Saturday, July 14, 2007

Idea # 3 - Offline Communities!

Ram (Thunder, Stanes buddy) and Ramachandran ( Mullu, BITS buddy ) got me thinking on this.
People at offices spend quite a bit of time on social networking sites such as orkut, which has led company management to prevent access to these sites - That is just one instance of the popularity of the social networking sites and online communities.
Now, how about taking these "online" communities "offline".
What will the company do : Provide a platform for members of online communities to meet up offline. For example - if there is a community in orkut on " Salsa Dancing - Chennai " - The members can meet up at a phyical location in Chennai and learn, discuss, practise and even make friendships!
Why will the members meet : Though online communities are an excellent platform to discuss but to "do/ execute" the discussions, we need real/physical entities. I've been a part of 2 online communities - Chennai Runners and Chennai Ultimate Frisbee gang. Both of these communities have an online and offline presence. Each cannot exist on its own and each complements the other. We discuss ideas on training, diet , exercise etc in the chennai runners google groups and meet up every morning for a run. Same happens with the frisbee gang as well.
This company will target those communities that do not have a physical presence in a particular city.
What are your thoughts on this idea?

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