
The first physical Facebook fan counter for local businesses - Gauhier
http://www.smiirl.com
======
aresant
This is genius and fills a real need, here's why:

I've spent the last two years building out a customer acquisition program for
a brick & mortar chain with ~50 locations.

We CONSTANTLY try to train the people in the store to ask for reviews / likes
/ etc which is a cornerstone of local SEO and the customer acquisition
process.

The biggest issue that we encounter is that store employees have trouble
figuring out how / where to have the conversation, and how to ask.

With one of these on every store counter we literally have a conversation
starter and the novelty for the customer of clicking the "like" button on
their phone and seeing the physical roll over is just enough bait to make it
worthwhile for them.

I see two issues with the hardware:

a) €300 (~$450 US) is steep. I get this is prototype. But at $100 I would put
them in every store.

b) There's nowhere on the sign for the URL / or a call to action "Like us at
fb.com/blahblah" which means literally every Like you get requires a
transaction / discussion w/a store employee to guide people there vs. just
letting it hit organically.

Regardless I'm going to buy one, and if the devs are here and watching and
would like us to knock out a case study of how well this works feel free to
drop me a line via my profile -

~~~
Gauhier
Wow, that's encouraging for us, you totally seized what we are trying to do
with this device. Let's get in touch!

~~~
wtvanhest
You should definitely make it easy for them to "like" the store they are in
while they are on their visit.

I understand that searching for he business on the mobile device would work,
but if there was faster way, you should consider adding it as an upgrade.

~~~
philwebster
Facebook should include a QR code scanner in their app to do this. I rarely
scan QR codes because I would rather type in a short URL than find some QR
scanning app. (I realize Google's app can do this, but you end up in an in-app
web browser where you are likely not signed into Facebook.) If I could get to
a business' official page in a couple of taps in the Facebook app, my chances
of interacting with the page would definitely increase.

~~~
philwebster
It turns out the iOS Facebook app has this feature already under the sidebar >
Find Friends > QR Code > Scan Code. The URL is in the form
[https://www.facebook.com/qr?id=###########](https://www.facebook.com/qr?id=###########).
Unfortunately when I scanned codes, the app did nothing even though it said it
would bring me to a Facebook page, so the feature does not appear to be
working properly.

~~~
karlmalone32
It looks like it only works with other people's QR codes from the "Find
Friends > QR Code > Your Code" area and not random codes. Worked for me with
those codes though.

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MartinCron
Once you've saturated the local businesses market, you can also sell this to
narcissists.

~~~
alan_cx
I assume you are being a bit naughty there, and your comment did raise a
smile, but I do think people would buy them. I mean, lets face it, deep down,
don't we all have varying degrees of narcissism?

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WestCoastJustin
Cool idea. It would be nice if this was generic and hackable. For example, I
have a mailing list, and it would be cool to see the # of users on the mailing
list, or website subscribers, etc. It would need some type of API to go along
with it, I'd purchase it, if the price was around ~100.

Branding, maybe just send along a pack of stickers, so if someone wants a
facebook tracker, they just apply the facebook sticker, etc. Maybe just a
template that people can print their own branding, etc. then you don't need to
print anything on your end!

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bluthru
It was a really smart decision to eschew a LCD or LED display. The old-school
flip display really humanizes the numbers.

~~~
bdamm
What happens when a business makes a bad choice and people "unlike" en-masse?
Does the counter go backwards?

Probably this has not happened much, but I do "unlike" businesses when they
start to get quite spammy.

~~~
awy
I'm pretty sure those flip things don't like to go backwards. So I'd assume an
unlike would just freeze the number and absorb the next like.

~~~
joezydeco
The digits can spin independently. The computer driving the display can go
"backwards" by just advancing the digits until the correct one is shown.

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massarog
Instead of saying on the page 'pre-orders are coming tomorrow' you should have
an email collection form there. You're likely getting a large amount of
traffic and could be losing out on a lot of potential pre-orders because
people will forget to go back to your page tomorrow. Just toss in an email
collection form saying you'll notify people when pre-ordering opens.
Otherwise, neat product.

~~~
Gauhier
Done! Thanks for the insight!

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ThomPete
I once used to lead 20 telemarketers. I would create all sorts of board games
on a whiteboard, using magnets and a marker. 1 Sale would equal 1 move.

Adding bonus fields, and a finish line, Those who made it to that where
allowed to go home for the day.

Believe me, it did wonders to sales

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tharshan09
Is everyone really serious saying this is amazing? I really do not understand
the price tag being stated and what the product actually does? - Just to be
clear this shows a particular business's facebook likes? with an added bonus
for real time and turning numbers. Maybe I just do not get it.

~~~
joezydeco
Bringing the virtual back into the physical world is kind of an interesting
thing. See also: 3D printing.

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bobsy
Interesting. My local chipshop has had a like us on Facebook sign up for the
past year. They have 13 likes.. The only use for this I can see is in an
office so everyone can see the count going up.

Putting it on the shop front of a small business would be a bit embarassing as
the majority of small businesses have a miniscule number of likes..

~~~
joebeetee
I don't think a minuscule amount of likes is embarrassing. People expect that
for a small local business. The big difference is that those likes really
count for something - 13 likes at a local chip shop probably means 13 people
who go there once a week.

~~~
anigbrowl
There's a Chinese restaurant near me, and whenever I walk past it's always
empty, with the owner/manager standing there with a long, sad face. I feel
guilty about always looking in and never entering, but part of my brain tells
me there must be some reason that nobody else is in there.

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dotcoma
Am I the only one who thinks this is stupid beyond any reasonable limit?

~~~
Helpful_Bunny
No, this is the perfect point that shows Face Book is _over_. Retro 1970's
style physical counters, with a _plug_ lead only 2' foot long, for _" I LIKE
THIS"_. This is satire so perfect, I suspect this is a viral insert for the FB
replacement[1].

If this team isn't the newest, hottest AdBusters viral team, I'll be
disappointed. This crew is pitch perfect.

[1][http://www.tech.sc/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Doomsday-
Clock...](http://www.tech.sc/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Doomsday-Clock.jpg)
(Please note, this is no longer correct: we are currently at 5 minutes to
midnight, not 7)

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joezydeco
I just want those split-flap modules. Those would be fun to play with.

~~~
91bananas
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYhlQDS03KM](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYhlQDS03KM)
This fellow built a controller for some, looks pretty simple

~~~
joezydeco
The controller part is pretty simple. The hard part is finding these modules.
Most were made by Solari in Italy, Omega in Switzerland, or Salient in
Australia. All are either out of the business or won't sell to consumers.

Like the youtube like you posted, the modules are surplus or salvaged ones.
I've seen kickstarters for little cardboard replicas, but nothing more durable
than that.

I've also found one guy that built his own module and put his designs online:

[http://www.instructables.com/id/Arduino-based-Split-Flap-
gam...](http://www.instructables.com/id/Arduino-based-Split-Flap-game/)

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imrehg
In the Taipei Hackerspace we had a number Facebook Like Counter designs a few
months ago, and in the Maker Faire Taipei there were a bunch of others too, so
this is definitely not the "first". Looks nice, though, and finished up.

Arduino+Wireless Routers+7-segment displays:
[https://plus.google.com/b/100085911445404984901/100085911445...](https://plus.google.com/b/100085911445404984901/100085911445404984901/posts/4dtfnEW3FZt)

PyMCU + computer + LCD display:
[https://plus.google.com/b/100085911445404984901/100085911445...](https://plus.google.com/b/100085911445404984901/100085911445404984901/posts/PaxuRAgYdqR)

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darwinia
Is the counter in _real_ realtime? I mean, updated every seconds?

Do you have backend layer or your device is directly consuming the Facebook
API?

I'm asking because with an intermediary layer you could provide different
types of counter. In a few seconds, I could be able to choose from different
sources of data for the counter. Through a simple web interface hosted by you.

Uses would becomes unlimited. Twitter followers, Foursquare checkins
today/this week,...

Even number of kilometers traveled with runtastic as an example,... At max
100€ people could buy one for their home. More like a moving/interactive
object for decoration. This market is potentially bigger.

I didn't found the price too high for a prototype.

And +1 for the NFC tag!

~~~
Gauhier
The counter is in real realtime, in fact we'll slow it a bit so that you have
the time to see the flap going down.

We focused on Facebook for this first launch in order to stay focus on one
product well designed for businesses, and to "market" it the simplest way (and
as you said, it's still a bit costly for a particular).

And for NFC, we didn't announce it for now cause we have a lot to work on but
our goal is to deliver Fliike with NFC tags to our clients.

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kunai
Great idea, but I once tried something similar with a Raspberry Pi and a 15"
cheap TN LCD panel to hang in my apartment for the amount of "likes" one of my
Facebook pages received.

This is far more elegant, although far more expensive as well.

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melkisch
That's cool. Are you already building the Instagram, Twitter, etc... versions?

~~~
VLM
Hacker News Karma version

~~~
alan_cx
My inner narcissist likes this...

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pavel_lishin
Nitpick, this seems to have some funky grammar: Connect you to the “Smiirl”
Wi-Fi network & connect Fliike to your own Wi-Fi via your browser

~~~
philk10
Another nitpick, on the FAQ page it says to 'click here' to create a FB
account but there is no link to click -
[http://www.smiirl.com/faq](http://www.smiirl.com/faq)

~~~
Gauhier
Thanks!

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gmichiels
Innovative idea, why was this not designed before...

~~~
mourique
because it was designed just now?

~~~
joering2
Because most likely there is still a niche market for that. That's why the
$450 pricetag, I believe.

The bottom line is I think the killer, for now, would be that noone wants to
put this with 13 likes. If I see a coffee shop with 13 likes its goes this way
in my hand "damn I wish I would try but they only have 13 likes? Maybe their
coffee sucks, where is the nearest Starbucks?". You see, the problem is that
most people will compare this number of likes to other similar. So someone
running small business does not want to show how few likes they have. Big
business, on the other hand I dont think would care about this, unless its
starbucks or hand of other large companies, but most likely than not you wont
see your local coffee shop with the one (thats why I believe they price it so
high, comparing to something reasonable like $99).

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Mibou
I'd love to have it in my office.

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umsm
What happens when you have more than 100k likes? Our business will soon grow
out of this limit...

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joebeetee
This is a cool idea. Although isn't 5 digits a little limited?

~~~
Gauhier
We've build this device for local businesses such as little stores, shops,
bars, restaurants...etc, it seems that the average number of fans of these
types of fan pages is comprised between 0 and 99 999 fans.. Plus we are sure
that Facebook pages with over 100 000 fans would prefer a custom version of
Fliike.

~~~
tomschlick
This could be solved by adding a period and "K" flaps. That way if it got
bigger it could display 212.5K... not big deal for small businesses but I
could see you offering that to a bigger chain of businesses.

~~~
robbiea
I like that approach too, but a big part of it is seeing the numbers change in
real time. Your approach would have to wait 100 like's, but I guess at that
amount it still can change fairly frequently.

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nubela
is there a counter where i can actually connect to my own metrics?

~~~
Gauhier
Yep, we'll work on that, we wanted to make it very simple and very clear at
the beginning and in the future we'll expand this device with an open api!

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philk10
Does it cope with unlikes and the counter having to decrement?

~~~
Lighty04
yes, it does

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anderspetersson
Build in an NFC tag so users of recent Android Phones (and hopefully the next
iPhone) can like by just touching the device with his/her phone.

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quackerhacker
While I may not be on Facebook anymore...this is actually real intuitive.
Kudos.

I hope they implement more products similar to this...like twitter followers.

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ErikAugust
I'd love this to be more general/programmable. Great to put in an office for
morale-building around a major metric.

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klous
One could also build a version of this with a Raspberry Pi, LCD screen an a
little scripting for less than $60.

~~~
donretag
The selling point of this device is the novelty aspect. You can interact with
a physical device simply by Liking a Facebook page. By keeping it digital, you
do not traverse mediums and it will be adding very little to the smartphone
age. You can fake the flip transitions, but it is just not the same.

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glomph
The website should have a webcam of one running for Smiirl's facebook page!

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jesusx
You should build one for google analytics too

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ebbflowgo
What a great idea.

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notnotnine
$450 per unit and they couldn't design it to run on a battery? #fail

~~~
segmondy
Yeah, that's what a business needs. Charging and swapping out batteries every
other day. Hey, how long does your phone battery last?

