Data With Benefits: Our Open Beta Launch


Open Beta T-shirts

11.11.11

I don’t want to overplay the significance of today’s date, or the fact that our web and mobile web service went live in open beta at 11:11 am GMT and was announced on Twitter for the first time at 11:11 am EST. What matters is that after two years of hard core work on a totally new kind of platform, we’re out there.

Our Android and iPhone apps will be launched later this month. We will be promoting our launch in the coming weeks once the mobile apps are out given the importance of the full mobile experience to our personal data vault and private network products.

We also have a new web site and an updated look to our brand, thanks to our new marketing team.  In case you missed it, you can read about the team, which includes former execs from Nike and AOL, and a new advisory board member from Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Studios, in our announcement.

We really appreciate all of the people who signed up and used Personal during our closed beta. Your engagement and feedback was awesome! Among the improvements you’ll see are:

Countdown clock-  More ways to easily import data, including community gems created by Personal owners and partners. We are especially excited about what community gems can do to allow people to share knowledge and structured data with each other. You can read more in the gemware section on our site.

- Personal network snapshots for every contact and gem so people can quickly see who has what data in their life, and what they’ve received from others. This is like your personal data graph, so you can quickly and easily see all of your data relationships in life.

-  Our “Form Killer” app to instantly fill out forms online and off. This is the first true app built on top of our platform, and we think it can be huge. Imagine not having to fill out any more forms. Our developer program will be launched soon and more apps are on the way.

-  Identity management gems to help people control how others know them in Personal and elsewhere. We are excited about being a leader in this growing area.

We really liked this article in AdAge Digital yesterday called “Personal Data is the New Oil.” It’s not surprising that those in the advertising world are among the first to get how disruptive – and ultimately beneficial – Personal and companies that believe in a people-centric data model can be to creating win-win outcomes for commerce and advertising.

We can’t wait to hear what you think about the new product! Tell us at feedback@personal.com.

Shane & the entire Personal team

Washington, DC & Sarajevo

Shane

By Shane Green in Power Shift

November 11, 2011

Managing Your Online Identity


Do you present yourself differently on LinkedIn than you do on Facebook? How about on Amazon and when you walk into a store at the mall? What you reveal of yourself changes constantly depending on your context and who you are interacting with. We call that identity management.

Identity GemAs we launch Personal in open beta, we’ve taken a hard and long look at how to give our owners more control of their online identity. With your private, personal network, you have the ability to decide which parts of yourself to reveal when connecting with others. Currently, we don’t even allow people to search for you on Personal. Just connecting with another person in our system requires that you know his or her email address in advance.

Identity management starts with four basic features, and we’ll be adding many more regularly:

Username

Username will be how you are known in the system. Pick an anonymous username as you have many other chances to share your true identity if you choose. When connecting with others, only your username, along with your avatar if you add one, will be automatically revealed.

Personal Me Gem

This gem contains contains your actual name. If you decide to share it with someone in your network, you will be known to them personally (by name)!

Social Me Gem

Want to share your username and an alternative or anonymous picture?  This gem allows you to outside of Personal, or when publishing community gems.

Anonymous

We believe strongly in your right to remain anonymous when you choose. At present, we only support remaining anonymous when publishing community gems, but will be rolling out new anonymity features in the very near future.

We’re excited to hear what you think about these features when you get to try them out.  Feel free to send thoughts or questions to support@personal.com.

Jennifer

By Jennifer O'Keefe in Product

November 11, 2011

Closed Beta Launch


This is a very exciting time for everyone at Personal – we recently began sending out the next round of invites to our closed beta.  Up until this point, only our close friends and family have been able to use the service. But now, we’re inviting the more than 10,000 people who signed up on our waitlist.Get Invited Envelope

Our CEO, Shane Green, recently wrote a blog post with his thoughts on the closed beta invitation and feedback process.  Like Shane, I cannot wait to hear from our new users. There is always room for improvement. We are committed to providing a service that is useful and fun – your feedback is key!

Comment on this post or send an email to feedback[at]personal.com. We look forward to hearing from you!

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Jennifer

By Jennifer O'Keefe in Product

July 19, 2011