Meaning of Entrepreneurship – Intrapreneurship, Social Entrepreneurship, Net Entrepreneurship, Technopreneurship

Topics Covered in this Article are as follows:

1. what is intrapreneurship
2. Examples of Companies that encourage intrapreneurs
3. Entrepreneur vs. Intrapreneur
4. Social Entrepreneurship
5. Netpreneurship

1. Intrapreneurship – Meaning & Concept

An Intrapreneur is an inside entrepreneur, or an entrepreneur within a large firm, who uses entrepreneurial skills without incurring the risks associated with those activities. Intrapreneurs are usually employees within a company who are assigned to work on a special idea or project, and they are instructed to develop the project like an entrepreneur would. Intrapreneurs usually have the resources and capabilities of the firm at their disposal. Entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs vary in their level of focus. Whereas an entrepreneur envisions a company from start to finish, an intrapreneur has a much broader vision for an established company. Because the intrapreneur works on solving bigger issues within the business, he/she typically has more directly applicable skills for given tasks and takes more risks within the context of the job.

Important characteristic of intrapreneurs is their courage and flexibility to think outside of the box, which allows them to work on ideas that may change strategic direction. Even though many managers are afraid of radical changes, they are often the only way to help companies grow. This is exemplified by Wipro in India, a small vegetable company that ended up being a software outsourcing powerhouse. Another example is Tony Hsieh of Zappos, who started as a commercial footwear vendor and became the CEO of Zappos, which has expanded into an online customer experience company.

1.1 Definitions of Intrapreneur

Let us consider some definitions to understand the meaning of the term more clearly

• Pinchot defined intrapreneurs as “dreamers who do & those who take hands-on responsibility for creating innovation of any kind, within a business”.
• According to the American Heritage Dictionary intrapreneur, means “A person within a large corporation who takes direct responsibility for turning an idea into a profitable finished product through assertive risk-taking and innovation”.
• Koch defines intrapreneurs as “persons who are the ‘secret weapon’ of the business world. Based on these definitions, being an intrapreneur is considered to be beneficial for both intrapreneurs and large organisations. Companies support intrapreneurs with finance and access to corporate resources, while intrapreneurs create innovation for companies’’.

Similar to how entrepreneurs experiment, an intrapreneur possesses the freedom and autonomy for professional growth. An intrapreneur has the independence to analyze and understand trends necessary for planning the company’s future. Intrapreneurs synthesize their findings and determine methods for staying ahead of their competitors.

1.2 History of the term Intrapreneur

The first written use of the terms ‘intrapreneur’, ‘intrapreneuring,’ and ‘intrapreneurship’ date from a paper written in 1978 by Gifford Pinchot III and Elizabeth Pinchot.

Later the term was credited to Gifford Pinchot III by Norman Macrae in the April 17, 1982 issue of The Economist.

The first formal academic case study of corporate entrepreneurship or intrapreneurship was published in June 1982, as a Master’s in Management thesis, by Howard Edward Haller.

The term “intrapreneurship” was used in the popular media first in February 1985 by TIME magazine article “Here come the Intrapreneurs” and then the same year in another major popular publication was in a quote by Steve Jobs, Apple Computer’s Chairman, in an interview in the September 1985 Newsweek article.

1.3 Intrapreneur meaning & Its Types

According to Pinchot, intrapreneurs are both employees and leaders of large organizations that act similar to entrepreneurs in terms of self-motivation, creativity and pro-activity. Pinchot claims that while intrapreneurs must be leaders, they differ very much from managers. Strong leadership skills are needed to strengthen teams and to persuade others to follow and execute their ideas. Leadership skills are also important to support rapid decision making under uncertainty. Managers, on the contrary, consider more risks than uncertainty and often work within established patterns. Intrapreneurs are able to search for opportunities and shape them into high-potential innovations through teamwork and with access to corporate resources. This assumes the right conditions of good leadership, communication and the appropriate environment to support creativity, which are essential for entrepreneurial outcomes to take place. The intrapreneurs may be classified as follows:

• • Employee intrapreneur – It refers to employee initiatives in organizations to undertake something new, without being asked to do so. Hence, the intrapreneur focuses on innovation and creativity, and transforms an idea into a profitable venture, while operating within the organizational environment. Thus, intrapreneurs are inside entrepreneurs who follow the goal of the organization. Employees, such as marketing executives or those engaged in a special project within a larger firm, are encouraged to behave as entrepreneurs. Capturing a little of the dynamic nature of entrepreneurial management adds to the potential of an otherwise static organization, without exposing those employees to the risks or accountability normally associated with entrepreneurial failure.
  • The Creator Intrapreneur – They are the persons with the innovative ideas. Creators may be easier to spot. They are the idea generation people, mostly in the discovery phase. They see possibilities. They are high on learning and love change. They are always looking for ways to do things better. They are independent and prefer to work in less structured environments. On the downside they can get bored easily and find it difficult to stay focused on the details because they are always thinking of the next idea. Creators develop the ideas that fuel innovation.
  • Doers Intrapreneurs – These persons are focused on achieving objectives. They are the task-oriented individuals mostly in the incubation phase. They are assertive and take responsibility for their actions. They have good communication skills and are effective in instructing others. They are not afraid to stand up to authority or challenge the status quo. They are less concerned about structure and organizational obstacles that get in the way. They know what needs to get done. They just go it. Doers are task-oriented and dedicated to their work.
  • Implementers Intrapreneurs – they are the individuals who make things happen. They are focused and are mostly involved in the execution phase. They know how to get things done or figure out how to get them done. They are goal-oriented, creative, and competitive. They have good planning and negotiating skills. They work well in high-pressure situations. They are good at taking the initiative, negotiating, and motivating others. They have the execution skills required to drive projects to completion.

1.4 Features of Intrapreneurship

• An Intrapreneur thinks and responds like an entrepreneur and looks for opportunities that will result in profit.
• Intrapreneurship is a unique and novel way of making Organizations more and more profitable.
• Under this the employees with imaginative thoughts are encouraged.
• Intrepreneurship is a significant means for the Organizations to reinvent themselves and improve performance by engaging in continuous progress.

Dive Deeper:
Entrepreneurship – Concept, Functions, Need and Its relevance in Indian Society

2. Examples of Companies that encourage intrapreneurs

According to Smedley only a few companies know how to encourage intrapreneurs. Some examples are listed below:

• Xerox, Virgin and Microsoft – Companies such as Xerox, Virgin, Siemens and Microsoft are also looking for unique solutions to promote Corporate Entrepreneurship, CE, in their own businesses, for example, by developing separate research and development departments.
• Siemens-Nixdorf – It took a different approach by designing a two-year corporate program to turn 300 managers into intrapreneurs, skilled in spotting new business opportunities with notable potential.
• Accenture – This Company states that recognizing and supporting intrapreneurs is the biggest challenge for Entrepreneurial Leadership.
• Google – Google allows time for personal projects. Some of Google’s best projects come out of their 20 per cent time policy. Paul Buchheit, the creator of Gmail, started on the project in 2001 and worked up to its launch on April 1, 2004, Gmail became the first email with a successful search feature and the option to keep all the email, instead of frantically deleting to stay under the limit.
• 3M – Sometimes, intrapreneurship happens by accident. Spencer Silver, a scientist at 3M, was attempting to create an extremely strong adhesive to use in aerospace technology. Instead, he accidentally created a light adhesive that stuck to surfaces well but did not leave a nasty residue. Instead of throwing away this idea as it did not solve the problem at hand, he stuck with it until he found a use for it. After many years of persistence and spreading the word, it finally clicked & Post-It notes were born.
• Sun Microsystems – Patrick Naughton, a developer, almost left Sun in 1995 because he believed they were missing out on the fast-growing PC consumer market. He was convinced to stay and help Sun set up a group dedicated to the consumer market. This is where group member, James Gosling, created an elegant object-oriented programming language called Oak, which was later renamed This was initially created to help set up Time Warner cable boxes. When that deal fell through, Bill Joy, co-founder of Sun, recognized the value of Java and that it could be implemented across all different platforms.
• Sony – Ken Kutaragi, a relatively junior Sony Employee, spent hours tinkering with his daughters Nintendo to make it more powerful and user friendly. What came from his work is one of the most recognizable brands in the world today, The Sony Playstation. Many Sony bosses were outraged at his work, thinking that gaming is a complete waste of time. Luckily someone in a senior position saw the value in the product, because now Sony is one of the world leaders in the prosperous gaming industry.
• Facebook – Originally called the “awesome button,” the Facebook ‘Like’ button was first prototyped in one of Facebook’s infamous hack-a-thons. Facebook has never released statistics based on the like rate and certain time frames. But to all of us in the computer using world it is pretty evident how the invention of the ‘like button’ affects us on a daily basis. Companies like Facebook, who are constantly innovating and changing, are some of the most successful ones.

3. Entrepreneur vs. Intrapreneur

4. Social Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship has been the engine propelling huge growth of the business sector as well as a driving force behind the rapid expansion of the social sector as well as the commercial sector for the Indian economy. Social entrepreneurship in India is emerging primarily because of what the government has not been able to do. The government is very keen on promoting social entrepreneurship for taking up causes such as illiteracy, pollution, food and clothing for underprivileged etc. For example, in Mumbai alone, non-profit organisations educate more than 250,000 children on a daily basis. The government has not told these organisations to do it. It is a voluntary service. In the broad sense, social entrepreneurship refers to innovative activity with a social objective in either the for-profit sector, such as in social-purpose commercial ventures or in the non-profit sector, or across sectors, such as hybrid structural forms which blend for-profit and non-profit approaches. Under the narrow definition, social entrepreneurship refers to the phenomenon of applying business expertise and market-based skills in the non-profit sector such as when non-profit organizations develop innovative approaches to earn income. Common across all definitions of social entrepreneurship is the fact that the underlying driving force and key factor for social entrepreneurship is to create social value, rather than personal and shareholder wealth and that the activity is characterized by innovation, or the creation of something new rather than simply the running of existing enterprises or practices in a traditional manner. The central driver for social entrepreneurship is the social problem being addressed, most effectively and mobilize the resources needed to address that problem.

Therefore, social entrepreneurship is not defined by legal form, as it can be pursued through various vehicles. Examples of social entrepreneurship can be found within the non-profit, business, or governmental sectors.

4.1 Meaning & concept of a social entrepreneur

Social entrepreneurs are individuals with innovative solutions to society’s most pressing social problems. They are ambitious and persistent, tackling major social issues and offering new ideas for wide-scale change. Rather than leaving societal needs to the government or business sectors, social entrepreneurs find what is not working and solve the problem by changing the system, spreading the solution, and persuading entire societies to take new leaps. Social entrepreneurs often seem to be possessed by their ideas, committing their lives to changing the direction of their field. They are both visionaries and ultimate realists, concerned with the practical implementation of their vision. Each social entrepreneur presents ideas that are user-friendly, understandable, ethical, and generate widespread support. They prove that citizens who channel their passion into action can do almost anything. A social entrepreneur is a person who establishes an enterprise with the aim of solving social problems or effecting social change. Examples of social entrepreneurship include microfinance institutions, educational programs, providing banking services in under served areas and helping children orphaned by epidemic disease. The main goal of a social entrepreneur is not to earn a profit, but to implement widespread improvements in society. However, a social entrepreneur must still be financially sound to succeed in his or her cause.

4.2 History of Social Entrepreneurship

The terms social entrepreneur and social entrepreneurship were used first in the literature in 1953 by H. Bowen on his book “Social Responsibilities of the Businessman”. The terms came into widespread use in the 1980s and 1990s, promoted by Bill Drayton, Charles Leadbeater, and others. From the 1950s to the 1990s, the politician Michael Young was a leading promoter of social entrepreneurship and in the 1980s, he was described by Professor Daniel Bell at Harvard University as the “world’s most successful entrepreneur of social enterprises”. Young created more than sixty new organizations worldwide, including the School for Social Entrepreneurs (SSE) which exists in the UK, Australia, and Canada and which supports individuals to realize their potential and to establish, scale, and sustain social enterprises and social businesses.

The concept of “social entrepreneurship” is not a novel idea, but in the 2000s, it has become more popular among society and academic research, notably after the publication of “The Rise of the Social Entrepreneur” by Charles Leadbeater.

4.3 Definitions of Social Entrepreneurship

The following definitions combine an emphasis on discipline and accountability with the notions of value creation taken from, innovation and change agents from Schumpeter, pursuit of opportunity from Peter F. Drucker, and resourcefulness from Stevenson. In brief, these definitions can be stated as follows:

• • Social entrepreneurship occurs when “A person who pursues an innovative idea with the potential to solve a community problem. These individuals are willing to take on the risk and effort to create positive changes in society through their initiatives’’.
  • As Adam Smith explained in “The Wealth of Nations” (1776), “It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own self-interest.” Smith believed that when individuals pursued their own best interests, they would be guided toward decisions that benefited others. The baker, for example, wants to earn a living to support his family. To accomplish this, he produces a product, bread that feeds and nourishes hundreds of people’’.
  • According to Jean-Baptiste Say (1767-1832), a French economist, defined a social entrepreneur as a person who “undertakes” an idea and shifts perspectives in a way that it alters the effect that an idea has on society. An entrepreneur is further defined as someone who “shifts economic resources out of an area of lower and into an area of higher productivity and greater yield.”
  • A broad definition of the concept allows interdisciplinary research efforts to understand and challenge the notions behind social entrepreneurship. No matter in which sector of society certain organizations are, social entrepreneurship focuses on the social impact that an endeavour aims at. Whether social entrepreneurship is altruistic or not is less important than the effect it has on society.

4.4 Characteristics of Social Entrepreneurship

• Creativity – it is a must for social entrepreneurship, as new ideas have to be explored by such companies in order to make an impact as a socially aware entity. Creativity has two parts: goal-setting and problem-solving. Social entrepreneurs are creative enough to have a vision of what they want to happen and how to make that vision.

To cite an example of TATA – the advertisement talks about the increasing crime rate and the complacency of the society, therefore they have made a very impactful advertisement by using the slogan “ALARM TO BAJNE DO’’

• Entrepreneurial quality – it will be important for the entrepreneur to identify the required qualities and one special quality that separates then from normal entrepreneurs is “concern for the issues of the society and willingness to address them’’. Entrepreneurs have the vision of how society will be different, when their idea works, and they cannot stop until that idea works across the whole society.
• Social impacts of the idea, and ethical fibre – These social entrepreneurs seek profit in social output, where others would not expect profit. They also ignore evidence suggesting that their enterprises will fail and attempt to measure results which no one is equipped to measure. They are just concerned with the impact that their endeavour will make on the society and see the ethical standards are upheld.

4.5 Role of Social Entrepreneurship

Social entrepreneurs play the role of change agents in the social sector, by:

• Adopting a mission to create and sustain social value and not just private value.
• Recognizing and relentlessly pursuing new opportunities to serve that mission,
• Engaging in a process of continuous innovation, adaptation, and learning,
• Acting boldly without being limited by resources currently in hand
• Exhibiting heightened accountability for the outcomes created.

4.6 Types of Social Entrepreneurships

Entrepreneurship becomes a social endeavour, when it transforms social capital in a way that affects society positively. It is viewed as advantageous because the success of social entrepreneurship depends on many factors related to social impact that traditional corporate businesses do not prioritize.

Following are different types of Social Entrepreneurships:

• • Leveraged Non-Profit Model – This business model leverages financial and other resources in an innovative way to respond to social needs.
  • Hybrid Non-Profit Structure – This organizational structure can take a variety of forms, but is distinctive because the hybrid non-profit is willing to use profit from some activities to sustain its other operations which have a social or community purpose. Hybrid non-profits are often created to deal with government failures or market failures, as they generate revenue to sustain the operation without requiring loans, grants, and other forms of traditional funding.
  • Social Business Venture – These models are set up as businesses that are designed to create change through social means. Social business ventures evolved through a lack of funding. Social entrepreneurs in this situation were forced to become for-profit ventures, because loans and equity financing are hard to get for social businesses.
  • Philanthropreneurship – There are also a broader range of hybrid profit models, where a conventional business invests some portion of its profits on socially, culturally or environmentally beneficial activities. The term “Philanthropreneurship” has been applied to this type of activity.
  • Corporate social entrepreneurship – Corporate employees can also engage in social entrepreneurship, which may or may not be officially sanctioned by the company. This has been described as “corporate social entrepreneurship’’ or “Commercial Philanthropy” where commercial businesses are held and operated with all net proceeds going to serve social service needs.

4.7 Commercial Entrepreneurship – Concept

It is viewed as having profit as its main motive

Although the concept of entrepreneurship was first defined more than 250 years ago, many have held it as one of the mysterious forces of human nature. The practice of entrepreneurship is, as old as trading between tribes and villages. Earlier view of entrepreneurship focused on either the economic function of entrepreneurship or on the nature of the individual who is “the entrepreneur,” whereas in recent years, the focus has shifted on the various dynamics of the “how” of entrepreneurship which is defined as “The pursuit of opportunity beyond the tangible resources that one can currently control’’.

4.8 Characteristics of Commercial Entrepreneurship

• The entrepreneurial organization focuses on opportunity, not resources.
• Entrepreneurs must commit quickly, but tentatively, to be able to readjust as new information arises. If information is not used timely, the result can be adverse on profits.
• The process of commitment becomes multistage, limiting the commitment of resources at each stage to an amount sufficient to generate new information and success before more resources are sought.
• The entrepreneurial organization uses the resources that lie within the hierarchical control of others and, therefore, must manage the network as well as the hierarchy very well, so that decisions are taken in favour of the entity.

4.9 Comparison between Social & Commercial Entrepreneurship

4.10 Social Entrepreneurship vs. Entrepreneurship

• Social entrepreneurship is distinct from the concept of entrepreneurship, yet still shares several similarities with its business cousin.
• The difference between “entrepreneurship” and “social entrepreneurship”, however, stems from the purpose of a creation. Social entrepreneurs seek to transform societies at large, rather than a focus on their profit margin, as commercial entrepreneurs seek to do. Social entrepreneurs use a variety of resources to bring societies into a better state of well-being.
• Many activities related to community development and higher social purpose fall within the modern definition of social entrepreneurship. Despite various definitions, social entrepreneurship remains a difficult concept to define, since it may be manifested in multiple forms.

5. Netpreneurship

The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English defines “net-pre-neur’’ as someone who has started an Internet business.

Hence coining the word “Netpreneurship’’ with reference to entrepreneurship is defined as “a process of identifying and starting a business venture, sourcing and organizing the required resources and taking both the risks and rewards associated with the venture’’.

The netpreneurs are the people who make or deliver products and services for and over digital networks. It basically means a small start-up which is solely online or net based, with no physical office. Their website/blog/e-presence is their office. For example, it can be a freelancer, working from home taking projects online or launching e-marketing campaigns or running an SEO company. So, in a layman approach, it means making money online.

These days a lot of Netpreneurs have come up especially if they are seen on facebook & twitter, since it is free to join these websites and easy to promote content through the network. To cite an example, Khan Academy is the biggest example of a successful Netpreneur (Mr. Salman Khan) offering e-learning tutors/content worldwide through his website. Although now, this Khan Academy has taken a much bigger shape but Mr. Salman started as a netpreneur from home, uploading videos on subjects like mathematics and science.

Another example is ‘Vedantu’, who are promoting education through ‘net’ and even used KBC as a forum to popularise it.

A social medium which includes the networking sites such as Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Twitter etc. gives entrepreneurs and businesses a chance to engage their customers and communicate their message. It is interesting to note that The Internet in only about fourteen years old; yet it had already made several biggest communication platforms known to humankind. The fact is that Each “like’’ by any user on Facebook makes Mark Zuckerberg earn in dollars, making him one of the richest person in the world. All netpreneurs, have to be prepared, evolved and also adapt to these situations during their journey. Through the various net-working sites, an entrepreneur can do net-working and profile management, do information filter, build influence among peer group and show-case his/her talent.

5.1 Characteristics of Netpreneurship

As you know, that netpreneurship is the ability to start and manage a small business based exclusively on the Internet. The netpreneur, sometimes with intellectual capital as the only investment in the business, can grow a successful enterprise with very few resources.

Following are some of the characteristics of Netpreneurship

• • Boundaries of all kinds disintegrate between Countries, Industries, Organisations, Companies, Suppliers, Customers and Competitors.
  • Driven by greater choice of vendors and the ease of switching among them, makes brand loyalty more difficult.
  • Consumer expectations rise and a buyer’s tolerance for poor service and quality lessens.
  • Companies can create successful solutions in the New Economy by integrating diverse disciplines like technology, content, graphics, services, and relationships.
  • The traditional business world calls these models hybrids, but they may well represent the norm for the New Economy.
  • The Net enables the netpreneur to engage and involve stakeholders in every step of the way, from product conception through research and development, packaging, delivery, support, and the ongoing improvement process.
  • In this concept, People, not Technologies, are the most valuable business assets. With changing markets and new technologies, visionary leaders become paramount.
  • There are “Infomediaries,” who provide information about products and who locate the best choice or price, replace intermediaries, the traditional middlemen.
  • The most popular Intellectual assets in this form are information, objects, images, videos, movies, testimonials, stories.

5.2 Pre-requisites for being a successful Netpreneur

In order to flourish as a netpreneur in the current economic environment, the following essentials are required:

• • Pace – With advances in computing, globalization, the changing expectations of stakeholders, and the emergence of the Internet, the speed of change is faster than ever. The Netpreneur has to be able to react and respond quickly.
  • Flexibility – The speed of change around the Net requires that a business be much more flexible and adaptive than ever before. The Netpreneur must adept at reading and interpreting, and rapidly responding to changes wherever they occur-in technology, people and competition as well as in shifts in markets and buyer patterns.
  • Experimentation – The netpreneur must be willing to try out new ideas in the marketplace. Experiment and be ready to move quickly to adapt to what the market tells the Netpreneur.
  • Constant Innovation – Today, getting the product to market is only the start of the journey. The competition’s unrelenting force and the market’s demand for improvement makes it imperative that businesses focus on innovation.
  • Co-opetition – it is a word coined to describe cooperative competition. Coopetition occurs when companies interact and they cooperate with each other to reach a higher value creation.
  • Distribution Driven – The real challenge in today’s business world is distribution. Though, the Net lowers barriers to entry; yet to sustain success, businesses must build their brand and distribution channels, which is more involved and costly than many netpreneurs assume at the outset.
  • Niche Focused – The reach of the Net and distribution open up new market opportunities. Netpreneurs must focus on well-defined market sectors creating niches,where they can achieve a dominant position or discover unserved or under-served markets. In fact, the really exciting opportunities lie in creating new ones and then focusing on the core competencies.

5.3 Objectives of Netpreneurship

Social media provides great marketing opportunities for businesses of all sizes. Social media can be used for following objectives:

• • To promote the name of brand and business
  • To tell customers about goods and services
  • To find out what customers think of the business
  • To attract new customers
  • To build stronger relationships with existing customers.

Social media is getting bigger by the day. If one is not marketing on it, one is likely to miss large chunk of target consumers. Research, indicates that more than 90% of marketers use social media to promote their business.

5.4 Essentials for Netpreneurship/Social Media Marketing

One of the main purposes in employing Social Media in marketing as a communications tool, is to makes the companies accessible to those interested in their product and make them visible to those who have no knowledge of their products. Following are some essentials for media marketing to keep the netpreneur on right track across all social media campaigns:

• • Planning – As discussed previously, building a social media marketing, plan is essential for creating interest in target audience.
  • Effective Content – Consistent with other areas of online marketing, content reigns king, when it comes to social media marketing and content marketing. It should be ensured that valuable information for customers is interesting. Create a variety of content by implementing social media images, videos, and infographics in addition to classic text-based content.
  • Consistent Brand Image – Using social media for marketing enables the business to project the brand image across a variety of different social media platforms. While each platform has its own unique environment and voice, the business’ core identity should stay consistent.
  • Blogging – Blogging is a great social media marketing tool that lets one share a wide array of information and content with readers. The company blog can also serve as social media marketing blog, in which recent social media efforts, contests, and events are given.
  • Linking with outsiders – it is always good to link to outsiders as well. Linking to outside sources improves trust and reliability, and one may even get some links in return.
  • Tracking Competitors – It is important to keep an eye on competitors as they can provide valuable data for industry-related links, and other social media marketing insight. If competitors are using a certain social media marketing technique that seems to be working for them, the same can be adopted.

5.5 Different Social Media Marketing platforms

While platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Google + have a large number of users, the visual media sharing based mobile platforms however, garner a higher interaction rate in comparison and have registered the fastest growth and have changed the ways in which consumers engage with brand content. Instagram has an interaction rate of 1.46% with an average of 130 million users monthly as opposed to Twitter which has a .03% interaction rate with an average of 210 million monthly users.

In the online world, there are three formats to choose from, namely:

• Written word
• Audio
• Video

Following are some of the Social Media Marketing platforms

• Twitter – Twitter allows companies to promote their products in short messages limited to 140 characters which appear on followers’ home pages. Messages can link to the product’s website, Facebook profile, photos, videos, etc.
• Facebook – Facebook pages are far more detailed than Twitter accounts. They allow a product to provide videos, photos, and longer descriptions, and testimonials as other followers can comment on the product pages for others to see. Facebook can link back to the product’s Twitter page as well as send out event reminders.
• Google+ – Google+, in addition to providing pages and some features of Facebook, is also able to integrate with the Google search engine. Other Google products are also integrated, such as Google Adwords and Google Maps. With the development of Google Personalized Search and other location-based search services, Google+ allows for targeted advertising methods, navigation services, and other forms of location-based marketing and promotion.
• LinkedIn – LinkedIn, a professional business-related networking site, which allows companies to create professional profiles for themselves as well as their business to network and meet others. LinkedIn provides its members the opportunity to generate sales leads and business partners. Members can use “Company Pages” similar to Facebook pages to create an area that will allow business owners to promote their products or services and be able to interact with their customers. Due to spread of spam mail sent to job seeker, leading companies prefer to use LinkedIn for employee’s recruitment instead using different job portals.
• Instagram – Instagram’s goal is to help companies to reach their respective audiences, through captivating imagery in a rich, visual environment. Companies can get followers on Instagram and attract more customers if they manage to create visually appealing content. Instagram provides a platform, where user and company can communicate directly, making itself an ideal platform for companies to connect with their current and potential customers. Many brands are now heavily using this mobile app to boost their visual marketing strategy. Instagram can be used to gain the necessary momentum needed to capture the attention of the market segment that has an interest in the product offering or services. As Instagram is supported by Apple and android system, it can be easily accessed by smart phone users. Moreover, it can be accessed by Internet also. Thus, the marketers see it as a potential platform to expand their brands exposure to the public, especially the younger target group.
• YouTube – YouTube is another popular avenue; advertisements are done in a way to suit the target audience. The type of language used in the commercials and the ideas used to promote the product reflect the audience’s style and taste. Also, the advertisements on this platform are usually in sync with the content. Promotional opportunities such as sponsoring a video is also possible on YouTube, it also enables publishers to earn money through its YouTube Partner Program.
• Blogs – Platforms like LinkedIn create an environment for companies and clients to connect online. Companies that recognize the need for information, originality, and accessibility employ blogs to make their products popular and unique, and ultimately reach out to consumers who are privy to social media. Blogs allow a product or company to provide longer descriptions of products or services can include testimonials and can link to and from other social network and blog pages. Blogs can be updated frequently and are promotional techniques for keeping customers and also for acquiring followers and subscribers, who can then be directed to social network pages.
• Tumblr – Tumblr first launched advertisement products on May 29, 2012. Rather than relying on simple banner advertisement, Tumblr requires advertisers to create a Tumblr blog so the content of those blogs can be featured through the site. In one year, four native advertisement formats were created on web and mobile, and had more than 100 brands advertising on Tumblr with 500 cumulative sponsored posts.

5.6 Rise of OTT Platforms in India

The first dependent Indian OTT platform was BIGFlix, launched by Reliance Entertainment in 2008.

Hotstar, now Disney + Hotstar, is the most subscribed–to OTT platform in India.

American streaming service Netflix entered India in January 2016. In April 2017, it was registered as a limited liability partnership (LLP) and started commissioning content.

There is a huge list including List of podcast platforms in India.

YouTube is also being used by people for uploading content, food shows etc., which make good money on the basis of number of viewership they have.

5.7 Advantages of Netpreneurship

• Unlimited opportunities
• Freedom, independence & autonomy for the Netpreneur
• Continuous challenge, variety and interest
• Personal choice of management style for the Netpreneur
• Responsibility for and involvement in the whole business.