

Hipset. It’s the stupid algorithm, stupid. - schlichtm
http://tobiaspeggs.tumblr.com/post/29801938291/hipset-its-the-stupid-algorithm-stupid

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EricBurnett
Disclaimer: I've never heard of Hipset before. That said, I'm going to go out
on a limb and say it won't take off, for all the same reasons this blog post
says it will.

The product itself appears to be essentially a 'simple' algorithm for
Facebook, letting you avoid the pseudo-intelligent EdgeRank algorithm they use
and letting you see an unfiltered stream of a specific subset of the content.
If it really is that simple, the key questions are whether users will go to a
third party to get it and if Facebook will refrain from copying it in-house.
Call me skeptical. Taking the points in turn:

1\. User Aquisition

> For Hipset, user acquisition is very obviously built into the product’s and
> team’s DNA. A well executed PR exercise this weekend generated a ton of
> interest from early adopters - who all signed up via Facebook auth.
> Meanwhile, the product aggressively (that’s a complement) integrates with
> Facebook’s Open Graph. Every time i engage with content on Hipset, it gets
> posted to Facebook. So all those early adopters using the product are
> actually busy sending notifications to their impressionable friends on
> Facebook about this cool new service. [...]

To paraphrase the blog, Hipset is better at 'growth hacking' than the
blogger's product OneRiot was. It can go viral, and ... and what? It's
positioned here as a feature for Facebook, so presumably a set fraction of the
users would desire it off the bat. Getting in front of them is a recipe for an
initial userbase, but there needs to be something beyond that. What's the
long-term growth strategy, continue to hope Facebook doesn't provide a native
view for this feed and growing alongside them? I don't buy it.

2\. Users want it.

Again paraphrasing, the blog suggests that users want an undiluted feed. One
benefit of this is that bands can directly email users who have subscribed.
Except...what happens when a few are too chatty? Either they back down from
that 'undiluted' idea, becoming simply a different algorithm, or users need to
do all that micromanaging Facebook hides away, and get fatigued. There
probably is a market for some who want control over everything themselves, but
I'm not sure it's on Facebook in the first place.

The author also suggests that this is a perfect market for Mobile - where
Hipset isn't yet trying to be. That's a significant pivot, although a
reasonable one.

3 - Facebook doesn't need to copy Hipset, because it's complementary.

Facebook probably doesn't _need_ to copy Hipset, no. But they have a vested
interest in keeping everyone going to facebook.com, and not splintered into a
set of micro-communities. Which means banking on their disinterest in the long
run doesn't seem like a safe bet - and if Facebook decides to provide even
half the features of Hipset, momentum and the hidden costs of each additional
service will do the rest.

Now, there may well be a lot more to Hipset than this blog post is making
apparent. I don't know. But there is nothing here to convince me that it's
going anywhere, aside from a blip as the internet goes "oh, that's cool!"

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blackaspen
Lots of great points. Mouthful of a post.

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Axsuul
This looks similar to <http://jellibug.com>, except they don't have videos
yet.

