4 ms·

Why can't a church use a general purpose social network framework? How are the constraints/feature-needs different for a non-church group? I'm asking from a pl

Why can't a church use a general purpose social network framework? How are the constraints/feature-needs different for a non-church group? I'm asking from a place of honest curiously. Could a non-religious community group use this? Could a church get by with a social networking tool built for non-religious groups?

TallGuyShort 12y ago
I'd second the question in the form of a recommendation. From what I see in the screenshots, it seems like fairly minimal changes would also allow you to also pitch a variant of this as a tool for user groups, non-Christian congregations, and other such communities. Very nice looking tool!
humanrebar 12y ago
There are plenty of niche social networks out there. I don't see why having one for churches needs special justification. That being said, being a churchgoer is a very distinct social experience. The types of relationships, the need to moderate at times, the sensitivity of some conversations, etc. It makes a lot of sense to me that you'd have a specialized tool for that experience.
smacktoward 12y ago
Non-technical people aren't like technical people. They don't look at general-purpose software and think "hey, that's for me!" They look at general-purpose software and think "if that was for me, it would say so on the box." For this reason, software that is specifically targeted and marketed into a niche/vertical will usually get more traction in that vertical than a general-purpose alternative, even if both have the exact same feature set. (Or even, in many cases, if the general-purpose alternative has more features.) People need that little push of being explicitly told that the software is right for them.
- averyvery 12y ago
  I am a big fan of this comment - nice summary of the issue.
- hyperliner 12y ago
  Yes. Why buy a "vehicle" when you specifically need a "pickup truck."
timmorgan 12y ago
No reason that I can think of! OneBody was birthed out of a church, so it's niche has always been that. There were no customer research or market position analysis here - just plain ol' scratching an itch!
- wolfhumble 12y ago
  Looks really nice, congratulations!

TallGuyShort 12y ago

I'd second the question in the form of a recommendation. From what I see in the screenshots, it seems like fairly minimal changes would also allow you to also pitch a variant of this as a tool for user groups, non-Christian congregations, and other such communities. Very nice looking tool!

humanrebar 12y ago

There are plenty of niche social networks out there. I don't see why having one for churches needs special justification. That being said, being a churchgoer is a very distinct social experience. The types of relationships, the need to moderate at times, the sensitivity of some conversations, etc. It makes a lot of sense to me that you'd have a specialized tool for that experience.

smacktoward 12y ago

Non-technical people aren't like technical people. They don't look at general-purpose software and think "hey, that's for me!" They look at general-purpose software and think "if that was for me, it would say so on the box." For this reason, software that is specifically targeted and marketed into a niche/vertical will usually get more traction in that vertical than a general-purpose alternative, even if both have the exact same feature set. (Or even, in many cases, if the general-purpose alternative has more features.) People need that little push of being explicitly told that the software is right for them.

averyvery 12y ago
I am a big fan of this comment - nice summary of the issue.
hyperliner 12y ago
Yes. Why buy a "vehicle" when you specifically need a "pickup truck."

timmorgan 12y ago

No reason that I can think of! OneBody was birthed out of a church, so it's niche has always been that. There were no customer research or market position analysis here - just plain ol' scratching an itch!

wolfhumble 12y ago
Looks really nice, congratulations!