There are a lot of ways to collaborate online - wikis, forums, social networks - but there are very few providers that package all the tools together that a group might need. Grou.ps, a social groupware provider, aims to address that problem by providing its users one single package of integrated tools.
Like a Microsoft Office for social tools, Grou.ps offers the following modules: chat, blog aggregation, wikis, talks (forum + mailing list), photo albums, links (bookmarks and news), calendaring, maps, subgroups, and people (profiles).
Each of these tools integrate with third party services as well, so you don't have to waste time duplicating information in two different places. For example, you can sync your photo album with flickr; your links module can include your del.icio.us bookmarks; your updates can come in via Twitter; and the list goes on.
Each module can be customized as to its size and contents and, unlike some of Grou.ps' competitors, modules can co-exist on the same page. The group admin sets the permissions to these various modules at a fine level of control, specifying who can read the content and who can edit the content for each item.
The platform comes with different templates you can choose from, but none of them have any sort of Grou.ps branding - they are yours to customize.
Grou.ps also offer mobile access and a stats package, so you can see how popular certain modules or activities are. You can check out some existing groups from the site's homepage, or, to learn more, check out this video:
Grou.ps, backed by Golden Horn Ventures, is now going into public beta, but they already have over 150,000 users.
Disclosure: Emre Sokullu is a contributor to ReadWriteWeb.
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Grou.ps Launches Public Beta.
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Hi, maybe a little off topic, but I couldn't help but wonder, seeing the way this firm has chosen their domain name, if those country-codes at the end could bias the user to (not) use the service?
Probably not an issue in USA/Europe, but would Israelis use grou.ps, a Palestine-'coded' web site? Is some European put off or annoyed by the .us in the delicious URL? Would some American rather go somewhere else than use some cool, but Canadian-'coded' site (fictional: repli.ca)?
Just wondering..
Cheers,
Posted by: Martin | April 23, 2008 9:56 AMMartin
Thanks to Emre Sokullu for this great project.
Posted by: Battlestar | April 23, 2008 11:16 AM@Martin: Many Israeli blogs have already covered Grou.ps without hesitation; this is not politics, this is just a domain hack. And I'm proud to tell we already have many users from Israel. Also on the personal level, I have never heard any complaint from my Israeli friends. So as for your question, I don't think people are concerned about the domain country codes.
@Battlestar: thanx! :)
Posted by: Emre Sokullu | April 23, 2008 12:19 PMWhat a sucky domain! http://www.sitepoint.com
Posted by: Battlestar | April 23, 2008 4:34 PMlooks a very Good social networking service
Posted by: Ajay | April 23, 2008 8:50 PMi have also joined this service and i will be able comment on this after using this service
http://readerszone.com/gadgets/ultra-slim-desktop-featured-with-solid-state-hard-drive.html
The owner of the comment number 4 using the same nick with me. What the hell are you trying to do? May i ask the admin to remove it?
Posted by: Battlestar | April 24, 2008 12:46 AMGrou.ps looks interesting. I'm not sure about the domain name, it's hard to remember I think... Shameless Plug: Try Groupso.com
Posted by: Craig | May 8, 2008 2:07 PM