Recently Sarah Lacy from PandoDaily discovered how difficult it could be using Jelly as a Q&A platform. She’s on the mark. Jelly as it stands makes a terrible Q&A platform but then I had one of those light bulb moments that changed completely how I viewed the app with the little Jelly fish…

As I took the plunge and began to playfully swim about in Jellys’ ecosystem I suddenly felt an intense sting and quickly realized Jelly is not a Q&A platform at all, its that friend at the party who knows everyone.

Jelly is the ultimate connector with its tentacles extending a friendly hand shake out into your network through simple easy going questions that then connect you to those third and second degree persons that you’ve always had a sense of wonder and curiosity about.

With platforms like FaceBook and Linkedin your 3rd and 2nd degree connections are mysterious shadowy figures while more opened platforms like Twitter turn into a crowded city where everyone is just lost in the noise of it all. Surprising Jelly manages to find that right balance and create an intimate environment where you feel at ease following up with the people you’ve communicated with.

This is where the untapped potential of Jelly is hidden possibly because of the lack of proper marketing and branding of this early gem. Never before has a social app since FaceBook and Twitter changed my social behavior and held my hand in making so many interesting connections offline.

After I answered a question or had questions answered its remarkable how easily you find your self quickly following up with those mysterious 3rd and 2nd degree connections in your network. Their mysterious shadows are swept away in the oceans current leaving not just the connections in your network but unique individuals to share experiences with. I began to wonder in excitement that its true what the say…we really are all connected!

As a result real world offline conversations then just naturally happen and relationships are created who knows where these conversations may go? You begin to loose that sense of separateness and might find new friends, that special someone, your next band memer, or even connect with your co-founder and then go on to create the next big thing. Once this offline social collaboration begins we can only dream of the social, cultural, political and economic changes that may be created.

Jelly is one of the few early apps that takes the leap of having technology in the background so that we can focus on connecting and collaborating more as a species. It’s too early to tell where it goes and how it will blossom from here. As BitCoin laid the framework for cryptocurrencies Jelly has laid the basic framework for connecting where it truly matters..Offline!