6 ms·

Show HN: Miimic – Let your friends text for you

85 points by jchoudh 12y ago

diminish 12y ago
extreme scroll triggered animations make it impossible on my tablet to read much.. Edit: what's the use case, why? Who would use such an app, any use cases you think of?
- jchoudh 12y ago
  Diminish, it's no secret that texting has become the primary and preferred channel for dating. The texts you send are the only thing that make or break you after you receive someone's phone number and it's obvious that some people are better at texting than others. Often times what you will see is young men and women giving their phones to their friends to text someone special for them. We hope to solve this by opening texts up into a more collaborative space. We will fix the animations. Thanks!
  - sillysaurus3 12y ago
    Interesting idea. Why not put your comment on the website somewhere? I scrolled through several screens of animations and still had no idea what your app did.
    - learc83 12y ago
      I agree with this suggestion. It wasn't immediately apparent why I'd want to use this, but upon reading the above reply it made complete sense.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
colinyoung 12y ago
Collaborative flirting! Love it
- jchoudh 12y ago
  Exactly. Given that texting has become the primary channel for flirting, we feel that making this a collaborative effort makes it more fun for everyone. Thanks for your comment!
  - gcr 12y ago
    Primary channel for flirting? When did that happen?
  - batemanesque 12y ago
    does "everyone" include the prospective date on the receiving end of behavior that violates basic social norms & assumptions?
techaddict009 12y ago
@OP can I use this way: Set all my message to be served to specific contact. That contact can reply to all message?. Use Case: My parents do not know to use mobile properly and many times they get Income Tax pin, etc ( IMP message) via SMS. And they come to me to reply them properly. Instead using your app I can do it from distance.
- jchoudh 12y ago
  techaddict009, We are working on features for that because of similar situations to the one you just described. Right now, your parents would have to 'miimic' each of those messages over to you for your reply. Please feel free to sign up for our newsletter to stay updated (bottom of page). Thanks!
spjpgrd 12y ago
I could see executives with secretaries being a serious market that would pay for this service.
- jchoudh 12y ago
  CxOs and senior level executives are another piece of our target market and we have been engaging heavily with them as we move forward
- 650REDHAIR 12y ago
  How often are C-level execs texting other people and would need proof reading?
oftenwrong 12y ago
You should up the contrast on the up/down arrows for users like me with a poor quality display. I missed them completely at first. They just looked like two white circular cutouts.
spartango 12y ago
An email version of this would be quite useful for team interactions with sensitive partners/clients/contacts.
- bignaj 12y ago
  I completely agree. IMO email is the correct platform for this service, not text messaging. I often perform this exact workflow manually by walking over to a colleague's desk: "Can you look over this email to <sensitive client> before I send it?"
- staz 12y ago
  we just do that at work using an etherpad
bignaj 12y ago
Is this text flirting for awkward people who can't come up with their own responses or is there another use case? I liked @spartango's idea of an email version for team interactions with sensitive partners/clients/contracts... but I can't see why anyone with even average social skills would use this. I'm not sure text messaging (where each message is relatively low-value and usually to friends who don't care) is the most effective media/platform for a service like this. Anyone have thoughts?
- danvayn 12y ago
  If it shows extended message history I could definitely see some use in it. there have been times when I wanted to share texts I sent to one person with another. It might also be interesting in situations where you want to introduce soon-to-be friends momentarily -- making them exchange numbers so soon might be unnecessary.
- a3_nm 12y ago
  I often see people asking feedback from one another regarding how a conversation is going, what another person could have implied, etc. An app to facilitate sharing and collaboration over SMS conversations sounds like an extension of this behavior. (Not endorsing it, but it doesn't strike me as something that only socially clueless people would use.)
blueflow 12y ago
The magnifying glass on the last panel has the same color like their background. The icons are very whitish and difficult to see. Not sure if people would use this, i can imagine friends of mine asking me to 'help' in their conversations. And i fear those 'was it really you?'-questions. Im not sure what kind of social consequences the usage brings.
siliconc0w 12y ago
You should pivot to an 'uber for conversations' where at any point you can tap a button, get billed $5, and have a professional screenwriter finish your conversation for you. You could have 'peak' rates trigger at night to satisfy demand for all the people scrambling to get laid. Lots of unemployed screenwriters, lots of people wanting to get laid, that is a market waiting to happen.
- jchoudh 12y ago
  This is precisely our target state vision and where we are making significant progress in development (including an innovative pricing strategy). We would love to talk if you're interested, please feel free to email us at miimicteam@gmail.com
  - sergiotapia 12y ago
    I'm not entirely sure but I am pretty certain siliconc0w was being sarcastic...
    - jchoudh 12y ago
      Even if he was, we aren't :) Thanks!
      - Pacabel 12y ago
        If anyone ever pulled crap like that on me during a conversation, I would be done with that person forever. I wouldn't care who he or she was. If somebody is disrespectful enough to engage in behavior as pathetic as that, then I want nothing to do with that person. Maybe "hipsters" would be fine with such shabby treatment, but I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking it's an extremely distasteful thing to do to somebody you're conversing with.
        lelandbatey 12y ago
        What, to pay for advice to the question of "oh no, what should I say?!" Its unusual, but I wouldn't find it offensive.
toyg 12y ago
You've just invented CaaS: "Cyrano as a service". I'm not sure what this says on the state of Western civilization, but it's the sort of app that could easily be covered by mainstream newspapers, so you must be onto something. Good luck!
- jchoudh 12y ago
  Thanks, toyg!
stevewillows 12y ago
All flirting jokes aside, this would be a fantastic service for communications within government and corporate environments. For those in marketing, managing people on the street that are handing out flyers, promotions, etc from one number would be a fantastic asset. For groups of friends who wholesale stuff on craigslist, having a single point of contact via text would also be great. Nice concept.
rjurney 12y ago
Applications in customer service, sales and CRM.
- jchoudh 12y ago
  Our background is in sales, service, marketing strategy :)
paperkettle 12y ago
Also relevant but not really talked about on HN much: http://www.crowdpilot.me/ http://www.crowdpilot.me/
evertonfuller 12y ago
How bizarre.
GuiA 12y ago
And if your recipient uses the app as well, the two of you can talk to each other while not talking to each other! :)
useflyer 12y ago
Also see http://www.wingflirt.com http://www.wingflirt.com which also attempts this
misuba 12y ago
Relevant: the recently shut down Starpilot. http://xorph.com/starpilot http://xorph.com/starpilot An explanation: http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/digital-projection/Content?oid=10729671 http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/digital-projection/C...
nnnnni 12y ago
Nintendo may not like the use of "Mii"...
duggan 12y ago
Friend has been asking me to build this for them for ages (unfortunately, I'm not a mobile app developer). He's pretty insightful when it comes to these sorts of things, the kind of "idea guy" that actually makes an excellent product designer. People want this app. Thanks for saving me the hassle! (of future conversations about how I should build this, rather than actually building it - procrastination's a killer).
batemanesque 12y ago
got a couple of suggested improvements: 1. make "Lie and Get Laid" yr slogan 2. reëvaluate yr entire understanding of ethics/communication/human beings
- kamandrew 12y ago
  I understand that some may view this as violating the "ethical code". But when you really think about tinder or these other popular dating apps, is there no violation there where the intent is generally sexually driven and where communication is not a neccesity?
paragarora 12y ago
Tie up with Tinder. Way for people who get replies faster to earn money from those who don't.
meowface 12y ago
I think this is a cool idea and maybe even something I'd use, but the landing page has what I find typical, cliche, sluggish load-on-scroll animations at the moment.

85 points by jchoudh 12y ago

extreme scroll triggered animations make it impossible on my tablet to read much.. Edit: what's the use case, why? Who would use such an app, any use cases you think of?

jchoudh 12y ago
Diminish, it's no secret that texting has become the primary and preferred channel for dating. The texts you send are the only thing that make or break you after you receive someone's phone number and it's obvious that some people are better at texting than others. Often times what you will see is young men and women giving their phones to their friends to text someone special for them. We hope to solve this by opening texts up into a more collaborative space. We will fix the animations. Thanks!
- sillysaurus3 12y ago
  Interesting idea. Why not put your comment on the website somewhere? I scrolled through several screens of animations and still had no idea what your app did.
  - learc83 12y ago
    I agree with this suggestion. It wasn't immediately apparent why I'd want to use this, but upon reading the above reply it made complete sense.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]

colinyoung 12y ago

Collaborative flirting! Love it

jchoudh 12y ago
Exactly. Given that texting has become the primary channel for flirting, we feel that making this a collaborative effort makes it more fun for everyone. Thanks for your comment!
- gcr 12y ago
  Primary channel for flirting? When did that happen?
- batemanesque 12y ago
  does "everyone" include the prospective date on the receiving end of behavior that violates basic social norms & assumptions?

techaddict009 12y ago

@OP can I use this way: Set all my message to be served to specific contact. That contact can reply to all message?. Use Case: My parents do not know to use mobile properly and many times they get Income Tax pin, etc ( IMP message) via SMS. And they come to me to reply them properly. Instead using your app I can do it from distance.

jchoudh 12y ago
techaddict009, We are working on features for that because of similar situations to the one you just described. Right now, your parents would have to 'miimic' each of those messages over to you for your reply. Please feel free to sign up for our newsletter to stay updated (bottom of page). Thanks!

spjpgrd 12y ago

I could see executives with secretaries being a serious market that would pay for this service.

jchoudh 12y ago
CxOs and senior level executives are another piece of our target market and we have been engaging heavily with them as we move forward
650REDHAIR 12y ago
How often are C-level execs texting other people and would need proof reading?

oftenwrong 12y ago

You should up the contrast on the up/down arrows for users like me with a poor quality display. I missed them completely at first. They just looked like two white circular cutouts.

spartango 12y ago

An email version of this would be quite useful for team interactions with sensitive partners/clients/contacts.

bignaj 12y ago
I completely agree. IMO email is the correct platform for this service, not text messaging. I often perform this exact workflow manually by walking over to a colleague's desk: "Can you look over this email to <sensitive client> before I send it?"
staz 12y ago
we just do that at work using an etherpad

bignaj 12y ago

Is this text flirting for awkward people who can't come up with their own responses or is there another use case? I liked @spartango's idea of an email version for team interactions with sensitive partners/clients/contracts... but I can't see why anyone with even average social skills would use this. I'm not sure text messaging (where each message is relatively low-value and usually to friends who don't care) is the most effective media/platform for a service like this. Anyone have thoughts?

danvayn 12y ago
If it shows extended message history I could definitely see some use in it. there have been times when I wanted to share texts I sent to one person with another. It might also be interesting in situations where you want to introduce soon-to-be friends momentarily -- making them exchange numbers so soon might be unnecessary.
a3_nm 12y ago
I often see people asking feedback from one another regarding how a conversation is going, what another person could have implied, etc. An app to facilitate sharing and collaboration over SMS conversations sounds like an extension of this behavior. (Not endorsing it, but it doesn't strike me as something that only socially clueless people would use.)

blueflow 12y ago

The magnifying glass on the last panel has the same color like their background. The icons are very whitish and difficult to see. Not sure if people would use this, i can imagine friends of mine asking me to 'help' in their conversations. And i fear those 'was it really you?'-questions. Im not sure what kind of social consequences the usage brings.

siliconc0w 12y ago

You should pivot to an 'uber for conversations' where at any point you can tap a button, get billed $5, and have a professional screenwriter finish your conversation for you. You could have 'peak' rates trigger at night to satisfy demand for all the people scrambling to get laid. Lots of unemployed screenwriters, lots of people wanting to get laid, that is a market waiting to happen.

jchoudh 12y ago
This is precisely our target state vision and where we are making significant progress in development (including an innovative pricing strategy). We would love to talk if you're interested, please feel free to email us at miimicteam@gmail.com
- sergiotapia 12y ago
  I'm not entirely sure but I am pretty certain siliconc0w was being sarcastic...
  - jchoudh 12y ago
    Even if he was, we aren't :) Thanks!
    - Pacabel 12y ago
      If anyone ever pulled crap like that on me during a conversation, I would be done with that person forever. I wouldn't care who he or she was. If somebody is disrespectful enough to engage in behavior as pathetic as that, then I want nothing to do with that person. Maybe "hipsters" would be fine with such shabby treatment, but I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking it's an extremely distasteful thing to do to somebody you're conversing with.
      - lelandbatey 12y ago
        What, to pay for advice to the question of "oh no, what should I say?!" Its unusual, but I wouldn't find it offensive.

toyg 12y ago

You've just invented CaaS: "Cyrano as a service". I'm not sure what this says on the state of Western civilization, but it's the sort of app that could easily be covered by mainstream newspapers, so you must be onto something. Good luck!

jchoudh 12y ago
Thanks, toyg!

stevewillows 12y ago

All flirting jokes aside, this would be a fantastic service for communications within government and corporate environments. For those in marketing, managing people on the street that are handing out flyers, promotions, etc from one number would be a fantastic asset. For groups of friends who wholesale stuff on craigslist, having a single point of contact via text would also be great. Nice concept.

rjurney 12y ago

Applications in customer service, sales and CRM.

jchoudh 12y ago
Our background is in sales, service, marketing strategy :)

paperkettle 12y ago

Also relevant but not really talked about on HN much: http://www.crowdpilot.me/ http://www.crowdpilot.me/

evertonfuller 12y ago

How bizarre.

GuiA 12y ago

And if your recipient uses the app as well, the two of you can talk to each other while not talking to each other! :)

useflyer 12y ago

Also see http://www.wingflirt.com http://www.wingflirt.com which also attempts this

misuba 12y ago

Relevant: the recently shut down Starpilot. http://xorph.com/starpilot http://xorph.com/starpilot An explanation: http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/digital-projection/Content?oid=10729671 http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/digital-projection/C...

nnnnni 12y ago

Nintendo may not like the use of "Mii"...

duggan 12y ago

Friend has been asking me to build this for them for ages (unfortunately, I'm not a mobile app developer). He's pretty insightful when it comes to these sorts of things, the kind of "idea guy" that actually makes an excellent product designer. People want this app. Thanks for saving me the hassle! (of future conversations about how I should build this, rather than actually building it - procrastination's a killer).

batemanesque 12y ago

got a couple of suggested improvements: 1. make "Lie and Get Laid" yr slogan 2. reëvaluate yr entire understanding of ethics/communication/human beings

kamandrew 12y ago
I understand that some may view this as violating the "ethical code". But when you really think about tinder or these other popular dating apps, is there no violation there where the intent is generally sexually driven and where communication is not a neccesity?

paragarora 12y ago

Tie up with Tinder. Way for people who get replies faster to earn money from those who don't.

meowface 12y ago

I think this is a cool idea and maybe even something I'd use, but the landing page has what I find typical, cliche, sluggish load-on-scroll animations at the moment.