Multiply, a media-heavy social network geared towards adults, has introduced a new backup system that will backup users’ videos and photos at full resolution. The premium service will cost users $20 per year for an unlimited amount of storage.
As part of the new release, all users (even unpaid ones) will be given access to Multiply’s new media upload application that’s based on Adobe’s AIR platform (you’ll be able to use it on Windows, Mac, and Linux). The application will monitor designated folders on a user’s computer, and will automatically upload new photos and video in the background as soon as they’re added.
These files will be housed in an online “Media Locker”, from which users will be able to share and manipulate their media without having to wait for it to upload. Paid users will get to keep this media online in its original format indefinitely, while free users will see their content expire after 30 days, unless they share it in an album on the social network.
Given the amount of media that gets uploaded to social networks like Multiply, it’s not surprising that they’re trying to capitalize on it. But because it only backs up photos and video, it seems like a strange choice for a backup solution – users might be better off going with all-purpose backup services like Mozy or Apple’s Time Machine. Then again, if users are going to be uploading their media anyway, it’s infinitely better than nothing.
Very cool application. Too bad I can’t email the story to my friends. Techcrunch has a Dell ad hard coded into the wireframe blocking the share it/email feature. Come on guys? Internet advertising 101.
Jason,
We don’t view Multiply Premium as being competitive with Mozy or Time Machine, but rather with services like Flickr Pro. Where we try to improve on that experience is in usability and simplicity. There are certainly many people out there with the tech chops to put their photos on Flickr, post their videos on YouTube, blog on Blogger, network on MySpace, and tie it all together with a mix of RSS, Twitter, widgets and FriendFeed, and then back it up with Mozy.
For people who are looking for something perhaps a little easier and simpler, but no less powerful or effective, we offer Multiply.
Thanks,
Peter
I have been using Multiply for awhile now, I also am on myspace and facebook. Myspace is a spam ground, facebook is now this way with all the applications, but Multiply’s news feed reports relevant information to you about users that you care about. After uploading photos, posting a new blog entry or a link, the users that care are notified, without spam. I also like the ability to review products and your friends can post their comments to this as well. Great job Multiply!
Tell me about the microblogging service that can pick up my dry-cleaning, and I’m interested.
So far so good, nice and simple, easy to use application.
I like the way Multiply connects you and your contacts, networks and group.
Facebook isn’t bad at all
http://www.ViewMyLife.com, a social network/portal designed to simplify your online by combining the most common used tools on the Internet into one site, provides back-up of all videos and photos in full resolution for FREE.
If interested in knowing more check out the site at http://www.ViewMyLife.com.
I looked at Multiply as a blogging alternative to 360 when Yahoo announced that 360 was going away, but Multiply suffers from the same closed arhcitecture as Yahoo’s 360. When I tried to import my 360 blog and other service such as Flickr phots and YouTube videos, it was nothing short of a nightmare. Hopefully they’ve improved things, but I am tired of experimenting with social networks and setting up shop in 3-4 different places. Multiply doesn’t impress me.
Multiply is already a great service that enables you to connect with friends and family in an easy to use manner that far exceeds anything I’ve been able to find in any other networking site. Rather than using an aggregating service to tie together all of my photos, videos, blogs, etc. (and hoping that my friends and family can figure out how to aggregate all my stuff with their stuff on that 3rd party service), Multiply does all the aggregating for you with their remarkable Inbox feed (which is head and shoulders above any friend feed I’ve found on other social networking sites).
The addition of their new AutoUploading system is a great example of how Multiply is looking to serve people in a comprehensive way. Now, in addition to being a great blogging plus media sharing site, they’re also a great media storage site. As a mom of three kids, I’ve always appreciated being able to easily and privately share pics and videos of my kids with my friends and family. But now I also have a great back-up storage system for those pics and vids as well. I’ve heard story after story from friends who have lost all the pictures of their kids after a hard drive crash. That’s something I needn’t worry about any more.
Even if you don’t decide to upgrade to Premium, Multiply still has fantastic features for free accounts such as unlimited photo uploads, great privacy controls, fantastic customer service, extensive customization tools, etc. I would say that the Auto Uploader (which is also a free service) is just the icing on the cake, but icing implies that this is a finishing touch. With Multiply, things just keep getting better and better. I’ve yet to find any other social networking system that is growing, changing and improving as rapidly and solidly as Multiply.com.
I don’t know if I want to go through the effort writing, preparing and of uploading my stuff just to share it with the people I know or trust like family and close friends. To me the web is a platform to reach out and meet new people on a broader basis. But I guess there are tons of people who want to focus on their ‘inner circle of trust.’
@Peter Urban (#9): Broadcasting to the world and sharing to your ‘inner circle of trust’ don’t have to be mutually exclusive. In fact, that’s the best part about Multiply.
On Multiply, I can post personal photos to my family and friends as easily as my blog post about CSS that I want to share with everyone. All in one site.
Multiply? they can blow me….
What is the major differentiator between multiply and other media sharing sites? …. I’m still not getting the “Shabang!” Multiply allows you to back up your material?… is this your personal material or is this material you downloaded from the internet. In this day in age of web-based everything… it seems that “backing up” content (photos, videos, etc.) is already naturally done because its on a web-based system? Maybe I’m missing something here… entrepreneurs check this out http://www.read...ex.php?RTA=web2
Oh great room full of Multiply users.
Some of these comments read like they were written by Multiplies marketing department. Come on guys next time misspell a couple of words.
Not the “blow me” comment that reads more like a disgruntled former employee.
barefootmeg, I hate to say it, but you sound like an ad.
I smell a plant.
A plant ish a plant. Nothing more, nothing less.
*facepalms*
I like this space overall, as you can tell b/c I work in it
I still prefer our solution where the 501c3 non-profit foundation stores the data in perpetuity with mirrored sites, amazons3 back-up, off site tape drives etc. etc. Just makes me more comfortable that it won’t suddenly one day just be gone/out of business.
[Julia Allison was just talking the other day about how she left her harddrive on a bus and lost a lifetime of photos, videos etc.]
how skillfully coordinated, all these plants and marketing “comments”. come on Multiply, you’re better than this ….
@omg
are you offended that multiply users actually like the product and enjoy letting others know how much they like it?
@quikslvr
sorry if i sound like an ad. i’ve been using multiply since september 2004 and i love their service. i’ve tried many other sites (because i love to try new things) but i only USE multiply because i truly believe they’re the best.
if i got a bit too formal, it might be because i feel like multiply is often overlooked and undervalued. people don’t seem to realize that multiply has quite a bit to offer. often posts i read on the company clearly show that the author either hasn’t used the product or only used it in a vague and short manner.
i was offended that facebook got so much publicity when they added their ineffective news feed considering that multiply has had theirs longer, it’s more customizable, and works far better.
@ImageCo (#14): I probably should have added the disclaimer in my comment. I do work for Multiply. But I am a developer, and not in the marketing. I am also a long-time Multiply user (since before I joined the company)
We at Multiply are just busy adding new features and making it easy for our users to share. Because of our focus on the users’ needs, we do have a very active and loyal user-base. These loyal users (like barefootmeg in #8) are essentially our Marketing department
Of course, we can’t please everyone it seems. Not sure who that commenter and what his/her beef with Multiply is, but I don’t see any disgruntled ones around here.
In response to omg and quikslvr
Yes, Multiply has many happy users who are quite prepared to tell the world about it. No I am not a plant or an employee but just a regular user who moved to Multiply when Yahoo broke down.
In response to Carl Starrett
During the mass exodus to Multiply from Yahoo many people had many questions that Multiply did its utmost to address.
The ability to upload content from Yahoo to Multiply was a feature that Multiply implemented with astounding swiftness to accomodate the new users.
Most new users did not fully understand how Multiply works at that time and in a desperate rush to “save” all their yahoo content, uploaded all their blogs to Multiply setting off an absolute deluge of email alerting and message board updates. These issues were swiftly resolved as new users came to grips with their personal settings and communicated with each other.
One persistent “complaint” that I encountered was the fact that comments on the Yahoo blogs could not be imported along with the blogs. Another common issue was that images and videos embedded in Yahoo blogs ( by the way of HTML links to Flickr, Photobucket etc) were not automatically imported.
Most people were philosophical however and realised that Multiply was responding to their needs as best and as quickly as possible in extraordinary circumstances.
Communication between Yahoo converts and Multiply was outstanding, response to our (quite frankly, very demanding) needs was swift and accomodating and we quickly settled in to our new “home”.
Support from Multiply continues in the same vein after nearly a year of use and I cannot recommend the site highly enough. This new feature is the icing on an already fabulous cake.
Ugh, shut-up already. We get it, you folks like Multiply. Simple chicken-and-egg. Good luck.
That was a I nice copy and past job my Emmm, a message that I am sure has been posted many times. Forget about the blog comments…every single blog import I saw from 360 to Multiply looked like alphabet soup. My photo import from Flickr stalled about after about 25% of the work had been done and the import of my YouTube videos was a complete failure. Multiply hasn’t joined the open source bandwagon and may find itself left behind.
I am a longtime Yahoo user who eventually got disgusted with the whole mess. I will not go into details here, it takes to long.
I liked a couple of things about 360 that they did right, maintenance of the site of course was not one of them.
The featured sites was really good while it was being maintained, and I liked their e-mail system better – on Multiply it gets a little tough to tell where a message is coming from, and how to tell it to stop already. Multiply for me is also slower loading then 360 – but you tend to get that with oo type frameworks and everybody seems to be using them these days.
All said, I have a lot to learn yet about how Multiply works – but if they have real people answering questions that is a huge step forward from Yahooland.
As far as a back-up service, frankly I do that with USB drives, one of which resides in a bank vault. I figure if the same calamity knocks out both my house and the bank 10 miles away, I probably will not care much about what happened to the pictures. I don’t like entrusting my data to a network I have no control over, which is what all these sites are. It tends to gloss over the problem of what THEY do to back up their own servers. But to each his own, I do have things stored on my website server as well as Worth1000 – I just use my own backup systems for primary copies.
And yes, when I need info I will go to my network or use customer service rather than post my annoyance here *grin*
-diogenese19348 aka Brian Riley
I am a Multiply user. I came there when Yahoo 360 decided to stop fixing things or responding to problems and just left us blowing in the wind. When I decided to leave there I asked a friend, what site is alot like 360 because I wasnt into coding and such. My friend told me Multiply. So I came here and tried it and love it. Some of the diehards from 360 like Carl up there came over too…..but couldnt get the hand of it I guess and left. It is different from 360 but not THAT different. And so after tweaking things I found my way around and found its ez and I love it.
When I first came here the only way to import my blogs from 360 was to C & P. Many of us started to come over and we complained to Multiply. Guess what? They heard us and within a couple weeks set it up so we could import our blogs. No it was not perfect, it was even a pain sometimes BUT they heard us and gave us something, quickly. These days it works even better. And thats has been the pattern there for us 360 folks. We are a demanding bunch and we are heard. Many things we have suggested or asked for are created and given to us. Even the President of this company gets involved with his people and groups to be sure we are happy. Where do you get that kind of care?
And Customer Service is right on top of things. True, sometimes you have to wait but when you consider that theres 9million members and most thing get taken care of in a day or so, thats pretty good odds. And I love the privacy. Yes I can share with only family and friends but thats not the point. I can set everything I have in there to whoever I want to see it , including setting it to public just like anywhere else.
And I have not had big issues of trolls and spammers because of the privacy settings but also because Multiply themselves do not like that sort and ban them right away when a report is made. Other sites could care less. Things are upgraded and updated regularly and so we have maintenance days but …..we are told most days when that will happen. Other sites dont care at all.
And its not just for your family and friends. I brought a ton of folks over from 360 and Im glad they came here too. But Ive met many new folks on here also, ones like minded like me……….who do not want any old troll running thru their pages but people who matter.
Multiply is the best thing going out there and I feel sorry for those who think all we are typing here is hype. I dont work for Mulitply, I am not part of anything connected to it , I dont get paid. Im just a real person like you are . I do know one thing……..If Multiply would hire me , I would be proud to work there. These people care about you. Thats the kind of site Id send my friends and family to.
smart move Pez/Gersh — congrats!
setting aside the benefits of premium perpetual storage, the concept of automated, readily accessible media for sharing (nixing the upload step) makes a ton of sense for users and positions Multiply as the sharing platform of choice for people deciding between multiple social nets — particularly for large video/albums.
I like the idea, so I’ll just have to visit Multiply to give it a shot. I’ll probably review it on my site afterwards.
thanks for the article!
Some of the most bitter complainers about multiply can be described thus -
Having percieved themselves to be a big fish in the Yahoo pool. It must be devastating to have Yahoo pull out the plug and watch all their sycophantic little fish swim away. LOL
Copied and pasted that too.
It’s about freaking time one of them did this. I don’t post pictures and videos because I am too lazy. But if I just do what I normally do and they are up on the web when I need them, and can share them very easily, then it is a no-brainer. Except I don’t feel like joining Multiply, so I will wait for someone to make a Facebook app that does the same. (not that I use facebook that much, but I think this would get me to use it more)
@Emmm #27
By that logic do you consider your own network of friends on Multiply “sycophantic little fish”? Or is that just an endearing term you indiscriminately apply to others?
@Robert #29 (come on techcrunch! there’s gotta be a better way to quote people than this. at the very least add IntenseDebate on here.
)
unlike one’s contacts on Y360, who are continuing to flee a sinking ship, contacts on multiply tend to stick around. so i would guess that it’s an endearing term used for those who are trying to get off the Titanic before it sinks for good.
then again, Y360’s demise is like a bad actor. they say they’re going to die, then they keep flopping around till you wonder if they’ll ever give up the ghost.
Dear Carl,
I am yet another Y360 member who found refuge at Multiply when Yahoo decided to treat its members like yesterday’s trash. The only reason my account is still open is because I can’t close it without closing my email account that I’ve had since years before I had my own net access. Maybe I got to Multiply later, after they had a chance to work on the importer a bit because my Yahoo posts imported smoothly, with all html included, and all my Flickr sets also imported smoothly into my Multiply photo albums.
I have to disagree with seanymph though. Multiply is VERY different from Yahoo, and I was able to see that immediately. On Y360, I had to post my blogs all-or-nothing, meaning I couldn’t post one blog publicly and another just to family, so if I wanted some more personal content, I had to give all my blog posts the same minimal access. No one on Y360 even knew I existed. On Multiply, I can set each individual post the way I want it, whether public, contacts only, or even to one specific individual. Because I can feel comfortable having public posts while keeping my personal media personal, I am meeting people on Multiply.
I was also able to customize my Multiply site in ways I was never able to do on Yahoo. I didn’t realize how stifled my creative side was during my two years on Y360 until I came to Multiply. And though I won’t be purchasing premium service any time soon, I can still enjoy the new auto-uploader and media locker Multiply has offered to all members.
I have no affiliation with Multiply staff and have only been a Multiply member since January, but after the place I came from, I’ve probably sounded like a walking advertisement since about that time. The best form of advertising is word-of-mouth. So if you want your business to succeed, treat your customers the way Multiply staff has treated us Y360 refugees. If you want to lose business, treat your customers the way Yahoo treated its Y360 members.
@ 29 Robert Reynolds
No, I don’t encourage sycophants and fawning on my pages. My self esteem is intact.
Thank you for your inquiry.
I liked Y360 and still have a page there but it just got too quirky and unpredictable to really use. Like many I moved to Multiply and like it very much. I guess I missed the premium annoucement, then again doubt that I’d use it anyway. Like Diogenese19348 I find Multiply to be a bit slow but the benefits far outweigh any issues I’ve had. Unfortunately the scale tipped the other way for Y360.
i prefer http://www.megaupload.com for sharing files wih my friends.
Sometimes, I downloads songs from multiply. I do have multiply account.
@Carl Starrett #22
C’mon, you can’t jump in here and comment with an axe to grind. Besides, Multiply requires a bit of user competency to get the product to work…!
Multiply is the social-networking site that works best for me. I’ve tried Yahoo! 360, MySpace, Blogger, WordPress, Vox, and numerous other unnameables. I don’t work for Multiply, heck, I’ve just been on their site for seven months now. The number one thing that can be said about Multiply is that they care. If I’m correct, they’re still operating at least partly on venture-capital so it’s their sink-or-swim period. They’ve done remarkably well.
When I encounter a glitch or an abusive user, a report to Multiply’s customer services gets either problem dealt with swiftly. I’ve never seen this kind of turn-around service from any online service.
While I might not use Multiply’s AutoUploader to its full extent (I don’t take nearly enough photos) I’ll be using MediaLocker constantly. I love how they keep updating their product. This expansion is what keeps people around.
@omg Prakash works at Multiply, yes, and Peter’s the CEO. I don’t think any respectable company would deploy a developer and the CEO to comment on tech site. Don’t they have marketing grunts for that?
@quikslvr I know Meg from at Multiply and I know for a fact she doesn’t work for Multiply… she lives on the other side of the country, opposite from Multiply’s offices.
@cj Hmm — school’s out and the kids are trolling.
@Carl Starrett Multiply got that importer pieced together in a very short amount of time after tons of Y!360 users showed up at their door. I’m still happily shocked that they’d create an importer for some users
There was a time when 360 was a good product. Unfortunately, 360 was always the red-headed step child of Yahoo. Like Yahoo itself, 360 is only former shell of its former self. I do find it rather amusing that Multiply users are coming here to start the same flame wars they did in the early days of migrating from 360 to Multiply. The are like MAC users that continually feel the need to justify their decision to use Multiply. If it works for you, great. But the Multiply plants here are pretty amusing.
@ carl #36
Why do you call Multiply users plants? Do you find it disconcerting that Multiply users are articulate, appreciate the product and want to let people know that?
Ok enough Carl, We know you hate Multiply and are bitter. Im sorry your toy 360 broke and they forgot to tell you. Its crummy the way you were basically ignored even tho you tried to be so loyal to them. Those of us who saw the handwriting on the wall decided not to stay. We found a better place, a new home. But we are not plants.
We came here willingly because we really like it . IT WORKS first of all……Yahoo doesnt. But even more there are real people there who care and fix things and help people. Hey what a concept huh? REAL CUSTOMER SERVICE. Thats why folks are coming here to speak on their behalf.
They heard our needs and wants and they implemented many of those things. Now they have the new Media Locker and Uploader. People asked for these things. I want to know where do any of you go to blog and ask for something and actually get it? for free even?
Carl must think anyone who uses Multiply is a plant. Well we ARE. We are users who are firmly planted at Multiply because it is by FAR one of the best products on the market. The FREE market I might add. If it wasn’t, everyone of us would pack a bag and be out of there. I wouldn’t waste my time on anything less than the best because I don’t have to. None of us have to. We know it, Multiply knows it and they CATER to us for that very reason.
Users are there (all 9 million plus) because they want to be, and be associated with a superior product, superior management of this product and one that actually has a Customer Support system that works because there actually IS one, and not just a link that goes off into cyberspace, never to be seen or heard from again.
PLANT? Yes, I’m well planted there and taken root. 9 million plus plants, so it seems.
@Carl #37
Ha — you talk about Multiply plants. We’re just users that love are platform… kind of like 360 Rumor Control, right?
I don’t know about any of you who complain about Multiply. After using Yahoo!360 for two years, I now cannot even access my blog there. I’ve not posted there since October of last year.
Not only does Multiply give me a chance to meet new and different people, I’ve got my regular set of friends and I can choose who sees whatever it is that I post. Not to mention that all the groups are there, centrally located. I don’t get spam, like I have at other sites. I also don’t get harassed by a bunch of morons who think that leaving stupid comments and rude noises on my blog happens to be cool. I had that happen everywhere else.
Multiply is one of the best sites, and for me the ONLY site for blogging and groups with special interests. There’s a lot of great people there and even if they aren’t on my friends or buddies list, I can still keep in touch with them and not have to worry about it. All in all, everyone that I’ve met there has been great and their customer service is awesome, unlike other sites who have told me, “Well, too bad. Deal with it.”
It’s a great place to meet people just for friendship and a place to have interesting, intelligent conversations. If you want to play in the cesspools, go for it but don’t trash Multiply.
I know zilch about Yahoo 360, used to frown over countless invitations I’ve gotten before to join varied social networking sites, am in my early forties and yet have techie skills that are humbly overshadowed by my twelve-year-old son’s, have responsibilities and passions in the real world that leave me little time to devote to socializing in cyberspace, and prefer my lifestyle to stay uncluttered sans any non-essential electronic dohickey, wachamacallit or thingamajig…
And yet strangely I’m hooked to Multiply for months now with all its indubitably superior icings and trimmings. Very much user-friendly to boot. And that’s coming from contacts who migrated from other networking sites after belatedly discovering they have been putting up with less than the best (as # 39 Dantcer so succinctly said).
Multiply users are plants?
Guilty as charged. On very fertile soil at that.
Now excuse me as I dig my roots deeper as the annoyingly noisy howling winds of unfounded criticism and undue judgmental naysaying pass me by…
I know zilch about Yahoo 360, used to frown over countless invitations I’ve gotten before to join varied social networking sites, am in my early forties and yet have techie skills that are humbly overshadowed by my twelve-year-old son’s, have responsibilities and passions in the real world that leave me little time to devote to socializing in cyberspace, and prefer my lifestyle to stay uncluttered sans any non-essential electronic dohickey, wachamacallit or thingamajig…
And yet strangely – as a first-timer in cyber social networking – I’m hooked to Multiply for months now with all its indubitably superior icings and trimmings. Very much user-friendly to boot. And I have been hearing that from my contacts who migrated from other networking sites after belatedly discovering they have been putting up with less than the best (as # 39 Dantcer so succinctly said).
Multiply users are plants?
Guilty as charged. On very fertile soil at that.
Now excuse me while I dig my roots deeper as the annoyingly noisy howling winds of unfounded criticism and undue judgmental naysaying pass me by…
Sorry for the double posting. I thought my first comment didn’t come out when the page refreshed earlier.
{seesmic_video:{”url_thumbnail”:{”value”:”http://t.seesmic.com/thumbnail/2dEYbkgO2q_th1.jpg”}”title”:{”value”:” ”}”videoUri”:{”value”:”http://www.seesmic.com/video/UXhEQJ3LtX”}}}
After reading some of the comments above, I realize it may traumatize some of you to hear this again….but yes, I too am a Multiply user who could not be more pleased with the ‘home’ I have found there. Like many, I initially had started with Yahoo 360. Having no previous experience with a social networking site (and therefore nothing that was TRULY good to compare it to) I was initially pleased with 360…it was very easy to use and I was only confronted with an ‘occasional’ glitch (though many others
were already being hammered with them on a regular basis). Over time, my satisfaction dramatically dropped however. I discovered that not only was the site plagued with trolls and psycho’s (which I had limited control over if I wanted to share with non-contacts), but also, my page became plagued by the ever-mounting glitches & bugs that had already frustrated so many of Yahoo’s other 360 users. It became virtually impossible to post any content/comments (often when it did post it would subsequently disappear) and contact connections would be randomly ‘lost’ making it difficult to build/maintain friendships. Since Yahoo demonstrated no interest in resolving any of the issues and found themselves able to only respond with form letters (if they bothered to send THEM at all), it was time to move on.
I tried MySpace, but did not care for it’s set-up (among other things) so when a few of my 360 contacts directed me to Multiply (which was where they were heading) I decided to check it out. I can honestly say I loved it from the very beginning. The user interface is well organized and easy to use, the live replies makes it easy to carry on conversations in various pages at the same time, the versatility provided for creating a layout is inspiring, the variety of the content that one can post on their page makes it a wonderfully functional place to ‘reside’ (without having to jump around between there and other sites) and ABOVE ALL the ability to select/control the privacy settings PER INDIVIDUAL POST cannot be beat!
Now does all this mean I didn’t have any difficulties when I first arrived? Of course not. There were things I didn’t ‘get’ right away & a glitch with a few of my albums. Rather than whine, wallow in my own frustration and immediately ‘assume’ it would be another Yahoo experience however (and basically act like a child), I chose to be proactive….join some groups, search/read the help posts, ask some questions and report my problems (as appropriate) to CS. Guess what? Through my searching/reading I became more comfortable with features I did not understand….through the questions I asked others, I received OUTSTANDING support from more experienced users AND (imagine my surprise) from CS I actually got an answer within two (count’em TWO) days & it was NOT a form letter! It was from a real person who ultimately DID resolve my problem. Not only that, but I also received follow-up responses inquiring if I was having any further problems I needed them to look into. I can’t even get that kind of response from services I PAY for, lol. Since I arrived there they have even upgraded/added features (at USERS REQUEST) and have done so successfully (versus making false promises that never come to fruition).
All of this has made me grow to love Multiply even more so yes….I consider myself firmly ‘planted’ there as well, lol. In fact, if 360 (by some freak of nature) DID clear up it’s glitches I wouldn’t return because even at it’s best it didn’t measure up to what Multiply has to offer. Oh and just so there is no confusion….I haven’t written all of this because I feel the need to ‘defend’ my choice to use Multiply ~ I have written all this to applaud Multiply and show them the recognition they deserve!
@ Carl (#7) – just wondering, before coming to your conclusions about Multiply…how long did you try it out & when you encountered your importing problems, did you contact Customer Service for assistance at all? I’m also wondering where you are currently keeping a blog….what DOES impress you?
@Peter (#9) – “To me the web is a platform to reach out and meet new people on a broader basis. But I guess there are tons of people who want to focus on their ‘inner circle of trust.” That is EXACTLY what Multiply provides! You can reach out as far as you want to meet new people….one of the many benefits of Multiply is that you CONTROL the privacy settings on a post by post basis (no mass “all or nothing” settings). I have the majority of my content set to “everyone” but I also have some content set only for “contacts”, some set for specific individuals and some set completely private.
@CJ (#11) – Remarkable response ~ did you use every last brain cell to come up with that? Your mother must be soooo proud of you, lol.
@ImageCo (#14) & OMG (#17) – Is it really so hard to believe that a social networking site could have USERS that 1) LIKE where they are & 2) are intelligent enough to convey their satisfaction (without misspelled words)? If so….perhaps you’re spending too much time in the wrong places if this is all you are used to.
@ Phil (#21) – Sorry it bothers you so much to have to hear others respond positively, guess you must be spending too much time in the wrong places too if hearing negativity and dissatisfaction is your greatest expectation, lol.
I have firmly planted my roots at MP (Multiply). Now since October 24th 2007. Prior to that from roughly June till the day I left, there were so many bugs @ Yahoo I hardly posted. It was bad.. I began to see MP being mentioned and I left to check it out.
After a few months of usage I convinced my friend that we should move our quiet little group off the server we had been paying for, to run PHPBB and save some money. MP has served our needs.
I LOVE how it is set up like one BIG message board, full of topics of people’s life and the issues we face.
I LOVE how I can decide whom can see what unlike Y360! which was all or nothing.
When I first came to MP there was no cross posting for the 360er’s and within days there was a new feature. Days later it improved yet again. Sure it was a lot of trial and error at first for many of us. Inboxes loaded with “stuff”, but in time we got.
We can customize our own little space to our liking in many different ways.
I managed to convert 60 year olds. I convinced them to move over to MP even though they thought they could never “Learn something new”, but let me tell you … they are having the time of their lives now, personalizing their sites on their own.
I love the networking. Y360! Seemed closed off now that I look back. The ability to reach out… with liked minds. I have met more in 7/8 months then I have in the 3 years I have used Y360!
MP keeps up with [our] demands. Peter visits our groups and/or even our profiles as one of us NOT as an enemy. MP has supported Ze Baron and his efforts to run a group for [us] “Refugees” and Ze is just an average Joe on the WWW and they still have made this group like one of the main groups in town.
Like Meg and Dantcer It saddens me it gets such low or miss understood write- ups. When really it IS a growing community. I will admit I am in the 30 – 40 age bracket with three kids and it is wonderful.. I managed to get the family to come and see “how the kids are doing.” and you don’t know how hard that is.. I have been trying for YEARS to get them hooked up some how since we live in different states.
Facebook and MySpace aren’t what they seem to be, and YES I have accounts with them, but I dont use them. I even have an account with JCFAITH – Like Myspace… and I dont post there like I used WHY? Because MP is so much better.
Sure I am in the garden with those above. NO I do not work for MP.
http://www.blog...om/categories/4 MMMM for something so bad MP has managed to make it into the top 3
In October,a friend in my online bereavement group told me about Multiply. I looked around and decided to give it a shot. I’m really not much of a “blogger’,but it looked like a fun site.
Right off,I got several invitations to be a contact. I accepted. I passed the word. In that month Multiply must have gotten at least 300(small number,I know) from my group,and didn’t blink and eye. A “Refugee” group was set up for those of us who moved,and several more groups came up to help us learn our way around. Folks who had been there for awhile manned these groups( volunteer,so far as I know) to help us newbies. I have made quite a few new contacts and some pretty good friends on this site. I do blog,i respond to blogs,and I make new contacts. I have fun,something I didn’t have a lot of on Yahoo. There’s a few things i like about Yahoo,but a whole lotta things i love about Multiply. Like,custom themes,customer service,helpful people and new friends. I’m not here to bash Yahoo. I am here to praise Multiply. Is it perfect? No. But,they’re working on it,and that counts to me.
I think multiply is great for my demographic age group, much better then most of the other networks that receive all the coverage. It is almost like linkedin for your personal life, so who needs all the silly toys that come with it, like poke or dating!