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Bitly Goes Beyond Link Shortening, But Users Not Amused

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Re: Bitly Goes Beyond Link Shortening, But Users Not Amused

#3

Post by sriramk »

Here's a question for the HN crowd. When you do a redesign, how do you know whether it'll play out like the FB newsfeed (1 out of 8 million users joined a protest group, ultimately one of the best features of the site) or the Digg v4 redesign (users complained, then left).

Re: Bitly Goes Beyond Link Shortening, But Users Not Amused

#4

Post by lancefisher »

I use bit.ly for shorting links and tracking stats just like the article mentions. It used to work great for that. Paste a link, :boom: it's shortened, and I can press a button to copy. The only thing that would make it better is if I didn't have to click copy afterwards.

Now, I have to click "add bitmark" (and figure out what the heck that is), paste the link, add an optional note, click save, then click copy before the flash message goes away. If it does go away, I have to click info, then copy the link. This is extremely annoying; the first time especially so.

Bit.ly wants to be the new delicious. Fine. Whatever. Just keep the one-step process for making short URLs. That's why I'm using it in the first place.

Re: Bitly Goes Beyond Link Shortening, But Users Not Amused

#5

Post by revorad »

sriramk wrote: post #3

Here's a question for the HN crowd. When you do a redesign, how do you know whether it'll play out like the FB newsfeed (1 out of 8 million users joined a protest group, ultimately one of the best features of the site) or the Digg v4 redesign (users complained, then left).

You don't. You just look at the numbers and look for signs of people loving the change.

Re: Bitly Goes Beyond Link Shortening, But Users Not Amused

#6

Post by ticks »

sriramk wrote: post #3

Here's a question for the HN crowd. When you do a redesign, how do you know whether it'll play out like the FB newsfeed (1 out of 8 million users joined a protest group, ultimately one of the best features of the site) or the Digg v4 redesign (users complained, then left).

The ideal way to change is iteratively otherwise you create a usability problem for your experienced users, which is why you get those revolts. As far as I understand it, FB enhanced their service, whereas Digg reinvented itself, which is a lot more risky.

Re: Bitly Goes Beyond Link Shortening, But Users Not Amused

#7

Post by swombat »

revorad wrote: post #5
sriramk wrote: post #3

Here's a question for the HN crowd. When you do a redesign, how do you know whether it'll play out like the FB newsfeed (1 out of 8 million users joined a protest group, ultimately one of the best features of the site) or the Digg v4 redesign (users complained, then left).

You don't. You just look at the numbers and look for signs of people loving the change.

Exactly. It's ok to lose half your users, if the other half are worth 10x as much because of the change.

This article describes how Meetup went through this and lost, 95% of their user activity overnight... and also incidentally became profitable.

http://37signals.com/svn/posts/2751-scott-heiferman-looks-ba...

My comments: http://swombat.com/2011/1/26/meetup-charging-bet-the-company

Re: Bitly Goes Beyond Link Shortening, But Users Not Amused

#8

Post by kijin »

> "It's the response from the vocal minority who are quick to complain about any change."

Who else will complain about bad changes, if not the "vocal minority"? When was the last time somebody appealed to the alleged wisdom of the "silent majority" to support anything worth supporting? Nixon? Falwell?

Internet services rely greatly on word of mouth. You need vocal advocates to spread the word. If you alienate your most vocal users, even if they're just a minority, you've effectively dug your own grave.

The world doesn't need another social bookmarking service.

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