Ibibo: forces followers
By Sandhya

Ibibo was launched 4 years ago and is now one of the better known internet, social networking and mobile products companies in India.   It is jointly owned by South Africa’s Naspers and Chinese net major Tencent.  Ibibo spent millions advertising its games ibibo Farms and Teen Patti during the TV broadcasts of the current IPL.

Last year, Businessweek placed ibibo among the ‘world’s top 50 technology startups’. 

Highly regarded business, tech and startup blog Pluggd.in is now reporting that ibibo is pumping up the profiles (and egos?) of its celebrity members by forcing ordinary members to follow them.  There is some heartburn as ibibo is not even giving members a choice.  The ibibo member just receives an email saying ‘You are now following Rahul Bhat..’

So, in theory this could lead to a potentially awkward situation of Shashi Tharoor being forced to follow Lalit Modi if both join ibibo and Shashi is no longer a celebrity after his exit from the Ministry.  That may be an extreme example but it is quite possible that a staunch middle class BJP ibibo member may find himself following a Congress celebrity.

Expect ibibo to issue a clarification soon. Or roll back this ‘feature’