Would you use a social networking site for births, deaths and marriages?
A new social networking website allowing people to post birth, engagement, marriage, death and funeral notices is launching on Monday. But don’t people already do that on Facebook?
Called HatchMatchDispatch the site’s creator, Geoff Drucker who also runs marketing communications agency Dydx, says it will offer a free service to allow friends and family members to send messages of congratulations or condolences.
Drucker says that the point of his site is to allow people to avoid the clutter on other sites such as Facebook and Twitter which people use to flag up everything from what they’re eating to how ‘bored’ they are.
“What we’re trying to do is specialise in important moments in people’s lives. The site provides a permanent record of those moments – rather than trying to duplicate Facebook,” Drucker said.
He explained, ‘Hatch’ refers to sharing information about anything from having a new baby, buying a new car or a new job; ‘Match’ refers to engagements, weddings, life partners and friendships; while ‘Dispatches’ can be anything from retirement, to resigning from a job, leaving for overseas or a death.
But does the site really have a compelling enough point of difference? And let’s not forget the widespread condemnation and disgust American mother Shellie Ross attracted when she tweeted to her 5000-plus followers updates of her son’s death? Could it be in danger of heading down this path as well?
Drucker has already enlisted Myer and online florist Ready Flowers to feature on the free site. He plans to earn revenue by taking a commission from sales the two brands make when users purchase products through the site.
So this means that users can send their congratulations or condolences for the said major occasion in their friend’s life while at the same time sending them flowers or a present all in one hit.
A clever idea, or just too much?
Camille Alarcon
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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Congratulations to Geoff for exploring a niche break out from the social networks, I just wonder whether this is already too entrenched now with Facebook etc and this is another application/site we need to add all our birthdays etc too – and lets not forget being dragged off to the site with the email reminders about someones birthday arrive – to type in a message which you just typed for 4 other people this morning on Facebook.
I look forward to seeing the site and reserve full judgment till then, but I don’t think i’ll be joining another social site for things which are already catered amongst the sites and communities I am already a member of.
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It will be nice if you can use it with Facebook Connect, keep it simple without having to register which is certainly a barrier to ongoing use.
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Mark, that’s the goal, to link with Facebook, Twitter etc. While Camille is correct in her story in saying the site will allow people to network, which I guess strictly makes it a social networking site, the primary goal is to have a site that offers FREE classified advertising to those making an announcement like a birth, engagement or death, and those who want to send congratulations or condolences. In comparison a print classified ad will cost upwards of $100 so it’s no wonder fewer ads are appearing, especially as birth ads.
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maybe it should just be a facebook application – makes more sense that way.
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