwM. Now we're averaging 3 videos per week + 5-6 shorts, so our growth and reach has increased quite a bit! -Caleb

[@pranjalpathak4498]

@@backstagewithmillionaires Awesome. Don't you ever dare leave the channel!

[@backstagewithmillionaires]

Don't worry, I'm 5 years into this, no plans to quit now 🙂 -Caleb

[@sujayhalder8633]

Main reason Ui + lack of global connection

[@RABIN_]

Vine was first one short video to ever make it and they are the original in doing it. Tiktok was not even the main kns ist a copycat of Musically

[@AashraiRavooru]

Why werent they able to create a good experience? Are indian start-ups not able to create world class tech teams despite having so much money

[@Asshock]

Pura angrej ho Riya hai 😂

[@mayurkanth6987]

Gdp per capita is what matters and India is one of the poorest countries. Thats the reality.

[@Owaismir746]

What about explurger

[@ankn01]

I dont know how old this video is. A very late post by BSWM

[@ComunistaIndio]

I can say that India has largest population in the world but not number of customers....Because in this country only 5-10% people are able to spend regularly behind your products.....India has 3rd or 4th largest economy but here GDP per capita is one of the lowest,it means here Because of large population GDP nominal is increasing but here most of people don't have high disposable income to spend money for shopping or anything else except their regular needs😏 Also our country has technology no doubt but not the modern technology,here people are poor and very religious,here people are shouting unicorns unicorns without knowing the truth,and how will they able to know while their own PM is shouting for these fake unicorns which are totally zero or loss making companies and making money by IPO scams and look public are still shouting for them while they're becoming rich by taking money from our public pockets

[@Pr1me_Aep]

Associative Software Company Pune for Java App and Software

[@ekberyldz3941]

Associative Software Company Pune for Android app development

[@Nsjsjsjsa]

❤❤❤

[@ZoomkingS23]

Vocal for Local✔️

[@Blackpinkismylife5528]

Associative Software Company Pune for Digital Marketing service

[@fact-e8k]

India already lost this sector since 1947

[@Pr1me_Aep]

Associative Software Company Pune for Gaming App development

[@sankkham]

India is actually nowhere in any product excpet 2 wheeler automobile, diamonds, agriculture and riskhaws

[@Pr1me_Aep]

Associative Software Company Pune for Amazon Web Services AWS

[@thelastminutetrade]

Why can't I have 10,000 followers before 2024 🎉😅

[@sunnycriti9809]

Can we come with a new concept ? Copycatting others is secondhanded

[@objectsmedia4523]

Video render quality was garbage in all of these video apps

[@AX-sq5vm]

It's just a global thing not India not usa just global

[@krishna_dutt_pandey.]

1 like = 1 pull up 😂

[@PAUL_WALKER_Fan_72]

Never download tik tok 😂 Never make tiktok video 😂

[@itssak2603]

Boils down to one thing they are not cool

[@arpitkumar2981]

US Imperialism

[@Itsme-k1x]

Most of new Indian companies are just copy paste companies 😅🤣 useless Mere pass itna paisa hota to mai best logonko hire karta and gaming company banata .. not like pubg but start karta kuch hatke karta

[@bob-nw2cn]

Kitne bahane doge, tujhse kuch nahi hoga agar Aisa attitude raha. Sirf excuses doge ki mere paas Paisa nahi, Paisa aa Jaye to bologe team nahi hai, team aa Jaye to bologe idea nahi hai and the list of excuses is endless 😂 Try building something by yourself before talking big or belittling other's achievements, that's what Indians seem to be the best at. I can bet that you neither know how to code a game or how to market/monetize it. All you can do is talk big

[@MahendraS-mm6hj]

Bcoz we dont ban them like china😂

[@BoazKiriama-do3xy]

But India banned TikTok 😅

[@pranjallkumar2374]

Copy paste products....

[@suriofficial2242]

You are talking about indian apps in English 😂😂😂

[@ISHAHIQ]

😂