HIMALAYAN NEWS SERVICE

KATHMANDU: Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and MySpace might be dominating the international social networking arena, but Nepali social sites are also no exception to providing a distinct touch to interaction and networking. Two sites such as Sangaalo.com and [Disallowed String for - Ads galore].com provides such a platform for Nepali users. With the dominant social networking sites abroad, today, Thulo.com, Hamrobook.com, Meropost.com and others are a few in operation in Nepal.

Sangaalo.com is the latest social site that was officially launched by Princeton Media on October 30, 2012. Raghu Prajapati, founder and president of Princeton Media, Princeton InfoSys and Sangaalo Enterprises along with Tej Raj Shrestha, programmer of the site, fiddled with the idea of a purely Nepali social site from 2008, until it came to fruition. Raghu Prajapati, president of the company, says, “Sangaalo.com not only has all features required for a social site but also stands out among similar ones.” The company claims that the website meets all networking needs of people from various walks of life — right from finding friends,

sharing photos and videos to business exchange like buying and selling. Today, the site is used in 133 country.

Users can form online social communities, where they can ‘hangout’ and discuss business plans and promote shows and events. They can also exhibit their creativity by uploading, sharing and browsing unlimited videos, audios and photos of their interests in various categories. As soon as viewers register on the site and verify their e-mail, they can enter the ‘Default’ level. After that, users progress to ‘Smart’ and ‘Advanced’ level as per their working activities like buying, selling, and managing their own sub networks — which increases their points and ultimately helps them move on to advanced categories.

Prajapati says, “The site’s unique selling preposition is the ‘buying and selling’ category. Users can earn points through their frequent activities in the site and use those points to send gifts, buy and advertise products, et cetera. This also helps users to move to other categories.” According to the company, ‘Sangaalo Business’ helps its users to plot in-depth business plans, post business information and activities that are useful for businesses. Moreover, recruiters can post vacancies and hire professionals while job seekers can search for their dream posts. “Through our site, people are also constantly involved in e-marketing business,” says he. The company has currently developed Sangaalo’s mobile version.

According to the company, the site currently has around 533,000 users and aim is to increase the number in coming days. The site is also used by people residing abroad where China, India, US, Australia and UK top the list accordingly.

Another site is [Disallowed String for - Ads galore].com designed by the SoftNEP, which is a— web design, web development, and search engine optimisation company, that develops high-end internet portals and websites used by hundreds of thousands of people around the world. Sunil Rijal, chief executive officer of the company, says, “Initially in 2006/07 there was a craze for Facebook but Hi5 was popular in Nepal. Due to this, the company decided to develop [Disallowed String for - Ads galore].com.”

Established in 2009, the company claims that more than being profit oriented, it was developed to have social interaction. According to him, the company does not sustain from the social networking site from its web development and designing. “We could not consistently and continuously give time to the website and update it almost daily as the company also had to sustain on other technological development. We were also not confident about the site that it would generate revenue for the business which was the main challenge faced by us,” says, Rijal. According to him, the site currently has more than 4,000 users in and outside the country. The company’s plans are to update [Disallowed String for - Ads galore].com and develop new features within two years and make it a user-friendly social networking sites in Nepal. While sustainability of the sites is yet to be seen, enthusiasm of the internet entrepreneurs is quiet commendable.