In the fall of 2007, my good friend John Wagner and I were dorm mates on Lewis & Clark’s outdoor pursuits theme floor. Early that year I had my first tangible lesson regarding sticky technology. The night before an exam I sat down for a study break and, almost without blinking, wasted more than an hour surfing Facebook. I survived the exam, but was appalled at myself for having been so careless with my time. Later I realized the faux pas had more to do with the properties of the site than with my own characteristics; most of my friends were splurging precious hours on Facebook.
A few months later the Millitary Commissions act passed, suspending the right to habeas corpus (the right to trial for all imprisoned persons), for a relatively small number of the people held by the US “justice” system. I was outraged, really just spitting mad, especially because everyone (particularly big media) kind of just ignored the situation. Justice, due process at least, should be for everyone, right? John was the only person I found who was quite as upset about it as I was. For a few days we talked almost like we were going to start a revolution or something, but it cooled down pretty quickly. We knew the whole time that we did not want a violent revolution, or to actually overthrow the government. We wanted our own government back, but we were not sure where to go with all our energy.
It seemed bizarre that Facebook could be so popular, while the outrageous Military Commissions Act hardly inspired yawns among many of our friends. Before long we began to wonder if Facebook’s stickiness could facilitate less frivolous pursuits. I tried doing some organizing on Facebook for the Archimedes Movement, a healthcare reform movement, with devastatingly mediocre results. Facebook is kind of like frat parties and funerals; a lot of people find it to be a socially charged and powerfully engaging environment, but the setting just does not serve to channel that energy to promote activism.
About that time we began talking about building our own site, and for more than a year now John and I have been talking about technology and social change, feeding off each other’s ideas and building a pool of creative thought that neither of us would have managed alone. Other close friends have joined the conversation, including Laura, Jonah, and Polly; all of our ideas and inspirations are now the intellectual foundation of Squarepeg llc, a venture we formally founded a few months ago. We are building an online networking tool for people who organize around social causes. Both our tool set and our strategy for change are unique among internet ventures, so we are pretty excited about launching this spring/summer. Here are a few priorities that have guided our work since the beginning.
- our site must be at least as attractive and pleasing to use as Facebook
- it must facilitate rich social interaction, because friendships are social, partnerships and collaborations are social, and change is social (that last part is our motto, by the way).
- it must be useful for anybody, but optimized for people who are really changing the world, people who have a lot of energy feeding their passion for social justice, and who are organizing feet on the pavement actions
If you are interested in our progress, please find the latest information at these locations:
We would love your feed back, and your support. We always keep our eyes peeled for talented developers and designers, entrepreneurs, writers and curious users, and moola.
Excellent ideas! Good luck!