I’ve had a lot of conversations lately with people who are skeptical that there is any room in the online bartering sector for Commuto, seeing as Craigslist and Kijiji are such dominant forces. What these people fail to realize is that we are not going up against Craiglist, Kijiji, or any other bartering site.  We are creating our own unique hybrid service that combines bartering with socializing.

Now why would we do that?  Why would people care to socialize with others in a bartering site?  Well, the answer is in the widgets my friends.

Commuto’s M.O. is to help users barter in a social micro community environments.  We don’t want to provide a service which is already covered by many other sites, which is marco bartering in large communities such as cities.  This would be foolish as it’s already done well enough to be left alone.  While all users who join Commuto do become members of their city or town, this is only a means to an end.  What we expect users to do is create smaller, more focused communities with the users in their cities and schools.  And in order to do this we have the “Barter Buddy” widget.

The “Barter Buddy” is a widget which sits on the left side of your screen.  The BB recommends to users other members of their communities who are most similar to them.  Using an algorithm we wrote, we compare users based on what they own, what they want, what they look at and how they review items on the site.  We feel that combining these fields, which are each scaled differently, gives us a pretty accurate picture as to whom users are most similar to as far as their likes.

From there users are able to create or join communities and invite others who have similar interests.  So users in Los Angeles can create a community for Xbox 360 gamers, where everyone trades only Xbox 360 games and accessories.  Or users in Boston University can create a clothing community where they can trade clothes with other people in their school.  Or green thumbs anywhere can now trade vegetables, fruits and plants with each other very easily.  The idea is to eliminate all the clutter and have users become members of communities which are specific to them.

The other benefit of being members of these smaller specific communities is the people that you meet.  While combining bartering and socializing might seem silly, we believe it’s a great outlet for meeting other aficionados, which under normal circumstances aren’t easy to meet. We also have the Facebook application which helps the whole social aspect of Commuto and another widget which allows you to pull any community from Commuto and place it on other sites such as MySpace, or Ning.

So that’s the idea behind Commuto.  It’s not meant to compete with Craigslist, Kijiji or any other bartering site.  It’s meant to be its own category.  A true definition of social commerce.

Thanks and trade friendly,

Stephen

With school fast approaching we thought it would be timely to bring back our favourite contest.  During the month of September we will be randomly selecting books in our member’s Wish List which we will purchase and ship to their home.  Of course, like any contest ours has some rules:

- Only those who are members of Commuto.com can qualify to enter the contest.  As well, to qualify you must have at least one book in your Wish List.  How else will we know what you want to win?

- The book(s) in your Wish List must be available to be purchased at Amazon.com. 

- The more books you have in your Wish List the higher the chances are that you will win since we are randomly choosing the books, not the members.

- A member can win more than once, but not the same book.

- Books will be choosen every weekday (excluding weekends).  Winners will be notifyed by email.  If notification email is not replied to within 48 hours then a new winner will be choosen.

- Contest begins September 1st, 2009 and ends September 30th, 2009.

If there are any books or textbooks which you really want you should add it now.  Oh, and don’t forget to tell your friends as well.  The more members we have the greater the trading possibilities are for everyone.

Good luck and trade friendly,

Stephen

Commuto.com has officially released their new community bartering widget, targeting social networking, gaming and blog type websites, based on the ever growing Commuto.com social bartering site.

“We’re very excited to release our Community Widget, a first of its kind, which allows users to take their bartering communities and place them on their sites. Now users can create or join hobby specific communities like books clubs or more obscure ones like plant trading and place it on other sites.

Members of MySpace, Ning and other social networks will be able to place their bartering communities on their personal pages for all their friends to see. So even non-members of Commuto will know what they have to trade and what they want” says Stephen Arbib, Founder of Commuto.com.

The widget will show users the location of the community, its members, the items available for trade and the items users want. In order to download the widget users will need to visit the specific community page and click on the “Grab Community Widget Code” link. They then copy and paste the widget code onto the site they want to show the widget.

Since its launch Commuto has released a Facebook application that provides nearly all the functionality of Commuto within Facebook, and their Barter Buddy widget that helps users find others in their communities with similar interests based on what they own, want, and like. Through Barter Buddy, users are able to build local specific communities with ease and find users in their cities who fit exactly who they want in their communities.

Yesterday I saw the unveiling of the Zune HD on a few different sites, and I have to admit I was impressed.  Following the disaster that was the original Zune, Microsoft seems to have finally hired some people for the Zune design team that were born after 1970.  The original Zune, of which I know of absolutely not one person who owned one, was suppose to be the first real competitor to the ipod.  It was designed by MS and was backed by lots and lots of money, which we have learned means nothing when you are trying to get at the younger generation.  At the end of the day, the Zune was a failure and another notch under Apple’s rivalry belt.

Now MS is going after the ipod touch market with the Zune HD.  While I haven’t played with it yet, from the videos I’ve seen and the comments I’ve read, it looks like they got it right this time.  It’s touch screen like the iphone/touch with an accelerometer which work swiftly, the UI looks great, it’s quick and moves smoothly.  The screen resolution is good, and it has an output for 720p plus and HD radio receiver. Personally, I always thought that the sound quality on the Zune was better than the ipods, so hopefully that still holds true.  So while the hardware seems ready to compete, the one unknown is the service.

What made the iphone/itouch so successful wasn’t so much the hardware (which is amazing), but itunes and the app store.  I have been using my itouch as my gaming console over the last few months and have barely touched my xbox 360.  The app store has been a revolution in the way users purchase games and will likely change the face of the video game industry.  If MS wants to compete they have to get this perfect at launch.  The biggest advantage MS has is that they have the Xbox 360 and Xbox Live. They can utilize that infrustructure to allow online gaming through the Zune, or downloading of content which can be played in either system.  They also have a great library of original IP such as Halo, Gears of War, the Rare collection of games and many others.  Imagine playing your friends online through the Zune while they are playing on the Xbox Live.  While it won’t be possible with the higher-end games, it will be with Xbox Live Arcade games and the social games like 1 vs 100.  However, in order for MS to get this right they have to do the opposite of everything RIM has done with their app store.  They need to make it functional, and put no minimum or maximum value to the cost of games.  They have to allow less oversight (which will never happen with MS), and they MUST not use the point system for purchasing apps.  It’s bad enough with the Xbox Live, but if you will start using the point system for the Zune you will lose the majority of the public.

I have high hopes for the Zune HD.  There is no reason it shouldn’t be able to compete with the itouch and make it a much more competitive fight than the Zune had with the ipod.  With the infrustructure of Xbox Live, the MS game library, and UI which I saw, MS finally can make a serious dent in the MP3 player market. 

Twitter is everywhere.  EVERYWHERE.  It seems like every celebrity and wanna-be celebrity has a twitter account.  They honestly believe that people want to hear what they are doing, what’s on their mind and where they are.  And while the popularity is huge, and there is no denying the impact, even if short term, Twitter has had on society, the question remains; what’s the value of twitter?

I’ve heard some increadible numbers.  Hundreds of million.  Billions.  Tens of billions.  Numbers that seem to have no relevence any more.  Ever since the bailouts, billions of dollars seem common place.  The government is printing trillions, and giving away billions left and right, so Twitter must be worth at least a billion, right?  Well, no.  I don’t see how it could be worth nearly the same as some of the largest, most well established companies in the world.  Companies which have been around for decades, have proven revneue and have stood the test of time.

The fact that Twitter generates no revenue is it’s biggest ace.  Without revenue, numbers can be thrown around and dreams can be sold.  But that’s the catch.  As long as they generate no revenue they can value it whatever they wish, however, the moment they start generating revenue the value of Twitter will plunge from a billion dollars to maybe ten million (which is still a great value for such a website).  

If I’m Jack, Evan of any of the other prinipals involved I sell now before I try to prove to anyone what the actual value is.  They are sitting on hype, massive hype, and that alone should allow them to sell it for 20 times it’s actual worth. Then again, the same can be said about nearly all web start ups.  Sooner or later people will realize that the value being paid just doesn’t make sense.  To value Facebook, My Space, Skype, YouTube and many other web 2.0 which were valued or sold for over a billion dollars is incredible.  Ask Google how much net revenue YouTube generates, or Ebay about Skype.  The math doesn’t make sense and never will.

And yes, I understand that as a serial startuper (not a word, right?) it doesn’t benefit me to say so, but it’s the truth. The days of over paying for startups will soon end, so if you have the opportunity, take the cash and walk away.

So it’s time for another contest.  This time it’s pretty big.  We are hosting a contest at www.commuto.com/viral where someone will have a chance to win a check for $5,000.00. All you need to do is create a viral video referencing Commuto, post it on Youtube and wait for it to go viral.  Be sure to read the contest rules in the contest page.

I really hope someone out there can create a wonderfully funny, brilliant, and talked about video.  It’s a good prize, so let’s start creating.

Good luck,

Stephen

I have always been a big Blackberry fanboy, so when the iphone was released I didn’t even give it a thought.  I don’t watch movies on my phone, and I barely listen to any music on it so the idea of the iphone with it’s lack of push email or keyboard wasn’t a consideration.  The touch wasn’t much better as I didn’t see the need to carry it around just for video and music.  However, things have changed.  More specifically, the app store has changed everything, and that was enough for me to take the plunge.
  
Apple is once again miles ahead of it’s competition.  The release of the app store has been the biggest development in the mobile industry since the invent of the push mail.  Users now have the option of browsing through thousands of different applications under every type of category.  The amazing part is that many of the greatest applications are free.  No charge, no advertising, nothing.  While free apps are a great motivator, the real pull for me are the games.  I love me some video games, and the iphone with it’s touch screen design and powerful hardware is a real darkhorse in the gaming market.
 
Much like the Xbox Live, the Apple app store allows you to down load lite (free demo) version of most of it’s paid games, therefore letting you try the game out before you buy it which is a wonderful feature and shows the trust and committement to quality these developers have for their own software.  Since getting the itouch I have bought dozens of games for it.  Even for the most intensive, console quality games the cost is rarely above $6.99 which is amazing.  Games like Fieldrunners, Let’s Golf, Payback, Rolando and Puzzle Quest are of the same quality you would expect to find on the PSP or DS, at a fraction of the cost.  While the control for some games does take getting used to, developers are becoming more and more comfortable with the hardware and are finding inovative ways to impliment new types of control schemes, some to the point where I actually prefer it to the standard console control.  Games such as Let’s Golf, which was released last week, is quite honestly the type of game you would expect to see on the wii, or possibly the xbox.  It reminds me a lot of Mario Golf with the cartoony characters, and the quality of the game is just as high.  This shows that developers are getting the hand of the system and we can expect that the quality of games will imporve greatly in the near future.
 
My only concern, and this is the frequent issue with all things Apple, is when will Apple decide that the 2nd Generation touch is out dated and release the 3rd generation, and then the 4th and so on.  Normal gaming system cycles are around 5 years, but Apple would never wait that long.  And when the 3rd generation comes out, which will have a more powerful hardware, will the old games be backwards compatible?  Will the new games work on older systems?  My guess is yes and no, and that might just be the deciding factor.  I am used to how things have been in the past, and every half a decade is frequent enough to have to change systems, but if apple things they can change the pace of the market it might be the determining factor for many gamers.

Since I now have my own blog (which no one is reading) I wanted to share some of my favourite blogs (with no one). These are what I wake up to in the morning:

Joystiq - I love me some video games
Engaged - I also love anything electronic
Kotaku - More video games.  Sorry wifey.
Gizmodo - And yet, more electronics…sense a theme?
Stuff White People Like - Since I love the show “The Wire”, I speak three languages and love my dog, I am the prototypical SWPL reader. It’s actually scary how accurate they are.
Gilbert Arenas blog - Too honest and too funny. Needs to be updated more often though.
Slam Online - My source for everything basketball.
Blog Maverick - I don’t agree with everything, but it’s always entertaining.
Mashable - Social media made easy.
IntelliBriefs - A great political blog. Very good read.

If you have some other great blogs which I’m missing, let me know.  I can always wake up 30 minutes earlier.

Stephen

So I’m trying to figure out how best to get the word out on Commuto.  In the past we have received some great publicity from sites like Cnet, Mashable, Daily Candy and many others, but lately, nothing.  People have been joining, but it’s a slow process and I need to get the word out quicker.

I have done the SEO work, but it seems like it needs to be improved.  But aside from the SEO, what’s the best means of attracting attention?  A viral video, contests, social media, what?  We have added a Facebook application, a widget, etc, but we need something else.  I know Commuto is a great service, and can be really useful for many people, but I just need to make them aware of it.

I would love to get some opinion going on this.  If you have any great ideas please share them.  I am looking for a full/part time PR/Marketing person and maybe that’s you.  Please feel free to comment or email your ideas to sarbib@commuto.com.

I hope to hear from you, and possibly work with you in the future.

Thanks,

Stephen

We are happy to announce that as of today, Commuto has taken off the beta label.  What does it really mean?  Not much, I guess.  I just always promised to myself that Commuto would not be one of those startups which is in perpetual beta.  At some point we would need to grow up and meet the real world.

It’s actually quite amazing to see how much has changed since we first launched Commuto, and much of it has to do with our active and vocal users.  So thank you for voicing your opinions, providing suggestions and in some instances, crapping all over our service.  It’s helped us improve the functionality, the look and the over all experience and I hope you continue to provide us with whatever thoughtful and not so thoughtful advice you may have.

Since our beta launch we have made some great progress and have released a couple of very neat applications to compliment our service:

Facebook application: We developed one of the most robust FB apps available.  It has some amazing functionality with almost all the options of Commuto with very little lost.  Now users can show others in Facebook everything that they own and want.  Not only is it a wonderful way to let your friends who aren’t members of Commuto know what you have to trade, but it also allows people to see what it is you want, which can come in handy when your girlfriend is trying to figure out what to buy you for your birthday.

Barter Buddy widget: It’s a widget that sits on the left side of the site and shows you all the users in your communities which are most similar to you based on what you own, want, and like.  It’s actually a really cool widget, and once we get more populated I think it will help users build local specific communities with ease and be able to find users in their cities who fit exactly who they want in their communities.  It will make it really easy to find hundreds of other members in your city who all own Xbox 360s, Blu Ray movies, or vintage clothing.  Very cool.

Aside from that we have done tons of changes, from graphical to functional, that have all made the experience easier to use.  I’ve learned a lot since the launch, and have realized that just because I know how to use the site doesn’t mean it’s friendly and even though the beta is removed from the logo, we still have a lot left to do, and are working on some creative additions which will make the communities, and Commuto, more interactive and fun.

However, now it’s truly the time to get the word out on Commuto.  Not only are we ready to launch (I hope), but we are ready to help people in these tough economic times.  We build the philosophy of Commuto exactly for this reason, and we believe it stands as a much needed application now more than ever.  There is no other bartering site that helps you to trade with others, locally, without incurring any costs whatsoever while minimizing fraud and making friends.  I really hope we are able to help people get what they want over the holidays, and be able to trade what they got and don’t want (thanks mom for that sweater….).  So if you haven’t visited Commuto lately, or haven’t shared it with your friends, now is the time.

Thanks for all the support,

Stephen