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Zero to a Million Users in 15 Days

kik.com

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Re: Zero to a Million Users in 15 Days

#61

Post by geuis »

mhartl wrote: post #55
ted_livingston wrote: post #32

Hi All, Ted from Kik. Just wanted to jump in and answer a few questions: On October 21, 2010 we launched a completely new service. The only thing that was the same between new Kik and old Kik was the name and the app store accounts. Users from the old system (about 55K active in the last week before the hard switch over) were notified that the new service was available and that the old one would soon be shut down. Ab…

I have a quick suggestion for blog posts like this: don't assume that readers have any idea what it is you do. Take the opportunity in the first paragraph to describe what your product is and why people use it. That way, people coming to your post who aren't already users will be oriented immediately. They will, I suspect, also be more likely to use your product.

I concur. I spent 5 minutes reading through the site and I have zero idea what this Kik thing really is. If it's yet another closed service I'm expected to sign up for, no thanks.

Re: Zero to a Million Users in 15 Days

#62

Post by savrajsingh »

savrajsingh wrote: post #15

I got a txt from a friend about kik signup yesterday. Not sure if he knew that was sent or not.

My non-techie friend just replied. Here is exactly what he said:

"Free messaging between iPhone BB and android users, faster. Once everyone is on it we can reduce SMS plan. It is great."

So the kik guys have apparently done a great job messaging their benefits to users. ;)

Re: Zero to a Million Users in 15 Days

#63

Post by mdon »

alex1 wrote: post #57

I wonder why Ping or WhatsApp wasn't able to get this viral. The only viral feature I saw is when I installed it, it went through my contact list (I'm assuming) and found all my friends that already have it installed. Others were able to find me even though I didn't enter my phone number when signing up. Weird.

Have either of them published subscriber numbers or growth rates?

Re: Zero to a Million Users in 15 Days

#64

Post by gxs »

I'm really afraid this type of user sign up is going to begin taking a hold of new apps on mobile devices.

It's one thing for me to receive emails from friends inviting me to try a new service they're using, but it's really intrusive to receive txts from kik telling me to sign up every time someone I know installs the app.

Re: Zero to a Million Users in 15 Days

#65

Post by piotrSikora »

yblokhin wrote: post #23

Hey Guys, Those are actually real accounts backed by unique emails. We haven't expected such a viral growth ourselves but.. we don't complain :) Other than complete lack of sleep due to the scaling needs. Hence my question: are there any brilliant server developers looking for a job with Kik? :)

You should really define "server developer", otherwise you'll end-up with offers ranging from "bash scripting" through "rails backend developers" to "C developers".

Re: Zero to a Million Users in 15 Days

#66

Post by funthree »

ugh wrote: post #43
citricsquid wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is why my comment includes: this is incredible either way I'm just saying there is a difference. 55,000 people instantly aware of your new product who used your old product is a massive boost compared to 0 people knowing about your product when you release it. Anyway this is a fruitless discussion, it's impressive, just different!

The article said “re-launch”, I don’t think that’s very misleading.

Its only misleading to the degree of 4 orders of magnitude

That's okay, right?

Re: Zero to a Million Users in 15 Days

#68

Post by crocowhile »

phob wrote: post #67
crocowhile wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually wish password fields would ALWAYS be visible by default on all mobile apps.

You're not concerned about people looking over your shoulder?

I am pretty sure all the apps I have on my phone require login only once and never again. I'd just avoid to login that one time in a crowded place and the risk is gone.

Re: Zero to a Million Users in 15 Days

#69

Post by Tautologistics »

ted_livingston wrote: post #32

Hi All, Ted from Kik. Just wanted to jump in and answer a few questions: On October 21, 2010 we launched a completely new service. The only thing that was the same between new Kik and old Kik was the name and the app store accounts. Users from the old system (about 55K active in the last week before the hard switch over) were notified that the new service was available and that the old one would soon be shut down. Ab…

Just a quick FYI - once one goes to the blog (either the blog link or the "more info" on the homepage) many of the bottom nav ("Other Clicks") links do not work because they are relative paths (they all map to blog URLs).

Re: Zero to a Million Users in 15 Days

#70

Post by bl4k »

executive wrote: post #19
bl4k wrote: post #13

Ok so I just read every article I could find about these guys online - could somebody explain why a user would install kik over standard text messaging or IM? There must be something to it, I just don't know what. If it wasn't for the buzz, it is a product website I would just brush past without a second glance

Because it is essentially Blackberry Messenger for all smartphones. Many people only use Blackberry because of the speed and D/R status of BBM regardless of how they feel about the device.

thanks. Turns out one of the founders of Kik was working at RIM on messenger.
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