When former Ning CEO and co-founder Gina Bianchini launched social network Mightybell in September, she had a vision for users to “take new social technologies and turn them into compelling experiences for people in the real world.”
Mightybell launched as an app that allowed users to work to achieve goals by giving them the chance to take real-world actions with the encouragement of friends.
Now, after extensive feedback from users and an internal push forward, the social network is shifting focus to roll out a new platform for groups. The groups pages give users the opportunity to congregate around a specific focus, like a book club, and share related files, photos, and videos.
“Our users told us they really wanted to pull people together in an unstructured, creative way,” Bianchini said, noting that a Mightybell group could take the place of an email chain among friends discussing a common topic. Mightybell users can ask questions, share content and chat within groups pages.
Bianchini founded Mightybell after she left Ning and joined Andreessen Horowitz as an entrepreneur in residence in 2010. Before launching, Mightybell raised a $ 2.1 million seed round led by Floodgate and First Round Capital, with other angel investors participating.
The goal-achievement version of Mightybell, called “Steps,” which GigaOm wrote about in September, will still exist and users will be able to continue setting and achieving goals for themselves and others.
But Bianchini said the company is excited about the groups concept, and will be focusing on building users within that space. She said Mightybell has already seen users create “thousands of groups,” with a high degree of engagement, and they’re excited to see how that grows.
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