The Lonely Web
by Tom
Most things in life are more fun with friends: watching TV, getting work done, shopping – the list goes on. Those three things can also be done online, but doing them with a friend online is not so easy. In the physical world, doing stuff with a friend is a built-in feature that comes as standard with nearly everything, unless you happen to be in a very, very small room. But the online world mostly isn’t built that way today – it’s mostly built as a solo experience, with a few notable exceptions.
You may right now be thinking, “What is this guy on? - the Internet is _so_ social”. In some places it really is, and in others, it really isn’t. Let’s start with the obvious – the social networks/sites – they are an excellent place to spend time with friends online. They are the online equivalent of the real world’s bars/pubs/street-corners, except they don’t (yet) serve alcohol. The whole purpose is socializing: a bar that secluded you from all the other patrons would be a flop, just a social network that didn’t let you interact with your friends would quickly die.
What about the things that aren’t entirely about socializing? Watching TV is more fun with friends – I get to hear which bits of Family Guy you laugh at, and that makes it more fun for me. My lounge is pretty well set up for that, but the Hulus and YouTubes of the world – not so much. But there is hope – sites like Justin.TV allow you to chat with friends live as you watch. I may not be able to hear you laughing, but I can know that you’re ROTFLYAO, and that’s a big step in the right direction. Games are of course much further down this path (and have been for a few years), allowing users to interact with each other live, as an integral part of the experience.
So it seems like activities that are mainly about socializing are easy with friends online (facebook, etc). And activities that are mainly about having fun (like TV, movies, games) are heading in that direction - some already a long way along.
And then there’s shopping… poor shopping. Going shopping in the real world can be anything between a downright chore, to a great day out. Often times the difference being… you guessed it… whether you’re with a friend. OK, so let’s go shopping together online – erm… not so fast: you can’t. Imagine if as you entered Macy’s the security guard told you, “Sorry madam, you can go in, but your friend will have to wait out here. If you want to get her opinion you can bring something to the window and show her.” Doesn’t sound too good, but that’s what we’re putting up with today online. We struggle along by emailing and IMing product links around – jeez, thanks very much Mr. Security Guard!
So we decided to fix this. Plurchase isn’t live yet, so we don’t want to spoil the big surprise, but we can say this: we’re going to let you shop online with friends at existing ecommerce sites. Collaborative shopping has been tried before, there are even a few sites out there right now trying to do it. Plurchase is going to be a big step forward, but you’ll have to wait until next time to hear the details..
If you’d like to help beta test Plurchase then send us an email: betarequest@plurchase.com.
UPDATE: Plurchase is now live at www.plurchase.com - have fun !
