Category Archives: websites

Introducing Kwippy: Microblogging app for close friends

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Kwippy = Micro/Nanoblogging app (for close friends especially) + IM status logger + Social Network.

Why another microblogging app ? or How is Kwippy different from other microblogging apps ?

1) Kwippy is the only micro/nanonlogging app as of now which doesn’t require a user to go out of the way and make micro posts. You just need to signup and integrate your IM that’s it. So those of us who keep custom status messages, don’t need to do a thing as every custom status message will become a micro blogpost(other ways to kwip being via Web and sending messages via IM)

2) Organized conversations:
Ever felt the need of seeing all the replies to a particular micro blogpost at a single place in an organized manner ? or for that matter that “quotably” though good can never be 100% accurate ?
Kwippy has a much better way of having organized conversations without needing a third party app and we plan to do more to make conversations really interesting and viral, yes, Viral.

3) IM focussed and the T factor:
Not only Kwippy integrates multiple IM networks and saves their custom status messages it also intends to facilitate in having better relationships amongst users by leveraging the trust factor associated with people on one’s IM list.

4) Easiest way to bookmark URL’s
Many people I know (microbloggers n non microbloggers) have a tendency to share URL’s with their IM contacts by putting it up as their IM status. But then as is the case with most custom status messages the IM saves only a handful recent ones. So with Kwippy not only can you archive URL’s but also share them with your friends on the site.

more on Kwippy here

We had our first demo at barcampbangalore6 this weekend which went great and has generated a lot of interest. Kwippy is in private beta right now and would be going public(not the IPO route, yet :D) soon. If you want an invite for the beta submit your email id here .

Websites have Cultures too….

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Ever wondered why different websites despite being of the same genre
appear/feel differently ? or why your own behavior differs from site to site?

Well the case in point being that all websites across the web consciously or unconsciously develop cultures and subcultures just like it happens elsewhere when a group of people interact with each other over a period of time.

Consider the following examples

Case1: Orkut

I’ve always felt that people(ones I know) spend a lot of time “filling the profile info” and often even more time “maintaining/updating profile info regularly”. It might be necessary in some cases but if you are just there to stay in touch with people you know its not necessary at all but still lots of people(old and new) tend to do it.

Case2: Facebook

I haven’t used Facebook much so in this regard the only thing that stands out is “Adding new apps” and “Requesting others to use new apps”. Every time I log in there are a dozen new requests to try new apps and that’s probably because this viral behavior has really got into the users and seems no signs of stopping.

How a Culture gets developed:

Culture development is a two way process. While in most cases it comes downwards from the top in some systems(emergent) it rises bottoms up. Generally the culture developed by the initial users of the site continues to grow with more people joining and unconsciously following the experienced users behaviors thereby strengthening the existing culture.

What can you do about it ?

Either you consciously develop a culture “Top down” in a planned/phased manner or keep an eye on the small/mini behavioral usage patterns, facilitate them and guide them upwards. This can be done by say adding new features or re-designing the existing ones to make them more available. I feel the features to “push out profile updates” to friends and in your face options to “invite friends to use apps” respectively have helped a lot in setting the above mentioned trends.

A simple example of “Top down” culture that I can think of(and I’ve used) is say you have a website and you want the users to upload their profile pictures instead of continuing with the default ones. One way it can work is say if all the initial user(100 or so) have uploaded their profile pictures then someone whose new to the site might upload a picture straightaway and it stays the same way going forward.

This behavior is quite natural and common as most new users don’t want to look new/naive/different, gain acceptability and become a part of the crowd so they’ll follow the established behavior without making much noise. However simple and obvious it may sound if it happens right it can do wonders for a site consider a social networking site(a friend told me about) where almost all users have provided their mobile numbers despite them not being mandatory. Sounds scary but then its not impossible.