

Ask HN: Please provide feedback on Sponty | be hangoutable. - marram
http://www.thesponty.com/hn
Sponty facilitates casual social gatherings among friends.<p>We have been in closed beta since last fall. We were at the MIT TechFair on 2/2/2009. Here are some of the pitches we used at the table:<p>"Hi, we're Sponty and we want you to be hangoutable. You should see your friends more".<p>"Unlike other social networks that want you to sit in front of the computer to look at photos and comment on rants, we're trying to use the internets to get you off the internets so that you'd see your friends more. You know, the old fashioned way where you sit with them and gossip over dinner. That way you'll actually be in their photos."<p>"We're different. Social networks want you to sit in front of the computer all day. We think that's wrong. You should be spending face time with friends."<p>"We sure are all busy. But we all have to eat at some point. It is more fun to eat dinner with friends".<p>We're still in closed beta, so here is an invitation link:
http://www.thesponty.com/hn<p>Please let us know your thoughts!
======
inerte
As a non-english speaker, I actually Googled for "hangoutable" because I
didn't know what it means and mentions of Sponty came on top :p

On the site itself:

\- I have no idea how you're eco-friendly (sorry, the leaf conjures this
emotion)

\- Underlined blue words are links: I thought I could click on the main page
"Katie" and "Dave"

\- The logo on <http://www.thesponty.com/about> is different than on the main
page (the beta word)

\- About page "Got it." on the question list. Got what? None asks "Got it. So
how..."

\- "Speak your mind" is a poor choice of words indicating where I can send you
feedback for a service that lets me type anything. It looked like I could
click there and some page would come up that would let me do something.

But anyway, let's login!

\- Can't you put your logo on the Google Account login page? (I honestly don't
know). Like, "<logo> Sponty uses Google..."

\- Can't you redirect to the main page instead of the /hn doorway? I logged in
and had to go somewhere else to use the site. One extra step is bad :(

\- I had to delete "Your name here...". onclick delete the input contents.
(Firefox 3.0.6)

\- My timezone is -3 gmt! Nowhere before it said the site is for USA people :(
But let's fake and say I am Eastern;

\- Network, same as above.

\- Clicked Save, reloaded profile edit. I guess I have to click again to go to
the home page?...

\- Make your friends hangoutable: <http://www.thesponty.com/Inerte_82> But I
am not Inerte_82.

\- Cliked on Post, form came up: You should put something like a datepicker on
"When". It's 02:15 AM here, and 12:00 AM appeared on default. Clicking too
much arrows...

\- When I submitted the form, a spinning circle appeared on "12 - 3 am" box,
but my entry appeared on "3 - 6 am". Spin the cirle on the time I've selected.

\- The calendar opacity is too high, showing elements behind

Overall I liked the concept! But I am grumpy tonight I guess :p

~~~
marram
Very useful. Thank you sir.

------
staunch
1) The front page has screenshots of HTML components. They look like you can
interact with them, but you can't. This is almost always a bad design choice.

2) I don't want to use my Google account. I always use a site-specific email
address when registering for a new site. I'll never give one of my actual
gmail addresses.

------
marram
Sponty has been in closed beta since the fall. We were at the MIT TechFair
last week. Here are some of the pitches we used at the Sponty table (we also
had chocolates!):

"Hi, we're Sponty and we want you to be hangoutable. You should see your
friends more".

"Unlike other social networks that want you to sit in front of the computer to
look at photos and comment on rants, we're trying to use the internets to get
you off the internets so that you can see your friends more. You know, the old
fashioned way where you sit with them and gossip over dinner. That way you'll
actually be in those photos"

"We're different. Social networks want you to sit in front of the computer all
day. We think that's wrong. You should be spending face time with friends."

"We sure are all busy. But we all have to eat at some point. It is more fun to
eat dinner with friends".

Your feedback is greatly appreciated.

~~~
lionhearted
How I'd refine those pitches: Look to identify the problem to the consumer,
and answer how do it better. Compare the following - "Hi, we're New York
Pizza, and we want you to be satiated. You should eat good food." to... "Man,
you ever get hungry and you're not sure exactly what would hit the spot? We're
New York Pizza - we make good pizza, at a good price, 24 hours, that always
hits the spot."

I'd kill the word "social network" from your pitch - people roll their eyes
when they hear "another social network" - there's got to be ten million would-
be social networks online now. Pitch yourself as the first, and only "..."
that's completely unavailable on the market. Don't try to carve into someone's
"social network space" - I'm at my friend's house right now. He has Facebook
and Myspace and checks both of them. He has a dead Friendster account. He
won't use another social network... but he DOES use Evite, because that
scratches a different itch.

Something like - "It's easy to get lost online, and miss out what really
matters - like eating good meals with good people. I founded Sponty because I
remember back when it was simple and easy to get pizza with your friends, and
you'd get together with people you cared about to watch a favorite TV show now
and then. We're drowning in info with Myspace, Facebook, Friendster, and a
million other tech things that keep us apart from our friends and zombies in
front of the screen. Sponty makes it easy to meet up and hang out with your
friends, and do what really matters in life. Join as at Sponty and get back to
the days of great times, with great people, with no hassle. It's easy to join
- all you need is a Google account - and you'll be using Sponty like a pro
within 10 minutes. Just don't feel too bad that you'll be away from Facebook
doing cool things!"

------
amr
When you click to add an item on the calendar, the set of icons appear without
any indication to what they stand for until you click on one and see the
description in the "what" field. I know some of them are obvious, but you
should think about clearing the ambiguity by having the "what" field populated
appropriately as you hover over the icons.

------
lionhearted
On the design: I love the clean aesthetic and color scheme. I would try to to
make the page vertically a bit more compact, so the entire "Login using
Google" is above the fold. I have a relatively large monitor, and yet only the
top of "Login using Google" shows on my screen.

Then I'd test some descriptive instruction above "Login using Google" to
explain why they should - the value to them. "Take a test drive and see how
your social life improves - all you need is a Google account to get closer to
your friends" - something like that, just make it shorter. Test different
variations that answer the question, "why should I go to the next step?" It
might seem obvious to you, but you're intimately familiar with your site. Me,
why should I log in? The site looks nice, but what's the value here? What's
the learning curve? Will this be a pain in the ass to get running? Mention how
easy and fast they can do something cool, and then deliver on that promise
once people log in.

Cheers mate, and best wishes.

------
lionhearted
Toss a small (TM) on either Sponty, "be hangoutable", or both. TM means
trademark - but anyone can use it whenever they're using new descriptive
language that doesn't infringe on someone else's mark. You don't need to
register anything - the (R) in a circle means Registered Trademark, and you
need to register that.

Kellogg's has a registered trademark, they paid the USPTO (United States
Patent and Trademark Office), and had a search done to make sure it didn't
infringe on anyone. They have a very strong legal standing if anyone comes
after them:

<http://www2.kelloggs.com/>

But look at Google - they just use (TM)!

<https://mail.google.com>

TM adds a bit of credibility. Split test it if you're not convinced, but it
shouldn't hurt, and makes you feel like a real company. I'd definitely throw
the TM onto "be hangoutable", because that's a cool phrase, and I'd want to
own that after coining it.

~~~
keltecp11
You actually don't need a sign. It is yours by use (when you first publicly
display it), the sign is optional.

~~~
natch
It is true that you don't need it (and the poster never said you need it,
btw), but the sign does help add additional evidence in the event you need to
show a court that you were taking steps to protect your mark.

------
natch
This is cool. Sorry don't have time to do a detailed test drive now, but I see
others have done that, and I just wanted to add that YES this is a great
concept and something I have been wishing for. Dodgeball was close, Twitter is
OK for this but too noisy and not always followed closely enough, but this
gets right down to a core use case that is near and dear. One nice thing is
that since the use case is narrow, getting updated via SMS would work, at
least for people with good SMS quota plans.

Also both the name and the subtitle are great, and I won't be surprised to see
them inspire other -able and -onty names shortly.

A money maker? I don't understand how, but you have thought about it way more
than me, so maybe you have a way.

------
bemmu
Difficult to say if this will catch on, all I can offer is my own reasons why
I would not use this. I wouldn't play Mob Wars either, but that hasn't stopped
it from being a success.

\- I'm not in USA.

\- My friends are really reluctant to start using new services. It took ages
for them to start using Facebook.

\- My friends probably do not have Google accounts. In fact they would
probably be more likely to use this if this was a Facebook app.

\- As you say everyone needs to eat, so it is safe to assume that each of my
friends will have dinner anyway. So if I want to have dinner with a particular
friend, can't I just SMS them? I think they would find this more natural than
me trying to talk them into signing up for something.

~~~
marram
Hi bemmu, Thanks for the feedback!

1\. We plan on offering Sponty in many different languages. 2. It also works
great on the iPhone (and similar phones) and it doesn't require a time
commitment like social networks do. We really want you to be in and out in
three seconds. 3\. Soon we'll add more authentication options. 4\. Sure, SMS
works great for one-to-one. However, it really does'nt scale if you'd SMS all
your friends to see if any of them are up for grabbing a bite.

~~~
moe
_However, it really does'nt scale if you'd SMS all your friends to see if any
of them are up for grabbing a bite._

Not trying to sound mean but I often read arguments like that for the next big
social web thingy and I find them very contrived. Coordinating group events is
certainly an interesting application but I think you should find a better use-
case than "grabbing a bite".

Remember people are just animals and strongly conditioned on taking the path
of least resistance - especially when hungry...

------
sgentle
Interesting idea, but you're gambling on a huge network effect there. I'd need
to get a whole group of my friends using this for it to be worth it, and I
can't be bothered to do that. Even if I could, each one of them would need to
remember to update it before they went anywhere... what a hassle.

An idea: why not exploit an existing framework that people use for frequent
updates? Add a facebook app (150m users), add twitter integration (another
800k users or so), and you're off to the races. I'd be much more easily
convinced if instead of having to update your service I could just update my
twitter with "eating at joe's diner tonight 6pm, hangoutable".

Also, do you have Google Calendar integration yet? If not, what are you doing?
That's where I keep my calendar. I even have it set up to send me reminders
and everything.

I like your hangoutable branding - there's not currently a good word for an
ad-hoc social event, and you've picked a descriptive one that's also pretty
catchy. Sponty is halfway between silly and awkward. Maybe you should consider
rebranding?

Lastly, while I commend your Google account integration, I'd make it an "...or
log in with your Google account" and get your own logins. Much as it pains me,
the world's not ready to have all their services nestled in Google's ever-
expanding bosom just yet.

Anyway, best of luck.

------
Tichy
This may sound paranoid, but I don't want to enter my Google passwort on a
site that I have been forwarded to from another site.

I tried logging in to Google and then to login via your site, too, but Google
still asked for my password.

------
tlrobinson
A few little things:

\- don't capitalize by username in my URL (i.e.
<http://www.thesponty.com/Tlrobinson_94>). Also, do you really need the "_94",
can't it just be the username?

\- clear the placeholder text from textfield when it's clicked

~~~
marram
1\. The URL is actually an invitation link. When someone clicks it and signs
up, Sponty sends you a friend request; which you can choose to ignore. Hence,
this is a mild obfuscation to make invite links less guessable.

2\. Thank you for catching this bug. Will do.

------
truebosko
Very cool. As someone who is about to move into a new city (Montreal) I really
like things like this because it makes it easier to get to know people.

I really have nothing to add that hasn't been said (damn!) but I figure a bit
more kudos isn't going to hurt.

------
joshsharp
Very similar to <http://www.mixin.com/>.

~~~
omnivore
Yours is cleaner and that mixin thing made me dizzy just looking at it and
after going to Sponty first, I was taken aback by how mixin looked so
complicated, had so much text and wanted to inundate me with words and junk.
Doesn't matter if it's true, that was my impression.

I think you've got a good core, you'll need some other "hook" to draw a
critical mass of folks, I think...but the basics are there in my mind. Easy to
use, simple and cool.

Thanks for sharing.

~~~
joshsharp
You're right - mixin has been around a little longer, I think, but Sponty
definitely has the simplicity thing nailed.

------
minalecs
well most my friends and i already use google calendar for this type of thing.
If we really want to schedule a day out or something. But I can see how this
might be popular with like college kids. Try making it a facebook app instead,
might be much more useful

------
marketer
Very confusing. I have no idea what I'm supposed to do.

