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Show HN: Slow Social, a social network built for friends, not influencers

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Re: Show HN: Slow Social, a social network built for friends, not influencers

#231

Post by CitrusFruits »

gchamonlive wrote: post #226

Social Networks should be like email providers. You choose one that fits you best, or deploy your own, without having to worry not being able to communicate with others. Maybe we are long overdue for an open standard protocol for social interactions on the web. If you come to think of it, when the personal data itself isn't the property of the company behind the social network, there should be no reason not to share…

> I can't go to slow social without all my friends coming with me, so I'm stuck with Instagram/whatsapp.

This is partially correct. Slow Social would be a lot better if all your friends joined. However, my accommodation for this is that any post can be sent as en email as well. This lets you loop in people that aren't part of the network, and maybe never will be. It's not a perfect solution, but I hope it's better than nothing.

Re: Show HN: Slow Social, a social network built for friends, not influencers

#232

Post by CitrusFruits »

derekzhouzhen wrote: post #209
CitrusFruits wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd argue it's different because it has better privacy controls. Instead of all your content being public, it's all private and you can share it to a non Slow Social member via email. Additionally, it's a more focused, concentrated experience. Otherwise, feel free to make blog posts. I think blogs are great.

Privacy is great; however requiring everyone to login adds frictions, which kill engagement. Anyway, it is always good to see someone challenging the status quo. Good luck.

Yeah, and perhaps it will too much friction in the end. Or maybe it won't be. Either way, time will tell. Thanks for your feedback!

Re: Show HN: Slow Social, a social network built for friends, not influencers

#233

Post by CitrusFruits »

yosito wrote: post #208

Love this idea, and love that it supports email updates. I think that makes it useful even if most (all) of my friends don't use it yet. That's something a lot of attempts at doing social networks differently miss: it needs to be useful even without all my friends being on it, or I'll just stop using it. I submitted my email and I'll check this out more in the coming days.

I'm glad someone else is a fan of the email updates. I think it makes gradual adoption much more feasible.

Re: Show HN: Slow Social, a social network built for friends, not influencers

#234

Post by tonymet »

It's a great prototype of features, but features don't build an audience. To Draw in customers, there has to be growth marketing features like friend recommendations, push notifications, syndicating updates to existing networks.

It's the network that brings in consumers, not the features.

Re: Show HN: Slow Social, a social network built for friends, not influencers

#235

Post by CitrusFruits »

lolinder wrote: post #224
shlurpy wrote: post #210

It sounds like a great idea. I did notice a carveout in the privacy policy for "if we get acquired, they can do whatever they want with any information" which seems... undermining, given how getting acquired by one of the worst data brokers is generally assumed for any successful social media startup.

I wouldn't assume malicious intent here, as this exact clause shows up word for word in dozens of privacy policies. It appears to just be a stock part of a generic privacy policy that made it past their initial edits. I'm also unsure if its absence would really change anything. If a data broker acquires the company, what's to stop them from just changing the privacy policy to be compatible with their uses?

Thanks for the benefit of the doubt. Yeah, this is part of a stock privacy policy. Slow Social is a hobby and experimental social network, not a startup. I fully intend to support any users on the platform and hopefully make it into a really nice experience, but there are no investors or stakeholders to incentivize me to do anything other than my original goal, which is to make a Social Network for friends, not influencers.

Re: Show HN: Slow Social, a social network built for friends, not influencers

#236

Post by LadyCoconut »

CitrusFruits wrote: post #146
waveywaves wrote: post #141

If rich text formatting is your feature proposal for a social media network should I even care about it. Users care about a larger abstracted view about what you can do differently with what you can do with the smn interface. Flaunting rich text formatting feels like a core developer's achivement rather than a technology achievement. Do correct me if I am wrong.

I think what I was trying to get across is that you can do things more in a blog post styles as opposed to Twitter style quick bites. But maybe you're right it's not worth mentioning. The copy for the site hasn't gone through any focus group testing or anything like that.

Rich text formatting definitely is a plus for me in a social media app! I think it's better to specify such things, especially for users coming from Facebook/Twitter/etc with Facebook/Twitter-like expectations.

Re: Show HN: Slow Social, a social network built for friends, not influencers

#237

Post by lolinder »

after_care wrote: post #219
shlurpy wrote: post #210

It sounds like a great idea. I did notice a carveout in the privacy policy for "if we get acquired, they can do whatever they want with any information" which seems... undermining, given how getting acquired by one of the worst data brokers is generally assumed for any successful social media startup.

I will not sign up for a service with a clause like this.

You're posting on such a service right now. From Y Combinator's privacy policy, which applies to HN:

> Business Transfers: If we are involved in a merger, acquisition, financing due diligence, reorganization, bankruptcy, receivership, sale of all or a portion of our assets, or transition of service to another provider (collectively a “Transaction”), your Personal Information and other information may be shared in the diligence process with counterparties and others assisting with the Transaction and transferred to a successor or affiliate as part of that Transaction along with other assets.

Re: Show HN: Slow Social, a social network built for friends, not influencers

#238

Post by Aeolun »

ada1981 wrote: post #152
and0 wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there's a lot of honesty and practicality in your response but not the transparency or clarity needed for this to scale. These networks require buy-in / critical mass to function as intended, and not knowing if I (or my friends) will agree to the pricing terms after I get my network on board is a hard stop for me. I do like the idea. Well designed limitations can add a lot of appeal, and in social spaces espe…

None of the other social networks you were an early adopter of told your their future monetization plans did they?

Exactly. They’ve learned from experience what happens.

Re: Show HN: Slow Social, a social network built for friends, not influencers

#239

Post by [deleted] »

CitrusFruits wrote: post #235
lolinder wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't assume malicious intent here, as this exact clause shows up word for word in dozens of privacy policies. It appears to just be a stock part of a generic privacy policy that made it past their initial edits. I'm also unsure if its absence would really change anything. If a data broker acquires the company, what's to stop them from just changing the privacy policy to be compatible with their uses?

Thanks for the benefit of the doubt. Yeah, this is part of a stock privacy policy. Slow Social is a hobby and experimental social network, not a startup. I fully intend to support any users on the platform and hopefully make it into a really nice experience, but there are no investors or stakeholders to incentivize me to do anything other than my original goal, which is to make a Social Network for friends, not influ…

[deleted]

Re: Show HN: Slow Social, a social network built for friends, not influencers

#240

Post by Gollapalli »

gchamonlive wrote: post #226

Social Networks should be like email providers. You choose one that fits you best, or deploy your own, without having to worry not being able to communicate with others. Maybe we are long overdue for an open standard protocol for social interactions on the web. If you come to think of it, when the personal data itself isn't the property of the company behind the social network, there should be no reason not to share…

ActivityPub exists, it's just niche.

Maybe Elon will let mastodon instances interact with twitter or something. It'd be unlikely, but very cool

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