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Blended – Blend Your Networks

February 25, 2012 
 StartUpLift

5 Awards. All Awardees Selected.

Blended - startup Featured on StartUpLift for Startup Feedback and Website Feedback

A new tool that blends your social networks to help you meet like-minded people.

Target Audience: Recent college graduates, young professionals, new in town.
Website URL: https://JoinBlended.com

Feedback sought:

  • 1) Visit https://joinblended.com. Does a lack of e-mail sign up bother you? Do you understand what Blended is all about?
    2) Go through the registration. Is registration too long?
    3) After completing the registration process, what is your impression of the website?
    4) What would make you come back to the website?

24 thoughts on “Blended – Blend Your Networks”

  1. I don’t like that there is no way to get on an e-mail list and that the only way to sign up is through logging in with a Facebook account. Many people don’t like the “privacy” policy of Facebook and prefer to not use Facebook or do use Facebook but don’t like third parties posting to their profile and accessing their profile information via using Facebook to sign up for service. I am one of those people that don’t like being required to use Facebook to sign up for a new service such as Blended.
     
    Yes, I understand what Blended is about – it helps me connect to other people in my community with similar interests. However, I think there are other services out there that are much more established like Meetup.com that already accomplish this mission.
    The registration process is simple, but I would expect to be directed to complete my profile before doing anything else. When I went to fill in my location, the drop down box gave me options to select my exact location, but I couldn’t get the drop-down box to go away. That was frustrating. When I went to the Search button, I wasn’t exactly sure what I was supposed to type in the Search box..my location? my interest? It would be helpful to have some instructions as to what to type into the box. On the Advanced search page, what is the ‘Simple’ button for??
    It isn’t clear how I get started finding people that share my interests. Also not sure what the blender icon is all about?? It’s kinda cheesy.
    The website is very boring. There isn’t much color or much direction on what to do. I probably wouldn’t come back to this website.

  2. When I first tried to visit the URL you listed, I got an error message that said:

     
    An error occurred in the application and your page could not be served. Please try again in a few moments.
    If you are the application owner, check your logs for details.
     
    After several more attempts with the same outcome, the page failed to load entirely (i.e., my browser would just attempt endlessly to load it with no success). I tried Firefox 10.0.1 and Internet Explorer 9. I’m not having problems opening pages at other sites. I would be happy to give feedback when I’m able to access your site.
     

  3. Hey, thanks for your valuable feedback. We just recently launched and work hard on making Blended a great product. We’re cleaning up all the bugs and working on the additional features that will be implemented soon. Here’s a brief priority list:
    1. Add a basic e-mail sign up option
    2. Create new logo and change the design
    3. Improve search
    4. Improve registration
    After this short list is done, we have many more things that we’re working on.
    Also, you mentioned meetup.com. We’re different from them in a way that we’re not a platform for meetups and events. We are a place where you can introduce yourself to a bunch of cool people and connect with them further on the existing social networks. The majority of people have a large web presence, and we’re using it to help you expand your personal and professional networks.
     
    Again, thanks for all your impact!
     
    -Max
     
     

  4. 1) Visit https://joinblended.com. Does a lack of e-mail sign up bother you? Do you understand what Blended is all about?
    I would have to say the lack of e-mail sign up does bother me. If I was a user who wanted to use your sign and didn’t have any accounts with those listed on your site I would have to go to one of them and create an account just to be on your site. All in all I would find that a complete hassle.   I am one of those few young people in the world who does not an account with anyone of those sites and I rather not create an account just to use your site. As a person who serfs the net extensively I find it great to see sites that will allow you to enter their site through one the social networking sites making it easier for the user. Why create another passsword and username when you can just enter the site using one you already know and one that is frequently used. 

    Your site seems to be about connecting people together by somehow blending friends. I wasn’t sure if the site would blend friends from each of those social networks all into one “friend/ community” list from the sites you have listed. I don’t quit understand how your site works because the information you have is really vague. Your site give no examples or direct wording of what your site will offer to a user. I must say that your site lack of info might push users away because you leave much for them to guess about instead of leading them into your site. As a user I want to unknowingly or knowingly be lead through a site leaving me free to enjoy instead of trying to figure out the steps of using your site.     

    2) Go through the registration. Is registration too long?
    I went ahead a created a Linkedin account. I was taken just a bit when immediatly I was asked to write something about myself. I went ahead a clicked the searched button and nothing happened so I just typed in my city and state. Under the tell about your question I would like to have had the option of trying in something because some of the things listed were not relevant to me. I like that I can skip a question but a back button would have been nice. The process was easy but I would have liked to just a “title or tagline” of myself instead of feeling like I had to write a lengthy heart felt description about me. I would feel more comfortable giving my location later in the profile process. A user may be uneasy just giving their location to quickly before any information has been establised about them.

    3) After completing the registration process, what is your impression of the website?
    After completing the process I felt more comfortable with the premise of your site something I hadn’t felt when I first got to your site’s landing page. I really like how after I was done I could easily start chatting with people who had similar interst as mines. The tabs were easy to understand and I likeed that I was able to edit my profile. It would have nice to see some typed info or information about the person you wanted to send a message to. I had to click on the boxed text to be able to click on the user’s name only to be taken back to the same page. I understand the whole purpose of the profile process but giving the user something to read is more assuring when wanting to strike a conversation with someone you don’t know.  

    4) What would make you come back to the website?
    I have to say that I don’t quit understand what your site does. If I am going to sign up through your site to do things with peope in my community and or friends on each site why would I necessarily need your site. (These were my feelings up until I started going through the profile process). That being said I think you need to draw users in and make sure they understand your site. I also wonder how could a user link friends from more than one account. Friends on one account may not be on all a users friends list. I would visit your site but there needs to be more of a fun chatting atmosphere. I like that you have the discussions but visually your site doesn’t have a fun chatting/ networking feel to it. I need to see Blended with pictures and testimonials, friends chatting or such and such just became friends. Make your site look like a one stop shop that’s fun and easy. Through in a video playing the word blendeding. Your sites name lends itself to all kind of creative markerting and visual representations, so run with them. I want to see this site revamped and reposted.

  5. Hey Latasha, thanks very much for your feedback! It was very useful and helpful. I understand that you’re confused about what our website does. It’s hard to see it at this point, but we’re working on making it clear to everyone. We’re not a website for connecting you with your existing friends, we’re a tool for connecting you with people you’ve never met. The goal is to assess you on three things:
    1) Your personal side. We want to understand your interests, activities, likes, etc. We’ll be getting all this information from your Facebook account if you have it.
    2) Your professional side. We let you specify the professional skills you have and the professional skills you look for in other people. For example, I’m an entrepreneur and have A, B, and C skills, and you’re a web developer and have D, E, and F skills. We put you together without you making any effort. We’ll be getting all this information from your LinkedIn page if you have it.
    3) Places you hang out at. If you have a Foursquare account, we can put you in touch with the people that hang out at the same places as you do.
    What’s the end result? We’re blending your social networks to help you discover like-minded people you would never meet outside the web space. The more web presence you currently have, the more cool people you’ll be able to meet. Yes, there aren’t that many perfect matches like that yet, but there are few, and they can be your life-long connections.
    We’ll be keeping you posted on all the changes and improvements.
    Thanks again!

  6. Not a totally intuitive interface although much like facebook. Since I’m signing in as facebook I don’t know why you’re asking for some of the same information. 

    I didn’t find it easy to use. After registering my information, it totally froze up before I had a chance to complete the form and submit. I think you need to give more direction or drop down boxes for choices to help get people going.

    I think the concept is very good but the interface needs a lot of work.

  8. 1) Visit https://joinblended.com. Does a lack of e-mail sign up bother you? Do you understand what Blended is all about?
    

    First impression is that there is not an introduction or homepage that really gives someone a warm welcome. The link I went to has a small white box in the middle that is the equivalent of a “Coming Soon” or “under construction” banner. It does not prompt the user to take an action or continue, because most people won’t even read the text on your page if they land here by accident or unintentionally. But your goal of a website is to convert people who land here by accident, which means you need to rethink your strategy.

    Lack of email does not bother me, but the lack of product offered does bother me. But now that you mention it, it would help if there is an easy to find contact email for the website.

    2) Go through the registration. Is registration too long?

    I was very hesitant to give over rights or priveleges to LinkedIn to Blended.
    The blanks to tell us about ourselves is not labeled. Very confusing about what to enter here.
    The “select my interests” phase did not allow me to actually select any of the categories. Frustrating!
    Must be a glitch that needs to be fixed.
    Questions seem to run on and on.
    By the time I get to the Write a New Question blank, I feel over committed for something that hasn’t convinced me that I need or is helpful to me.

    3) After completing the registration process, what is your impression of the website?

    This website either needs a major overhaul or needs to be started completely over, done by a programming professional or website designer. It is obviously not a premium product.

    4) What would make you come back to the website?

    A vision, perhaps. You need a more inviting site that solves a problem or need in my life. You can’t compete with Facebook at the current level.

    The registration process takes too long and the question blanks are not labeled, which is frustrating. I don’t understand how your social site can add value to my current social networks. This needs to be clearly explained on your homepage, and you need a real legitimate homepage. The current one is lacking and seems like very little effort was put into it.

  9. 1) Visit https://joinblended.com. Does a lack of e-mail sign up bother you? Do you understand what Blended is all about?
    No it does not bother me a bit as you got me very curious with the little bit that is describing what the site is about. Without pressing any buttons and just go on what I read in the disruptions I understand your site is about getting like minded people together in their area though a simple process of sifting and joining all that fits your profile. It is much needed and got all my attention
    2) Go through the registration. Is registration too long?
    I used Facebook and it was just a matter of allowing Blended access to my profile. There were no forms or anything. Not sure if that was all. Seemed too simple. I then updated my profile a bit just to see If I could locate a like minded individual. Find none and was a little disappointed
    3) After completing the registration process, what is your impression of the website?
    I think it is Brand Brand new and with time has the potential to grow into something worthwhile. I did not find what I expected on the first page. Guess I  am a bit disparate for like minded people. However when I clicked on messages I saw that the site is more a place where people talk on everyday topics and nothing as detail and specific as what I am into. I will have to keep an eye on my inbox hoping someone will start a discussion that concerns me:)
    4) What would make you come back to the website?
    From time to time it will be good idea to visit and see if there are not like minded people who have joined. I kinda expected it to be more as what it is. On joining I allow emails just to see if they would use it responsibly and not flood my inbox. Also if you would use my data to feed other marketing companies. Always difficult to trust a new website and you never know the hidden motives. By first impressions your website looks legitimate and i hope you deliver what was promised on the first page
    Hope my inputs help for future developments 🙂

  11. Hey Francois, thank you for your insightful feedback! I really appreciate you taking your time to review our website. You’re right, it’s a brand new website that will undergo major improvements within the next few months. We’ll be keeping you posted of all the major changes in the newsletter items. Thanks again!

  12. 1) Visit https://joinblended.com. Does a lack of e-mail sign up bother you? Do you understand what Blended is all about?
    The first thing that made me stop signing up is the usage of a social network like Facebook (I don’t have any other social network account other than Facebook). I have a Facebook account, yes, however, I only use Facebook for private purposes and I do avoid having to use it for third party applications and such. By using social networks to log on in Blended, this then becomes a disadvantage for those people who would like to avoid these scenarios.

    In this case, I’m afraid I was unable to fully understand what Blended is all about.
    2) Go through the registration. Is registration too long?
    Though I did not intend to use my Facebook account to sign up for Blended, I initially wanted to take a look at how the registration page would look like and alas! I was actually redirected to Facebook login so I did not continue.
    3) After completing the registration process, what is your impression of the website?
    N/A
    4) What would make you come back to the website?
    I am absolutely curious with how this works and I’d really like to see and understand what it is so I am hoping that a signup process which asks for a minimal information would be put up.

  13. Thank you for your feedback. We will put up a regular e-mail sign up option soon, so you’ll be able to check out the rest of the website.

  14. 1) Visit https://joinblended.com. Does a lack of e-mail sign up bother you? Do you understand what Blended is all about?
    A lack of e-mail sign up does not bother me. I use facebook far more often than my email, and find my email is mostly full of junk. I get very few personal emails anymore. I’m honestly not sure that I understand what Blended is all about. I am already in a community- at work, school, and home- and sites like facebook, twitter, and linkedin already connect me to these people.
    2) Go through the registration. Is registration too long?
    I used the facebook option.There was no “registration” to complete. I would have preferred to register rather than sign up with facebook as I don’t like companies accessing my information.
    3) After completing the registration process, what is your impression of the website?
    My impression of the site is that I like it. I like the graphic representation of the idea of connectivity that’s presented in the blue background. I like the style of the site- the text is easy to read and the layout makes it easy to navigate. I also like the users posted on the upper right side of the screen. However, I’m still unclear about what this site offers and why I would want to use it. I did a search by location, NYC, and came up with one result. That result listed what seemed like services, so I’m wondering if this site is a way to generate business. I’m not clear at all.

    4) What would make you come back to the website?
    A more thorough understanding of what the site offers and how to use it would make me want to come back. Right now, I don’t have those two things and so I don’t see myself visiting again.

  15. 1) Visit https://joinblended.com. Does a lack of e-mail sign up bother you? Do you understand what Blended is all about?

    Judging from the front page, it appears that this site will allow me to network with others in my community, or make new friends, etc. The lack of email sign-up does bother me. I think it would be best if a person could get further into the website without having to already link to you all through their social media account. I do have a facebook page, but really hate having to allow other sites access to my account, especially when it said by allowing you all access to my facebook, you could post things as me! That makes me very uncomfortable, and without any more info on who you are than the brief intro on this opening page, I just decided not to link up with you all. I think you really need to build more trust with the customer first by allowing them to explore more of what you do and who you are before you require them to link to you through their social media page.

    2) Go through the registration. Is registration too long?

    Registration is confusing…What do you want to know about me? How much info should I type there? It isn’t that the registration is too long, but just that since I don’t know what the site will really offer, it is hard to want to go through the registration first. Most sites allow you to look around and at least part of the site before you have to sign up. It would have been nice to have that option here. If I was a regular user, I probably would have just logged off before completing all of this, since it is hard to tell if it will be worth the time or not.  

    3) After completing the registration process, what is your impression of the website?

    Site is awfully plain looking, and a little hard to tell what to do and how to do it. Appears that it will take some time to get it all figured out and see what all is offered. A tutorial on what is there and how to use it would have been helpful.

    4) What would make you come back to the website?

    I’m not too sure. At this point, I don’t see anything that I would find helpful in addition to the other social sites I am on. I would need something more to make me want to come back to this site.

  16. 1) Visit https://joinblended.com. Does a lack of e-mail sign up bother you? Do you understand what Blended is all about?
    I really don’t like the idea of not having a way to register without using a social network.  I believe this is a limitation for the site, as many people out there either don’t have a social network account, or simply don’t want to share there account everywhere.  From the initial page, the jist I get from the site is that it’s a place to communicate with people about alot of different things, but mostly it felt like a place to meet people that you don’t already know.  I’m not really into this though, I don’t like providing information to folks that I don’t really talk to in real life.
    2) Go through the registration. Is registration too long?
    I don’t like the age question, or rather that there is no way to opt out of showing it.  At least explain that this will or will not be shown to everyone.  Other than that, it was rather quick to sign up.
    3) After completing the registration process, what is your impression of the website?The first page I come to is rather bland.  Just a list of “discussions”.  Typically, I feel intimidated jumping in a topic with strangers, but maybe I’m not like most other people.  Also, I did a search for the state in which I live and it said ” Sorry, no results match that search. ”  Hmmm.  Shouldn’t at least my profile have been pulled up?  It would be nice to see a cloud view of the most popular topics, interests etc maybe on the side of the page.  I had to click into someone’s profile to then click on an interest to then get to a page of people that had similar interests.  The search page should look a bit nicer too – Instead of having the phrase “Sorry, no results match that search.” when you initially go there, it should give more information, or ideas on what to search for.
    4) What would make you come back to the website?  
    Eh, probably not at this point.  I really don’t see the reason to, as I don’t gain any value in doing so.  I already discuss topics on FB, I already use LinkedIn as a professional network. I don’t see anything that stands out from those at this time.

  17. 1) Visit https://joinblended.com. Does a lack of e-mail sign up bother you? Do you understand what Blended is all about?
    The lack of email signup did not bother me however I would have preferred another option other then signing up through my current social media accounts. I understand what Blended is all about only because of the introduction, however when I got to the actual site after signup I really didn’t know what I was supposed to do. How do I connect with other people? The only thing I was clear about was starting a discussion.
    2) Go through the registration. Is registration too long?
    The registration process was really simple and painless and didn’t take long at all. Already having a list of interest there helped me to think about what I wanted to choose and made it a quick process.
    3) After completing the registration process, what is your impression of the website?
    My impression of the website was not very inviting and there was no clear direction on what to do next or how to connect to others other than through discussion. Maybe you can create a help tab that explains how the site works for those that are new to it.
    4) What would make you come back to the website?
    I would suggest you have a sidebar with a list of interest groups you can add your name to and find other people with like interest and within that interest group there can be a chat room or discussion board so that you can connect with people with that particular interest. I think a general discussion board would make it really hard to connect on a particular interest level.

  18. 1) Visit https://joinblended.com. Does a lack of e-mail sign up bother you? Do you understand what Blended is all about?
    No. But if I don’t already have a social network, email signup will be a nice option. It looks a lot like any of the many social networks out there. Dunno what makes it different. The intro page is good, nice and with just a short description. But not clear. What do you mean by community? Is it about finding people in my neighbourhood? Or do you mean a virtual community – people sharing the same hobbies, profession or background? It sounds more like the latter. Instead of what you wrote, I’d say the following:

    “Whether you’re looking for collaborator on your next project, a partner in crime, or someone to enjoy your next cup of coffee with—search through the Blended network to find the right people for you.”
    2) Go through the registration. Is registration too long?
    It’s not too long but also a bit confusing. What do you mean by skills? A list to choose from will be better. When I type in a letter, a list pops up but there doesn’t appear to be anything linking the list. The letter a will bring up a girlfriend, architecture and other words in other languages as well. I think you should just allow us to register and then choose the skills later. These “skills” may change with time and may only be relevant for certain occasions. (See my later comments)
    3) After completing the registration process, what is your impression of the website?
    Confusing. The last page is Start A Discussion. Is this some kind of online chat service? Where I can start an online chat and if people are interested, they can join in? If so, you can do this more simply. Allow people to link up with Facebook. Once you can get the details from Facebook, there is no need to ask for anything else. So, registration is immediate and after that, I am ready to go. Or just ask for a new username and password. I can always update my personal details later. However, I don’t know why that is necessary for this service.

    When I get to the website, I can start my discussion and key in some keywords in another field. People can look for me by looking at the keywords and decide whether or not they want to join in. Ideally, the keywords can be changed during the discussion so that I can put up a better keyword or add keywords if necessary.
    4) What would make you come back to the website?
    OK. The way I’d like to see this work is as follows. First, at the first page, a short description like what you have except using my modified words. Then login through Facebook or whatever. When I get to the dashboard, there is a first field allowing me to key in keywords. These keywords will bring up the relevant conversations which will be identified in separate threads (so that I know which posting is linked to which discussion). Have the main threads shown and then if I am interested, I click on it and the rest of the posting for that thread is shown. If I am not interested in any of the conversations, I can start my own.

    On the right hand side, the pictures of some available partners can be shown like now. You can also show their main interests, which they can put in if they like using their profiles later (not during the registration process). I should be able to scroll the pictures and see all the people who are available, or if the service becomes really popular, I should be able to search using keywords. Beneath the pictures, the keywords I mentioned earlier can appear as isolated words. A format where the words have different sizes to show either the keywords that are most related to mine (relevance) or most popular will be nice. I can click on the different keywords to explore the Blended community or click on the faces above to start a chat with someone I like.

    I hope this makes sense. If I understand what you are trying to do correctly, I think it is a great idea. Another feature of this service will be to allow the users to put some of the people together as a group. That way, I can ask, for example, who’s for coffee? to this group to find if there is anyone to join me. In other words, I can start a discussion in the net allowing anyone to join in, or with just a group, privately. So yes, I will certainly come back. Provided you do what I say, :).

  19. Feedback part 2:
    Come to think of it, change your name to Keywords. Then, do largely as I suggested above. Allow me to change my keywords as I please in my profile. You can have different categories of keywords – personal, professional & places. Then, the keywords I key in on my page will bring up like-minded people according to keyword matching. Similarly, the discussions I want to link up to will be brought up according to these keywords.

    Keywords. Catchy, no?

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