

Getting your users on-board - thoughts on Quora, Path.com, Instagram etc. - destraynor
http://www.contrast.ie/blog/getting-your-users-on-board/

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mattdeboard
Quora lost me. It was a great place that attracted interesting people who were
spending time answering insightful questions with compelling responses. Now,
unfortunately, it seems to me that it has become yet another marketing
channel, packed tight with cruft.

Good? Bad? I don't know that I can or would make such a judgment. All I know
is that Quora has become a slightly less obnoxious Yahoo! Answers.

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ojbyrne
You raise an interesting question, that the article (or perhaps a followup)
could address. How do you ramp up without becoming just another PR vehicle?

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jayzee
One of the things that goes unmentioned and I think that this is an important
thing, even for facebooks valuation that we have all been talking about:

With the right feedback loops companies can ramp up quickly like never before
is true. But those same loops are in place for the site to down down very
quickly too.

In the valuation for such companies analysts often use a multiple times
revenue (or users etc). This multiple is based on the old school model that it
took time for companies to die, for competitors to emerge etc. Doubt that is
true anymore. One bad move that pisses off the community and people will leave
in droves too. Digg anyone?

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destraynor
It went unmentioned cause it wasn't really relevant in the article.

The danger all of these type of applications face is that it's very very hard
to tell if you're delivering anything of value, when you're not charging
money.

Some people just delete their account. Some people stop logging in. Some
people log in but far less often. Some still log in as often, but are bored
when doing so. Some do it, but are really just waiting for the next big thing.

The risk of the high valuations is that all of these guys look like potential
users, people who will click adverts.

Bebo had a shit load of active users when AOL shelled out $850,000,000 for it.
The danger is that no one ever checked if any of the users actually gave a
shit about Bebo.

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cd34
I visited Quora a while back. It had a login page, nothing that really
described what it was, no examples. I figured it was a walled garden that
invited participants. From the front page, you still can't tell what it is or
why it is worth taking the time to sign up. Maybe it is a decent service, but,
they lost me on the landing page.

Path.com, maybe I'm stupid, is it a dating site?

Instagram was interesting and I was able to figure out what that site was
almost immediately. Since I was around when the SX-70 Land came out, their
design and presentation actually was interesting. Too bad I use Android.

A landing page should tell me precisely what you offer, in quick and simple
terms so that I can see how that site is going to benefit me. I'm not going to
sign up - no matter how easy it is - to investigate whether this site has
anything of interest.

I'm still unsure what path.com is other than a hyper-local facebook
newsstream.

Maybe Quora and Path are still in stealth mode and doing the google invitation
rollout, but, Instagram does look interesting.

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destraynor
Quora makes plenty of sense once you're in, but I agree overall, and Path.com
is certainly over-doing the vague pitch way too much.

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cd34
But there is nothing on that page that would ever entice me to log in. Just a
very vague statement. Is it technical? is it health? general? I understand if
they are trying to keep it below the radar until they are ready to release,
but, I see nothing there that would make me create an account.

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wallflower
I have never logged into Quora. Yet I find the fact that a few of the people
answering the questions are authoritative sources fascinating. So stuff like
being deluged by a stream of activity from people you follow on Quora is
irrelevant for me. In a way, I think Quora stands out because its community of
users acts as a sort of imperfect funnel for quality. Interesting questions
and answers may become popular. With Twitter, it's hard to see what is
relevant. But with Quora, if someone passes along a Quora link you almost know
it is going to be good. Especially in the narrow niche of technology and
Silicon Valley. Twitter is too democratic; Quora is more republican.

Also, clever name.

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npturner
I haven't explored Quora much yet, but Instagram, as you pointed out, has
built in some great features that have helped them grow so quickly.

