MetroMates: Meet and make friends
By Resmi Jaimon

Sameer Suri, a management student at the New Delhi Institute of Management, launched a unique social networking service on January 1, 2011, that helps Metro travellers in Delhi to meet and make new friends. Sameer has high praise for his brother, an 18-year old DU student, Harsh Suri, for all his online promotional support on Facebook and word of mouth promotion of the site.

Techgoss (TG): Tell us what Metromates is all about?
Sameer Suri (SS): MetroMates is a social revolution; Normally Social networking is limited to World Wide Web. We have tried to make it come alive by letting people make new friends on the way. Using MetroMates, people can now easily find out who travels in Metro, when they do. This can be done either online (on our website) or offline (on their mobile using Bluetooth). On our website, people can search other metromates based on their route and travel time.

TG: How did you get the idea of this website?
SS: I travel via Delhi Metro everyday. It takes much time - say two Trips (back & forth) would take about 2 hours. And I usually travel alone, and then there are many more like me. So we thought of making it more fun.

TG: Tell us what you do apart from MetroMates. Do you have a tech background? What kind of technology have you used for this venture?
SS: I've done a Regular Computer Science (hons) From Delhi University and also Pursued MCA via distance education and have worked for a year with an MNC into Software Testing. The Website uses Microsoft Web Technologies Mainly ASP & MS-SQL.

TG: How much time did it take to create your website?
SS: It is difficult to answer, I keep updating things everyday. However, it took about a month to create the initial version. We started out with a few users in January, and then kept improving by getting feedback from users. We are still looking into ways to improve the website.

TG: Do you have any IT / BPO/ KPO / Telecom employers who use your website?
SS: We normally do not collect data regarding Job & Occupation during registration, so it is difficult to comment.

TG: What is the demographic of your members - approximate ages, where they live, men / women ratio?
SS: It is mainly used by users of the age 20-30. The sex ratio is a bit skewed at the moment and there are more of male users and they are from Delhi.

TG: How many registered users do you have? Do you have plans to expand the service to other cities?
SS: We currently have around 3000+ registered users. More than 10000 users like our website on Facebook, and we enjoy a good amount of web traffic everyday.

TG: Any other ideas you are working on?
SS: I am currently concentrating on MetroMates only.

TG: How do you manage time between studies and working on your new business?
SS: MBA is hectic on its own, but if you really want to do something you go ahead, and then I am good at multitasking. Moreover, working on developing MetroMates at times was reinvigorating from the otherwise hectic MBA Studies.

TG: What kind of future do you foresee for such services?
SS: This is the future of social networking, though people will take some time to get used to such services.

TG: How would you rate your idea in terms of success that you have achieved so far?
SS: I strongly believe it is a good idea, but it will take a lot of time and efforts to make it a real success. I am very happy with what I have achieved so far, and look forward to the future positively.

(Photo:  Sameer is one with the white shirt)