Status Update: ALIS in the past 10 months!

Hey everyone!

In this article we would like to briefly explain the different stages the platform has passed since its release last year. 

At the moment, after a period of being in closed beta, the platform is in its open beta phase. We will first explain what we set out to test with the closed closed beta and what we learned in the seven months of this phase. After that this article will explain what we are working on now in the open beta phase.

First time hearing about us? Welcome to the community! This is ALIS in a nutshell.

Mission

Before going into what we have been doing with the funds we have been able to gather with the ICO, we would like to briefly remind everyone of what we exactly want to do, which is:

To visualize trust and facilitate the connection of people. 

More concretely speaking, we want to create a platform where people can easily see what and who is trustworthy, and make it easy for people to establish new connections and find trustworthy information.

Closed Beta

On April 23, 2018, a closed-β launch event was held, at which the platform was released.

The overall aim of the closed beta version was to test the basic functionality of the platform and its token distribution logic on a small scale. This meant there was a set max user amount and a waiting list for new users. We were specifically interested in answering the following questions:

・Does the token distribution algorithm work?

・Will enough articles be published? 

・Do people tend to write more articles on ALIS as compared to other blog media?

Closed beta also meant the platform had minimal functionality. In addition, in order to be able to verify the functionality of the distribution algorithm, we had to minimize the subject diversion of articles. For this reason we also limited the available categories to just one: Crypto and Blockchain. This category was chosen because-at the time-most people who wanted to try the platform knew ALIS because of their interest in blockchain and crypto currencies. 

A month after the release, we published our first findings.

Closed Beta Findings 

As explained above, before anything else, next to the token distribution algorithm we were mostly focused on making sure the platform would be actually actively used. For this reason we did not focus on attracting new users. We decided it made more sense to first see if the users we have been able to naturally attract to the platform would actually enjoy the platform enough to keep using it.

We like to use the metaphor of poring water in a leaking bucket; as long as you don't prevent the bucket from leaking, it will eventually run dry. 

To help us see whether we needed to first fix leaks or not, we defined two personas: the seasoned-blogger and first-time-blogger. People belonging to the former were people who at the time of joining ALIS had already written blogs for a long time. The latter had not yet.

What we found was that on ALIS there was no real difference in retention rate between the first time blogger and seasoned blogger. People from both personas published about an even amount of articles in the first month. What's more, based on data from 2009 (which we admit is somewhat dated), we learned that on ALIS about 12.5 times more people continue with writing articles compared to on other Japanese blog services. 

However, also compared to other media (smartphone games and apps) ALIS had a way higher retention rate. We would like to emphasize that this happened without even a search or comment function.

We think the reason for this is that, different to other blog services, on ALIS people get immediate feedback from other users in the form of likes. We thought that this effect would become even more evident once we would implement a comment function, which is exactly what we did. Next to this, we also implemented the ability to tip ALIS tokens to articles, which would add another form of feedback and therefore logically benefit the retention rate even more. However, the tipping function also become the first way of utilizing the token on the platform.

In addition-and this might be the most important of all-we have been able to actively involve the community in the development of the platform. By community initiative a weekly ALIS Radio was set up, and we started to do weekly discussion sessions on Discord. In these session the community could share ideas with each other and the ALIS team. These activities led to people with similar interests and hobbies getting together and starting a wide variety of projects. These projects were the development of 3rd party tools like a search function (which we did not have at the beginning), but also for example things like Super Smash Bros tournaments and offline meetups. In other words, already in the closed beta stage, we helped people connect with others.

In August we added a few new categories in which articles could be posted, partnered with Microsoft in October, eventually added even more categories and finally removed the user limit. 

After about 7 months of closed beta, we had achieved what we wanted to achieve:

・ A platform that is enjoyable and has a high retention rate,

・ where users write enough articles,

・ with a well working token distribution algorithm.

In January 2019, we released the open-β version.

Open Beta

With a platform proven to have a high retention rate, a well working token algorithm and an active community, we moved on to the next stage: 

・improving the platform's usability,

・creating more token value (with token value we don't mean the price, but the usability and significance of the token),

・and expanding the collaboration with the community.

The reason why we want to involve the community as much as possible, is because we want to be as Web 3.0 and decentralized as possible. And-since the community is at the same time the user we are creating the platform for-it makes sense to value their opinion. Especially in the blockchain space, where everyone is so passionate about changing the world, it is easy to forget you are creating a product for a user. This is something we are reminding ourselves of constantly.

The other two points: improving the platform's usability and creating more token value, are in order to make sure that, once we are going to actively work to create a larger user base, we can keep the same retention rate. 

Some of you might think, "Didn't you already prove to have a very high retention rate in the closed beta?". While this is somewhat true, early users tend to mostly forgive small defects in the product. However, later adopters of the platform will not be so forgiving. Therefore, although having a high retention rate in this early stage is of course a very good sign, we have to deliver the platform in its most optimal initial state before we try to actively attract new users. This is something people who have read Lean Customer Development by Eric Ries probably already knew.

Paying close attention to what the community is saying, we have decided on the first 12 updates to the platform.

1. Renewing the design and giving new function to the home page
2. Getting rid of the category limitation 
3. Token Hold bonus
4. Wallet
5. Text editor update
6. Received ALIS data
7. Tutorial on first login
8. Ranking based on received tips
9. OAuth 
10. Account creation improvements
11. Ability to set a price for articles
12. Referral program

First Release

For the first open beta release, we completely revamped the design (the image above compared to the homepage as it is now). Not only does the platform look different, the UX was improved as well, making the platform more convenient in use. In addition, we added a new top page that shows the best articles of the past day. We also added the possibility for people to register with Twitter and Line, Japan's most used social media (verification through Japanese mobile phone number is still necessary). 

With this update, the platform started to feel way less like a beta product, as compared to the closed beta version of the platform. 

Second Release

For the second open beta release we prepared a lot. We implemented three features from the remaining 10 of the list, but were also able to release a mobile editor for the platform. The mobile editor was something we initially did no plan to do this early. However, it was requested so often by the community that we decided to develop this as well. 

The three features from the list are number 7, 10 and 5:

#5: To make writing articles a more convenient experience, we removed all bugs reported. We have also made the editor usable on mobile devices, giving people the chance to write wherever, whenever.

#7: To make the first interaction with the platform more enjoyable, we added pop-up screens that give some feedback to the user upon first use of certain functions of the platform.

#10: Even though we are not actively focusing on attracting new members, it is not a bad idea to make sure those who find the platform by themselves are able to easily register using a 3rd party platform account. This is why we added Facebook and Yahoo support. In Japan, the former is especially used by business men and the letter by women in their thirties and forties. 

Looking at the functions released in this version, you can see how we are making the platform more and more robust. This is to make sure that new users-those who are not as forgiving-enjoy the platform and come back. However, we of course also had to make sure the experience of the users who have been with us from the beginning are also improved. 

Third release

In release 1 and 2 we have focused on the look and feel of the platform. For release three we are planning on improving the value of the token. As mentioned already above, here we don't mean the price of the token. What we mean by value is make the token on the platform more significant. 

Final words

Up until now we have not been able to keep our English community up to date very much. This is something we have been looking into fixing. With some new talent added to the team we are from now on going to focus on putting as much English out there as Japanese. As a first step we have written this article to get everyone up to date. 

We have also opened a sub-Reddit, which is dedicated completely to the English community:
https://www.reddit.com/r/ALIS_Official/

Finally, we would like to share with you that in the past 10 months, there have been over 20.000 articles published by more than 5.000 users. Up until this day, ALIS has not been offline for a second, with low latency, conforming to information security standards (JIS Q 27002, the Japanese equivalent of ISO/IEC_27002) and has spent 0 yen on traditional marketing and have not been actively trying to attract new users.

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