When Twitter popularized the micro-blog, it revolutionized the way people and businesses communicate online and build relationships. I’m a huge Twitter fan, but I tend to use Twitter more for general socializing, rather than for doing real “work”. Trying to use it in a work capacity can come across as spammy if the bulk of your followers are personal contacts (and vice versa). Also, since your posts are typically only seen by people that follow you; depending on your popularity, you may not get quick feedback, or even have your questions answered at all. Our recognition of this burning need and realizing what it “could be”, combined with our years of experience with online collaboration and working with remote teams, has brought us to our newest endeavor - Meet Blellow.

In many ways you will find Blellow similar to Twitter, but because using a micro-blog for business requires the ability to target very specific kinds of people to help you with certain tasks, we’ve made the way you organize your contacts and target your message extremely flexible and customizable. So, whether you have a hobby, a favorite charity, or are working on a specific project, you’ll be able to let only those who will be interested & can help you out know about it . And likewise, contributing to the community and helping others out is also easier for the same reasons. So, take your basic Twitter mindset and add on the following Phase I functionality:

 
Join a Group & Form a Group

Being able to join and form groups is the next step towards keeping things organized and productive. Groups can be formed to bring people together into a common goal or interest, and users can be a part of as many groups as they wish. We’ll offer you a threaded discussion view, filterable by group, so you can follow posts and exchanges without a lot of hassle. No need to dig through dozens of posts to follow along. We’ll give you the option to expand and collapse conversations as you need them. Oh, and you get to choose to post your messages only to group members, or bubble it up for the entire community to see.

Feedback & Advice

Are you stuck and need help or advice from colleagues and peers? Are you particularly proud of

a recent project you worked on and want to share it with the community? Or perhaps you’re looking to lend a hand in some way? On Blellow, we will encourage a community of collaboration and sharing. We are big fans of BarCamp, StartUp Weekend, and all the other great un-conferences. Our hope is that the same idea of discussion and learning can happen every day on Blellow. We want to know what you are working on and we want to help you make it the best it can be. We’ve also got a kudos program in the works, but more on that later!

Post a Job/Find a Project

If you’ve got a job you need to find talent for, you’ll be able to post it here in a special “jobs” board. And just like other posts, you’ll be able to choose to submit it to specific groups, or to the entire community. We will be charging a nominal fee for this service, but hey - we’ve got to pay the bills too! With integration across most existing social networks, you’ll be able to bring your friends, coworkers, and other contacts in quickly and seamlessly.

And if you are searching for jobs or projects to work on, one click will take you to them, with the ability to very easily filter down to the ones you want and then instantly contact the poster.

 
Meetup, Anyone?

While we are really good at online collaboration, nothing can beat meeting people face to face. So if you’re planning a meetup, post it on Blellow. Members can opt to be notified if a meetup is posted in their area, so go ahead and plan it - they will come!

 
And if you are looking for a meetup, Blellow will be a place to easily find gatherings of like-minded people, whether you’re traveling or just hanging around town with your peeps.

 
So…are you seeing the vision? Are you already feeling the power of organization and seeing how Blellow can help you with doing business & productivity? And this is just Phase I! Here’s the latest Blellow interface design

Any ideas for functionality or features are always welcome. Please drop me a line and let me know what you think about what we’ve got going with Blellow. I’d LOVE to hear from you!