

Show HN: PicDigest - Send social photos to people who aren't on social networks - scottmagdalein
http://picdigest.com
It's not perfect, but I wanted to get this out and in front of people sooner than later. Helpful critiques are VERY welcome.
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h2s
Reminds me of a comment I saw on here the other day:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4722671>

    
    
        > Facebook is going to forge a new path to irrelevance, not 
        > take the same path as MySpace. People will stop using 
        > Facebook because (1) they outgrow it, (2) they get tired of 
        > it, or (3) it lost its usefulness.
    
        > I don't believe another app will take its place. Rather, I 
        > think an existing app/platform is already Facebook's 
        > biggest competitor. And it's one you've been using for 30 
        > years. Email.
    

This really rang true to me and I think this project is further early evidence
of the way we're headed.

Edit: Just realised that the comment I've quoted is actually _by_ the creator
of this project!

~~~
citricsquid
This is quite off topic, but related to "Facebook Photos".

There used to be an option in my sidebar on Facebook called "photos", clicking
it would show all the photos my friends had uploaded. It was the news feed but
for photos! However 2 days ago it disappeared, this is my sidebar now:
<http://i.imgur.com/Vvte9.png>

The only option I have now is "photos", which is my _own_ photos. Did Facebook
kill the photo feed for everyone or did it just disappear for me?

~~~
awad
I've seen that feed come and go quite a few times over the recent months.
They're probably testing and/or working on something new. It is highly
frustrating when the feed disappears.

------
pheelicks
Good job. Nice clean design on the site & email.

I made something in a similar vein a while back, although it wasn't linked to
any social network: <http://www.sendasaurus.com> if you're curious. Basically
you manually upload the photos and then it automatically sends them one at a
time, once a day.

I think you're right to focus on the simplicity and mind-free aspect of the
service. It might be worth reflecting this in your pricing too, eg have an
option to pay $20 for an entire year. I definitely find it nicer to spend a
lump like that and not have to think about it, than to see a monthly dribble
of small amounts.

~~~
scottmagdalein
$20/year is the other payment option when you upgrade. It's just easier to say
$2/month in marketing copy than "$2/month or $20/year".

EDIT: Sendsaurus is cool.

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jeffclark
Love it. A much better idea than getting my wife's parents on Facebook just to
see pics.

~~~
scottmagdalein
My inspiration for PicDigest: the hassle of getting my mom and dad and grand
mom (et al) on Instagram and showing them how it works...just so they can see
all the pics I post of my new son.

~~~
ed209
your grand mom is on email? neat.

This would also be cool with Dropbox. I know people have shared albums with
new pics added every-so-often.

And a printed option (someday) would be nice too. Something like the recipient
can one-click to get a printed version sent to their house (and I pay).

But very cool anyway.

~~~
scottmagdalein
Dropbox will _definitely_ be an added option in the future. Along with Flickr,
Photobucket, Google+, etc.

And photo printing for your recipients will be added before the oh-so-
important photo printing holidays (Christmas and Hanukah).

Thanks for the ideas!

~~~
sygma
You might want to partner up with picplum [1] for the photo-printing part.
They already have an API [2].

[1] <https://www.picplum.com/>

[2] <https://www.picplum.com/developer>

------
DrorY
Great Idea! I could send photos this way to my parents. good job!

~~~
scottmagdalein
Glad you like it! And thank you very much. The "send photos to parents" is
definitely a top use-case so far.

~~~
ssharp
This is a great use case. My sister-in-law gave her mom her Facebook account
login so she can see pictures of the grandkids without having to sign up for a
Facebook account.

This would be so much better.

~~~
scottmagdalein
Oh yikes. Giving someone else your login, even a trusted family member, sounds
rickety. Yes, let her know that PicDigest exists. :)

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crm416
Surely unrelated to Eytan Levit's idea,[1] but very funny that these arose on
HN at the same time! (although clearly Eytan's post is now specifically about
his idea)

[1]seen at [http://www.eytanlevit.com/post/34639708833/operation-
hogwart...](http://www.eytanlevit.com/post/34639708833/operation-hogwarts-
getting-into-ycs-w2013-batch)

~~~
scottmagdalein
Nice!

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ed209
One possible flaw here is that it only sends public images. I don't post pics
(the exact pics I want to send) of my daughter publicly.

Isn't there a way to tag the photo as ok to send?

~~~
scottmagdalein
My aim for PicDigest senders (me and you) is that, once you sign up, it's a
mind-free service. You never have to mess with it or think about it again.

Something like Instagram hashtags or tags in Facebook would make it a mind-
full service, meaning you have to think about it. Although that means it might
not be for everyone, I do think the people that it fits will love it all the
more.

Thanks for pointing that out, though! :)

------
atlbeer
Product / Market fit for some of my friends (whom I sent it to)

Basically, young parents with kids and [grand]parents who aren't going to join
FB. Perfect fit.

~~~
scottmagdalein
Right on! :)

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nikunjk
Love the idea. Great to share with non-techy families!

~~~
scottmagdalein
Thank you very much!

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Evbn
Google Plus already does this, and its free. You can share any image/post with
anyone via email, and you can make circles for batch send.

~~~
scottmagdalein
Awesome! Just proof that it's a needed service/feature.

