FB India ver 2.0 &Telcos – Something brewing?
Todays news papers had an article around Marc Zuckerberg of Facebook not giving up on India. It headlined – Zuck disappointed but committed to India.
And why would he not ? Its just too big a market with just the right demographics and positive energy and buzzing ecosystem. Some thick skin comes in useful here, with a dose of humility and oodles of patience thrown in.
After a bruising round trying to educate the public and taking on the regulator , burning a good amount in the media, and falling flat, a humbled Marc said he realized that doing business in different countries is different. Glad that that realization has dawned !
A lot of multinationals just seem to get this wrong and make serious errors of judgement on the Indian market, experienced points of view of competent Indian professionals, or take idealistic and lofty positions or decisions from which there is only way ….down the barrel!
So is Facebook ver2.0 or whatever version smarter and wiser after the PR disaster they just had which I had covered in my article below ?
Facebook dials the wrong number in India – a PR disaster ?
Do pass by this article too and comment if you have not.
Somewhere the feeling is that the telcos are going to be playing along behind the scenes, as the buzz around differential pricing is gaining ground. And most of them are keen on tapping into this huge broadband potential and charge users at will.
Some operators tried different backdoor versions to generate more revenues by trying to hoodwink consumers who they now know are hooked onto their smart phones and apps and downloads. And that too at a time when they can barely manage to provide call drop free calls which is their basic service.
Is there something brewing between Facebook and some of these telcos ? Only time will tell. In the meantime, both will be wiser not ignoring public opinion ..and a regulator which cannot ignore public opinion if it does not want to be branded as a corporate agent.
From a branding and public perception perspective, it could be a disaster for FB, if their back room tie ups make news for the wrong reasons again.
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