Hello Google Invites, Goodbye Evite
With all the attention I've given to nascent Web 2.0 event planning services, I've overlooked the offerings of the big gorilla Google. I used Google's evite-like invitation service a while back when I first came across it but the reception was tepid and my interest in the space was nil, so I promptly forgot about it. Then I got religion for the space and wrote a series of articles on the new startup services. I actually invited dozens of my friends to dinner using one of the services -- no names mentioned here -- and the uptake was nil.
One of those same friends last week invited me to dinner using the Google invite service. What's remarkable is that he's not a particularly early adopter; he's a pragmatic main street user. In the same stroke, he uncloaked his gmail account for the first time. I'll have to ask him about his conversion story. Then just now, I got an SMS on my phone from Gvent telling me that another friend, inspired by the first, decided to use the same service to invite friends to restaurant week here in DC. I will personally use the service to invite friends to the next dinner. Evite is KRUNKED. The synergy between Google Calendar and Gmail is powerful, and the invitations are seen as an extension of those established services, not as something exogenous. Startups may offer more features, but I have argued before that their incremental utility to the people making the plans are too small. On the other hand, people who already love Gmail and Gcal will gladly adopt a feature extension.
If Evite is KRUNKED, the startups in this space are DOA. Sorry to be Darth Vader on this but I had to see good talent poured into weak market positioning.
Oops, I have go backtrack a lil. Google's invite system seems more suited for intimate groups, ie small numbers and those who know each other well. Evite is still safe for large parties. However, Google's positioning is all the more problematic for the startups in this space. As I explained in an earlier post, the positioning dichotomy is evite or email, sms, or sms, and Google's feature extension is a sly, polished way of slipping into the former through the latter.
Thank you for reading this post. You can now Read Comments (3) or Leave A Trackback.
Post Info
This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 10th, 2007 and is filed under social planning.You can follow any responses to this entry through the Comments Feed. You can Leave A Comment, or A Trackback.
Previous Post: To Evite or Not to Evite: Why Skobee was DOA »
Next Post: Vista 1 Minger 0 »
- How to Get MagicJack and Lifecam Cinema Working on Windows 7 64-bit
- Fix for Error Installing do_mysql Datamapper Adapter on Ubuntu
- Amazon Packages and Ships OEM Hard Drives Loose in Box with Two Air Pillows and Bubble Wrap ONLY
- Devious New Targeted Financial Phishing Scam Strikes Your Cellphone
- Errata for Programming Collective Intelligence
- Yelp Battles Supporters of the Meier Family
- Pictures of Lori Drew
- Picture of Curt Drew
- Brandon Antron Rolle Goes on Trial Today
- Fixing Spurious Rails Routing Error
March 31st, 2007 00:39
I’ve been making similar arguments to the Planypus founders about this very issue. If Gvite truly clobbers the small, intimate group planning arena, then maybe the opportunity for startups is to address the needs of event organizers who plan larger, more public events. Trouble is there’s a whole slew of competitors in that space too (addressing the corporate meeting planners of the world)
April 1st, 2007 11:44
Guys let’s not get all alarmist and apocalyptic here :-). Gvite is not going to replace Evite nor any of the new planning competitors. Gvite is a very cut and dry service…the lack of ‘fun factor’ means it’s not going to be replacing Evite for fun birthday invitations with a theme and so on. I always have seen google as a competitor in the Office space. They are quite obviously building a complete online office suite, gmail and gcal being parts of this. I wouldn’t use the fact that one person you know personally is using gcal for invitations to say evite is KRUNKED.
For example, none of the people I know personally even use gcal in the first place. Why’s this? Because it turns out that there is a huge subset of people out there that actually (gasp) doesn’t use online calendars! These people are anti-organization freaks. I happen fall into this category. I don’t use calendars. But I do use Planypus, and so do these other people. Because Planypus is a social system for discussing what you’re doing. It makes planning a night out fun. Discussions on Planypus typically take a tangent from what’s beign planned to general fun and jokes back and forth. Gcal does not do this. Gcal is for people who live and die by the calendar….
So please there’s no need for sensationalism based on one person’s usage here…just because you or someone you know has the mindset that invitations/planning are cut and dry things doesn’t mean others don’t like to have a bit of fun.
Remember people don’t make decisions on rationalilty, features, or functionality. They make gut emotional decisions. The _truly best_ way to plan something would be for every person to keep an online calendar with their exact schedule and have a computer figure out when they can meet. Why doesn’t anyone do this? Because it eliminates all the fun of social interaction and actually talking to people. People don’t buy a PT Cruiser or a Volkswagen Beetle because they’re the best functioning cars. They buy them because they are cool and fun…..
April 1st, 2007 12:31
Yan you make good points. I should be more clear in my posts about the long tail view I have in mind. Evite (and email!) is in the spike of event planning services. Everything else is in the long tail, some perhaps candidates for supplanting Evite though none likely.
My view of the dynamics is thus: Evite will lose share to a plethora of old and new: email, social networking events then the likes of gvite, planypus, etc. I suppose it was a bit sensationalistic of me to tout gvite so strongly. I do think gvite is a long shot but if anybody google has the strongest chance.
We are also in a long period of transition to mobile services. But there is so much fragmentation in the devices and OSes that a cohesive universal service is a long ways off.
Email is social and so are social networking services. Banter takes place over email all the time. And on the social networking platforms, the social is in place.
Let’s use an analogy from chemistry or physics: Say your new service offers a lower energetic state than either email or social networking events. What’s the activation energy of transitioning to that state? The arguments I have really aren’t over state energetics, but rather over transition energies, which translate into consumer mind share and marketing. Getting the herd to shift break their patterns and move away from their already pretty good services to something else takes a huge amount of disruption.