micromobs

Reason #63 why we love Skittles at micromobs

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 23:25:00 -0700

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Huzzah!! We've been published...in UrbanDictionary that is.

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 15:07:00 -0800

We're so excited to announce that our entry has been published in Urban Dictionary. Yes! We know that's exciting =)

Check it out: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Reply%20Allcoholism

P.S. M.I.A.- Jimmy rocks!

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Extreme Makeover Edition

Thu, 03 Mar 2011 16:32:00 -0800

We’re so happy to announce that the new micromobs is [a]live and kicking! We’ve been working hard the past few months and turning your feedback and suggestions into a new and transformed micromobs. Read on to see what’s new:

New & super easy way to start a group

Email is great! It’s a part of our daily lives. But when you are part of email threads with more than one person on cc, things can get out of hand. These endless reply-all threads make us cry. So now instead of crying you can take an email thread, forward it to mobthis@micromobs.com and unburden your inbox. We take your email thread, start a mob, invite everyone involved and move all the posts to micromobs. This way you can have a real conversation on a tool that’s built for group discussions.

Unsubscribe from threads

We want you to have complete control of your inbox while allowing you to enjoy conversations with your groups. That’s why we’ve made it so that you can unsubscribe from threads if you’re no longer interested in receiving emails when someone replies. This way you only get email alerts about conversations you care about.

Your group gets its own email address

Every mob is unique. It has a unique purpose and unique set of people that come together to form it. That’s why we think its only suitable to give each mob it’s own unique email address. Now you can update your mob by sending an email to your mob’s email address. It’s that easy!

New posts indicator

When you come to micromobs on the phone or on the web, you'll be shown the number of new posts in each mob since your last visit. This way you can check the new updates without wondering what you've missed.

Keep track of what you share with groups

Keeping track of what you’ve shared and with who is tough. But don’t worry, micromobs is here to help! Now you can view all the pictures or all the links you’ve ever shared with your mob in one place.

Tell us what you think

If you have any suggestions or comments please feel free to email us at info@micromobs.com

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Oh no! Rod, you sent this email reply-all.

Sun, 06 Feb 2011 16:23:00 -0800

reply-all

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Nominate micromobs for a #Crunchie

Thu, 23 Dec 2010 11:26:00 -0800

... for Best Bootstrapped Startup of 2010

You can nominate here: http://is.gd/ik133

Step 1: Click on the link above

Step 2: Click on the nominate button and you're done!

Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

<3 Thank you & happy holidays everyone!

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Guess who voted? #vote #vote #vote #vote #now

Tue, 02 Nov 2010 14:15:00 -0700

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How to Take Down Facebook -- Hint: It Ain't Twitter. (aka: An Open Letter to the Next Big Social Network)

Mon, 01 Nov 2010 11:06:00 -0700

I've held off writing this post for a long time, because I couldn't quite get my head around all the issues. It wouldn't be accurate to say there's something "wrong" with Facebook, and it's not like I don't spend a shitload of time ego-whoring around on Twitter too. Let's face it: I'm completely & utterly addicted to social networks & tha Interwebs.

but: Something is Still Missing. Something is Wrong on the Internet and it's keeping me awake at night. however, i think i finally figured out what "IT" is...

Assertion #1: Facebook doesn't get Intimacy.

Facebook is full of my "friends", but it's not a great place to hang with my BEST friends (aka "BFF").

Now before you lose your shit, i know many of you are saying:

a) Dave, you're full of crap -- intimacy doesn't come from a computer, or
b) Dave, you're full of crap -- Facebook has *plenty* of intimacy, or
c) Dave, you're full of crap -- the only thing that might kill Facebook is Twitter, which is the exact opposite of intimacy (true)

or last but not least:
d) Dave, hey WTF happened to all the crazy fonts & colors?

None of these are the right response. (altho I do promise my next blog post will once again be replete with wild-ass colors and funky fonts, just u wait).

Let me back up & explain a little bit.

Read the full post at 500hats.typepad.com

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Happy Halloween & Happy World Series, mobbers!

Fri, 29 Oct 2010 12:40:00 -0700

Happy Halloween!!!

Anddddd GOOOOOOO GIANTS!

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Major Facebook Privacy Pwnage

Fri, 15 Oct 2010 10:50:00 -0700

Work and Facebook: they aren’t friends.

School and facebook: they aren't friends either.

Parents and facebook: Are they friends? Take a wild guess.

Source: Guyism.com

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The World According to San Francisco

Wed, 13 Oct 2010 22:27:00 -0700

Thanks for sharing Gaurang Tanna =)

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It's time to take a stand against the Reply All button!

Tue, 12 Oct 2010 10:42:00 -0700

Share this on facebook or twitter if you've ever been the victim of a brutal email thread or if you're a recovering Reply All-coholic.

Use micromobs for your groups, not email threads.

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'Damn It, My Mom Is On Facebook' Filter Stops Online Embarrassment

Sun, 10 Oct 2010 17:17:00 -0700

Huffington Post: Chances are that if you're under a certain age you've had to deal with your mom finding out about Facebook. Now that your mom has a profile, you'll have to censor yourself when talking about drinking, sex and your political and religious beliefs - especially if you're in college.

Thankfully, "Saturday Night Live" has the solution in the form of a "Damn It My Mom Is on Facebook" filter. Simply write or post whatever you'd normally put on Facebook, hit the application button, and voila! The salacious details of your life will appear to your mom as something as innocuous as, "Boy do I need new Dungarees!" (More)

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mobs are for winners, fb groups are for spammers

Sat, 09 Oct 2010 18:53:00 -0700

Many people may have noticed that Facebook released a revamped version of their groups application on Wednesday. Over here at micromobs, it got us thinking-- what’s up with Facebook?

Groups are important (duh: micromobs), but something feels a little off about Facebook’s new groups. Consider the fact that my inbox is full of spam. Without even accepting a group I had received a ton of emails just minutes after Facebook’s announcement. Apparently you don’t get to chose which groups to accept and which to decline. Odd...that’s not how groups should work. (on a side note, it's an awesome way to piss off your friends) Don’t worry though, the Facebook gods have blessed us with the ability to leave a group. Lucky us.

Facebook has been a great tool for me since 2004, I’ve used it to keep in touch with so many different types of people, my freshman year roommate to elementary school crush. I use it to kill time when I’m bored and check out what my friends are up to. But it’s starting to confuse me. Now, each of us have a number of feeds: news feed, most recent news, different groups, pages, event walls, yikes. Their implementation is getting more nebulous by the day. Also, the problem remains--what if I’m in a group with people I’m not yet friends with? I don’t want them to be able to scope out my Facebook profile.

micromobs remains the easiest way to create a group discussion. It’s private, simple, and makes sure not to spam you. You can use micromobs as a tool to get things done quicker in a group, or as a way to have fun and share with a group. Don’t fret about friending, just worry about what matters--your group.

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Smell like a monster. [Warning: Awesome]

Sat, 09 Oct 2010 16:28:00 -0700

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Facebook users actually interact with very few of their 'friends' ['09]

Tue, 05 Oct 2010 14:44:00 -0700

Facebook users actually interact with very few of their ‘friends’ -“According to Cameron Marlow, Facebook’s ‘in-house sociologist,’ that number is four if you are male and six if you are female. Marlow’s research indicates that the average Facebook user has a network of about 120 friends, but only has two-way conversations with a very small subset of these ‘friends.’ Interestingly, even for those users who have a far larger number of friends (500+), those numbers barely grow [ten for men and sixteen for women].”

micromobs at the Startup Fair at the Hackerdojo

Mon, 27 Sep 2010 23:02:00 -0700

micromobs' table at the Hackerdojo Startup Fair.

Our awesome neighbor. Oh the irony.

For more info check out the SJ Mercury News post about the Startup Fair: Hacker Dojo: an innovative way to nurture young innovators

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4 Reasons why Families should Connect Online

Mon, 02 Aug 2010 20:16:00 -0700

I come from a family of computer programmers. My mom, dad and brother all code for a living. Yet the only way we communicate is by using a phone tree. Did I say phone tree? Yes I did. How 2000 and late of us. If my tech-savvy family can’t move away from the archaic communication methods then how can the “regular” families keep up?

Families need to communicate on a regular basis. I communicate with my immediate family on a daily basis (pssst I live at home, don’t tell anyone.) I talk to my other relatives (cousins, aunts, uncles, etc) on a weekly basis. The funny thing is that with family, the majority of the decisions need to be group decisions that involve group discussions. It doesn’t stop at one on one conversations. Families need an easy to use, private and secure way of connecting online and this is where micromobs comes in.

#1 Family communication should be efficient

Everyone in a family needs to be on the same page. And the page should be short and sweet, not long and ridiculously inefficient. (wait a minute, that didn’t make any sense...but keep reading.) Lets assume my immediate family consists of 6 people. If I’m picking up dinner, I shouldn’t have to call 5 other people to make sure that they don’t cook/pick up dinner as well. When I use micromobs, I make ONE update to my family mob and everyone is on the same page. You got served! With delicious pizza that is.

#2 Relatives are family too and they miss you

My dad has 5 siblings. My mom, with her true propensity to always win, beat him with 7 siblings. That leaves me and my brother with 12 aunts and uncles. Thanks to those 12 lovely people, I have 21 first cousins. 60% of those 21 cousins now have significant others. After some fun calculations, I just learned that I have 66 relatives that I must keep in touch with. Sigh. Who has time for second cousins? But wait! You do-- with micromobs. micromobs makes it easy for me to update my entire family at the same time. We remember to wish each other on birthdays/anniversaries, plan vacations together, share pictures and links, and enjoy some daily banter. It makes life a lot easier for us. I don’t like having my family on facebook. There’s a distinction between the content my family needs to see vs my friends vs co-workers.

#3 Control what you share with your family without worrying about complicated privacy options

I love facebook. I’ve been a user since college and I don’t think I’d ever give it up. But I hate that there’s no distinction between the data my different social-groups see. I don’t always want to share the same content with my family that I share with my friends, let alone co-workers. micromobs allows me to share relevant information with my family and doesn’t spam the rest of my friends/co-workers. And, there are no complicated privacy controls. You control what you share at all times.

#4 It’s so easy, even a caveman can do it.

Remember when I told you my parents are computer programmers. Yea, except they’re not web savvy. They still use hotmail for Pete’s sake! Same with tons of my other family members. But, they use micromobs. Why? Because it’s user friendly and they don’t need to read a manual to figure it out. It’s so easy, a caveman can use it.

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4 Ways Group Collaboration in College Sucks (and how micromobs can fix them!)

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 12:32:00 -0700

On my first day of orientation at Stanford, the obligatory inspirational speaker told us “Collaborating with your classmates will be key to your success here at Stanford.” After a couple of years under my belt, I’ve realized that he might have sounded cliché, but he was damn right.

Whether it’s collaborating with a team or desperately emailing TAs for help at 3am the morning of a midterm, there isn’t a day where I don’t need to communicate with a group in college. But, it isn’t always rosy. The constant need for group communication does have its fair share of problems, but when I get back to school, I think I’ve realized a few ways micromobs could be pretty useful.

#1 Somebody else knows the answer to your question… but you don’t know who

It isn’t uncommon to run into a ridiculously hard problem on a weekly problem set. Asking that friend down the hall for help isn’t enough—he’s stumped too. You could try asking a TA for help, but they can’t always give a substantial answer because they’re too busy being bombarded with emails by other desperate students.

If you get your class on micromobs, you could easily ask for help from anyone in your class. That way, your TAs and professor also have all the more reason to give you the best help because not only are they helping you, they’re helping your entire class. That’s like shooting 100 birds with one stone (kinda)!

#2 You need to study… but can’t find a study group

It can be a bit of a pain setting up a study group before exam day without having your teaching staff facilitate them. It might be because you don’t know enough people in your class or you’re that sort of awkward person in the corner that doesn’t feel like asking random strangers in person if they’d like to study (it’s okay engineers, I feel your pain).

With a mob, all it would take is a one-line post in your class’s mob: “Anyone want to study tonight?” Or if you’d rather stay in your warm, cozy room, you could just collaborate with each other through your mob.

#3 Critical announcements get lost… and you end up going to the wrong building for your final

This one luckily hasn’t happened to me, but my roommate ended up being late for his final because he didn’t catch the announcement that our final’s location had changed.

Instructors, all it takes is an @all message to save your students’ pain (and GPAs). By typing 4 letters, you can get a hold of your entire class whether you need to announce something as urgent as an exam location change or just a small change in the homework.

#4 You piss off your group members by overlooking an email

We’ve all had to work on a group project and most of the communication ends up one way or another through email. This is fine… until you end up having to sort through email threads that make craigslist look like Olivia Munn.

Skip the ugly outdated email threads. Don’t miss your teammates’ messages by creating a mob for your group. Trust me, they’ll thank you later!

Have you figured out any other ways micromobs is useful for school? Is there any way micromobs can be better? Let me know in the comments or hit up our user mob!

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@all for one and one for @all & gettin' real with real time updates

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 14:34:00 -0700

We hate email threads! Hate them. That was one of the main reasons why micromobs was born. You can participate in discussions on your own time and ignore the ones that don't interest you. But sometimes you need to reach out to your whole group, like right now. Totally!

For example Imagine you're in a "I love Vampire Weekend" mob that you started with you and 9 of your buddies. You guys just LOooOOve them and you just found out that they'll be performing at a local venue TONIGHT! You need to contact your whole group right now. Yes, right now! Instead of just posting it on micromobs and lettings the other guys read it when they have time, or @mentioning each one of them you need the message delivered to them right now as easily as possible! Ahh, right now! Enter @all.

When you use @all, the mob members will all receive an email alert with the urgent update. Wowza! Athos, Porthos & Aramis would be so proud. This feature is only available on private mobs. We don't like spam, in fact we hate spam, much like we hate email threads. That's why @all is not available for public mobs.

On to the next one...

Real time updates are for real. No need to keep refreshing the page. We know you spend hours on micromobs everyday ;-). Now if you're viewing your "all stream" there will be a real time alert that will pop up if there are new posts as such:

If you're in one of your mobs page, you'll see the alert regarding new posts as such:

Peace out friends. BTW go watch inception (spoiler alert) !

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That's one small step for micromobs, one giant leap for User Experience...

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 12:47:00 -0700

See the full gallery on Posterous

..Inline media sharing that is.

Now when you share a youtube video in your mobs, it will automatically be embedded in your post. We're working on improving this feature as I type this. "No wayy"--Thats what she said!

We will soon be supporting other media as well. Have fun being all fancy with your youtube videos in micromobs. If you're bored enjoy our awesome timesink mob Random/Crazy videos

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