Unifyer, the new digital creation by Dallas-based firm Pursuant, has already been documented by a number of people in the blogosphere as well as other editorial reviews.
As in any new startup in the evangelical space, there has been some great initial buzz and excitement surrounding Unifyer and the potential it has to change the online landscape in regards to “increasing loyalty”, “decentralizing communication”, taking online networking to another level. Some even call it “miracle grow“.
But as Unifyer say themselves:
Unifyer is a revolutionary web-based application that unites online communication, online networking, and dynamic media content under your brand. Unifyer takes the best functionality of myspace®, facebook®, and blogger®, combines it within a stunning visual interface, and becomes the pulse of your community.
In addition, as Christian News Wire states and reiterates:
Unifyer is not a website, database or just another online community. Instead, Unifyer is a powerful web-based tool that allows pastors to deliver important information to church members with the click of a button. It’s also a place where individual church ministries can communicate with their participants and with each other, all without requiring the pastor’s involvement.
But after reading the comments and blogitorials, I had to ask myself whether Unifyer is truly as revolutionary as it makes it self to be?
First, two things must be clear: One, I will rabidly support anything and anyone who seeks to advance the Kingdom online. Two, I’m coming at this from a technological perspective, not a philosophical or theological.
To begin with, their design aesthetics is definitely one of the first things a new user will notice.
Obviously built with Adobe Flash, their UI is definitely different.
But “different” does not necessarily mean that it’s more effective. There are well documented limitations to the use of flash and the use of “higher end” technology can actually create roadblocks and be burdensome to end users:
- Not all end-users will have Flash installed. Granted “most”, if not the vast majority have it already, but many do not have the most up to date version. Requiring the use of Flash as well as version control are two obstacles that some apps should stay away from.
- Flash is often times very system and resource-intensive. Do all users have a computer that can handle the app? To a degree, this depends on their particular target demographic (i.e. those with the money for “decent” computers), but if your goal is for widespread usage, across multiple verticals, putting this gateway control can be difficult to maneuver. It does appear that they are targeting many different verticals, from evangelical, non-profit, and organizational.
- Flash requires bandwidth. Again, not all users may have a high-speed connection. Again, this may or may not depend on their target demographic.
These are three off-the-top-of-my head thoughts in addition to the many development-esque issues regarding the use of flash that I could mention.
The bottom line is, considering the many possible alternatives to design, platform, scaleability, and targeted industries, is Flash the best decision?
On to functionality.
Functionally, the offerings of Unifyer do not appear to be all that different than bazillion other social networking software suites out there. As they’ve mentioned, it is a combination of the “best funtionality” of such giants as MySpace, Facebook, and Blogger. But I don’t see many functional aspects that I would have considered “best in breed” from those three named services.
Where is the WYSIWYG editor? Saving a draft for later function? The media section isn’t breaking any new ground, and sometimes breaks (tested in IE++, FF++, Safari, Chrome), and encoding a 2 meg file took long enough where I was able to give my daughter a bath, clean her up, dress her, make a bottle, and put her to sleep (I have not been told their encoding properties or schema, but from the relative size of the site, I highly doubt my file was in a queue).
I think it would a stretch to say that some of their offerings, functionally and stylistically, are breaking new ground and/or raising the bar.
But I do like how they’ve partitioned out their 3 main areas of content into News, Friends, and Groups. I think they’ve hit the nail on the head regarding what actually makes users want to come back and what they are primarily interested in knowing about.
One neat thing that would have been nice to see is if you could search users who are currently “online” in the advanced search field. Perhaps I missed it…?
Finally, one of the biggest issues I have, personally, with the site is their business model. As Church Production Magazine says:
For less than the cost of a postage stamp monthly per user..
Wait… What?! You have to pay for this service? Indeed.
I haven’t investigated what the “no large start up fee” is but the pricing for this product for your own individual organization is not what I would call “sensible”.
But, since it’s a hosted solution, I think for much smaller organizations, this could possibily make sense. If you have a staff of 30-40 people, that’s 12-16 dollars a month. Not bad.
But, if you’re a much larger org? Even at 40 cents per user, even for the first tier, that could eventually amount up to $4,000 dollars per month! And if you can afford $4k/month on this product, you certainly can afford your own servers.
I just don’t get it. One could create similar platforms on open source technology, many of which are already using best-practices, are not developed in flash, and have an active development community, all for the price of zero dollars.
In addition, Matt Frazier, the founder of Unifyer and Pursuant, says it this way:
[...]benefits of web 2.0 are really all about empowering people to be able to have the tools to communicate whenever they want to, in a rich and interactive media sort of way.
But from what I see, this tool does not let me communicate “whenever I want to”. I do not see widgets (yet), I don’t see an open API (yet), I don’t see shared services between MySpace, Facebook, and interconnectivity between other major communication platforms like Twitter, etc… I do see a mobile device available, but not everyone has an iPhone.
I think Unifyer has missed the mark (as the current product stands) and I do not believe it to be “revolutionary” (unless they offered it free and open source among a number of other things, that would be cool). I think it does help assist doing what Greg Atkinson terms “The 4 C’s”, but I’m not sure it’s the best at doing them.
But, I do admire their vision for the project and product, and I wish them the very best. I do see a niche market that the product could service, and I believe they are challenging all of us to, again as Matt put it, to think of the best ways in which we can “break down barriers in our organization and be more effective and efficient”.
Definitely a good thing. Try taking it for a spin.
My Pastor just went to a conference in San Diego where they featured this service. He came back all excited about it… and I must say I was thinking that “web 2.0″ internet already does all of that stuff… for free.
Granted I could develop something like this and it would cost my church nothing… however, I don’t have the time to be able to do this as I’m wearing two hats already.
To be honest… I think the reason it will become a success is because it will be looked upon by many people (specifically senior leaders) as something that is “cool”, “web-trendy” and “the THING”… because of their possible lack of knowledge of what is already available and is free.
On the same note, I commend the people who have developed Unifyer and believe that they are doing a great thing in bridging the gap between the Church and the vast community on the internet.
@Chris
Couldn’t agree with you more. I always have to ask myself this question:
“Considering the time, the talents, the financials, and the effectiveness of this project, is this the absolute BEST use of our resources given other alternatives?”
I hope it’s a success, for the Kingdom’s sake, and I do commend Unifyer for starting a conversation.
Thanks Chris!
I have some of the same issues with Unifyer too. Any suggestions on alternatives (other than developing your own)?
We’re thinking about it right now… care to cogitate with us?
Well, our church site uses Joomla! as a CMS so I’ve been poking around looking for someone who has written a usable extension for Joomla.
There is Community Builder, but I hate it. It’s terribly hard to set up and it looks outdated.
I’m testing out Joomunity right now and it has promise. However, it doesn’t seem to be able to provide users the ability to create their own groups/meetups and there isn’t a good way to disseminate communication from the church to everyone.
Jomsocial and Anahita seem to have the most promise, but neither have been released yet.
The technology is certainly out there, but no one has really put it all together yet in a workable package that I can find.
Hehe… there’s a lot out there. Wondering if this is the best place to discuss…?
Let’s definitely talk!
John,
First, thank you for your post. It is great that there are guys like you vetting the best of technology for churches and ministries.
I am the founder of Unifyer and excited about what it can do for the local church. The reason we began developing Unifyer was because we wanted to help the local church reap the benefits of decentralized communications. As we listened, and continue to listen to church leaders, their greatest desire is to empower and release the laity to “be the church”. We believe that Unifyer can do this fundamentally. We are not trying to build another social network. If you want that, try Ning, its free.
Like Ben states, there is little out there off the shelf that meets the needs of churches. And I would agree that Unifyer is not the complete answer…yet. However, this new computing model, (i.e. browser-based applications) allows us to run an Agile development process which enables the kind of speed that brings new features to the user every three weeks.
Your comments about features you do not see are precisely why I am so thankful for your post. It is our heart to build an application that meets the most painful needs of the local church first…then work on the more novel ones. As Cynthia Ware has mentioned, Unifyer is a “walled garden” at the moment…not because that is how it will always be, but because that is what we have determined the church is looking for first.
So, my invitation to you and all of your readers is to take a look at the base functionality of Unifyer and recommend the kinds of features that you feel would really make the platform sing. Afterall, there are very few teams of developers who care what the local church wants. So, as a fellow brother and follower of Christ, help me as I seek to honor God in building the Kingdom via technology. Your contributions will be welcomed, encouraged and thoughtfully considered.
Matt Frazier, CEO
twitter.com/placematt
P.S.: Here is a list (off the top of my head) of features we are working to integrate into Unifyer.
1. iPhone Application (already complete, available in next 2 weeks in app store, free)
2. Facebook Connect integration
3. Instant Messaging
4. Email and RSS posting (blog integration)
5. Calendar and Events
6. Inline Video Capture
7. Mobile phone integration – txt notification
8. Microblogging
9. External Media integration, embedding
10. Ribbit integration, enabling global telephony collaboration (www.ribbit.com)
As I hope you can see, our plans are to build an application that revolutionizes church communications and community, however, like Rome…it wasn’t built in a day.
I’ve got to admit that I am intrigued by Unifyer adn it’s concept. I’m wondering if many from my church and/or community will understand how to use it.
I showed it to my Youth Pastor and Children’s Director on Tuesday and their eyes really glazed over. They were trying to understand not only how to use it, but if people in our church would be inclined to look and give up.
But I am certainly interested in looking into it further, especially with the understanding of expanded functionality. Just hope it’s all user friendly.
@RevTim
Great point. A huge portion of what we have to do is educate. I’m sure that Unifyer will have to spend just as much time as many other properties educating those that may need it most.
@Matt Frazier
Thanks so much for dropping a line! It’s great to hear from you and some of your plans for Unifyer.
Couldn’t agree with you more about the “Rome” bit… definitely true, and I’m all about honoring God in Kingdom building via technology! Rock it!
Would you have time to take the discussion further? I’d love to chat.
I have a similar dilemma as RevTim. I’m a pastor of a church that has historically been totally offline. The church is growing and it is growing with younger people who are totally ONLINE.
The challenge is in educating the older offline crowd and pulling them into the online community while not frustrating the others by making them get all their communication through Sunday bulletins and newsletters.
I love the concept of Unifyer. There are 3 reasons I’m holding off at the moment: 1) the heavy use of flash which will frustrate folks on dialup, 2) cost – would be cheap for us now but if it does it’s job and the # of users grows we will not be able to afford it, 3)75% of the current membership just isn’t ready for it.
I’d like to see Unifyer move away from flash and take a more Google-esque approach to the UI. The feature wish-list from M. Frazier looks awesome. I’d also like to see a pricing structure that makes more sense. Maybe a free, Plus, Pro sort of pricing scheme. Or a one time fee for the software and churches could host it themselves. I’m more comfortable hosting apps on my own server anyway because then I control my own data.
@Ben,
Great thoughts here. I totally forgot about the data-control-issue… nice!
thanks for your thoughts.
It's interesting to read your initial reactions and responses to Unifyer, as just a few months ago I was thinking some of these same things. You see – our church was already using Facebook, our web CMS, etc., etc. I didn't see how it could help us. However, we were getting ready to launch a new LifeGroup program and were seeking the best method that would (1) allow people to check out some potential groups and get a feel for them in a non-threatening, non-committal manner, and (2) allow our leaders to quickly post announcements without going through the “Communications” department.
These were our 2 primary goals. I was initially skeptical, but decided to try Unifyer. I really didn't see what it could do that Facebook couldn't. Today I can confidently say that not only have I been proven wrong – but there have been so many additional benefits that I would have a difficult time quantifying them all.
1. People responded with an overwhelming positive. Within one month, we have almost 400 users. Compare this to 75 Facebook users within one year. They like Unifyer because it is “contained”. Our Facebook users are using both tools – there is a marked difference between the fun of Facebook and the intimacy that gets created in Unifyer. People like that they can share certain things on Facebook that get shared with the rest of the world – but when they want to talk about a problem in their life, or a prayer request – they might not want that global for their school and work friends on Facebook.
2. For the first time, ministry leaders and staff and taking complete responsibility for their announcements. The level of creativity and ownership that they are taking is amazing and is bringing so much power to the process.
3. People are sharing their stories – even by commenting on an announcement. This alone is amazing.
4. I've had people come up and introduce themselves to me during a weekend service and I've said, “I already met you.” They have to remind me that we have only met and conversed in Unifyer. That's how seamless it feels to connect with people using Unifyer.
5. While there has been some concern with Flash, and a few people have taken awhile to get up and running…once they are, they love the Interface. It is so clean and easy-to-use. At first, one might look for tons of features that are Facebook-esque. However, the more you use it – the more the simplicity shines and keeps the tool focused on what it does well.
6. Oh yes, and our final goal of launching LifeGroups. Without Unifyer, I can't begin to imagine how we would have done this. With Unifyer, we are seeing hundreds of people flowing into groups.
I'm sure the folks at Unifyer will continue to add and improve features, but just as it is – it is the single most powerful tool that I have introduced to our church in the last 10 years.
Cyndi Roberts
Communications and Technology
Montrose Church
Cyndi,
So glad you added your thoughts and I am very encouraged to hear about your results! My thoughts, again, were from a technological perspective… and technology, in and of itself, never knocks out-for-the-count “success” of adoption on it's own limited merit.
And, this is obvious due to your testimony! Thanks so much, again, for chiming in. Invaluable, and I hope that you're able to provide great feedback as well as best-practices for others seeking to adopt it as a ministry tool.
One final thought is as your congregation begins to use it and begins brainstorming “other” possibilities, you may find yourself quite limited because of the technology, but perhaps you may never need more than the core offering gives…!
Still looking at Unifyer. When I go back, I get a little more from it each time. So could a core of people from my church, say 6-8 people who would have a strategy to reach out with the “tool” be enough to promote it to broad use over — say 3-4 months?
Has anyone used ning or ?? to have their church embrace such a social interaction in their church? Also, we are a smaller congregation — for now
with a desire to become connected and effective.
Can you discuss adoption and integration of a congregation to these new technologies? Suggestion for alternatives to try? I like you just want it to work, heh!
Ning is an interesting platform and can be customized for your use. I'm sure some congregations or ministries have used it, but I know of none personally.
For your adoption plan, you certainly could have a core of “enthusiasts” that reaches out and evangelizes the system… but can you guys handle the financials? Is it the “best” system for what you really need done?
And that's a good start… what's the end goal?