By the end of 2014, 240 million people will have access to the Internet in India. With nearly a billion mobile phones in use, it is also a truly mobile-first country. The mass urban uptake and growing rural reach of these new communication tools and services provide both exciting opportunities and new challenges for Indian social change initiatives. This document intends to provide a quick over- view of the current media landscape. We’ve compiled it in support of organizations working across India, we hope you will find it useful!

1. INDIA
INTERNET, MOBILE & SOCIAL
MEDIA LANDSCAPE

2. INTRO
By the end of 2014, 240 million people will have
access to the Internet in India. With nearly a billion
mobile phones in use, it is also a truly mobile-first
country. The mass urban uptake and growing rural
reach of these new communication tools and servic-
es provide both exciting opportunities and new chal-
lenges for Indian social change initiatives.
This document intends to provide a quick over-
view of the current media landscape. We’ve com-
pileditinsupportoforganizationsworkingacross
India, we hope you will find it useful!
M4ID Team

3. INTERNET

4. page 4 M4ID 2014
Internet
INTERNET REACH
A QUARTER OF A BILLION!
Number of projected internet users
June 2014
+240 MILLION
The internet in India took more than a decade
to move from 10 million to 100 million and only
3 years from 100 to 200 million. From here on,
we can hope to develop a robust internet ecosystem
with a multitude of local and global players
and a thriving Internet economy.
IAMAI (Internet and Mobile Association of India) chairman Rajan Anandan

5. page 5 M4ID 2014
Internet
ENGLISH
THELANGUAGEOFCHOICE
Most Internet users in India use English when accessing the web.
Reasons for English preference include:
- Lack of comfort with written South Asian languages
- Mobile and computer technology that is often pre-installed with
Roman alphabet keyboards and English-language web browsers
Many organizations have opted for parts or all of their communications
to take place in romanized Hindi to increase the accessibility of their outreach.
Over 99% of Wikipedia
use in India takes place
in English language
entries, despite the
South Indian language
presence on the
service.
Well designed South Asian language interfaces
could present opportunities for local language
adoption in digital communications.
For eg. Google Hindi Input is a Hindi keyboard
for devices running on Android. The app also supports
transliteration.
+99%
Entries
in English

6. MOBILEMOBILE

7. page 7 M4ID 2014
INDIA
A MOBILE-FIRST COUNTRY
Number of mobile phones
in use as of 2013
Number of mobile phones projected
to be sold in 2015
Number of smart phones with
internet capabilities projected
to be sold in 2015
+875 MILLION
+225 MILLION
+75 MILLION
World Bank Photo Collection

8. page 8 M4ID 2014
mobile
ASPIRATIONAL at
ALL LEVELS OF SOCIETY
- Mobile phone penetration is spreading fast in all demographics
in India
- More equitably distributed in low resource communities than other
types of technology
- Highly aspirational, mobile phones have direct economic benefits,
like access to banking and other economic activity
76% 89%
9% 25%
In the poorest quartile In the RICHEST quartile
has a mobile
phone
has a mobile
phone
has a
television
has a
television
(Source: BBC Media Action, 2013)
MOBILE PENETRATION IN RURAL BIHAR: A COMPARISON
The advent of mobile phones in rural
communities, especially for women and
girls, is a revolutionary opportunity, and
it’s one that we are not yet seizing.
There is an incredible amplification effect
you can have through technology that
allows more information and more
opinions.
Gannon Gillespie
Director of Strategic Development, Tostan

9. page 9 M4ID 2014
Basic phones will remain the most
relevant device in low resource
settings. Despite low cost smartphones
fast entering the mobile market, lack
of Internet infrastructure and the cost
of a monthly data plan are amongst
the main barriers to uptake of mobile
Internet services.
World Bank Photo Collection

10. page 10 M4ID 2014
SMS and voice based technology continues to
reach the biggest volumes of users, and will remain
a significant media in the new communications
technology landscape.
Notably, many internet services can be provided via
SMS or voice telephony, such as access to Google,
Facebook, Twitter, Weather, news, word definitions,
unit conversions, or language translations.
SIMPLE INTERFACE MOBILE
SERVICES REMAIN POPULAR
For organisations, reaching key
audiences through services that are
not dependent on mobile internet
might be more effective than though
Internet-only channels.

11. page 11 M4ID 2014
sms and call services
continue to grow
U2topia, an SMS based navigation service,
has added over a million users every month in
2014. The target age group is 13-24 year olds.
CASE EXAMPLE
JustDial processes over a million daily
search queries: 40% of which originate
from phone calls, and 60% come from
web-based queries.
Photo: Eirik Newth

12. page 12 M4ID 2014
Mera Swasthya, Meri Aawaz
Voice-based mobile service
sees fast growth in rural UP
CASE EXAMPLE
Mera Swasthya, Meri Aawaz is an Interactive
Voice Response (IVR) service to gather and
publishdataonillicitfeeschargedformaternal
health care.
Users register an incident through voice-guided
phone call, by pressing numbers on their keypad.
When the call is completed, the report is placed on a map
and tracked in the service website.
Run by the UP NGO Sahayog, over 200 incidents have been
reported between its kickoff in January 2014 and April
2014.
Service doesn’t rely on text messaging, making the use
more accessible to users who do not type in Roman
alphabet or don’t use text messaging functions in general.

13. page 13 M4ID 2014
mobile
DRIVING Internet CONNECTIVITY
The number of mobile Internet users
is going to reach 155 million in India by
the end of March 2014, and 185 million
by June 2014, maintaining a quarter-on-
quarter growth of 20%.
the IAMAI and IMRB International report
Active Internet users
going online from
their mobile phones

14. page 14 M4ID 2014
mobile INTERNET
USER DEMOGRAPHICS
Almost half of mobile Internet users
are less than 25 years
In contrast to older dempgraphics,
user growth in the younger
demographics is generated by both
male and female segments.
Rural/Urban Digital Divide exists,
but on the decrease
Urban internet mobile users
103 million by Dec 2013.
Rural India expected to grow from
27 million users in Dec 2013 to
32 million by June 2014.
18AGE 25-30 31-35 36-40 41+18-24
48%

15. page 15 M4ID 2014
WHATSAPP
STANDARDIZED MODE
OF MESSAGING
Active users, rapid adoption in India
40 MILLION
Most popular feature
GROUP CHAT Whatsapp and similar texting and telephony services
are quickly replacing traditional SMS and voice calls
on smartphones and select feature phones.
It is free to use over wifi or with a data plan. Features
include sending text messages and group chats as well
as sharing images, video, and audio media.
Whatsapp’s emerging popularity and quick scaling is
quickly leading to a technology lock-in phenomenon,
where the service becomes a standard mode of
communication, much like mass SMS in the past. For
example, Whatsapp is pre-installed in all sold units of
Nokia ASHA phones.
CASE EXAMPLE
Whatsapp and similar messaging platforms are the
most engaging applications in smart and feature
phones, and are therefore an interesting media.
These apps have played an important role in most
of the global uprisings of the past few years with
activists using the services to improve communica-
tion and organize activities between protesters.

16. SOCIAL

17. page 17 M4ID 2014
SOCIAL MEDIA
DOMINATES SCREENTIME
India has the highest growth
this year. User numbers will
increase by 37.4%.
Number of social media users
Q1 2014
+130
MILLION
Log on to social
media services daily

18. page 18 M4ID 2014
HOW INDIA USES
SOCIAL MEDIA
While social media is dominantly used for personal reasons, 58% of
Indian users discuss issues, products and services relevant to them.
86% • CHECK UPDATES
82% • SEND MESSAGE/ MAIL
81% • share/view photographs
79% • GET IN TOUCH WITH OLD BATCHMATES/COLLEAGUES
73% • WATCH VIDEOS/MOVIES OR LISTEN TO MUSIC
73% • KEEP IN TOUCH WITH FAMILY
63% • USE SITE’S APPLICATION
58% • DISCUSS ISSUES/PRODUCTS/SERVICES
52% • FIND OUT ABOUT PROSPECTIVE SPOUSE/LOVE INTEREST
51% • PLAY GAMES
46% • TRACK EX-BOYFRIEND/GIRLFRIEND/SPOUSE
43% • RESEARCH FUTURE EMPLOYER/EMPLOYEE
Source: The Nielsen Company, absolutData

19. page 19 M4ID 2014
NIRBHAYA
Mass public protests that
followed the Nirbhaya case
were self-motivated and
social media platforms
like Facebook, Twitter
and Whatsapp played an
important role in organising
them.
“The political class in India
has been shaken by the
speed and efficiency with
which the protests were
coordinated. ”
ECONOMIC TIMES
dec 29, 2012
18,000 tweets
in response on 18 December 2012
‘Rashtrapati Bhavan’, ‘Delhi Gang
rape’ ‘Raisina Hill’
Top trending hashtags in India
on 18 December 2012
Facebook 2012
‘Delhi for Women’s Safety’ -
Facebook pages created on December 18,
2012 received 5046 and 4263 ‘Likes’
respectively.
Over 15,000 downloads
Nirbhaya: Be Fearless App
Automatically shows information
on the driver, cab, route, and GPS location.
AP Photo/Tsering Topgyal

20. SOCIAL
POPULAR SOCIAL
MEDIA SERVICES
IN INDIA

21. page 21 M4ID 2014
FACEBOOK: 100 MILLION
MONTHLY ACTIVE USERS
site on the Internet after Google in India
2nd MOST VISITED
the service from their mobile phones, often
from their Facebook app.
85% USERS ACCESS
Average users time spent on Facebook
2 HOURS
Average Indian user connected to as many
as 80 community pages, groups and events
80 COMMUNITY PAGES
Demographics are diversifying, yet Facebook
remains a young adult oriented service
18-34 YEAR OLDS

22. page 22 M4ID 2014
FACEBOOK
Besides being a media platform
where users can share and engage
in a range of media such as videos,
pictures and games, we expect to
see a stronger move around storage
(cloud-based) and utility services from
Facebook.
Neha Dharia, analyst at Ovum
Facebook for Every Phone,
Every Language
Facebook has added Hindi to its
java-based Facebook for Every
Phone feature phone mobile app
and will offer this in seven more
local languages - Gujarati, Tamil,
Malayalam, Kannada, Punjabi,
Bengali and Marathi.
Service offerings like Facebook
for Every Phone and compli-
mentary SMS based access dem-
onstrate the growing interest
amongst emerging user groups.

23. page 23 M4ID 2014
TWITTER
33 MILLION USERS
Organisations are using Twitter to campaign, build
awareness, raise funds, promote programmes, promote
Facebook and other social media channels, highlight
news about their cause, and update about activities in the
organization, such as upcoming events or organizational
milestones.
12th most visited site.
Stark gender disparity
- 80% of users are male
and less than 20% of
users are female.
Source of news - 16% of
Indian users regularly
access the service to
get news updates.

24. page 24 M4ID 2014
LINKEDIN
8TH MOST VISITED SITE
26 million members from India.
For organizations, LinkedIn could be
“a research database” of potential
donors, board members, employees,
partners or other networks.
LinkedIn visualizes personal networks
and it could also be leveraged as a
means of getting introductions to
potential partners through shared or
connected acquaintances.

25. page 25 M4ID 2014
YOUTUBE
KEY DRIVER OF INTERNET USAGE
6 % of the world’s 2 billion YouTube
views come from India.
35 million unique visits in a month with
a reach of almost 55% of online Indian
population.
Local content is distributed mainly
through YouTube and is dominated by
Bollywood.
Anefficientwayofspreadinginformation
especially when integrated with other
popular social media platforms.

26. SOCIAL
EMERGING SOCIAL
MEDIA SERVICES
IN INDIA

27. page 27 M4ID 2014
PINTEREST
REACH YOUNG FEMALE
marketing and outreach channel
For Indian organisations, Pinterest offers
an avenue for reaching urban educated
female segments.
Pinterest is especially effective in driving
traffic to organisational websites, i.e.
getting Pinterest users to visit the
organisation’s website. Pinterest could
also drive refferal for e.g. online and
mobile fundraising.
A visual bookmarking and sharing platform for
collectingvisualobjects(photographs,graphics
etc) on the web.
97% of users are women.
Gained mass popularity in India in a relatively
short time - An estimated 10% of all users from
India.
The mobile experience on smartphone and
tablet is one of the reasons behind the strong
user base of Pinterest.

28. page 28 M4ID 2014
INSTAGRAM
ADDS AUTHENTICITY
REAL TIME TO IMAGES
A photo and short video sharing mobile application where
users may apply digital filters to images, communicate through
hashtags and share content to other social media services.
Although seeing fast uptake, currently only 2.7% of the global
users are from India. Up to 75% of Indian users are male.
Instagram’s focus on smartphone might slow down its mass
adoption in India. However, with mobile photography becoming
widespread, Intagram is well positioned to become an effective
communication tool in the future.

29. page 29 M4ID 2014
Intagrams are shot with a phone.
Use cases include live reporting
from the field or events. Captions
and hashtags add context to the
image.
Real time documentation enables
users to interact with the photos
instantly through e.g. comments,
likes, or questions.
With a focused strategy and utilisation
of the app’s image editing options,
less experienced photographers
are able to manage organisational
accounts too.

30. page 30 M4ID 2014
QUORA
40% USERS FROM INDIA
CROWDSOURCING AND DRIVING
TRAFFIC
OrganizationalpresenceonQuora
may include sharing professional
expertise of the organization,
crowdsourcing advice, ideas, and
insights around a topical issue.
Quora questions may also be
embedded on other platforms,
which makes it good for driving
traffic to a website.
A question-and-answer website where
questionsarecreated,answered,edited
and organized by its community of users.
First became popular amongst technology
and entrepreneurship circles and university
communities in India.
Integration with Facebook was a propeller of
success, as well as the English-only content
that tended to cater to a highly educated
population.

31. CONCLUSION

32. page 32 M4ID 2014
CONCLUSION
Diversity of users
The digital divide is continuously decreasing,
and organisations will need to consider
emerging user groups, like first-time Internet
users, older demographics and non-native
English speakers. Tailoring the message form
and packaging it right becomes an important
part of an organisation’s content strategy.

33. page 33 M4ID 2014
CONCLUSION
For organisations, social media helps reach
a wider audience, leverage limited resources
more effectively, create trust, transparency
and accountability, enable networking
and knowledge sharing and disseminate
information to targeted audience groups.
INCREASE IMPACT
THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA

34. page 34 M4ID 2014
CONCLUSION
FAST CHANGING
SOCIAL MEDIA BEHAVIOUR
New services and trends in use and uptake
will continue changing fast. Organisations
need to increasingly explore a multi-platform
media strategy, so that they continue to reach
their audience irrespective of social media
service changes, like the ones lately seen with
Facebook’s declining role.

35. page 35 M4ID 2014
CONCLUSION
Technology when used properly, makes
things very interactive and very user-driven.
Butweneedtounderstandthatit’sonlyatool.
It’s only as good as the content you can design
for it.
Prairie Summer
Associate Director of Development Director
of Communications at Equal Access International

36. page 36 M4ID 2014
PICTURE
REFERENCES
7: World Bank Photo Collection. Photo ID: SDM-IN-091 World BankSDM-
IN-091 World Bank
9: Community meeting Girl on cellphone Aurangabad India
Photo © Simone D McCourtie. Photo ID SDM-IN-097 World Bank
11: http://www.flickr.com/photos/eiriknewth/2315542857/
19: http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/04/22/second-man-arrested-in-
rape-of-five-year-old-girl-in-india/
21: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/info-
tech/facebook-suffers-outage-in-india-parts-of-us/article4357064.ece
32: https://www.flickr.com/photos/kiwanja
33: http://gadgets.ndtv.com/social-networking/news/facebook-reports-
82-million-monthly-active-users-in-india-62-million-via-mobile-405754
34: http://www.thedrum.com/uploads/drum_basic_article/119547/main_
images/social_media_0.jpg

37. page 37 M4ID 2014
CONCLUSION
ABOUT
M4ID
M4ID is a social enterprise delivering innovative communication
and service design solutions for development and health.
M4ID provides services for not-for-profit organizations and
delivers projects across Asia, Africa, the Americas and Europe.
We research and develop new service concepts,
filling innovation gaps particularly in the area of reproductive,
maternal and newborn child health.
To learn more about M4ID visit: www.m4id.fi