Today we’re happy to announce that WULU will be the title sponsor of Startup Calgary’s 5th Annual Launch Party. We’re proud to be working with such an awesome group of people and hopeful that our own startup will one day have a similar impact on the local startup community.
Startup Calgary is an entrepreneur-led, volunteer-driven grassroots movement with a mission to grow the startup ecosystem in the beautiful city of Calgary. Â
Launch Party is an annual celebration of the local startup community which features entrepreneurs, investors, government, corporations, media, and more. Last year more than $50,000 worth of prizes were given out to showcase companies and over 500 people attended the event.
WULUÂ is a real-time, topic-based conversation app coming soon to iPhone.Â
This year’s launch party is scheduled for Thursday, Nov 13th from 5–10pm, at Mount Royal University’s Ross Glen Hall. You can get your tickets here.
Whether it was a phone call, a meet-up in a coffee shop or getting to know someone across the world in a chat room, we miss the days of conversation.
Somewhere along the line we became okay with sharing our thoughts, and expecting little in return. We began to favour one-way updates over back and forth banter.
That’s why we’re creating WULU — to bring back conversation. Think of it as a social throwback. The kind of fun, quirky online community that was common before modern-day social networks.
Say hello to WULU. A place for real people, and real conversation.
Three things we learned about the state of online conversation
We’ve been talking to people about the state of online conversation for the last month or so. From politicos to sports enthusiasts, we wanted to learn more about how people connect and interact with each other online.
Today we’d like to share some of the things we’ve heard. Read on for more!
1. Lack of meaningful conversation.
Social has become so big that it’s impossible to truly know anyone, and almost impossibly daunting to start fresh. In the early days, there was a real sense of community online — we were all insiders discovering something new together. The one thing we had in common was a sense of awe for Internet’s potential to bring us together.
Today’s online communities lack that intimacy they once had. So even though we’re all connected, there’s no real sense of community. Sherry Turkle, a researcher from MIT has studied the paradox of how we can be so connected, yet feel so alone.
2. Competition for attention.
Somewhere along the way we began to favour social status updates over back-and-forth banter. Our online tools have encouraged this behaviour by rewarding the loudest broadcasters and the edgiest soundbites or pithiest comments. In essence, the social “conversation” has become a wall of people shouting, and it’s hard for individuals to break through the noise.
Some of the things we heard:
It takes a lot of creativity to start a quality conversation.
Good conversations on social media happen in the corners.
Edgier comments get more attention.
Likes and retweets aren't real conversation.
It might seem quaint, but we think social credibility should come from the quality of one’s opinions, not a number of followers.
3. Risk of being misinterpreted.
It’s easy to have your contributions taken out of context, especially when everything is public by default. We’ve all composed a perfect status update, and then deleted it shortly after clicking send because we (sometimes rightfully) worried it’d be misinterpreted.
"I have to simultaneously deal with professional situations, friends from the past, friends from the present all in one environment, and I don't share the same thing in those worlds. For me, it's just, you know, a world of context collapse." — Dana Boyd
Instead, we stick to sharing things that are safe — retweeting thought leaders, clinging to aphorisms, and reposting links. But meaningful conversation is predicated on mutual trust, and the true debate and dialogue comes from it. We can’t move forward with a great discussion if the tools we use make it risky to put ourselves out there.
As you can probably tell, we’re passionate about the state of online conversation, and we’ve already found a number of people who share our passion, and subsequent frustration. So, what are we doing about it?
Well, we believe that the best conversations happen in real-time, between small groups of like-minded people.
So, we’re building an app that we think will help. It’s a social chat experience designed to help you connect through conversations about the topics you care about, with other people who share your interests. We’re launching soon, and you can sign up for updates if you’d like to be the first to hear more.
Talking to Strangers — How To Make Friends Online
Too many people look down on Internet friends as some sort of lesser class of friendship. But we think the opposite is true: Internet friends are the best kind of friends. The Internet has made it possible to connect and interact with countless people who share your interests, who without it, would have gone forever unknown because of the barrier of physical distance.
Today’s social media platforms have popularized online communication and connecting with real people — but in some ways, the Internet has always been about making a connection. Through chat rooms, social media, blogging, message boards, and other tools, we’ve always been able to find somebody who’ll listen by going online; it’s just a matter of finding the right tools.
The Best Kind of Friend
The benefits of forming friendships with people we meet online are so numerous, that it’s surprising some people refuse to participate. Who wouldn’t want to have more friends? Especially those with similar interests, compatible (or even respectfully challenging) political views, a great sense of humour, and shared values. BFFs, indeed!
“The friends I have now might be spread wide, geographically, but I’m closer to them than anyone I went to school with, by about a million miles.” — Anna Pickard
Finding Online Conversations
Every member of the WULU team has had great experiences with online conversation, and over the last couple years, we’ve watched with disappointment as social media has evolved into a broadcast medium.
So, we’re bringing something new to the table, because we know that people these days are starved for real communication. But in the meantime, we’ve compiled a list of insider tips to help you find, and really connect, with people online. Thankfully, there are still some corners of the Internet where you can enjoy a meaningful conversation.
1. Get a hobby.
Just like when you were a kid and your parents enrolled you in little league, you can easily find other people online by getting involved in something new. Online gaming is a great example: millions of people connecting every day and more online discussion than you can shake a stick at – and the same is true for DIY’ers, graphic designers, collectors, and writers. Pick an activity that you think might be interesting, introduce yourself, and see what happens next.
2. Join interest-based message boards.
Message boards are another great way to find real people online. There are countless forum communities having in-depth discussions on topics ranging from sports and technology, to comic books and crafts. Find an appropriate board andshare an article to start a conversation, or, start slow and easy by contributing your two cents to an existing discussion thread.
A tip? See if you can find a message board for your local sports team. It’s a one-stop destination for sports discussion, politics, current events and locally-focused chatter. If you’re having trouble narrowing your search down to include forums, add “powered by vBulletin” or “powered by invision” to your search.
3. Subscribe to subreddits.
Embodied by a friendly looking Internet alien, reddit is a huge community with plenty of discussion. Instead of diving in off the front page, look to the list of user-moderated subreddits to find a topic that interests you (there are over 100,000 of them, so you shouldn’t have any trouble). Once you’ve narrowed your selection down, start submitting links and participating in discussions with other redditors. In a small subreddit, you might even start to recognize a few of the regulars.
Be ready - reddit has a unique culture that can be a bit intimidating at first. For more on the language and customs of reddit, check out this useful guide from Mashable.
4. Build your network on social media.
Social media has made online communication commonplace, but even with today’s social tools, it’s easy to get stuck in a rut. The great thing about Twitter is that you can reach out and talk with almost anybody. According to the New York Times, people who say hello to strangers are more happy than people who keep to themselves, so why not give it a try?
Here’s how to do it: use the search tools to find people talking about things you’re interested in, then chime in. Don’t be shy — most people on Twitter are open to meeting new people, they just don’t know how to introduce themselves.
5. Express your unique style.
Combine your social presence with a microblogging service like Tumblr. Building a tumblog is kind of like a digital version of putting posters on your wall, so share your own unique style — not somebody else’s. And when you find other people sharing the same kind of stuff, pay them a nod with a like or reblog.
6. Use messaging apps to stay in touch.
If you’ve made a meaningful connection with someone using one of the above tips, eventually you might want to add them on a messaging app like Skype, WhatsApp, Kik Messenger, etc. This space is exploding and there is no shortage of great tools for staying in touch with the people you meet online – so, pick one – or two, or three… - and run with it.
Messaging apps are great because they bring a public connection to a more private space. Think about all the friends you’ve bonded with in real life — how many have come out of spending one-on-one time together? Don’t force it when asking people for their contact details; you’ll know when the time is right.
Parting Thoughts
It’s not going to happen overnight, but you can find Internet friends of your own. And with time, you’ll become part of the online community too. Eventually you’ll stop thinking of your online contacts as strangers, and start to think of them as friends. That’s where the real fun begins.
The Internet can be a scary place, but you can start small (just try saying hello) – you might be surprised by how welcoming people can be. And eventually, even strangers become friends.
Whether it’s a message board, social media, or an online chatroom, the best communication tools humanity has ever had are available to you. So why wouldn’t you use them to connect with somebody right now? Remember, Internet friends are real people too – and every great friend started as a someone you didn’t know yet.
Bonus tip: share this post on Twitter and we’ll send you a virtual hug from one Internet friend to another. :-)
They say you don’t get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies, but who wants that many friends anyway? And if you did have 500 million friends would they really all be deserving of the title “friend”?
Today’s social media sites are filled with lots of people talking, and few people listening. And with everyone talking at once, you have to fight through the noise to make a connection.
That’s why we’re creating WULU — to bring back real conversation. It’s a place where you can talk about the topics you care about, and earn a reputation for your thoughts; a place where you don’t have to compete for attention, or shout to be heard.
Say hello to WULU. A place for real people, and real conversation.
Two years ago, the future Strategy Director of WULU attended a FailCon conference in San Francisco where Eric Ries (the brain behind the LEAN Startup model) was scheduled to speak. After fatefully catching his presentation, he walked away feeling inspired by the LEAN model and how it made creating a startup feel totally doable and realistic. The approach encourages people to think small, short-term and, most importantly, to think about getting their product live quickly – all while being centered around a simple model: Build, Measure, Learn.
The Build-Measure-Learn loop is one of the key features of the LEAN Startup model.
So, when we later began to conceive WULU, we based it around a simple, singular problem: the lack of a real-time, topic-based platform for live conversations. At first, we considered every experience and audience possible – but with the insight we gained from the LEAN model, we realized that had we pursued even a few of our early ideas (like launching with machine learning, for instance), we would not have been able to show our investors the value in getting behind us – not to mention being able to meet our upcoming launch of September 15, 2014.
Instead, we applied the LEAN startup principles and began a rigorous process of experience design based on what’s called the “Minimum Viable Product (MVP).” The MVP is more or less exactly what it sounds like: a first version of the product that initiates a Build-Measure-Learn cycle, with a minimum amount of effort, investment and development time.
MVP, despite the name, is not about creating minimal products. If your goal is simply to scratch a clear itch or build something for a quick flip, you really don’t need the MVP. In fact, MVP is quite annoying, because it imposes extra overhead. We have to manage to learn something from our first product iteration. In a lot of cases, this requires a lot of energy invested in talking to customers or metrics and analytics. — Eric Ries
Then, with a clear mission, we set out to create the most basic experience we could launch, while still delivering a quality user experience that was pleasing to our audience. Jazz musicians often say it’s the notes you don’t play that matter most, and in that same spirit, we found simplifying was much harder and time consuming than one may think. At the outset, our process literally looked like this drawing of the creative process:
Ultimately, we focused our idea and formulated our MVP statement “build a gamified match-making system that connects people to relevant, short conversations.” With our concept in place we moved forward and defined what was needed to bring WULU to life.
Like most startups, the toughest decision was deciding which platform to launch with. Fortunately the LEAN startup model helped guide us in making the decision to launch for iOS first, then measure, learn, and hopefully fast-follow with an Android version. It was a painful, but necessary, decision for everyone (but especially the Android loyalists on our team).
Launch with an MVP, measure, learn, then build what is necessary — this refreshingly simple philosophy has helped the WULU team produce a product we’re immensely proud of that will go to market on time and on budget. We can't wait to see where the next revolution through the loop takes us.
When was the last time you had a real conversation online? You know, the kind of lively, back-and-forth banter that turns hours into minutes, fills your head with possibilities, and maybe even leads to a new friend?
If you're like us, it's probably been a while.
We believe that the best conversations happen in real time, between small groups of like-minded people. But today’s social media sites are filled with lots of people talking, and few people listening. And with everyone talking at once, you have to fight through the noise to make a connection.
It may sound extreme, but real discussion has been replaced by one-way status updates. We're still building connections with people, but not in a very meaningful way.
So that's why we're creating WULU — to bring back conversation. It's a place where you can talk about the topics you care about, and earn a reputation for your thoughts; a place where you don't have to compete for attention, or shout to be heard.
Say hello to WULU. A place for real people, and real conversation.
Let’s be honest: the Venn diagram – and all those people who (over) use it – has been the deserving brunt of a lot of jokes. But, when we started asking ourselves how we’d define WULU – is it a social media app, a chat app or maybe even a game – we actually found ourselves drawing up one up to help definitively figure it out. Maybe those diagrams aren’t so bad after all.
You see, WULU has the best features from social, chat and gaming: one-to-few, matchmaking, immediacy, privacy, simplicity, focus and gamification. It exists in that sweet spot that they all share.
Most people aren't too surprised when we talk about WULU as a social + chat app, but we thought the gaming elements deserved a little more explanation. After all, what kind of features from gaming could be relevant to conversation?
Leveling Up
The concept of a skilled conversationalist is nothing new. People have different passions, and they naturally prefer to talk about things that interest them.
So the more you participate in WULU chats, the more your status grows — assuming people like what you’re saying. And, like a game, your elevated status means you’ll be matched up with other people that have earned a similar status for the topics you're interested in. Â
Automated Matchmaking
The automated matchmaking systems popularized by gaming platforms like Battle.net and Xbox Live were one of the main sources of inspiration for our team. Matchmaking revolutionized online gameplay because it solved the problem of connecting people for play. In games like Warcraft and Starcraft, gamers could climb the ladder, and challenge themselves against other people of a similar skill level.Â
But most importantly, a huge community grew around these games. People made friends because the matchmaking system connected them to people they wouldn't have gotten the chance to meet otherwise. What makes WULU different is that we're bringing people together for a conversation, not a game.
Online Community
WULU doesn’t tolerate the trolls and the bullying too commonly found in traditional social communities. But we don’t have to moderate with a heavy-hand — instead, the natural gaming mechanics let people get rid of the bad eggs and nurture the good ones.
And similar to services like SnapChat, the things you say stay private. Your conversations in real life aren't public by default, so why should the things you say online be shared with the world? If you say something in one of our chat rooms, it stays there.
Parting Thoughts
In a lot of ways you could say WULU is art imitating life. In real life you speak with people in a similar place in life as you, about the topics you care about. The more engaging you are, the more you develop a reputation for providing meaningful conversation.
The only real difference is WULU is online and always available.
How much conversation is actually taking place on social media?
Twitter has been described as an online cocktail party, a global town square, an information firehouse, and a real time conversation platform — but how much conversation is actually taking place on social media?
1. Nobody is responding
Social monitoring company, Sysomos, analyzed 1.2 billion tweets over two months to see how people were interacting with each other.
Their key finding? 71% of tweets get no response. If that’s the kind of reaction you can expect from social media, you might as well talk to your furniture.
They did find that 23% of tweets receive an @reply (a number that includes RT-style retweeting and quoting), but of these tweets, the vast majority (85%) received only a single response. 10.7% received two, and just 1.53% of social posts sparked a conversation with three responses — a far cry from the back-and-forth banter of a real conversation.
2. Consumption, not conversation
If nobody’s responding, what are we doing with the 3.6 hours per day we spend social networking?
According to journalist Jon Bruner’s analysis of nearly 400,000 accounts Twitter accounts the social network is about consumption.
“Twitter is more a consumption medium than a conversational one—an only-somewhat-democratized successor to broadcast television, in which a handful of people wield enormous influence and everyone else chatters with a few friends on living-room couches.”
In other words, social networks are magnificent tools for building building a curated news feed and gathering information from a variety of different sources, but don’t mistake the connection for conversation.
3. Broadcasting 2.0
In essence, social media has become a new form of broadcast media — we tune into the channels we like, and ignore the ones we don’t. We’re not saying that to be negative — social gives us a huge amount of control over who we listen to — but it’s less about conversation than we were initially promised.
In fact, Dan Zarella of Hubspot did some research on this, and found that the accounts that engage in less conversation tend to have more followers. In other words, social media users reward people who stick to broadcasting.
“When I analyzed those Twitter accounts and looked at the percentage of their tweet streams that did not start with an “@” sign but did contain a link, I found that highly followed accounts tend to share more content.”
4. We’re all marketers now
Brian Stelter of the New York Times says “Twitter does turn us all into marketers.” We have to filter through the noise to find interesting content, and at the same time, cut through it to get ourselves noticed.
To be heard over the noise, we have to shout, which can lead to some pretty extreme viewpoints. Pithy comments and polarizing soundbites may get likes and follows, but they don’t lead to meaningful conversation.
It’s time for a social throwback
To be sure, social media has attracted more than its fair share of critics. It happens with anything that gets big fast. But we’re not haters — we’re just being honest about what social media is good for, and what it’s not.
Social platforms are great tools for broadcasting, publishing your thoughts, finding like-minded people, and staying connected. They’re not places for quality conversation.
So if your goal is to spark a conversation, maybe it’s time to try something different.
Maybe it’s time to be a part of the discussion, instead of just reading about it. Maybe it’s time to start talking with people, instead of at them.Â
Maybe it’s time for a social throwback.
Chat History — Online Conversation Tools We Used to Love
1. IRC
We used to jump on IRC when we were bored, just to see who was talking about the things we were interested in. IRC was a great way of connecting with, and learning from people who shared your interests — even if it was a little nerdy and somewhat inaccessible for the uninitiated. According to Daniel Stenberg, usage peaked in 2004/2005. At the time, the top four networks each had over 100,000 daily users. Today IRC is still alive-and-well, but it's clear that it has become a niche platform for a small and dedicated audience.Â
2. Chat Rooms
Chat rooms, like the topic-based AOL chats, were a staple of early Internet culture. They were far from perfect, but for many of us, online chat was a novel experience —  you could type something into your computer, and a real person would respond! Real, live, chat. It was, in it’s own way, amazing.  It's unfortunate kids today will never know the meaning of AOL CD-ROMS, or the strangely addictive tone of dial-up.
3. Message Boards
It's hard to believe, but it's 2014 and the humble message board is still going strong. The discussions are sometimes a little intense for our taste, but we've made a lot of friends in online forums over the years. With message boards, we found whole communities of people who were interested in the same topics as us. These days, message boards are more fragmented than ever, with a different board for every possible topic, subtopic or interest. And no matter the subject, there's always a lively conversation on the "Off Topic" board.
4. Gaming
Even though chat isn’t the main reason people power up their gaming rigs, you have to give credit to matchmaking services like Battle.net and Xbox Live for helping bring people together. Gaming communities are some of the most active online communities around, and their size is surprising — battle.net has more than 12 million users, and Xbox Live has 48 million. It's funny how late night gaming sessions, and pwning newbs helps bring people together.
5. Blogs
Before social media, blogs and journals were the main way people shared their ideas online. Having someone comment on your blog was like inviting them into your living room for a friendly chat. Over the years, we made plenty of friends reblogging and commenting on posts, and a lot of those connections have migrated to social, which has been able to fulfill a need for more instant conversation than commenting and reblogging. Still, blogs were once a unique form of self-expression, and we give them kudos for that.
6. Twitter Chats
The rapid-fire discussion of hashtag chats helped us find like-minded people in the early days of Twitter, even if the features were half-baked. It was hard to condense a discussion to 140 characters, but somehow, there was always plenty of conversation. There's still lots of conversation taking place on Twitter, but for those of us looking for a real connection, it's getting harder to fight through all the noise.
Modern social networks have revolutionized our perceptions of online communication, and brought connectivity into our everyday lives. But they've also made real conversation more difficult. We're constantly connected, yet when we try to start a conversation, it often feels like nobody's listening.
We can't go back to the days of AOL Chat Rooms and IRC Chats, but if we can remember what made those tools special, and what we loved about them in the first place, maybe we can bring their spirit into the 21st century.
What about you? Let us know what chat tools you used to love on Facebook or Twitter.
Startups are funny things. Building a product that other people will use, and hopefully love, is a journey that's hard to describe. But one of the most difficult challenges any founder will face is something most of us (especially anybody with children) can relate to, finding the right name.
With WULU, we searched long and hard for our name — and when we finally found one we liked, we had to fight to keep it (a story for another day).
Our team looked up the words "hello" and "chat" in many languages.Â
One day when we were discussing our options, the word "wulu" came up. At the time we didn't know if it meant anything so, naturally, we googled it.
As it turns out, wulu derives from an indigenous Australian word "wooloo" that means "where the waters meet." Being from Calgary (a city built at the confluence of two rivers), we liked that, and the name quickly grew on us. Throughout history, people around the world, and from all types of cultures have gathered at places where the waters meet, to trade, to discuss, and to connect.
In mandarin, a wulu is a gourd, a sign of good luck. Every startup needs a little luck on their side, so we're hopeful the name WULU will be a good omen for our team.
So what's in a name? WULU is a place for conversation. It doesn't matter that the people you'll meet are online, where there are (obviously) no rivers — just that you make a connection. Real people. Real conversation. We hope you'll say hello.
Whether it was a phone call, a meet-up in a coffee shop or getting to know someone across the world in a chat room, we miss the days of conversation.
But somewhere along the line we became okay with sharing our thoughts, and expecting little in return. We began to favour one-way updates over back and forth banter.
That's why we're creating WULU — to bring back conversation. It's a place where you can talk about the topics you care about, and earn a reputation for your thoughts; a place where you don't have to compete for attention, or shout to be heard.
Say hello to WULU. A place for real people, and real conversation.
