Social Software Explored

Ok, the web is changing, web applications are becoming more sophisticated, social networking is growing …

Yes, we all know this, but I have to say that Geni has the best interface of any web application that I have ever seen, ever (so far)! I found the application yesterday while perusing through some new news feeds I found whilst I was constructing my new PageFlakes page. The company has been around for a few months now and has already secured $100M $10M in funding (yes million). An astronomical amount of money for a 12+ person company.

When you use the application it is very clear to see why this company is garnishing this much praise (and money). The company is lead by the former COO of PayPal, David O. Sacks so I am sure he has the ears of a lot of people in Internet technology.

My Experience
I am going to try and contain my excitement about this application and explain my experience as I built out my family tree (at least as much as I could). The process of adding my account was simple, First Name, Last Name, Email Address and Password (password confirm field as well). So, simple I forgot how I did it (hopefully I can remember my password). I was instantly “logged in”. No need to retrieve a temporary password or confirmation URL. Nice.

I then got started adding people and by the time I got to my mother the application was put the test. My mom is divorced and remarried. Handled that like a champ. I was surprised but I guess if you are going to build a genealogy application in an era where divorce rates are high, you better handle that well. They did. When I got to my Sister who has been married twice and had a child with two different people it handled that smoothly by presenting me with an option to choose which mom/dad combination created this child.

I could not stop, I was completely addicted and I am not sure if it was because I was having fun or I was interested in seeing my family tree in the “tree” layout which looked so good.

I started adding every family members email address that I had, my mom, my aunt, my wife’s aunt as far as I could reach. I wanted to see what they thought. It has been less then 10 hours (slept 5 of those) and I have already received very positive response. I am hooked. I can not wait to see how this grows (hopefully someone will hold my Grandmothers hand through the program so that she can add her family lineage).

Organic growth
Although I started this family tree, this is not mine. I participate in this with my family members which is great. My sister in-law started adding details to my wife’s side of the family and I saw the real power of the application. Everyone participates in this. She had added a great uncle and all of his details, added a picture for my father in-law and it appeared she was hooked as well. I think that this will not only be enjoyable but I think that this application will actually bring my family closer together and offer my children a birds-eye view of our family (something that I can honestly say was difficult to do before this). Don’t get me wrong I did enjoy it when my grandmother brought out the manila envelope which contained the several pieces of graph paper with the family lineage she constructed.

I recommend that you give this application a chance, if not because you enjoy genealogy then simply because it is fun and it may help you understand how to organize information on the web.

[digg=http://www.digg.com/software/Interface_for_geni_com_is_one_of_the_best_ever]

Social Bookmarking, Social Software, Software Development, Software as a Service, Uncategorized, Web 2.0, society

I had some time today to catch up on my “links for you” (links your friends post to their account they believe you would be interested in) at del.icio.us. and I cam across a link to an article a friend of mine had sent to me a week or two ago on the RSS reader. The article entitled: Death of the RSS Reader / Software as services was written in December 2005 (Yes) by Phil Waineright who rights an “Applications on demand” blog for ZDNet (I added his blog to my list because he is dead on here). While I am not sure that he has captured the full value of “Software as services” (which I believe goes way beyond RSS) I think that he has a point.

Software as a service (SaaS)
The idea of software as a service has been around for quite some time. SaaS is well documented on the web and has its own place even at Wikipedia: SaaS. I was involved in a few startups that were early adopters of the idea except we called ourselves Application Service Providers or ASP’s. Back in the day we built applications and “rented” the use of those applications out to companies in return for a monthly fee (the holy of all holies - recurring revenue). These applications were maintained by us. We handled the server and network architecture (we obviously outsourced this), we updated the software and managed the data. The client simply opened a Web browser and worked with their data.

There is however, a big difference in SaaS to the business (b2b) and SaaS to the consumer (b2c). A while back the industry thought that the b2b software industry was going to explode. Services between companies have certainly moved to the web and that continues to increase, but not nearly as much as the b2c side.

Today you can see software as a service almost everywhere. Google and Yahoo compete for the consumer’s attention all of the time with their applications which help you do everything from manage links and video to email and favorite TV shows. There are also many other smaller applications (who are continually swallowed up by larger organizations) that offer niche market applications like Flickr and Dandelife to name a couple.

I think a notable Software as a Service in the consumer space is PeaPod. While you may not think about it as a traditional SaaS, for the consumer it is most definitely a contender. What better services then the ability to virtually attend a supermarket, order some goods and have those goods delivered to your home. On that same level, you could include Netflix, Blockbuster and the like in their as well.

While the RSS Reader online can certainly be considered a service, I am not sure that he has done justice to the explosion in SaaS on the consumer side.

Internet boom 2.0, Service Oriented Architecture, Social Software, Software Development, Software as a Service, Web 2.0