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iYomu.com contest winner to get $1 million

Indiantelevision.com Team

(13 August 2007 4:40 pm)

MUMBAI: Its a first for social networking. New Zealand based iYomu.com which is targetted at grown ups aged between 30-50 years has kicked off a contest wherein the winner will receive $1 million as prize money.

The iYomu Challenge gets users to complete puzzles and tasks to earn points. The competition will then boil down to three finalists from around the world who will then have to explain why they should receive the money and how it will change their lives. An online poll by Iyomu users will then decide on the eventual winner.

Iyomu.com founder David Wolf-Rooney said, "This is the first time a public online social network has been entrusted with making such a significant decision. The Challenge heralds the next stage in the evolution of social networking. We are entrusting the iYomu.com community with the power to elect one of their own as the winner of $1 million."

Users can accumulate points by completing a range of online activities, including referring friends, fully completing their user profiles and correctly solving 12 cryptic puzzles featuring locations from around the world.

The contest is open until midnight on 31 December. People who are above 18 years old can participate in the contest. Director Frances Valintine said, "Many people were put off by existing social networks that started as places for teenagers or students. However, there are lots of benefits for grown-ups in social networking, such as staying in touch with family and friends around the world, storing and sharing important documents and photos, or finding advice."

Developed in Auckland, Iyomu's name comes from a combination of 'I, you, me and us'. The site was launched in beta mode last week and is expected to be fully launched in mid-August. The site is simple to use and visually attractive. Differentiators include 1GB of storage space which can be set to public or private and users can store any files they like, from photos to business presentations.

The site tries to make elements of Web 2.0 accessible for people who are not so computer-literate by combining popular features of several sites, such as photo-sharing, social networking and email. A special feature includes a psychometric profile that users can fill out to help them find others with similar profiles.