Oct 4

Text messaging is cool. Facebook and social networking is hip. Well GroupMe.com combines them both - and it's easy to use.

 

 

 

GroupMe.com is social technology almost everyone can use

One of the challenges with technology is making it easy to use and easy to adopt. It's why there's a curve with early adopters leading the way and the masses following. What makes GroupMe.com unique is that they've simply co-opted two widely adopted technologies and merged them into a user-friendly tool for keeping in touch with your family, friends, co-workers, etc.

 

Text Messaging has spread to almost everyone. With today's smart phones, it's easier to type out quick messages. Likewise, it seems everyone is on Facebook. But each presents challenges. With text messaging, while it's easy to send messages to a few people...keeping a conversation going with several people can be challenging. Similarly with Facebook the obstacle is keeping the conversation private. Groupme.com solves these issues by allowing you to create a group with a single "text message" phone number. When anyone who's a member of this group text's to this number....everyone in the group sees the message. This allows you to quickly communicate with a small (or large) group of people in a very familiar way.

 

It's an elegant solution that seems to be easy for even the most techno-challenged to adopt. And this might be the secret sauce. They've taken two elements that are useful but pose challenges to some and streamlined them. Now a simple text message can start a conversation or keep everyone in one group or many groups updated. It's a unique, appealing solution (provided you have an unlimited text message plan on your phone). 

 

If GroupMe.com can figure out a way to monetize their product without introducing "ads" onto your phone or across your groups...then I think they'll see wide adoption. Right now, GroupMe.com is in Beta - you can sign-up for free and start building your groups. Have fun, but be respectful....I added John (my father) to our JLD group during testing....and a conversation within the group swamped him with text messages. He wasn't pleased. So make sure those in your group...well...want to be in the group.

 

http://www.businessinsider.com/mobile-startup-groupme-could-be-very-big-very-soon-2010-9