DISQUS

Mona N. · 1 year ago

Ouch Louis, I very much disagree.

Sure it aggregrates data from various services, but unlike other Lifestreaming sites, chi.mp enables me (the user) to control what is seen by who. Meaning, we own the data we pull in there. I thought it was neat, how we can group and tag contacts and choosing which group can see my email, but not phone number. Another group may see both. Another groups may see all plus all the services I'm signed up for, etc., etc.

Not only that, chi.mp provides us with our own domain, one free domain address that forwards to an email address of our choice, an Open ID, AND a downloadable VCard.

And did you get a chance to see the contacts section?
1. Batch organizing
2. Tagging
3.Groupings
4. Privacy Settings
and the best part? It's still in beta. Meaning, who knows what else they will bring to the table when they launch.

The UI is 'cartoony', but navigation, features, and functions far more intuitive and the options way more customizable than recent sites I've used. Perhaps it's because I'm viewing chi.mp in a different manner than you - an online business card and not a Social Networking site. IMHO, my non-tech savvy real life friends will certainly appreciate an easy way to find and contact me across the Interwebs. :)

Louis Gray · 1 year ago

Mona - good response.

1) Regarding it limiting who sees what, I've seen that in a few places. Even services like MyBlogLog let you selectively hide some data from friends and not others.
2) The self-owned .mp domain is cute, but not too much better than a directory (e.g. service.com/mona)
3) I did check out the contacts section. Tagging and groups are good features, but that's not really what I was looking for - considering what it bills itself as - a "content hub" and "identity management platform".
4) You say it's an online business card, but to me, that's what the blog can be for. The blog is your brand, and the external services can be included (like I do with the Friendfeed profile).
5) Yes, it's beta (or alpha). I get that. Maybe they can build from my feedback. Some services listen and others get frustrated. We'll see what the chi.mp guys can do.

Mona N. · 1 year ago

LG: I hear you, but I still stand by statements... However, considering your 3rd point, now I see where you're coming from - especially since I'm not a Social Media expert, but just an enthusiast. Hopefully, the chi.mp folks will take both our sides into consideration and take proper measures to omit any confusion when it opens its services to the public!

Btw, a .mp domain is more than just cute! For regular people like me, it's useful since 1. it's shorter than service.com/mona. (for Open ID) 2. I don't have my own domain and best of all 3. it's free! :)

BlueCockatoo · 1 year ago

I think the ability to choose who sees your information by group is an interesting feature, but really only applicable to the information that you enter on the Chi.mp site itself like your phone number. For choosing who gets to see your various services, there's no point in really trying to hide it from people... Google search will bring it all to light if someone is interested. I would love a way to be able to limit things on those other services as well, but don't see how it's possible unless the services offer me that themselves.

ChaCha Fance · 1 year ago

Mona said it good & I'll just add that this is just the beginning...... I've heard that Chi.mp is planning on adding a lot of useful, unique features in the future. So, as always, we have to sit back & be patient until that happens I guess.

Louis Gray · 1 year ago

Typically, I am patient. I usually have a long runway for alpha and beta products. I just got an extensive note from Tony Haile of chi.mp, and that's a good sign, that they are paying attention and have plans to further develop. I won't expect this will be the last time we hear from these guys, and I hope I'm proven very wrong.

CraigK · 1 year ago

I'm sure they have plenty of work ahead of them and will take your feedback along with others to make changes, the way a smart company should act. But is this really necessary? Everyday there is a new application like this trying to gain users and offer basically the same exact service plus or minus little bells and whistles. Do you know some of the features they are working on in the future that might separate itself?

Craig
www.budgetpulse.com

arctictony · 1 year ago

Hey Louis,

I won't add too much here, as hopefully over the next few months when we launch the meat of our service, what we build will talk for us. I just want to address one point.

When it comes to identity there is a vast difference between a domain name and service.com/louis. With service.com/louis you are tied to that particular service and in order to move elsewhere have to create a different identity and hemorrhage the old one. Your identity becomes fragmented and temporary. With a domain you can move it from service to service, one identity that's yours.

Remember how much it sucked when we couldn't move our cell number from AT&T to Verizon etc, now we can keep our cell number no matter what the service and it's a huge improvement. That's what domains do for identity online. It means you own who you are, not the service.

Tony Haile

BlueCockatoo · 1 year ago

Not that I'm planning to, but if I were to want to "move my .mp domain" to another provider, how would I go about that? As far as I could tell, I don't really "own" it in the same way I do if I go buy a domain from a registrar, so effectively I'm still tied to Chi.mp. Again, I have no desire at this point to move it but I am just curious about your analogy with phone numbers and how that actually works.

And also, what if I have a domain I've registered elsewhere that I'd like to "hook up" to Chi.mp's services? Is that a possibility? Maybe it's something with a more well known tld like .com.

Louis Gray · 1 year ago

Lindsay, I was similarly interested. My feeling is that the *.mp is
the equivalent of service/*, only it's the first part of the domain
that is customized. Would I really be able to take techpu.mp to
another registrar and make that my lifestream dashboard, per se? I am
eager to see what they think is possible.

arctictony · 1 year ago

You absolutely can move your domain away from chi.mp if you want to. We're still working on the interaction design to make it easier, but if you want to use your .mp domain for a wordpress site or typepad or whomever, you can simply switch to a traditional registrar relationship and go do what you want with it.

You can also have chi.mp on any domain if you want to. The point here is not to give people who already have domains yet another one, you already have a domain that represents you. The .mp domains are really there for those who don't already have a domain, a single permanent portable identifier on the web.

BlueCockatoo · 1 year ago

Is there already functionality in place to use your own domain? I couldn't find it... I understand that may be a feature in progress since you're still in alpha but if it's there, I'd like to see it.

Also is there eventually going to be more user-based control over what my Chi.mp profile looks like (theming, even CSS styling ability)? If I were going to use it to represent "me" online then I would want more control over that that looks like, especially in a professional context and in the context of personal branding.

arctictony · 1 year ago

The functionality is there but we need to work out the flow. We're going to be making that clear and easy in the next dev cycle so it should be fairly swift.

There is going to be a hell of a lot more user control over styling and even the different components of your public site as we go forward. At the moment we're looking at March as the first complete iteration of what chi.mp is, so you can imagine we're building an awful lot between now and then :)

brianoberkirch · 1 year ago

Louis: I'm glad you took the time to review where Chi.mp is today, and I know you've been watching FF and other social aggregation services quite closely and have lots of ideas. Certainly a fair read of where things sit today. What I will say is that I, Tony and the rest of the team don't really think aggregation is the (a?) big idea. A blog *is* a great calling card, but, guess what -- most people don't have a domain of their own with a blog to anchor it. Don't they get a calling card they can control?

I'm also equally interested in the idea of real contact management and shaping my content for the various registers of my life. If Chi.mp can offer up solutions for simply gathering up my data exhaust and making it useful for me and the people I choose to connect with, then we will have done something.

I'll also tell you a secret: the future of online identity is not bundling up early adopter social networks.

Louis Gray · 1 year ago

Brian, thanks for following up. As I told Tony via e-mail last night,
it's easier for me to write glowing reviews than negative ones. As he
and I discussed over e-mail and via FriendFeed, it looks like we have
a disconnect of expectations. I understand your note on "not bundling
up early adopter social networks", which I wouldn't necessarily
advocate, but with that said, Twitter was the first one I saw, which I
believe qualifies as much as any.

Do you believe that users will use their *.mp designation as a domain
they can control, and that this will be the future? As I noted in the
post, it's quite the flexible ending, assuming most of the good names
aren't gone. Keep me posted. By no means will I delete the account.
I'm eager to see what you can do next.