Divya Agarwal
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], July 29: Sometimes the most meaningful conversations don’t happen inside conference halls—they happen over shared meals, unhurried mornings, and experiences that bring people together.
That was the idea behind a specially curated creator staycation in Goa, where The Passport Hotel, India’s first cocktail-forward hotel, partnered with Nasher Miles and RIPPL to celebrate the launch of The Passport Hotel’s Mini Bar while creating space for a conversation that today’s internet rarely makes time for.
As part of the staycation, RIPPL hosted its first-ever Sharing Circle, led by Malini Agarwal, luxury content creator Rij Eappen, and RIPPL co-founders Smriti Dubey and Shikhar Vaidya.
Instead of asking creators about their follower count or niche, Malini began with a simple question: “Tell us one thing about yourself that Instagram doesn’t tell the world.”
The conversation instantly became personal. Creators spoke about passions they rarely post online—dancing, music, books, travel, and hobbies that algorithms don’t necessarily reward. It was a reminder that while social media often knows what people create, it doesn’t always know who they truly are.
Malini also shared a thought that became the theme of the evening: “Not every influencer is an impactor. An impactor is someone who has an opinion—someone who recommends things because they genuinely believe in them.”
That naturally led to a discussion around one of the internet’s biggest challenges: Can authentic recommendations still exist in a world dominated by paid collaborations?
Creators admitted that while partnerships pay the bills, many of the cafés, restaurants, books, products, music, travel destinations, and experiences they genuinely love often never make it online.
That conversation perfectly reflected the philosophy behind RIPPL.
Instead of asking creators to produce more content, RIPPL allows them to build a personal recommendation profile—a place where they can showcase everything they genuinely love, from favourite cafés and books to travel destinations, products, and hidden local gems. These recommendations become part of their digital identity and can be discovered by like-minded people.
Sharing the inspiration behind the platform, Smriti Dubey recalled searching for dog training pads for her pets. Despite countless online reviews and advertisements, she couldn’t decide what to buy. The answer came only after she asked fellow pet parents in a local community group, where one recommendation kept appearing. The product worked exactly as promised.
“Reviews tell you what strangers think,” she shared. “Recommendations tell you what people you trust actually use.” Adding another perspective, Shikhar Vaidya spoke about how millions of people rely on anonymous reviews every day before making decisions. He believes the future lies in discovering products and experiences through trusted individuals rather than anonymous ratings.
Rij Eappen also highlighted another important shift—creators deserve ways to earn without constantly producing new content. Through Rippl360, creators can tag products, places and experiences they genuinely recommend across their existing Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, allowing older content to continue creating value.
The evening concluded with a lively Recommendation Rapid Fire, where creators answered fun questions about their favourite music, films, comfort food, travel destinations and the best recommendation they had ever received.
As the conversation unfolded, Shikhar simultaneously created a live Tribe RIPPL for the entire group, adding every recommendation in real time. By the end of the session, every creator had built their own RIPPL profile, while brands like The Passport Hotel and Nasher Miles became part of those recommendation journeys through QR-enabled discovery.
The experience continued with visits to Kesar Bagh, Bastian Riviera, Stoned Pig, Drop Dead Sexy, Iris by Rait, and The Passport Hotel’s Mini Bar launch, along with a breakfast hosted by Clovia. Every memorable experience naturally found its way onto creators’ RIPPL profiles.
By the end of the staycation, the group hadn’t just created content—they had documented experiences they genuinely believed were worth recommending.
The event reinforced a simple belief: in a world overflowing with reviews, authentic recommendations are becoming the internet’s strongest form of trust.
RIPPL is now live on Android, iOS, and the web, allowing anyone to create a free recommendation profile, discover like-minded people, and share the products, places, and experiences they genuinely love.
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