GroupMe Blog

The NBA Finals on GroupMe: Almost a Record-Breaker

On Sunday night, we saw a huge traffic spike in groups across the U.S. during the last game of the NBA Finals, peaking during the last hour of the game. In fact, near the end of the game, the count of messages per hour was nearing 3 times average hourly levels. Check out the chart:

(all times EDT)

The spike was so dramatic and pronounced that we nearly assumed it was a record.

A search of our database, though, revealed an even busier hourlong period on a different Sunday night a few weeks prior. On Sunday, May 1, the 11PM EDT hour was even higher, well above 3 times average traffic, and lightyears away from the rest of the pack. So what happened then?

It was the precise hour of President Obama’s press conference announcing the death of Osama bin Laden. Talk about a newsworthy event.

We’re thrilled that people nationwide are using GroupMe to talk about exciting moments in the news as they happen with their closest friends and family, and we look forward to seeing this record broken again and again over the coming months.

Our office is open!

Well, technically, we moved in here two months ago, but our new place is finally finished and ready to show off! Today, you have three chances to see it.

First and foremost, if you’re in New York, our office will be open from 2-5PM today as a part of Walkabout NYC. Come see us! We’re at 26 West 17th Street, on the 10th floor. Not everyone is here, but you know what? We’ll have fun anyway.

If you can’t make it in person, you have to check out this amazing video made by our lead designer, Kevin David Crowe. It chronicles our adventures moving into this office and moving stuff around, in a time-lapse that spans over a month.

Finally, in case you missed it, check out our episode of TechCrunch Cribs, which came out earlier this week. MG Siegler¹ really knocked it out of the park, and it was fun having him here.

See you around the office!

¹Yes, we know that was Jason Kincaid. It was a joke. Guess you had to be there.

New Featured Groups for June!

We couldn’t be more thrilled to start off the summer right, with four new Featured Groups. Whether you’re hitting the park with friends for a concert or relaxing in front of the TV, these new Featured Groups will help you and your friends have a great, entertaining summer.

Take a look at who’s joining us:

Oxygen’s The World According to Paris - Paris Hilton leads our new groups with her brand new series on Oxygen. The World According to Paris gives fans the chance to see an entirely new side of the American Princess that isn’t all flitz, glamour, and paparazzi—and a Paris group will help you and your friends discuss the latest episode. You might even get a chance to chat with Paris herself!
The Black Eyed Peas’ Concert 4 NYC to Benefit Robin Hood - Next Thursday, June 9th, The Black Eyed Peas and Friends are joining with NYC’s largest poverty-fighting organization, Robin Hood, to raise funds to help the 1.8 million New Yorkers living in poverty. If you’re going to the show, create a group to stay in touch with your friends across Central Park’s Great Lawn. We love both the Black Eyed Peas and this great NYC cause, so enjoy the show!
Spike TV’s Guys Choice Awards - Spike TV’s annual Guys Choice Awards is going down on Friday, June 10th. This Featured Group will connect you with your buddies watching the show to chat about who’s winning those golden antlers. This year’s nominees include Kobe Bryant, Daniel Tosh, Mila Kunis, Mark Zuckerberg, and, wait for it… Snooki.
Governors Ball Music Festival - Saturday, June 18th will feature the inaugural Governors Ball Music Festival on beautiful Governor’s Island in New York. This 12-hour day offers non-stop music from artists like Girl Talk and Pretty Lights, alongside great food, drinks, art installations, and more. After getting your tickets, be sure to set up your Governors Ball group to organize for the ferry ride over, get last-minute announcements, and keep in touch throughout the busy day. Have fun!

As always, our Featured Groups continue to offer behind-the-scenes updates, announcements, exclusive content, and the chance to win some cool prizes.
We can’t wait for what the month of June will bring, and these exciting groups are a great kick-start to the summer season.

Families on GroupMe

Judging by the hundreds of emails we get from users every week, we’ve had a hunch for a while now that families are some of GroupMe’s biggest users. Plus, most of us here on the team have groups with our own families—it just seems like a natural fit.

So this week, we decided to go further than that and get the real story on families using GroupMe. At the end of last week, we tweeted a quick request for stories about families using GroupMe, and put it on our Facebook page. Within an hour, our inbox had dozens of awesome stories from people who are in groups with their families.

Right off the bat, users were telling us about how GroupMe had changed the way they communicate with the people closest to them. One email from a pastor in Illinois said “we just used GroupMe to set up our Memorial Day plans as a family!”.

Another was from a father in Washington who told us about his group with his “wife, 2 teenage daughters, father, 2 sisters, and 2 teenage nieces,” where every Friday, everyone sends around messages wishing everyone else a good weekend.

There are a lot of stories. So before we get into those any further, let’s take a step back and look at the statistics.

A search of our group database revealed that over 10% of groups are called “Family”, or something similar (“Parents”, “Siblings”). That’s huge!

Those family groups have an average of 4.5 members per group, accidentally lending credence to the old “2 parents and 2.5 kids” chestnut.

Now, 11% is a lot of groups, but without figuring out what the rest of those groups are for, it’s hard to say just how powerful GroupMe has become for families. That’s why we looked into the names of group members next.

A comprehensive top-level analysis of all groups on GroupMe (not just the “Family” ones) led us to some great findings, displayed here in this very complicated infographic:

That’s right. By a huge margin, Moms and Dads are the most popular people in groups. (For what it’s worth, numbers 3-5 are Chris, Mike, and Alex. Go figure).

And the stories we received totally back up these statistics, and then some.

Check out this one, for example:

My family is spread out from Oklahoma, Arkansas and Tennessee.

We are all super-close despite the distance. But it was hard to have to make 4 phone calls just to tell them what is going on.

GroupMe has made it SO much easier to keep them updated even on the small things of life that you would never really want to call about.

[…] Our ages range from 13 to 60. (Grandson to Grandpa)

It’s made it so nice, and kept us close. My whole family loves it and I constantly get texts from them!

Thanks GroupMe.

One of our other favorites is from Jayne, an American who recently moved to London. She writes:

I use GroupMe with my twin and little sister (well she’s 17 so not really little anymore) now that I’m living in London. It works – we send each other jokes and family/friend gossip. I miss them so it’s almost like we’re in the same room again when we text each other on GroupMe.

So now I never miss an awkward moment to share or be shared with my sisters or ask them for advice *cheesy thumbs up* - but seriously - it makes home a bit closer for me.

Carol in California has lots of groups for different uses within her extended family. Last one, I promise!

We use GroupMe all the time. In fact we use several different groups within our family for different purposes. I come from a big family, so I have many sisters and brothers. Using GroupMe simplifies the process of communicating and staying in touch with family. Try coordinating 10 brothers and sisters for a simple event […] with GroupMe there is no question what the plans are or who was invited.

We also have one that we use for our immediate family and I don’t have to worry that my husband has picked up my daughter […] We are all on the same group so when she says she’s out of school or any event she attends I know she’s ready and when she’s been picked up.

We live in San Diego and about a year ago two young girls about my daughter’s age were picked up and killed right outside of her high school so you don’t know how much that peace of mind really means. I could go on and on with how we use GroupMe. GroupMe has really been a blessing to have. Thank you so much for this awesome communication tool.

Then there are stories from college students using GroupMe to keep in touch with their extended family while away from home, young parents using it to coordinate with babysitters and carpools, and whole family reunions planned and re-planned entirely over GroupMe. Families love GroupMe.

And needless to say, we love that families are using GroupMe to make their lives easier and more enjoyable, across generations and across oceans. Thank you all very much.

Of course, we want to hear how you are using GroupMe and feature it here. Send your story to stories@groupme.com.

GroupMe Named one of Time Inc.’s “10 NYC Startups to Watch”!

We’re excited to announce that we’ve been selected as one of Time Inc.’s “10 NYC Startups to Watch” for Internet Week 2011. We love building GroupMe in New York, and the other startups on the list just help to show why—it’s an amazing community of great people building great products. We’re proud to be in such great company.

Many thanks to the editors at Time, Inc.!

GroupMe for BlackBerry 2.0.30

Hey BlackBerry users, today is your day! We’re happy to announce that the newest version of our app is now publicly available for you to download and enjoy.

Here’s what’s new:

In-app chat. Now you have the option of receiving GroupMe messages right in the app instead of via SMS. Talk as much as you want without hitting your text plan.
Instant notifications. You will get messages as soon as GroupMe receives them. BlackBerry notifications also appear in your universal inbox when you receive new messages.
Photo Sharing. Take and share photos with your groups right within the app—or choose one you already took from your phone.
An improved, fresh user interface.
Bug fixes, battery improvements, optimizations.

You can download it here [click from BB], and it will be available in App World soon.

Any questions? We’re here to help.

Introducing the GroupMe Client Library

This weekend here in New York, hundreds of hackers will participate in the TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon. That same event was the birthplace of GroupMe last year, so we’re really excited to see what gets made this year. We’ll also be presenting an API workshop and talk today to show attendees how to use GroupMe in their hacks this weekend, and our co-founders will be giving a talk on how to create a viable product in a 24-hour hackathon.

In that spirit, we’re so excited to introduce the GroupMe Client Library today. We’re giving select developers access to a collection of drop-in UI components for Android and iPhone, as well as access to our API. You can bring full GroupMe functionality to your app in minutes—and then customize it however you want from there.

Here’s a quick screenshot tour of what it looks like.

This is a very simple sample app we created just to show what integration of our Client Library could look like. It’s fully customizable, so you’re not confined to what’s seen here, but it’s just a quick example of how easy it is to add GroupMe to any app.

GroupMe tab with introduction to GroupMe. Tap “Start a group…”

Put in your phone number (if already registered with GroupMe, the app is authenticated. if not, we send a PIN to register that number with GroupMe).

Create a group by adding people from contacts or by number or email. Hit done…

And you can view, edit, text, and call the group directly from inside this other app. Tap “Open GroupMe…”

…and you can view the full text of the chat from inside the GroupMe app. If you don’t have the GroupMe app, you’re prompted to install it. Tap the grey “Return to” bar, and you are returned right back to the other app.

Only the groups you’ve created in this other app appear in it… your full list of groups, including any made in third-party apps, will still appear in the GroupMe app.

The Client Library for iOS here, and the SDK for Android is here. Inside you will get a Xcode workspace containing two projects: the actual Client Library and a demo app showing the basic usage of the drop-in UI components and making direct API requests with it. Make sure to read the README.mdown file to guide you through bootstrapping the Client Library in your app. The documentation for the API available to the client libraries can be found here.

You’ll be seeing this library in action in the apps of a few of our brand partners to start, but we’re looking forward to seeing where else it can go. All the repositories are public, but you’ll need an access key to use the API. Request a key here.

Now go make some cool stuff!

We’re featured in Android Market!

Our Android app is better than ever, and it looks like someone noticed… we’re featured this week at the top of the Android Market. How exciting!

If you’ve been using GroupMe via SMS, now’s a great time to try the app (on BlackBerry, Android, or iPhone). Start groups more easily, share photos and locations, and stop paying for text messages… all for free.

When Disaster Strikes
Staying in touch when it matters most

Our users continue to surprise us with unexpected and utterly amazing uses for GroupMe. Today, we’re digging into some data and emails from our users to look at a vital use of our service: communicating during emergencies.

At the end of April, an outbreak of tornadoes in the American South devastated towns across the region, killing hundreds and causing billions of dollars in property damage. It already ranks among the most tragic natural disasters in American history.

As expected, GroupMe users nationwide were definitely talking about the tornadoes in their groups. Look at how the trend spiked during that period for messages mentioning “emergency”, “tornado”, or “disaster”.

With the news about the impending tornadoes spreading through the media and public social networks, talk about emergencies on GroupMe skyrocketed to nearly 4 times the usual level.

More interestingly, though, we also found that people on the ground in affected areas found a much more practical use for GroupMe. With the power out across most of the state, landlines didn’t work, and data networks were congested. In Alabama, simple SMS and cell phone calls were sometimes the only technologies that worked.

Indeed, our data shows that usage in Alabama spiked to over 208% normal usage levels during the tornadoes. The graph is stunning:

What followed were amazing emails carrying stories of people using GroupMe to check in with family and friends, or even communicate with first responders. Just look at this one, from a user in northern Alabama:

With power out across North AL I was introduced personally to GroupMe’s use and it is awesome when all that really works is text. I’m promoting use with small groups of people that are narrowly focused on specific relief pieces [… e]ven promoting it as a business continuity tool within my company since we lost touch with all of our staff and had a few people directly located within the path of the storms.

Or this one, from a county EMS coordinator in North Carolina:

During our recent tornadoes in North Carolina we were able to coordinate our emergency response group via GroupMe. The simple interface and rapid setup allowed quick use of SMS to get folks informed and moving in to help. I know this is not the “intended” use of the system, but when time is limited and the need is there to message and establish a group phone conference, things worked really well. SMS has become a unified message system with so many of our staff on different phone platforms. GroupMe helped unified our tasks as well as assisted in the timeline of events.

This use case is something we didn’t see coming, but we couldn’t be more proud that GroupMe is helping people stay in touch when they need it most. This kind of story is exactly why we are so devoted to making GroupMe the best way to keep in touch with your groups, anytime, anywhere.

Of course, the process of rebuilding after the damage is nowhere near done. Please consider donating to funds dedicated to helping affected areas in the south.

Also, we want to hear how you are using GroupMe and feature it here. Send your story to stories@groupme.com.

(photo via jamiesrabbits on flickr)

GroupMe at Google I/O 2011

We’re happy to announce that we’ve been selected to participate in the Developer Sandbox at this year’s Google I/O conference, which starts tomorrow. Our Android development team (Mike and Geoff) and cofounder Steve Martocci will be there, showing off all that our Android app has to offer.

We’re proud to be in such great company in the Android category, and can’t wait to meet other awesome developers. See you there!

2 years ago