Engage Omaha has averaged more than 70 new users per day. Screenshot from engageomaha.com.
Since collaborating to launch a virtual townhall website last month, the city of Omaha and local startup MindMixer have found Omahans to be, in a word, engageable.
Two weeks removed from the April 20 launch of engageomaha.com, MindMixer founder and CEO Nick Bowden said the website has experienced growth unparalleled by similar sites his company has launched in other cities.
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“The rapid pace of user growth, on average more than 70 new users per day, is pretty extraordinary,” Bowden said in an email. “Some of the other cities where we have launched have amassed similar numbers over time, but not as quickly as Omaha. I think this is largely due to the issue at hand, the city budget. People tend to be interested in the topic.”
Bowden (Left. Photo from mindmixer.com) said that Engage Omaha saw 8,000 unique visits in less than 10 days and that more than 125 ideas have been generated. Some of those ideas are expected to be implemented by the mayor’s office within a week.
“It’s pretty cool to see the mayor take the input so seriously,” Bowden said, “that they are implementing site-generated ideas within two weeks of launch.”
Engage Omaha’s current focus on the budget will continue through month’s end, at which point a new set of topics will be be discussed. The city is responsible for determining those topics, and Bowden said he expects an official announcement soon.
Bowden said the relationship with Omaha has been extremely beneficial for MindMixer, which is set to launch projects in Des Moines, Iowa, Fullerton, Calif. and Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. in the next 30-45 days.
“The site has been a great catalyst for the MindMixer brand,” Bowden said, “for which we are totally thankful.”
In case you didn’t catch Bowden’s demo of MindMixer on March 31 at Cornstalks Demo night or our explanation of the site when it launched last month, check out the tutorial the Greater Omaha Young Professionals posted earlier this week via Paradigm Creative Media on Vimeo on how to use Engage Omaha.
Video from Paradigm Creative Media on Vimeo.
