Social media accounts can be soapboxes used to broadcast opinions, air grievances, and share daily experiences with anyone and everyone.
But what if you want a more intimate experience with your significant other? There’s a social network for that, too.
Ourspot is a new startup for couples who want to document their relationship online. Designed to be shared only with one another and a few close friends, it serves as a joint profile page on which both you and your better half post photos, links, and text updates—primarily imported from Facebook.
“The idea for Ourspot actually grew from a conversation that my girlfriend and I were having around engagement (wedding) websites, and how many of them lacked a special touch that really captured the nuances and personality of a relationship,” Ourspot founder Sam Yam told the Daily Dot.
The platform’s slogan is “a beautiful way to remember and engage with the relationships that matter most.” That’s right, plural. Whether you’re polyamorous or just overly friendly, you can make an Ourspot profile with the Facebook friends that the platform decides are your closest.
We envisioned couples and/or close groups of friends (think ‘The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants’) could setup spots together and share the interests and daily moments of their lives with one another and not worry how everything they shared would be broadcasted to the world. Traditionally email and one-to-one messaging filled the gaps here, but Ourspot’s role is in capturing the buildup of these interactions in a beautiful and organized way.
—Sam Yam
There are still a few kinks to be worked out, however. Take this reporter’s experience.
Ourspot gave me the option to create pages with 10 different people, which it scraped from my Facebook data. Even though it had asked permission to view my relationships, my top suggestion was an acquaintance I barely remembered from high school. My fiance was number nine. Ourspot didn’t think I was close enough to create a page with my best friend.
But what if I really wanted to make an Ourspot page with my best friend? I used the platform’s “Invite Friends” option to get him to join the service. But after he accepted my invitation, Ourspot gave him his own limited social network, which didn’t overlap with mine.
“This is partially why we’re revamping the spot creation and signup flow,” Yam told me.
Yam suggested a few fixes for me, but we are still working through email to try to resolve the issue. He said I may be misunderstanding the way the process works, and that is something I will readily concede.
But is there any use for a network that applies your relationships to a bulletin board like Pinterest and limits it to a fixed network size like Path? Heck, is there any use for a network that has so much trouble letting you choose your friends yourself? We’ll be keeping an eye out to let you know.
Photo by Millzero
