Why a room is hard to read when you are not in it
In a room you read people without trying: a slumped shoulder, a quiet voice, laughter from the corner. Most of the groups that matter now don't share a room. They share a chat, and a chat only shows what people choose to type. Somebody having a terrible week types nothing, which looks exactly like somebody having a fine one.
The usual fix is to ask: "how is everyone doing?" That gets you a round of "good, you?" People answer the question they think you want answered, and a question asked in front of the group gets the group's answer rather than each person's. We wrote about why in why everyone says "fine".
What weathr does instead
Everyone says how they are with one tap. One of five symbols (sun, sun and cloud, cloud, rain, storm) at one of four levels. There is nothing to write and nothing to get right.
The group becomes weather. Every half hour weathr adds everyone's moods together and draws them as a sky. It reads the proportion of what people feel rather than a headcount, so two people are a real reading and a hundred evenly split read the same as two.
A mood stands until it changes. You don't have to keep reporting. What somebody said on Monday is still their mood on Wednesday, and the sky shows how old it is by drawing the signal weaker, so a quiet group never passes for a happy one.
You can look back. Every group keeps a timeline, so "it's been raining since Tuesday" is something you can see rather than something you have to piece together.
What it can't tell you
weathr tells you that a group is stormy, not why. It is the glance that tells you to call somebody, not a replacement for the call. And a reading is only as honest as the taps behind it: weathr makes honesty cheap, with no audience and nothing to perform, but it can't make anybody tap.
Compared with what people usually do
| Asking in the chat | A survey or poll | weathr | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Effort for each person | A reply, in front of everyone | A form | One tap |
| How long the answer is true | Until it scrolls away | Until the next survey | Until they change it |
| Reading it | Scroll and interpret | Wait for results | A glance |
| Works with three people | Yes | Barely | Yes |
Questions
How can I tell how a group is feeling without asking everyone?
Ask each person for one tap instead of a sentence. In weathr everyone picks one of five weather symbols for how they are, and the app adds the group together every half hour and draws it as a sky: sun, cloud, rain or storm. Reading it takes a glance.
Does it work for a small group?
Yes. weathr reads the proportion of moods rather than a count, so two people are a real reading. A family of three or a team of five is as legible as a city.
Can I see who feels what?
In a channel, a person who casts publicly can be seen with their mood; a person who casts blind shows their mood without their name. In a group of two or three, blind hides less, and weathr does not pretend otherwise.
Is weathr free?
Yes. The live demo needs no account or download.