Why is it so hard to contact people on some social media sites? On Digg, for instance, you can send members a “Shout” that typically appears as a public comment on their profile page, but you cannot send a private message. Mixx, a Digg clone that we like, is adding private mail and group message boards to its site tomorrow. Members will be able to send mail to any other member, and block messages from any member as well. Every group will also have a message board to discuss a general topic not related to any one story. These are pretty basic features that somehow got lost as lean-and-mean social media sites started to take off. The only other social news site that has mail is Propeller, which is owned by AOL.
Are social news sites better off keeping everything above board and public, or do private messages foster a deeper sense of community by strengthening individual links between members?
One reason not to allow private messaging is that it could be used to game the system. The most active members might constantly be getting private messages encouraging them to vote up particular stories. Sites like Mixx and Digg are all about collective action, and they should be careful not to dilute that emphasis. But sometimes you just need to contact someone, and there should be an easy way to do that too.
I really think all of the private mail on sites can get annoying. I hate having to read 20 inboxes. But that said, I think it’s harder to game social news sites with “mailing” built in. By this I mean that to send a user a message you have to be their friend, and that gives the site a warning that you could be gaming, especially if a mass of friends digg up the same story. Of course my experience with social news is limited to Digg.
I agree with Huntermunkey. It is harder.
http://www.howtomakeexcuseletter.wordpress.com
I think its a good idea to provide en email as long as you have settings which enable you to put everybody on block except those in your friends list.
R
http://www.techbanyan.com
Collusion will always exist.
There will always be a financial incentive to game the system on any social news site, thus there will always be collusion.
People can exchange IM names, e-mail accounts etc…and communicate outside of the network however they would like. Instant messaging privately is how all of the top diggers communicate.
So, if you can’t beat em, join em. Mixx is betting that by opening this line of communication within their network they will gain popularity and growth…
I think the people who participate in social news sites like these should communicate via private or group messages - but I think it would be better if they were able to do it offsite - at a social network for all of them. That’s why I recently created the Ning site http://socialnewscentral.ning.com
The idea is just to let people get to know each other without any voting involved - it helps people get to know each other so they can find good news recomenders. Messaging on-site feels like dirty politics.
It’s so hard to contact people on some social media sites because historically they have had very poor code bases and subpar programmers. This is going to change. For example the stealth social media startup MyProps.org improves upon Digg and Mixx in every respect, including the ability to send private messages and create your own Category / Topic (called a Channel). This allows users to focus in on whatever niche subject they are interested in. User-created channels can themselves be voted on, so the best channels are easily found.
Erick,
Have you totally forgotten about reddit?
They’ve had private messaging for a very long time now.
As the #2 Social News website, I think that’s a very big thing to forgot/miss.
-Random Person
Open social sites needs Open Social Mail, in addition to private mail.
I think I speak for all developers when I say that internal mail systems on social networks are among the most tedious thing ever to code. Someone needs to create a good drop-in tool for this (not some hacked-together plugin, a properly managed external service) as it’s fricking depressing once you’ve got all the other way more interesting functionality of your site wrapped up and then you think “oh bugger it needs a mail system” YAWN.
Does Mixx have enough members to warrant such a feature?
The Delegate: Yes, Mixx does have enough users. I am a Mixx user and am looking forward to having private messages.
Steve Johnson: Before commenting on a site, you should try to use it first. Otherwise you have no credibility. Especially when blatently hawking your own site. Mixx has had your idea of “channels” when it launched like 6 months ago. The entire site is designed around it. Great clone idea, though.
I have been with Mixx for about two months and so far I have really enjoyed it. I think the new mail feature will be a great addition to the site, as long as you have the ability to block people from constantly asking you to vote up an article.
“The only other social news site that has mail is Propeller, which is owned by AOL.”
Plime.com is another social news site with private messages and message boards and chat.
It’s fostered a tremendous sense of community there.
i think it is required,adding social networking features means user can communicate with each other
i have exact same feature,infact more on my site:-
http://newskicks.com
mixx needs to grow in order to become even just a bit relevant. as such, “email” is a feature that might help.
should they already have the audience digg has, it would be a burden, and might even scare people off as spammers make it their battlefield.
there are WAY BETTER ways to help users connect than providing yet another inbox. but mixx is not in the business of providing the most useful solution for users. it’s in the business of providing the best solution for mixx itself. and btw, who’d blame them?
i think mixx has really good prospects, and i’m psyched that a company right down the street from me in northern virginia is making waves - but i’d like to clear something up. is their logo a spoon sticking out of a bowl, or a drumstick hitting a drum? this keeps me awake at night.
I think every Social networking site should have private messaging feature. Many people know each other only through these social networks and if they want to message each other privately without the whole world knowing about it…I think its okay.
Ganesh,
Ganeshnomicks
This has actually been requested by the user base at Mixx on more then one occasion. It is nice to see that Mixx LISTENS to the users. There are people on Mixx who would like to interact privately rather then publicly on the Mixxingbowl forum. If I want to send a private message to a user and do not have their e-mail address this makes it possible. However do not send me submissions via the inbox. That is what the share function is for.
Our german “clone” yigg.de added this features (groups, group forums, private messages) allready over 1 year ago…
interessting that such a little feature is worth a techcrunch story…
reddit has had private messaging for years, and users seem to love it. They especially love being able to send PM’s to the admins. reddit’s inbox also gives you every reply to every comment you make in your inbox.
I think it was quite an omission for you to not mention this in your article.
@gilltots
The mixx logo is a spoon stiring in a bowl. Hence the name “mixx”. It wouldn’t make sense if it were a drumstick and a bowl…lol.
The same with identities. If each site has its own private mailbox; I guess the eclosion of a new service to agregate your privates mails into on single. Back to the old style email!
Mixx is awesome!
I discovered Mixx just over than 3 months ago and now hang out there pretty much exclusively. The community is terrific, the content is top-notch and features unbeatable.
Another thing that I like about Mixx is that it is clearly being run by professionals, something that cannot be said of some of the other sites in its class.
I am very pleased with the addition of the private mail feature. The reason I wanted this feature is for the situations that arise where a member of the community needs to contact another member of the community, but to do so in the ‘comments’ section would be inappropriate, embarrassing or distasteful for whatever reason.
Not much ‘gaming the system’ goes on at Mixx compared to other sites. The community really seems to uphold a much higher standard of integrity when it comes to voting and vote-swapping, and I hope and pray it stays that way.
Lets not forget about nobosh Mail, which is launching today!