Dear Richa :
I was thrilled to read about YourDost.com , in DNA ( 31 July )
Why ?
Read my blog below
With Regards,
hemen
parekh
(
M ) +91 - 98,67,55,08,08
Sunday, 24 July 2016
Share - Your - Soul /
Outsourcing Unlimited
-------------------------------------
Business
Line ( 23 July , 2016 ) carried an interesting report re mushrooming of
" Rent-a-Friend " services in Japan, where you can " rent "
( on hourly basis ) , a fake friend , a family member or a companion for
various occasions
One
Nashimoto even " rents " himself out for " conversation "
to 30 / 40 clients a month ( 70 % women ), for $ 10 per hour . He has an online
service .
All
kinds of people ( young and old / rich and not-so-rich ), engage him for
reasons ranging from,
*
lack of family support / keeping company ( physically or online )
*
social isolation / detachment from society
*
desire to speak out freely without inhibitions
*
advice on dealing with bosses..........etc
Now
, online space is overflowing with some genuine ( and some , otherwise ) ,
" Escort Services " in many countries ( including , in India ) ,
which are very expensive
And
for every rich person in need of such an escort service , there are a hundred ,
not-so-rich and needy persons , who just need someone online , from time to
time , to pour out their hearts !
I
believe , thousands of educated / unemployed Indians are well placed to render
such " Listening " services to needy persons all around the World ,
remotely , using Skype / FaceTime
Here
is an outline of my suggestion , re how young / educated / unemployed Indians
can offer such service :
# VEHICLE
This strictly " Online " service will have a platform called ,
www...COUCH...com ( supported by a Mobile App )
# USERS
There will be two kinds of users who will register on this site , viz:
* " Talkers " , who want to engage
someone who will listen to them / sympathize with them
* " Listeners " , who will listen
patiently / ask occasional question / offer advice - sympathy - empathy
# REGISTRATION FORM
For
both type of users , the Registration Form will require to submit following
details :
* Personal Details ( Name / DOB / Gender / Nationality / Bank
Account No / Photo / Short Video etc )
* Family Details ( Who are members of immediate family ? )
* Contact Details ( Address / Mobile No / Email ID / Skype -
FaceTime ID / WatsApp..etc )
* Social Media Footprint ( Facebook / LinkedIn /
Twitter : No of Friends - Contacts - Connections - Followers )
* Cultural Exposure ( Countries visited / lived-in ,
with stay-periods / Foreign friends )
* Educational Details ( Degrees / Colleges ) . Listeners
having degree in Psychology will get ranked higher !
* Language Details ( Languages spoken / fluently - reasonably well )
* Experience Details ( Where worked / for how long ) .
Retired / Worldly Wise , Listeners get ranked higher !
* Availability Details ( Available from - to / GMT- Local
time )
Based
on the completeness of the Registration Form Details , a software will rate and
rank the Listeners , which will
be
visible to the Talkers
There
will be facility to update / edit the data submitted
Upon
registration , users will be assigned USER ID and PASSWORD
In
addition , Listener will be assigned a unique COUCH /
INTERVIEW-CABIN number
# SEARCHING DATABASE OF LISTENERS
Talkers will be able to search the database of the registered Listeners , except for their " Contact Details "
Talkers can , then select / shortlist , a few listeners
of their preference
# SERVICE CHARGE
Talkers will pay $ 2 per hour to the portal , which will credit this amount to
the Bank Account of the concerned
Listener , after deducting 10 % as its own commission
# PAYMENT MECHANISM
Using online payment gateway , Talkers will deposit a minimum of $ 20 ,
on the portal as PRE-PAID amount
As Talker continues using the service , credit balance
will get displayed ( in $ and in " Hours " terms )
There will be facility for online ( or through Mobile ) re-charging of the
account
# PROCESS
A Listener can login anytime and occupy his own virtual
COUCH / CABIN ( " I am
now available for listening "
)
As soon as he does , a GREEN light will shine on the CABIN ,
showing the online availability of the concerned
Listener .
This
green light will tell the Talkers : " Welcome ! I am ready to listen "
The light will turn RED , as soon as a Talker walks into Listener's CABIN ( " I am engaged right now " )
Any time a Talker logs in , he will find if
any Listeners ( that he had previously shortlisted ) are
available online
If he finds one , he simply CLICKS on the CABIN icon and enters that VIRTUAL
cabin !
Simultaneously , both the Talker and the Listener , turn on their Skype ( on Mobile or Tablet ) to
start the talk
Remember , Skype ID of neither the Talker , nor the
Listener , is ever visible to each other !
All conversation / transaction , can ONLY take place through www...COUCH...com
( no bypassing ! )
The entire conversation will get recorded ( Video + Audio ) and can be
downloaded by the Talker ( but not by
the Listener ) , if he so desires
Portal will be obliged to make this recording available to a Court of Law , in
case of any litigation
Portal will carry a WARNING that it reserves the right to remove any Talker or a Listener ,
if it finds that its
service is being misused / abused ( will need defining , in detail )
# REPUTATION SYSTEM
At the end of each " talk / conversation " , Talker will be obliged to " Rate " the concerned Listener
on a 5 point scale ( Excellent > Horrible ) .
Cumulative
/ Average " Rating " will be prominently
displayed for guidance of all Talkers .
Of
course , a Listener can see his own rating as soon as he logs in
At some future date , it should be possible ( through appropriate software ) ,
to introduce following variations in
pricing of the service ( ie ; Hourly Rates )
:
* Surge Pricing ( depending upon the DEMAND of any given
Listener ) ie: No of Talkers waiting for a given
Listener at a given point of time
* Reputation Pricing , based on points accumulated by a
given Listener from all past ratings
# USAGE HISTORY
For each user ( Listener or Talker )
, there will be a Usage History page of all the past transactions / talks ; as
also Credit Balance ( for the Talker ) and the Earnings ( for the Listener )
# PRIVACY
The portal will NOT reveal any info / data ( including
Audio-Video recording ) of any user to anyone else.
However , portal will reserve the rights to subject those Audio recordings (
but not Video recordings ) to
an Artificial Intelligence ( AI ) software
, which can , over a course of time , come up with a SOFTWARE ROBOT
that can take over the role of the HUMAN listeners ! If you have
any doubts , ask Ray
Kurzweil !
When that happens , this portal may morph into a PPO ( Psychology
Process Outsourcing ) !
The portal will also reserve the rights to use the Audio recordings for
offering Voice-to-Voice language
translation mobile app for the benefit of world-travelers
# PROMOTING THE SERVICE
To an extent , the portal may affect the jobs of local Psychologists /
Psycho-Analysts who offer low level
consulting in any country. They will be in danger of being " Bangalored
" ! So , it is bound to face resistance
from those vested / threatened interests !
But foreign Hospitals / Educational Institutions / NGOs / Medical Colleges ,
etc could be targeted for promoting
# BUSINESS MODEL
Business Model will be in the nature of " Sharing Economy " , where those owning / possessing "
Idle / Spare /
Under-utilized " assets / resources , will offer the same to those in need
/ when in need , for a price
Eg:
Millions of private car-owners use their cars for ( may be ) two hours per day .
Uber aggregates this spare
capacity and makes it available to travelers who do not own ( or wish to own )
their own cars
Both parties benefit . Economy also benefits by fuller utilization of the
spare/surplus capacities of millions of
assets
All
in all , I think this is a great opportunity for some Indian Start Up to seize
For
an depth idea ( Page Write-ups for web site / User Interfaces ) , look up :
#
www.hemenparekh.in > Reports
> OnlineJobsFair
Carpe
Diem !
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
25
July 2016
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