3 ms·

Followware

18 points by latitude 14y ago

latitude 14y ago
It just occurred to me that a free service of notable popularity can be capitalized on, and without resorting to ads. You use the service - you follow me on Twitter/Facebook/elsewhere. You get the service, and I get an ear to promote my other projects. Have anyone tried this before?
- brownie 14y ago
  It seems like a kinder version of the tweet/like to download which is pretty popular for music marketers.
- dawson 14y ago
  I use the method on http://www.twitterdoctors.net/ http://www.twitterdoctors.net/ and more than 70% of my followers are now doctors, which is useful for the occasions I do tweet about new features and stuff related to my healthcare start-up. For those interested, I am in the process of re-writing the site (dev version at http://www.twitterdoctors.com/ http://www.twitterdoctors.com/) – to automate the process, try the wizard out, it uses twitter's new event listeners.
  - newbie12 14y ago
    Your site violates Twitter's trademark. You need a different name...
- harlanlewis 14y ago
  I'm (thankfully) out of date on Facebook marketing tactics, but gating content behind Likes and Invited Friend Counts is standard - there are even plenty of sweepstakes to win just for consenting to being shown a like button. Generally speaking, the content behind these gates is a single payoff - a little nibble of digital content. Companies love that trade for ears to promote content to, "like" being a friendly euphemism for "subscribe" and all. I'm sure it's been tried, but it might be interesting to check Like/Follow persistence in exchange for long-term access to content and services. "Have a twitter account following ours? You're in!"
- glennos 14y ago
  These guys have: http://everytimezone.com/ http://everytimezone.com/ Awesome service, the only "ad" is for their other product, which is not free.
callmeed 14y ago
Seems counter-productive to copyright the term or want some exclusivity to it. If you want the term to be known and understood, let others denote their service in the same way. Did anyone copyright the term shareware?
- chrischen 14y ago
  Maybe he's provoking people to spite him by using it.
- illdave 14y ago
  I don't think he was actually serious about copyrighting the term. I believe he was just using it as a figure of speech.
- latitude 14y ago
  It was a joke.
v33ra 14y ago
Likeware - like it to use it. Tweetware - tweet about it to use. Referware - refer friends emails to use the app. Reviewware - write an app store review to upgrade to pro version of the app. And so on....
mikeklaas 14y ago
You 'claim copyright', eh? http://ask.yahoo.com/20041213.html http://ask.yahoo.com/20041213.html
- goblin89 14y ago
  I guess he technically could patent the concept (IANAL though).
- latitude 14y ago
  It was a joke.
codepost 14y ago
This reminds me of 'I DECLARE BANKRUPCCYYYY'
- beosrocks 14y ago
  Came here to say the same thing. Here it is for those who missed it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuGIgf-ICHM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuGIgf-ICHM
chrisacky 14y ago
I seriously hope that the author was being purposefully ironic/trolling. You can't copyright a word. It would fall well short of the de minimis, even if it was totally made up. The only case I can think of off of the top of my head would be Exxon, where they tried to copyright Exxon, because if my memory serves me correctly they failed to secure their TM correctly. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exxon_Corp._v_Exxon_Insurance_Consultants_International_Ltd http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exxon_Corp._v_Exxon_Insurance_C... As others have mentioned, perhaps I'm just taking him too seriously and he was just using it as a figure of speech. However, on the internet, he really should be as verbose as possible... and not make poor jokes like that.
- latitude 14y ago
  It was a joke.

18 points by latitude 14y ago

It just occurred to me that a free service of notable popularity can be capitalized on, and without resorting to ads. You use the service - you follow me on Twitter/Facebook/elsewhere. You get the service, and I get an ear to promote my other projects. Have anyone tried this before?

brownie 14y ago
It seems like a kinder version of the tweet/like to download which is pretty popular for music marketers.
dawson 14y ago
I use the method on http://www.twitterdoctors.net/ http://www.twitterdoctors.net/ and more than 70% of my followers are now doctors, which is useful for the occasions I do tweet about new features and stuff related to my healthcare start-up. For those interested, I am in the process of re-writing the site (dev version at http://www.twitterdoctors.com/ http://www.twitterdoctors.com/) – to automate the process, try the wizard out, it uses twitter's new event listeners.
- newbie12 14y ago
  Your site violates Twitter's trademark. You need a different name...
harlanlewis 14y ago
I'm (thankfully) out of date on Facebook marketing tactics, but gating content behind Likes and Invited Friend Counts is standard - there are even plenty of sweepstakes to win just for consenting to being shown a like button. Generally speaking, the content behind these gates is a single payoff - a little nibble of digital content. Companies love that trade for ears to promote content to, "like" being a friendly euphemism for "subscribe" and all. I'm sure it's been tried, but it might be interesting to check Like/Follow persistence in exchange for long-term access to content and services. "Have a twitter account following ours? You're in!"
glennos 14y ago
These guys have: http://everytimezone.com/ http://everytimezone.com/ Awesome service, the only "ad" is for their other product, which is not free.

callmeed 14y ago

Seems counter-productive to copyright the term or want some exclusivity to it. If you want the term to be known and understood, let others denote their service in the same way. Did anyone copyright the term shareware?

chrischen 14y ago
Maybe he's provoking people to spite him by using it.
illdave 14y ago
I don't think he was actually serious about copyrighting the term. I believe he was just using it as a figure of speech.
latitude 14y ago
It was a joke.

v33ra 14y ago

Likeware - like it to use it. Tweetware - tweet about it to use. Referware - refer friends emails to use the app. Reviewware - write an app store review to upgrade to pro version of the app. And so on....

mikeklaas 14y ago

You 'claim copyright', eh? http://ask.yahoo.com/20041213.html http://ask.yahoo.com/20041213.html

goblin89 14y ago
I guess he technically could patent the concept (IANAL though).
latitude 14y ago
It was a joke.

codepost 14y ago

This reminds me of 'I DECLARE BANKRUPCCYYYY'

beosrocks 14y ago
Came here to say the same thing. Here it is for those who missed it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuGIgf-ICHM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuGIgf-ICHM

chrisacky 14y ago

I seriously hope that the author was being purposefully ironic/trolling. You can't copyright a word. It would fall well short of the de minimis, even if it was totally made up. The only case I can think of off of the top of my head would be Exxon, where they tried to copyright Exxon, because if my memory serves me correctly they failed to secure their TM correctly. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exxon_Corp._v_Exxon_Insurance_Consultants_International_Ltd http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exxon_Corp._v_Exxon_Insurance_C... As others have mentioned, perhaps I'm just taking him too seriously and he was just using it as a figure of speech. However, on the internet, he really should be as verbose as possible... and not make poor jokes like that.

latitude 14y ago
It was a joke.