Probably the most challenging thing for a start-up is focus. We certainly are not much different, especially as the solution is very broad. Many well funded companies have failed in trying to solve the same problem.

The prize is very alluring, email is the most used service on the web today and yet it has not matured over the years.

The web service we built, grouptivity, is very functional and solves many of the problems noted in email. Gartner published a white paper in December 2006, Deploy E-mail Distribution Lists and Discussion Forums Together, Not in Isolation, by Nikos Drakos. This totally validates the direction we have taken with Grouptivity.

Grouptivity, is very horizontal, almost as broad as email. Therin lies the problem, jack of all trades, master of none. So we decided to find one use that was underserved and had high enough value. After some exhaustive research, which by the way is documented on the previous post, we decided to focus on, sharing, but more importantly, discussing web content. The ability to take something of interest an instantly start a private discussion of that web content.

So a user can put download the “discuss” link onto their browser. As they are surfing the web and find something of interest they’d like to discuss with their friends/family/colleagues they can click on the link. This will pull the content, images and rich content (videos, music, etc) into a page where they can select what pieces they want to include in their message. Once the selection has been made they press continue, add the email addresses, any additional comments and hit send. An instant private discussion forum has been created on that content.

Secondly, we’re also releasing some code that will allow web publishers to embed simialr functionality directly onto their site. So their visitors can also initiate, instant private discussions (IPD) on their web content. Allowing distribution of their web content to their visitors extended network. 

Try it out and let us know what you think. We’ve done some exhaustive testing, but till you out it out in the real world, with all the different browsers, OS, etc you don’t know how robust it is. Suggestions, features are very welcome, don’t be shy.

Over the past decade content on the web has exploded, both in the number of sites with content and content on existing sites. Not least of all has been the growth of the blogsphere as an industry in itself. The above statement is assumed to be an accepted fact and not part of this research.

What we wanted to understand was, given the above, how do people share the content, what are their drivers to share content and what issues do they have with the current mechanisms.

Specifically, given that we are in 2007, the most popular tool to share and discuss content, email was developed in the 1980’s and popularized in the 1990’s.

Methodology

The survey was conducted by David Coleman, Collaborative Strategies. MarketTools was the platform.
Survey closed on Wednesday 2/14/07 with 925 complete surveys

Selects: age 20 -50 

Target: 600 surveys; 200+ in each age group:20-30, 31-40, 41-50

Analysis of results done 2/15 -2/18

1356 people took the survey, 432 were selected out because they selected “don’t read or share online content” in the first question, leaving 924 completed surveys

50% were Male (458), 50% Female (466)

26% were 20-30 (240)

34% were 31-40 (312)

40% were 41-50 (372)

Results

Number of online groups correlated by age

Obviously, the audience here is an online audience, hence, the interesting data, is that about 35% of the sample does not belong to any on-line group. I suspect that if the question was asked differently to include ad hoc groups the answer would be closer to 100%.

An ad hoc group is one that is formed for a specific event. Normally where there is a time based event with a varying list of participants. Sharing web content, school events, poker nights, ski trips, charitable events, etc. are all examples

Also, bear in mind that individuals who are already members of an organized on-line group may also be part of many ad hoc groups.

The follow-up question needs to be “Are you part of an email group for organizing events or activities?”

Sharing Tags and Bookmarks correlated by age

Approximately 5% of the sample use bookmarking, with a higher percentage in the 20-30 year group. Bookmarking is a fast growing mechanism to save and share information, so what are the remaining 95% doing with content they find interesting? Saving to favorites, emailing, etc. As opposed to the market learning a new way to save and share content could the current mechanism be improved?

Frequency looking at on line content correlated by age

Sharing On line Content Method correlated by age

The “other” choice was predominately, cut and pasting the link as opposed to the number 2 choice cut and pasting the article.

Therefore, if you include using the website functionality of email a friend, cut and pasting the article and cut and pasting the link, 88% of the respondents still use email to share content.

What are the advantages of sharing on line content (Rank1-5)

With this question we were trying to understand the reasons why people like to share content. Specifically, was the purpose to inform their friends/family of something of interest, communicate or to engage and discuss with their friends and family.

Communicate: 61%

Enjoy the same article (32%), I think the content will be useful to them (19%), I want to make sure they have this new information (10%).

Collaborate: 39%

I want to add this new content to an ongoing discussion we are having (29%), I want them to read it so I can discuss this with them (10%).

One surprising number for us was that 29% of the people want to add the content they’ve discovered to an existing online/offline discussion they are having. Current mechanisms clearly do not cater to that requirement.

When you send an article, what % of time does it continue as an email as a discussion correlated by age

Breaking this down, 19.2% of the time it continues as a discussion through additional e-mail exchanges.

When you share on line content do you do or need the following?

Here we are trying to understand the process and need of users in sharing on-line content. The number 1 response creating a new email list to send every time goes to the point of ad hoc groups. Depending on the content and the context of the discussion the group will vary. Hence, managing these ad hoc groups is an issue. The many to many issue with email is the next challenge for 10% of the sample. The ability to save the discussion and view it later is at 8% and polling your friends would be useful for 6% of the sample.

10% of the sample is interested in public discussions. That would obviously imply 90% of the people that share on-line content are not interested in public discussions but by sharing on-line content they are in effect engaging in private discussions.

What are the challenges of sharing on line content with others

So specifically, what are the limitations of the existing mechanisms for sharing on-line content?

Paraphrasing what the sample is saying;

If it was easy to find the email addresses, I know the people received  the message, including attachments, gave some feedback, it didn’t turn into a “reply all” dialogue and I could go back and look at the discussion it would be useful.

If you could quickly and easily create a private group to share content how often would you use it?

Use all the time 11%, use instead of email 15% and if the group was large 42%.

Hence, 26% of the sample would use it on a regular basis, and 68% would use it. Given the size of the market it would command a large user base.

Analysis of Results

There is an underlying resistance for consumers to share content with a group because of the concern that one is adding to their inbox clutter and initiating a “reply all” situation. Obviously people do share content with groups but the point here is that there would be more sharing if there were better mechanisms in place to alleviate these issues. There is some pent up demand here.

The ad hoc group clearly exists and the current mechanism for those groups to share and discuss content online is limited. Their needs and requirements are expanding and they will rapidly adopt technology that allows them to interact with content in a more thoughtful, candid and private manner.