I really want to like Finect, the new social-media network that was launched into open beta last Tuesday.
In an overly simplified nutshell, it purports to be an open, inherently compliant social network for the financial services industry and its constituents. That includes financial advisers, product companies, broker-dealers and, of course, clients.
The network is meant for advisers to share with and connect to clients in a secure, compliant, archived environment with analytics tools on the back end that eventually will allow rich examination and analysis of traffic and the parties on it.
And that is the key: getting a critical mass of large users.
Right now, Finect needs advisers a lot more than advisers need Finect — that is, if advisers are already in a social-media comfort zone (see below).
I met and spoke with the service's president, Jennifer Openshaw, on a few occasions over the past few months while the site was in closed-beta status. She is a smart, savvy pitchwoman and successful author who is quite comfortable on the financial news talk show circuit.
And she talks a very good game in person and sells Finect quite passionately. I was almost totally convinced after our last meeting.
But I have ruminated a bit and spent some time on the site since then, and for now, I remain a little skeptical.
Social networking is useful to journalists, too: I have taken the opportunity to connect with many of the organization's principal executives and staff members on LinkedIn and on Finect itself. The majority are veterans of the Spanish banking industry and many of its engineers are from Spain, as well.
It appears that many of Finect's core features are well-fleshed-out. In fact, from a design and functionality standpoint, it doesn't seem like something in beta at all. You seldom encounter an “under construction” message.
Comfort zone
It will take only a few minutes for someone comfortable on social-media networks to get a feel for it, but it isn't perfect.
A mix of a dozen industry consultants and various competitors have told me off the record that they think it is conventional-looking. A few even called it a rehash or redundant.
However, I remain more open-minded about its potential.
Upon hearing about it months ago, my initial thoughts were, “Do we really need another social network?” and, “How does it differ from LinkedFA?” (the latter being another self-proclaimed compliant open social network, but one I couldn't get excited about a few years ago).
Rather than a distinctly separate social network, I see Finect as another layer of the social-media onion. For those advisers who already are comfortable with the big-three social-media services and networks — Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter — Finect is going to seem a bit of an add-on that many will have difficulty justifying spending additional time learning.
After all, the social-media conundrum has been solved by a number of archiving and pre- and post-review services and applications over the last four years.
In that sense, broker-dealers and their advisers who already have invested in such solutions as Actiance Socialite, Arkovi (now part of RegEd), Erado, Hearsay Social, Smarsh and Socialware or the like aren't going to get it.
Similarly, registered investment advisers, brokers affiliated with an independent broker-dealer or pure planners who have invested in such a solution or had a lot of training from the burgeoning number of social-media experts, consultants and coaches also will find it redundant.
Where Finect might find a home for itself and its services is among breakaways who want a one-stop social-media shop. It remains to be seen whether that population will be big enough or grow quickly enough to keep Finect afloat and then become a must-be-on-there destination.
So what is in it for advisers?
Those who want to interject a layer that can be used as a new jumping-off place for existing connections on the three main networks and a place to grab somewhat-vetted content (deemed by its creators to be compliant with regulations) will find Finect useful.
A basic presence on the site is free for advisers. To get access to all Finect's features, the price will be about $2,500 per year.
Yes, I can hear it already from dozens of advisers with whom I regularly interact: “$2,500?”
For now, advisers signing up during the open-beta period can get full access to premium features for a year. Not a bad deal, and a good way to drive lots of advisers to the site.
But once you are hooked, you will pay for it next year.
Still in beta
As I said, Finect looks and feels complete from a design and usability perspective, but it is not yet perfect, which should not be expected.
That said, I will provide you with one example that leapt out at me after just a few minutes on the site a couple weeks ago: a not-so-obvious inbox.
I gravitate toward simple and straightforward when it comes to web design. For example, I hate the interface of Facebook.
I have never found it intuitive or very sensible to navigate. But how can hundreds of millions be wrong?
Anyway, so well-trained am I at social media and navigating all sorts of interfaces that I often expect a big, honking, obvious inbox. I looked and looked for one at what I thought might be obvious spots.
Turned out it was in a rather obvious spot in the upper-right-hand corner but hidden under a tiny triangular divot of a drop-down menu. There one finds the settings, invitations, inbox and logout choices.
I have done this long enough to know that if it isn't obvious to me, it won't be obvious to others.
Again, however, I am trying to remain open-minded about this and simply share what I think. Perhaps a groundswell of advisers will gravitate to it straight away.
Visit finect.com to check out the site.
