A Letter to HelloGWU Users and Recruitment of the New HG Team

Dear HelloGWU users, students and scholars studying in the US, and friends:

Hello everyone,

HelloGWU.com (George Washington University Community) launched in 2012 and has been operating for almost four years. Over these four years, we've grown from an unknown small community to the largest website platform in the greater Washington, D.C. area, and from an ordinary categorized community to a full-featured platform covering computers, mobile phones, and mobile apps. During this time, we've experienced both a hacker attack that completely paralyzed the website and moments of peak concurrent user traffic of 6,000. In these four years, HelloGWU.com has undergone more than a dozen upgrades, large and small. After last year's upgrade, the website has entered a stable development phase.

In 2012, we were still worrying about renting apartments and furniture, struggling to get on mailing lists, and some students were even struggling to join the freshman group. Everyone in the group was enthusiastic about creating their own community, and they quickly agreed to form a website management and operations team. The proposal was submitted on June 8th, and the first version was released on the 10th. In the following months, thanks to the team members' efforts, the number of users and content maintained rapid growth. I remember there were almost 300-400 posts every day. Since everyone was a GWU student, some were renting apartments, some were buying and selling, and some were exchanging information. Everyone, from upperclassmen to lowerclassmen, enjoyed themselves immensely.

In early 2013, the website merged with the student union, and the team was integrated into the student union, giving the website a new platform. However, as time went by, the enthusiastic young people of the past gradually graduated, some returning to their home countries, some going to work elsewhere, and even those who stayed in DC rarely had time to manage the website. Given this situation, the website gradually shifted to a self-operated model, and its functions gradually diminished, becoming primarily focused on classified information with secondary functions of communication.

Surprisingly, despite this, the website's activity level not only didn't decrease but actually increased. Not long ago, the website's visits surpassed 7 million, with an average of over 10,000 visits per day. Active users practically covered the entire greater Washington, D.C. area, with users also appearing in Maryland from Rockville to Baltimore, and Virginia from Reston to Woodbridge. This data is a mixed blessing: the good news is that the website is gaining increasing recognition, but the bad news is that the ever-increasing traffic and file volume are driving up server management costs.

As the website has developed to this stage, several prominent issues have emerged:

1. The website is gradually becoming a classifieds site, mainly focusing on rentals and secondhand transactions, with a lack of communication and a sense of belonging among users.
2. As the website grows in size, it is attracting more and more attention from fraud gangs. Currently, the passive management model relying on non-edu registration verification and user reports is not able to handle such cases in a timely manner.
3. Users still have a demand for non-rental secondhand properties, which we have the capacity to meet but have been unable to.
4. Our social networks (Weibo, WeChat) and other platforms are poorly managed and have not played their due role.

We are no longer a small website. As the amount of data increases, the cost of providing high-quality services will rise, and it's foreseeable that the current unmanned model will become an increasingly narrow path. Currently, the website's resources, besides the website itself, include two Weibo accounts (@GeorgeWashingtonUniversityCommunityNetwork, @GeorgeWashingtonUniversityCSSA) with considerable followers, and a WeChat public account ("George Washington University"). If these resources are utilized effectively, the website should be able to reach new heights. Here are some ideas:

1. Strengthen communication and interaction within the community and on mobile apps, and establish daily topics as well as topics for interaction between new and returning students.
2. Enhance social network operations (Weibo, WeChat), and increase interactive push notifications of information such as second-hand goods and rentals.
3. Add targeted push notifications to deliver high-quality information on secondhand goods, rentals, and online communities to users who need it.
4. Enhance management, open a points mall, and reward users who contribute through activities such as "reporting".

Based on these ideas, we are publicly recruiting for the HelloGWU management and operations team. We need the following talent:

1. Social Network Operations & Editor: In charge of social media such as Weibo and WeChat
2. Website Operations Editor: Head of Content Operations at HelloGWU Website
3. Content Editor: Responsible for the integration and editing of HelloGWU content.
4. Inspector: Inspects and supervises the community, and verifies new users.

We will be even more proud of this!

The following are WeChat groups for consultation and communication. Interested students and friends are welcome to join: