Howard got the pointer I sent earlier today regarding my initial experience at Motime. His comments:
It was quite nice to have had the exposure on Instant Messaging Planet but it may have been just a touch too early. We are still working under hood, so to speak, to optimize the IM functions and what we call the event dispatcher.
So, yes, the site is currently *very very * slow because we are working on it as I write this. I’d be happy to let you know when we have completed this phase (in the next few days, I hope). When we finish dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s, we’ll officially launch.
I was really happy to read your take on the general issues with respect to personal publishing and instant messaging. It coincides perfectly with my thinking. I anxiously read the first reports of the AOL platform, along with everyone else, with its references to an IM integration. When I read, however, that all it is so far is an IM-2-blog interface, my reaction was “so what?” This is a redundant ability at best and, as Dave Winer has suggested, maybe even a bad idea. The care given to both writing style and content (and oh yes, you’re right, also spelling) in IM is well suited to the real-time experience, but much less so to a publishing format. Anyone who has ever had to slog through an unedited transcript of an IM conversation will immediately understand the problem of making it easier to post from IM... ;-)
OK, it may be nice-to-have feature, but not much more. And I do not look forward to seeing lots of lengthy blogged IM dialogs!
All of us who have tested the motime platform have also tested the range of other blogging tools. Our strongest reactions are that publishing on other systems just feels lonely compared to ours. Changing the direction of the flow, Blog-2-IM, makes using our platform a very “un-lonely” experience. That’s the key -- social experience.
In addition we are trying to build-in as many social aggregation tools as possible (subscriptions, invites, group blogs); this is a product aimed squarely at non-professional users and first-timers, in other words, just regular folks.
Sorry for being so long-winded, but I had to strain to stop myself here. Having just read your blog and company website, it is crystal clear that you have already intuited the logic of this integration and the myriad of other possibilities that it offers.
I’m delighted that you took the time to write to us and happier still that I have had the chance to make your online acquaintance. I’ll keep you informed of our progress, if you wish me to so. I’m sure that you would enjoy taking motime out for a spin!
Sincerely,
Howard
P.S. I am currently working in Italy, so please take the time difference into account in case of phone or IM contacts...
P.P.S. The Bill Seitz quote on your blog is true in about 99% of cases, imho. Very well put.
I will fiddle with Motime this week, if I get a chance. Looking forward to talking at length, soon.
