Request for feedback: (idea) a tool for making real connections quickly

[milanr_97]

Disclaimer: apologies if this post is in the wrong place, I'm new to the forum (my previous post was my intro!)

---

My business idea​

The problem​

When joining a new organisation/environment, it can be difficult to find people that you feel you could really connect with which can adversely affect your experience there.

My personal example of this was when I joined University - I struggled to find people with a similar background/demographic/mentality which made it hard for me to adjust for the longest time and ultimately detracted from my time there.

The (proposed) solution - in a nutshell​

A digital tool that maps out organisations/institutions based on their users - users can tag themselves with all sorts of properties to describe themselves to make them easily identifiable to others. You can search for others based on virtually any characteristic (e.g. ethnicity, nationality, languages spoken, hobbies, interests...). For example, if you join University as a foreign national and want to find others from the same background and that share a common interest of yours, you could search for 'South Asian' (for example) and 'football' to find all those in your new environment that match. You could even potentially find groups that have already formed around these common characteristics.

In the short term, the tool would enable people to find quickly find others and connect with them in real life. In the long-term, it could serve as a place for groups to engage with each other e.g. coordinating events, hosting discussions...

The benefits​

For users​

• Increased social circles
• Quicker settling-in period in their new environment
• Happier

For organisations/institutions​

• A more productive workforce/student body/population - happier people are more productive people
• Clear indication of investment into your people's wellbeing

​

Business model​

Most likely a SaaS subscription with a licence fee/user

Mockup​

(Appreciate this may not be legible - file upload restriction means I could only attach a picture of a certain resolution - so please see the link to my Miro board to view everything in detail)

---

My request​

I’m looking to collect feedback on my idea. Here’s a link to the Miro board where I’ve created the initial wireframes, user journey, lean canvas etc. for this idea.

I’ve already published the above to some people in my network, some of whom have very generously left feedback however I’m now looking to test my mockup on more people.

Any notes on what I could do better, general advice, pointers on where to go from here, any feedback at all really would be much appreciated!

Thanks in advance,
Milan

 

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[Hong_Kong]

Disclaimer: apologies if this post is in the wrong place, I'm new to the forum (my previous post was my intro!)

---

My business idea​

The problem​

When joining a new organisation/environment, it can be difficult to find people that you feel you could really connect with which can adversely affect your experience there.

My personal example of this was when I joined University - I struggled to find people with a similar background/demographic/mentality which made it hard for me to adjust for the longest time and ultimately detracted from my time there.

The (proposed) solution - in a nutshell​

A digital tool that maps out organisations/institutions based on their users - users can tag themselves with all sorts of properties to describe themselves to make them easily identifiable to others. You can search for others based on virtually any characteristic (e.g. ethnicity, nationality, languages spoken, hobbies, interests...). For example, if you join University as a foreign national and want to find others from the same background and that share a common interest of yours, you could search for 'South Asian' (for example) and 'football' to find all those in your new environment that match. You could even potentially find groups that have already formed around these common characteristics.

In the short term, the tool would enable people to find quickly find others and connect with them in real life. In the long-term, it could serve as a place for groups to engage with each other e.g. coordinating events, hosting discussions...

The benefits​

For users​

• Increased social circles
• Quicker settling-in period in their new environment
• Happier

For organisations/institutions​

• A more productive workforce/student body/population - happier people are more productive people
• Clear indication of investment into your people's wellbeing

​

Business model​

Most likely a SaaS subscription with a licence fee/user
View attachment 46538

Mockup​

View attachment 46539
(Appreciate this may not be legible - file upload restriction means I could only attach a picture of a certain resolution - so please see the link to my Miro board to view everything in detail)

---

My request​

I’m looking to collect feedback on my idea. Here’s a link to the Miro board where I’ve created the initial wireframes, user journey, lean canvas etc. for this idea.

I’ve already published the above to some people in my network, some of whom have very generously left feedback however I’m now looking to test my mockup on more people.

Any notes on what I could do better, general advice, pointers on where to go from here, any feedback at all really would be much appreciated!

Thanks in advance,
Milan

I don't see how this would be better than instagram, linkedin, etc. Is your main value skew that you can search by race? If I am looking for people with similar interests, I don't care what race they are.

 

[ajlall]

Hey, this is a great idea, but I think you might need to differentiate it from other social media a bit more. On Linkedin, I can find people with similar interests and whatnot, but if you give the app some factor that makes it stand out more, people will want to use it. I don't have much experience, but that's what I think a consumer might want.

 

[milanr_97]

I don't see how this would be better than instagram, linkedin, etc. Is your main value skew that you can search by race? If I am looking for people with similar interests, I don't care what race they are.

Thanks for the feedback.

The key value proposition is meant to be the ability to map out an organisation through its users and to make users identifiable by various tags/properties. These properties can be self-prescribed and can represent any trait that a user thinks helps to define them - race/ethnicity can be such a property.

I think this differentiates the tool from social media since most platforms out there don't really let users make themselves identifiable in this way. You can't search for people by a given property on instagram/linkedin for example. I think this is what's needed for a tool you'd want to use to find a group/set of people that you're specifically looking for.

Also, the tool isn't meant to compete with traditional social media. The idea is more that it should act as a sort of register/directory (like a Yellow Pages) for an organisation's people.

Is there anything you think is missing from existing platforms like LinkedIn that would help you to search for a specific set of people you might be looking to connect with?

 

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[milanr_97]

Hey, this is a great idea, but I think you might need to differentiate it from other social media a bit more. On Linkedin, I can find people with similar interests and whatnot, but if you give the app some factor that makes it stand out more, people will want to use it. I don't have much experience, but that's what I think a consumer might want.

Thanks for the feedback, and appreciate the encouragement

Interesting you mention that you can find people with similar interests etc. on LinkedIn - is this just through searching for topics you're interested in? Do you feel that the ability for users to add tags that help identify them, and the ability to search for people using these tags would make finding people to connect with any easier?

I'll definitely think about how else I can differentiate this from the usual social media platforms.

 

[Hong_Kong]

Thanks for the feedback.

The key value proposition is meant to be the ability to map out an organisation through its users and to make users identifiable by various tags/properties. These properties can be self-prescribed and can represent any trait that a user thinks helps to define them - race/ethnicity can be such a property.

I think this differentiates the tool from social media since most platforms out there don't really let users make themselves identifiable in this way. You can't search for people by a given property on instagram/linkedin for example. I think this is what's needed for a tool you'd want to use to find a group/set of people that you're specifically looking for.

Also, the tool isn't meant to compete with traditional social media. The idea is more that it should act as a sort of register/directory (like a Yellow Pages) for an organisation's people.

Is there anything you think is missing from existing platforms like LinkedIn that would help you to search for a specific set of people you might be looking to connect with?

If I am looking for people from a specific company, I would use Linkedin. If I am using other social media, I wouldn't want all these identifiable tags associated with my account.
Zoominfo also works for companies.
Mastodon also has a feature like that since it has different spaces.

 

[Practic]

Disclaimer: apologies if this post is in the wrong place, I'm new to the forum (my previous post was my intro!)

---

My business idea​

The problem​

When joining a new organisation/environment, it can be difficult to find people that you feel you could really connect with which can adversely affect your experience there.

My personal example of this was when I joined University - I struggled to find people with a similar background/demographic/mentality which made it hard for me to adjust for the longest time and ultimately detracted from my time there.

The (proposed) solution - in a nutshell​

A digital tool that maps out organisations/institutions based on their users - users can tag themselves with all sorts of properties to describe themselves to make them easily identifiable to others. You can search for others based on virtually any characteristic (e.g. ethnicity, nationality, languages spoken, hobbies, interests...). For example, if you join University as a foreign national and want to find others from the same background and that share a common interest of yours, you could search for 'South Asian' (for example) and 'football' to find all those in your new environment that match. You could even potentially find groups that have already formed around these common characteristics.

In the short term, the tool would enable people to find quickly find others and connect with them in real life. In the long-term, it could serve as a place for groups to engage with each other e.g. coordinating events, hosting discussions...

The benefits​

For users​

• Increased social circles
• Quicker settling-in period in their new environment
• Happier

For organisations/institutions​

• A more productive workforce/student body/population - happier people are more productive people
• Clear indication of investment into your people's wellbeing

​

Business model​

Most likely a SaaS subscription with a licence fee/user
View attachment 46538

Mockup​

View attachment 46539
(Appreciate this may not be legible - file upload restriction means I could only attach a picture of a certain resolution - so please see the link to my Miro board to view everything in detail)

---

My request​

I’m looking to collect feedback on my idea. Here’s a link to the Miro board where I’ve created the initial wireframes, user journey, lean canvas etc. for this idea.

I’ve already published the above to some people in my network, some of whom have very generously left feedback however I’m now looking to test my mockup on more people.

Any notes on what I could do better, general advice, pointers on where to go from here, any feedback at all really would be much appreciated!

Thanks in advance,
Milan

The problem in this business idea is a subjectivity bias that users introduce into data. Other social media do not have such optionality for the reason to avoid this subjectivity bias.

 

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[MitchM]

It’d be cool to open an app and find people who like the same stuff as me - but I think you’d face a real issue of getting people to tag themselves with a bunch of labels.

there was that local app in college that people would use like a forum - but I can’t remember the name..

something with that feature plus discoverable people on the map with profiles (anonymous until you share info with each other) could be cool.

sort of like Snapchat shows a map of your friends - but an anonymous version for the local area .. and instead of a geographical map since everyone is in proximity it could just be a “profile map”

I don’t know if this makes sense but I’m on my phone on the toilet right now and I hope it does haha

 

[Andreas Thiel]

It is true that most platforms mostly use groups, but there are many where you can search for tags / interests as well.

The experience is always horrible. The main problem with this approach, especially when you limit it to an organization, is that there will be very few matches with your search.
On most platforms people give up on on local groups and move to the wider scope (city, country ... then interest category).
You also write that it helps an organizations improve the wellbeing of their people.
Forcing engagement would mostly be felt as pressure and in many cases alerts hit at the wrong time when you are busy.
You maybe decide that you will try to get back to that person, but it is a negative feeling in the back of your head.
If you add a way for people to set a "don't disturb" flag, then at some point 40+% will set this and customers will complain that the whole thing is dead.

Basically the organizations would have to reshape around the platform, which is unrealistic. I don't see a way to design it to integrate into existing mechanisms.

I also think universities are a special case and there is too little overlap with any other type of organization.
Most other organizations have onboarding and introduction mechanisms that are designed specifically for them.

 

[stefanlazar]

Disclaimer: apologies if this post is in the wrong place, I'm new to the forum (my previous post was my intro!)

---

My business idea​

The problem​

When joining a new organisation/environment, it can be difficult to find people that you feel you could really connect with which can adversely affect your experience there.

My personal example of this was when I joined University - I struggled to find people with a similar background/demographic/mentality which made it hard for me to adjust for the longest time and ultimately detracted from my time there.

The (proposed) solution - in a nutshell​

A digital tool that maps out organisations/institutions based on their users - users can tag themselves with all sorts of properties to describe themselves to make them easily identifiable to others. You can search for others based on virtually any characteristic (e.g. ethnicity, nationality, languages spoken, hobbies, interests...). For example, if you join University as a foreign national and want to find others from the same background and that share a common interest of yours, you could search for 'South Asian' (for example) and 'football' to find all those in your new environment that match. You could even potentially find groups that have already formed around these common characteristics.

In the short term, the tool would enable people to find quickly find others and connect with them in real life. In the long-term, it could serve as a place for groups to engage with each other e.g. coordinating events, hosting discussions...

The benefits​

For users​

• Increased social circles
• Quicker settling-in period in their new environment
• Happier

For organisations/institutions​

• A more productive workforce/student body/population - happier people are more productive people
• Clear indication of investment into your people's wellbeing

​

Business model​

Most likely a SaaS subscription with a licence fee/user
View attachment 46538

Mockup​

View attachment 46539
(Appreciate this may not be legible - file upload restriction means I could only attach a picture of a certain resolution - so please see the link to my Miro board to view everything in detail)

---

My request​

I’m looking to collect feedback on my idea. Here’s a link to the Miro board where I’ve created the initial wireframes, user journey, lean canvas etc. for this idea.

I’ve already published the above to some people in my network, some of whom have very generously left feedback however I’m now looking to test my mockup on more people.

Any notes on what I could do better, general advice, pointers on where to go from here, any feedback at all really would be much appreciated!

Thanks in advance,
Milan

Hey!

It's great that you're so dedicated and made so many plans! However, there are some things that you missed.

To me this sounds just like a Paid Tinder-For-Friends with a search bar. Personal opinion is that this case is running on too many "best case scenarios". Developing an app like this is probably pretty difficult, and do you know anyone who would pay a monthly subscription to use social media, when the alternative is going into a classroom and shouting "YO WHO LIKES FOOTBALL?". Sure, the app could be free and you could make a premium version of it, but it still would be really hard to make it work. And let's not forget that you'd need a lot of users for this to take off.

Also, what is the thing that motivates people to use the app? Think of BeReal or Zenly. They're pretty new social media apps that became popular because of a concept, like BeReal letting you post once a day to "Capture the moment" and make both selfies and forward photos, and Zenly lets you see the location of your friends. And they're apps that people use with the friends they already have.

Sure, the concept of making new friends through an app has not been made before (except for "Hoop: Make new friends!" which is just a dating app for teenagers), but you have to think if it would really take off based on this concept, or if people would just prefer to go up to someone in real life and talk to them.

Also, I don't have expertise in this area, so don't take my opinion to heart. This is just how it looks to me from the outside. I'm no expert and I could very well be completely wrong and you could make the next Instagram, but still, keep in mind what I said here.

I don't mean to be demotivating, just straightforward. Personally I wouldn't use this kind of app since I don't need to. I can always go up to someone at an event and talk to them there, attempting to make friendships. Like football? Just go to a football club and you'll have an instant connection with everyone there.

Wish you the best of luck!

 

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[milanr_97]

The problem in this business idea is a subjectivity bias that users introduce into data. Other social media do not have such optionality for the reason to avoid this subjectivity bias.

That's a great point. Do you think restricting the creation of new tags could help with this? Maybe agreeing what tags can be offered with the institution and letting users select from these could be a good compromise?

Clearly needs to be a balance between the amount of choice on offer and being able to effectively group/match users.

 

[milanr_97]

It’d be cool to open an app and find people who like the same stuff as me - but I think you’d face a real issue of getting people to tag themselves with a bunch of labels.

there was that local app in college that people would use like a forum - but I can’t remember the name..

something with that feature plus discoverable people on the map with profiles (anonymous until you share info with each other) could be cool.

sort of like Snapchat shows a map of your friends - but an anonymous version for the local area .. and instead of a geographical map since everyone is in proximity it could just be a “profile map”

I don’t know if this makes sense but I’m on my phone on the toilet right now and I hope it does haha

Thanks for the suggestions - they do make sense!

Will think about the issue of getting people to engage with the labels. Would restricting users to selecting from pre-defined labels help make it easier to engage? Maybe initially the labels could be agreed with the institution and then over time could be evolved based on user feedback? The ability to make your own labels would help users to really accurately self-identify but appreciate the point that's been raised (by others as well) that this makes it harder to match with others due to the endless options...

And I've been thinking about a Snapchat-style map of people as well - so will definitely try to push that forward.

 

[milanr_97]

It is true that most platforms mostly use groups, but there are many where you can search for tags / interests as well.

The experience is always horrible. The main problem with this approach, especially when you limit it to an organization, is that there will be very few matches with your search.
On most platforms people give up on on local groups and move to the wider scope (city, country ... then interest category).
You also write that it helps an organizations improve the wellbeing of their people.
Forcing engagement would mostly be felt as pressure and in many cases alerts hit at the wrong time when you are busy.
You maybe decide that you will try to get back to that person, but it is a negative feeling in the back of your head.
If you add a way for people to set a "don't disturb" flag, then at some point 40+% will set this and customers will complain that the whole thing is dead.

Basically the organizations would have to reshape around the platform, which is unrealistic. I don't see a way to design it to integrate into existing mechanisms.

I also think universities are a special case and there is too little overlap with any other type of organization.
Most other organizations have onboarding and introduction mechanisms that are designed specifically for them.

Thanks a lot for the feedback, it's very insightful.

Seems I need to do some more thinking/research about the natural forces/dynamics of social media & networking platforms. The intent is definitely to make it easier to connect with those around you by making them more visible but appreciate what you've said about not being able to match with others etc. Maybe if the search functionality is designed to work by showing you the users in your organisation and their attributes rather than just let you search for attributes and see what results you get it might be more effective.

I take your point about universities being a special case - maybe I need to focus what I've done so far on that use case and think differently for work organisations. I appreciate most workplaces have onboarding and introduction mechanisms but from my own experiences, I think there's definitely scope for these to be improved (potentially with a tool like this!).

 

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[milanr_97]

Hey!

It's great that you're so dedicated and made so many plans! However, there are some things that you missed.

To me this sounds just like a Paid Tinder-For-Friends with a search bar. Personal opinion is that this case is running on too many "best case scenarios". Developing an app like this is probably pretty difficult, and do you know anyone who would pay a monthly subscription to use social media, when the alternative is going into a classroom and shouting "YO WHO LIKES FOOTBALL?". Sure, the app could be free and you could make a premium version of it, but it still would be really hard to make it work. And let's not forget that you'd need a lot of users for this to take off.

Also, what is the thing that motivates people to use the app? Think of BeReal or Zenly. They're pretty new social media apps that became popular because of a concept, like BeReal letting you post once a day to "Capture the moment" and make both selfies and forward photos, and Zenly lets you see the location of your friends. And they're apps that people use with the friends they already have.

Sure, the concept of making new friends through an app has not been made before (except for "Hoop: Make new friends!" which is just a dating app for teenagers), but you have to think if it would really take off based on this concept, or if people would just prefer to go up to someone in real life and talk to them.

Also, I don't have expertise in this area, so don't take my opinion to heart. This is just how it looks to me from the outside. I'm no expert and I could very well be completely wrong and you could make the next Instagram, but still, keep in mind what I said here.

I don't mean to be demotivating, just straightforward. Personally I wouldn't use this kind of app since I don't need to. I can always go up to someone at an event and talk to them there, attempting to make friendships. Like football? Just go to a football club and you'll have an instant connection with everyone there.

Wish you the best of luck!

No need to worry about being demotivating, I really appreciate your feedback! And thanks for the words of encouragement.

So just to be clear, users wouldn't pay for this, it'd be the organisation they're part of. That being said, you've touched on something that others in the thread have also picked up on - engagement. I'll definitely think about this, particularly as you've said you don't think you'd use this app since you wouldn't need to.

It definitely isn't meant to replace just approaching people and other traditional ways of meeting new people, the main aim is to make it easier to find people you have a good chance of connecting with (e.g. a shared interest/some commonality) when in a new environment. There may not always be a social group/club or events to attend or you may just find that the people you do meet at these things aren't people you hit it off with. The main aim is to make it easier to see/find other people - to remove usual barriers between people becoming friends like proximity, visibility etc.

I think I'll reconsider the ways in which the app is used (at the moment it's centred around search functionality) to better reflect this. As I've mentioned in a different reply, maybe showing users around you and being able to filter through them based on their attributes would be better than just trying to cold search for a specific type of person...

 

[Andreas Thiel]

Thanks a lot for the feedback, it's very insightful.

Seems I need to do some more thinking/research about the natural forces/dynamics of social media & networking platforms. The intent is definitely to make it easier to connect with those around you by making them more visible but appreciate what you've said about not being able to match with others etc. Maybe if the search functionality is designed to work by showing you the users in your organisation and their attributes rather than just let you search for attributes and see what results you get it might be more effective.

I take your point about universities being a special case - maybe I need to focus what I've done so far on that use case and think differently for work organisations. I appreciate most workplaces have onboarding and introduction mechanisms but from my own experiences, I think there's definitely scope for these to be improved (potentially with a tool like this!).

I have to say it is rare that people react to negative feedback this well, and you don't seem to be a lazy thinker. You also have a systematic approach.

That said, I think many companies and individuals have tried taking on the issue you want to solve and Facebook is simply the gold standard when it comes to interests and LinkedIn when it comes to connecting with colleagues online. What you write reminds me of how people thought about the topic a decade ... or more ago. So my guts tell me tweaking some aspects of what you have won't improve the concept by a lot. Maybe I am wrong and I am just missing something magical about the idea, but then you need to be able to sell benefits way better.

I'd step back further, refine the issue (what issues are still not solved in the facebook age?) and find a simple slogan that shows how your idea is something unique and promising.

I could imagine something like "Gamifying social dynamics as the Duolingo of Networking" is more promising.

 

[stefanlazar]

No need to worry about being demotivating, I really appreciate your feedback! And thanks for the words of encouragement.

So just to be clear, users wouldn't pay for this, it'd be the organisation they're part of. That being said, you've touched on something that others in the thread have also picked up on - engagement. I'll definitely think about this, particularly as you've said you don't think you'd use this app since you wouldn't need to.

It definitely isn't meant to replace just approaching people and other traditional ways of meeting new people, the main aim is to make it easier to find people you have a good chance of connecting with (e.g. a shared interest/some commonality) when in a new environment. There may not always be a social group/club or events to attend or you may just find that the people you do meet at these things aren't people you hit it off with. The main aim is to make it easier to see/find other people - to remove usual barriers between people becoming friends like proximity, visibility etc.

I think I'll reconsider the ways in which the app is used (at the moment it's centred around search functionality) to better reflect this. As I've mentioned in a different reply, maybe showing users around you and being able to filter through them based on their attributes would be better than just trying to cold search for a specific type of person...

Hmm, now that I understand better you have a pretty good idea, and it's not been done before.

Let's see if I understood correctly. So if I go to University X then I can search different groups/people that are in that campus and find people with the same interests.

Maybe you could make a "clubs" feature. Like for different units (Uni, Jobs, Schools) you'd have clubs that are not created in real life. And you'd have them premade, so if I start going to University X and I really like football I can just search "Football club university X" and I find everyone who likes football and goes to Uni X.

You could fix the problem that most social medias have - not being able to join groups without an invitation.

I have recently been in a situation where I needed something like this. I started going to highschool, and there is a WhatsApp group with most (if not all) people who go there. I managed to get an invitation because I had a friend who went there, but if I didn't then there wouldn't have been any way for me to meet the people there before starting classes.

Also, you could add a "Schedule" feature, so people can propose different events and meet-ups, and people wouldn't need to look at the chat every time because they can see the events planned in a different tab.

 

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[milanr_97]

I have to say it is rare that people react to negative feedback this well, and you don't seem to be a lazy thinker. You also have a systematic approach.

That said, I think many companies and individuals have tried taking on the issue you want to solve and Facebook is simply the gold standard when it comes to interests and LinkedIn when it comes to connecting with colleagues online. What you write reminds me of how people thought about the topic a decade ... or more ago. So my guts tell me tweaking some aspects of what you have won't improve the concept by a lot. Maybe I am wrong and I am just missing something magical about the idea, but then you need to be able to sell benefits way better.

I'd step back further, refine the issue (what issues are still not solved in the facebook age?) and find a simple slogan that shows how your idea is something unique and promising.

I could imagine something like "Gamifying social dynamics as the Duolingo of Networking" is more promising.

Thanks for the compliment!

Very much likely I need to improve on selling benefits but I'll also do some more research into social media - if you have any books you would recommend on the topic, would love to know what they are.

And thanks for the prompt to step back on the issue. Some of the other posts on the thread have suggested similar.

 

[milanr_97]

Hmm, now that I understand better you have a pretty good idea, and it's not been done before.

Let's see if I understood correctly. So if I go to University X then I can search different groups/people that are in that campus and find people with the same interests.

Maybe you could make a "clubs" feature. Like for different units (Uni, Jobs, Schools) you'd have clubs that are not created in real life. And you'd have them premade, so if I start going to University X and I really like football I can just search "Football club university X" and I find everyone who likes football and goes to Uni X.

You could fix the problem that most social medias have - not being able to join groups without an invitation.

I have recently been in a situation where I needed something like this. I started going to highschool, and there is a WhatsApp group with most (if not all) people who go there. I managed to get an invitation because I had a friend who went there, but if I didn't then there wouldn't have been any way for me to meet the people there before starting classes.

Also, you could add a "Schedule" feature, so people can propose different events and meet-ups, and people wouldn't need to look at the chat every time because they can see the events planned in a different tab.

Yeah that's closer to what I'm trying to achieve. Increase visibility, make it easier to connect with others...

Thanks for the functionality suggestions, will definitely have a think about those!

 

[Andreas Thiel]

Thanks for the compliment!

Very much likely I need to improve on selling benefits but I'll also do some more research into social media - if you have any books you would recommend on the topic, would love to know what they are.

And thanks for the prompt to step back on the issue. Some of the other posts on the thread have suggested similar.

I don't think I have read a full book on the topic, so hard to recommend one. Personally I repeatedly had my high hopes crushed on different platforms. There were few interesting people matching my criteria, none of them were active.

Then later I read about the "network effect" in several different articles, which explained the basic issue behind that.

A google search for "book network effect" brought up "The Cold Start Problem: Using Network Effects to Scale Your Product" and "The Network Effect" but again, don't know how helpful they are in this case.

 

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[Practic]

That's a great point. Do you think restricting the creation of new tags could help with this? Maybe agreeing what tags can be offered with the institution and letting users select from these could be a good compromise?

Clearly needs to be a balance between the amount of choice on offer and being able to effectively group/match users.

"Clearly needs to be a balance between the amount of choice on offer and being able to effectively group/match users."

I agree that the main efforts should be placed on finding the balance. Tags restriction is one of the possible ways, but some research will be needed to determine the best way to do this. .

 

[milanr_97]

I don't think I have read a full book on the topic, so hard to recommend one. Personally I repeatedly had my high hopes crushed on different platforms. There were few interesting people matching my criteria, none of them were active.

Then later I read about the "network effect" in several different articles, which explained the basic issue behind that.

A google search for "book network effect" brought up "The Cold Start Problem: Using Network Effects to Scale Your Product" and "The Network Effect" but again, don't know how helpful they are in this case.

Appreciate the suggestions

Hopefully will take this idea forward and give you a platform to try that might meet your expectations in the future!