Education + Social Networking = Killer Combination?
Well just read this news here… I had seen Bharatstudent.com around 2 months back myself and at that time to me atleast the USP of this site wasn’t completely evident!
Recently a fellow WATblogger called me asking whether "BharatStudent.com had raised funding?" I said "I haven’t heard anything of that sort.. Why do you ask?" He said "I am seeing TV ads by them!".
Well then we came to WAT office and it slipped our mind to check on this site (Pardon us for the slip up)
So i finally woke up to this and started doing a bit of my own research and this is what i found..
Around march this year the portal was launched by Priyanka Chopra .. Read Here
Around May the announcement of their parent company investing 25 crore in the site came .. Read More
And now the news regarding bharatstudent being one of the leading indian social network with 1.4 million users.
The article claims that the site is paying students Rs.4000-25000 per month to be campus representatives and act as word of mouth marketers in universities in india and abroad and provide authentic information on living expenses, experience etc about that university and also upload university video and get more signups. BharatStudent claims to have over 400 such sturent representatives.
The question that comes to mind after seeing this kind of model is that.. IS EDUCATION + SOCIAL NETWORKING = A KILLER COMBO??
Well we do see the two doing well together as another education + social community/networking platform Pagalguy.com sees thousands of wannabe MBA types thronging to their site to know more about how to crack the innumerable entrance tests (CAT being the biggest of them all).
It would be interesting to see how many more such niche education + social networking sites show up. After all study abroad and MBA aspirants is still just two kinds of student profile. I feel there is scope for more focussed communities.
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hii, just search orkut topics for " tinyurl nude " and you will get the list of topics where you will found many "tinyurl" links which will redirect you to BharatStudent.com
Just check this small post ( link www.convergence.in/blog/ ) by someone on spamming by bharatstudent on orkut and methods of advertising adopted by them or any of their representative.
Its a spam site . As amit said, they spam in numerous sites.,
with their stupid site
They spam most of my own yahoo groups
Also its not the education + SOCIAL NETWORKING = A KILLER COMBO, but may be
A vertical Concept + SOCIAL NETWORKING = A KILLER COMBO - I think
Bharatstudent is a spammer.don't encourage that kind of sites.Bharatstudent sucks
i would like to request WATblog team to delete this post as this will be just like promoting bharatstudent
Thanks for all your comments. Well as far as spamming goes even minglebox spammed me on orkut but they got funded by sequoia later. This post as you see is focussed more on education + socialnetworking being a good model. Bharatstudent has got the numbers with them and though they might be spammers they are building a niche where there are very few players hence an opportunity for them to lead.
We are just commenting on the way they spam…( using porn postings)..
I agree amit. It may not be the most ethical marketing tactic. But as you can see its effective for them. It can only be useful if their product is good. And their niche of study abroad students is something that can be very powerful in the future i.e. if they are able to build and sustain a large enough community.
A nice email (attached below) from someone I never met…clearly another unethical marketing technique used by bharatstudent or it's affiliate.
My dearest Raj
I think you have not forgot me and i wish not to forget pls after long time
im feeling to talk with you even you did not try to mail me but now i want
to talk with you and i got a job in an MNC company bass life is going on
please come online na once you register in the below site please search my
id it is "neha.pretty4" and do send messege to me so that i can reply and we
can chat whenever we come online my heart says that you only can be my best
friend and i need talk with you so much i request you to pleaaase atleast
this time send me your photo i want see you how u looks.
Please use this link only to get in this is only for our communication.*
http://www.bharatstudent.com/register.php?refcode=AB001
*
With love
Neha
Guys, no website exists without spamming! All the bigwigs now have done it before n everyone knows abt it! The end point is we need to appreciate few good features coming up in couple of Indian sites like Bharatstudent.com, minglebox and Ibibo. Firstly Bharatstudent.com has couple of unique features like hiring campus reps in india and abroad which will be helpful for students to earn a buck. then it has study abroad section which i think if they concentrate well would take them to next level! there's another interesting feature where in users would be paid for uploading original videos.
And if you observe mingle box, i can tell u this is one of the most profesionally designed website. besides social networking they have some good college videos too.
N lastly Ibibo is the first of its kind in India. they pay top bloggers every month.
so guys, instead of creating negative impact about the websites, try to lookinto the features of each site and let others know abt it, so that they can get benifited! Cheers!!
Who the fuc* is this… "Cheers" guy claiming to look at the positive features of a spamming model. I am he must be a part of it. bloddy rascals. "getting paid for blogging"…. yeah!!! so now u wanna pay someone to write blogs… which is usually considered a unpaid hobby!!! and which are the 'bigwigs" this guy is talking about…who have used these features…. get out of here!!!
EVERYONE, use your own mind, and keep others suggestions at a hands distance… dont just gulp what ppl say..!! apply your conscience.
Good luck!!!
Here is a refined version of Bharatstudent.com: www.go-abroad.net