A friend shared an article, with me, about Milojee.com. My first thought was, it was an indianized version of ‘meetup.com‘. On seeing the website I felt it was another Free Dating website out there in the cyberspace. One thing different though was it was not just Dating; it had Friendship, Networking and Matrimony too. Well, coming from an Indian perspective I would see Friendship > Dating > Matrimony as the default path, with the chemistry ending at any stage the involved choose to. However, when you looked at Networking > Friendship, thats a pretty common mode of approach around the globe. So I was keen to find the uniqueness of the website.
I called up my friend and asked what the USP of the website and he put me onto Varun, the guy from Milojee.com. My conversation with him, post some detailed observations of the website, was such:
Shyam: What are the 2 main differentiators that you see between Shaadi and Milojee?
Varun: While Shaadi is purely a Matrimonial website, Milojee is a social network that helps you get aquainted to new people, make friends, seek dating partners and also look for matrimonial alliances.
Moreover, on Milojee, unlike Shaadi, Chatting and Sending Messages is not charged. The structure as such is less Cluttered with just the required details, which the fun, young and hip like.
Shyam: How do you plan to carve a niche away from the many free Dating sites exsistent in the cyberspace?
Varun: While most of them seem more like a open space with very few guidelines, Milojee brings people together by virtue of being a social networking space and helps people find each other in friendship, dating, matrimony & networking. The fact that all the verbose content entered on the profile passes through a scrutiny by the backend team, its obvious we are serious about the quality of people on Milojee.com.
Shyam: You have said in an article on articlesnatch that this sight is for South Asians. Do you include Srilanka, Pakistan, Bhutan, Indonesia, Malaysia, etc. in your target segment?
Varun: To start with Milojee is focusing on the Indians and Pakistanis residing in any part of the world. Once Milojee is popular enough, we certainly plan to spread the benefits to the rest of South Asia.
Shyam: I understand that you are open not just to NRIs but also to Resident Indians. With money known to be with the NRIs, what made you take this approach?
Varun: Milojee basically appeals to the mass market. Its not always about catering to the big money markets. Why should the Resident Indians lose out? Diversity is phenominal and Indians have been leaders of beliefs, thus I see benefitting them equally essential.
Shyam: Considering Milojee is not just a Dating site, how much of the focus is on Dating vs Matrimonial vs Netwoking vs Friendship in percentage?
Varun: We have seen trends of Milojee where Dating and Matrimonial users are more than the other two. On a percentile basis, considering the precent scenario, I would say Milojee users seeking relationships are split in this fashion:Dating = 30%Matrimony = 60%Networking = 5%Friendship = 5% .
Shyam: Don’t you think the concept of Religion and Caste have been let far behind by the GenX and GenY youths? Why still have those fields in your form?
Varun: As stated earlier Milojee users pursuing Matrimonial intentions are higher. Indians today, however liberal, still consider these factors vital to compliance between two to be life partners. Milojee would not want to ignore those parameters of compatibitlity, including those that would help people see traditional compatibility as a must.
Shyam: What procedures do you follow to keep your site clean from the illict attention seekers?
Varun: That’s a good question. Milojee has hourly moderation, strict action against offensive content and limit on the number of messages that can be sent by members. This helps a healthy ecosystem for both the loyal members and new users.
Shyam: Most people upload cartoons or film star photos as profile pictures on Social Networking websites. How do you discourage that?
Varun: As long as it is offensive content Milojee automatically treats it like any other unclean material. However, we at Milojee dont believe we should regulate those who put harmless Cartoon or Celebrity pictures as their profile pictures, as we understand that they might just be too shy to reveal their photographic identity to start with. They might be the ones that want the other to give more importance to personality vis-a-vis looks. The Milojee moderation team does not think it needs moderation for now. We sure are contemplating use of silhouettes though.
Shyam: Thanks Varun, that was all I had to ask you today. Wish you Success with Milojee.com.
Varun: Thanks Shyam, its been a Pleasure talking to you. Thanks for your time.
Looking at all thats been said, there certianly has been quite a thought put into Milojee.com, however I still see the User Experience not rising unless the Interface and Usability is improved.
What do you have to say, friends and readers?
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