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Zlen: A new age social media platform

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Anwesha Singha
New Update
Zlen: A new age social media platform

Snehal Gersappa, CEO & Founder of Zlen (L) and Ashwin Datye, CTO of Zlen (R)

Today in this age everything is online from shops to education and whatnot, with some 4.2 billion people worldwide online. People are online all the time.

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While many of us love using social media to keep connected, excessive use can lead to feelings of worry, melancholy, loneliness, and the fear of missing out. And even social media holds an immense amount of employment opportunities for people.

Why do people use social media?

Humans are social beings by nature, one simply cannot survive to prosper in life, we require the company of others, and the strength of our bonds has a significant impact on our mental health and happiness. Being socially linked to people can help you cope with stress, worry, and depression, increase your self-esteem, bring comfort and joy, prevent loneliness, and even add years to your life. On the other hand, a lack of strong social relationships can put your mental and emotional health at risk.

In today's society, many of us rely on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, YouTube, and Instagram to find and communicate with one another. While each has advantages, it is crucial to realize that social media will never be a substitute for face-to-face human interaction.

 It takes in-person contact with others to activate the hormones that reduce stress and help you feel happier, healthier, and more positive. 

Drawbacks of using social media:

Spending too much time on social media, even though it is intended to bring people closer together, can instead make you feel more lonely and isolated—as well as exacerbate mental health problems such as anxiety and depression.

While bullying is not a new phenomenon, social media and technology have elevated it to new heights. Cyberbullying has evolved into a more persistent and pervasive threat. A lot of cybercrimes are happening these days unfortunately like spreading hate comments, etc all these affect the mental health of people, which makes one feel cautious.

What is Zlen?

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Zlen is like a gust of fresh air in the social media world, free of societal expectations and commitments.

Zlen is a next-generation application that combines social media and private messaging together, providing users with the perfect blend without the drawbacks of mainstream social media platforms. This social platform allows users to create a private social bubble for themselves and their closest pals, in this feature only people with the unique Zlen code can join that particular group. 

A one-of-a-kind Zlen Code prohibits unauthorized users from accessing and prowling about their profiles. Without the unique Zlen Code, no one can discover or add the person in the app, unlike other social media applications that use the name, phone number, or email address to find a particular person. Through Zlen, one can connect with those they truly want to engage with.

Zlen's vision is to create a safe place for people to be themselves by providing an avenue for people to tailor their online social experiences based on their preferences using technological advancements.

The inception of Zlen

Snehal Gersappa, CEO and founder of the social media platform Zlen, had long been a social media fanatic and was active on a variety of social media and networking sites. As a millennial at heart, he had witnessed and experienced the development and expansion of social media and messaging applications since their inception.

However, as time went by, these platforms became overloaded. Soon after, his office colleagues, extended family members, and others began to join these same networking platforms.

This made sharing postings and experiences difficult because one had to be cautious and think about how everyone who could see the messages would react.

Soon he realized that he wasn't the only one experiencing this type of annoyance. During a party, one of his younger 'Gen Z' pals voiced dissatisfaction with things he would normally have shared, because his mother, father, and even grandmother were all on the same social networking app and could see what he uploaded.

Another dissatisfying aspect of social media nowadays is the constant barrage of sponsored content and tailored adverts. The targeting serves as a continual reminder that all of our online activity is being tracked for marketing purposes and that privacy is almost non-existent.

Snehal felt like he had no personal space on the internet, to him it was inconvenient to wake up to hundreds of text messages, and it bothered him that anyone can text him at any time of the day or night and he was always forced to respond to supervisors on these many applications, making it difficult to maintain my work-life balance. Combined with the fact that even unwelcome people could access his profile picture and online statuses, which was simply too much for him.

That's when he questioned himself why hasn't anyone made it possible to segregate one's genuine inner circle online so that anyone cannot just contact someone by checking their profile on the internet or possessing their mobile number?

He was resolved to find a solution to this problem after noticing it. Detailed consumer research and tracking lead him to recognise that the enormous modern-day difficulty of not having a personal space online was something that many people were facing. 

The necessity of the hour was to establish an environment in which users could have more control over who may access their virtual personal space - whether for casual talking or socialisation.

The social media platform takes complete responsibility and promises the highest level of privacy for the user's data. Zlen is committed to protecting users' data and privacy at all times

Transparency and long-term collaboration with all stakeholders. All Zlen workers work in an environment that promotes personal and professional development.

How Zlen is unique

Personal and professional lines are blurring in today's society; everyone has each other's numbers, from the local grocer to your supervisor at work to a third-party vendor. Nothing prevents anyone from accessing the profile or sending someone unsolicited messages on the apps available today.

Being "Friended," "Followed," or "Snapped" on any of the popular social media platforms does not automatically make someone a loyal friend or even an acquaintance. We don't always know when our interactions or posts can be misconstrued. Zlen gives consumers a sense of freedom and privacy within their own 'bubble' where people can feel safe and express their true selves.

The level of control offered to the user over their information is what distinguishes Zlen. This social media platform aspires to bring about a revolution to create a safe private space for people, unfettered by today's trends of assessing a person's social equity through the number of likes and followers.

Business Model

The startup plans to market itself as a premium and exclusive platform after hitting a user base of 5,00,000, It will start charging $1 (rs 75) for every in-app purchase so that only a few selected users can avail of the premium services offered by the social media platform thus filtering out the user base.

Future

Zlen's purpose is to provide a safe and secure environment for users who are frequently inundated with random connection requests, sponsored adverts, trolls, and so on. A place where they may let their hair down, express themselves freely, and enjoy times with their group of close friends.

The startup intends to build an exclusive zone where users can experience things other than the existing overcrowded environment, which causes mental weariness among other negative impacts. Zlen will provide new features, one of which is the Zlen World, where users may publish their works anonymously or under their own identity, and choose how others engage with them.

Zlen users will have the chance to partake in various exclusive Zlen Experiences such as masterclasses, exclusive screenings, vacations, event access, and so on. Users will be able to access these experiences and customize them as needed in the future through Zlen, taking the benefit of being a part of the community.

Zlen intends to collaborate with both emerging and established designers to create limited-edition collections of Zlen goods. Zlen users will be able to purchase these items with their ZlenCode.

The company wishes to create and nurture a close-knit community of people who share similar ideals. Through collaborations with both established and emerging businesses, Zlen aims to provide its consumers with special experiences and access to one-of-a-kind offerings.

"From an idea to create a safe & secure space for users, today, we have successfully made Zlen a reality! The need for Zlen as a private space is seen amongst users," the founder says.

"Zlen aims to bring privacy and freedom to the social media experience by helping customers reclaim their personal space and enabling them to build their private community with those they connect with".

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