On-line communities-from gender to generalities, content to commerce-is a sure-fire way of making money on the net. Then why isn't it hapenning?

By Aparna Ramalingam

''It's all a state of mind. If you think you're in a community, it's a community.''

David Bohnett, Founder, Geocities

It's the most used, abused, misunderstood concept on the internet. Yup, more than cousin 'content', arguably but a driver to community, which is driven by the law of networking. That's what the internet is all about-wasn't it just a bunch of news groups and message boards before the World Wide Web changed everything? A simple definition, then: groups of people who come on-line to serve their common interests and needs. Exchange information, share interests, trade goods and services, entertain, seek help, offer recourse... communities are certainly not just places where people gather for a common purpose. The distinction is a fine one.

Particularly as commerce lurks around the corner. Virtual communities' goals have been clear: acquire new members at the lowest possible price, retain them, invest in community-building-and ultimately generate profits. Subtly-handled, community can actually benefit from commerce. From companies' point of view, communities bring together information-seekers, prospects, and buyers under one roof. Alternatively, a community of consumers can mentor and learn, search and bargain on the road to a better deal. Says Raj Raman, Veep, Sify.com: ''On-line communities bring in focus. Otherwise, you're shooting in the dark.''

But these, in any case, are alien concepts for Indian surfers. ''E-communities in India are still in an extremely nascent stage from a consumer-to-consumer, peer-to-peer, or transaction standpoints,'' says S. Ramakrishnan, Head, Intercept Consulting. Adds Varghese Cherian, Director, IndiaDatabases.com: ''E-communities in India are growing, but interactions are tentative. People are slowly overcoming the fear of 'talking to strangers'.''

That pretty much covers it. The small Indian internet surfing population faces a huge gap in going virtual. There's chat, sure. But, by itself, that's not community; it's a tool to build one. Broadly speaking, there are forms and forms of on-line communities.

My Community...Or Yours?

For Indian surfers, the starting point to community is served up by the portals. By building community features to their sites, portals hope to increase retention, stickiness, and transactions. Rediff and Sify are the most active in this space, either building community 'channels'-or outsourcing them. The idea is to build a community around something Indian. Sify, a typical example, has a carnatic music channel and language portals. They are also moving into the city-community area. However, horizontal communities tend to be loose-knit-verticals tend to be not.

Then there are the pure-play e-community models, like batchmates.com, which brings together long-lost friends from school and college. Or there's a related technology play Meranet.com-where an individual's personal information is automatically updated across chosen address books. ''Our technology adds community elements to other websites and mobile operators,'' says Yashodeep Deodhar, MeraNet.com's co-founder. For now, pure-play sites have to ramp up volumes.

Demographic communities-women, youth, kids-is where the Indian netspace has seen the most action. The first experiences have been disappointing. Barring perhaps a couple of sites, the death knell has been sounded for virtual women communities in India. Till recently, there were 17 women sites in India. Today, most of them are up for grabs. What went wrong? ''Women surf for careers and opportunities on the net and not for a shade of lipstick. That's proven by research,'' says Rachna Chhachhi, CEO, redforwomen.com, a career site for women.

Then, younger surfers are working on a cleaner slate. While the youth segment is seeing some action-with the recent launch of BPL's oyeindia.com-pioneer zipahead.com (overshadowed by sister site jobshaead.com), and uthplanet (recently through a major restructuring) are hardly in the pink of health. And kids sites like Pitara, Netfundu, and Appukids are mushrooming, but all told, it's too early to presage the formation of viable communities here. Young Indian surfers, like their counterparts all over the world, display a remarkable lack of loyalty. Whether they will set up their own communities, or take to existing ones remains to be seen. Look at the success of gaming and contest sites, like contests2win and hungama. Says Alok Kejriwal, Contests2win.com's CEO: ''Ňur community is one of winholics, those who love to win.'' Expect vibrant and young communities to form around activities that please them.

Another major sub-category is general interest communities, focused on sports, music, medicine, finance, and the like. A plethora of cricket-driven sport sites have been launched. Few will survive, and they will be the ones with the strongest content alliances. And while there are specialised sites on, say, carnatic music, online medical resources have just got off the starting blocks. The bottomline: there are few general interest communities that have made a mark with Indian surfers. Points out Hema Parameswaran, CEO, Buyasone.com: ''E-communities in India are yet to get truly focused. Most of them today are looking to add more services and related content before acquiring a critical mass.''

Perhaps there's a reason. Many feel that vernacular sites will be the real drivers of community-building in Indian netspace. One of the most aggressive players in this space is WebDunia-its Hindi e-mail service epatra has over 350,000 users. WebDunia has language portals in Hindi and Telegu, and chats in five languages. UTVi, the broadband arm of TV software producer UTV, has also launched Gujarati and Tamil portals. Says Manas Mohan, Webduniya's Marketing Veep: ''It's simple: English is the niche market in this country.'' True. But given low PC penetration, vern sites can realise their potential when part of a larger delivery mechanism. That's in the works.

Tech Talk(S)!

Most of the action, expectedly, is in the infotech field. ''IT communities are furthest in terms of community. That's because a high degree of activity is only there on the IT front,'' says Sify's Raman. Indeed, this space has seen a lot of action, with technology portals like cnet and zdnet's competing with the desi Itspace.com and ciol.com. Infotech mentoring sites have already made their appearance. Says Anurag Prasad, Country Manager, Hotdispatch.com: ''Value-added services will be the key for ecommunity offerings.'' Post a question on Hotdispatch.com, receive answers from providers, review them, and pay the providers. Hotdispatch takes a cut, usually 15 per cent of the transaction.

A variant of this is Aptech's tringtring.com, an answer engine. It has a tie up with Askme.com. Says Arvind Nair, President and CEO, Aptech Internet: ''Non-metros have certain disparities in terms of services and that's where remote and advisory services come in and are growing.'' Or take the consumer referral space. The model is a perfect mix of commerce and community: boost egos and pay cash to get consumers to rate products. There are a number of Indian sites in this space, including planetcustomer.com and apnaguide.com. But Shankar Marwada, Director (Marketing), ApnaGuide, is frank: ''There's the infancy of the net; and Indian consumerism is just not of US standards.''

What of commerce? Auction sites like Baazee and bidorbuy provide platforms for consumers, but have yet to build a viable community. Commerce sites that get a number of consumers together in a group-buying frenzy, like buyasone.com, have also appeared on the scene. Another player in the bargains and discounts space, Khuljasimsim.com, offers special deals for its community whenever it sponsors an event. While commerce sites are trying to build communities-in some cases, by offering attractive discounts-none have been able to overturn the inherent problems and fears faced by Indian surfers.

Revenues?

In theory, there are many streams of revenues for community sites: sponsorships of discussion groups, chats, and events; privileged listings in directories and buyers' guides; commissions for products sold; banner advertising and advertising in community e-mail newsletters...

In practice, most marketers are waiting for communities to grow, interact and perhaps become a cohesive marketing force. Agrees Intercept's Ramakrishan: ''All relationships are within dotcoms. The marketers are still in the process of understanding internet marketing.'' So, volumes come first. Only then will the marketers latch on. Of course, there is some targeted marketing-particularly for infotech and regional community sites-but in these early days, most community sites are trying to figure out what will work.

A strong offline model seems to help in the Indian market. Most community offerings are reaching out to surfers to convert them. Warns batchmates.com's CEO Sandeep Todi: ''The costs of community-building must be kept under control, because it will be time before the payback kicks in.'' So, only after reaching a critical mass, can sites move communities from exchanging information or opinions to transacting goods and services. In a country where communities have been pressed into the collective psyche over thousands of years, an on-line revolution will take some more time.

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