Thank you! I will definitely do that. Sometimes my most successful stories which ended up in TechCrunch (of course), WSJ, Forbes, The Guardian, etc. were five or six sentence emails - which is a bit embarrassing sometimes.
But hey, I think I just should get started sharing the details. I think these stories and shared knowledge could be useful after all.
Wow. Speaks from my heart to be honest. I'm a PR guy and had a few successes over the last months and years. One example: I helped an unknown startup with their launch and we reached 500 million people in one month on social media with no budget.
I know that some of these stories and pitches would be useful for others, but I always end up thinking: 'Meh, everyone knows that.' or as a non-native speaker 'Urgh, this is a really clumsy description. My english sucks."
I'm just thinking about making this post my 'new tab' page in Chrome.
With Slingshot, Taptalk and all the others, I was wondering what you guys think about this concept? Loklok is a messaging app that uses the lock screen as the communication channel.
What I think is clever is that it doesn't require the user to open an app anymore. Instead the display becomes the direct channel to the people that you chat with. What do you think?
After installing the extension, just open Stylebot and copy the following design for skimhn.com: http://pastebin.com/5Nupsm3B. it's still rough, but it's a start :)
sixQuarks made a good point. Here are some things I asked myself when I first visited the page:
- Where do I write myself messages? Just on the website? Why should I use this website instead of just writing myself an Email, use Simplenote or the Notes App? What are the benefits?
I would make these points more clear and emphasize the main benefit in a bold and big headline. I also really like sixQuarks idea. Why not put a note-field on the first screen and show them how easy it is to use your service.
Another thought: Don't give so much space to the sign-in-field. Most people who ll visit your website won't have an account (yet), so my advice would be: Place a big sign-up-field there instead – or an input field where people can send themselves messages already – and move the sign-in to the navigation bar.
As somebody who loves good design: You should work on the design. Use Typekit (Open Sans, PT Sans are very popular these days and make a big difference compared to all the Helvetica websites) and use a larger font-size in general.
- The idea is to release the app on all platforms. So whenever you lose your phone, get a new one or work on different platforms you can just install the app and all your contacts get updated automatically (including a web interface if you need it).
- I talked to many people about the But Facebook and LinkedIn does that already thing. I asked them if they share private contact information like your birthday, current address, or private phone numbers and most don't. This is where the app comes in:
I developed the app with the idea in mind to be able to delete my Facebook account without losing the contact information. The main benefit of the app will be to have an always up to date contact information, because everything else grows from here: organize a party, message a friend I didn't talk to in a long time, or send a postcard as a surprise because you can be shure that your friends added their address to their profile.
- The app focuses on tight security, because nobody likes to make their contact information public.
- The vision is: Instead of having hundreds of half synced contacts (some have only a website link or an old email address after I tried a facebook sync), you can build a contact network that is based on quality information and grows in quality over time with every new contact you add to the network.
Yes and no. The core idea is a lot like plaxo - keep your contact information up to date. But everything else should be a lot simpler:
- The address book doesn't try to use automated updates from Facebook and Twitter. Instead it just shows what people add to their profile.
- The app won't try to reinvent the address book. It is build on top of your existing address list and wants to It will just be faster to get to actions (call, message, search) and pair it with "self-updating" contact information.
Thanks, mooism2. Good points. Would you use a new app that makes the "search contact(s) → call/write/message" faster and more beautiful?
If a friend also uses your app, can you mark their contact details as being guaranteed-up-to-date?
→ That is the idea that I want to build the app around.
If a particular friend doesn't use your app, can you remember when I entered their details and keep track of how stale they are?
→ Good point. One solution would be to regularly send them an email (maybe once every three months) with the request that to send you their updated information (via email).
If I text them and the text doesn't get through, can you highlight their number as possibly not working any more?
→ That wouldn't be necessary after they use the same network as well. Otherwise: Cool idea, I will add it to the list.
But hey, I think I just should get started sharing the details. I think these stories and shared knowledge could be useful after all.