E-Media Tidbits

grouptivity.com Grouptivity e-mail groups: Will Nashua Telegraph readers like and use them?

Traditional media still are having a hard time deciding whether online communities such as MySpace and Facebook are relevant to their business. It's mostly private communication, isn't it? What has it got to do with newspapers?

Grouptivity.com, a San Mateo (Calif.)-based startup, just announced its first deal with a newspaper publisher, the Nashua (N.H.) Telegraph. The goal: to leverage private communications among friends for the business of a publisher.

Private e-mail is the preferred medium of communication between the vast majority of Internet news site users. This project combines private e-mail with the traffic-generating power of online discussion boards.

When launched, Grouptivity's application will replace the common "e-mail to a friend" button with a "discuss-it" button. Clicking that creates a private group mailing and discussion board, on the fly. E-mails sent to group members can include all kinds of multimedia and can be edited in in many ways before distribution. Users can decide which parts of the article should be included. They can add video, audio and/or their own thoughts -- and, of course, recipients from their private address book.

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Using this service requires a one-time registration. Recipients of Grouptivity mailings receive an invitation from their friend to discuss the article via e-mail. They can access the private discussion board with one click. A Grouptivity account is automatically generated for first-time users. Each participant in a discussion can invite additional friends so the network can grow.

The benefit to the publisher: All discussion of its content takes place in its own branded environment. Like Google's G-mail, Grouptivity scans the context of the discussion and displays appropriate ads. Revenues on the advertising are shared between Grouptivity and the publisher.

That's the theory. It's an application somewhere in between private e-mail and public discussion. It seems to solve the problem of monitoring for improper comments because these discussions are not visible to the general public. Despite that privacy, publishers get detailed reports on users' activity and learn exactly what people are interested in and are talking about.

For users, it might be nice to discuss topics with their friends in an easy and comfortable way. But it misses, on first glance, the thrill of getting timely responses from complete strangers.

So will this flourish? I'd like to hear your thoughts. Please comment below.