Internet today is fraught with social networking websites and community platforms. Each of them is trying to attract the users by offering different features. But when we look around, there are not many ‘successful’ SNWs .The reason being, not many of them actually offer you any unique feature.

We expect less customization: Why are we satisfied with what a SNW or a platform has to offer us and limit ourselves to the constraints they put on the way we interact socially? Why are we expecting less from the web when it has endless possibilities?

We expect less (read ’no’) branding: The content that users bring along with them to a community platform or a SNW add to the value of these platform. This makes Flickr: ‘the destination for best photos’ or Youtube: ‘the place to find great videos’. What about the branding of the user? Well, he/she is a ‘mere quality enhancer’ and a ‘mere content provider’ to these sites who may even has to pay for these platforms!

We expect less (read ’no’) money: Most social networking sites have ad-based revenue model in which they earn money by selling ad spaces on each page. So every page (including any user’s profile page) is being sold by these SNWs to ads. Now to make this model work these SNWs rely on the users’ content to engage other users. Interesting! So my video with some friends having a wild vacation on the beach is ideal for these SNWs to make money. I wonder why I am not getting paid for my content or for being popular and driving more traffic to my profile page?

We need to change the way we ‘are’ on the web. We should not be ‘mere providers of value and quality’ or ‘providers’ for that matter. We should keep our content and still get the due credit for its value. This can only be achieved when we start differentiating ‘platform/tool providers’ and the ‘content/quality providers’ and start appreciating them for who they are.

Expect more! Demand more! Let’s paint the web RED.

Here, begins the official journey of Redanyway. This is our first startup with three founding members i.e. me, Rohan and Sujay. Even though we made a few small attempts before, this is our first full-fledged startup. An attempt of launching a Go-karting track in Pune tops that chart and please don’t ask me, where all that came from.

Our story goes back to more than five years from now. We have been friends since our college days, have shared many ‘first’ moments and this is one of them. We had very interesting journey so far on Redanyway, going back and forth and dropping the ’s’ from the name is one them. It all began back in India with an idea, in an attempt to help the whole web. Everything else then just followed, like an application to Techstars, then getting shortlisted only to be put in the alternate list and finally getting here in Boulder. Yes, there is another interesting story behind how we landed here, but that’s for later or may be not. To say it in less words, we had a short stint in Techstars, we learned a lot and we really thank David and Techstars for that.

We have now begun on this with a very strong belief and excitement. At this moment, I cannot divulge much details about Redanyway, but I can assure you there is something in it for you. Me and my friends will be sharing moments and experience of this beautiful journey from time to time with you and also giving out all the product updates on this blog. So hit the subscribe button on the right.

You can also follow us on twitter at http://twitter.com/redanyway or mail us at info(at)redanyway(.)com