Stitch’s website opens with:
‘Stitch is the world’s only companionship community created by members, for members. Our members are often fulfilled with family, work, and finances, but are looking for something more in their lives: partners, friends, companionship. Everybody needs company, no matter what their age is.’
What is interesting about Stitch is that the content is created ‘by member, for members’, the users create the events, discussion posts and suggestions of activities to connect with other users. When I created an account and searched for any local activities or events near me there seemed to be none available at a close proximity. This highlights a problem with Stitch, if there is no or very few members in your area there will be no activities for you to participate in and therefore are disadvantaged to people who are in more populated areas thus still leaving you still unable to meet people in your community. Although you are still able to chat and discuss things with people on the site, we do not want the members to be solely isolated to connecting over the web and instead want to encourage face to face interaction and not rely on messaging.
An element of Stitch which I like is not only the community events available but also the travel options to join holiday destinations, cruises etc. to open up the chance of meeting people alike from around the world not constricted to people in your community and allow elderly people to go on holiday if they do not have a companion to travel with. You are able to suggest your own activities to the blog to see if anyone will be interested, you are able to comment, click interested and attending on the event. These features however are only available to premium members which requires a monthly fee, if you are a free member you can still see what events are available however cannot comment, click attend, find information, see times of meeting etc. Therefore this page is made redundant for free members, making it too difficult to attend the events and may make the user uneasy about attending having not been able to communicate to others that you are attending.
What strikes me about the travel discussions is that it is very unorganised, there are multiple suggestions of holidays people are interested in however a lack of structure in dates, hotels, transport etc.
What is interesting about Stitch is:
‘Apart from the product development done by Stitch’s very small technology team, most of what happens on Stitch is driven by our many Stitch Community Champions, who are located in Stitch communities around the world.
(Becoming a Community Champion is easy, by the way: you just need to volunteer!)’
Stitch is run mostly from volunteers of the Stitch Community, this relies heavily on the time of volunteers to ensure they are providing the best service possible. In one sense this element is useful, free labour from volunteers who are experiencing loneliness and want to seek companionship, they can empathise fully with their users as they are in a similar position therefore can create the elements of the website around their needs with help from their technology team. They can understand what people like them are looking for therefore this encourages other members to also chip in with their suggestions as it creates a Community of others alike working together but relies heavily on user participation.
The Romance section is quite intricate which allows for a better match of companion. The user answers a series of questions of what they are seeking, complex details of what they are interested in, travel interests, hobbies, classes etc. to find the best match for you. The page then takes you to a series of profiles in which you can like and begin conversations with, dismiss or come back to later. You can only view user’s profiles fully once becoming a verified user (using Government ID or social networking profiles), I like this element as it makes the profile more secure and honest making it harder for people to make fake profiles and lie to users. Once a verified user you are able to study other users profiles to find what you are looking for. However, once again you have to become a premium member to use this section and only get 5 free profiles to browse on the free membership.
Although Stitch has some great components in various areas for over 50’s to find what they are looking for whether it be community, romance, travel, friendship and conversation it is unfortunate that you have to be a premium member which involves a monthly fee to enjoy most of these elements. It is understandable that the company has to generate a revenue to run the site and since there are no adverts (which makes it less irritable for the users) it is necessary for there to be a premium membership, however I think this is taken too far as free members can only chat and view what premium members are organising and not participate in any of the features which is a shame as the older generation may be more inclined to pay for a premium membership having found some features useful however it is hard to generate a feeling of the usefulness of the site when you are unable to take part in any of the features. What may encourage people to believe the site works is the Testimonies which are written by members, rating the site and how it has improved their lives and reduced loneliness, these are genuine opinions and therefore more influential to potential customers.
I like the layout as it seems to be presented in blocks and squares where the images take up the most part so it is easy to acknowledge what each section is concerned with. Icons are large for each section making it easy to understand and large buttons to click on. Everything is explained thoroughly and simply on their site, if any user is confused there is a blog page in which the owners will explain any queries, the blog is a very useful page as many users have queries where the business is going, what the premium fee is for, how it works etc. where they have received fast and comprehensive details on what Stitch can do for them, they come across genuine for helping members and adds to the genuine helping nature of the company.
So what are they missing?
First and foremost I would extend more features out to free members at least to establish an online community in each actual community to ensure there are events for users to attend in each city and area of a country as the premium membership means that less users are able to create and attend events, limiting the amount of people who are going to communicate which is the whole aim of the site.
The company have only a website and I would extend this out to Apps for phones and tablets. This could then enable users to meet new people in areas they may be travelling in much easier than having to find a computer, for example if an individual was visiting another city and wanted to see what events were happening near them in an area they may be unfamiliar with they could simply open the app on events near you and attend events in that area.
What I think would also be useful would be an integration of Maps in the events section, users may want to attend events that are in areas unfamiliar to them and therefore may be worried about how to get there. With an integration of maps it could show different transportation routes to get there including walking, public transport, local taxis etc.
Another element I think it would be interesting to integrate would not only be activities and events suggested by users but activities which are already happening in your area which you may be unaware of. It could integrate community activities such as yoga classes, societies, and sports activities etc. which are held in your area, you can then see if any other users are interested in attending. These events would be advertised by the event holder therefore there would be a separate account for business holders to set up and post events suitable for over 50’s.
https://www.stitch.net/app/home