Soch.la is the World’s First Social Network for Cricket Fans

Cricket is huge in India and now there is even a social network platform for it. Founded just weeks before the Cricket World Cup 2011, Soch.la, is the world’s first social network for Cricket fans. On Soch.la, you can watch live streaming Cricket games and interact with other Cricket fans. However, note that not all games are streamed due to copyright issues. But the real value of Soch.la lies in its ability to connect with fellow Cricket friends.

“In the future, we would like to consider the option of licensing live streaming option for us as well,” explained Pradeep Chopra, Co-founder of Soch.la.

The Soch.la team consists of Pradeep Chopra, Kapil Nakra and Manas Garg, who are cricket lovers and batch mates from IIT. Relying on their own experience that cricket is best enjoyed with friends, the founders ensured that Soch.la’s foundation was based on social connection (i.e. users login using their Facebook profile) and communication (i.e. post, comment, like, share etc) with their friends.

Interestingly, Chopra shared with us that conversations on Soch.la are usually live even before the match begins. He also said that users are amazed with the speed of the score update. At times they were surprised to see scores on Soch.la ahead of TV. Indeed, it is a promising start for a niche market. Within a month, Soch.la has attracted about 2,500 registered members, 15,000 visits and 75,000 page views. User interactivity is high with over 7,500 comments, 5000 posts and 2,500 likes on the site so far.

It’s a good start and the team is looking to build on its foundation. Besides live streaming games, Chopra told us that mobile and social gaming will be two main future developments in the near future. We will be keeping a close watch on Soch.la’s growth.

Just in case you are as curious as we are on the name ‘Soch.la,’ Chopra explained:

“We wanted to come up with some unusual name and also wanted a short URL so that our brand doesn’t get diluted when people share their conversations on Soch.la to other social networks. In addition, it is now becoming a good reason for people to start conversation about Soch.la when they look at the name.”

Also catch: Indian Premiere League Rules on Social Media in India