New UK startup MyMission2 works like a dating site to get people who want to do things matched up with people who want to help them do it. The site launched this week.
Former Jiglu CEO Nigel Cannings has left (profiled here) to join MyMission2. He retains a stake in Jiglu. Steve Hebditch, the original founder, re-enters the CEO chair of Jiglu. David Ashford is CEO MyMission2’s CEO.
MyMission2 lets users, known as “missioners”, publish their own ‘missions’. Users then also help to fulfill missions that other people have published.
Now, at first I thought this was a cute idea. It’s a bit like LetsBuyIt for aspirational goals.
But in fact MyMission2 feels more like a fantasists paradise. I found one guy who wants to become a French teacher, a “leading” HRM consultant and a “leading microblog expert”, whatever that is. The practical upshot of posting a “mission” seems to be that the site turns into a bulletin board where people respond with comments like on a blog. Where is the bidding engine or the crowd-sourcing innovation? If it’s here then I don’t see it.
And there are some quirky things about this site. I registered to run the London Marathon (yeah, right). But to publish my mission, the site asks me to put in marital status, occupation…. like this has anything to do with anything? And after filling out a pretty long form for the mission I was then presented with another form. Dull guys, dull.
MyMission2 also seems like vaguely more complex version of a UK site which has been around for a long time, PledgeBank, a government-back initiative to get people more interested in local communities. At least here there is more of a ’system’ where you pledge something so long as X number of people join you.
Mike, if you’ll run the Marathon, I’ll do it with you. There you go, dream fulfilled!
My slightly more considered response here:
http://mymission2.wordpress.com/2008/04/02/crunch/
Enjoy Amsterdam…
From your blog: “we asked him all sorts of seemingly irrelevant questions…. [but]… that is where the data we asked Mike for comes in. If that person lives in South London say, and Mike had told us that he lives in that vicinity, and worked as a Spanish teacher… we’d have matched them up by now…”
I take your point, but the value to me as a punter that your promise is not at all explicit. It just feels like lots of forms…
That point is well made, I think, so perhaps we should be even more in your face about why we need this data about you . That’s why this is a beta, after all. I am sure we will have plenty of feedback as people start to hammer the site…
Brilliant title for this post. Someone had to say it!
Site is down,finished before getting started or just a restructure ??
Yes, a great title for the original post by Mike … tastefully selected from the link to league tables on our homepage
Jas, sorry the site was down when you visited … we must have been releasing some updates at the time (we are in beta after all). Our stats show that the site is up over 99% of the time … even while we are publishing updates.
Great feedback from Mike and others. As Nigel says, we’ll see how we can better communicate why we need data about people … we need to be more up front about it as people aren’t going to first check out the Help - getting started section.
Happy missioning everyone!
While I agree that there ARE unattainable goals on the site, the concept is great. Hopefully the more bizarre missions are weeded out as time goes by, using the idea of self-governance. Just yesterday, I saw an inappropriate mission, reported it, and it was removed quickly. So far I see it as a great tool for “social achieving.” Need to run that marathon? Given enough users, you’ll surely find someone who wants to join you, or at least point you in the direction of a good training regimen. We also have to keep in mind that this _is_ still a BETA. I’m witholding my written appraisal until I get at least a week’s worth of experience, but so far I’m digging this.