Multiply News

As you may be aware, Multiply is changing its headquarters from the US to Indonesia and a new CEO took over the reins of the company earlier this month. The reason for this change stems from the fact that even though initially most people used the platform as a communication sharing vehicle, customers in Southeast Asia were using Multiply as a trading platform to buy and sell goods, a use that was against the terms of service at the time. As this usage grew, and not wanting to let this opportunity go to waste, the company's focus has been steadily moving from simple communication to e-commerce, and nowadays, the number of customers in Indonesia and the Philippines using Multiply is much larger than the rest of the world. As such, they have decided to base their operations where the larger customer base is located.

How does this change in company focus affect blogs and groups? As of now, we have been assured by the new CEO that "social and commerce can more than co-exist; the social features of our site are what make the commerce so powerful." In an attempt to quell fear, uncertainty, and doubt, he has expressed that "no decisions have been made regarding one part of our community over another, or shutting down anything, or throwing anything out, or any of the various fears that have been voiced in the comments." However, he promised the users of Multiply that if t ever turns out that such actions need to be taken, they will give us plenty of warning and will provide means for people to export their content or migrate elsewhere.

Regardless of what the final outcome of this process is, I want to assure you that I will do whatever I can and is under my control to keep this group alive, wherever it may end up going (or if we stay), and whenever it happens. Lots of members have spent considerable amounts of time in contributions to the website, and I don't want to throw all that work down the drain, if I can avoid it. However, if an eventual migration is unavoidable, I will ask you that if you have contributed with posts containing attachments to the blog, make sure that you keep copies. Migration tools are not perfect: I was able to recover most documents in our previous migration from MSN, but not all documents came over and some were lost forever.

Lastly, I'm optimistic that whatever blog platform is finally chosen (if Multiply blogs cease to exist) would be better than what Multiply is offering right now. When we moved from MSN groups, Multiply was a change of paradigm, but in my opinion, was a more stable and robust platform to support than MSN groups. However, although Multiply's tools and functions were pioneering when they were first established, they haven't made significant changes in the blogging features for the last two years or so, even though users have requested them. So unfortunately the software is not keeping up with the demands of the users, and it is obvious that part of that reason is the company's gradual change in focus and customer base. Nevertheless, with so many competing blogging platforms in existence on the web, I'm sure we will find something that would improve on what we have here.

I will keep you posted as to any new developments. If you're interested in reading the announcements of the past CEO and the current CEO with respect to the move, and the reactions of the user community with regards to this change in focus and location, follow the links. I encourage you to voice your opinion about the matter in those two posts. In the meantime, continue to participate in this blog and enjoy the posts and articles as much as I do.

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