7 ms·

I know :-/ Sorry about this, I'm trying to find the best way to explain what it does, without using a boring video that sucks, or poetic terms that say nothing.

I know :-/ Sorry about this, I'm trying to find the best way to explain what it does, without using a boring video that sucks, or poetic terms that say nothing. If you have any idea, please, please let me know :-D

macawfish 9y ago
Lots of people use planners and datebooks to remember important dates (like your high school best friend's upcoming wedding!) And lots of people use journals or diaries to take notes or keep memories. These things are less about "managing" and more about cultivating relationships and memories. "Organizing" is a word with less controlling vibes. Maybe start there and take a journey through the thesaurus? http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/organizing?s=t http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/organizing?s=t
- robinhood 9y ago
  Ohhh that's a very good idea. I disliked the notion of management, and organization makes much more sense. Thanks a lot!
  - macawfish 9y ago
    Here are some other ones that might help: - stay in touch/keep in touch - coordinate - focus - balance - "look after", as in "look after you relationships"
    - edraferi 9y ago
      How about terms related to tending a garden? "nurture" "Attend to" "Mind to" "Tend to" "Cultivate" "Nourish"
      - macawfish 9y ago
        Garden metaphors always do it for me.
cperciva 9y ago
"Your social memory" works much better than "manage your friends and family". So take this as a complaint about the HN headline, not about the site itself.
- arjie 9y ago
  I wouldn't have clicked through if it said "your social memory". That sounds like some NGO talking about causes. But this I instantly understood.
kej 9y ago
I think you could convey this pretty well if you changed the first screen shot on your page a little. Cut out the actual browser window part, and paste that on to an image of an address book/planner with the same information about Jim Halpert. That way it's an instant visual association with an existing non-computer idea.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
mistermann 9y ago
My memory is terrible, I've wanted something like this for ages to manage my life in general, love it!! I would like this to be hosted for $12/year.
- robinhood 9y ago
  Blush. Thanks for the feedback. Glad that all the hours sitting on my couch coding this tool helps you today :-D
bonniemuffin 9y ago
To me it's "an external brain for your social life".
anigbrowl 9y ago
The product is super cool and useful, although I hope you won't limit it to being a single-user thing because it could actually evolve into an amazing social tool. But I would really lose the word 'manage', it kind of suggests that personal relations are just another kind of task which is apt to make the people being related to feel devalued because they're not important enough to be given space in someone's day-to-day consciousness. poetic terms that say nothing ?! If poetic terms say nothing then why is poetry (both literary and lyrical, as in songs) so popular? Social relations are not purely functional or transactional, although they often have those aims or characteristics. Friendship and warm familial relations are based on feelings. I often say that hackers need to develop better emotional intelligence and this is a good example. Would you take someone on a date and say 'statistics indicate that we have a high degree of socioeconomic compatibility and synergistic aesthetic appeal, suggesting that we should pursue a merger strategy so as to maximize our mutual future advantage?' Most people would prefer to hear something along the lines of 'I love you and want to marry you.' I understand that your product is aimed at busy people who are invested in their work and want to handle their social relations at least as well as their business ones. But you need to be cognizant of their motivations for doing that; because they like, love and generally care about the people in their lives that lie outside their career. It is that drive which might move someone to start using your product, and you must appeal to that drive, which is an emotional one, in emotional terms. Incidentally, calling it Monica carries connotations of having an assistant called Monica that helps you remember those little personal obligations and although I'm sure you didn't intend this it gives me a sort of sexist vibe because historically such tasks have often been delegated to stereotypically female subordinates by busy executives (think Pepper Potts in the Iron Man story franchise). Even though both men and women seem to prefer female identities for things like GPS and virtual assistants, a gendered brand identity like this is likely to limit your appeal to one half of the population straight out of the gate. The brand values you wish to attach to your product are reliability, loyalty, and patience, so it would be worth your while to dig through mythology and fiction in search of characters who are associated with those qualities and then develop variations from any particularly inspiring name stems you encounter so as to leverage those psychic associations.
- robinhood 9y ago
shoover 9y ago
The word "manage" has to go, but it's a tough one. Any word having to do with augmentation is too robot/AI sounding. I like the idea of "cultivating," as in the Dale Carnegie approach or the another commenter's awesome uncle with the spreadsheet. But it's a balance of memory and cultivation. Anyway, nice work.
oever 9y ago
Here's a non-boring video. It has some good product taglines. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2UPoHJAOSQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2UPoHJAOSQ

macawfish 9y ago

Lots of people use planners and datebooks to remember important dates (like your high school best friend's upcoming wedding!) And lots of people use journals or diaries to take notes or keep memories. These things are less about "managing" and more about cultivating relationships and memories. "Organizing" is a word with less controlling vibes. Maybe start there and take a journey through the thesaurus? http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/organizing?s=t http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/organizing?s=t

robinhood 9y ago
Ohhh that's a very good idea. I disliked the notion of management, and organization makes much more sense. Thanks a lot!
- macawfish 9y ago
  Here are some other ones that might help: - stay in touch/keep in touch - coordinate - focus - balance - "look after", as in "look after you relationships"
  - edraferi 9y ago
    How about terms related to tending a garden? "nurture" "Attend to" "Mind to" "Tend to" "Cultivate" "Nourish"
    - macawfish 9y ago
      Garden metaphors always do it for me.

cperciva 9y ago

"Your social memory" works much better than "manage your friends and family". So take this as a complaint about the HN headline, not about the site itself.

arjie 9y ago
I wouldn't have clicked through if it said "your social memory". That sounds like some NGO talking about causes. But this I instantly understood.

kej 9y ago

I think you could convey this pretty well if you changed the first screen shot on your page a little. Cut out the actual browser window part, and paste that on to an image of an address book/planner with the same information about Jim Halpert. That way it's an instant visual association with an existing non-computer idea.

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

mistermann 9y ago

My memory is terrible, I've wanted something like this for ages to manage my life in general, love it!! I would like this to be hosted for $12/year.

robinhood 9y ago
Blush. Thanks for the feedback. Glad that all the hours sitting on my couch coding this tool helps you today :-D

bonniemuffin 9y ago

To me it's "an external brain for your social life".

anigbrowl 9y ago

The product is super cool and useful, although I hope you won't limit it to being a single-user thing because it could actually evolve into an amazing social tool. But I would really lose the word 'manage', it kind of suggests that personal relations are just another kind of task which is apt to make the people being related to feel devalued because they're not important enough to be given space in someone's day-to-day consciousness. poetic terms that say nothing ?! If poetic terms say nothing then why is poetry (both literary and lyrical, as in songs) so popular? Social relations are not purely functional or transactional, although they often have those aims or characteristics. Friendship and warm familial relations are based on feelings. I often say that hackers need to develop better emotional intelligence and this is a good example. Would you take someone on a date and say 'statistics indicate that we have a high degree of socioeconomic compatibility and synergistic aesthetic appeal, suggesting that we should pursue a merger strategy so as to maximize our mutual future advantage?' Most people would prefer to hear something along the lines of 'I love you and want to marry you.' I understand that your product is aimed at busy people who are invested in their work and want to handle their social relations at least as well as their business ones. But you need to be cognizant of their motivations for doing that; because they like, love and generally care about the people in their lives that lie outside their career. It is that drive which might move someone to start using your product, and you must appeal to that drive, which is an emotional one, in emotional terms. Incidentally, calling it Monica carries connotations of having an assistant called Monica that helps you remember those little personal obligations and although I'm sure you didn't intend this it gives me a sort of sexist vibe because historically such tasks have often been delegated to stereotypically female subordinates by busy executives (think Pepper Potts in the Iron Man story franchise). Even though both men and women seem to prefer female identities for things like GPS and virtual assistants, a gendered brand identity like this is likely to limit your appeal to one half of the population straight out of the gate. The brand values you wish to attach to your product are reliability, loyalty, and patience, so it would be worth your while to dig through mythology and fiction in search of characters who are associated with those qualities and then develop variations from any particularly inspiring name stems you encounter so as to leverage those psychic associations.

robinhood 9y ago

shoover 9y ago

The word "manage" has to go, but it's a tough one. Any word having to do with augmentation is too robot/AI sounding. I like the idea of "cultivating," as in the Dale Carnegie approach or the another commenter's awesome uncle with the spreadsheet. But it's a balance of memory and cultivation. Anyway, nice work.

oever 9y ago

Here's a non-boring video. It has some good product taglines. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2UPoHJAOSQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2UPoHJAOSQ