Social startups need Facebook applications

The GigPark team launched our Facebook application yesterday. The app is completely integrated into our main site so it took some work. Launch was definitively a proud moment!

The GigPark app lets you ask all of your Facebook friends for a recommendation, let’s say you are looking for a plumber, and see all of their replies. The app is not invite only, like the main site, so please feel free to add it here.

So, why build a Facebook application when GigPark is only a few months old?

Two reasons:

1. Services like ours, that get better when more of your friends are involved, need to offer their service where your friends hang out – i.e. Facebook!
2. Short of a miracle, there is no faster way to grow

For us, Facebook is one of a few important places GigPark should be available. Since GigPark is all about finding services with the help your friends, we need to be where friends communicate. Facebook is definitely one of those places but there will be more in the future.

I believe being platform agnostic is the name of the game. Startups should see themselves as services that people can use wherever they like: On a website, within their favorite social network, through IM, on their mobile phone … . This is especially true for social startups.

There was a good quote from James Hong of Hot or Not about this on TechCruch last year:

“I have really stopped thinking of Hot or Not as a destination site and worry about how many people are using our service no matter where they are … People will go where they will go. The world is evolving.”

The new NationalPost.com – two months in

Two months back I wrote about the relaunch of nationalpost.com. I think it was a huge improvement and it seems, from the numbers, like people agree.

There is still some work to do Vs their main competition (for newspaper websites anyway) but things are headed in the right direction.

Cautionary note: This chart is from Alexa – it’s probably a good indication of trends but actual numbers could be way off.

Holidays

I’m sorry Schoolboy Error has gone a bit quite lately. I’ve been in Australia holidaying and seeing family. It’s also been a busy time at GigPark. Stay tuned!