Celly Blog: Punctuated Evolution2011-06-28

Celly’s image and website is evolving fast. Today we have made some naming changes, made our website realtime, and have filled out some of the web features that were missing. 

To begin with, we’re now embracing the word cell in place of channel as the foundational unit for Celly. Not only does cell match our name Celly, but we think cell is a perfect fit for the image of a communication circle since the word “cell” is from the Latin for “small room” [*].

From a user experience viewpoint, we’ve added functionality to the Celly website to bring it on par with what you can do with text messaging. In particular, we added the ability to manage membership and approvals via the website:

• Approve / Deny new users online. You can now approve new cell members online. This is for approving/denying new members who text your cell name to request membership.
• We’ve added a Member page for managing/approving members

In contrast to mobile-only group communication services, Celly enables users without a mobile phone to participate as members in a cell. 

The Celly website is now much more alive and streamlined. We deployed push features that make website interaction realtime as well as more magical and friendly:

• Live message updates: new messages now stream in on your inbox / channel / member pages
• Live notifications on web: you now get notifications for being approved to a channel, kicked, invited, and approval requests
• Faster page loads
• Unlimited scrolling on inbox / channel / member pages. Now you can see all your messages, and with no clicking!
• New user scorecard look

Hope you like the evolution! Stay tuned for more! 

*Biologist Robert Hooke coined the term cell for the smallest living biological structure when he looked at cork slices underneath a microscope and compared the compartments he saw to small rooms.