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Everyone, please stop thinking about HOW you want to build a twitter alternative. No one cares. I have tried to build one, I failed even though our tech was sup
by baxtr 4y ago
Everyone, please stop thinking about HOW you want to build a twitter alternative. No one cares. I have tried to build one, I failed even though our tech was superb.
If you really want to build a twitter alternative think about how you would DISTRIBUTE it. How would you get a critical mass on the platform so that is viable, i.e. interesting enough for users to stick around.
Which existing social networks (not media ones, real ones) would you try to capture first? Facebook and Tinder both did the Uni campus strategy quite successfully. Slack did the Bay Area startups strategy. What’s your strategy?
- duxup 4y agoI think how is still an interesting question.
- baxtr 4y agoInteresting yes. But mainly a waste of time.
- dustedcodes 4y agoDepends the reason for asking it. I wrote this Ask HN because I thought I could maybe learn/discover something (technically) new from responses on how people would build this with today's knowledge and tech options.
- duxup 4y agoWaste of time why? Because you won’t become the next twitter, you probably won’t regardless…. I think there is more to asking the question than that.
- Shadowed_ 4y agoIf you waste time on something that's interestning to you, time is not being wasted.
- baxtr 4y agoNot if your proclaimed goal is to create a Twitter alternative.
- contravariant 4y agoMaybe also think about WHY you want a twitter alternative. Communicating via short untargeted messages was always going to be a shitshow, why not let Elon Musk run it if he so desperately wants to?
- mromanuk 4y agoYes, every software problem is a marketing problem.
- throw_m239339 4y ago> Everyone, please stop thinking about HOW you want to build a twitter alternative. No one cares. I have tried to build one, I failed even though our tech was superb. what was it called? now I'm curious.
- jenscow 4y agoYet Another Twitter - YaTwit
- jefftk 4y ago> Everyone, please stop thinking about HOW you want to build a twitter alternative. No one cares. The OP specifically asked about this, and reading the comments a lot of people here evidently do care.
- baxtr 4y agoThat’s fair enough :) I can’t stop this anyways. Just lending my thoughts.
- prox 4y agoWhile its true, it’s like asking “what nail and hammer am I going to fabricate?” , all while the market is flooded and capped to the brim with hammer and nail companies. The better question is how to reach people and get them off their insert favourite platform , what makes you unique? What can you do to make sure people start buying into it? What’s your value proposition? It’s far more a social question than a technology question (still with respect to OP who is interested in the tech)
- tkk23 4y ago>though our tech was superb. Please don't leave us hanging. How had you designed it? I would like to know even more: Did you have integration with other networks via ActivityPub or other protocols? There is a huge risk of wasting time if I cannot migrate my social network. New services are prone to being discontinued, why should I invest in a new network that locks me in? I don't understand why not all new networks offer ActivityPub migration by default. Distribution should be much easier.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- drc500free 4y agoBut focusing on the product doesn't address what color the logo should be, or how many bikes can fit in the employee bikeshed.