Facebook has been one the most humbling success of the last decades when it comes down to the '.com bubble'. Zumbl.com, a chat site to chat with strangers meaningfully, seems to be on a similar path. Not only both of them started within the dormitories, after the nerdy founders felt the absence of such a product in their real lives, both of them have something much more in common they are trying to get anyone, and everyone to get hooked on to their platforms.
Abhishek(20) and Saurabh(19), technology aficionados from IIT Delhi, the leading institute of India decided to dive into this space of networking with strangers 6 months back,with their product that they named as Zumbl, and decided to give a blow to sites like Omegle, Chatroulette, Rounds.com and Airtime which allow users to chat random.
Just like facebook, Zumbl was an instant hit. In a short span of a few months, over 1 lac users from 180 nations worldwide had already exchanged over 2 million messages on the site. And all of this with null expenditure on marketing! An year back, facebook launched the novel graph search to allow users to search for friends or friends of friends with a particular interest, Zumbl decided to go a step ahead of it. “Ever wanted to talk to an entrepreneur based in Israel, a zumba trainee in Cuba or a tea lover from India? Then Zumbl is the place to be at.”, says Abhishek. “We are creating a platform where one can discover new and interesting people, their lifestyle and culture.
![zumbl]( "zumbl")
We are opening new windows of opportunities to allow users to talk about any specific topic like feminism in Islam or Relationships or how to be a part of a NGO. We are dedicated to the idea of building a place where you can engage in meaningful conversations and have fun at the same time.” On being asked about their comparison to giants like facebook, Saurabh said "Facebook is undoubtedly the largest social network but how easy is it, in reality to contact someone who isn’t your friend on facebook?
Sending a facebook message to someone you don't know on facebook, is creepy even if you have spent a dollar on it. And that is where Zumbl comes 1 into the picture."Zumbl is not just about chatting, its a gamified platform where users have their own profile with tags they received from other users they interact with and an avatar. "Avatars on Zumbl have a utility value, give a unique identity to each user as they evolve based on the tags they receive", said Shinja, the design ninja of Zumbl.
Users can also have random chats with strangers having similar interests based on their list of favorite hobbies, songs and movies. They have different groups for passionate entrepreneurs, for the curious ones who are interested in psychology , for those who have a taste for music , for the bloggers who have the power of words, for the gamers and for all those who are not engineers.
They are now launching 6 new groups on popular requests. These are Foodie, Traveller, Movie lovers, Sports, Spirituality and LGBT. “ The platform is currently credit based where a user gets virtual credits based on his behavior and he/she can spend them on using the different features on the site.”,informed Chaitali who handles Marketing and Communications.
Unlike other anonymous portals, Zumbl has a transparent moderation. The moderation on the site is done by the top Zumblrs ( A term coined by the users themselves to show their love for Zumbl.) According to their latest stats report, Zumbl is adding a new user every 90 seconds with every chat session starting every 10 seconds. For a startup still in it’s alpha stage, this amount of traction is really brilliant. They have recently launched their app on android and iPhone.
Zumbl so far atleast, has been able to maintain a very good culture on their site sans profanity and abusive behavior as can be witnessed on other stranger chatting portals. The question ,if Zumbl will be able to change the ecosystem of interactions between strangers, will be answered soon in the coming future.
Link: Zumbl.com
Abhishek(20) and Saurabh(19), technology aficionados from IIT Delhi, the leading institute of India decided to dive into this space of networking with strangers 6 months back,with their product that they named as Zumbl, and decided to give a blow to sites like Omegle, Chatroulette, Rounds.com and Airtime which allow users to chat random.
Just like facebook, Zumbl was an instant hit. In a short span of a few months, over 1 lac users from 180 nations worldwide had already exchanged over 2 million messages on the site. And all of this with null expenditure on marketing! An year back, facebook launched the novel graph search to allow users to search for friends or friends of friends with a particular interest, Zumbl decided to go a step ahead of it. “Ever wanted to talk to an entrepreneur based in Israel, a zumba trainee in Cuba or a tea lover from India? Then Zumbl is the place to be at.”, says Abhishek. “We are creating a platform where one can discover new and interesting people, their lifestyle and culture.
We are opening new windows of opportunities to allow users to talk about any specific topic like feminism in Islam or Relationships or how to be a part of a NGO. We are dedicated to the idea of building a place where you can engage in meaningful conversations and have fun at the same time.” On being asked about their comparison to giants like facebook, Saurabh said "Facebook is undoubtedly the largest social network but how easy is it, in reality to contact someone who isn’t your friend on facebook?
Sending a facebook message to someone you don't know on facebook, is creepy even if you have spent a dollar on it. And that is where Zumbl comes 1 into the picture."Zumbl is not just about chatting, its a gamified platform where users have their own profile with tags they received from other users they interact with and an avatar. "Avatars on Zumbl have a utility value, give a unique identity to each user as they evolve based on the tags they receive", said Shinja, the design ninja of Zumbl.
Users can also have random chats with strangers having similar interests based on their list of favorite hobbies, songs and movies. They have different groups for passionate entrepreneurs, for the curious ones who are interested in psychology , for those who have a taste for music , for the bloggers who have the power of words, for the gamers and for all those who are not engineers.
They are now launching 6 new groups on popular requests. These are Foodie, Traveller, Movie lovers, Sports, Spirituality and LGBT. “ The platform is currently credit based where a user gets virtual credits based on his behavior and he/she can spend them on using the different features on the site.”,informed Chaitali who handles Marketing and Communications.
Unlike other anonymous portals, Zumbl has a transparent moderation. The moderation on the site is done by the top Zumblrs ( A term coined by the users themselves to show their love for Zumbl.) According to their latest stats report, Zumbl is adding a new user every 90 seconds with every chat session starting every 10 seconds. For a startup still in it’s alpha stage, this amount of traction is really brilliant. They have recently launched their app on android and iPhone.
Zumbl so far atleast, has been able to maintain a very good culture on their site sans profanity and abusive behavior as can be witnessed on other stranger chatting portals. The question ,if Zumbl will be able to change the ecosystem of interactions between strangers, will be answered soon in the coming future.
Link: Zumbl.com
