Times Internet relaunches iTimes as interest based social network
Times Internet has relaunched social network site itimes.com as an interest-based social network which empowers users to create interests or follow their favourite interests.The Site allows users to create interests or follow interests of their preference, centered around different topics and content. The company mentioned that the network is focused on building communities around topics of discussion, and on curating content in addition to allow users to discover them.
The site has shifted its focus from general social networking towards interest networking centered on relevant topics and content. The site, in its new avatar, is live with over 5000 interests. Individuals can use it as a platform to build a following, share knowledge and to disseminate information on topics or interests.It also features a live leader board that crowns users as Interest Masters and Superkings, incentivising active contributions in the form of discussions, photos, videos, blogs and polls.
“Times Internet has over 32 million visitors every month who interact with our varied content offerings. Itimes is oriented around building communities around the topics people care to read about. It’s an interesting proposition and we hope that it will engage users and help create and curate relevant content,”said Satyan Gajwani, CEO, Times Internet.
The website’s model comes close to Pinterest but it differs on the grounds like it is not restricted to photo uploads nor is it commerce focused. It’s a network driven by content and is social only by its ability to viral and distributes the content, claims the company.
How it Works
Users can register via social networks like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Google and Yahoo accounts, and share content with friends on these networks. It also populates interests from networks to offer suggestions. Users can follow interests and post content on interests owned by other users, and even displace them to own that particular topic, or create new interests and update content related to it.
The site also offers auto suggestions and tools to make their interest more relevant such as offering the option to fetch descriptions from the web, add photos from Flickr, related links, when they create an interest. Posts can be in the form of Discussions, Photos, Videos, Blogs, Street Journo posts for reporting local stories, Events and Polls. Users get floating badges for posting content and participating.
The homepage features Hot interests, a feed of what users are updating on the site, trending interests, listing of the leader board and Interest and Post categories, in addition to an omnipresent bar that allows users to search content and post content and create new interests.
