19th
Sorry web 2.0 guys, but retweeting links and replying “cool stuff !” is not a discussion
At A World For Us we developed a good habit: whenever an email thread becomes controversial, we stop it and schedule a live meeting in Assemblive to discuss the issue at hand. This habit comes from the battle-tested experience that quickly written emails are extremely prone to quid pro quo, so they often turn into flame wars, or on the opposite end up being too shallow. I guess everyone recognize the pattern: whenever you have a serious issue at hand, either you pick up the phone or you summon a face to face meeting, preferably the latter. But because our team is scattered around the planet, for us summoning a meeting means using Assemblive.
So what’s the point? We are all already convinced of the power of voice over text/chat. What strikes us is how the web industry is forgetting this obvious fact for the most part. The web 2.0 is all about how cool is the new startup making it possible to text-chat with each other. When is the last time you actually had a great discussion over Facebook or Twitter ? People post links of cool stuff, other people reply that they like it, and sometimes people exchange tips. It’s all about cool and fun, but not much about efficiency. It doesn’t mean there is no value in these tools, but calling that “discussions” is quite a leap. And don’t get me started on the “realtime” adjective… The interesting thing is that people still need to have really realtime discussions, it’s vital. But how ? They use old fashioned ways, far away from the cool new web tools: face to face meetings, conventions, barcamps, tradeshows, or using the two decades old online tool: IRC.
We believe time has come for an efficient way to have really realtime discussions online, and there’s no better way than voice for that. I’m writing this post a few hours after a barcamp I attended. Within 3 hours I met cool guys and had great discussions on the current trends of the web. The experience was extremely rich, but because even the most cutting-edge web tools are so poor compared to an actual barcamp, there is this idea that an online version of it is simply impossible. Oddly, instead of blaming inadequate tools, lots of people hold this idea by saying that such online meetups would be pointless, as if distant people somehow didn’t have the right to discuss with each other. Far from being impossible, living this kind of experience right now online is possible, Assemblive is built for that.
Tired of shallow discussions on social networks ? you miss your old IRC days ? To quote Pink Floyd: “It doesn’t have to be like this All we need to do is make sure we keep talking”.
