I recently joined Youme.social and had some basic questions I wanted answered.

I recently joined Youme.social and had some basic questions I wanted answered.

To my delight, +Jamez Frondeskias replied and fully put my mind at ease as to what Youme is, what it hopes to become, and how it will function.

I will add, that out of all the sites I've investigated, this one looks and functions the most like G+.
Do also note, YouMe is a startup, but a startup with a bright future. It is doing a lot of things right!
It'll be a member driven site with the hopes many check it out and contribute with helping it succeed.
In all, the site sells itself as a viable G+ alternative.

Read the Q&A between myself and Jamez, then after read the features I found Youme.social supports.



Q&A with Jamez Frondeskias

Apologies for the delay. Took some time to write while dealing with important messages from members.

Hopefully have answered sufficiently. However if you need more information, let me know

1. How is this site currently funded, and how will it be scaled in the future?
Who owns this site?

The site is funded exclusively by myself who is also the sole owner. I have a 6 digit figure allocated explicitly for YouMe – money that will be used for the site's development. IF I require additional funds in the future, I do have avenues from which to obtain backing without breaking my commitment to member privacy. I can't divulge much more than this at present.

2. Where do you see this community in 1yr, 2yrs...5yrs concerning membership?

I started YouMe in early December. I asked a small group of Google+ers I trusted to test it out, and then did what is basically a soft launch last week. It is a cautious approach as the site needs to be basically “bug free” before doing a hard launch. Nothing annoys new members with “oh, its full of problems”. Those that have joined so far, I am thankful for sticking with me as these little bugs are sorted out.

Where do I want to see this community in 1/ 2/ 5 years' time. I'll through some figures around but please don't hold them against me. Ideally would love to see around 10,000 before the end of 2019 as this is a sizeable community without being 'lost' in the crowd of masses. This is especially true for YouMe as its evolution will be predominantly driven by the members. More on that later.

Future membership – would love to see it grow steadily and to be considered as one of the top 10 social sites. Whether that happens, will depend on the site's performance and features, and the members' involvement both in content and development of the site.

3. As the site grows, is there enough technical proficiency available to keep it running...so quick fix for glitches, and so on?

I myself am not a very technical person when it comes to maintaining sites like this from the back end. I have run websites in the past, including a reasonably successful privately owned one in Australia. Technical expertise exists with the developers who will continue to do the maintenance and development for me.

4. Is there a time/cut off point if it doesn't meet expected numbers that it may be shut down?

Obviously yes as any site or business has. I quoted figures in the second question, however those figures are not the “cut off and ditch the site” figures. From my personal perspective, if the site has active users who participate and share content, then it will be continued to be maintained. My ambition is not to become another Mark Zucherberg or Google. So in a nutshell, it will depend on member involvement.

5. Is/will privacy be an issue?

YouMe is based in the European Union as am I – in Greece in fact. The servers are based in London UK. I am an Australian who moved to Greece. I mention all this because both Australia and the EU have strict privacy laws in place, and have grown up expecting my privacy to be protected. The EU has, as you may know, its General Data Protection Regulation [GDPR] which is the world's strongest privacy regulation.

YouMe was set up with privacy in mind, not only because of the above but also because I personally have been stung by privacy breaches at that 'other' site – and not Google+ in case you are wondering. Its not a nice feeling and don't want anyone else to go through that.

As you may or may not have noticed, whenever someone raises a problem that is happening to them and its not visible from my end, I ask them if I can go into the back end and see what they are seeing. If they say “no”, then I will look at alternatives like screendumps. But so far, no one has said “no, you can't go in as me and look”.

The issue of the initial registration email included one's password. For me, that is not an issue for when you register, you receive the email within seconds or so, and you are waiting for it. Yet some people didn't like the idea, and all new registrants now receive the email without the password.

The balance between privacy and legal obligations is a touchy and tough one. Some people object to giving their date of birth when registering, however in some countries that information is obligatory to obtain. We all need to adhere to the law as we are a globally accessible site. So everyone needs to enter a date of birth - no exceptions - and must be 13 years old or older.

6. What future plans for improving the site are on the horizon?

YouMe is continually improving. When the soft launch was done, I opened up a topic called “improvements to YouMe Social” so members can have their input in how the site develops and also to identify any issues. Even now, something as basic as the colour scheme is being raised with the members. I removed the right hand column based on member feedback.

For the record, there are over 30 different suggestions submitted to the topic and to me via messenger. These suggestions are on the list to consider.

7. If membership grew exponentially, can the site handle it?

Yes. The developers have promised that it can handle hundreds of thousands of members without any issues. If needed,I will migrate the site to another hosting company which, for the record, must have their servers in the EU. Worse case scenario, will have a new site built that can can handle the load IF this one can't.

8. Is there an identity you want to promote for the site...so...interest based vs simply a social site to share pics of your dinner.
I'll quickly mention from my limited exposure, I see it picking up where G+ ends. So, yes, interest based along with options for other things.
Thus, what is the value proposition for YouMe.social?

Don't know about you but am sick of continually seeing peoples' dinners, their nights out partying, their continual posting of cats etc. There's a site for that and its called Facebook. Not that I would object if that's what people want to post, however would really like to see conversations like those that I had on Google+ … you know, post something and people talk about it.

I was one of the original people to go onto Google+ and am going to miss it, thus why am trying to have YouMe look and feel like the old place. To encourage Google+ers to join and continue the discussions here and to find a new home.

9. Will there always be a forum/group etc for member suggestions/complaints?
How much input will members realistically have over the direction of YouMe.social?

Yes there will be a specific group set up for member suggestions and issues. If they prefer NOT to publicly post them, they are always welcome to message me personally.

i want YouMe to be primarily driven by the members within reason. And by that I mean, if we get flooded by people who want to see the site move towards e.g., science posts or religion etc ... then I will say "no, its for all different topics, not just select ones".

Something I have already shared on YouMe, with advertising on the site for example. Anyone approaching YouMe and asking if they advertise, there are certain steps that will happen - and one of them is YouMe informing its member as what information that advertiser is going to access.
https://www.youme.social/topics/view/7/youme-and-your-privacy

10. What limits are put on members concerning free expression/speech?
How will this be determined?

The limits are basically no porn [all kinds], no illegal content [e.g., selling firearms or drugs etc] and no hate speech. For porn, its basically Strike 1 and you are out. Not going to tolerate that. Anyone who wants to distribute porn, there are plenty of sites that cater for that – and YouMe isn't one of them.

Note that IF anyone posts child porn, their details will be submitted to Europol – no questions asked. I don't care what their excuse is, that to me is a huge NO-NO!

Content review? Not that you raised it, however this is already on my mind. My intention is to have a select group of trusted volunteers who will review any highlighted content, especially when it involves hate speech.

11. Concerning any number of issues...from the business model, to marketing/sales, is there a plan yet with how to go about this?

Yes there is but nothing I wish to discuss publicly.

12. Is YouMe.social able to identify and implement new technologies?

Yes. Am already looking at something similar to Hangouts to include here, which is not part of the original design.

13. Will you keep up to date (or have someone) with what other sites are doing? By doing this, will you be open to new ideas with how to improve this site?

Yes and yes. I myself am on several of the new “replacement” sites not only for Google+ but also for Tumblr. Am also on Facebook.

There are a lot of great ideas in the other sites that I have thought “damn , thats a good idea!” and am adding them to my list.

I also have a couple of good close friends who are in various social media sites who are not only keeping me posted on whats happening there, but also fielding ideas.


Some basic features of Youme.social:
- Double streaming post interface like G+
- Any length OP and comments.
- Bolding of text for easier reading once submitted.
- Easy to use interface
- Privacy, but you control settings for sharing ( I haven't gotten this far yet so more testing needed).
- some emojis
- like and dislike options
- Notifications
- Supports groups, blogs, vids. (Polls TBA)
- Editing comments needs work as the box presented for editing is smaller than the comment box itself, thus the text isn't aligned the same way.
- Easy sign up options with fb, G+, and email.


Go check it out yourself:
https://youme.social/