Big Tree Top

Two members of our IU School of Informatics community have been working for the past year on Big Tree Top, a business network tool to bring corporate resources to local companies. BTT is on the verge of releasing a product into the wild after a summer of iteration.

BigTreeTop is a startup social network to connect small businesses to their customers.

BigTreeTop is a networking tool designed to allow local businesses to think like major corporations and leverage the collective wisdom of their customers. A business owner joining this network can invite employees and customer advisors to help develop a minimal web presence through BTT, including a public blog and basic directory listing. The power of the site, though, comes through the business tools and collaborative activities between businesses and customers.

• Business Listing—A traditional business listing will serve as the only web presence for some small companies, but it can be linked to established web sites. Listings are searchable to some degree and might become crucial to the act of discovery, allowing businesses to find new business partners and customers to establish new relationships with local businesses.
• Recruiting Advisors—The owner of a company has the ability to not only invite a variety of business advisors to participate in planning on BigTreeTop, but she can also designate what level of access each person is allowed (Administrator, Full-Access Advisor, Limited-Access Advisor, or Customer). That mini-network can be contacted through emails, forums and blogs.
• Idea Forum—One of the main draws to the site from the customer’s perspective will be to participate in the brainstorming for a business they frequent or have some interest in helping. This ranges from posting feedback to playing games, such as soliciting ideas for what local businesses people would create with $100,000. Creative expressions not focused directly on business operations are likely less intimidating and can generate surprising new insights.
• Strategy Forum—Operating at a slightly higher barrier to entry is the area where customers and employees can help create a business strategy. The business-centric language of earlier drafts of the site has been greatly simplified to solicit and vote on goals for “All the things we do for Customers” and “All the things we do to run the Business.” The results help create a living map of the business strategy, serving as a touchstone for day-to-day operations.

Customers and employees can join a business community in BigTreeTop in many ways.

Aside from the obvious interest in seeing my peers succeed by applying our Informatics training to the real world, BigTreeTop is a great opportunity to bring the advantages of technology to a local setting. A decade ago, I was working with small businesses in northern Illinois to create a simple web presence. At the time, only large corporations and big cities were benefiting from the rising interest in the World Wide Web. I created a community website for my hometown of 20,000 about the same time Chicago was working with AOL to launch their web presence. Although short-lived, square.city proved to be a way not only to keep local online users informed but also to reconnect with former residents. BigTreeTop has that potential as well, albeit with a narrower focus on business planning and customer input.

Like any social network these days, value will require a certain critical mass to be seen. BigTreeTop is working to expand their alpha testing in target communities to see how businesses start to respond. An early concern is that there may not be enough to do to sustain interest in visiting the site, which is why “idea games” and regular online community events are being encouraged. Bloomington is particularly ripe with small businesses and organization that could benefit from better communication and wider exposure to relevant ideas. As BigTreeTop approaches critical mass, new benefits to membership are likely to emerge.

The BTT blog is a good way to follow the developing philosophy and progress of this unique community.