The Problem
Organizations have multiple communication systems (email, instant messaging, collaboration spaces, community networks, etc.) and each system has benefits. However, often poor communication still exists: communication silos are still impenetrable, over-sharing and under-sharing still occur, and keeping information relevant is cumbersome.
Most communication systems are not designed to handle messages which do not have a clear audience, need to reach multiple audiences, or have no existing communication strategy in place. These messages may go unsent or blasted as global messages. Valuable information lost, misunderstood, delayed or too late.
Pain Points
Email / Instant Messaging
Email / Instant Messaging
Email / Instant Messaging
Over-sharing and under-sharing.
Distribution lists may be incomplete or out-dated.
Splintered threads or active threads are harder to track.
Chat Rooms / Groups
Email / Instant Messaging
Email / Instant Messaging
Need for multiple rooms within the same topic to account for different audiences.
No way to organize messages and older messages are hard to find and update.
Often rooms just mimic existing hierarchies within the organization.
Users must learn the rules to use.
Forums / Wikis
Email / Instant Messaging
Forums / Wikis
Site requires moderation and terms of use to keep information relevant.
Over time, stale information making valid information harder to find.
Community site where structure must be agreed upon and maintained.
Users must learn the rules to use.
FEATURes
We build Mercury from the ground up to address communication challenges. Features include:
Recipient-less messaging
Messages in Mercury are status updates or posts similar to other traditional social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. The ability to send recipient-less messages helps eliminate the need to maintain numerous, often outdated and incomplete distribution lists. It allows the sender to focus on the message and not the logistics of how to send the message.
Priority determined by recipients
Mercury is able to provide recipients context for the message they receive and allows them to make informed decisions about the messages and how to process them. Recipients can keep an eye on the important messages while still keeping track of the less urgent ones.
Organized incoming/outgoing messages
Mercury organizes both incoming and outgoing messages by based on the needs of each senders and recipients. This allows messages to be sorted and easy to retrieve over time for each person involve in the thread.
Messages reach interested recipients (No spam)
Messages are stored by topics in Mercury similar to online forums and boards like Reddit and Wikipedia. Topics allow interested participants to agree on the focus and tone of a discussion. If rules of use are adhered to, topic based conversations can help eliminate spam.
No procedural rules of use
Rules of use are often necessary to help control off-topic discussions to keep information relevant and up-to-date. However, they make the platforms harder to use and may encourage under-communication, which still contributes to poor communication.
Unlike online forums or boards, Mercury does not require rules of use to keep information relevant or up-to-date.
No moderation required
Tied to "rules of use" are the need for enforcers to make the messages stay on topic and up to date. In addition to the overhead and workload increase, moderation can make the tone of online spaces negative and make users hesitant to contribute. In an organizational environment, often the moderators of the platforms are not the subject matter expert of the content and the subject matter expert lacks the resources or permissions to properly maintain the content.
Customizable user space
On popular social networking platforms, 65-90% of users rarely, if ever, post a single message. Mercury provides a useful service directly to each user, giving them the ability to organize their thoughts and develop a communication strategy that benefits them. Users can tailor their interactions while still allowing engagement in conversations they wish to have.
For organizations, it means their members never need to worry about oversharing. There is a place to store all the information their users find valuable, even if they are the only person who finds that information valuable.