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Show HN: Stuff – An Alternative to Facebook Events

stuff.li

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Re: Show HN: Stuff – An Alternative to Facebook Events

#71

Post by thadjo »

stuffhq wrote: post #27
gav wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, there's so much friction trying to get a group of people to signup for and use another platform. A personal anecdote: people were willing to fly thousands of miles to come to my wedding, but (almost) nobody wanted to use the site/app we chose to avoid using Facebook to plan the event. I think the only option is to make it seamless for Facebook users--let them log in with FB, use FB Messenger to send them upd…

We are really trying to limit friction. Creating events requires a profile. RSVPs does not. Also, Stuff invitations can still be distributed on any other platforms with a simple "one-to-many" link. Hope this makes sense. Simon, Stuff.

Hey Simon. re: friction, I built a little service about a month ago that creates events via email — www.thad.cc

You just need to cc the address in an email and it sends invites to all of the people in the email list. I used it for an event of about ~30 and most people added their RSVP. It has chat too, but that wasn't as successful. Email is obviously not the 'coolest', but this approach at least reduces friction. I spent about a month thinking about / building this and would be happy to chat.

Edit: kinda funny we both chose pink :)

Re: Show HN: Stuff – An Alternative to Facebook Events

#72

Post by ChikkaChiChi »

188201 wrote: post #59
jrochkind1 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook events is one of the only things keeping a lot of people I know on facebook. But, yeah, it's hard to go to something else cause of the friction. What we really need is something that is as integrated into fb events as fb, but _also_ allows people who aren't on fb to find and keep track of and RVSP to events. I think facebook API's don't really allow you to have that kind of integration for a third-party thin…

The alternatives of such integrated platform is chat app, which ironically, the most popular chat app is Whatsapp owned by Facebook. So if someone built a event management software based on Whatsapp's new API and start gaining traction, facebook would steal the idea and launch their own.

The smartest move Facebook ever made was gobbling up the options most likely to be alternatives to FB once people got sick of it.

Re: Show HN: Stuff – An Alternative to Facebook Events

#74

Post by lquist »

Genuine question: Did customers ask you to make this? I ask because to me (and it appears others in this thread) Events is one of FB’s best features because they own the social graph and I have no interest in a competing product unless if you own a better or equivalent graph.

Re: Show HN: Stuff – An Alternative to Facebook Events

#75

Post by stuffhq »

thadjo wrote: post #71
stuffhq wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We are really trying to limit friction. Creating events requires a profile. RSVPs does not. Also, Stuff invitations can still be distributed on any other platforms with a simple "one-to-many" link. Hope this makes sense. Simon, Stuff.

Hey Simon. re: friction, I built a little service about a month ago that creates events via email — www.thad.cc You just need to cc the address in an email and it sends invites to all of the people in the email list. I used it for an event of about ~30 and most people added their RSVP. It has chat too, but that wasn't as successful. Email is obviously not the 'coolest', but this approach at least reduces friction. I…

Everything will turn pink ;-) Awesome that we are having same thoughts on invites and friction. Would love to chat. Feel free to drop me an email on simon@stuff.li.

Re: Show HN: Stuff – An Alternative to Facebook Events

#76

Post by jamestimmins »

Very cool! I like seeing people find ways to innovate in areas of social that are often just surrendered to FB.

Also, just an encouragement to take the strong opinions here with a grain of salt. Obviously, you have a list of features you'd like to build at some point, many of which are likely mentioned in the comments. But HN may not overlap with your actual users very much, and is likely to have a different list of "must haves" than most folks. Make sure you talk to non-techies!

Re: Show HN: Stuff – An Alternative to Facebook Events

#77

Post by nicoburns »

jrochkind1 wrote: post #35
huangc10 wrote: post #17

The whole point of Facebook events is that it's already integrated with a social network so it's easy to invite people. I dislike the whole concept of Facebook but sorry, but I find this idea really counter intuitive? Creating social events online but not through a social network... *edit, so I can provide some constructive criticism. Maybe integrate this with social networks such as Facebook or Twitter (which I gues…

Facebook events is one of the only things keeping a lot of people I know on facebook. But, yeah, it's hard to go to something else cause of the friction. What we really need is something that is as integrated into fb events as fb, but _also_ allows people who aren't on fb to find and keep track of and RVSP to events. I think facebook API's don't really allow you to have that kind of integration for a third-party thin…

> I think facebook API's don't really allow you to have that kind of integration for a third-party thing though. I would assume this is intentional.

It's definitely intentional, because older versions of the Facebook APIs had this functionality, but it was later removed...

Re: Show HN: Stuff – An Alternative to Facebook Events

#78

Post by rickdg »

huangc10 wrote: post #17

The whole point of Facebook events is that it's already integrated with a social network so it's easy to invite people. I dislike the whole concept of Facebook but sorry, but I find this idea really counter intuitive? Creating social events online but not through a social network... *edit, so I can provide some constructive criticism. Maybe integrate this with social networks such as Facebook or Twitter (which I gues…

FB is a black hole sucking data in and that's the only reason they allow you to integrate with them. Don't put them in the same bag as Twitter who still support pseudoanonimity.

Re: Show HN: Stuff – An Alternative to Facebook Events

#79

Post by quest88 »

stuffhq wrote: post #50
KerryJones wrote: post #49

This is a great idea and events are one of the things holding me on to FB, but the friction to signing up by not offering an option to OAuth (even for event creators). I don't want another email/account and potential leak in the future -- just let me oauth with Google/FB/LinkedIn, etc.

We are looking into Google/Linkedin Oauth. Not fans of Facebook, though... -Simon, Stuff.li

Yea, fuck people that like Facebook! Even if they could be potential new customers, they suck!

/s

Re: Show HN: Stuff – An Alternative to Facebook Events

#80

Post by tenaciousDaniel »

jrochkind1 wrote: post #70
Semaphor wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Facebook events is one of the only things keeping a lot of people I know on facebook. Yeah, it's true for me. I barely use messenger anymore (married the person I wrote the most with), and even then I use it via Trillian. I open facebook maybe 2-3 times per week to check events and that's it. But with all their crappy UX, events is still better than alternatives to see what friends are doing and what's going on loc…

And I think it's _really hard_ for a contender like `stuff` to become a better alternative for many people without the 'social network' features of facebook. An easy way to see what events your friends are interested in, as a primary one.

IDK, I think there's room for improvement in this area. I've had an idea rolling around in my head for a couple of years but I've never pursued it:

I lived in NYC for a few years, and every so often I'd find myself wandering around the city on a weekend afternoon, wondering what I should do. Ideally, there'd be an app where I could simply open it up, look at a map, set it to the current time or maybe within an hour or so, and easily see events near me.

That app just does not exist. You can get kinda close with a few apps, but not really. In this context, I don't care what my friends are doing, I just want to find something cool period.

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