3 ms·
My good friend recently made me signup w/dropbox so he can get more space, and I'll probably do the same with my friends. The main reason why it works is becau
by jscore 16y ago
My good friend recently made me signup w/dropbox so he can get more space, and I'll probably do the same with my friends.
The main reason why it works is because we're helping each other achieve something; we're making an existing process easier/more convenient. It's a MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL activity (ie, it's easy for us to share files with each other).
Dropbox is a platform product like Facebook (ie, join this site, and we can keep in touch together easier). This strategy would work for all platform products.
As for your startup, you have to ask why would I would recommend someone a product that eases remembering japanese/chinese chars, there's no process after that at all. There's nothing MUTUAL BENEFICIAL here at all. If my friend is using your tool, why do I care? It doesn't help me at all.
- gsaines 16y agoVery true, jscore, referring people to Skritter has no network effect at all. We do offer extra subscription time to both the recommending party and the new referral, and we spent a long time trying to figure out the right mix of benefits for both, but I think you're right that without the networking effect there's a lot less interest to recommend people. As you say, it doesn't help you to recommend anyone to a site where the primary activity is independent learning. Now, we could alter that and some social features, but my best guess is that it's not just "social features," because tacking that stuff onto Skritter probably wouldn't help too much! To get maximum gain, we would have needed Skritter to be more easily spreadable from the get-go. :)