Kirthiga Reddy named one of the Most Creative People 2013
When Kirthiga Reddy opened Facebook's India office in 2010, the site had just 8 million users in a nation of 1.2 billion people. Since
then, she's grown Facebook India's ninefold, to 71 million as of the end of
2012--healthy growth, given that only a tenth of Indians have Internet access.
Reddy credits Facebook's new age
workplace culture, which she imported from Silicon Valley. The "flat
culture," as Reddy calls it, is radically different from the hierarchical
and bureaucratic Indian norm. "You're not here to do just what you're
told. You're here to see gaps and to act upon them." New hires in India
often find it hard to embrace, and worry that forward conversations may
jeopardize their work. "Actually, the relationship will be stronger."
Reddy also brings a deep
understanding of how Indians use the platform differently from users in other
countries. While typical Facebookers start on their desktops, members in India
tend to go mobile. "Sometimes [users] never got to the desktop at
all," Reddy says. This insight led to the Facebook
for Every Phone initiative, an app that
extended the social network beyond smartphones to cheaper, lower-end phones.
Because Facebook Messenger is used
more in India than elsewhere--often as a substitute for SMS or phone
calls--Reddy created a standalone Messenger app enabling users to communicate
without opening the Facebook app. Last year, a turmeric farmer, concerned about
falling prices for his crop, used Facebook on his phone to contact other
farmers across the country. They withheld supply for several days, restoring
prices, and showing the power of connected community. Such stories, says Reddy,
"bring the picture together for us."
http://www.fastcompany.com/3009243/most-creative-people-2013/4-kirthiga-reddy?partner=newsletter
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