3 ms·

The invite system just really gives off Google+ vibes and I'm wondering if we end up in the same place after Threads launches. Facebook/Meta seems really poised

The invite system just really gives off Google+ vibes and I'm wondering if we end up in the same place after Threads launches. Facebook/Meta seems really poised to eat Bluesky's lunch in a few days.

depereo 3y ago
Gmail also had invites to start, back in the day, and that's the de facto email service now. But that had a compelling day-1 offering that was clearly better - massive free storage allocation. Bluesky doesn't have a compelling reason to sign up like that, so the invite system feels flawed.
- Semaphor 3y ago
  Gmail also had so much hype around it, invites were sold online (I paid ~1.10€ or something on eBay). ~~Blusky, not so much.~~
  - mminer237 3y ago
    I see a lot of Bluesky invites that have sold on Ebay today. For ~$20 too.
    - Semaphor 3y ago
      Huh. Not only correct, they were selling for ~200 in May. Do people actually talk about bluesky outside of HN? I never heard of it anywhere else.
      - zimpenfish 3y ago
        > Do people actually talk about bluesky outside of HN? I see a bunch of people talking about it on Twitter in the context of "I'm on Bluesky, follow me there in case this implodes". But yeah, >90% of the Bluesky mentions I see are on HN.
- hyperhopper 3y ago
  - Gmail had killer features that made even moving desirable. - Email is federated so there is much less cost to switch providers where you can still receive and send from others. No stickiness factor This is why Gmail succeeded and g+ failed
- lmm 3y ago
  GMail's invite system worked because you could use GMail to talk to your non-GMail friends. G+ failed for many reasons, but one of them is that if you got in before all your friends there was just nothing you could actually do there.
- ulfw 3y ago
  Gmail was so much better than competing services at the time (in terms of storage) and also this was almost 20 years ago. Different world, different internet, different userbase.
gopher_space 3y ago
Facebook exists because they started off as .edu only.
pndy 3y ago
I'd expect that Bluesky would launch invites in next few days or so, to those who left their emails. I mean, their competitor is up so why not sent these invites or even open registration for anyone Unless of course they first want to see how much interest it gains

The invite system just really gives off Google+ vibes and I'm wondering if we end up in the same place after Threads launches. Facebook/Meta seems really poised to eat Bluesky's lunch in a few days.

depereo 3y ago

Gmail also had invites to start, back in the day, and that's the de facto email service now. But that had a compelling day-1 offering that was clearly better - massive free storage allocation. Bluesky doesn't have a compelling reason to sign up like that, so the invite system feels flawed.

Semaphor 3y ago
Gmail also had so much hype around it, invites were sold online (I paid ~1.10€ or something on eBay). ~~Blusky, not so much.~~
- mminer237 3y ago
  I see a lot of Bluesky invites that have sold on Ebay today. For ~$20 too.
  - Semaphor 3y ago
    Huh. Not only correct, they were selling for ~200 in May. Do people actually talk about bluesky outside of HN? I never heard of it anywhere else.
    - zimpenfish 3y ago
      > Do people actually talk about bluesky outside of HN? I see a bunch of people talking about it on Twitter in the context of "I'm on Bluesky, follow me there in case this implodes". But yeah, >90% of the Bluesky mentions I see are on HN.
hyperhopper 3y ago
- Gmail had killer features that made even moving desirable. - Email is federated so there is much less cost to switch providers where you can still receive and send from others. No stickiness factor This is why Gmail succeeded and g+ failed
lmm 3y ago
GMail's invite system worked because you could use GMail to talk to your non-GMail friends. G+ failed for many reasons, but one of them is that if you got in before all your friends there was just nothing you could actually do there.
ulfw 3y ago
Gmail was so much better than competing services at the time (in terms of storage) and also this was almost 20 years ago. Different world, different internet, different userbase.

gopher_space 3y ago

Facebook exists because they started off as .edu only.

pndy 3y ago

I'd expect that Bluesky would launch invites in next few days or so, to those who left their emails. I mean, their competitor is up so why not sent these invites or even open registration for anyone Unless of course they first want to see how much interest it gains