How RIAs are going mainstream with pamphlets & inserts…

I chanced across this funny blogpost about a local advertisement in Hyderabad for RIA (rich internet applications) training. It looks like a pamphlet or newspaper insert, and as the writer points out, its trying to do the offline equivalent of keyword stuffing by sprinkling words like “real time Technocrat”, “complex US projects”, “Rich Internet Applications”, “Web 2.0? etc. Wonder what was response (read click through rate) for this “SEO optimised” ad. Thanks Niyaz for this scoop!

Something else that comes to mind is the advent of RIAs. Back in 2004 when my company started working on rich interfaces, RIAs were virtually an unheard word. Flash was the dominant rich media vehicle and it was owned by Macromedia, which was doing its best to spread the word by organising day long (paid) workshops in the metros. There were no Barcamps or unconferences around in 2004-05. In 2006-07, I started noticing buzzwords like RIAs (& Web 2.0) in the newspaper recruitment ads (in Times of India Ascent) from the big Indian software companies. And now (as the above example shows), RIAs seem to have punched through to the lowest rung of the IT training ladder.

On the same note, check out this earlier post; it reflects on how companies are trying to leverage on the web2.0 buzzword in their recruitment ads.