

Ask HN: I'd like your opinion on my social network idea - Diamons

Critiques/Upvotes/Downvotes appreciated. I'm 19 and young, I think there's a better way, so why the fuck not? Everyone's calling me crazy so I'd like some HN opinions.<p>I was one of the early adopters of Facebook. I remember it used to be very interesting with posts about you, topics that mattered, where people used to post on each other's wall. Now they're coming out with a phone and making other choices which I feel are nothing but detrimental to my original Facebook experiences. I've had a declining Facebook experience these past few months and I want to bring some of that back.<p>Name: PeopleVector? (Work in progress) A much simpler social network. People can post statuses, write on each other's profiles, send messages, and upload photos or videos under 1 minute long. People can also send money to one another, track who owes who money, create a cell phone number alias to receive texts, and manage a calendar which your friends can "pin" events, notes, and photos to.<p>That's it. No notes, no groups, no pages, nothing. That's our key feature to make sure that the site doesn't get too overloaded and remains a social network, not whatever the hell Facebook is becoming.
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Smudge
Instead of explaining why this likely won't be the Next Big Thing (tm) I'll
tell you why I still think you should give it a shot:

1\. The Experience. Building and maintaining a service you care about--even if
only you and your friends are the ones using it--will help you work on skills
that will continue to come in handy.

2\. Learning to set realistic expectations. This is more than just saying, if
you think it will take 1 month, it will actually take 2-3, etc. This is about
learning how much you personally can handle without biting off more than you
can chew. I know that, early on, I had hugely ambitious personal projects, and
in many ways I still do, but I no longer get frustrated at myself for taking
longer than I'd like to complete certain features. And, most importantly, I no
longer feel like I'm letting down clients and friends, because I am less
likely to give them unrealistic estimates.

3\. The opportunity to spark more ideas. You may set-off with one goal in
mind, only to find a much more interesting problem to solve. And that's okay.
But sometimes the only way to find these nuggets is to get your hands dirty
and start exploring a problem domain. Even if it never leads to a project of
your own, you can blog about your ideas and maybe it will inspire someone
else.

Anyway -- those are just my two cents. Don't feel like you have to change the
world with your ideas, but also (and I guess this is the point I was trying to
get at) don't be afraid to just try things out and see where they lead.

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b0ttler0cket
I have a feeling that if you have all of these other features (statuses,
profiles, messages...), why not just stick in notes, groups and pages? I feel
like (what you're saying) the big problem is that FB became a huge clutter of
some sort. I gather this from the way you say "whatever the hell Facebook is
becoming." However, it seems like in trying to cut down the tree, you end up
just snipping a few branches off by cutting out notes, groups and pages. :)

That's just a minor observation. I think t0 says something really cool. It's
about doing one thing really really good. Maybe it's reinventing the statuses
system. Or maybe it's about the calendar.

By the way, you do realize that you say one of your features is to "manage a
calendar which your friends can "pin" events, notes, and photos to," but then
you say right after that, "no notes" will be included as features. :)

I would say give this a little more thought. :)

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t0
You say "much simpler", then proceed to list 10 features. Ideally simple means
one feature you do really well.

You're on the right track. _Remove more features._

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Cardeck1
When someone's calling you crazy, you are usually on the right track but you
are facing some titans here with your idea.In order to beat those titans you
have to give people something different than usual, something to WOW them.

Besides, you need a strategy in order to gain traction.But I am sure you can
make money with an app like this.Maybe not 1 billion but hey, you can settle
for less.Good luck with that.

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Mahn
IMHO, there are plenty alternatives out there for those who have facebook
fatigue and are looking for something simpler, e.g. Path or even Google+. If
it's beautifully executed it _might_ have its room to breathe, but I think
you'll struggle to mantain a healthy amount of active users on the long term.
Although this might not be an issue if you are happy with it being a niche
product.

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intellegacy
I admire your enthusiasm. However, I'm not sure what your idea does that
facebook doesn't do. Most people understand how to use facebook already; it's
not complicated even for grandmas.

edit: if you want to discuss more shoot me an email (in my profile). I'd love
to chat with you and bounce ideas off each other.

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stevekemp
Agreed.

Half the reason that facebook is the way that it is now is because _everybody_
is there.

A new site with a close-knit community will be awesome, have real interaction,
and be fun. Then it will either fail to attract new users and die, or become
oversaturated with everybody, at which point the dynamic will change and the
service will have the same problem.

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mikecane
Make it an app, not a website. You might still have a shot despite all the
apps gaining millions of users in Asia.

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minimaxir
Isn't that essentially Twitter?

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Diamons
I don't heavily use twitter because I hate the whole concept of it. I feel
extremely limited on Twitter and never liked the "fixed" layout in the middle
of the screen. Also, I don't think they let you pass money/manage your
friend's calendar/post on someone's profile (not tweet @handle where it leaves
a copy on your profile? correct me if I'm wrong).

Not trying to turn this into a feature fest, but these are simple little
things I feel people would find extremely convenient and eventually love.

