By Azera Rahman, IANS,
New Delhi : Move over Facebook, Orkut. Here comes Delhi University’s own networking site, Network DU. With over 2,000 registrations in just four weeks, this site is a virtual campus in which you can look for anyone and anything — from old friends to scholarships and even information on paying guest accommodation.
Started by Honey Arora, a technical expert, Network DU (www.networkdu.com) has all the features of other social networking sites and more.
“Our aim is to get DU more connected through this site. In the IITs and IIMs, the alumni really help their juniors in getting internships and job placements. Network DU will do something similar. Besides friends, a student can get in touch with alumni of the university through this portal and seek help in terms of their career,” Arora told IANS.
Of the 2,000 people who have registered, 1,500 are at present studying in the university while the rest are alumni. There is, however, no restriction on a non-DU member joining the network.
Arora himself is not an alumni of the university.
“I was a student of Punjab Technical University. But I, along with some others from IIT Delhi and IIM-Bangalore, zeroed in on Delhi University because I think DU is very tech-savvy,” said Arora, who owns Sparks Logics, the firm which started Network DU.
With blogs, music, chat and even an online shopping link, the site gives you all that other networking sites have to offer. It also has debates raging on hot topics like “Should ragging be banned in DU?”with two students in Kirori Mal College getting arrested recently for ragging a junior.
The site also has space for classified information like contact addresses of hostels and PG accommodation around the campus. So if you are looking for a place to stay, all you need to do is log in. Besides this, it has information on the institutes in the campus, scholarships and internships.
Although he is happy with the response that the site has been getting, especially since the advertisement has only been through word of mouth, Arora said that he is planning to go to ex-DU bigwigs like Kapil Sibal and convince them to join the network.
“I am planning to go to Kapil Sibal and ask him to join Network DU and spread some good word about the site. DU has produced some of the most well-placed professionals in the country in every field. If someone like Sibal, who is active on Facebook, joins the site it will make others interested too,” he said.
“However I will go to him only after we have got a stronger registration number like 5,000,” Arora added.
Arora’s mission does not stop at DU. He now plans to create similar networks for other universities.
“I am going to Amity University next and create a portal for their students. The officials of the private universities like Amity are very encouraging and eager to help in such initiatives.
“Money is a problem now but I am looking for investors so that I can create such networks for students of major universities of the country and then connect these networks so that the whole student community can come together in a single platform and interact,” Arora said.
(Azera Rahman can be contacted at [email protected])