So, it's been about 6 weeks since our public beta launch of Crowdstorm and we thought it might be a good idea to ask you guys what key features you are missing right now? Is there anything you really want to see? Anything we can do better?
Now's your chance to get it on our product roadmap..
to be perfectly frank - the recent "plethora" of uploads of ENTIRE product ranges is not what i thought crowdstorm was all about...it defeats the object of people finding "neat/innovative" products and then recommending them. Any chance of not allowing this in some shape or form? ie perhaps have a max that can be uploaded in one day/week etc - or perhaps to be able to upload a user must make comments on other products to ensure they are "part of the community".
On the flip side - great job on the gui/graphics! Love what Ryan. S has done ;)
Very good point Yoda. We've been "in touch" with the user in question to discuss the situation and prevent it happening again. It's one of the interesting things about a social shopping community - anything can happen! :-) You are right in saying that we are about uploads of entire product ranges - we are about products that everyone wants to talk and buzz around.
Hi Whisper - many thanks for the reply. After writing you i thought to have a look at the other "Social Shopping" sites to see if occurs there...and THE SAME guy was uploading his ENTIRE product range... So how about the idea that members need to give /take in the loop. ie they need to ALSO make comments on other products AND there is a cap to the number of recommendations (products) per day? A delicate balance balance i guess.
I agree with the comments so far that there should be some restriction on 'entire product ranges' suddenly appearing here, potentially from retailers. Difficult to know how to moderate this and still keep to the principles of the site, surely? I mean yes, we should try to moderate against retailers putting all their stuff on here, but what if a perfectly normal 'crowdstormer' happens to like and want to comment on a range of items? Are they not entitled to do so and, afterall, spend time to let the rest of us know about their passion for these items ? Tough gig, this moderation issue ....
Hey Gadgeteer - sure enthusiasm for a bunch of products is great BUT how many cna people absorb at any one time? So if your intention as a broadcaster is to get people to see the product(s) wouldn't it be better to release them slowly - thereby giving the product some limelight each day/hour etc.
Hey Yoda, Good point. I still think there is going to be some difficulty in legislating/moderating the level of activity. I think, however, that this may well evolve a natural dynamic on it's own as the site matures. As long as there is some oversight in the initial few months to try to reduce the instances of potential 'retailers' hijacking the site. That's not what this site is about.
One other possibility in "automated" moderation game as i suggested to "WHisper" was to make sure people who are uploading to "interact" with the site in more ways than just uploading - ie they need to make comments on other products etc in order to upload - this would make them into "trusted" users- ie people who use the site in a give and take way. If all this site is going to be is another marketing channel for online marketers then i don't give it long... the growth and uptake will be on REAL people making REAL recommendations. Thoughts?
Any thought, as it'll be automated, as to the ratio of posts to uploads ? Obviously if it is to be automated, it'll have to be defined. Also, it should discount any posts against products they themselves have uploaded.
No idea as to the ratio but perhaps the "weighting" should be in favour of comments - ala "no community - no traffic" on the other hand "good community - lots-a-traffic" (Eyeballs breed eyeballs). And yes comments on their own product uploads should be less wieghted than on other products. Inter-action is the key.
Hi, thanks for this discussion. I miss two things :
1/ a clear crystal view of how users score points
2/ a bookmarklet to grasp products easily like kaboodle or stylehive
I'm still here - don't worry :-) We're working on a reputation system (you can see the stars already but they are greyed out) and some better ways of using storm points / achievement badges. What this means is that we aim to reward people for doing well on the site and giving back to the community. With more achievements and reputation comes greater power and influence - i.e. able to edit product titles, upload more products etc...
Also - definitely agree that we are not clear enough about how points work just yet and show how competitive it can be. We're not far away from that though - hopefully.
Bookmarklet - I like that idea for sure. Which is the best one you have seen Cactou?
Hmm, feature request…:) What about changing something from its root!?
I consider that the actual approach towards “community” is not enough. Although I hopped that Web2.0. will solve some of the issues I see much is to be done.
To cut it short:
-We people like to be part of something, to contribute, to get involved.
-We people like to have a certain status in communities and usually are very proud of.
-We people like to identify with characters.
-We people don’t like to be depersonalized.
Now, please imagine two different situations :
First situation:
-Three friends chatting:
John – Well, you know I’m the vice-president of Crowdstorm’s local council.
Bill- Nice, I’m Crowdstorm’s forest administrator.
Mary- where is that city?? Can I volunteer?
Second situation:
-Three friends chatting:
John – Well , you know I have 233 community points on Crowdstorm.
Bill- Nice, I have the golden thunder and three full stars.
Mary(yawning) – Can we just go home!?
Conclusion:
From my point of view, making the community more human is the key.
You have already the wasp ( or bee :) ) … I think you can make a structure people could identify with and which could reflect their activity.
Pool Question: If you were a Crowdstorm member would you more likely wear a t-shirt:
a) saying : I have 233 points on Crowdstorm.
b) saying: I’m a bee on Crowdstorm’s hive.
I agree completely. It's something we've been secretly working on behind the scenes in order to introduce more personality to the Crowdstorm people and activity. Now - are you saying you want to be a forest admin person or a bee? ;-)
AS i stated before the success is all about "interaction" though i wouldn't stress as much on "community" - i am struggling to understand why someone would want to be Gadget Admin as this site is about finding and recommending products. As an overall i would have more pics/categories on the homepage - as like any BB/Forum once the thread/product is off the front page it's buried...Digg is proof of the ephemeral nature of us all today - we want some instant gratification/titilation and then we're off. Perhaps the focus could change slighty on the homepage to give older reviews a chance - ie sections and perhaps a product that has got good reviews/comments/stars etc.
Guys ('n' girls, of course!), how about a feature which allows you to see everything you've posted or commented on? A sort of personal homepage to allow you to easily track discussion threads and comments on products you were interested in enough to comment. I'd sacrifice the automatic e-mails when posts are updated to have this 'Personal homepage' feature. I think it might improve usability and interaction.
yep - that one is coming very soon Gadgeteer. We've started a project called "Crowdstorm Epsilon" (just to be one better than Flickr's naming convention :-) ) - which will make things a lot more community orientated and provide a lot more features to make it easier to use and find products / people. In fact, for that launch - I want to make sure we have spoken to every Crowdstorm user to find what they want / things to improve.
Pity this thread petered out - was enjoying the chit chat on the whys and wherefores of community being the underlying driver to a successful and (hopefully) thriving site.
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