Interview With Dave From Socialbrowse

Its always fun to get into something new, something that tries to break the monotony set by others. My addiction with Social Media drove me to try out Socialbrowse the other day and since then I have been going at it, nonstop. If you would like to learn more about Socialbrowse please read this article where we covered a little more on Socialbrowse.

We had a chance to talk with Dave Fowler who co-founded Socialbrowse along with Zack Garbow. Zack wasn’t available at the moment so Dave gave us a little more insight on Socialbrowse and how it all started.

Here is a short interview we did with Dave regarding Socialbrowse,

What is the idea behind Social Browse? What social media void does it fill ?

Dave : Socialbrowse is attempting to make the act of browsing the web more social.  Previously web surfing was something you did alone except on occasion you discuss or even email things you’ve discovered with your friends.  You could also join communities like digg or reddit which are destination sites and in a different way you can share and communicate there.

With Socialbrowse, we’ve extended the browser with new ideas to embed a social aspect everywhere you go.  Its not a destination site, and its a lot easier than email.  It simply becomes an extension of your browser that intuitively connects you with friends and exciting content that you would otherwise not have found.

I have a heard a lot of comparison with Stumble Upon. How do you differentiate?

Dave : Stumbleupon is also an extension with a social network.  It has similar components, but its done in a completely different way.  Its a great service and actually works well along with Socialbrowse but neither is a replacement of the other.  Socialbrowse focuses more on the community, pointing out what is being shared and who its been shared by.

I think those that have tried it out know that the whole feel and purpose of Socialbrowse is dramatically different.

How many users do you currently have?

Dave : We’re in private beta with a little over 2500 users.  Its enough to keep a very active, friendly and helpful community while we feverishly expand and tune our features for a public release.  Our community mostly consists of the early adopter social media junkies who’re full of fantastic feedback on how to make Socialbrowse a killer tool.  We also have a large group of people who aren’t social media or tech addicts, who make sure we keep the functionality as simple and intuitive as possible.  Its really a great mix of people.

We have a roadmap and several tools built to dramatically expand in numbers once we do a public launch, but for now its really helpful to keep a small core audience that is just as excited about new improvements as we are.  Thanks to all who’ve helped out so far!

Any set dates on public launch?

Dave : No set date yet.  We’ll be deciding the feature set we want to launch with this week, and will set a deadline for ouselves based on how long we think it will take to get there.

Although not a suitable question : What are some areas that need work on Social Browse currently?

Dave : We’re only a month and a half old, and still in private beta, so there are many things we can and are improving.  We try to make a blog post once a week about the major enhancements we released during the week.

Some features for the near future are search, better email functionality, improved categories, further speed optimizations and a lot more.  We also focus heavily on feed organization and filtering to optimize the personal relavence of the shared items in the social feed.

There is a non-stop flow of work that needs to be done, mostly fueled by user requests and reports through our extensive feedback system, and we’re working hard to keep up!

And finally, what is your background?

Dave : We both met while working at IBM.  Zack worked on IBM research projects and I worked for the team that designed the CPU for the Xbox 360 and next generation technologies.  We became friends through a mutual love for patents, and filed for a few together.   Zack was a Master Inventor, the youngest in IBM history, and was a mentor to me.  We also discovered that we both wanted to start a startup and that we were both skilled at web development.  So, we decided to apply to Y Combinator together.  Within a couple months we were accepted, given a round of seed funding, quit IBM, and moved to the Valley to make Socialbrowse.  And the rest is History!

NH : Thanks for taking the time to answer some of our questions and letting NH readers know a little more about Socialbrowse.

At this point I would like to urge all Nethackz readers to give Socialbrowse a try. It certainly is one of the social sites that I have seen in a long time that actually is “social.” Its true that most site in the beginning set on fire and with time run out of juice. But seeing Dave and Zack as some of the most active participant within their own community is a delight to see and a sure sign of success.

Success follows people who want to make it happen. I have been in social media scene for a while and the way Socialbrowse is going it is a success in the making. Give it a try.