Oct. 3, 2011 at 3:47pm with 1 note
ScoopStream is Changing

We deployed ScoopStream in late August and had friends, family, and some others try it out.

We learned a lot, including:

a.) Building a new social graph is very, very tough - People (generally) have already built the best social graph that they’re going to have… it’s called Facebook.

b.) People weren’t creating communities - It’s too big of a barrier to entry. I considered them an easy way to assemble a temporary collection of people, but they weren’t what people wanted. Considering that this is (was) the core of the site, it presented a big problem.

c.) Simple is better than beautiful - A cool user interface is awesome, but it needs to be completely clear. When you’re so close to a product for so long, you take for granted little intricacies that the average user may not understand.

The analogy I’ve been using lately to explain ScoopStream is that it was like having a party in a mansion with a thousand rooms. There’s one or two people in each room… people get bored, and they leave. It’s a classic problem that social websites often encounter.

I love the concept of ScoopStream, but it’s the sort of thing that would’ve been better starting with 100,000 users. Obviously, we didn’t have that luxury. The site scaled too fast… it would’ve been smarter to launch a single community and focus on building one great one before trying for a hundred.

I saw issues soon after we launched, and have spent the past few weeks thinking about different things we could try.

I’ve been considering a few concepts that we could pursue, but one thing is clear - using the ScoopStream name doesn’t make sense anymore. The brand/website is very black and white, which calls back to when we were news-focused. I still love the logo and name, so I’m holding onto it (I actually renewed the domain today for another year)… I’d like to do some sort of news-related project with it in the future.

I’m working on a concept that takes the issues we encountered with ScoopStream (at least the ones I was able to observe) and addresses them. I’m still carving out exactly how the site would work, but it’s coming along. I’ve already got a name (and domain) picked out, and I’m hoping to begin development within a month and get it up soon. I don’t know if this one will work, but it’s an interesting idea that has me really excited. The most anyone can do when building stuff like this is try something, learn from it, adapt, and try again.

Stay tuned to this blog for updates!

-Adam

Sep. 20, 2011 at 10:31pm
“
But there are ephemeral, ever-changing social networks that we participate in daily. These have been left largely untapped by Facebook: the people working out at the gym, shopping for groceries, playing basketball, taking their dog to the park, watching their children on the playground, and so on. They’re the networks you stumble into and out of every day, and they aren’t composed of your close friends, Facebook friends or otherwise.
— The New Social Network: Who’s Nearby, Not Who You Know
Aug. 31, 2011 at 8:02pm
What should our prompt be?

Facebook has “What’s on your mind?”

Twitter has “What’s happening?”

Google+ has “Share what’s new…”

What should ScoopStream’s prompt be? I’ve intentionally left this field blank because I couldn’t think of anything good enough… I think someone else could come up with something good.

If you have any ideas, please email me at adam [at] scoopstream.com!

Aug. 25, 2011 at 10:32am with 10 notes
Introducing ScoopStream.com

I’m happy to say that ScoopStream.com is ready for the public.

It was coded by Brandon Carlson and designed by Greg Ponchak.

For those of you who don’t know, ScoopStream is a social network that brings together communities based on shared interests.

It didn’t start as a social network, though. We were originally working on a local news product, and through many iterations, came to the realization in early June that this was the better move. I had never had any desire to be in the social network space… as far as I was concerned, Facebook and Twitter had it covered.

What changed my mind, though, is that it’s not necessarily a place for your friends. It’s designed for people who share interests. I think of ScoopStream as a grid crossing interests and people.

ScoopStream users are checked-in to one community at a time. A community could be fans of a TV show, followers of a team, residents of a dorm, etc. Anyone may start a community for free, for (almost) any purpose.

Users see a feed of posts from the community that they’re checked-in to. If they click the “Highlights” filter, though, only posts from people they follow in that community will appear.

This is Version 1.0 - we can’t wait to see how people use the site. Then, we’ll adjust accordingly. We have some ideas for the future but for right now we’re just excited to finally get this out there.

If you have any thoughts/suggestions/complaints, please email me (Adam O’Kane) at adam [at] scoopstream.com.

Jul. 23, 2011 at 12:18pm
“
This recent discussion has focused on the differences between the Facebook and Google offerings, but misses what I think is a more basic common – and striking – feature. They both ask the user to create groups/lists/circles manually. This works fine for groups with a small and stable membership; family, for example. But it’s a non-solution for large and/or fluid groups.
— Yoav Shoham
Jul. 19, 2011 at 11:19am with 3 notes
“
…friends and interests are not so finite and fixed. They come and go. They are highly fluid and dynamic. And as such, there are very few groups that I want to build explcitly. Family yes. USV colleagues yet. Anything else, no thanks.
— Fred Wilson
Jul. 7, 2011 at 10:02am with 3 notes
“
The definition of groups is … everyone inside the group knows who else is in the group…
— Mark Zuckerberg, maybe dissing Google+ Circles
10:01am
We’re Getting Closer…

Saw the design last night - looks awesome. We’re aggressively moving closer to launch…stay tuned.