A brief history of FreePint's social interactions
Jinfo Blog

By Robin Neidorf

Abstract

Cast your mind back to 1996. A new search engine called Google launched. The first DVD players were being sold. The hottest new gadget on the market was the Palm Pilot.

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You may have landed on this article because you followed a link from the now-defunct FreePint Bar. The Bar is no longer available for viewing. Here's why:

Cast your mind back to 1996. A new search engine called Google launched. The first DVD players were being sold. The hottest new gadget on the market was the Palm Pilot.

There is no doubt: it's a whole different world today.

1996 was the year in which the company that soon became known as FreePint was founded. Amongst its unique features was the FreePint Bar, a lively, peer-to-peer forum in which researchers could ask and answer each other's tricky research questions.

For years, the FreePint Bar was unique on the emerging web, in that it brought together individuals from all over the world for discussion and debate about professional topics. Back then, "social media" was not even a concept. Many organistions had only the barest of brochure-ware websites. The internet had not yet reconfigured how business gets done, let alone how professionals could find and connect with each other.

End of an era

Recently, we took the decision to close down the FreePint Bar and the FUMSI Forum. This decision was not taken lightly, particularly given the historical significance of the Bar and the personal fondness so many long-term FreePint fans have had for it.

But the fact is that an online environment for peer-to-peer interaction is no longer unique. And there are many other environments that serve that need more effectively than FreePint can. Let's start with the now-successful LinkedIn Groups, Facebook, and intranet-embedded collaborative tools, to name but a few. Add to that the second-by-second interactions available by the likes of Twitter, and it's surprising at times that any of us are ever productive.

Since 1996, hardly any elements of the information world remain unchanged. FreePint's activities and focus are no exception. FreePint today is all about developing content, products and resources that support the value of information in the enterprise. The FreePint Bar, beloved as it was, no longer fit those objectives.

Cultivating social presence

Maintaining effective online interactions requires expertise, technology and support -- no one understands this better than FreePint. Today, we use the medium of webinars to provide unique online opportunities for professional development. In 10 years, it's certain that we'll be using something else entirely.

We also continue to foster interaction through Disqus, a third-party service we've implemented alongside every article (including this one!), where we ask for your comment and feedback. You'll also find a series of "share" options at the top of all our content. We use them ourselves to let our networks in other social spaces (such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter) know what we're up to, and we hope you'll pass along items you find particularly useful.

You'll also find a "Live Support" box on every page of our sites. We staff this resource across UK and US business hours, and if you have questions at any time, you can use this tool to engage in live chat with a FreePint staff member. 

What stays consistent? Our commitment to improving the ways digital information, connections and interactions affect knowledge work. Wherever technology takes us, FreePint is committed to investigating, surfacing and sharing best practices in helping you harness it.

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