Dare not pick a fight with the Godfather of Internet India- Snapchat’s India Remark

The week before the previous saw a drawn battle between Snapchat and the people of India. The row was caused as a result of the comment by the CEO Evan Spiegel who termed India as a poor nation and not worthy to expand into. The comment received the ire of the Indian youth who were primary users of the app and led to an epic number of uninstallations of the app. This and also the low rating on the play store may have been a big blow to the app which had become quite a trend among youngsters. 

But the entire fight did explain one clear thing. The Internet and its many technologies which form the backbone of many businesses in the current world are significantly impacted by India. And it has a good reason because the Internet penetration in the country is far better than any other country in the world. Also there is hidden potential in the rural India which has a mere penetration of less than 30% (about 200 million users). Also the Smartphone penetration in rural India is less than 20% which is poised to increase in the coming decades.

India’s youth has an inquisitive nature that prompts them to try out various apps that come out. The Silicon Valley and various other IT hubs in the world are earning profits in the Internet business using this user base that is abundant and immense. In such a case careless remarks made by the core marketing person of the company comes as a massive shock to the world. In the Internet world the news spreads even faster than a wild-fire. Such news could have been the death-spell of a flourishing business. And particularly one expects some maturity in chatter coming from a CEO as compared to a normal employee. In this case apparently the employees were sensible enough to put the limelight on their boss’ words.

The fight was a one-sided affair as the people are the principal stakeholders in a transparent world. Gone are the days of closed-room corporate meetings that were exclusive. The average stakeholder knows more than the owners of the company and is free to choose whom to support and whom not. Well it is better late than never; even now the tables can be turned and the company can choose whether to let a good forest burn due to a careless fire or put out the fire before it turns on them as well.