Scaling, Scaling, Scale...

GOGII’s well-funded , free text messaging app, textPlus , announced today that it has crossed the 10 billion text messages sent mark since it launched in the app store in June of 2009. They’re pumping out texts like McDonald’s pumps out burger patties. Of course, when it comes to group and micro-messaging apps, textPlus has some competition. Think SXSW and you probably think group messaging. Ask Around, Ditto, Yobongo, Beluga, GroupMe, FastSociety, etc. have all been making noise, getting acquired by Facebook , or raking in funding. The list goes on. But today textPlus makes it clear who the leader of the pack is and will be for at least the near future. On top of 10 billion total messages sent, in May alone, textPlus sent 1.3 billion texts. The app has been downloaded more than 17.5 million times and, while the startup hasn’t finalized the statistics yet, GOGII Founder & CEO Scott Lahman said that the startup has now passed the 8 million monthly active users mark. In March, ahead of SXSW, textPlus launched a group messaging charity campaign that donated $1 for each new group created to charities like Livestrong and EnoughisEnough. This followed a long scaling process that started two years ago with free texting and group texting, then added communities, or supergroups as Lahman calls them. textPlus then moved from doing traffic over shortcode to giving out free phone numbers, before adding the ability for avid texters to not only get their own number but create a social profile and search all other users by name or keyword. Today, textPlus has built its own social network of texters and instant messagers, and not surprisingly, its core demographic is teenagers, who are, on average, text messaging machines. And since adding search functionality in December, textPlus has seen 27 million searches, mostly among younger users, who have embraced texting as the new voice — and instant messager. When asked what the next step is for textPlus that will allow it continue to stay ahead of the rapidly scaling field, Lahman referenced Comscore’s latest mobile data , which showed that 70 percent of mobile usage centers around texting, while gaming has grown to 25 percent. When GOGII left the mobile gaming space in 2007, that number was closer to 10 percent. Lahman said that the communities of texters and the textPlus platform itself are already social in nature and are well positioned for gaming integration. For teens, mobile chat is already an engaging and social game for mobile, and really there’s little separation for young people between texting and gaming, so Lahman said that it’s a matter of finding the best way to build gameplay out of social chat. With competition on its heels, Lahman is wary of sharing too much of GOGII’s future roadmap, but there’s no doubt textPlus will be playing with game-ified texting over the next year. There was also mention of a “Twitter and textPlus lovechild”, which could add a bit of microblogging to the textPlus platform. Nothing for sure yet, but it will be interesting to see what textPlus has up its sleeve. textPlus already enables users free and unlimited one-to-one, group and community texting, so that users can group text with friends and talk to people all over the world about what interests them via chat communities. And the announcement of 10 billion messages sent includes the addition of textPlus Free Text, Group Text, and GOLD to Amazon’s app store for Android. textPlus is also available on Apple’s app store and the Android Marketplace. CrunchBase Information GOGII Information provided by CrunchBase

4Chan Has 18M Uniques A...

4Chan and Canvas founder Christopher Poole (Moot) took the stage to talk to Erick Schoenfeld about creating vibrant online communities. Poole revealed that that the eight-year-old 4Chan is averaging 8 million users according to Quantcast and 18 million monthly users according to Google. Note: Poole says that the Google numbers used to be 14 million and shot up to 18 because of a recent Google Analytics tag change. Still impressive. Poole also explained why he built Canvas into a separate venture-backed company as opposed to porting over the existing 4Chan users onto the new platform and just having them deal with it. “We want to re-imagine what the modern message board would look like … It’s less about the product and more about the community.” Poole does however think that the communities will eventually overlap, “I’m sure that millions of the 4channers will want to use Canvas once we open it to the public. But we don’t want to force them to do so.” Canvas should be out of private beta in the next couple of months, Poole says. CrunchBase Information Christopher Poole Information provided by CrunchBase

Salesforce.com to Buy R...

CRM application provider makes a big bet on helping businesses connect with customers via Twitter, Facebook, and other communities.

Technology Is Crucial T...

Nat Wei ( @natwei ), is a social entrepreneur and adviser to the UK Government on their “Big Society” project. As one of the youngest people ever to have been made a Life Peer of the House of Lords, Lord Wei is the founding and former lead partner of the Shaftesbury Partnership, and a member of the founding team of Teach First. As “Baron Wei of Shoreditch” he is intensely interested in the emergence of the cluster of startup technology companies in the Shoreditch/Hoxton area of London which has come to be known as Silicon Roundabout and which has informed the UK government’s new “ East London Tech City ” initiative. This week will be the first in a series of guest posts on the use of technology in re-building civic society. The Big Society is an approach being championed inside and outside of the government in the UK and increasingly in other countries to enable citizens to take more control over their lives, based on the belief that people often know how to solve the problems they care about and improve their communities better than anyone else. Whilst built on centuries old principles, it is also optimistic about the power of technology, and has been inspired by the more open, inclusive, and effective ways of working expressed through the internet, social media, and crowd sourcing.

Recyclebank’s CEO Jonat...

Recyclebank — a loyalty rewards program that encourages people to lower the environmental impact of their lifestyles, for example, by recycling more and tossing less — introduced a redesigned website and mobile apps, and began offering new services to customers and partners on Monday. Chief executive of Recyclebank, Jonathan Hsu , said some of the new features he’s excited about, include: 1. “Learn and earn” quizzes that give RecycleBank users a small number of redeemable points for correctly answering questions about ecology, energy and the like. 2. Local search capabilities, encouraging users to do more “green” things around their communities, or to buy from more green service providers and suppliers near their homes, for points. 3. Rewards from more local, small-to-medium sized businesses, so members can cash in points for a discount at a sustainable grocer or dry cleaner within their zip code, not just redeem points for freebies and discounts from large chains. 4. Facebook, Twitter and further mobile integrations that let RecycleBank users interact with or access the site’s content and features via their iPhones and iPads now, and in coming quarters their Android devices. Hsu recently completed his first 100 days as CEO at Recyclebank. The New York City startup is venture-backed by Kleiner Perkins, RRE Ventures and Sigma Partners, and was originally founded by Ron Gonen. Hsu said that the site and its new features hint at some of the changes to come for Recyclebank, overall: “Today, Recyclebank is an innovative program to increase recycling in over 300 cities in the U.S. and U.K. The site redesign is all about the member experience. [It will] let members see their impact from recycling, and a number of other sustainable and community enhancing behaviors, beyond that, now. It helps people understand the context of their actions and where they fit in the world.” With the ramped up search and content, the company stands to double its advertising and sponsorship revenue within two years. Hsu confirmed about 10 percent of RecycleBank’s revenue comes from ads and sponsored content now, and that even at maturity, it won’t likely comprise more than 25 percent. Recyclebank’s move to offer points to users who implement energy efficiency measures at home — whether that’s by installing solar panels, turning off the lights more frequently, or insulating their homes better —