Los Altos, CA / ACCESSWIRE / December 9, 2014 / http://www.myprgenie.com / Silicon Valley-based social media start-up, Emugu, recently launched with the mission to change user behavior and interactions in online social media. Its goal is to mimic real-life interactions and relationships on a digital medium that often lacks the subtleties of real-life social interactions. Messaging and relationships between users on Emugu's social platform is enhanced with mood and intensity features.
Emugu's social platform came into existence as a response to the dysphoric experiences on various current social media platforms that game "likes" but don't always connect people together. Emugu Co-founder and President, Imran Tusneem noted, "Many people have hundreds of friends on popular social networks, yet little emotional connection with any. Social networks should allow people to express how they really feel. Not everything is or should be a 'like.' Life has moments where we should be able to express and share a full range of emotions from happiness to sadness."
With many friends on online social networks, it's not practical to read and decipher the emotional state of all your friends through their posts, and misinterpreting text in a multi-cultural society is pretty common. Emugu simplifies the social experience by aggregating emotional states within your circle of friends, and removing the guess work. Furthermore, like real life, it allows you to personalize your mood towards different people, social groups, and even messages, so people see you as you want them to see you.
What does Emugu mean? It was invented to convey the idea of creating an "emotional glue" between people. Emugu's focus is on fostering connections at a more emotional and personal level, as well as enabling a more nurturing environment for interacting within a circle of friends and social groups – you can view your friends' sentiments aggregated in a single glance and identify those that you want to connect with based on their emotional state, as well as express your own sentiments more privately. It's not another emoticon-based messaging system. Emotion is an attribute of how users communicate, it's not embedded in text nor drowned in millions of types of emoticons. "The design was intended to keep it simple and keep it real," said Tusneem.
"Humans are social animals, so our online interactions should help and not hinder positive social behaviors that bring us together, and not separate us behind computer screens," Tusneem stated. To this effect, Emugu introduced a points system that encourages and rewards positive social behavior. The points can be exchanged for digital items and services from its online store – to further enhance social interactions.
Emugu's business leverages advertising and an online store to fund its operations, as well as to support humanitarian initiatives by giving a portion of its revenue to charity. It also provides its users a means to earn money while benefiting charitable causes.
SOURCE: Emugu Corporation