What are you doing for viral growth? Like, why should I tell my friends to sign up?
Have you thought about setting up some type of system to automatically create profiles for people? You could scan in the front page of a printed thesis (where it lists the advisers), extract the names, and then add pages if they don't exist for those professors and PHD people. Then, when a PHD student googled themselves, the phdtree link would show up.
Not sure. Maybe a fully-fleshed out profile could be visually appealing? Or the website could announce that the profile is only 80% complete (like how OKCupid and LinkedIn do it).
I have another idea. What about finding a small group of colleges that compete with each other, filling out the profiles for those phd people, and then writing a blog post about it and sending it to the colleges?
Maybe the colleges will use it in marketing material or a blog post. Free publicity for everyone involved!
Then, whomever is reading the college's blog because they care about that kind of stuff will be compelled to claim their profile.
Comments
What are you doing for viral growth? Like, why should I tell my friends to sign up?
Have you thought about setting up some type of system to automatically create profiles for people? You could scan in the front page of a printed thesis (where it lists the advisers), extract the names, and then add pages if they don't exist for those professors and PHD people. Then, when a PHD student googled themselves, the phdtree link would show up.
Yes, we are actually thinking about that idea. The problem is, how to encourage more user participation?
Not sure. Maybe a fully-fleshed out profile could be visually appealing? Or the website could announce that the profile is only 80% complete (like how OKCupid and LinkedIn do it).
Or a big "claim my profile" link?
I have another idea. What about finding a small group of colleges that compete with each other, filling out the profiles for those phd people, and then writing a blog post about it and sending it to the colleges?
Maybe the colleges will use it in marketing material or a blog post. Free publicity for everyone involved!
Then, whomever is reading the college's blog because they care about that kind of stuff will be compelled to claim their profile.