Yocket Highlights

Why WhatsApp groups are more harmful than they are helpful for MS aspirants?

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Sumeet Jain
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You must have noticed ubiquitous posts like - "any WhatsApp groups for XYZ university" or "I am creating WhatsApp group for GRE prep" etc etc. They are everywhere - facebook, quora, yocket discussions.

There's even an Android app that lets users list and discover MS in US WhatsApp group links. Heck, you already must be a part of multiple such groups, some more active than the others. Now, you might be wondering what's wrongg with that? I am getting all the queries answered. However, have you ever considered the authenticity of these? Moreover, a lot of groups once started with a lot of enthusiasm tends to get idle after a while.

And most importantly, have you ever wondered what price are you paying for this? YOUR PRIVACY! Every WhatsApp group that has genuine students on it, also has some "black sheeps". People from consultancy firms, test prep services, loan companies, insurance companies etc form 10% to 50% of the members of such groups (stats based on about a 100 groups that we joined ourselves to see who is a genuine student and who are spammers). They may be on the group with or without the admin knowing about it (the admin too may or may not be well intentioned!). Some spammers would keep spamming the group till the time either the admin removes them or you would have to leave the group out of frustration (sometimes admin = spammer)/. However, these would be seem like the lesser evil in comparison to those who would be silently present on the group but would send PMs to all the group members or even worse give cold calls to each member. The phone numbers - your phone number - thus collected may then be sold off to other companies and you start receiving more calls and texts. Every cold call that you receive even before taking your GRE, till the time you fly out are most likely to be originated from one of the WhatsApp groups that you joined.

You get the idea. And of course you knew this even before us telling you, right? Duh! So does that mean you should stop using these groups? Yes? No? Yes - No - Yes - No - Yes - No - Don’t Know - Coin Toss - Insta Story - Umm if only there was an alternative :/

We also thought the same! And our team put in their blood and sweat to create a solution to this - YOCKET GROUPS (currently in beta) !

Notice how no numbers or email IDs are revealed; just your yocket profile. Yocket groups not only ensure that privacy is protected but also offer superior spam control by algorithm as well as human intervention.

Some more advantages of yocket groups -

  1. Increased authenticity of users
  2. No need to hunt for groups, you are automatically added to your university / course / term group based on your application status (pro tip - keep your application statuses updated on yocket. ALWAYS).
  3. Additionally you can also search for specific groups
  4. Super admins - apart from the group admins, Yocket’s proactive support can act as super admin in extreme cases
  5. Fewer but more inclusive groups - no need to be a part of multiple groups discussing same thing (e.g. GRE quants prep, Mumbai consulate visa experiences)

Okay. But where can I find this feature on my Yocket app?

How to join yocket groups

  1. Update to latest version of Yocket app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=in.yocket
  2. Start using the groups under the messages tab in the left hand side drawer
  3. You will be a part of all those unviersity / course groups for which you have marked interestedon your Yocket profile
  4. Additionally, you can search for any  specific group

Yocket Groups can be used instead of following whatsapp groups:

  1. Study abroad groups
  2. Education Loans groups
  3. GRE & Other exam groups
  4. International student’s groups
  5. MS in US groups
  6. Whatsapp education groups
  7. Specific University groups
  8. Other miscellaneous groups  

Some important yocket group links are given below,

UPDATE: Some official university group links

And some other groups:

Give us feedback through app or support@yocket.in so that we can iron out the creases and roll it out to everyone. And so that you can talk to entire yocket community rather than just a small pool of beta testers.

PS: this article is not meant for WhatsApp bashing or even admin bashing. WhatsApp was started as and continues to function as a personal messenger to chat with the people whom you know, whose numbers you already have. Of course it's a great tool. However, the business development people working for various companies exploit the vulnerability of the users and design of the platform alike to meet their sales targets.

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Sumeet Jain

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