About Shtum
Hello and welcome to Shtum, the place for a proper conversation.
We help you connect with like-minded people to talk about subjects that interest you at a speed that suits you. We understand you have different friends for different needs, and every conversation is different, which is why Shtum gives you complete control over how people see and find you.
The nucleus of Shtum is a ‘board’. The board should feel familiar to you very quickly. It’s simple format and layout is designed to help you follow and join conversations easily.
Once you’ve registered, you can create your own board, or join an existing conversation (providing it’s owner allows anyone to join — more of that later) and have a distinct alias for each board you join.
Why would you want different aliases? Well, we understand that some groups will know you by your real name and that’s great. But as we become more social online, our monikers and aliases expand and differentiate depending on who we’re talking to. You may have a nickname at college, be known by your maiden name to your old school friends, or have an imaginative handle for your favourite music forum — so Shtum allows you to have as many different AKAs as you like (although only one per board — after all — who really wants to talk to themselves?).
Once you’ve created your board, you’ll probably feel quite lonely as there’s no-one else there. Our invite system makes letting your friends and fellow Shtum users know about your board really easy. You can invite anyone you like, all you need is their email address or — if they are a member of another board you’re a member of, their alias. It’s really simple and quick.
We understand not every conversation is for the whole world to see. Not a problem — our boards are completely private outised of the circle you have designated.
A Shtum board can be about whatever you like (with a few obvious legal exceptions) and there’s every chance lots of people will want to join your conversation. This will be great, but also means you could get really busy!
If you find your board becoming difficult to keep track of or are feeling a bit overwhelmed by the amount of members, don’t panic. You can get help from your fellow board members easily enough — simply make a few of them moderators — they can then help make sure the conversation stays as you would want it to.
We’re a new company in a really busy space — but we believe Shtum is different in many ways. We want to be open and upfront about our intentions.
Shtum will eventually need money to survive. The difference with Shtum compared to many is that making money will not harm the core element of the product — it’s boards. We won’t have to disrupt your experience later down the line. We will not promote any brands in your personal space, but we intend on building great partnerships with brands, people and companies you will have heard of. We’ll let you know about these ideas as they progress and hope you’ll see them as a great addition to Shtum, rather than a reluctant necessity.
We’ve worked hard to make sure you have everything you need to get talking — but will have undoubtedly missed things. We’d love to hear what they are, so please get in touch with your comments and feedback. We’re busy working on some great additions to the service and can’t wait for you to see them.
Thanks for dropping by,
