The next-gen social network platform based on the Steem Blockchain. With Busy.org: Get your value back!

Read this post on Busy.org: @busy.org/busy-news-three-months-beta-what-s-new-next

WHAT IS BUSY?

Busy is a non-profit organisation offering open-source projects on Steem, which aims to bridge the gap between the old economy and a new economy giving value back to people.
Our goal is to develop the best tools and strategy to bootstrap this thriving eco-system and to enable billions of people to take part in this revolution.
We aim to connect everyone to the best social network platform that can bring value back to users in a peer-to-peer and decentralised way using the power of the Steem blockchain and cryptocurrencies.

BUSY PLAN BASED ON 3 PROJECTS:

STEEM.JS

Steem.js the JavaScript API for Steem blockchain
Steem.js is now the official Javascript library for the Steem blockchain. We changed our repo to https://github.com/steemit/steem-js and are maintaining the library with the help of Steemit developers. It’s now used by apps like steemit.com, eSteem, busy, chainbb, etc. This is an important tool that facilitates the development of new apps on top of the Steem blockchain.
Since February, several updates have been made to fit the last hardforks and fix small issues.

Documentation/Github: https://github.com/steemit/steem-js
Releases: https://github.com/steemit/steem-js/releases

STEEMCONNECT

SteemConnect is a simple identity layer built on top of the Steem blockchain that allows you to connect to authorised apps in a secure and convenient way.

A whole ecosystem of applications is being built around the Steem blockchain. Nevertheless, this profusion of new projects that demonstrate the enthusiasm and dynamism of Steemians leads to the issue of Security for both users and developers of our ecosystem.

SteemConnect as an open-source, collaborative, transparent project, aims to become the official Steem Login and Signing Service for Third-Party Applications Apps helping the ecosystem to benefit from a convenient and secure solution. (check Steemit Roadmap 2017 p.11/22)

We released a test version (v1) that we're currently using on Busy.org, but are now working in collaboration with Steemit, to make an official v2.

SteemConnect v2 project is in progress. (code: https://github.com/adcpm/sc2) We are re-building the authentication flow to give the app more flexibility and user more securities. More info coming soon!

BUSY.ORG

Busy.org is an Open-Source social network and communication platform that extends itself to a variety of rich features and functionality including free digital payments and a marketplace for goods and services.

An Open-source project and vision: we believe in the wisdom of the crowd, open decision-making, taking a collaborative and transparent approach, that's why all our work is open source. Everyone is free to contribute, by all appropriate means to accomplish our mission. Not only coders but also designers, writers, speakers, evangelists, marketers, advisors, etc.
A social media platform on Steem more like Facebook/Twitter/Disqus than Reddit/Medium like: On Busy we try to build a platform where everyone can participate, not only bloggers/writers. Not only focus on Money/rewards, but you can also come to chat about different topics, use private messaging, enjoy all type of contents, and bookmark it, and later on, buy/sell/use services or products
An alternative interface to Steemit: we work on a different approach with a user-friendly interface and specific marketing for mass adoption aiming to remove all the blockchain and cryptocurrency friction, to make it easier to adopt by everyone (gamification) and every possible niche.
An open platform for a future marketplace for Good and services: Busy goal is to build on top of the Busy social media platform, several Apps (like Facebook Apps, or WeChat services). We are offering a secure social network layer to bootstrap any Apps, games, community tools, marketplaces for good (like eBay, OpenBazaar), or services (Airbnb, Uber, Fiverr, etc.), using Steem.js, SteemConnect and the Busy.org 'framework.'
All developers can submit their project/concept and can be integrated into the Busy ecosystem very easily. We are building this All-in-one platform, embedding killers App into a social network, empowering people using the power of Steem with zero transaction fee.

Three months Beta, What's new?

It's been now three months that Busy.org has entered in Beta test phase.
About 300 people were invited to test the platform, which allowed us to take several consistent feedbacks and inputs to redirect our strategy. An excellent opportunity to help us make the next release the best possible.

Remember, this is a Beta version. There are still several works in progress, and not everything may work 100% correctly.

Our Beta goals are:

monitor feedbacks from users, and making improvements as quickly as possible
gather data to improve the product and fix issues
work on a full User Interface/Experience redesign, with the help of the community and our expert

What's new?

A non-exhaustive list of last updates on Busy.org:

Implementing new Post Modal component with next and previous button to other articles (#402)
Implementing new comment and reply system for post pages similar to Disqus (#402)
Fixing multiple bugs with comments (#402)
Improving the initial load time with caching of vendor javascript files separately (#411)
Fix the bug with existing modal (#439)
Fix the bug with links on Post Modal (#447)
Enhancement to Popover UI component (#451)
Browser Push Notification (#462, #464)
Sort Items in post feed card #418
Bug Fixes
- The elapsed time meter shows wrong data #262
- Code not embedded properly #371
- Delete key is not appropriately functional #298
- Spellcheck not working everywhere #427
- Missing spell checker in post editor #345
Added Error Handler for blockchain error #435
Format bug #283
Get images from body if not in jsonMetadata #461
handle overflowing title #476
Server side rendering #449
Completed and waiting For review and merge
- Added DefaultMessage for missing Messages #477
- Server side for profile and feeds #470
Filter Resteemed posts from main Profile, created a "Reblog" tab

As you can see, many bugs are now fixed, and important features (strong community requests) are implemented such as:

Notifications
Server-side rendering (now allow you to share content on other social media like Facebook, with a Preview, and displaying good meta/description for SEO and search engines)
Resteemed (Reblog) page/tab

Check out latest commits, work in progress and known issues on our Github:

What can you do right now on Busy.org

Login with your Steem account (or use the Demo account)
Edit your profile information and image
Write a post/comment (still some bugs and known issues with the current Editor)
Upvote/Downvote
Add/remove favourites tags (Bookmark)
Follow/Unfollow authors
Add/remove favourites authors
Transfer funds
1to1 private message
Group Channel Chat, based on #tags
Reblogs (Resteemed) tabs
Quick search for users or tags
Quick-access button to Tip an author
Settings with List or Feed(Facebook style card) view
Settings with 9 languages (incomplete)
... and more! check it now on https://busy.org

What's next ?

The past 3 months with the help of the testers, advisors, and many open debates about user experience helped us to define a proper strategy for the next release.

We set our goals for a decent release this summer.

Our priorities:

Bug fixing, Editor bugs will be fixed, and some mandatory and missing features will be implemented
New Branding, logo, elements, ready for marketing campaign
Landing page, explaining Busy & Steem, for users/developers/investors
New Design with new user interface, user experience (UI/UX rework) - wireframe in progress
Notification UI section, with filters
Signup-Login directly on Busy.org
New chat/messenger in Tabs mode (Facebook-like)
Explore section to discover content, authors, tags with several filters
Onboarding process for new users (help understand the platform, and build a feed by adding topics/tags in favourites and follow best authors)
Gamification, to motivate participation, engagement, and loyalty (add illustrations, levels, badges, new user experience, etc.)
Integration for Community feature
Ready for marketplace of goods/services
New Content-types like Videos, Audios, Polls, integration

Who's behind Busy?

Founded by @fabien and @ekitcho in July 2016, Busy is now a strong team of several core members, developers, advisors, ambassadors, donors, contributors and so on.

Busy Core Team

@ekitcho: CEO
@fabien: CTO
@p0o: Developer
@nil1511: Developer

But it's also YOU !

As a decentralized and open source platform in the form of a non-profit organization, we are open to any contribution/suggestion from you. We would love to get the finest resources from this brilliant community to build the best platform ever that can change the world. Our goal is to be able to select and pay every contribution that brings value to Busy. Since the first day we’ve paid every contributor! We're enthusiastically looking for talented people who understand where Busy is going.

New Designer wanted

We're recruiting talented/experienced designers who want to contribute to our project. Branding/UI/UX experts, please contact christopher@busy.org or @ekitcho on Busy / Steemit.chat with your portfolio

How can you participate or support

Vote for @busy.witness on https://steemit.com/~witnesses
Donate to @busy.org
Contribute to our code or report issues on Github
Create, Develop your project on Steem, using Steem.js, SteemConnect and even the Busy.org platform
Spread the word! Help us promote Busy & Steem

All rewards from the @busy.org account and donations will be used to fund our projects

Bonus: current 'wireframe' work in progress (UI/UX Design rework)

We will provide more info on our next News

Steem(it) Roadmap about Login & Signing service

Special thanks to Steemit inc. and @ned for supporting us!

Busy News: Three months Beta, What's new/next?