Yumondo is a new web 2.0 community site that is currently in closed beta. We had the honor of being invited to use and test the site. While browsing through the site, we met one of the site’s moderators, Mohammad Pashmi. Based in Berlin, Mohammad gave us a friendly European welcome to the site and honored us with an interview. We would like to thank him for his prompt reply and friendship. Click here to grab an invite for Yumondo. Also, the site has just undergone a new design change. The previous design relied on dark colors while the new design uses a white background with bright blue text on the tabs.

IslamCrunch: What is your web application/service about?

Yumondo: Yumondo is about letting people share their style. It’s a service designed to let people upload and share information about their favorite places, events, and things. These things that you associate with are all part of what defines your style in a way.

IslamCrunch: Why did you start this project?

Yumondo: Mostly because we thought it would be fun and interesting. We all share a vision of a world where communities can be connected, and can grow up around common interests and shared tastes and styles.

IslamCrunch:How much time do you devote to its growth?

Yumondo: Well, I serve as the community manager for Metaversum* as a company. Metaversum is the company behind Yumondo, and Yumondo is one of our products. I am also responsible for our community building on other projects, so I only get to spend a few hours per week with the Yumondo community. There are a few other guys who spend much more time there, like Robert and Christian. You can see them in Yumondo and our Yumondo blog.

IslamCrunch:How large is your team and what are your backgrounds?

Yumondo: The Yumondo team is about 8 people. The backgrounds are pretty diverse, with some development people, customer support, IT and marketing.

It’s an internationally diverse team as well.

IslamCrunch: What is your design/service philosophy?

Yumondo: Our philosophy in design is to keep the site focused around those core areas of people, places, events and things. We want Yumondo members to be able to access those technologies very easily from any point on the site. From a service standpoint, we believe that being friendly, honest and helpful are the keys to good customer service. You’ll see that on our blog and in interactions with our team. We make mistakes sometimes, and we know that. If we do, we try to let you know and we try to fix it as quickly and completely as we can.

IslamCrunch: What are the most requested features from your users/community?

Yumondo: There are really two big feature requests – groups and improved usability. We’re working on both of those things now.

IslamCrunch: Where do you see the project heading in the next 6 months?  The next 2 years?

Yumondo: Where we go in the next 6 months and 2 years will both be driven by what the community wants. The community is pushing for groups right now, so we’re working on that next. We’ll have to wait and see what comes next.

IslamCrunch: What is the greatest challenge to your success?

Yumondo: Keeping the community growing and keeping people active on the site. A lot of community sites get people signed up, but can’t keep them coming back. We think that Yumondo can be different in this respect because of the focus on personal style, like places and events. It can help you plan and figure out interesting places to go and things to do.

IslamCrunch: Are there any aspects of this project that has made you proud?

Yumondo: We’re really proud that we’ve gotten such positive attention in our early beta phase. We’ve had several really nice reviews on other blogs, and the members in Yumondo so far have been fairly active. They’ve invited people and for a closed beta, we’ve been really happy with the number of people who want to try it out.

IslamCrunch: How would you describe the shift that’s occurring with the web right now to future generations?

Yumondo: It’s the democratization of the web. The web in the early days was controlled by companies who could afford to populate the content of the web. Nowadays, the technology has come down in price and complexity so much that anyone can contribute valuable content to the web. And users are more aware of their choices and are they’re exercising the right to choose what they want.

IslamCrunch: What do you hope IslamCrunch can help you to accomplish?

Yumondo: We’re happy for the opportunity to talk to anyone about Yumondo, and for the interest.

IslamCrunch: Any other comments?

Yumondo: I just want to say thanks again. I hope that you enjoy Yumondo if you decide to try it out. And if need some help or want to share your feedback on how we can make Yumondo better, please don’t hesitate to contact us. There’s always a Send Feedback link at the bottom of the page.

* = Metaversum will soon launch Twinity - ”…a virtual world that is closely entangled with the real world. Twinity will enhance your real life instead of helping you escape from it.” More info here: 5 Things You Didn’t Know About the Upcoming Twinity Beta