Launched recently with much press and smart outreach through social media outreach, e-180 is a new experiment in social learning. The site wants you to register something you can show to another person, such as a professional expertise, or a personal passion. At the same time, you can ask the community what you’re looking to learn. If there’s an agreement between two members, they can then meet in a coffee shop, or in one of the special meetups organized by e-180. Check out this video showcasing a typical (?) e-180 exchange between Ricardo Lamour and Martin Rodriguez:
e-180 thrives in a age where everyone wants to be that special person, if you want to know how to train for a semi-marathon, or how to take beautiful pictures with an iPhone. There are more exotic learning experiences on the site, and added to the fact of meeting a new person, there’s quite an excitement. The site has 200+ early adopters now, mostly montréalers from the plateau, an urban, creative, web, social, and young crowd.
Since the service is offered for free, it’s different from other new services out there who all want to be “AirBnb but for experiences”. Members are expected to give their know-how, for free, and take whatever the other person offers… which is frankly a challenge if the service expects to grow in the near future. Currently, most people on the site trust each other since they’ve met at the launch party or know they’re good people from Christine Renaud’s community, but e-180 is bound to have meetings where one person would eventually feel cheated on giving much more than the other person. And maybe that’s why the e-180 team focuses so much on the meetups and community management. The service plans monthly “5 à 7″ where they’ll be around to arrange the exchanges.
I’m personally curious to see where the service will go. Christine Renaud, instigator of the service, wants free services backed by professional services to companies. e-180 has sometimes great media and approach, or sometimes, a somehow complicated user interface where you have to specially persistant to finish the whole experience. The vision is compelling for sure — we’re going in a world where everyone wants custom experiences.
Check out the pictures of e-180 launch party
