I talked about the emergence of blogs in India as a form of commentary in my previous posts. Earlier, I was of the view that maybe the presence of a free press and proliferation of media platforms have in fact relegated bloggers to the background, unlike in societies where there are limits to freedom of expression. This is true especially in the space of "issues" where the ability of bloggers to influence public discourse happens to be limited. Nonetheless, niche blogs in the space of culture, technology, marketing and business do wield significant influence today in India and, as professional communicators, we engage with this lot quite a bit. In fact, we encourage brands to engage with bloggers all the more, simply because their influence permeates across different social networks.
In this context, the latest executive report from MSLGROUP India that tried to gauge the mindset of bloggers - towards brands, media and technology. The ‘2012 Indian Bloggers Mindset Survey’ shares insights on how bloggers are shaping opinion, how brands are engaging with them as well as the opportunities and challenges before brands when it comes to building relationships with these key digital influencers.
Among the key findings of this survey are
- Facebook and Twitter are emerging as the top preferred social platforms to connect with bloggers in India. Google+ is the (non-Facebook, non-Twitter) social network bloggers spend the most time on, while Pinterest is fast emerging in popularity
- CSR campaigns are the most recollected digital campaign
- Conventional brand ambassadors like Aamir Khan, Sachin Tendulkar, Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan, still make for the favourite brand ambassadors
