Introducing: The Thingdom
I’m very excited to finally unveil what I’ve been working on for the past few months! I’ll start with the story.
When I decided to leave Microsoft, I realized that I’d need a new computer. Having experienced Apple hardware in the past, I knew that I wanted a Mac; the question was simply which one.
I spent time researching the various models and specs, but ultimately, I wanted more “human” data. I thus wrote up an (admittedly long) email to the subset of my friends who I knew had a Mac, asking them which ones they had and how they liked them.
Among those on the “To:” line of my email was my close friend and peer, Daniel Gasienica. Daniel is a big Apple fan (to say the least), so I valued his opinions in particular.
Surprisingly, answering my email wasn’t a chore for Daniel; he wanted to tell me what he had and what he thought, because he loved Apple and identified with their products. This was equally the case with my other friends, as well.
Stepping back, these were two sides of the same coin: I wanted to see what my friends had, and my friends wanted to share what they had. We had no other place to do these things, so we resorted to email.
People resorted to email for sharing photos, too, before Facebook and Flickr came along.
So this is what Daniel and I have been working on: building a place for people to connect around the things in their lives. We’re excited to finally share it publicly today; we call it The Thingdom.
So check it out, join (follow me once you do) and tell us where you think we should go with this! We’re just getting started.