It’s nice when your company generates a little attention in the press. It’s nicer still when so much of what is written is on the money. Yesterday the Boulder Daily Camera covered iggli’s invitation service – invite – and left readers with the impression that we’d like to see our button used on every online listing of ticketed events. That’s accurate. They also accurately captured a couple other key notions:

  • that events are social
  • that the friends who are going to a particular event are often as important (or more important) than the event itself
  • that most people pay more attention to information or invitations from friends

And the part they really got right, the part I particularly liked, was the notion that “one click of the widget” helps folks get through a process that would otherwise be tedious, time consuming and filled with frustration. You’ll know this is true if you’ve ever tried to invite more than two people to a concert or a playoff game. The process is ridiculous.

  • Which event?
  • Which friends should I invite?
  • Do I talk to them by phone to see if their interested? Text? Email? Facebook? Twitter?
  • How do I deal with the fact that some of my friends use Facebook (and won’t read email) and some use email exclusively (and won’t touch Facebook)?
  • How do I keep track of those who respond?
  • How many tickets do we need?
  • Who is going to buy them?
  • How are we going to handle reimbursement?
  • Will we all get to sit together?
  • How do we get the best seats?
  • What if someone can’t make it at the last minute?
  • What’s the best way to communicate with the whole group about our plans on the day of the show or game?

There’s more. But you get the idea. The process can be . . .  problematic.

iggli’s invite service has been designed as a way to deal with these issues. It’s not perfect. We have a long way to go to make the service as easy to use, useful, and fun as we think it should / could be. So feedback is welcome and appreciated! One of the biggest shortcomings of the service is the relatively few places you can find it or use it.  If you’re a fan who wants to take a group to see a Lakers game, a show at Red Rocks, the Michael Jackson memorial concert at Staples Center or anyone of a thousand different events around the country, you’re going to be out of luck for at least another few weeks. Because right now, you can only use the service if our invite widget appears on an event page.

We’ve already made substantial progress in this department. Today iggli’s services have been embraced by Nederlander Concerts, The Greek Theatre, The Grove Theater, Bill Silva Entertainment and Management, Jason Mraz and StubHub. And we have some big deals to talk about in the not-too-distant future. But things will really get interesting when you can use iggli’s service with just about any event you can find. And that capability is right around the corner. So please, stay tuned!

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