What an amazing year it has been! We released the UNA 9 Final and reached 3,000 members mark here at UNA.IO. The community is energised, development is active and we are growing faster and faster...
Reaching 1 Million members is still a long-shot proposition, of course, but we are clearly on the right track. Can't wait to see what's going to happen in 2019. 😃
2018 Reflections
Not everything is smooth and mellow. As a bootstrapped company we have to always maintain profitability and it often means that we must prioritise work with paying clients (especially X-level service plans) over everything else. If we were a VC-backed/funded we would surely be able to progress development at a much faster pace. On the other hand exprnal funding often comes with "strings attached", which may call for rather unwelcome compromises. So, it's an open question for us still, at least until we become comfortably profitable without custom projects or unless we get financial backing from someone fully aligned with our values and principles.
Anyhow, we continue development and work on a number of custom projects; Dolphin 7 is finally getting an update; native mobile apps development is re-activated and JOT is shaping up.
The contribution from UNA.IO community members in 2018 has been mindblowing! We had elaborate test reports, feature suggestions, and most importantly - members helping each other, sharing how-to's, tips and instructions. This is the main force that motivates us day by day. Thank you so much! This brings me to the next point...
3000 Premium Members
Here at UNA.IO we have Standard and Premium memberships activated now. Standard members can not post links, create Posts, Polls, Groups, Products and initiate Conversations. Standard can only create Updates, Discussions and post Comments.
Premium members can create all types of content and share links. Once can become a Premium member by buying a $12/year subscription or simply by being an active and diligent member (we manually upgrade such profiles for free). The main purpose of these levels is to suppress SPAM and reduce noise from "test" posts. In the future, we plan to add more perks for being a Premium member, including early feature previews, periodic specials, Market discounts and new actions across the site.
Now, in the spirit of Chrismas, Solstice, Hanukkah, New Year, and whatever else rocks your boat, we have just upgraded all current UNA.IO members to a lifetime free Premium membership level. 🎉🎊🎈🎁🍾
So, as a Premium member, you can do more here now. We'll weed out spammers pronto if they show up, but hopefully, everyone would just use the new privileges for the mutual benefit.
2019...
... is yet to come, so I'll post about the plans in a few days. We typically don't stop working during holidays (ok, maybe we slow down for a day or two around NYE), so keep your feedback coming!
