Go for it. Just make sure and use Facebook Connect for auth.
Ask HN: Compete with Facebook?
21–30 of 42 posts
Re: Ask HN: Compete with Facebook?
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
they also provided a better product than the alternatives at the time. Now that facebook is out there, you can't release a facebook clone and not get laughed at. You have to innovate.
Absolutely, but my point is that Facebook didn't start out to be a MySpace killer. It was started as a niche product that grew into a MySpace killer.
is that how it went, or did they build a superior product that they first launched to a niche?
Re: Ask HN: Compete with Facebook?
#23Niche social networks are dead. People are fatigued by the idea of a social network. The word itself makes me pretty much want to puke. Social is the web now; its a fluid idea. What do you want your product to do? to achieve? How is this going to make my life easier, better, more fun? Even if it is all about my profile and moments - how is it better?
Re: Ask HN: Compete with Facebook?
#24I want a social place but not to share pics with my family and friends. I want to share knowledge and expertise. I want to ask questions, get answers, share code, show off my projects, learn from the experts, chat with colleagues, network and socialize. Start with a facebook clon for hackers, then, like reddit, expand to all possible interests. Let people create their groups of interest and then grow, grow like weed.
Start with a facebook clon for hackers, then, like reddit, expand to all possible interests. Let people create their groups of interest and then grow, grow like weed.
People like (and find it convenient) to split into tribes they identify with. Look at Usenet, Reddit, Facebook, IRC, etc. What if you took this niche-based grouping and applied it to a social network?
Imagine, for example, that I sign up with your site and join the "Lisp Hackers" group. I can private message other Lispers, I can pop open a chat window and talk live without having to open an IRC client, post code on our public discussion forum, view the profiles of the people in my group, look at their pictures, etc. The important thing would be to emphasize community-based subsites with a full suite of features for the members.
Facebook now works (to my understanding; I don't have an account) on the principle of "friending" everyone, and discovering some new people in "Groups" or "Fan Pages", which provide primitive utilities for talking with one another; at the end of the day, to get the full list of features, you have to add everyone to your giant "list o' friends." What would happen if you started with the idea of strict grouping instead?
Re: Ask HN: Compete with Facebook?
#25Go for it. Just make sure and use Facebook Connect for auth.
Is this a joke? Wouldn't it make more sense to use Open ID or a custom build solution for user authentication/registration?
Re: Ask HN: Compete with Facebook?
#26Personally I don't feel the need for a facebook alternative, and I'm sure that a majority of people feel the same way. Otherwise there wouldn't be 500 million facebook users. I'm happy with using facebook to connect with all my acquaintances, twitter to interact on the micro level and tumblr to blog. Here is a question you have to think about; "What can you possibly offer that would change my mind?"
I think everyone at some point wants to create the next big thing in social networking, but honestly, it just isn't a realistic expectation. Look how much Google has failed to compete, even with MySpace, in the social arena.Do you think you can you do better than Google?
Re: Ask HN: Compete with Facebook?
#27Niche social networks are dead. People are fatigued by the idea of a social network. The word itself makes me pretty much want to puke. Social is the web now; its a fluid idea. What do you want your product to do? to achieve? How is this going to make my life easier, better, more fun? Even if it is all about my profile and moments - how is it better?
My guess:
1. by giving us back control.
2. by giving us data portability.
Re: Ask HN: Compete with Facebook?
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
Absolutely, but my point is that Facebook didn't start out to be a MySpace killer. It was started as a niche product that grew into a MySpace killer.
is that how it went, or did they build a superior product that they first launched to a niche?
They're related concepts, but I'd say that they won by building a superior product for a niche.
I first got on FaceBook in the fall of 04, when they were still "elite colleges only", and first checked out MySpace around that time too (I did end up creating a MySpace profile, but abandoned it after like half a dozen visits). MySpace was better as a general social-networking site. It had all sorts of features that FaceBook didn't - you could put pictures and videos and music on your profile, it had messaging (FaceBook only had the Wall when it launched, which was everyone-to-everyone messaging and lost the thread of conversation), and it had all these features for bands and other local entertainment.
FaceBook was better at one, specific use case: you meet someone at a party, you want to remember their contact details so you can hang out with them again, you track them down on FaceBook. And it was a lot better than MySpace at this: your profiles were private to within the school so they wouldn't be exposed to the whole Internet, and you could easily search within schools, and you could find their contact info & interests at a glance without having to wade through all the crud people put on their profiles. And that one use case turned out to be very useful for very many college students.
Re: Ask HN: Compete with Facebook?
#29Facebook is not about features anymore. It is about the fact that they have 500M users. When you want to compete with Facebook, you have to grab 30% from the 500M to your side to call it a competition. You have to convince them that you have a better service and that they won't miss the people that are still on Facebook.
P.S. 1% of Facebook users care about privacy. The rest are not aware.
Re: Ask HN: Compete with Facebook?
#30Facebook is not about features anymore. It is about the fact that they have 500M users. When you want to compete with Facebook, you have to grab 30% from the 500M to your side to call it a competition. You have to convince them that you have a better service and that they won't miss the people that are still on Facebook. P.S. 1% of Facebook users care about privacy. The rest are not aware.
Agreed. The network effect is their advantage. Features are for tech blogs to write about, real people care that their buddies from 30 years ago are online now.