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On
July 11, 2007, the popular web portal Rediff.com launched its
content sharing site, iShare.1 Content sharing sites allowed
people to easily share videos, photos and music with their
friends over the Internet. The members of these sites could
share files and stay in touch by exchanging messages, photos,
videos, music, etc.
Modelled on the lines of other popular social networking
(content sharing) websites like YouTube and LimeWire, iShare had
many attractive features.
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In fact, most of the features of the site seemed to
be a combination of features of several other content sharing sites.
However, the promoters of iShare contended that the new media sharing
platform was superior to other existing content sharing sites.
Commenting on how iShare was superior to other online content sharing
platforms, Ajit Balakrishnan, the CEO of Rediff.com (Rediff), said, "No
other site can upload videos and provide a user profile as fast as we
can."2 Experts believed that 'speed of uploading' was a significant
advantage as uploading the content was a cumbersome task as the Internet
speeds were still very slow in most parts of India.
Rediff's answer to this problem was a utility tool called 'iShare uploader' which could be downloaded from the site. iShare uploader was a
software application that allowed users, even those with a slow Internet
connection, to upload multiple files at a time.
This utility tool complemented the user friendliness of the site as
users could upload content like videos and audio made from camcorders,
mobile phones, PDAs, etc. Many early users opined that iShare was indeed
faster than many of the existing content sharing platforms.
Services would be free for the users as this initiative would be
supported by advertisements. Ads would be shown before or after the
users' video and revenues would be shared with the users. The company
announced that it would also enter into tie ups with other organizations
to popularise the site and also promote the commercial interests of its
partners.
Rediff had already tied up with the popular Hindi TV channel ZEE TV.
Under the agreement, the aspiring singers who wanted to exhibit their
talent on the channel's popular show, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, could upload their
video and audio files on iShare. Out of the top five short listed
candidates, one of the candidates would be chosen by the celebrity
judges of the TV show to perform in the final episode of the program.
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1] "Rediff Launches Content Sharing Platform,"
www. hinduonnet.com, July 11, 2007.
2] "Rediff.com launches 'iShare'; Zee TV's Sa Re Ga Ma Pa to become first leverage," www.exchange4media.com, July 11, 2007. |
