ClubW Blog

IGOpeople.com

What is it?

IGOPeople aims to be a Social network that brings together all aspects of a person’s life. Individuals, Groups, Organisations.

As with all Social Networks, its about bringing people/entities together and facilitating communication. So for example, I can connect with my friends, my Tag Rugby team and perhaps avail of an offer from Adidas on rugby gear.

The Bad News First:

1. I am really confused as to what IGOpeople’s unique offering is. How is it any different from Facebook? And seeing as everyone/everything is already on Facebook, why bother with a miniscule competitor. I am sure that IGOPeople don’t see themselves as competing against Facebook, but they haven’t made this clear. Please tell me what its for? Instead of saying “Network for the real world” which means nothing, maybe “This is where all your shit is!” would be more meaningful.
   
2. The home screen. Clutter free, but it leaves me wondering what exactly I am supposed to be doing. It does provide a feed on what other’s have been up to, but as with all startup social-networks when membership is small and the number of connections made are smaller, this feed drifts somewhere between Boring and Non-existent. Seed the interface so that new user’s don’t feel alone or default noobies homescreen to the All Updates tab - Instantly the network looks vibrant.
3. The main avenue for interaction is provided via a text area with “Click here to start a conversation…” - Another symptom of startup Social-Networks is that such a request can be frightening. When the crowd is so small, everything said is easily heard. The average Social Network user does want a conversation, not a broadcast. The typical user doesn’t want to start anything, give the user a quick-post twitter-like text box in addition to the intimidating blog-like interface.

The Good News:

1. Its a really clean beautiful site. Works well, and works fast.
2. One specific part of the site really appeals to me as a person and a business person. The ability for organisations to interact with its consumers via Social Media. I like the way the site does this, but at the moment its buried amongst too much. Reorient the interface along these lines, add easy open interfaces to other established social networks where the consumers are already registered, this is a viable niche.
3. People. I added a report on a small bug and got a response within minutes. Every business in the Tuesday Push series is only as good as its people. With Campbell Scott and Dave Cotter involved - Thats a large positive for IGOpeople.

- Anthony