Footloose in virtual world

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After the Facebook, Twitter and Youtube obsession in the recent years, what can youngsters look forward to in 2011? If some haven’t had enough of social networking, many are looking forward to much more than what’s already there in the virtual world. The gap between the real and virtual world is ready to shrink, says cyber expert Ankit Fadia. There are many things to look ahead to this year, he adds.
“Location Based Social Networking is going to be the next big thing in India in 2011. Websites like Foursquare, Facebook Places and Twitter with ‘location information’ are going to be quite popular,” Ankit informs.
With this technology, you can establish the location of your friends. “They could be around the same place and you can actually see them,” says Akeel Ahmed, 19, who’s all geared up to be in tune with the new online avatars.
Interestingly, if you are keen on dating, just post a status “looking” and if somebody checks into the same bar or restaurant, they can see who else is looking to meet new people.
Ankit explains, “Foursquare offers a special check-in system for customers. So, if you can check into a café using the technology, say 10 times a day, you are due to be rewarded. Even meeting new people on such location-based platforms will become popular.”
Manpreet Singh, engineer and hardcore techie, says, “The current scenario suggests there’s no overtaking Google soon. As far as networking is concerned, Facebook will continue its dominance, but you never know with Apple, there’s a slight murmur that they may be looking to enter the networking domain. Ever since Google forayed into hardware and mobile-phones it has become tough to predict any move by the giants in the business and if rumours have any semblance of truth in them, then Steve Jobs might be planning a surprise ambush on the social networking front soon.”
But experts forecast that penetration of the micro-blogging site Twitter is going to increase beyond metros to smaller towns in a big way. “Soon people are going to realise that their real life is not happening. They would much rather love to live in the virtual social media world,” adds Akeel.
But a few are keen at just logging off from the cyberworld to spend more time in face-to-face conversations. “No doubt, I am addicted to Facebook and Twitter, but I think I have had enough of it, I will try to spend some more time with my friends and parents,” says Rayshita Sachdev, a fashion student with NIFT.