Referly Launches "Recommend It" - iPhone App for Product Photo Sharing | Hacker News Reader

Referly Launches "Recommend It" - iPhone App for Product Photo Sharing

refer.ly

50 pointsdmor15 comments

Just my 2cts, I really didn't link the email you sent to all the "early adopters" encouraging them to download and rate / recommends /share the apps.

But Good luck with the launch!

Sorry about that, we wanted to try something a bit different from the usual glossy HTML-based email we've done for launches in the past. Maybe that's better though.

I'm not sure what's not to like about it. It's straightforward but it's for early adopters.

Here's the email if anyone is curious:

    Howdy Early Adopter,

    We're asking for your help to spread the word about the new Referly iPhone app "Recommend It", which is now live in the App Store.  Here's how you can help:
    
    1. Download the app (it comes up if you search Referly): https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/recommend-it/id578025271#
    
    2. Rate it and write a review in iTunes if you have time
    
    3. Share it with friends and encourage them to rate it as well
    
    4. Tweet about it: http://refer.ly/a2IY
    
    5. Share on Facebook - please share this Referly post with your own take on the app and a call to action for friends to try it too: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=499084413464473&set=a.442107465828835.103460.358619204177662&type=1&relevant_count=1
    
    We really need your help to get this app launched, and thank you so much for taking a few minutes to spread the word.  Thank you so much from all of us!
    
    With Love,
    Team Referly = Danielle, Kevin, Al, Ronald, and Brett
    
    P.S. Check out screenshots and more details on how it works: http://refer.ly/iphone

Why not? I don't see how it's anything but a smart idea.

And this is a great way for Referly to create a stock photo collection they can later sell. Seriously, a good idea.

Wouldn't be awesome if they made all images freely available for everyone to use? Some european price comparison network kinda (no really free licenses) does that: http://bepixelung.org/

Interesting, hadn't even thought of that

I'll take 1% ;)

congrats!

Two questions: 1. Why is the app called Recommend it and not Refer.ly? 2. You seem to focus on different use cases than with the web site, for power users that share more instead of all users. What was the rationale behind that? Ebay or Amazon apps do both.

1. We think this app is awesome for our power users, the curators, but the majority of our users are actually shoppers so we wanted to reserve the right to create a canonical "Referly app" for them down the road. Long term most UGC communities only have 1-2% contributors

2. It is really an issue of focus, to build a marketplace we have to nurture both sides but in the early days it is difficult to do both well. You raise one side up, make it good enough, go work on the other side, then switch. That's the approach we are taking and right now most of what we have launched is really for the power user who is doing the sharing.

makes sense, thanks for the explanation. Interesting to see your take on the 2 sides.

Now you should build a mobile optimized web site for the regular users!

Yeah, improving the mobile browser experience is definitely on our radar.

Are you familiar with wirecutter.com? How does referly relate to skimlinks?

We have a huge crush on The Wirecutter. We use Skimlinks

haha, the first two "recommend its" I saw were incredibly lame.

The best single less [sic] we own for our Canon SLR, bar none!

I assume the person meant lens but even then its a total failure of a recommendation.

and:

My daughter just got this for her birthday and its one of her favorite toys! She also gets scared of it! It's pretty funny!

what kind of parent finds it funny to scare their child.

Next!

Getting people to type at all, let alone correctly, on a mobile phone is worth a prize. Mobile users hate typing.

My little brother loves the game Don't Break the Ice, but also gets really upset playing it sometimes too because it is upsetting for him to have the blocks all over the place. Honestly, I think it's better for his development to keep playing with it, though. He's just a baby afterall, he is getting fun out of it, and maybe he'll even learn not to get so freaking upset.

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