5 ms·

At OhLife (YC S10), daily e-mails motivate a new wave of online diarists

74 points by waderoush 16y ago

dabent 16y ago
I've been using this for a few weeks now. It's super easy to use, but I really wonder how they plan on monetizing this app.
- tlrobinson 16y ago
  Perhaps by offering a premium digital "archiving" service that aggregates the history of all of your online presences into one nice interface. It would be cool if I could see the activity on my Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, etc accounts along side my journal. I'd pay for a service like that. I'd be worried about the service going away, but if they offered an easy export option I'd use it.
- sjs382 16y ago
  I think that selling you a printed version of your journal each year would be a great selling point. Not sure if it would have enough buyers, though.
  - marknutter 16y ago
    I'd buy mine in a heartbeat.
- sushrutbidwai 16y ago
  one possible way of monetizing would paid iPad app.
- pkaler 16y ago
  Highly targeted advertising in the daily reminder email. They basically know your deepest darkest secrets that you don't want to publish widely. Email CPM ranges from $10/CPM to $100/CPM depending on targeting. http://archive.newsmax.com/mediakit/newsmaxemail_rates.cfm http://archive.newsmax.com/mediakit/newsmaxemail_rates.cfm I'd imagine people would put health and financial matters in their private journal.
  - hugh3 16y ago
    If I were they, I'd steer clear of directly targeting ads towards private matters discussed in the diary. Creep your customers out too much and they won't come back.
  - primigenus 16y ago
    How do you handle intent though? When I see that email my goal is to write a new entry, not click on an advert for Deepest Darkest Secrets (TM). To fix the intent problem, perhaps showing relevant ads while you're writing could make sense. If I'm writing about health and financial matters, that stuff's in my head and I might be coerced into clicking on a related ad.
briandarvell 16y ago
Cool idea. Basically it really offers nothing new except they have changed the way the game is played. You don't need to force yourself to begin, they're taking that first step for you.
nlanier 16y ago
I signed up when it they first appeared on HN and have been using it ever since. It's a simple idea that's been well executed. Kudos to them, I hope the service sticks around!
swombat 16y ago
To offer a counterpoint, I signed up, posted about 3 entries, then got distracted and added these emails to the masses of automated mails that my eye automatically glosses over while looking at my overtaxed inbox. Then I unsubscribed the next time I had an automated-mail-culling exercise. So, "one more email demanding my attention" didn't work for me.
- kirpekar 16y ago
  Same here. Kept up for about a week, then unsubscribed to rid the pain. The solution has to be non-email related.
  - hugh3 16y ago
    If you can't stand being reminded to keep a diary, perhaps you just don't really want to be keeping a diary?
    - kirpekar 16y ago
      I want to keep a diary, but I don't want to update it every single day at 8PM. I'd rather send out an update every few days when I'm less stressed about other things and have got together my thoughts on what I would like to write.
      - there 16y ago
        is the 8pm time not configurable? i wonder if it could just look at what time you finally sent in each email and figured out what your typical response time was, then started sending them later in the day to compensate.
        mcxx 16y ago
        I'd appreciate this feature. I reply to OhLife's emails way past 20.00, usually around midnight.
- edkennedy 16y ago
grandalf 16y ago
Shameless plug: http://www.onepageperday.com http://www.onepageperday.com (similar concept but for authors, launched last winter, starting to go viral lately with NaNoWriMo around the corner)
h34t 16y ago
I like the service. Helps keep me on track. For some reason I use this differently than paper journals. I think there may be a market for online coaching for independent, creative / solitary workers. A 10 minute phone call each day with a coach could have gone a long way for helping me stay focused when I was working by myself on projects. Journal entries like this could be a natural "entry" into this space. If they gave me the option of paying a monthly subscription for a qualified, trustworthy coach to read my entries and help keep me on track I might go for it. Knowing there was somebody who would read it would motivate me to keep going and put more thought into my life. (Of course, I'd change the way I wrote the entries if I knew it wasn't totally private. It changes the nature of the service.)
- troutwine 16y ago
  I've been considering building a service for this very thing. Would you be interested in having a conversation with me? My email address is in my profile.
  - klous 16y ago
    I've had some similar thoughts for a set of services like this, I'd be up for a discussion. My email is in profile. (your email is not at the moment)
- Stuk 16y ago
  This is a really interesting idea, one that I would seriously consider subscribing to. I imagine having someone phone/Skype you would push the price up a lot though. Possibly an email service, although that slightly removes the personal connection from it. I'm going to have to think about this...
mkramlich 16y ago
for those who've used this and like it, how is it different than a blog? how is it different from or better than, say, Posterous?
- hugh3 16y ago
  I haven't used it, but surely the difference is that the diary is something you don't want anyone else to read (but secretly worry that somebody will) while the blog is something you do want others to read (though in fact, nobody ever does).
  - mkramlich 16y ago
    k. i'm wondering if uploading text to the Internet, to some company, is a good strategy for keeping that text private and secret. :) One alternative is to write a diary the old fashioned way. Paper and ink. Very simple and cheap, and you have your choice of security methods. Hidden, safe, guard dog, etc. Another is to write it on your computer using any editor of choice, save as text file or doc, whatever, then if you want security you can ensure it's stored on disk in encrypted form, perhaps using a 'file vault' app. On the other hand, automated cloud backup is a good feature you get from OhLife. But there are ways of doing that independently too, where I can be absolutely sure it's encrypted on my end before any strangers get a hold of the bits in stored form.
noglorp 16y ago
Interesting; perhaps the addition of SMS, voice call, or more could help people with overtaxed inboxes. This is pretty much exactly what a normal journal doesn't do for me though (HEY! YOU! WRITE IN ME!)
fylox 16y ago
No offence, but I am curious: Am I the only person here who doesn't want to write such personal data on someone else's hd? This: "OhLife is private, secure, & friendlier than Ned Flanders. Only you can see your entries. " is pretty brilliant indeed :-D

74 points by waderoush 16y ago

I've been using this for a few weeks now. It's super easy to use, but I really wonder how they plan on monetizing this app.

tlrobinson 16y ago
Perhaps by offering a premium digital "archiving" service that aggregates the history of all of your online presences into one nice interface. It would be cool if I could see the activity on my Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, etc accounts along side my journal. I'd pay for a service like that. I'd be worried about the service going away, but if they offered an easy export option I'd use it.
sjs382 16y ago
I think that selling you a printed version of your journal each year would be a great selling point. Not sure if it would have enough buyers, though.
- marknutter 16y ago
  I'd buy mine in a heartbeat.
sushrutbidwai 16y ago
one possible way of monetizing would paid iPad app.
pkaler 16y ago
Highly targeted advertising in the daily reminder email. They basically know your deepest darkest secrets that you don't want to publish widely. Email CPM ranges from $10/CPM to $100/CPM depending on targeting. http://archive.newsmax.com/mediakit/newsmaxemail_rates.cfm http://archive.newsmax.com/mediakit/newsmaxemail_rates.cfm I'd imagine people would put health and financial matters in their private journal.
- hugh3 16y ago
  If I were they, I'd steer clear of directly targeting ads towards private matters discussed in the diary. Creep your customers out too much and they won't come back.
- primigenus 16y ago
  How do you handle intent though? When I see that email my goal is to write a new entry, not click on an advert for Deepest Darkest Secrets (TM). To fix the intent problem, perhaps showing relevant ads while you're writing could make sense. If I'm writing about health and financial matters, that stuff's in my head and I might be coerced into clicking on a related ad.

briandarvell 16y ago

Cool idea. Basically it really offers nothing new except they have changed the way the game is played. You don't need to force yourself to begin, they're taking that first step for you.

nlanier 16y ago

I signed up when it they first appeared on HN and have been using it ever since. It's a simple idea that's been well executed. Kudos to them, I hope the service sticks around!

swombat 16y ago

To offer a counterpoint, I signed up, posted about 3 entries, then got distracted and added these emails to the masses of automated mails that my eye automatically glosses over while looking at my overtaxed inbox. Then I unsubscribed the next time I had an automated-mail-culling exercise. So, "one more email demanding my attention" didn't work for me.

kirpekar 16y ago
Same here. Kept up for about a week, then unsubscribed to rid the pain. The solution has to be non-email related.
- hugh3 16y ago
  If you can't stand being reminded to keep a diary, perhaps you just don't really want to be keeping a diary?
  - kirpekar 16y ago
    I want to keep a diary, but I don't want to update it every single day at 8PM. I'd rather send out an update every few days when I'm less stressed about other things and have got together my thoughts on what I would like to write.
    - there 16y ago
      is the 8pm time not configurable? i wonder if it could just look at what time you finally sent in each email and figured out what your typical response time was, then started sending them later in the day to compensate.
      - mcxx 16y ago
        I'd appreciate this feature. I reply to OhLife's emails way past 20.00, usually around midnight.
edkennedy 16y ago

grandalf 16y ago

Shameless plug: http://www.onepageperday.com http://www.onepageperday.com (similar concept but for authors, launched last winter, starting to go viral lately with NaNoWriMo around the corner)

h34t 16y ago

I like the service. Helps keep me on track. For some reason I use this differently than paper journals. I think there may be a market for online coaching for independent, creative / solitary workers. A 10 minute phone call each day with a coach could have gone a long way for helping me stay focused when I was working by myself on projects. Journal entries like this could be a natural "entry" into this space. If they gave me the option of paying a monthly subscription for a qualified, trustworthy coach to read my entries and help keep me on track I might go for it. Knowing there was somebody who would read it would motivate me to keep going and put more thought into my life. (Of course, I'd change the way I wrote the entries if I knew it wasn't totally private. It changes the nature of the service.)

troutwine 16y ago
I've been considering building a service for this very thing. Would you be interested in having a conversation with me? My email address is in my profile.
- klous 16y ago
  I've had some similar thoughts for a set of services like this, I'd be up for a discussion. My email is in profile. (your email is not at the moment)
Stuk 16y ago
This is a really interesting idea, one that I would seriously consider subscribing to. I imagine having someone phone/Skype you would push the price up a lot though. Possibly an email service, although that slightly removes the personal connection from it. I'm going to have to think about this...

mkramlich 16y ago

for those who've used this and like it, how is it different than a blog? how is it different from or better than, say, Posterous?

hugh3 16y ago
I haven't used it, but surely the difference is that the diary is something you don't want anyone else to read (but secretly worry that somebody will) while the blog is something you do want others to read (though in fact, nobody ever does).
- mkramlich 16y ago
  k. i'm wondering if uploading text to the Internet, to some company, is a good strategy for keeping that text private and secret. :) One alternative is to write a diary the old fashioned way. Paper and ink. Very simple and cheap, and you have your choice of security methods. Hidden, safe, guard dog, etc. Another is to write it on your computer using any editor of choice, save as text file or doc, whatever, then if you want security you can ensure it's stored on disk in encrypted form, perhaps using a 'file vault' app. On the other hand, automated cloud backup is a good feature you get from OhLife. But there are ways of doing that independently too, where I can be absolutely sure it's encrypted on my end before any strangers get a hold of the bits in stored form.

noglorp 16y ago

Interesting; perhaps the addition of SMS, voice call, or more could help people with overtaxed inboxes. This is pretty much exactly what a normal journal doesn't do for me though (HEY! YOU! WRITE IN ME!)

fylox 16y ago

No offence, but I am curious: Am I the only person here who doesn't want to write such personal data on someone else's hd? This: "OhLife is private, secure, & friendlier than Ned Flanders. Only you can see your entries. " is pretty brilliant indeed :-D