Could Swarmteams be the next Jaiku?
17th of October 2007 by conor
I only just heard of Belfast-based Swarmteams last week despite them getting quite a bit of coverage last autumn. Given the buzz around mobile social networks, it looks like they have a great growth opportunity on their hands.
It is based around the idea of group messaging using SMS, IM, RSS and E-mail with a particular focus on SMS and mobile. Like Jaiku channels you can message individual groups and not just everyone of your contacts (like Twitter does).
Rather than simple format-less messages, they have implemented an SMS command system too. For example, the prefix .CHAT means broadcast this message and send all replies to everyone in the swarm. By contrast, .ASK means broadcast but just send me the replies and .TELL means broadcast but don't send any replies. In fact there is a whole raft of commands which requires its own cheatsheet!
It is clear that Swarmteams was designed for mobile first and web second. This means that you can even do things like create swarms on the fly using your phone. I see huge potential here for co-ordinating short-term activities between constantly changing group and sub-groups of people.
A perfect example occurred this evening with the Facebook Debate in London. No back-channel had been created and someone already at the event wondered if one existed. With Swarmteams they could have created one on the spot using their phone and invited a bunch of people to it. Instant group SMS, IM and RSS for all to monitor or take part.
The site itself is very concept heavy with lots of info about swarm like behavior which I'm not sure any user really cares about. The web-based message board is quite sparse in design but has a large number of icons which may confuse. If Twitter is under-designed, then Swarmteams seems to be taking the kitchen sink approach to features. I even spotted a Skype logo. A strange omission is GTalk and Jabber for IM given that they support AIM, ICQ, Yahoo and MSN.
There are two versions available. One for Enterprises (Swarm-Pro) and one for individuals (Swarm-it). Whilst I originally didn't get the Enterprise angle, the examples they give make sense: Retail Industry engaging consumers, Music Industry engaging fans, Government & Campaigners engaging citizens etc.
The version for individuals is where I see the potential for rapid growth but since it is a pay-for service I fear it will remain untapped. Both Twitter and Jaiku bit the bullet on SMS cost in order to build their customer bases. Both intend(ed) to offer freemium services in the future. Could Swarmteams use the Enterprise income to subsidise the Consumer version in order to quickly build the user-base?
As users become more sophisticated they are moving from the simple functionality of Twitter to the richer experience of Jaiku. I really think that Swarmteams could be the next logical step.
Comment posted by Conor O’Neill
at 10/18/2007 4:21:44 AM
Thanks for the update Ken.
I'd be very surprised if you are not already beating VCs off with a stick. Any Euro-VC who has seen the excitment in this area must see the value Swarmteams has.
I love the concept-heaviness on your blog, I subscribed the second I found it but I just thought it might distract on the main site. Do you speak much at conferences? If not, you should!
If all those commands are available via HTTP post then you are way ahead of anyone else in API richness.
I'm going to check out the widget, that sounds very useful. Might be perfect for the Paddy's Valley site in fact!
Comment posted by ken thompson
at 10/18/2007 3:04:23 AM
Conor
Thanks for taking the time to put together a very insightful review
We are currently growing swarmteams organically using the enterprise version of swarms with music bands, retail brands and civic/youth engagement fans mostly focused on the UK. These enterprises sponsor the messages provided they are on their chosen topics.
We are now starting to looking actively for external investment but we did not want to do this until we had some good revenue streams. External funding would enable us to offer the personal version for free if we want to – we are not yet fully decided on this one of things we have discovered is that sustainable long-term swarming works best in the context of real 'must do' applications as opposed to general gossip and they can be harder to find in the personal space.
I agree with your comments on 'concept heavy' – we will be slimming down and simplifying things over the coming weeks. I think this also points to one of our uniques we developed a novel biological model for communications (patent pending) and then built a system to implement the model. So it means we have intellectual property which you can't really create by rapid prototyping alone.
I know about the Paddys Valley trip etc timing just not right for us – would love to chat further with Niall. I wrote to Conor to try and make some connections with the Irish Web2.0 community which I heard about from Brian Cleland at InterTrade. We are looking for potential resellers and partners in both geographies and sectors.
In terms of the API any swarm command you can issue from the handset can be issued by another program via an HTTP post.
We also have a 'Swarm Button' widget which can be dropped onto an existing website or community or to add mobile and IM channels to it instantly. It also provides single signon if you are logged into the application you don't have to log-in again to swarmteams. All the application has to do is change the code where it communicates with it groups to a call to the Swarm API and it can use TELL, ASK or CHAT and swarmteams will handle all the channels for it automatically.
Best Regards
Ken Thompson
Comment posted by Conor O’Neill
at 10/17/2007 4:54:16 PM
The depth of their thinking and analysis of social behaviour is easily the match of anything you hear from the Jaiku guys.
They got in touch with Web2Ireland via InterTradeIreland. I wouldn't be surprised if Paddy's Valley came up too.
Perhaps they fell off your radar due to the pay-for aspect? I have to wonder if maybe they could have grown as fast as Jaiku over the past year with a freemium approach?
I'll be interested to see what they are doing with APIs too.
Comment posted by Niall Larkin
at 10/17/2007 3:56:25 PM
Excellent analysis Conor. I had forgotten about Swarmteams. Strangely enough for an Irish outfit, I first heard of them through Techcrunch. It'll be no surprise to those that know me that I was drawn to their application of the principles of bio-logic (rather than techo-logic) to smoothing out normal socio-logical processes.
I looked into the guy behind it and I remember thinking what an interesting character with refreshing outlook on selecting people and building teams. (Almost an in-company BarCamp ethos)
I'm curious as to how they came under your radar lately? Would love to hear more from them. I mean this is a company that would presumably have get a great deal from FOWA, BarCamps (incl Belfast) and of course the upcoming trip to Silicon Valley.