It’s a fantastic service which really pwns, though I’d like some better features like Polls and the like.

You are right indeed. Susan is using CollectiveX the way that it is intended to be used. We are working on features that will make it easier to invite members to a CollectiveX group. Over the next two weeks, we will be incorporating an open invite feature that integrates with blogs and better import options for uploading names and email addresses of invitees.

CollectiveX is listening very closely to our users and will adding features to make the service better over time.

It will take a lot of time to invite/migrate our 1,000 listserv subscribers. I will make everyone in our leadership team a manager. It would be helpful to have a bulk feature to upload emails for the CX list invitation recipients.

Susan
New Fed Network

Social networking will never die completely, but I think the chances of a pioneering site to become succesfull is getting very small.

In regards to your suggestion about assigning certain members to become managers, I have given that some thought. I would only do it if I really trusted that person and they would not abuse managerial status. That is certainly one way to get around it. But in the *long run*, I think it’s better that there is an option that allows for us as managers to allow anyone to invite others to the group. I’ll offer further feedback when I get a chance.

dean

Our private beta:
Many changes to CollectiveX have taken place since our private beta. As noted, we removed the 10 member restriction for FREE groups… FREE groups can now have unlimited members and also include 10 MB of file storage. Additionally, we have activated the automatic (consolidated) email notifications that detail group activity — keeping group members in the loop even when they are not logged-in. Email notifications are delivered (daily, bi-weekly, weekly, or bi-monthly) depending on the users contact settings. We have also reduce our pricing across our Professional Plans.

Our public beta:
Over the next 90 days we will be in public beta and will correcting bugs and gathering user feedback to improve the service. We are very early in the development of the service — Rome wasn’t built in a day — but I believe that we have created a solid foundation to build upon. In addition to the social features, we will be improving the calendar, discussion threads, file cabinet, and email blast features. We will also be adding “smart groups” (i.e., tagging functionality enabling sub-groups) and several other features.

Specific questions answered from above:
Question by KP: “CX is too expensive”
Answer: We disagree… CX is very inexpensive for organized groups — our target market.

Question by Ryan: “There is no way to search groups on the site”
Answer: Exactly… go to Meetup.com if you are looking to meet people. CX is not about building new communities… it’s about empowering existing ones.

Question by Dean Hua: “Only managers can invite new members”
Now that FREE (informal) groups are unlimited in size… we will more than likely add a setting in the near future that will allow managers to enable all group members to invite members… in the meantime… why not assign manager privileges to all group members?

Finally… is CX as social networking tool… or a collaboration tool?
Answer: We feel that it is both… thus making it Social Networking 3.0 (as David Hornik calls it)… a Social Network… that has utility… beyond mearly sharing and making new contacts.

I hope this helps… we look forward to continued feedback from our users… CX will continuously improve as a result.

Thank you,
Clarence Wooten
Founder & CEO

i’ll definitely give Collective X a looksee*

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We could not send direct messages between members…

We did not receive any notice of new messages posted in the forum (the basic of a private forum).

In the end, most of us forgot about the site and we do not use it anymore. We are still looking for a free site for small groups and small amount of files to share. No cost for the websites, and it would greatly help to advertise the site from the beginning.

One more thing, we couldnot mass invite people we know from our outlook contacts..

I really hope that CX will launch an improved version of the site. The idea is v. good. But it is expensive and still lacks from features that A LOT OF other websites provide for free.

Rob!

They are certainly open to feedback. When I tested this thing a month ago, they allowed you to only have 10 members to a group, which is quite silly. They’ve since taken that out and allowed for unlimited members– good on them.

Also, as I suggested via feedback, it would be nice to see an online RSVP system ala Evite where members can RSVP on the platform. Would be way cool!

The best comparison I can draw is to say that CX will be competing with YahooGroups. YG is good in certain areas but fails miserably in terms of a platform for building deeper relationships. CX is a *possible* platform for us to build an online presence for our typical offline groups.

I’m not sure if Clarence cares to answer this, but has there been much request to the idea of having an option whereby members can invite members too instead of just relying on the moderator to invite. If you think about, the found of the CX network doesn’t know everyone and a group can only grow through the word of mouth of the members.

thanks…Dean

Yes, I can. I’ve seen it in YahooGroups, GoogleGroups, and in “me too”. Sure, “email blasts” ares not exactly the same as “email groups”, but when it comes to account for the costs, I’m not so sure who gets the prize.

This is not to critizise your service at all, in fact I like it, but I was a bit surprised about the 10,000 email blast argument. Is 10,000 really such a high number for you?

All in all, I believe that bandwidth (where most costs would come from) should move to a flat-fee thing for service providers, just like consumer internet access, cable TV, etc. instead of the current “pay what you use” model.

The 10mb file space in the free version is really low, but I’m going to throw this out to the group and see what people think.

I also agree that this is not a social netorking service, but a collaboration tool. It seems to require that you have an existing group rather than individuals to join looking for a group to tap into.