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You have been an agent of change; you have made a difference. Together, we have contributed to the world in a positive way. Let me count the ways.
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As 2004 was slowly drawing to a close, our part of the world was hit with a massive Tsunami. The tragedy unleashed by the ocean seemed without limits. The enormity of the tragedy was exceeded only by the generosity of the world that woke up to the horror. Within hours of the Tsunami, hundreds of MouthShut members urged me to enable information exchange on MouthShut concerning the tragedy. The reviews that came, the personal notes that I received and the expressions of sympathy that poured from all over united us and for a moment the whole world was one. Many of you wrote about your personal contribution through volunteer efforts and financial contributions. This is the highest calling and its realization tells me that we are meeting the highest challenge we set for ourselves when we set out to build MouthShut as a platform promoting positive change in the world. As the work of rebuilding continues, our hearts go out to those who are piecing their lives back together and we salute the hundreds of thousand of heroes who are helping restore life and hope. |
In recent months we have increasingly been receiving more attention from the national and international media. The word "Blog" has become all the  rage in the last ten months. America's famous Business Week magazine ran a cover story on it (May 2, 2005). Yet, while blogging was still synonymous with rambling on trivial issues and petty views on petty matters, MouthShut members were pioneering "business blogs." We were the community that got the world's corporations to wake up and take notice of our views. Your reviews have inspired books, white papers, cover stories and extensive coverage by television stations. Business Week admonished those who were to dismiss consumer voices in these words: "catch up, or catch you later." Check out our media coverage at https://www.mouthshut.com/help/press.php |
In every interview I am invariably asked "What is MouthShut?" And before I can start to answer, I am given my options – "Is it a software, or a listserv,  a discussion group, or a blog?" My answer is always "MouthShut is each individual member from around the world who is empowered by other quality-conscious members – creating a unique and a most powerful community of consumers. It’s a community that shines the light on the goods and the bads – the pros and the cons. It is the community that says it prefers to rely on the opinions of others like themselves as opposed to professional review-writers.” You, gentle reader, are MouthShut and you are leading a quiet and peaceful revolution every time you write a review on any product or comment on a review. In fact, I might hasten to add, the revolution is increasingly not so quiet as the world’s eyes are upon us.
You may have already noticed the fruits of some of our recent business activities. MouthShut is being branded in Multiplexes, Shopping Malls, and Book Stores across the country. Movie theaters are now asking their patrons to review movies after watching it at their theater. Bookstores are encouraging booklovers to share their feedback on books after reading them.
In addition, feature suggestions have continued to pour in. Our product design team has been busy prioritizing these through additional surveys and member research. We will soon be launching another redesign campaign and implementing a variety of innovative features and more creative ways to search reviews and compare products and services. |
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In April, 2001, MouthShut pioneered a concept called Dial-the-CEO. It is a unique and most direct way to tell us how MouthShut can serve you even better.
I am pleased to announce that we are now going to hold the fourteenth Dial-the-CEO program on Friday August 5, 2005 during the following hours:
4:30 PM – 6:30 PM India time
7:00 AM – 9:00 AM US EST
12:00 noon – 2:00 PM British Summer Time
I can be contacted at +91-22-2600-6788. I look forward to hearing from you.
Through this space I would like to thank each and every member of MouthShut for your unstinted support online and offline. Please continue to write me at 
or send me M2M messages from my profile page. Listening to your opinions, ensuring that this organization benefits from your suggestions and responding to your concerns is my most important job.
Pass the good word along and invite more friends and relatives to join MouthShut.com
Sincerely,
--Faisal
CEO
MouthShut.com,
Inc. |
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