A social media startup with ‘real-time platform’ | Vadodara News – Times of India

Vadodara: Imagine getting connected with friend circles, near and dear ones or just acquaintances based on their real-time location, on social media while sipping tea.
A startup incubated by MS University that has started a location-based social media platform has opened its smart chai station in Vadodara. It has become the first social media platform that makes money by selling tea and refreshments.
What’s more, the tea station is also the first retail store that is accepting cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin & Dogecoin as payment methods.
“Currently, there is no indigenously developed well-designed social media platform for the Indian market. At a time when we are talking of ‘Make in India’, there was a need for a location-based social media app. So, we developed Gossip as a better version of Twitter,” said Shubhra Saha, who along with Shyam Sunder has founded the social media platform.
The pass-outs from MSU’s Maharaja Ranjitsinh Gaekwad Institute of Design had introduced a GPS feature in the group chat, a tool through which everybody in your vicinity gets a notification.
During the peak of Covid-19 induced pandemic, this location and interest-based application also provided a Covid chat feature to connect seekers of ambulance, hospital bed, oxygen cylinders and medicines to service providers.
“We have started Gossip smart chai station as the first real-life social media platform. You can meet and have tea and conversation at physical locations of the social media platform in different areas of the city,” said Saha.
“Initially, all social media platforms look to increase their subscriber base. Later, however, users get frustrated with the constant flow of advertisements and promotions that keep cropping up. Hence, we have decided to earn from tea and not advertisements,” Saha added.
Regarding the highly-debated and highly-fluctuating cryptocurrencies, Saha said that the purpose of accepting this mode of payment is to raise awareness and have discussions around it.
“Currently, there is no regulation on its usage. But as economic systems are changing, we may start seeing use of cryptocurrencies as widely as e-wallets or digital wallets are being used,” he said.