NEW DELHI: A Mumbai teach commuter who witnessed an accident previous this month, grew to become to his smartphone to ask neighbors the best way to lend a hand a bleeding sufferer. Responses poured in instantaneously. Take him to the station master on the next give up; ask the price ticket collector for first support; call 138 for emergency lend a hand and so on. Not lengthy after, the commuter posted a cheerful finishing: the injured celebration had received clinical consideration.
This transpired inside of minutes on Neighbourly, the hyper-local social network unveiled in India this month via Google’s Next Billion Users program. The neighborhood network -- to be had in Mumbai and shortly to make bigger to other cities –- lets other people share local expertise and an important knowledge with others within the vicinity. The crowd-sourced suggestions range widely: kitchen cupboard makers, carrier stations that restore electrical scooters, cricket price ticket dealers, gardening supplies shops and much more.
With almost a half billion Indians now the usage of smartphones, Google sees an opportunity to turn out to be a one-stop shop for seek, social networking and payments. “After missing the last wave of social, Google is attempting to use its platform to turn out to be an important player in those areas,” says New Delhi-based Forrester Research forecast analyst, Satish Meena.
Google has lengthy aspired to be the go-to platform in India, the place opponents Facebook Inc. and its WhatsApp messaging carrier have already accumulated an enormous person base and Amazon Inc. is spending billions on e-commerce. Google desires to bring hundreds of tens of millions of Indians online and build merchandise that attraction to a diverse inhabitants, no matter the social strata, language spoken or form of instrument used. In 2016, the company began offering free Wi-Fi within the nation’s biggest teach stations and has since expanded to 400 locations. Last year the Mountain View, California-based seek large introduced a cost carrier referred to as Google Tez. The voice-powered Google Assistant is already to be had in 8 Indian languages.
In an era of fake information, trolling and privateness considerations, the Neighbourly app, two years within the making, may lend a hand Google tackle Facebook and WhatsApp. Caesar Sengupta, who runs the Next Billion Users initiative, stated on the app’s unveiling that it might lend a hand other people get precise knowledge with out collaborating in workforce chats that “keep getting bigger and noisier,” akin to WhatsApp’s tendency to fill up with “good morning” messages.
Neighbourly users can browse, ask and answer questions with out sharing personal knowledge. The app best displays a primary names whilst holding the telephone number, complete identify and other knowledge private. A person’s profile picture can't be enlarged or saved, unlike in other apps. Upon signing up, everyone pledges to keep the community protected and refrain from posting irrelevant or unsolicited mail messages.
The India push is a part of Google’s aggressive global expansion. The company just lately invested $550 million in Chinese e-commerce large JD.com Inc. and a smaller quantity in India’s Fynd, giving it an internet shopping toehold on the planet’s most populous international locations. Now it’s fine-tuning social and messaging, the place it has had restricted luck with Google+, Hangouts and Allo.
“General social networking is ruled via Facebook and peer-to-peer messaging via WhatsApp,” says Brandon Verblow, a New York-based analyst at Forrester Research. “However alternatives for local networking have no longer but been totally exploited.”
Google India already generates about $1 billion in ad earnings, and the app opens a brand new road to probably promote high-priced focused local ads whilst gathering more information about users which can be used to promote ads across other merchandise. “If Google can scale Neighbourly, it might turn out to be a large earnings generator,” Verblow says.
Google researchers spent two years roaming faculty campuses, bus stops, neighborhood parks and other people’s living rooms to construct and refine the app. They encountered the same theme over and over in localities of Delhi, Jaipur, Mathura, Ahmadabad and Mumbai. As in so many countries, the age-old neighorhood network had broken down as other people moved round for jobs or faculty. Add within the lengthy work hours and commutes, and nobody knew their neighbors anymore. “Life is happening on the subject of house for most of the people at the same time as urbanization reshapes cities in India and countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa,” says Josh Woodward, a bunch product manager with the Next Billion Users group.
After creating a beta model of the app, Google testers walked door to door asking Indians to put in it, then returned to sit down down in living rooms to assemble feedback. When women stated they wouldn’t want strangers to store their photos, Google decided users wouldn’t have the ability to amplify pictures or save them. People didn’t want intrusive interactions with others so there's no direct-messaging function. For location, Neighbourly shows the identify of the neighborhood. The app is lower than 7 MB in dimension, making it easier to use on older or less expensive smartphones.
Neighbourly is based closely on what Google has discovered from its seek and virtual assistant offerings. A 3rd of searches in India are already voice-activated, so Neighbourly lets users ask questions verbally in their local language. The app provides helpful question starters akin to “Where can I find…” “Who is the most productive…” or “Can you recommend…” to obviate the need for typing.
The app makes use of acquainted social networking ways. Much the way Uber passengers can charge drivers, Neighbourly users collect credibility rankings in line with how others rank their responses. High-ranked solutions bubble to the top. Similar to Facebook, Q&As will also be bookmarked for later, and users can observe a question (however no longer an individual). Users can swipe left or right on the top 15 questions and responses served via the app, serving to background algorithms perceive each and every particular person’s needs. People whose solutions are continuously up-voted receive issues, comparable to ConnectedIn referrals.
Google executives had been quietly overjoyed when users in comparison Neighbourly favorably to the ancient Indian concept of Karma, whereby one’s movements determine an individual’s fate.
This transpired inside of minutes on Neighbourly, the hyper-local social network unveiled in India this month via Google’s Next Billion Users program. The neighborhood network -- to be had in Mumbai and shortly to make bigger to other cities –- lets other people share local expertise and an important knowledge with others within the vicinity. The crowd-sourced suggestions range widely: kitchen cupboard makers, carrier stations that restore electrical scooters, cricket price ticket dealers, gardening supplies shops and much more.
With almost a half billion Indians now the usage of smartphones, Google sees an opportunity to turn out to be a one-stop shop for seek, social networking and payments. “After missing the last wave of social, Google is attempting to use its platform to turn out to be an important player in those areas,” says New Delhi-based Forrester Research forecast analyst, Satish Meena.
Google has lengthy aspired to be the go-to platform in India, the place opponents Facebook Inc. and its WhatsApp messaging carrier have already accumulated an enormous person base and Amazon Inc. is spending billions on e-commerce. Google desires to bring hundreds of tens of millions of Indians online and build merchandise that attraction to a diverse inhabitants, no matter the social strata, language spoken or form of instrument used. In 2016, the company began offering free Wi-Fi within the nation’s biggest teach stations and has since expanded to 400 locations. Last year the Mountain View, California-based seek large introduced a cost carrier referred to as Google Tez. The voice-powered Google Assistant is already to be had in 8 Indian languages.
In an era of fake information, trolling and privateness considerations, the Neighbourly app, two years within the making, may lend a hand Google tackle Facebook and WhatsApp. Caesar Sengupta, who runs the Next Billion Users initiative, stated on the app’s unveiling that it might lend a hand other people get precise knowledge with out collaborating in workforce chats that “keep getting bigger and noisier,” akin to WhatsApp’s tendency to fill up with “good morning” messages.
Neighbourly users can browse, ask and answer questions with out sharing personal knowledge. The app best displays a primary names whilst holding the telephone number, complete identify and other knowledge private. A person’s profile picture can't be enlarged or saved, unlike in other apps. Upon signing up, everyone pledges to keep the community protected and refrain from posting irrelevant or unsolicited mail messages.
The India push is a part of Google’s aggressive global expansion. The company just lately invested $550 million in Chinese e-commerce large JD.com Inc. and a smaller quantity in India’s Fynd, giving it an internet shopping toehold on the planet’s most populous international locations. Now it’s fine-tuning social and messaging, the place it has had restricted luck with Google+, Hangouts and Allo.
“General social networking is ruled via Facebook and peer-to-peer messaging via WhatsApp,” says Brandon Verblow, a New York-based analyst at Forrester Research. “However alternatives for local networking have no longer but been totally exploited.”
Google India already generates about $1 billion in ad earnings, and the app opens a brand new road to probably promote high-priced focused local ads whilst gathering more information about users which can be used to promote ads across other merchandise. “If Google can scale Neighbourly, it might turn out to be a large earnings generator,” Verblow says.
Google researchers spent two years roaming faculty campuses, bus stops, neighborhood parks and other people’s living rooms to construct and refine the app. They encountered the same theme over and over in localities of Delhi, Jaipur, Mathura, Ahmadabad and Mumbai. As in so many countries, the age-old neighorhood network had broken down as other people moved round for jobs or faculty. Add within the lengthy work hours and commutes, and nobody knew their neighbors anymore. “Life is happening on the subject of house for most of the people at the same time as urbanization reshapes cities in India and countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa,” says Josh Woodward, a bunch product manager with the Next Billion Users group.
After creating a beta model of the app, Google testers walked door to door asking Indians to put in it, then returned to sit down down in living rooms to assemble feedback. When women stated they wouldn’t want strangers to store their photos, Google decided users wouldn’t have the ability to amplify pictures or save them. People didn’t want intrusive interactions with others so there's no direct-messaging function. For location, Neighbourly shows the identify of the neighborhood. The app is lower than 7 MB in dimension, making it easier to use on older or less expensive smartphones.
Neighbourly is based closely on what Google has discovered from its seek and virtual assistant offerings. A 3rd of searches in India are already voice-activated, so Neighbourly lets users ask questions verbally in their local language. The app provides helpful question starters akin to “Where can I find…” “Who is the most productive…” or “Can you recommend…” to obviate the need for typing.
The app makes use of acquainted social networking ways. Much the way Uber passengers can charge drivers, Neighbourly users collect credibility rankings in line with how others rank their responses. High-ranked solutions bubble to the top. Similar to Facebook, Q&As will also be bookmarked for later, and users can observe a question (however no longer an individual). Users can swipe left or right on the top 15 questions and responses served via the app, serving to background algorithms perceive each and every particular person’s needs. People whose solutions are continuously up-voted receive issues, comparable to ConnectedIn referrals.
Google executives had been quietly overjoyed when users in comparison Neighbourly favorably to the ancient Indian concept of Karma, whereby one’s movements determine an individual’s fate.
Google tackles Facebook in India with 'Neighbourly' social network
![Google tackles Facebook in India with 'Neighbourly' social network]()
Reviewed by Kailash
on
June 26, 2018
Rating:
