

Show HN: We created an iPhone app that lets you share your plans for tonight - alanpca
http://www.doingtonight.com/

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martinshen
Clean UI. Like the logo. Don't know why you ask for an additional password
beyond FB log in.

Anyway, some UI fixes I'd suggest:

1\. On open, prompt the user for what they are doing tonight with some auto
suggestions (and the option to write their own).

2\. Allow users to upload pictures for what they're doing (people love
pictures)... aka social networks don't succeed without pics. At least let me
take a picture of the event I'm at or food I'm making.

3\. "Tag" users does not prompt any users for me (you should pull up my
friends list or address book if I haven't added anyone).

4\. Similarly, if I don't have Facebook friends on here, ask me to invite
some.

5\. Too much unobvious iconography in the app. Tags don't usually imply to
people to me but rather keywords. Your edit button is a circle which is
confusing. Also, be consistent and use "Go" when I'm inputing stuff.

6\. Black, White and Blue are really boring colors. Add some flavor to this
and make a custom footer UI bar.

Most importantly, I agree with dmix in that I need a reason to "cheerlead a
new social network". You should provide some kind of incentive to solve the
chicken/egg problem.

~~~
rbedi
Thanks Martin - great feedback. We can't wait to explore ways to integrate
with UpOut in the near future.

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dmix
I'd post what I'm doing on twitter more often if my close friends used
Twitter. But they rarely venture outside of Facebook, so I don't bother.

Same with Path, I'd like to use it but I couldn't be bothered to cheerlead a
new social network to them.

The same applies here, sadly.

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sycr
This needs to be more than just updates from friends. Facebook does that well
enough. Simply organizing a certain _type_ of update into a stream isn't a
sufficient reason for people to use the app unless everyone else already is.

Here's what might work though: aggregate and map local, context-aware events:
local as in things that are happening nearby, and context-aware as in things
that suit my interests. Why not consume data from Songkick for example - like
displaying concerts and music events. Or figure out a way to generate data
from bars and nightclubs. Maybe mashup something from Yelp? Make it easy, fun,
and intuitive to browse this type of information - with data from your friends
mixed and layered in.

That way, there's a reason to use this thing without the luxury of having
friends who are users (which, frankly, will be everyone).

I've been thinking a lot about this stuff myself - I'd be happy to toss back
ideas outside of HN. My address is in my profile.

~~~
alanpca
Thanks for the suggestion. We're already working on curating some top events
for a bunch of populous cities. I'll shoot you an e-mail and perhaps we can
talk further.

Edit: you may want to also take a look at our "nearby" events. While the list
may admittedly be a little dry if you're outside of a high-populous area, it's
a cool feature.

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jack-r-abbit
Since you asked for feedback I am going to give you feedback. It will be
honest and not meant to be disparaging. While I'm not sure I would use it that
much since I can achieve the same thing using Twitter/Facebook, one thing is
certain... I will never use it if it is iOS only. Not all iOS and Android
people hate each other. We hang out together and do stuff... tonight even. :)
If the app is iOS only and there is no actual website (for non iOS people) to
perform the same tasks as the app, then I feel even the iOS crowd may have a
hard time buying in to it since it forces them to neglect part of their social
circle. In real life, social networks are platform agnostic. Just my 2 cents.

~~~
rbedi
Completely agree. We're iterating as quickly as we can on iOS to get to
product-market fit before we expand to other platforms.

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lostgame
While the app itself is fantastic, it's limited in scope and this
functionality is already offered by Twitter, Facebook, or any other social
network with status updates...still a good piece of software, but I can't see
it catching on when you can do the same thing with just a simple Facebook or
Twitter update where all your friends who are already in those social networks
will see it...good follow-through, but the concept definitely needs work.

~~~
rbedi
Thanks for the feedback. We're working on building out really interesting
functionality while maintaining the simplicity of the app. We believe there is
real value in providing a single forum where you can find what people in your
network, and in your area are doing tonight.

Rather than hunting for plans posted on Twitter and/or Facebook, you can
always rely on doingtonight to find out what people are doing tonight, without
having to sort through all kinds of unrelated conversations.

We also think people have a different identity at night, and don't want to mix
that up with their identity on the rest of the social graph.

But you're absolutely right that we have to do a lot of work before we realize
this potential!

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justinph
I've been working on a similar idea and think this is pretty fertile space. We
have calendaring for scheduling our days, but not so much for our social lives
and free time. What's needed there is kind of an anti-calendar. The trick with
any technical solution isn't the tech.. It's making it into enough of a game
or engagement that people will use it consistently enough to make the network
valuable to everyone. Good luck with that!

~~~
rbedi
Couldn't agree more. Would love to chat about the space some time!

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cdeonier
Why would people use this app over Facebook or Twitter? Is it just because of
the "I'm Down" button?

~~~
alanpca
We believe that facebook and twitter are inadequate social calendars, and that
we can do a lot better. We of course support cross-posting to twitter and
facebook already (eg. <http://doingtonig.ht/p/jiv>), but hope to do a lot more
in the future. Sign up and stick around with us.

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nbashaw
Congrats to Doingtonight! Big fan of your app

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cheeaun
A similar app I know is Found <http://getfoundapp.com/>

~~~
fennecfoxen
A similar app I know is Twitter <http://twitter.com>

No seriously though, wasn't that half the point before it turned into the "omg
we're a social network build your popularity and acquire all the followers to
broadcast your brand" game?

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colinsullivan
Tried using "Plancast" for a while, but couldn't get many other people to use
it.

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alanpca
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

~~~
Jare
This being Hacker News, I expected some post or details (even if not terribly
in-depth) about the development of your app, service and / or company.

~~~
alanpca
Jare, we will be doing this in the short term. Just wanted to post the link up
and get some initial feedback on the concept.

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revolvingcur
Strikes me as somewhat similar to MyNyte.

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fbpcm
very similar to Forecast

