Present.ly Stays Competitive With Key Microblogging Features

Written by Steven Walling / June 16, 2009 4:30 PM / 5 Comments

Enterprise microblogging app Present.ly has added two new features. The first, announced on the 12th, is the ability to import external RSS feeds directly in to your stream. The second, revealed today, is a bevy of new metrics and statistics on claimed Present.ly accounts.

While neither is exactly groundbreaking in microblogging, their addition is a boon to users. They're also a sign that the company can keep pace among a throng of swiftly-moving competitors - such as Yammer and Socialcast - that have already added similar functionality.

RSS Importing

Almost all of the top players in this space have had the ability to selectively import custom RSS feeds for some time.

But that's because it's become an essential extension of microblogging for companies, allowing employees to easily keep track of outside information sources, such as Twitter accounts and searches, Delicious bookmarks, blog searches and basically anything you find relevant. Other nifty attributes include the ability to mute a feed temporarily and for Present.ly groups to have their feeds.

Account Statistics

Present.ly now has some diverse and interesting statistics, if you've claimed your account (i.e. paid $1/per user a month).

The stats included are broken down in to those for individual users, groups, or entire accounts. You can view the data on how one of your team members uses the service, how a group (such as a department) uses it, or the trends for your entire enterprise. In addition to simple graphs and number counts, there are charts and maps related to your usage.

Comments

Subscribe to comments for this post OR Subscribe to comments for all ReadWriteEnterprise posts

Rather than just 'keeping pace' ... if memory serves correct, Present.ly was out in front of the competition on several other fronts, like an enterprise version behind the firewall (offered before Yammer), and mobile/desktop apps. I think a side-by-side timeline of features offered would tell an interesting story, that Present.ly's biggest hurdle has been getting the credit it's due. At least RWW is giving it a well deserved mention.

Posted by: Jeff Crites | June 16, 2009 5:58 PM

Hey Steven, staying competitive with other microblogging vendors is definitely not the biggest concern for Present.ly (or Yammer or SocialCast for that matter). The big problem is that a stand-alone microblogging tool makes almost no sense in the enterprise -- it requires employees to take the time to tell the system what they are doing. Instead microblogging needs to be incorporated with other productivity tools that provide the bread crumbs for others to follow automatically.

Socialtext already does a nice job of this because the application owns much of the collaboration process of its users. I think its a safe assumption that Microsoft, IBM, and everyone else will be doing much the same in short order (if they haven't already). The RSS feed import for Present.ly is a good start, but in reality they need a much bigger collaboration suite around the tool to stay competitive. If it were me I would start pushing licensing deals with other software vendors as quickly as possible.

Posted by: Oliver Young | June 17, 2009 2:01 PM

Thanks for the broader perspective Oliver, much appreciated.

I'd agree that with more comprehensive collaborative platforms like Socialtext incorporating status updates in to their offerings it's much harder to think of anyone seeking out a standalone microblogging tool.

Posted by: Steven Walling | June 17, 2009 8:40 PM