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Kapwing adds a giant watermark to the videos to help acquire users. This won't work for products that aren't video meme makers. Side note: I've seen articles f
by benatkin 8y ago
Kapwing adds a giant watermark to the videos to help acquire users. This won't work for products that aren't video meme makers.
Side note: I've seen articles from Kapwing on here recently. It seems they're following formulas to get on HN. It reminds me of TripleByte, and in the past, Mattermark. Please don't take the bait.
- smbullet 8y agoSure but is it really all that different from a free trial or a limited free version?
- cm2012 8y agoMost free trials aren't visible to other people.
- SmellyGeekBoy 8y agoGives me an idea for a free trial where you unlock the software every day by sharing on social media. I think a lot of mobile games already do something along these lines to gain extra lives etc. Marketing people: You didn't see this comment. Move along.
- yoz-y 8y agoBuilding up on your idea I might actually do that. I have trouble reaching out to new customers and ads are not an option, but maybe I could add a trial version that only becomes available once you shared the app link on some social media. (And of course by sharing I mean you were catapulted to a website of your choice, if you don’t share anything I have no way of knowing)
- TeMPOraL 8y agoShare the name of the product so that I can avoid it in advance. I consider such marketing techniques abusive.
- yoz-y 8y agoSure thing: https://eventail.app https://eventail.app What in particular do you dislike in such a model? I get that a pestering to share is bad and dislike it myself, but this idea is far from it.
- TeMPOraL 8y agoWhat I dislike is poisoning of social signals. Sharing something to your social media friends implies you believe it may interest them; doing so in exchange for a reward is an abuse of this mechanism, a violation of trust your friends may have in your posts. I get that at this point, one app isn't making it much worse, just like farting into a dumpster fire isn't making things significantly worse either. But intent matters. You could say that it's a naively idealistic stance, but then again, the problems of social media weren't caused by a conspiracy of few evil actors - they're caused by hundreds of thousands of small sleazy actors doing their small seedy things.
- yoz-y 8y agoI see your point. Just giving a share option somewhere near is better. I’ll ruminate on it a bit and try to think of a better way to motivate people.
- smbullet 8y agoI'm an idiot. I wasn't even thinking about the sharing aspect.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- cm2012 8y agoThis. Low cost, large audience products that are easily shared can get away without paid advertising. Most other verticals will benefit from it.
- tomnipotent 8y agoApple adding "Sent from my iPhone" is my favorite example.
- TomK32 8y agoPS: I Love You. Get Your Free Email at Hotmail
- tomnipotent 8y agoTotally forgot about that! Thanks for the reminder.
- gnicholas 8y agoCompletely agree — the team certainly seems to get a lot of stuff on the front page of HN, with (IMO) lower average quality than most front-page blog posts.