

Show HN: Down – The easiest way to get together with friends - mkolodny
https://www.down.life

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pbhjpbhj
>"What are you down for?" //

Unless you understand that particular vernacular this is a question as to why
someone is upset/depressed. "Down" carries a lot of negative weight as a word;
I'd consider a rename/rebrand. Of course it's perhaps trendy enough in a
particular region/segment to overpower the negative association?

I don't see any differentiators in the page from a Facebook event listing; the
"See who's down" could probably use some more info?

FWIW on app store page: s/show/shout, s/Beta/beta.

~~~
mkolodny
That's a good point. I think Seinfeld would agree with you on the negative
connotation :)

We chose the name Down because it's vernacular that we and a lot of our
friends use really commonly. The first thing we think of when we hear the word
"down" is that someone's excited to do something. It's possible that we're
biased by who we hang out with though. Any ideas for a good name if we were to
rebrand?

We kind of think of Down as a light-weight, mobile-optimized Facebook Events.

You can use Down for large, Facebook Events-size events. But you can also use
Down to invite a friend to lunch. Or a few friends over to watch a movie.
Those aren't really things you'd use Facebook Events for.

Down's also mobile optimized in that you can have a group chat with everyone
who's invited. I think it's the fastest, easiest way to invite people to do
something.

~~~
pbhjpbhj
Funnily enough up and down both work - "what are you up for" and "what are you
down for" can be synonyms. "What are you down for" can also be an enquiry in
to what you signed up for ... isn't English great?!? Where I am we're more
likely to ask "are you up for it"; though there's a slight connotation of
meeting a challenge in that phrase.

Did you do any market research - perhaps ask people in the right demographic
to write a tweet/text [ie SMS message] as if to invite you to an informal
impromptu event and take your inspiration from there.

"Happening"? is all I got right now.

That bit you said about what Down does better - why isn't that on your landing
page?

tl;dr sorry I don't really have any ideas what's better - if it resonates well
with you then perhaps you're best to stick with it.

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andrewmcwatters
I laughed a bit when I realized this wasn't Bang With Friends
[https://www.downapp.com/](https://www.downapp.com/)

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dopeboy
Mike - excellent work. It's been fascinating to see this idea go from idea to
reality - honored to be part of that. I'm down for Down.

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lsiunsuex
Screenshots look cool but the obvious downfall of apps like this is getting
friends to use it. Any plans for an Android version? Friends and I are pretty
much split down the middle with half of us as iOS users and the other half as
Android users.

Will keep it installed for a bit and see if anyone is "down to try it"

~~~
c54
Hey, I'm one of the founders/developers.

There are definitely plans for an Android app, that's one of the first next
things we will work on as we gain users.

Currently, the app text messages people who don't have it installed, including
android and winphone users -- basically the same thing GroupMe does.

:) thanks for checking it out, keep the feedback coming!

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cmacpher
This actually looks really useful.

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DanielStraight
So... is this group text to contacts who are within some radius by GPS
position?

~~~
mkolodny
By default all of your nearby friends are selected when you go to invite
people to do something. We've found that people end up using Down to invite
friends who they'd like to hang out with, but aren't necessarily close enough
with to text.

Once you send out invites, everyone you invited becomes part of a group chat
about the event.

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fiatjaf
Too much social networks.

~~~
mkolodny
Down solves a problem that I don't think any social network has solved yet:
making it simple to connect with friends in the real world. One of our friends
called Down a "true" social app.

@andrewlinfoot put it really well - "We created Down because we want to make
getting together with your friends as easy as checking Facebook. We find all
of our best memories come from hanging out with our friends in real life, not
sitting around scrolling through feeds on our phones. We think existing social
apps are great, but they focus too much on replacing our lives with digital
equivalents, and don’t do enough to encourage actually getting together with
friends."

~~~
fiatjaf
You are right.

But still there are too many social networks. I hope yours replace all others.

