Jumo: Now in Beta

Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes's online platform, Jumo, is now up and running in beta. 

I blogged about Jumo back in September, when it got a $750,000 grant from Omidyar Network -- it hadn't launched at the time. Now, the new site is open for testing. 

You can sign up using your Facebook username and password -- the site in fact looks like  a facsimile of Facebook, making it very easy/familiar to use, while also capitalizing on existing social connections. When I logged in for instance, after being prompted to pick topics I would be interested in following--health, education, human rights etc., I am then taken to organizations that work in these areas and allowed to follow them.

The end result is basically a customized homepage that looks much like your Facebook newsfeed -- populated with "people" (your Facebook friends who are also on Jumo), news about the companies/organizations you are following, suggested projects and subtopics, and the ability to share items and interact with other people in your network.  

Adding a project is easy -- much like creating a group on Facebook. My only grouse with the site is that it's perhaps too simplistic. When you follow a company, all you have to go on is the one line that describes what it is doing. Also, the choice of categories could perhaps be more expansive: "environment and animals" being one umbrella term that is too large and diverse to be useful. 

Given the slew of media attention the site has released-- since it launched in beta and well before -- its likely that we'll be hearing a lot more about Jumo in the months to come. Whether the organization's Facebook-like appeal can vault it over other online platforms to connect individuals and organizations looking to change the world remains to be seen. Its likely that most of the big (and small) names in the nonprofit (and possible some in the social enterprise) arena will sign up. What's key is how the site will manage and index this flow of content to allow users to find the projects they're most interest in, in the easiest manner possible.