TimeXchange is a time-sharing application that has seen the good, bad and ugly aspects of online social networking. A service that set out with a social perspective in mind, TimeXchange has spent the last couple of years determining the best way to fit into the social scene for an area of data sharing that isn’t quite so glamorous.

Thanks to open platforms and more importantly, the Apple Application Store, TimeXchange is seeing a great deal of growth and adoption as its service is made even easier to use. Today, the company announces that it’s opening its mobile platform for the purpose of encouraging developers to build even more applications that will further benefit end users and take TimeXchange to the next realm as a social utility for time-sharing and project management. Below is an interview with Jim Figliulo of TimeXchange.

Kristen Nicole of Social Times: Tell me a little about TimeXchange and its evolution since launching over 2 years ago.

Jim Figliulo of TimeXchange: We started TimeXchange with the goal of building a community that would trust in our “user feedback” model. For the past two years we did exactly that and our service morphed into a part web-app, part social network that is the easiest way for people to track, submit and approve their time and expenses. Different roles in projects were defined, reporting and budgeting features added, different currencies, etc. We think that when a certain amount of people want something it probably will work for everyone – call it a “best practices” way evolving.

One thing that has changed thanks to user feedback is the amount of tools we gave to the “administrator” role. We started by focusing on the individual “worker” but as they started submitting their time to their “clients” and “administrators” we started hearing from those “clients” and “administrators” so we decided to build those features. Since then we have seen more and more companies standardize on TimeXchange.

Kristen Nicole: Why did you decide to take on the mobile aspect of time-sharing?

Jim Figliulo: We knew all along that we had to have a mobile solution at some point, but we weren’t sure which direction to take. When the Apple’s App Store presented itself we thought that would be a good place to start. We released a very basic time entry app and it exploded to the #1 time entry app in the Apple’s app store. We knew we were on the right track.

Kristen Nicole: What developments at TimeXchange led you to decide to open your mobile platform for development?

Jim Figliulo: Easy. After the success of the iPhone app we started getting piles of different feature requests and requests for apps on different devices – weren’t sure where to begin. At the same time developers were approaching us with their ideas and proposals. Then we decided to try something completely different, why not let all the mobile developers out there work on and own their own apps that talk to TimeXchange? The developers get to be creative and monetize their own app while having an established site/platform behind their app and an existing member base to work with.

Kristen Nicole: How are you hoping that an open mobile platform will benefit your goals for making time-sharing more social?

Jim Figliulo: That is a good question, seeing that project collaboration is naturally social. Perhaps the new mobile apps will take advantage of our “my contacts” section of the site to better build their “real” business network. TimeXchange keeps track of every project you work on, no matter what your role is, and automatically keeps track of everyone you worked on that project with.

Perhaps an app allowing you to build a project and invite people to join right from your mobile device… And, as with most networks, the more people that join the better we are. Our thinking is that by having all these different apps to pick from our members will be able to pick the ones that best fit them and then tell their friends about us and we can continue to grow and improve our service.

Kristen Nicole: What types of applications are you hoping to see as a result of your new open platform?

Jim Figliulo: We’re hoping to see some real creativity. We are so excited about new ideas because, let’s face it, time entry isn’t the most exciting thing to talk about, but a good deal of us out there have to do it. Requests from members range from expense tracking and task management, to industry-specific time-sheet applications for legal, construction, staffing, pet-sitting, babysitting, tutors/education, and more. Additionally, further opportunities for custom development include language localization, various currencies, and corporate branding. Some cartage companies are asking for GPS apps so they can keep track of drivers and enter time simultaneously. I could go on and on…

Kristen Nicole: Any plans to open your web platform as well?

Jim Figliulo: We don’t have any plans to do that yet but we will see where the marketplace takes us. We see ourselves as the “cloud.” People/companies can choose their input method, then TimeXchange takes that data and routes it to the right people then outputs clean correct data into any back-end system you prefer. We are a cross-organizational and an agnostic site/platform. Another analogy that people have been using to differentiate us from our competitors is that TimeXchange is the “internet” and the others are “intranets.” Our competitors are enterprise based and closed to the outside, TimeXchange doesn’t care who or what programs you work with.

Kristen Nicole: What are the next steps for TimeXchange?

Jim Figliulo: We have announced a Basecamp integration that will be available later this month and a Spanish translation of the site will be coming out soon as well. There is a new release of the site at least once a month so stayed tuned and please keep that feedback coming – its the only way we get better..