04 January,2014 03:23 PM IST | | Ruchika Kher
We all connect with friends and acquaintances personally and online, but four friends got together to tweak this phenomenon a bit and launched treetins.com, a social networking platform that enables people to make friends with strangers
treetins, social networking, Aditya Dhull, Prince Jacob Thomas, Mohit Narwal and Chandy Thomas, Life & Style, People
When German philosopher Albert Schweitzer commented that "we cannot possibly let ourselves get frozen into regarding everyone we do not know as an absolute stranger," he would have, possibly, not known that decades later, four boys would go ahead and adopt the same theory to launch a digital platform where strangers can meet and enrich each other with mutually interesting topics. Treetins.com is the result of this thought, which has been created by founder Prince Jacob Thomas along with his partners Aditya Dhull, Mohit Narwal and Chandy Thomas all ex-marketing professionals.
(From left) Aditya Dhull, Prince Jacob Thomas, Mohit Narwal and Chandy Thomas the team behind treetins.com
What's so cool?
"The World Wide Web, which was supposed to connect people and information all over the world, has somehow restricted us to our connections. Usually, we only connect with family, friends or colleagues; there is no medium that connects us with complete strangers in a free and friendly manner," says Prince, adding that when he shared this thought with other members, it intrigued them.
To check if this project works, the four conducted an experiment. They approached 10-15 random people at Marine Drive to gather their thoughts on this concept and to also figure out for themselves, how easy it was to connect with strangers. To their surprise, most, though cautious, were open to at least an initial conversation and loosened up later.
"The reason why we wanted to build on this concept was because we realised that there is immense potential in meeting new people and connecting over common interests. Somewhere, we had started off as strangers but are now close without realising that meeting someone new could lead to immense possibilities," assures the founder.
Meeting ground
However, in a country like India, security is a major concern and the team at treetins.com was aware of this hurdle. "We have been asked this question a lot. But that is exactly why we need to build this culture even more," asserts Prince, adding, "We aren't saying talk to everyone you meet on the road; judgment is essential. It's a new concept and not something people will take to easily but that's why we are creating mediums to promote this culture. Our Share Your Table initiative did well and we had people sharing their tables and telling us about their experiences."
Log on to: www.treetins.com
