Project launch: meet WackWall!

May 13, 2008 – 3:19 am, by Emil @ Skalfa

Posted in News, Projects, WackWall | Tags: beta · release

Now this is big. I mean it’s huge. Today we are widening our community software portfolio (SkaDate, chuPPo) with one more product.

WackWall is an online webservice that allows you to create your own white/private label hosted social network free and within minutes.

Basic usage

You can create a nice social network free with just a few clicks and well under 10 minutes. No downloads, no installs - launch it and show it to your friends, period. It’s ready for others to join and have fun.

Advanced usage

There’s something more lying behind that for your users. A WackWall user can join unlimited networks, create unlimited networks as well as control and monitor it from one place. Content can be shared within several networks at once. It’s big fun when you try it once.

I suggest you to create 3 networks for start - for family (Your surname will do well as the network name), for colleagues (company name?), and for friends (plural of how you call each other, like “stinkers.wackwall.com”). Try uploading a photo and sharing some Internet links within these networks. Webcam chat, anyone? Once you get a basic idea of what WackWall is you can instantly see how it leverages community creation and participation.

WackWall development roadmap

What we’ve got to show you today is only the beginning. Expect aggressive development from our engineering team.

Features coming soon:

A collection of design themes
Much deeper design and layout customization - an object of special attention from us.
Features customization
Customizable languages
Friends, invitations
Private networks
Forums
Blogs
Video sharing
Events
Classifieds

Particularly expect forums feature to go live within days.

We also aim at perfection of what’s already there that is why we keep our ears open. Real-life usage and user feedback is going to show how we can improve WackWall. Nothing else really matters.

Why is WackWall important?
What’s the point of using your WackWall-powered network instead of Facebook or Myspace?

Social networking shift

There’s something evermoving about Internet social networks and the way we use them. Om Malik said awhile ago that social networks should be an addition of some upper-level activity not destination in itself. We see that to be true in many ways. A lot of businesses realize that and organize communities around their products and services. Entertainment resources do the same. WackWall can help with that.

Business

After many years of applying software in business I figured out that getting sidetracked with technical issues is a very common misstep. You might find that WackWall doesn’t exactly fit your final needs but it’s a unique chance to test-proof your idea. You can have your own domain name with WackWall for free, you can play with tools, and attract some traffic. You will be surprised that people need not features but benefits.

There’s a great chance that an average user you are trying to attract is not going to demand advanced features but will appreciate fast start and comprehensive experience. The irony is that while webmasters strive for complexity and customization users are intimidated by that.

Decentralization

We have seen that many times. Consumers’ needs are seldom fulfilled when you have only several big suppliers. The real value is discovered when small businesses get chance to produce the same or better. The crowd of small businesses is what makes a particular market healthy because of diversity and competition.

The same with social networks. These days nobody believes that Facebook, Myspace, and Bebo are just enough. WackWall makes it easy for anyone who cares to have a social network dedicated to their socium.

Big generic networks do not offer customized features for that have additional value for special interest communities. An independent filmmakers community wants video sharing as primary feature while short stories writers will enjoy blogs. With WackWall you can reorganize your main page and choose only those features you want.

Smaller communities of their own special interest enjoy more intimate communication and are able to adjust for special needs easily. Elder generation is also the right audience for many business, niche, and special interest social networks. It’s logical that they don’t hang out on Facebook.

Casual users inhabiting big generic networks are a liquid crowd. They always move to the next cool thing every 2-3 years. That is because their activity has little value for themselves and for the communities they participate in. They just poke around. On the other hand, small networks always try to attract users by some special interest - this alone is the definition of deeper and more sustainable communication.

Generic networks will always have fuel of younger generation - their primary audience - just because it increases every year. Yet we see giants approaching their peaks. MySpace is already showing slight decline. Facebook probably has a couple of years ahead. Meanwhile, niche networks launch like hell and those having real communities survive and grow. Now you only need to invest 10 minutes to launch. I love BMW, check out my BMW Club network. It took me 15 minutes with creating custom images.

Centralization

In present days it’s becoming hard to manage one’s many online identities on different services. You need only one user ID for WackWall-powered social networks. We will also be one of the first to jump on universal identity bandwagon once there’s a persuasive elaboration. Existing initiatives like OpenID just do not cut it yet. Maybe it takes ICANN to do it (at least they should do something better than figuring out ways to charge us another 25 cent per domain per year).

Privacy

WackWall will make it possible to create several networks with their own privacy settings so you can manage several activities both public and private under one identity - right from the WackWall account homepage. This is impossible on generic social networks and some people rightfully call privacy #1 concern about using online social networks.

Community

By the term social network people often mean a facebook-size behemot. Online community value is not about size (whatever metrics VCs and marketers have) but about communication within it.

A social network website is an online tool to serve community needs. Online community can very well consist of 5 people (e.g. your family) to give great benefits to its members.

The size is not the key. Trying to compensate lack of communication with size isn’t going to lead anywhere. It’s like walking in the street and trying to make acquainted with strangers asking them questions about their personal habits.

Instead, imagine sitting with friends in your beloved cafe discussing the subject of your special interest, yesterday party, or someone’s new hobby. Social networking tools here are soft music, the sofa, the table, and the cups of coffee.

A group of people with sustainable communication is what makes a community. There’s no community more viable than an existing group with shared interest armored with specially designated nice place and tools.

Invite all your family members to share photos on your new fresh social network at WackWall.

Now imagine a stranger coming to your party and start telling everyone about commercial products with a loud voice. At best, the guy will be ignored. At worst, he will be shown the door or people will start leaving.

The sorry state of social networks advertisement at this moment resembles just that. The forms of advertisement that will dominate in online communities are not yet invented so social networks are always on the edge of spoiling user experience with ads. Learn more about advertisement on Wackwall.

If you plan to support your social network with regular ads make sure that they are:

1) unobtrusive;
2) as targeted as possible.

When you host a party for xbox gamers put a brochure of latest game releases on that coffee table.