Socializr Could Be Party Central

A long time ago — 7 whole years! — Jonathan Abrams founded Friendster, and it was pretty popular. And then along came MySpace and Facebook and things changed for Friendster.

Now Abrams has a new project, one that combines his knowledge of social networking with what is reportedly another favorite activity: partying. It’s called Socializr. That’s right, another site that selectively detests vowels. (I’m looking at you Scribd, Tumblr, and Inquisitr.)

Here’s the description from the site:

Socializr is a new web service offering free online event invitations, and innovative ways to share event and party information with your friends.

Sounds just like Evite

Now, if you’re thinking what I thought, you’re thinking that this sounds a lot like Evite. And you’d be right. Not only would you be right, Socializr is the first to admit it. So much so that Abrams posted a comparative “diatribe” of the two sites back when Socializr launched.

Apparently, there’s enough invective about Evite on the web to justify more than just the one Socializr. But while lots of people get their kicks by bashing sites out there, the numbers tell a very different story.

In June 2009, Compete.com shows Evite collecting a little more than 9 million unique visitors. Socializr had fewer than 80,000.

Comparing the two

If I’m Evite and I’m looking at the graph, I’m probably not too scared. In practice, not much distinguishes the two. I set up an event on Socializr, and the result was not very unlike what I made with Evite. So what is Socializr doing differently?

First and foremost, just about every inch of real estate not devoted to event details on Evite has been monetized with graphic ads. Socializr is more subtle, employing less intrusive text ads.

Secondly, a frequent complaint is that when you receive an Evite invitation, the email itself is light on details and forces you to click through to the site just to get an idea of what you’ve been invited to. Socializr puts all the details in the email.

Playing to the invitees

The biggest hurdle I see facing Socializr in terms of growth is the inherent functionality of any online invitation provider. For the hosts creating an event, the activity pretty much ends when all the email invites have been sent — their part is done.

The invitee experience is the area that Socializr has attempted to improve upon. And I see some significant improvements.

Non-traditional invites

Obviously, it behooves both channels to make the event creation process as simple as possible — without new events (new content), the channel has no reason to exist. But for an online invite channel to grow in a landscape currently dominated by Evite, it will have to appeal to different audiences who may never have thought to use invitation functionality in promoting an event.

Socializr is in the Experimentation phase of its Tippingpoint Labs New Media Life Cycle. They are slowly building the channel, not necessarily by winning new birthday parties and weddings, but by branching out and encouraging their users to choose the channel for non-traditional invites. Here’s one I really like; it demonstrates how Socializr could take online invitations to a new level.

The Food Allergy Twitter Party is being hosted by two popular food allergy blogs. The Socializr invite establishes necessary details like times and hashtags.

The Food Allergy Twitter Party isn’t exactly a party in the sense of “I’ll bring a bottle of red.” But the hosts have lined up some prizes for “attendees” who RSVP* with a promise to show other attendees how to help kids manage their food allergies in and out of school. (*Don’t forget the hashtag “foodallergy.”)

What could have been simply promoted on just the Best Allergy Sites and FAB Snacks Food Allergy Buzz sites turned into a “by invitation” event. The hosts are using Socializr to increase the event’s value and, hopefully, attendance. The Food Allergy Twitter Party is also public and searchable.

From experimentation to adoption?

The more events like this that are a success, the faster Socializr will reach the Adoption phase and beyond. It is incumbent upon Socializr not to focus too much of their channel development on helping users create fancy-looking invitation emails. Rather, they need to focus on attracting the right kinds of events to their channel.

Socializr is in the Experimentation Phase. Recent new features may help propel the channel to adoption.

The future of Socializr will depend on shifting away from a head-to-head competition with Evite and focusing instead on as-yet-unexplored uses of online invitation — an online invite channel can be used to promote any number of online events. The growth potential of a new avenue of event promotion far exceeds that of a party invitation tool.

The takeaway

As more and more “live” events are happening on the web, especially in the major social media space, it becomes harder and harder to promote each one to draw a crowd. An invitation is one way to raise the cache of your event and make sure that it’s of the highest quality and value for the attendees. Some of their functionality doesn’t seem to be all that necessary for traditional celebrations (birthdays, graduations, weddings), and so it seems that Socializr is thinking beyond the traditional, and that is what could very well take them far.

My questions to you

Do you use online invitations to your online and offline events? When you receive an online invite, how does it shape your perception of an event?

About the author

Brad Schwarzenbach -

As an analyst on the Tippingpoint Strategy team, Brad explores new opportunities for clients to build relationships with their customers. He’s always testing new social media channels, poring over analytic data, and identifying emerging trends. He also speaks at conferences & events about uncovering powerful messages hidden within brands' unique values.

Brad’s research has contributed to the development of content & contributor strategies for such clients as Breville, Rodale, Long’s Jewelers, and Fusionapps, as well as being a frequent contributor to the Tippingpoint blog. He’s been “listening” to the way we communicate online since the old AOL People Connection days and watched the way that digital communication has evolved.

An English and Creative Writing major at the University of Connecticut, Brad’s spent most of his career creating web content and becoming intimately familiar with web theory for Bayard, Inc. and TomTom Inc., giving Brad keen ears and eyes to what, exactly, makes web content valuable.

Outside the office, Brad feels most at home with his beautiful wife-to-be Kristina, or on the golf course. “There’s a distinct pace and rhythm to the way people communicate online.  Understanding and taking part in them yields amazing opportunities for my clients to not only grow but to improve their business. I’m constantly looking for those opportunities.”