There was another app launched in India with a lot of fanfare 2-3 years ago (http://bubbly.net/). Though I have never received an invite from a friend or someone on it. (Just sharing)
Show HN: An audio only social network
111–120 of 177 posts
Re: Show HN: An audio only social network
#112What? You built an app so you could ‘rescue’ people from prostitution because your friend was sexually abused at home? I don’t see the connection.
If you want to help prostitutes then listen to them, and support decriminalisation, not ‘rescue’.
What you do with any profits are not my business, but this is a real turn off. Just leave it out.
Re: Show HN: An audio only social network
#113Here in germany I have never seen anyone using the audio feature of their instant messenger until I moved to Berlin. I now see people in the subway using WhatsApp to just send voice messages back and fourth, all the time. So as a vim-user-kind-of-guy, I don't get it - but there seems to be a demand for this kind of communication. Oh, right - and there is snapchat. Also don't get it. Maybe I'm just getting old...
Or you might be one of those who has realized the meaning behind the famous quote "What is written without effort, is read without pleasure".
Apply it in the context of social interaction, and you can immediately see that social networks are making people more antisocial. But don't worry, someone here will come and give you numerous studies citing why that isn't the case.
Anecdotally, though, you know this is true. You probably know of that old autistic person who was never diagnosed and somehow managed to live a higher quality life than the current diagnosed generation. You probably know of elders who actually had a much higher quality of life after they lost mobility because, you know, people actually stopped by to talk to them occasionally. You probably know of a cheery, older handicapped person who seemed to have had nothing going for them other than people who just genuinely cared about them - probably because the time others spent with them was not optimized for self-actualization.
Re: Show HN: An audio only social network
#114Earlier quoted context omitted.
may I ask if others feel this way? My sharing this is because I think it's an important part of the story and why we created Currently, but I don't want it to have a "dark aura" around the app by any means. Does anyone else agree with the above sentiment?
I don't feel a "dark aura", but I do feel this story is irrelevant to your product's marketing page. I'd put this story away (maybe in a blog post) from newcomers who only want to figure out what's the app can do for them , not for you.
+1. I also feel this should belong to a blog post about the creator(s)/behind the scenes than on the front page showcasing your work. It looks like asking for sympathy votes that way.
Re: Show HN: An audio only social network
#115Reminds me of party lines and voice bulletin boards, perhaps created without awareness of them?
I haven't heard of these, (so you're right, created without awareness of them ;) Could you send over some links so I could get further ideas and have a better understanding of the competitive landscape? Thanks!
At this point, they're historical rather than part of the current competitive landscape, but in their time they were vibrant communities. Studying them is useful much as studying IRC would be useful for someone creating something like Slack.
Re: Show HN: An audio only social network
#116Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I'll switch which of the 2 stories shows up at the front Good call. Maybe back off a little more than that, even. So I'm reading your page and liking what I see. I would like to know more. Here's a thing that might have more information, so I click it. Now I'm reading a surprisingly affecting comic about a kid who's been sexually abused and the fight against sex slavery. My mental and emotional associations with yo…
may I ask if others feel this way? My sharing this is because I think it's an important part of the story and why we created Currently, but I don't want it to have a "dark aura" around the app by any means. Does anyone else agree with the above sentiment?
Honestly, it was a bit jarring to read a comic portraying you as some kind of 'anti-rape hero' at the bottom of a page about a weird app.
You didn't even tell us what happened to your friend! It seemed like you were just using her story to aggrandize yourself. What happened to her? How would she feel if she read this comic? Is she getting a slice of this pie too?
It just seemed kind of exploitative and in comic form...
Re: Show HN: An audio only social network
#117Here in germany I have never seen anyone using the audio feature of their instant messenger until I moved to Berlin. I now see people in the subway using WhatsApp to just send voice messages back and fourth, all the time. So as a vim-user-kind-of-guy, I don't get it - but there seems to be a demand for this kind of communication. Oh, right - and there is snapchat. Also don't get it. Maybe I'm just getting old...
As a counterpoint of sorts: I have no idea how hard it is to type stuff in Asian languages but voice chat messages seem to be very popular in many parts of Asia (specifically China with WeChat).
Re: Show HN: An audio only social network
#118[deleted]
Re: Show HN: An audio only social network
#119This is awesome. Although the Android app has some rough edges it gives off a very personal and connecting vibe. I think the shades of blue and green you chose feel too cold for what the platform is supposed to be, the app feels very cold initially... but then this amazing thing happened: I started to listen to the Ocean. The Ocean to me feels like something from the movie "Her" (2013): these are other peoples stories and lives I'm listening to, and that is both really odd and really cool. It feels very personal, and I think this might be exactly what many people are missing nowadays: just taking 5 minutes out of your day to empathize with others, and since it's audio only you could do that while in the car, or while working, or while cleaning your house. I haven't yet tried this with family or close friends, and I think it might feel too personal at that point. Then again, I'm not that socially capable, so that might be just me. Perhaps it takes some getting used to.
As I said before though, there are some rough edges. The written text in the app feels... unprofessional, which might not be a bad thing necessarily. I think you tried to find a light tone to connect with users, but you haven't yet succeeded in striking that light hearted balance between connecting with your users and talking with the confidence of a business. The colors look somewhat cold for what feels like a very warm app. And on the tech-side there could be some improvements, like detecting 'empty' waves: apparently people happen to accidently send out a wave without any meaningful sound whatsoever into the world, and I imagine detecting that is something that could be done automatically. By the way, sound quality is okay, but make sure you don't neglect it. This idea will only work if you forget that you're listening through a device, if it's anything like a phone call I think that might be to robotic.
Something I just thought of: how do you plan to tackle the language barrier? Is the Ocean going to consist of English-only spoken text, or are you going to tag waves with a language and filter based on what the user is using?
Re: Show HN: An audio only social network
#120Here in germany I have never seen anyone using the audio feature of their instant messenger until I moved to Berlin. I now see people in the subway using WhatsApp to just send voice messages back and fourth, all the time. So as a vim-user-kind-of-guy, I don't get it - but there seems to be a demand for this kind of communication. Oh, right - and there is snapchat. Also don't get it. Maybe I'm just getting old...
So my girlfriend uses this quite often (she's German). She says she likes it because you can reasonably quickly "make your statement" and then wait for a reply, without the usual niceties that make a conversation longer (but you feel like you have to do). If she calls someone, she has to spend at least 10 minutes chatting. If she uses the WhatsApp voice message feature, she can send a one-minute message and be in con…
Unfortunately the other person has to spend exactly one minute listening. Compare that to using the voice-to-text button of the keyboard (any Android phone AFAIK, probably iOS too). One minute to dictate, maybe another one to fix mistakes (maybe not) and 15 seconds to read. It is being polite to the recipient.
Luckily no friends of mine are using voice messages in 1-1 chats with me. I never listen to those messages in group chats.
I won't use a voice only or video only social network exactly for the same reason. Text and pictures are ok because they are quick to skim through.