ZygoHubs launches group texting service

ZygoHubs formally launched recently and it’s exactly what I’ve been looking for. Whilst Twitter is a great mobile social networking tool, sometimes — more often than not — I find I want to connect with a team of people privately and immediately. That’s where Zygo comes in. ZygoHubs allows anyone to set up their own group messaging service. Each group gets a single telephone number through which any member can contact the whole group instantly. Wicked.

So, one text sent to your ZygoHubs number is relayed to everyone subscribed to the group. And any reply from a group member is relayed to everyone. Bish bash bosh — before you can say ‘wicked’, you’ve got real-time group text conversations. This is exactly what I’ve been hunting for. Try out the service at www.zygohubs.com — you get 50 free credits.

Or, if you like, get out your phone and join my test group — ZYGO-SMS by simply texting JOIN to +44 7714 989651. Now, ZygoHubs model is clearly based around usage fees. Five quid buys you 70 credits — so that each outgoing text costs 7.1p. £100 buys you 1800 credits at a rate of 5.6p per credit. Considering the fact that the ZygoHubs service is international, I think this is a reasonable price to pay for the functionality.

The service has been operational and under trial for 18 months so they were able to send me these rather wicked use-case-scenarios:

First, Bob set up this private Ski group:

Bob Spencer, who set up a ZygoHub with a group of friends so they could keep in touch whilst on a skiing holiday, said: “With a group of 13 people inevitably there were varying skiing abilities within the group and different ideas about activities each individual wanted to take part in during the holiday. Sending text messages to each member of the group separately would have been prohibitively time consuming and considerably more costly. Being able to send one message which would reach every member of the group meant the organisation of the holiday and group was significantly easier than previous years.”

This must have been a brilliant way of managing activities on the slope. Love it.

What about business?

BBM Law, a small and very busy firm of legal aid solicitors based in London, has been using the ZygoHubs service since September 2006. Neil Baxter, a partner at the firm, explains: “We’re legal aid solicitors and the nature of our work is quite unpredictable. Most of us are out and about during the day – visiting clients at police stations or courts. Before we started using ZygoHubs, keeping tabs on everyone was a headache. Using the ZygoHub we can send one message asking where everyone is and when they are likely to be free. In the past we would have had to ring each solicitor individually, so Zygo helps us to save a lot of time. Using texts is often easier, as when we are at court we either need to have our phones off or on silent.”

And finally, getting personal…

Another ZygoHubs user, Fiona Mackay set up the service for her group of thirty-something former school friends naming it ‘Girly Gossip’. “Unfortunately we don’t live that near each other anymore so we can’t get together that much – but when the ‘Girly Gossip’ chat starts hotting up – it feels like we’ve never been apart! It’s such a great way to keep in touch with the old gang”, she explains.

There is definitely a market for this kind of service. The key challenge will be getting the message out to the consumers. It’d be rather smart if one of the operators jumped on board and white-labeled this as a bolt-on offering.

Give it a go and let me know what you think? And try out the SMS Text News ZygoHub by texting JOIN to +44 7714 989651. Remember you won’t be billed anything — it’s the group owner who pays.