http://humanpets.com Human Pets

Almost one month ago, Human Pets (humanpets.com) took an important step in becoming a viable alternative to more complex or specialized social-networking sites such as MySpace, FaceBook, Friendster, or LiveJournal. A press release announcing the newest version (full release here), to be published on PRWEB gives this snapshot of HP:

Human Pets is a leading social gaming and dating website based on the concept of having humans as pets. The site presents a virtual world where users can be fed, groomed, nicknamed, and even bought and sold. Initially launched in Summer 2007 as a Facebook application, Human Pets grew to 2 million users and then relaunched as an independent website HumanPets.com in June 2008.

As I've been a very satisfied and involved member of the Human Pets (HP) community since autumn of 2007, I approached HP's creator Patrick Shyu to see if he'd be interested in granting me an exclusive interview for Digital Journal. I'm happy to share his insights and my own experiences. Human Pets has been in active development since mid-spring of 2007—shortly after FaceBook, itself went into wide release on the Internet. At the time, there were very few third-party applications for FaceBook (FB); those that were in use tended to be hosted at other sites and had a simple interface from within FB to enable its users access to these applications. Very little had been 'built' using its own developer platform. Rather than follow the 'tried and true' method, Patrick ventured on building a new application using FB's internal platform. In his own words, "[he] built it ... to get the attention of a girl on Facebook that [he] liked, but she never used the app." He goes on to add that there were other, more serious, reasons for its development:

... I love making websites and wanted a place to put all my ideas. I created an app for Facebook called "Connections," and it began as a very simple dating site. Then I started throwing in all sorts of ideas to make it funner and more interactive, and it was as much for myself as for the people using the app. Over time, I had built in a points system for this concept of 'friend auctions' and from there it was just another short jump to the concept of buying and selling people.

At HP's inception, as Connections, FaceBook and other sites already had a number of applications that allowed for the 'trade' in friends based on a similar point system. Patrick had a novel approach to setting HP aside from the rest of the pack:

I decided to rename the app "Human Pets," since I realized I wanted people to buy each other more as they would a pet, than as they would an object. With Human Pets, I started having a clearer idea of what I wanted for the app and eliminated a lot of old features that didn't fit. From there, I listened to users for the next feature requests, and now have a huge list of them that I just work through whenever I find time. So HP was not an overnight idea, but one crafted over many nights. And it's still being crafted ...

Many of the initial features are easily recognizable from the broader framework of social networking sites: profiles, groups become herds, general discussion boards in the express section, site-wide announcements, and (initially) limited access to items available for points purchase in a 'General Store' from Amazon that could be given as gifts to other members (pets) either through a private message or on their profile comment board. Much of the past year, until the recent cyber launch, has been spent refining, modifying and adding to the basic framework—all in pursuit of a vision of what HP could be. Some of those improvements, many suggested by community members, include: • Tales – serving the same purpose as blogs on other sites. However, in HP, Tales are located directly beneath the member's profile—thereby making it possible to leave announcements or other important matters in a place where visitors will see them without having to search through the rest of the member's page. • Newspaper Advertisements – again, below the general profile, a member can have up to 5 ads promoting everything one would find in any other newspaper in addition to herds (groups) that they own, items in their shop, or pets that they have for sale. • Member Shops – responding to the members' desire to have greater access to customized gifts, Patrick expanded the general store feature to allow each member to have their own shop with items they can sell for profit. • Adult (18+) Access – with the introduction of a paid membership option, members are now able engage in some 'adult' activities that are common on any dating site: e.g., intimate and erotic gifts, adult only herds, etc.. Not only does this paid membership limit exposure to minors, but a portion of the proceeds are given to the World Wildlife Fund. These improvements have not been without difficulties in their integration. While each suffered from the system burps and glitches common to platform enhancements, the introduction of adult memberships initially threatened the continued existence of Human Pets. This option was first introduced as an attempt to curb the trade in 'black market' items of an adult nature. As past shop item creation and sale relied on an honour system, that included the possibility of site banning for adult items, members would create questionable items and then purchase them to be given as gifts, and then remove them before they could be discovered by a small group of site moderators. As this constant game of cat-and-mouse was difficult to monitor effectively—some items were overlooked due to human error—and censorship was something Patrick wanted to avoid, he introduced the adult memberships in mid-spring of this year. Unfortunately, there were enough members that found anything non-PG offensive that decided to bring their concerns to the attention of FB itself. They responded as they had to (at the time) by insisting that all non-PG material be removed or suffer severe penalties. The crisis culminated in HP being removed from available applications on FB for almost two days in late April / early May even though member shops had been completely closed by then—the result of miscommunication between FB and Patrick. Stricter controls and an increase in the number of unpaid moderators, in addition to moving to it's own domain, seems to have resolved any concerns that FB had. I was still interested in how Patrick planned to ensure that HP was a safe place for all it's members while maintaining the freedom for adults and not resorting to overly strict censorship. He responded as follows ...

I'm looking into internet safety, but for now there [have] been changes for moderators to approve all shop items before they become active in people's shops. I listen to the moderators to see what they think we need to do to protect people better and create tools for that too. The Facebook version will remain completely child-safe to comply with their policies, and the independent site will still work to protect children but allow adult items too with filters. Although statistically, 90% or more of our users are 18+.

Given the additional work involved in complying with FB's family-friendly standards, I wondered about any future possibility of HP becoming completely autonomous. Patrick emphatically states that, "... Human Pets [will] never leave Facebook. I wanted to create a full experience on Facebook, and the environment [seems] large enough to grow on." One of the unforeseen benefits to having its own domain is the option for members to now include HTML coded snippets and widgets into their content: e.g., music players, video, customized page backgrounds, etc. In the past, this was limited by the constraints of FB's native application. In many ways, Human Pets has survived its 'adolescence' and is primed to become a fully active adult member of the social networking community. As for future directions, Patrick echoes my own hopes and those of many other members that I've met ....

HP has always been a place for the fans, so I'll take the app wherever they want to see it go. It has created hundreds of friendships for people... And as a dating app, we've had 3 or 4 engagements, and a baby on the way. I've also received quite a few messages from people who have been depressed or lonely, who've been happy to have HP cheer them up. And with the auctions, people are exchanging postcards around the world and learning about different cultures. So my hope is for HP to keep going in these directions where they have real positive effects. I myself have made friends from all over the world and received postcards too. In the future, we might have things like parties and get-togethers ... It's a changing place, but the most important thing is for people to have fun and make friends.

Most recently, a new herd 'Human Pets Success Stories' has been created specifically for members to share their experiences. Over 20 couples have married, countless numbers of friendships have been made, professionals have found employers and employees, people that would otherwise have passed each other by on the street have found common interests. All of this has happened on social networking / gaming site that treats individuals as pets (rather than objects) and hopes to foster friendship, companionship, and lasting relationships. I think the success of Human Pets is a fair argument that sometimes the simplest ideas are the best and more – features, applications, etc. – is not always better.