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Created by : Makrand Bhave, Marketing & MICE, WIZCRAFT International  | 03 20 2010 09:49:51 +0000
Industry : Advertising/PR/MR/EventsFunctional Area : Digital marketing(Sales & Marketing)
Activity:  329 views;  last activity : 07 06 2010 20:18:09 +0000

i regard toostep.com as a social media platform. I wonder if this platform, which has the professionals from all factes of the industry in India, starts commercialisation what would all of us think about it? Would you welcome it? OR would you go against your fundamentals that you have all been mentioning in your debates here and condemn it??

 
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I would welcome it Vs I would condemn it
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Top Argument
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Sorry Sir, but I have some different views;

Without growth you can not sustain; to grow you need funds; to get funds you have two options;

Charge members or be practical & it depends upon values the site has that for how further to be 'practical'.

It is also important, what I feel, that accepting promotions for products & services should be well filtered & specifically relevant & beneficiary for the members here like promoting a book or some new technology product or like that.

Thirdly there can also be B2B promotions in some separate sections & not to mention openings in jobs.

So I feel there are many ways the site can be much relevantly commercial including open for commercials itself; in fact I feel why its not happening?


By ujjval jain, Retail, Retail  03 21 2010 12:16:07 +0000
 
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According to my logic, apart from the various job / career oriented ad banners that we see everyday, if toostep decides to make space available for commercialisation I would condemn it.

It is also a kind of social platform albeit defined for professionals. We are also aware of our needs and if I see an ad for say an ACER laptop @ throaway price, I woulkd NOT click it!! What do you my fellow professionals would do in such a scenario?? :)

Okay I agree this is tricky. But for the sake of a case study I would request all of you to be as honest as possible. I can assure you that toostep will not block your id. I am in no way connected to them but its called power of positive thinking!! ;)

(Please remember, toostep also has to run this platform for us, right??)


By Makrand Bhave, Marketing & MICE, WIZCRAFT International  03 20 2010 10:00:04 +0000
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Thanks for the referral but I prefer to go neutral on this topic since it would not benefit me in one way or another. However, I believe this should be a decision taken by the Toostep management.


By Devi Kaladeen, Audit Manager, Health Sector Development Unit  | 04 07 2010 02:52:55 +0000
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Dear Mr Sood, I have been a member of that site & sorry to say, if you surf there, you will find their acceptance for advertisements at the very end of their home page.

Secondly as jayant has pointed out; a site need to be relevantly popular to entice or to grab attention of marketers.

This retail port, as per a site meter holds about 50000th rank in India where advertisers have more than 49000 more lucrative options.


By ujjval jain, Retail, Retail  | 03 23 2010 14:50:36 +0000
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I would welcome it....

I feel social networking is the one tool for marketing.... If I am joining a forum there would be a reason either common interest or common opinion ... If there is a common interest means its a marketing ... business relation means involvement of interest ...

Social networking helps in bonding and interaction between contacts. Wish to mention specifically that it should have proper filteration techniques so that only relevent information can be displayed without compromising the ethics, quality and transperancy of a communication....

I also found several connections here whose are having the material of my interest ... and I am utilising that.

I never care toostep will block my id .... i believe in free voice to air ....


By Nitin M Aras, Head/VP/GM-Tech. Support, ODTIN Food Solutions Pvt Ltd  | 03 22 2010 07:18:57 +0000
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Totally agree with Ujjwal and Deepti here and Makrand still Toostep has a long way to go interms of becoming more popular, it doesn't have that WOM culture as other social networking sites like Facebook and others have, this site is somewhat different from others and has a different business angle I guess. And may be it will become a big job portal in future as we are seeing an increase in the number of job sites lately on Toostep. And this will be an perfect amalgamation of both job portal where one can find their potential candidate and a place to showcase their skills interms of social networking feature which is there at the moment, and it is left to us to create that WOM with others by making Toostep a default site where one can get solutions to everything....and for that to happen we need more users and their active participation interms of looking after their communities and moderating them well enough.


By Jayant Vishnu, Art Director/Sr Art Director, Creative  | 03 22 2010 07:02:08 +0000
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Thanks Makrand sir for initiating this topic & referring it to me. But I beg to differ & I completely agree wid you Mr. Ujwal Jain…very well said sir.

As we have considered & accepted too-step as a social “media” platform then we just can not separate media [any form of it] from advertising [read commercialization]. They supplement each other.They are just like two sides of the coin…

Advertising….being one of the core functions which yields revenue for any business & to expand its clientele + scope, certainly it is the need of hour.

I don’t think that commercialization can cause too step to loose its uniqueness or its charm at all.  We all, members of too step along with moderators n promoters can [& will] manage & maintain it in tact [clean +informative] as it is our moral responsibility.

I wd welcome this change wid positive thinking if it happens because it will be a add on advantage for me rather for every too-step member, & moderators can make efficient use of the benefits received by giving it back…………...more value to its members & by getting more members too…


By Deepti Kulkarni, HR Manager, Con-Air Equipments Pvt Ltd  | 03 22 2010 05:46:20 +0000
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according to the survival ad is necessary so ad i wll not hesitate


By Davies francis, Analyst, self  | 03 20 2010 11:34:20 +0000
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Makrand that is a valid point but toostep being a different sites from others here there are not so much of ads like other sites normally have, but when interactive marketing which is taking off like anything where when some discussions are happening people are relating to a particular ad and not an overdose of it...

So it would be great if it stays at interactive level and not more than that.


By Jayant Vishnu, Art Director/Sr Art Director, Creative  | 03 20 2010 10:53:52 +0000
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Since I am a beginner in this forum and found very very good for the professionals of experts, I am unable to decide. Therefore I would prefer the collective decision taken by the senior professionals at TOO STEP in this regard. 


By NATTERAJA R. ARIKRISHNAN, GM-Projects, Bentec Electricals & Electronics Pvt. Ltd  | 04 06 2010 18:02:01 +0000
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Dear Makrand,

Agree we must avoid it and find other sources to generate for necessity. 

 

and dear Mr Ujjwal Jain,

Would you still buy the newspaper if you have difficulty to locate news within ads?

Drawing lines is extremely important to differentiate orderliness from mayhem.

 

 


By Ravindra Sharma, Managing Consultant, CHEF-India  | 04 06 2010 06:38:13 +0000
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Quick thoughts to add to my early post.

@ Jayant – Inspite of being a dedicated portal, has exchange4media.com not lost its appeal amongst its users. Was it not what campaignindia.in is today? To me, commercialization has shown on the former, lest latter also falls to the lure.

@ Ujjval – A dedicated retail portal, indiaretailnews.comsure has been there for long now and is sustaining without advts at all.

@Makrand - hope you agree with the thoughts and observations

The platform be a dedicated or social, blocking space for advertisements only spoil the look and usage.


By Navjeet Sood, Business Head, ADI Media Pvt Ltd  | 03 23 2010 14:21:59 +0000
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i wont say condemn it. but let too step remain the way it is... for the discerning ones. keep it low key.. that is if economics of too steps permits..


By Priya Varadan, Independent consultant, Self employed  | 03 23 2010 09:10:03 +0000
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Thanks Mr. Makrand for starting this debate. I believe that toostep is a platform for sharing ideas, knowledge and may be advertising some job openings or so. But advertising one's products or services without that thing having any intrinsic value would make the site loose its true character (which i suppose every member believes is the dispersal of knowledge). Ignoring ads is under the control of every member but nonetheless it does act as an irritant.

We are already seeing some useless debates going on like "Whether India will be a big market for Twitter" and others, so lets not stoop toostep's standards further by introducing ads for irrelevant products as part of some marketing adventure.


By Sanjay Suvarna, Senior Software Developer, a MNC  | 03 22 2010 09:39:45 +0000
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Good to have raised this debate, Makrand. No difference of thoughts on this. To connect socially on a platform as TooStep is one of THE things you wish to do but have my high reservations on it being THE thing on being commercialized. Now, though it could be done with many options but I would seriously not approve if TooStep starts accepting advertisements to commercialize it. Though it is not one that is defined for any industry / segment specifics, but seeing advertisements really puts you off and usage is sure to drop drastically. To make business sense out of running TooStep, they are welcome to use other means but blocking space should be the last resort.


By Navjeet Sood, Business Head, ADI Media Pvt Ltd  | 03 22 2010 08:02:00 +0000
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Thanks for the referral Mr.Makrand Bhave. You are absolutely correct. you have well said. Nothing to add further.


By NATTERAJA R. ARIKRISHNAN, GM-Projects, Bentec Electricals & Electronics Pvt. Ltd  | 03 20 2010 19:01:13 +0000
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Dr. Ahmad thanks!

Jayant, Davies thanks a lot for neing here! I agree partially to what you say Iayant. Interactive would mean a magnet to marketeers. We have a host pf marketeers here but I am quite surprised to say (and thankful at that) that the toostep promoters have managed this site to be clean and have managed it beautifully.

Does it mean that they still have a long way to go before they hit the popularity charts for marketeers to take notice?? OR do you think that its a deliberate attempt by the promoters to keep it as clean? It is my own conclusion that maybe they want to ensure that good job portals should make use of it!!

Your take :)


By Makrand Bhave, Marketing & MICE, WIZCRAFT International  | 03 20 2010 12:11:57 +0000
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Thanks for the referral Mr. Makrand,

               I agree with your point that if toostep .com would commercialize them selves  it they would lose their charm. As already pointed out this is a platform, unlike other social networking site, where people from different industries meet up and discuss a topic and put in their views and thoughts.

                   Discussions carried out on this platform are healthy and thought provocative as well as informative.

                       Where as if this site is commercialized it will become just like other sites, and people might get either more interested in the adds given or else frustrated by the pop ups (They can be a menace at times).

                    I for one am totally against commercialization of this site.


By Dr Ali Ahmad, Independent Health Care Consultant, Hospital Management Consultant  | 03 20 2010 10:18:30 +0000
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