Question

Why doesn't openstudy advertise publicly? Also why doesn't Openstudy collaborate with schools and help with tutoring?

Answer 1

@e.mccormick @Preetha

Answer 2

@amistre64 @Kainui

Answer 3

Don't we kind of help out like a free tutoring site already?

Answer 4

I agree. @Poke~Master314

I have never seen an OpenStudy ad. I think it would be a good investment. Pay for advertising and bring in more people. Then more people will pay for qualified help.

Also OpenStudy already collaborates with some online schools like Connections. There are specific connections moderators on this site. But I agree again. They should collaborate with more schools.

Answer 5

Where would you expect to see an OS add? Google? FB?

Answer 6

@Poke~Master314
http://openstudy.com/partner-with-us
I've seen this widget on Paul's Online Math Notes ^_^

Preetha, I believe if any ads were to be paid for, Google would be the way to go :)

meanwhile... the college I plan on attending has a student body of about 40,000 >:D If I start fly fliers there- even getting 1% of that pool of people will make a difference *starts stretching in anticipation and apologizing to the printer*

Answer 7

although personally I see a slight problem with getting colleges on board since our helpers on hand for Calculus may not be enough to handle such a load - and it is the main math topic that college students have trouble with :/
the majority of mathematics helpers can easily help with the algebra questions many users are asking for help with, but many calculus questions are left to sit because there are not enough of us, calculus helpers, to go around.
for example @familymathguy has been tagging and tagging and tagging people to help him, but not many people can. *worried pout* I do what I can, but there are some notation based calculus problems that I myself still need to learn and can't help him with :(

so overall my concern is how are we supposed to open up to a larger audience if we cannot handle the people we have now?

Answer 8

that's just my math subject based experiences..
I suppose we are low in helpers in other subjects as well :/

Answer 9

I can't seem to help with FamilyMathGuy's questions either, and I don't know who can...I feel bad all the time as I message him that I can't help...

Answer 10

@EclipsedStar In response to "I don't know who can..."
most of the long timers here can help with it!
I know I can help with most of the calculus topics :P

robtobey, jim_thompson, dan815, michele_laino, hartnn, myininaya, zepdrix, wio, nincompoop, kainui, e.mccormick, radar, amistre, cwrw238, hero, kc_kennylau, loser66, Sourwing, phi, ranga, satellite, surjithayer, UnkleRhaukus, whpalmer4, Zale101, ganeshie

are some users that have helped me with my Calculus problems and who I have seen help with many other Calculus questions ^_^ (the tagging thing is being weird so I couldn't find the specific usernames of some) but they are spread thin and are highly requested whenever online.
especially with the notifications glitch atm it might be difficult to get them onto a question, but I'm sure they will be able to help with any math questions you can't handle yourself ^_^
[or you can tag users with the penguin pictures, for some reason a couple of them like penguin pictures... idk why xD]
there also seem to be quite a few hit and go calculus helpers that come and go from openstudy as they please :P remember reach out and convince them to stay if you see a new but amazingly smart calculus helper ;)

Answer 11

Ah thanks! I will take note of them. ^_^

Answer 12

i know nothing, .... noth.thing!!

Answer 13

@Preetha There are a few users who wouldn't mind telling there teachers about the site. Maybe even sending emails to our teachers about Qualified helping opportunities could attract more teachers and possibly make them active and use OS as aside task or job.

OS should reach out to schools across the country telling them what were all about.

Or we can be rebels and put up posters advertising OS.

I like the poster idea. As long as there's a possibility of me going down the elevator shaft(Die hard 2 style) then im happy. :)

Answer 14

Everytime we click the ad's, OS gets money right? @Preetha So then shouldn't we be clicking away at the ad's to build OS a profit? XD :P @sleepyhead314

Answer 15

me to @EclipsedStar he tags me like 12times a day and sometimes i cant help or i am busy.

Answer 16

who tags 12 times a day?

Answer 17

I will send out a form so you can sign up to tell your teachers about OS. Great idea.

Answer 18

@joel_the_boss The problem with just clicking ads is something called Click Fraud. OpenStudy could get into more of a mess if we had everyone start clicking the ads hundreds of times everyday.
You can read more about it =P
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Click_fraud

Answer 19

In order to ensure a good experience for users and advertisers, publishers participating in the AdSense program may not:
•Compensate users for viewing ads or performing searches, or promise compensation to a third party for such behavior.
•Encourage users to click the Google ads using phrases such as "click the ads", "support us", "visit these links" or other similar language.
•Direct user attention to the ads using arrows or other graphical gimmicks.
•Place misleading images alongside individual ads.
•Place ads in a floating box script.
•Format ads so that they become indistinguishable from other content on that page.
•Format site content so that it is difficult to distinguish it from ads.
•Place misleading labels above Google ad units. For instance, ads may be labelled "Sponsored Links" or "Advertisements", but not "Favourite Sites" or "Today's Top Offers".
@TheSmartOne true :/`

Answer 20

I think OS should be advertised. At least a facebook page. The thing is, I have an FB page, and when I want ppl to see it, I pay to advertise it. It doesn't cost much to do so, so i think facebook would be a good way to advertise OS. or twitter, or pretty much any social media, even Pinterest.

Answer 21

@sasogeek Any thoughts?

Answer 22

I think all the given ideas are really usable to the benefit of OS, maybe what must be looked at is how effective it can be and what the target is. for example, consider facebook. OS already has a facebook page https://www.facebook.com/OpenStudy so maybe creating a new facebook page wouldn't be necessary, but advertising it... why not!?

Answer 23

http://adf.ly/

URL shorten and every click makes money, maybe a future idea. A lot of people use long links, so why not profit too. :P @Preetha @sasogeek Do you think this could be a future thing? Your an old mod, so you might have an idea. :)

Answer 24

To my understanding of facebook, the newer generations are finding it "old" or "not trending anymore" which would be why Google would be a better idea - many more people use Google
[note: some currently trending social media networks include Instagram and SnapChat]

During my social media promotional spree, I realized that many of the kids that ask for help normally are not allowed to have "social media" like facebook because of their parents. While Google is something anyone and everyone uses these days

Answer 25

@Poke~Master314 adf.ly ads have always gotten on my nerves xD

Answer 26

lol But the profit

Answer 27

annoying people with ads like that might not bode well with our goal of bettering user retention rates >.>
my goal is to get people to openstudy... *then* when they fall in love with openstudy, to get some money out of them ;)

Answer 28

http://adf.ly/1GHrkp

@sleepyhead314 ;)

Answer 29

I agree, why not use the money we give to you to pay for ads?

Answer 30

@Poke~Master314 took me a good 5 seconds to realize the "Skip Ad" button >.>

Answer 31

^ Yea you can skip the ads lol

Answer 32

\(\color{blue}{\text{Originally Posted by}}\) @Rainbow_dashie
I agree, why not use the money we give to you to pay for ads?
\(\color{blue}{\text{End of Quote}}\)
Can you please elaborate? The money from the OwlBucks go to improving the site and keeping it running.

Answer 33

@Preetha
I found a few good websites that OpenStudy may be interested in putting an ad on.

http://www.algebra.com/
http://www.tiger-algebra.com/
http://www.purplemath.com/
http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/

They are math related websites because more people need help on math. More people can see the ads and more people will join OS. And who knows how many people will start buying owlbucks. :)

Answer 34

@confluxepic purplemath is already promoting mathhelp.com
and Paul's Online Math Notes was how I found OpenStudy in the first place http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/contact.aspx

Answer 35

Oh.

Answer 36

its slow enough as it is....imagine an increased user base.....

Answer 37

Openstudy needs to do a summer project. Like a fundraiser.

Answer 38

@omarbirjas the user base has actually increased amazingly over the past year!
I would remember seeing the users online number in math hitting 200 and think *oh, it's going to crash again soon*
but now, I've seen the online number hit 400+ consistently with little to no problems!

Answer 39

ehh, that was like in November. lol

Answer 40

now imagine publicly advertising...then having 1000 people coming on.....yea....unless we have money to do something about it..

Answer 41

@omarbirjas just the other day we hit 3000
https://twitter.com/OpenStudy/status/598197399174053888

Answer 42

Yea thats all together....not just math...

Answer 43

that would be very...unsmart....if the entire site couldnt handle more than 3k @sleepyhead314

Answer 44

I believe you can simply invite your friends to OS for the advertisement purpose. Your real experience on OS is more persuasive than the advertisement you see on the Internet to your friends.

Answer 45

\(\color{#0cbb34}{\text{Originally Posted by}}\) @Preetha
Where would you expect to see an OS add? Google? FB?
\(\color{#0cbb34}{\text{End of Quote}}\)
Childrens tv, something like nickelodeon, or on news channels in big cities xD

Answer 46

I feel like most schools wouldn't agree with their students using OS since they think it's a site for cheating rather than helping.

Answer 47

that's right
OS is blocked in my scl >.>

Answer 48

O>o really?

Answer 49

OpenStudy is forbidden in many k12 schools aswell for that reason

Answer 50

\(\color{blue}{\text{Originally Posted by}}\) @pooja195
O>o really?
\(\color{blue}{\text{End of Quote}}\)
yes...

Answer 51

I would understand why, most schools and online courses don't like it when their students go to help sites like OpenStudy.

Answer 52

Yeah, because they consider OpenStudy as a cheating website where their students get free answers.