Show HN: I taught myself PHP and built TweetPerView.com • Hacker News Board

Re: Show HN: I taught myself PHP and built TweetPerView.com

#11

Post by Legion » Wed, Mar 02, 2011, 11:52 PM UTC

citricsquid wrote: post #8

petervandijck wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not everything that asks something of users is bad for users. I think it's an awesome idea.

It's not asking something of a user, it's forcing them. If this was optional it would be asking. I think it would be great if it was optional and showed at the end of the video, why would you tweet about a video you've not yet seen?

Forcing users to do something isn't always necessarily a bad thing. It depends on the use case.

In general, no, I wouldn't want to tweet about a video before seeing it, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have a use inside of something larger.

Re: Show HN: I taught myself PHP and built TweetPerView.com

#12

Post by mikerhoads » Thu, Mar 03, 2011, 12:03 AM UTC

This is the perfect intersection between pretty crafty and annoying as hell.

It might be stronger if you could play the first 5 minutes and then prompt for the tweet to see the rest of the video.

Re: Show HN: I taught myself PHP and built TweetPerView.com

#13

Post by dudurocha » Thu, Mar 03, 2011, 12:15 AM UTC

Wonderful that you did this all by your self. How long did it take? Other thing, I personally didnt like the "obligation" to tweet to see de video, one thing that would bem more interesting it is if you need to tweet to continue to watch the video. That guarantees that you are enjoying, and you want to share. Other thing, maybe some real time tweets would be very fun, like you write something little(100 characters) and than you have an update in tweeter.

Re: Show HN: I taught myself PHP and built TweetPerView.com

#14

Post by rokhayakebe » Thu, Mar 03, 2011, 12:17 AM UTC

Very nice idea, but you should let users tweet in the middle of the video or at the end. If you force me to tweet before I won't watch it, but in the middle I will be very likely to.

Re: Show HN: I taught myself PHP and built TweetPerView.com

#15

Post by alttab » Thu, Mar 03, 2011, 12:17 AM UTC

Legion wrote: post #11

citricsquid wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not asking something of a user, it's forcing them. If this was optional it would be asking. I think it would be great if it was optional and showed at the end of the video, why would you tweet about a video you've not yet seen?

Forcing users to do something isn't always necessarily a bad thing. It depends on the use case. In general, no, I wouldn't want to tweet about a video before seeing it, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have a use inside of something larger.

I can't ever see a use case where it is OK to force a user to syndicate your content before viewing it. It trying to force virality -- and after a while users will stop watching videos, negating the effect if not harming the content in the long run. Think "Expert's Exchange"

Re: Show HN: I taught myself PHP and built TweetPerView.com

#16

Post by fluin » Thu, Mar 03, 2011, 12:28 AM UTC

This is a fail. If the video is on youtube, I can bypass the tweeting.

Re: Show HN: I taught myself PHP and built TweetPerView.com

#17

Post by jordanlyall » Thu, Mar 03, 2011, 12:29 AM UTC

Hi guys, thanks for the response and feedback so far.

A couple things:

* This puts the M in MVP. By rolling it live, I hope to prove (or disprove) the general concept.

* As I mentioned earlier, the next iteration will include an option for the video creator to add a 'dismiss' button to allow the viewer to bypass the tweet requirement and just play the video.

* The next thing I want to test is an 'in-stream' tweet requirement. Perhaps it shows 30-90 seconds of a video and then it prompts for a tweet.

* I'm working on other, less obtrusive social actions: FB like, follow, etc.

Thanks again for the feedback. Keep 'em coming. :)

Re: Show HN: I taught myself PHP and built TweetPerView.com

#18

Post by jarin » Thu, Mar 03, 2011, 12:30 AM UTC

I can understand some of the criticisms in this thread (and from a user experience point of view they're pretty valid), but I think using TweetPerView on your videos is more like saying "this video isn't free, but instead of paying money to watch it, you're paying a tweet's worth of social capital to watch it".

I mean, ignoring the fact that the video is on YouTube and all.

Re: Show HN: I taught myself PHP and built TweetPerView.com

#19

Post by randall » Thu, Mar 03, 2011, 12:30 AM UTC

I'm glad you learned PHP, but frankly I don't see how this site actually adds value.

If someone likes your video, a simple call-to-action (preroll?) or a page element loading with a tweet box seems like it'd be more effective than an ultimatum.

Good design though, seems like you're on the right track for creating products. Good luck!

Re: Show HN: I taught myself PHP and built TweetPerView.com

#20

Post by jordanlyall » Thu, Mar 03, 2011, 12:34 AM UTC

jarin wrote: post #18

I can understand some of the criticisms in this thread (and from a user experience point of view they're pretty valid), but I think using TweetPerView on your videos is more like saying "this video isn't free, but instead of paying money to watch it, you're paying a tweet's worth of social capital to watch it". I mean, ignoring the fact that the video is on YouTube and all.

Exactly, perhaps I need to work on getting that point across. Think of it as an alternative to micropayments.