layout: post title: Why I will likely delete my Ecademy account created: 1085464808 categories:

• Social Media

After signing up for Ecademy almost 2 years ago, I am likely going to ask to have my account deleted.

I recently met some great Ecademy people and so decided to give the whole thing another serious look.

Going back in, I found that I had been given a "Power Networker" trial period. You can see that last link for the full list of features that are enabled by this (access to Regus meeting centers alone looks good, although there aren't many in Canada). The usual price is $15US per month or $150US annually.

All well and good, and as Roland says, "Ecademy is the friendliest social network". I sent messages back and forth, found some more clubs (which are pretty much topic-specific forums or communities of interest) and all was good.

I did struggle with the Ecademy interface. It never was clear to me how you "connect" with someone. This takes place, apparently, by exchanging messages -- you can't connect without sending a message, and by sending a message you automatically connect.

Except, once the trial period expired, I could no longer connect with people. OK, fine, I really was just testing it in any case. But here's the tricky part: if someone sends me a message, I can't respond. Yes, that's right -- since I'm over my limit with connections (10 if you are not a "Power Networker"), and since "connecting" is done by replying to a message (or sending? this still isn't clear), and since I'm not allowed to connect to any more people, I can no longer respond to messages people send me.

So, here's what I need from Ecademy in order for me to not delete my account: Give me the option to send an "auto-reply" message if I'm not able to respond; I can then choose to include my email address, a link to my website, or some alternate means of contacting me if people are interested.

I should also put in a generic rant about how I will not allow anyone, much less an online social network, to limit the communications that I have with fellow human beings. I understand the need for Ecademy to build a business model (except I think that social networking doesn't have a business model), but the current situation really is no good.