WeDecide at NYU Polytech Conference on Technology & Government
We are in the USA for the Intel Startup Challenge. I made a stopover in New York City to visit some potential clients, partners, investors. Today, I participated in Democracy and Technology Today conference hosted by NYU Polytech and Chris Hables Grey, author of Cyborg Citizen. Egypt Revolution, Wikileaks and Occupy Wall Street were discussed as case studies of intersection of technology and social change. One emerging lesson is that social media is necessary but not sufficient. A political activist leader from Egypt connected live to the conference and described his experience that waiting to excite the revolution online did not happen, he had to talk to and excite offline people and stage the initial protests in a viral way both offline and online. It was a good discussion of power and limitation of technologies and the need to embrace and unite communications online and offline.
This looks like a very interesting product, but I can’t help but think you are missing a trick by not having a basic, open and free version.
You would still get your corporate clients paying for the enhanced version, but – with an API and a free-to-use social platform version – you could easily get significant reach for something like this.
Most of my clients are charities – ranging from small local ones to international charities – and I can think of a lot of ways this would be a very useful platform for them for engaging with supporters, crowd-sourcing ideas and being seen to engage with donors and supporters in a meaningful way.
However, the ongoing cost would be a barrier for many of them. But more than that, the net economy is driven by free – you don’t pay to use Facebook, and even proprietary systems like MailChimp have a basic free version, which not only increases visibility and awareness of its benefits, but also brings through free users to be paid users once they can justify the costs based on results.
Just something I think you should think about.