I had hoped our Treasuremytext2 beta would be live by now. It is very nearly live and we’re having a ’specially invited guest preview’ (to iron out any alpha bugs) next week, but we do actually have some genuine reasons for the delay. So without sounding too much like we’re not sure about *stuff* I wanted to explain about our change of heart regarding a couple of our more socially oriented ideas.
Being an ‘early dopter’
I’d class myself as an early adopter of web2.0 (blogger, facebook addict, social media strategist etc). I like ‘lifestreaming’ lifecasting, passive publishing, presence and future presence, portable, tight, close and loose networking stuff.
The Treasuremytext Proposition: It’s Personal Storage (and everyone gets it)
Since we’ve been (re)making Treasuremytext as a web2.0 app, when we start describing it “A mobile to web app - save your SMS online” some people have tended, over the last few months to reply “Oh, you mean like twitter, or jaiku“… Well, in so far as you send a SMS message and it ends up on a web page, yes, but in other respects, no. I love those services, and I use them (but I’m a geek / 2.0person / early adopter / social media tart). And I like using such services for that ‘what I’m doing now’ shouting type ’status’ updates.
But…Treasuremytext is about personal storage and “personal storage” is not ‘lifecasting’. The ‘Treasuremytext specific’ need I have is to store things I feel are important. And I don’t want to treasure important stuff on twitter.
So whilst we’d love Treasuremytext to be as popular as twitter, we have to stay focussed on what it is and what it isn’t. We know that our users love the service, and that more people want to keep with mobile stuff. And that whilst social features help in the network effect / marketing / growth we have to stay focussed on doing the core stuff well. We have many thousands of users who just want to keep their SMS safe online. They ‘get’ personal storage, and I’m not sure they ‘get’ lifecasting. Whilst many of them are media ‘literate’ they’re not the web2.0 / geek crowd. They are the millions of people who just love SMS.
So the delays?
So the delay in launch is about that - we’re slightly reworking a few social features - which whilst ensuring our text treasuring fans can publish, republish, promote and ‘connect’ - that we’re not forgetting the well loved, well tested concept of ‘personal storage’. Also, we also recognise that if people want to text chat with friends they should use twitter and if people like me want to lifecast by mobile or via feeds they should use jaiku. We’re just making a few tweaks to ensure we keep personal storage personal.
Personal Content Manifesto
Is “private-personal” making a come back? Some of us like doing everything online and in public, some of us just want to keep stuff. Hey, as long as there’s something out there for everyone, it’s all good.
Treasuremytext2 beta is coming very soon - it’s about treasuring texts; loving your SMS.
Very soon, honest!
Image: Duncan on Flickr.
Good luck in getting the beta over the line - we know from personal experience how much it takes. I was thinking about what to use tmt for perhaps a haiku about jaiku!
Best wishes the Yuuguu team