Mahatma Gandhi – His Relevance in the world of Web 2.0 applications
Reproducing one of the posts I wrote about a year ago:
October 2nd marks the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the man who taught Ahimsa to the world and relied on non-violence principles; and evnetually brought down the British empire to it’s knees and forced them to quit India.
Many of his ideologies can be applied to web 2.0 world as well. Here is a small attempt :
Simplicity ::
‘Simple living high thinking’. Gandhiji always believed in simplicity and that’s what made general public relate to him, believe that he is *one-among-us*. Same is true for any web 2.0 application as well. Look at Google search box. No bells. No whistles. Less confusion. Search simplified.
And that’s what makes it relevant. Ditto with Digg/Flickr as well – simple to use, yet such a powerful impact!
Community/Partnerships (We, the People)
Bring them one. Bring them ALL.
No movement is successful without involving the community. While other revolutionaries had their own agenda (regional/religion etc.), Gandhi was focused on one thing – Ahimsa, i.e. Non Violence. And everybody joined in. Everybody lend their heart and soul to the cause.
And same is true for Web 2.0 applications as well. Web 2.0 is all about community deciding what is good and what is not (Digg). And the application/site is just an enabler. Remember, community will reject any BS (bull s**) without a second thought (the recent Facebook episode just proves it!).
So don’t play with community. Give them the right stuff and you get all the respect.
Ahimsa :: i.e. No more zero-sum game.
Its not about I-Win-You-Loose. It’s all about win-win game. Gandhiji never said “Kill them and we get our freedom”. He believed in creating a common mindshare among the general public, and driving them in the right direction.
And the same applies to Web 2.0 as well. You have got to share your application with the world (APIs), and make your application more relevant. One of the best example is Flickr,Goog/YahooMaps/Skype APIs. Look at the wonderful implementation of these APIs. Apart from being a successful company, these web 2.0 firms have built a successful ecosystem as well. And that has really brought upon a revolution.
So no more working in silos. No more ‘ Its me only/Walled Garden’ approach that works. The more you share, cooler you are perceived (Facebook apps are an example)
Bottom of Pyramid :: Gandhiji’s Talisman reads as
“I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man [woman] whom you may have seen, and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him [her]. Will he [she] gain anything by it? Will it restore him [her] to a control over his [her] own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to swaraj [freedom] for the hungry and spiritually starving millions? Then you will find your doubts and your self melt away”
Similarly, any business has to be relevant to the *commons*. No more elite/premium membership. No more entry barriers. Make sure that you give away whole lot of things to people, all for free. Design your business model around these freebies (Google’s adsense is a classic example of bringing advertisers to any goddamn publisher’s site, even this one; and still making money out of that!!).
Stay Hungry. Stay Focused
One of the reason of Kiko’s demise (as cited by its founders) was that they were involved in too many things. Same applies to plethora of 2.0 applications I see.
They try to do too many things and eventually loose focus and get buried. Like Gandhiji, who stood for what he believed was right, founders of web 2.0 application should focus on ‘ main thing to be the main thing’. Rest will follow.
Perseverance
It took India close to 100 years to get its freedom from the Britishers. Gandhi stood like the Rock of Gibraltar and the rest we all know is history.
And look at new generation of web 2.0 era entrepreneurs! They are desperate for quick exits (eBay auction being the most favorite one!), and loose the chance of making it BIG! None of them believe in building a *Built to Last* company!
Keep watching this space for more updates on Gandhi’s principles. Also, I would be delighted to know your comments on how Gandhi’s principles appeal to you?
Related articles: Know more about Mahatma | Why Gandhi never received Nobel Prize | Download “My Experiments with Truth”
Filed Under: Gandhi, img credit: flickr
Good thoughts. Like your writing style!
Interesting analogy! Very well written!
Ashish,
I think you are obsessed with Web 2.0 and getting carried way. Comparing Gandhiji and web 2.0 is pretty bad idea.
To start with, Enterpreneurs who start for-profit companies (could be Web 2.0 startup or something else) aren’t doing any social good.
You have to understand that when the barrier to entry is so low, chances of gaining sustainable competitive advantage and longevity are equally low as well(Seriously how long does it take create Web 2.0 clones?), forget about built-to-last companies.
These so called enterpreneurs, VCs and Web 2.0 companies are just after making quick money. Please do not bring them into Context while talking about Gandhiji.
Venkat
It doesnt matter whether one does a social good or not. And Gandhiji, as far as I understand was never against making money!
a. Infosys is generating employment – aren’t they doing social good?
WHat makes you think that living like a pauper and giving away evrything is a social good?
b. Its easy to clone any web2.0 – there are 1000s of Digg / Flickr clones available. How many of them are successful?
How may Facebook clones are doing well?
c. It takes balls of steel to build built to last cos. I agree there arent too many..but that doesnt mean there won’t be any.
Again, I dont care whether somebody is making money while giving away a platform for people to explore their creativity (e.g. youtube/Flickr etc..)..
Would love to know your comments.
Ashish,
Don’t get me wrong. I do like your articles, especially when you wrote a review on Chak De. But this time, I felt its a bad idea and I’d stick to it.
1) To me and many more in this world, Gandhiji is all about Vision, Idealogy, principles. Whatever you wrote about Gandhiji is fine. No issues with that.
2) I don’t have problem with Web 2.0 stuff either. It’s just that they are not driven by ideals and principles similar to Gandhiji’s , the way you drew analogy.
In web 1.0 era, we had free email, IM etc. In Web 2.0 world, we have more free collaboration tools like social networks, blogs, photo sharing, video sharing etc. May be 3 years from now we might call Web 3.0 where you design your own car and based on community voting you might get it built for free.
All these are evolving business models but not driven by Gandhian principles. The only ones in the Software industry where I can (arguably)draw similar analogy is FLOSS community (Richard Stallman, Mark Shuttleworth etc).
Now, Infosys is not a Web 2.0 company. Its built to last and NRN is a visionary and no Web 2.0 Enterpreneur either.
I thought you were comparing Gandhiji and Web 2.0 apps.
To me, Web 2.0 is just a technology which will be leveraged by businesses (old and new alike) as part of their IT strategy. All the companies like Youtube, Flickr,digg etc are just technology incubators which are leveraged not just by Yahoo,Google but Dell, Infosys,Vanguard(my company) etc. That’s why Web 2.0 apps are cloned so easily. That’s why Web 2.0 startups are not built to last.
I just thought Gandhiji has no relevance here. His personal attributes are always an inspiration to every individual, but Web 2.0 apps, I cannot buy that.
These are my thoughts.Let me know what you think.
Hey Venkat
Thanks for the comment..Let me clarify: when I said web2.0, I didnt mean the technology per se, but instead the community (and sharing) aspect of web2.0.
Now look at Flickr: It;s lock-in lies in the power of community, the amount of things u learn from it..Flickr gave away a rich picture interface (and for free) and the APIs as well..
Similarly – when I said ahimsa, look at how Zoho apps is using Google gears (a competitor’s product) and Google helping Zoho building their offline component! The idea is it’s no more a I-win-U-loose game, everybody is trying to expand the pie by collaborating with each other…
Again, adsense kicked the hell out of everybody because anybody can implement that (without hunting for advertisers!). To me, that’s reaching “bottom of pyramid” zone where you build a platform which benefits everybody (even a poor publisher like me!:)
The comparison is gaining a lot of discussion on your blog.. that is cool!! Next you could probably draw up a similarities between Web 2.0 and Kibbutz – the most successful community of all times.
Ashish
I am sorry to inform you that Gandhi is not a software or antivirus who removed british virus from the India PC. If this the analogy that you are making then you are going toward the machanical view of the human system and socity. Softwares cant give you the freedom that you enjoy today… just respect the freedom that you get today…
Thnx
Hi-
My point to everyone reading this !.
Gandhiji brought us freedom, we all know.
but looking at loosly coupled many variants like Swatantra Senanni,their
constant struggle,the years i.e. more than century of British rule…..
and many more other issues.
British must have left india…..what say ??. and not just gandhiji.
sorry for dragging to this irrelevent topic, just put my thought forward as
topic appeared.
Thanks
Ashish A