Ignighter Blog is Moving Home!

Hey Ignighter friends, the Ignighter Blog is finally coming home to nest at Ignighter.com.

So update your bookmarks to http://www.ignighter.com/blog and update your RSS feeds to http://feeds.feedburner.com/ignighter/Wltj.

New content will be coming more frequently than ever on the new location so stay with us!

Our New Lead Developer

Part 2 of the Ignighter Road Trip will be coming shortly, but before that we wanted to introduce the newest member of our team.

Kevin Owocki is Ignighter’s new lead developer. Kevin has 7 years of software engineering experience, and he has run a handful of small scale web companies. He’s an avid runner and ultimate frisbee player. He loves exploring the outdoors, meeting new, interesting people, and chatting about technology and startups. Ask him about his unique ability to relate nearly any situation to the plot of a Simpsons, Seinfeld, South Park, or Family Guy episode. Kevin is psyched for a landmark summer, and we’re really excited to have him on the team!

BYOZ

This weekend, to celebrate a friend’s Grad School graduation, we’re doing one of our favorite things; A BYO dinner. We love these dinners so much in fact, that a coulple years ago we made them a monthly tradition between our group of guy friends and a great group of girl friends with whom we always hang out. Needless to say, this monthly tradition heavily influenced the conception of Ignighter and its group-to-group model. Going out in groups is what we always enjoyed most, so why not create a structure online to facilitate what we’re already doing in real life?

BYO dinners with a big group of friends are the bomb. In a city like New York, it takes an extra effort to track down complying restaurants, but trust me, it’s entirely worth it.

First of all, you never have to guiltily ponder the eternal non-BYO restaurant question: “should I order another $12 glass of wine?”. When you BYO like we do, the only question you ask yourself is “can we finish the rest of these bottles before the restaurant closes for the night or they kick us out first?”.

That brings me to point two. BYO can be a very interactive experience because you can theme your night and bring fun things to drink. Sure, everybody loves Santa Margarita Pinto Grigio, but that gets boring. When we BOO, we like to coordinate, often times around the food that we’re eating. I usually get yelled at for consistently bringing the same thing to our Asian meals, Soju a Korean kind of sake made from sweet potatoes that tastes like a combination of vodka and sake and can have as high an alcohol content as 45% – hence our cognomen, sadka. I strongly recommend it though, fun drink.

Finally, BYO just creates an awesome atmosphere for enjoying time with your friends. You share food, you share drinks, and everybody relaxes and has fun. If your group wants to go out after, BYO dinners serve as wonderful pregames too.

For all you New Yorkers, below is a list of a few of our recent BYO destinations, let us know in the comments if you have any more to recommend.

1. Hop Kee – This is a divey Chinese restaurant in Chinatown with great food. Conan O’Brien is supposedly a regular. I must add the following disclaimer though: the last time we ate there, our meal ended with giant cockroaches nosediving from the ceiling onto our (mostly) empty plates as the girls ran out of the restaurant screaming. After enough sadka however, it wasn’t such a big deal (see equation below).

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2. Poke – This is a great sushi restaurant on the Upper East Side. It’s better for smaller groups since they don’t really accommodate any tables greater than 6 people. They also only take cash.

2a. Azuki – This sushi joint isn’t technically BYO, but it’s all you can drink sake and wine when you order their Japanese beers. As far as I’m concerned, if there is any dinner outing more fun than BYO, it’s sake-bombing.

3. Panna II – A really good/affordable Indian restaurant decorated with thousands of hanging red lights. You know you’re in for a treat when before the meal even starts, one of your buddies (see below) starts passing Zantacs around the table like it’s the 70s and we’re experimenting with some new recreational drugs.

Early Opinions of Facebook Chat

Disclaimer: The following post contains three very embarrassing – but entirely true – confessions by the writer. Please see them simply as attempts to prove his point and try to forget them after reading the post and understanding the point.

Facebook launched their chat feature last week and many are calling the creation another brilliant, inevitable step toward Facebook becoming the world’s next operating system. But while it was certainly inevitable and will probably, like most other Facebook creations (except for the Beacon of course) be a resounding success, I think this one is going to take a little more time than some of the other groundbreaking features they’ve recently introduced. Even more time than the initially hated, but now addictive News Feed – the goat cheese of new Facebook features.

Here’s why I think Facebook Chat isn’t such an easy sell:

I’m on Facebook all day long (embarrassing confession #1). This is not hyperbole, it is fact. If at any point in the day you were to look at my open Firefox browser you would without fail always see a Facebook tab. Even if it is just one of five running tabs, Facebook is always there. And yeah, I have justification since Ignighter is a Facebook application and I have to “do work” within Facebook, but trust me, it’s just a very convenient excuse.

Occasionally I just leave it open to my Homepage, but more often than not it’s open to poolside photos of the recent Fire Island weekend getaway of one of my Facebook friends that I probably don’t even know that well (embarrassing confession #2). What we do on Facebook, all the stalking, and gawking, and voyeurism (well that’s what I do at least) is really humiliating. Whether we want to admit it or not, Facebook is a guilty pleasure.

And I think this really cuts to heart of why I have 1,307 Facebook friends (EXTREMELY embarrassing confession #3) and I’ve yet to see more than 54 “online” at one time. You can be on Facebook and not publicly declare yourself “online”. And while I’m not sure if everybody else keeps Facebook up all day like I do, I’ve got to believe that more than 4% of my friends are on at any given time. If they are on, but just too ashamed to promote it all day, then Facebook chat is going to face quite an uphill climb moving forward. And if it’s true that only 4% of my friends are online at any given time (and I find this unlikely), then Facebook as an operating system has an even steeper climb ahead.

What do you think?

Should TechCrunch use MLA? Or maybe Harvard Referencing style?

Yesterday TechCrunch posted this story about the potentially treacherous future of many Facebook Apps. The blogger, Mark Hendrickson, discusses the “rough road ahead” for what he calls “low engagement apps” like SlideWall. He also quotes Naval Ravikant of Venturehacks as saying that the apps with the brightest future are the high engagement ones like travel, dating (right on!), book, and game-related, whereas “everyone else is kinda screwed”.

I guess we should feel pretty damn flattered because this is exactly what we predicted three weeks ago in this post. Now granted instead of “low and high engagement” apps, we were referring to them as “passive and active involvement” apps. And yes, it’s true we didn’t cite quite as many “figures” or “experts” to come to the same conclusion.

But it’s the conclusion that matters. So we’re certainly flattered that TechCrunch is hopping on the Ignighter bandwagon.

We’re also happy to hear that they’re still truckin’ along over there…Don’t forget to breathe!

A/S/L Check – An Ignighter Interview Series – Hard Questions, Soft Bodies. #2

Today we’re excited to bring you the second installment of:

A/S/L Check – An Ignighter Interview Series - Hard Questions, Soft Bodies.

We were especially lucky to score an interview with the Ignighter Executive Assistant who asked that we protect his identity and use his fairly well known public alias, Andy Swinehouse. Andy has been a part time assistant in the office for 6 months now and is really an invaluable asset to the company. Especially since he doesn’t get paid. We can always rely on a freshly filled Brita filter in the refrigerator, a replenished stock of doubly-ply TP in the office bathroom, and presents under the Hannukah Bush during the holidays.

Ignighter: So Mr. Swinehouse, let’s dive right into the interview… How do you feel about running out to Starbucks and getting me a skim latte? One sugar.

Andy: How many times do I have to tell you? Just because I’m Dan’s roommate, that does not make me your Executive Assistant.

Ignighter: You know what? Make it two sugars please, I’m feeling saucy.

Andy (defeated): Can I at least wait until the interview is over?

Ignighter: Fine. Can you please explain the process of securing a job at Ignighter to all prospective employees out there?

Andy: Sure. Basically, I signed a lease with Dan expecting to have a nice apartment to return home to after a grueling day at law school, only to have it turned into a makeshift office for you two scrappy, poor entrepreneurs.

Ignighter: Ohhh interesting. Go on…

Andy: At first Adam -you – would clutch your palm dramatically exclaiming “Boy I could really use a hand massage right about now”. I tried to ignore the comments initially, but it became increasingly difficult when Adam started draping a mangled claw-hand in front of my face and holding a bottle of massage oil in his other hand. Before I knew it, I was rushing home from class to give Shiatsu treatments as the office masseuse. I’ve since been promoted to Executive Assistant.

Ignighter: Congratulations on the promotion! I see they like to promote in-house. Sounds like a solid company.

Andy: Eh.

Ignighter: Can you tell us about some of the other contributions you make to the company?

Andy: Well as I mentioned above I’m in law school. So even though they have fantastic professional counsel, they still come to me seeking advice on smaller legal issues.

Ignighter: Such as?

Andy: I remember one time the parking meters across the street from our apartment-

Ignighter: Andy…?

Andy: Ugh fine, across the street from the office. So one time Adam asked me if he could park at the meter across the street after 8 pm on a weeknight. And being as I had just passed the final in Constitutional Law, I was able to provide genuine legal counsel.

Ignighter (miffed): Yeah I think you still owe me $79 for that ticket I got.

Andy: Another time Dan asked me about the process of becoming a judge and if I thought Randy Jackson could ever have his own Judge show, like a Judge Judy. I told him ‘no’.

Ignighter: This is all very enlightening Andy. Let’s shift gears. Have you gone out on a group date through Ignighter yet?
Andy: Yes I have. The part I love most about Ignighter is that even though I’m in a relationship, I can still join a group and go out with my friends. I love playing matchmaker and I’m a great wingman.

Ignighter: And your significant other doesn’t mind?

Andy: No not at all. First of all, I’ve checked the box that says “Taken, but here for my friends” so right off the bat it’s clear that I’m just out to have fun with my buddies. Also, she’s in a group too. One time my group went out with her’s and we were able to introduce our respective friends to each other. It was an awesome time.

Ignighter: Looks like somebody is trying to get promoted to Head of Marketing!

Andy (chuckling): Can we wrap this up so I can get to my reading please? Wait, is there really an opening?

Ignighter: No. OK now it’s time for our closing questions.

Andy: Bring ‘em on.

Ignighter: What is your favorite word?

Andy: Queso.

Ignighter: What is your least favorite word?

Andy: Laundry.

Ignighter: Boxers or Commando?

Andy: Boxers.

Ignighter: Favorite Smell?

Andy: Buffalo wing sauce.

Ignighter: What historical figure would you most like to go on a date with?

Andy: Harriet Tubman.

Ignighter: Well Andy we want to thank you so much for being here.

Andy: We’re sitting on my bed.

Ignighter: Exactly. Keep up the great work and who knows, some day you might even be giving hand massages in a real office!

It’s Not “I Have a Dream”, but it’s Something

Today Cynopsis Digital released an updated list of the top Facebook applications:

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Top Facebook Widgets as of March 30, 2008
Rank Application Developer Installs Active % Active New
1 Super Wall RockYou! 26,799,900 1,875,993 7% -2,739,329
2 FunWall Slide, Inc. 28,919,417 1,735,165 6% 1,567,460
3 Top Friends Slide, Inc. 27,795,133 1,667,708 6% 2,162,276
4 Bumper Sticker 9,771,025 781,682 8% -422,975
5 Friends For Sale! 6,073,130 607,313 10% 348
6 Scrabulous 3,201,044 576,188 18% -33,226
7 Texas HoldEm Poker 8,011,386 560,797 7% 566,523
8 Owned! 3,134,087 470,113 15% 103,611
9 iLike iLike, inc 13,457,700 403,731 3% -400,633
10 R U Interested? SNAP Interactive 9,779,650 391,186 4% 1,369,430
Source: Developer Analytics

—————————
I found it especially interesting to note that instead of calling them “apps” they were described as “widgets”. This is a telling moniker because at least in my head, there exists a large disconnect between the level of functionality you’d expect out of something called an application vs. something called a widget. When I think of the word application, I think of something that requires active involvement. Microsoft Word is an application. When I think of a widget, I think of passive involvement. A desktop fish tank for example. If you look at the list you can see that for the most part, the top ones actually are widgets and they are popular because they work well within the context of Facebook – passive involvement. Since its launch, people have been going on Facebook to fly through photos of their friend’s ski trip or to look up that hot girl they met at a mutual friend’s party the night before.

The current context of Facebook is that it’s a place for a quick fix. A place where you go for a dose of immediate, often mindless time wasting while you sit at your office computer. That’s why the top apps are for the most part all widgets. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to bash Superwall or Top Friends, or any of the other top apps because they are clearly entertaining and viral and if they provided no value to the user, then they wouldn’t be nearly as popular as they are. And for the most part, I love them too! I’m just saying that Facebook and its users have yet to reach the point where they are using Facebook to improve their real lives. Improving one’s real life often requires stepping out from behind the computer and entering the real world. And none of the top apps are encouraging of that.

But that’s ok because apps are young and, like I said, this is the current context of Facebook. There’s a pretty big gap in functionality and expectation between asking a user to “SuperBoink” (if this was a real world action it would probably require consent) somebody else and asking them to plan an offline date with their friends, I get that. But the gap exists because the first, most popular Facebook apps on the scene created a norm. And the norm is a widget that can tell other people “Where I’ve Been” but not actually help them to go some place new.

When Facebook opened up their platform last year and invited outside developers to create apps, many people saw it as Facebook’s mission to become the next popular operating system. Rather than just being a new Friendster or Myspace, Facebook opened their platform in an attempt to be the next Windows. This is a bold ambition with unlimited potential and many may argue that they are well on their way toward achieving this goal. But I will contend that until Facebook and its apps start encouraging people to use the site to improve their REAL lives, they still have a ways to go.

But for now, I need to run, it’s my turn in Scrabulous.

ZZZOMG! We’re Back!

We’re back!!!!

Ignighter should be back to normal. Again any problems, questions, concerns please email help@ignighter.com

Thanks for your patience!

Technical Difficulties!

Hi Ignighter friends! Our Apologies! The Ignighter homepage and Ignighter Facebook app are temporarily down. We’ll be up and running ASAP. If you have an Ignighter Date scheduled for tonight and need to confirm, then try to send msgs via Facebook. If you need the names of the group members you’re going out with or have any other questions, please feel free to email help@ignighter.com.

Ignighter Leads Last Night’s NY Tech Meetup!

By “leads”, I merely mean we went first.

Hats off to Adam for doing a great run through the app, a tough thing to do in the mere 5 minutes allowed–4 minutes after my intro. (As viewers, we do greatly appreciate the 5 minute cap- keeps things moving along.) The 120ft video wall at IAC is a cool backdrop, though the trek would be even more welcome in summer months.

Catch a video of our demo here. (the audio’s a little echoey, but you should be able to hear us fine.)

Some other coverageof the Meetup:

• http://www.centernetworks.com/ny-tech-meetup-december-2007-recap
  a nice overview of the whole tech meetup process, and links to videos of all presentations
• http://newtech.meetup.com/1/calendar/6691558/ (some attendee comments)
• http://www.alleyinsider.com/2007/12/ny-tech-meetup-the-meta-meetup.html
• http://sanford.blogspot.com/2007/12/dec-2007-new-york-tech-meetup.html
• http://www.michaelgalpert.com/2007/12/december-ny-new-tech-meetup-review.html
  Nice photos, too: http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelsgalpert/2088487176/

Also, Scott presented a project that’s dear to my heart: http://www.meetupalliance.com/
(Disclaimer: As a co-founder, I am a stockholder in Meetup.) Alliance is a platform-agnostic spin-off of Meetup that connects local groups from Yahoo Groups, Google Groups, Meetup, Facebook, and anywhere else. It’s the missing link between all these disparate groups, and could really help them unite into powerful multi-chapter organizations. Elections in ‘08 should make for some interesting use.

Peter