All of us keep receiving “requests” from perfect strangers (most of the time), to “accept” them as “friends” or wanting to be “linked.”
Such requests come mostly from members of Facebook or LinkedIn.
Senders of such requests need to go online, using PC/broadband, to send out the requests.
Recipients also need to be online, to receive — and accept — requests through email.
But in India, only 100 million people access internet — and that too, once a week.
If you use criteria of “every alternate day,” then that number drops to 50 million!
As against this, 900 million people have mobile phones — of which, close to 50 million have smart phones.
In 2 years time, 100 million will have smart phones — or tablets.
And, unlike a PC/broadband, these smart phones are always ON and always AVAILABLE!
So, how about developing a widget which will:
✅ Enable “sending out” requests
- ✅ Enable “accepting” requests— directly from a smartphone/tablet?
Should be possible.
Obviously, both the “Requests” as well as the “Acceptances” will pass through our website, which will (like Facebook / LinkedIn) create necessary pages.
Now the (interesting) twist, which, I hope, will make our widget much more popular than Facebook / LinkedIn:
For the 47 lakh candidates on our site, we already know,
✅ Gender (Male / Female)
✅ City (Location)
✅ Age (Birth Date)
So, the moment a widget-user logs in (using his email ID / password), we know about him, these 3 things.
So, the widget will show/display names / brief details of 5 members, who:
✅ Belong to the SAME city
✅ Belong to opposite sex
✅ Are about the SAME age
Widget UI Mockup (as drawn):
As usual, if the widget user wants to see 5 more names, he will need to click/touch a product advt (No free lunch!)
Obviously, a widget-user, can send a “Be My Friend” request to another member ONLY ONCE.
We do NOT want any particular member to be "stalked / harassed" through repeated requests, from the same person.
So, if the option (to ☑ and SEND) is not exercised for any displayed name, it is gone forever!
This means, keeping track (a log?) of “Names Displayed So Far”, for each & every widget user, to ensure there is no repetition, while delivering 5 fresh/new names.
And of course, every time a widget-user logs in, 5 New names will be displayed.
Same City
Opposite Sex
Let us use following logic:
Take widget user’s birth date (i.e., age = 25)
Go back 5 years (i.e., age = 20)
Start delivering “Names” of members, who are 20 years old
Continue upward (till “ascending age” list gets exhausted).
Dear Member:
We assure you that you will NOT receive a repeat request from this person, anytime in future.
Now, “accepting” (or rather, being able to “accept”) an invitation through email, is only a halfway house!
It puts us in the same “class” as Facebook / LinkedIn!!
NO GOOD!
Alternative?
If the “Recipient” is also a widget-user, then the “Invitation” should be delivered onto the screen of his/her widget, with provisions to:
View sender’s brief profile
ACCEPT / REJECT buttons
These preliminary thoughts can be debated & improved upon, if the concept itself looks promising.
